WATCH: Inspired by a Hollywood movie, the mother of a missing Comox Valley woman has erected three billboards asking for tips from the public that could help find her missing daughter.
Three new signs at two different locations in the Comox Valley are reminding motorists about a 25-year-old missing person case.
Fourteen-year-old Lindsey Nicholls went missing in August 1993.
“The billboards allowed us to mark the anniversary and also to bring awareness to the community to make sure that the community knows that Lindsey is still missing.” said her mother, Judy Peterson.
Back in 1993, the Nicholls had recently moved to the Comox Valley. Lindsey was unhappy about it and had been placed into a temporary foster home on Royston Road.
Police say she’d had an argument with her foster mother that day in August, left the home on foot and was headed to Courtenay to visit friends.
She was last seen walking down the 3300 block of Royston Road.
More than two-and-a-half decades since Nicholls’ disappearance, the police file has had four lead investigators and the case has received hundreds of tips.
“Almost 400 tips now,” said Cpl. Jason Jenkins of the Comox Valley Major Crimes Unit. “We’ve excavated three different sites, had persons of interest spoken to, over 15 polygraph examinations and we continue to work on this active investigation with an end to find what happened to Lindsey.”
Police will only say their searches were on a rural property in the area where she was last seen but not if anything was found.
“It’s been 25 years so that’s a very long time.” said Nicholls sister Kim.
For Nicholls mother and sister there’s so much pain and not knowing what happened and as one billboard said, they truly believe that someone knows something.
“If they have any thought or glimmer that they might know something about it, even if it’s one small piece of information or that they just have a feeling about somebody, absolutely call it in,” said Peterson.
The idea for the billboards was inspired by the film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, a story about an angry mother whose daughter was murdered and who felt the police were doing little to solve the crime.
But in this case, Judy Peterson says she has a good relationship with police.
“The message is, this is her. Tis is the picture of her. She is still missing, somebody knows something, and please call.” added Peterson.
Anyone with information is asked to call Comox Valley RCMP at 250-338-1321 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477
Dean Stoltz
