Wednesday, Jul 06, 2011 06:00 am

By: Ryan Tumilty

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  It has been one year since Lyle and Marie McCann disappeared and there has been little public progress in finding their whereabouts. The police are hoping the anniversary will trigger some memories and tips from the public.

  Supllied photo
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A year has passed. One year ago Sunday was the last time anyone saw St. Albert seniors Lyle and Marie McCann.

They left their home in Grandin and drove to the Superstore Gas Bar, filled up their motorhome, which had their SUV hitched to the rear, and then headed out on vacation.

They were bound for Abbotsford, B.C. The police know they stopped in Gainford. They never arrived at their final destination. On July 10 last year they were reported missing.

They still are.

Five days before they were reported missing, their motorhome was found burned to a shell not far from a campground near Edson.

In the weeks that followed police found the couple’s SUV and identified and arrested a person of interest named Travis Edward Vader.

Vader eventually escalated from being a person of interest to a suspect and remains in custody on several other charges, but has not been charged in the McCanns’ disappearance.

Over the past year, family members have conducted their own searches, plastered ‘missing’ posters throughout the region, participated in a candlelight vigil and raised $60,000 as a reward for information.

Bret McCann, the couple’s son, said his drive now is to find answers.

"This gives us a purpose, something to do here. We need to find my parents," he said. "We need to know what happened to my parents."

The RCMP have searched 37 properties, collected hundreds of exhibits, interviewed dozens and still have 15 investigators working on the case.

Sgt. Tim Taniguchi said the investigation is immense and there are a number of factors working against them.

While police have classified the investigation as a homicide, they don’t know how or where the McCanns were killed and they are dealing with a wide area to search.

The burnt motorhome also makes things more difficult, but he said officers are trying to focus on what they have in front of them.

"It has made the investigation more challenging. Of course we would like to have the trailer intact but that is not possible and we just have to move forward and look at what we have control over."

Taniguchi said police feel the same way about the case as much of the public, adding to their drive to find those responsible.

"People can personalize. That could be their grandmother or grandfather."

McCann believes someone other than Vader was involved with this and someone knows what happened.

"I have to think that more than one person knows what happened, which is a good thing because whenever you have multiple people, the truth will eventually will come out."

He hopes people see the pain not knowing is causing his family and someone will come forward with the truth.

"We are trying to appeal to their heart and maybe this time it will trigger somebody to come forward and say what they know."

Moving on

McCann said that for his family, the pain of not knowing what happened never goes away.

"When your parents die, there is a grieving process and you ultimately move on, but with them missing and an ongoing police investigation, it is almost like being in a state of limbo."

The family still looks after the couple’s house. McCann said his parents are never far from their minds. He said even happy family events are tinged with sadness.

"My kids talk about it all the time. My daughter just had a baby and that really hit home because my mother would have loved going to the showers."

Police are hoping people might be taking similar trips to those they took a year ago and are asking people to try and remember back. Anyone with any information on the case can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or the St. Albert RCMP at 780-458-7700.