Thursday, Jan 19, 2012 06:00 am

By: Ryan Tumilty

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  The RCMP is looking for anyone who may have done welding modifications to a tow bar used by Lyle and Marie McCann. The work enabled the couple to tow their 2006 Hyundai Tucson behind their RV. The couple disappeared in the summer of 2010 and are presumed dead.

  Supplied photo
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RCMP investigators are looking for a welder who attached a tow bar to Lyle and Marie McCann’s SUV.

As part of the ongoing investigation into the couple’s disappearance, police made a public appeal on Thursday to locate a welder they believed removed a tow bar from a white 1988 Dodge Ram pickup truck, modified it and then attached to the couple’s 2006 green Hyundai Tucson.

The couple was last seen leaving St. Albert on July 3, 2010 for a vacation. They were towing the SUV behind a Gulf Stream Voyager RV. The burnt-out shell of the Gulf Stream was found near an Edson-area campground on July 5, 2010 and when the couple failed to arrive in British Columbia to meet family, they were reported missing on July 10.

The SUV, with the modified tow bar that police are now asking about, was found a few weeks later off a rural road in the Edson area.

While providing little detail, RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Tim Taniguchi said it’s important for the investigators to find the welder who modified the bar for the McCanns.

"They have tried to identify this person by other means," Taniguchi said. "This isn’t something that is a break in the case, this is shoring up a puzzle piece in the case."

Taniguchi would also not say if police are in possession of the A-frame that connected the RV to the tow bar on the SUV.

The welding work would have required a confident welder but police believe it could have been done in an amateur’s garage or a professional shop, Taniguchi said.

Given that the McCanns lived in St. Albert, police believe the work was most likely done in the Edmonton area. The McCanns purchased the Tucson on March 31, 2006 and the work to add the tow bar would have happened shortly thereafter, Taniguchi said.

He said the person who did the work is a witness in the investigation and is not in any legal trouble. Police are hopeful that whoever did the work would remember the two vehicles.

"We are hoping, given the specifics of the old vehicle — the Dodge Ram 50 pickup truck — that someone could tweak on the fact that they took this tow bar off on this Dodge Ram pickup truck, modified it and then installed it on the Hyundai Tucson."

Since the couple’s disappearance, officers have conducted several searches in rural areas around Edson. They have named Travis Edward Vader as a suspect and arrested him on unrelated charges.

Earlier this year the McCanns were declared legally dead and the family held a memorial service, though the couple’s remains have not been found.

Vader is still being held in custody on those charges, but in December he was given a sentence of time already served on a string of offences. He is set to appear in court in April on other charges.

Taniguchi said the investigators are keeping a close eye on Vader’s court appearances.

"We are keenly aware of what Mr. Vader’s court proceedings are and we are keeping apprised of that as it goes through the court system," he said.

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