Saturday, Oct 01, 2011 06:00 am

By: Ryan Tumilty

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  Bret McCann and his family unveiled a new billboard on Highway 16 near the hamlet of Hansonville, which is about 110 km west of Edmonton, on Friday morning. The billboard asks the public to help locate Lyle and Marie Ann McCann. The St. Albert couple disappeared in July 2010 while on their way to vacation in B.C. The McCann family will also be handing out flyer in the hope that hunters and fisherman who use the area frequently will report anything suspicious to RCMP.

  CHRIS COLBOURNE
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The McCann family is making a plea to hunters and outdoorsmen to help find their missing parents.

The family announced Friday they will be passing out flyers with information about Lyle and Marie McCann, who went missing in July 2010.

The family is targeting Edson-area hunting stores, and flyers about the case will be going out with provincial licenses.

Brett McCann, the couple’s son, said it’s important for the family to find their parents and know what happened.

"Hunting season is opening again and my parents have still not been found, so we are going to make a plea to hunters to keep an eye out for anything unusual," he said.

Sgt. Tim Taniguchi, a spokesperson for the RCMP, said the police are looking for information about the couple’s disappearance and are hoping that hunters in the field may notice land that seems disturbed, or other clues.

"We would like the hunters and the outdoorsmen to call police if they notice any of those types of locations," he said.

Taniguchi said the RCMP has received over 1,500 tips on the case and more than a dozen officers are still assigned to following up on information. He stressed it is still very much an active investigation, but he couldn’t go into too much detail.

McCann also took the opportunity to remind the public that there is a $60,000 reward in place for anyone with information about the case.

He said the family desperately wants anyone with information to come forward.

"We are hopeful that somebody will find something or notice something," he said.

Earlier this year, on what would have been the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary, the family held a memorial service to remember them at the St. Albert Catholic Parish. McCann stressed that the event was a memorial service and it doesn’t mean the family has given up looking for answers.

"It wasn’t a funeral really. It was a memorial service; we are still hoping to have a funeral at some point," he said. "We need to find out what happened to my parents."

The family made similar efforts around hunting season last year. Taniguchi said any effort that brings in more information is welcome.

"All of those types of initiatives lead to information and possible reliable information for investigators to follow up on," he said. "Having that type of information is always a positive step for us."

The McCanns went missing in early July 2010. They were bound for British Columbia in a motorhome, towing their SUV behind them. They were reported missing 10 days after leaving St. Albert when they failed to arrive to meet their daughter in British Columbia.

Their burned-out motorhome had been found five days earlier in the Edson area. The SUV they were towing behind them was found a few weeks into the investigation. Travis Edward Vader was identified first as a person of interest and is now considered a suspect in the couple’s disappearance.

Vader has not been charged in connection with the McCanns’ disappearance, but was arrested on a string of other charges in July 2010 and remains in custody.

Anyone with any information on the case is being asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or the St. Albert RCMP at 780-458-7700.