‘Somebody thinks they got away with this’: Lisa Marie Young missing 21 years

RCMP investigators joined Lisa Marie Young’s family and friends at a walk in her honour in Nanaimo Sunday.

A show of solidarity to find justice for the 21-year-old who vanished 21 years ago this week.

“She’s our family and somebody took her,” Young’s aunt Carol Frank told CHEK News on Sunday.

“Really sad. Because someone knows something and that’s the information, that’s the missing piece we are looking for,” said Art White, a family member of Young.

“Somebody thinks they got away with this. So for us to be able to stop this and stop this person from hurting anybody else, and bring them to justice and bring her home, it’s a big deal, and it needs to happen, and I’m hoping that I can be part of that,” said Cpl. Dean Muir, a K-9 unit member with Nanaimo RCMP.

Muir and his K-9 partner Luca have been searching for Young’s remains for years, but so far, they haven’t been found.

Nanaimo RCMP suspect the bright young woman met with foul play after a night out with friends on June 30, 2002, when she left a downtown Nanaimo nightclub to get food with a man seen driving a red Jaguar.

“It’s bringing closure to families who don’t know what happened to their loved one,” said Cpl. Muir.

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Carol Frank said she still grieves her niece every day.

“Still emotional,” said Frank.

But Sunday, Young’s family also said they’ve never felt so close to the closure they seek.

“I know we’ll find her,” said Frank.

“We’re always going to be here until we find where she is,” said Young’s aunt Mary Martin.

“And I’m hopeful that Luka will be that instrument that allows that to happen,” said Muir.

Even with the passing of 21 years, Sunday’s walk for Lisa Marie drew over 100 people.

“We’re really grateful for all the support,” said Frank.

“And to show her takers in the community that we will never give up searching for Lisa,” said the walk’s organizer Cyndy Hall.

So as marchers wound through Nanaimo, investigators made themselves available to anyone who wanted to talk. Hopeful that the tip they’ve been waiting for could be close.

“And if people think that it’s a good place to talk about something, we’re here to do that,” said Cpl. Markus Muntener, lead investigator on the Young case and a Nanaimo RCMP’s Major Crimes Unit member.

The search for the once-friendly, happy young woman continues to captivate Nanaimo.

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