One year after Shannon White went missing, police are still looking to the public for information surrounding her disappearance.
White went missing after leaving for work on the morning of Nov. 1, 2021.
Police said White’s distinctive black Jeep was spotted that day leaving Kamloops headed west on Highway 1. That evening, the Jeep was seen travelling north on Highway 5 past Rayleigh.
The Jeep was found the following day, parked in the 200-block of Nicola Street.
Police executed a search warrant on a trailer belonging to White’s ex-boyfriend in Silver Sage Trailer Park about two weeks after her disappearance, but RCMP have not said whether the man is considered a suspect.
Investigators believe White met with foul play.
In the weeks that followed White’s disappearance, police and Kamloops Search and Rescue crews conducted searches for the 32-yeara-old woman in areas north and west of the city.
Search, Rescue and Detection K9s of British Columbia have also been organizing searches alongside White’s family members.
“There have been a number of searches," RCMP Cpl. Crystal Evelyn told Castanet Kamloops.
"There's a number of resources that had been invested into Shannon White's disappearance and the circumstances of her disappearance remain a priority for the Kamloops detachment."
According to police, a large amount of evidence has been collected and reviewed, but investigators are still looking for the public's help as they continue to investigate.
“They still are looking to the public to provide any information that they may not have in the initial stages,” Evelyn said.
“Maybe there was something that you know, people kind of just brushed off and thought maybe it wasn't related. But if you didn't report it at the time, now is definitely the time because [the investigation] is ongoing. It hasn't gone cold — these cases don't go cold.”
Syd Lecky, Kamloops RCMP's outgoing superintendent, noted Shannon White's disappearance and ongoing investigation in his final address to city council on Oct. 18.
"When you're the chief of police, there's a number of things that come to mind, you're here for public safety. Things happen, you don't always have the ability to make right the wrongs that have happened," Lecky said.
"Shannon White is the one that I think bothers me the most to this day."
Lecky confirmed the detachment is still working on the investigation, and said he wished he could give White's family peace of mind, "to be able to bring her home to them."
A close friend of White, Angela Hulsman, said with very few answers about the disappearance, friends and family have struggled to find any sort of closure in the last year.
“Everybody just wants answers, and we just need closure. But without that the grieving can't really take place,” Hulsman told Castanet Kamloops.
“There's tragic deaths, but even in a tragic death you still get closure, right? When someone's ill you get closure, but when someone goes missing, there's there's no closure until that person is found. There's always questions. There's always the what ifs or the, 'Is it going to be that one that one per cent that does come home?'”
Hulsman, who met White through the local Jeep community, said she hasn’t been off-roading since White’s disappearance.
“My husband and I actually sold our Jeep because it just didn't feel the same way,” she said.
Hulsman has been the guardian of White’s dog, Buddy, since she disappeared. She said having Buddy makes things a little easier for her, because she still has a connection to White through him.
In memory of White, friends and family have organized a procession from Kelowna, through Kamloops, ending at the pits in Batchelor Heights. For more information on the procession, click here.
“[It’s] just to kind of have a little celebration for her, cause that was one of the places she'd love to just go bombing after work or whatever in her Jeep, or her buddy would just go up there sit and look at the city,” Hulsman said.
Kamloops Hyundai, White's employer, will be hosting a fundraiser on Nov. 1 in honour of White, with all proceeds going to benefit Kamloops Search and Rescue. More details can be found on the event Facebook page.
The police investigation into White's disappearance remains ongoing.
