RCMP in B.C. and Alberta continue to search for May Milling, an 81-year-old Gibsons woman who went missing Sept. 2 on a car trip from Jasper, Alta. to Kamloops.
According to police, she departed from Jasper in the morning hours of Sept. 2 and was due in Kamloops to meet with a friend that same evening. RCMP were advised that she did not turn up as planned on Sept. 3 and since then, the RCMP detachments and Traffic Services Units between Jasper and Kamloops have been participating in the efforts to locate her and her vehicle. In addition to RCMP patrols of the area, the RCMP Southeast District Air Services helicopter completed a high and low level aerial search of the Highway 5 corridor area.
The vehicle that she was driving was a dark blue 2009 Buick Lucerne, four-door Sedan, with BC license plate 147 LHF.
"A second aerial search of the highway corridor between Jasper and Kamloops was conducted by the RCMP Southeast District Air Services helicopter on Tuesday, Sept. 14," said Cpl. Dan Moskaluk, senior media relations' officer/south east and north district. "This second aerial search yielded negative results as well. There is a heavy and thick canopy of trees in many areas, which make the aerial search difficult, and we have also completed the physical search of parts of Highway 5 out from Jasper and into the Valemount area by walking the highway area."
He said the Valemount detachment is continuing their efforts and have canvassed area businesses by collecting video security surveillance footage in addition to video footage from the area commercial weigh scales.
"We will review the weigh scale footage in hopes of determining if Milling drove past the scales on her way westbound," he said. "Health wise, we do know that Ms. Milling does have a heart condition, but is licensed to drive. We also know that May has made this trip numerous times in previous years, is a creature of habit and well organized in her travels with good wits about her. We are fearful that she may have gone off the road somewhere, and have not ruled out that she may have taken a different route."
Moskaluk said RCMP would continue to look at expanding the foot search efforts along the corridor in each detachment jurisdictional area.
"We do have about 450 km of highway to cover, but some of these highway areas can be looked at pretty quickly, dependent on the geographical lay of the land," he said. "For example, we can eliminate areas where guard rails are intact, to areas where the land goes up instead of down. We're also asking that commercial or private motorists who normally travel this route to keep an eye out for any signs of a vehicle off road."
Any member of the public that may have information about Milling are asked to contact the Jasper RCMP at 1-780-852-4848.
