Cowichan chief fears missing men have been targeted

CHEK

WATCH: The chief of Cowichan Tribes fears the disappearances of men in his community are linked and that someone is targetting vulnerable people there. The latest to go missing is a 15-year-old boy and his family is now urgently trying to find him.

Update: Frazer Smith-George’s mother, Nanette Smith, says he has been located and is safe.

Exhausted from being up all night worrying, Nanette Smith still returned to the streets of Duncan Wednesday, putting up more missing posters and looking everywhere for her 15-year-old son.

“I want my son,” said Smith.

“I want to know he’s okay, he needs to be home.”

Frazer Smith-George vanished Sept. 22 after a family night out in Duncan. Police said he has had recent contact on social media but they still need to confirm his well-being.

“We’d just gotten back from the circus and he was fine,” said Smith-George’s grandmother Maxine Canute.

“He was in good spirits. We all went to the circus together then we were waiting for our cab to go home and he wasn’t there.”

His mother is fearful after seeing the cases of other missing Cowichan men go cold.

“I’m worried. I’m scared,” said Smith. “Scared as I get. I keep walking.”

The teen’s disappearance comes at a charged time for Cowichan Tribes. This community deeply frustrated over unsolved missing person cases that date back 11 years for Desmond Peter, three years for Ian Henry and two-and-a-half years for Everett Jones.

“The fear is that there is somebody going out there and picking up our community members and never to be seen again,” said Cowichan Tribes Chief Chip Seymour.

“Is it one person, is it a cult, we don’t know. The whole community has that fear.”

Chief Seymour said he has shared this with RCMP but received no answers.

“They don’t have an answer for me. They don’t know,” he said.

“The fear in this community is that this isn’t gonna stop.”

Island District RCMP didn’t respond to CHEK News’ questions about a possible link between the missing person’s cases.

Skye RyanSkye Ryan

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