WATCH: 72-year-old Rick Larson went for a walk at 6:45 a.m. on Oct. 25th but did not reach his destination.
The weather improved dramatically Sunday compared to Saturday’s rain as dozens of volunteer searchers from across the mid-island continued looking for Rick Larson.
“Yesterday was grueling work, it was miserable weather but the searchers came back in high spirits and they’re hopeful and out here today continuing their work,” said Nanaimo RCMP Constable Derek Balderston.
“We’ve got another 12 assignments today, some of them are quite large areas so the search will take quite a bit of time to cover and we have swift water teams going down the Cat stream and down the Chase River,” added Nanaimo Search and Rescue Manager Kevin McNeill.
Larson is a regular walker so we could be anywhere but searchers think he left his Haliburton Street area home on the morning of Oct. 25 and was headed to see his wife at that Nanaimo aquatic centre.
“We had a whole bunch of teams out passing out pamphlets yesterday which covered a large area around his proposed walking path,” said McNeill.
“We were successful in our door-to-door canvassing, we’ve had a number of tips that have come into the office overnight that we are going to be following up on,” said Balderston.
Police aren’t elaborating on what those tips are.
Larson was last seen wearing a black fleece jacket, blue jeans and a green and brown camouflage hat.
Anyone who may have seen Rick Larson anytime over the last 10 days is asked to call Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345
Dean Stoltz
