The search for a hiker who went missing last December in the Sooke area is set to resume on Saturday after new information was discovered, police said.
Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue plans to redeploy in “a concentrated and refined area of interest” that was searched after Melissa McDevitt went missing.
Data from McDevitt’s smartwatch has helped narrow down the area to be searched, CHEK News reported.
People are being asked to avoid the area to accommodate search efforts.
McDevitt, 38, an avid hiker, was last seen on surveillance video Dec. 9 carrying hiking poles in the Charters Creek fish hatchery parking lot on Sooke River Road, a few kilometres from Sooke Potholes. She had been due to fly to North Carolina on Dec. 10 to visit family.
Her grey Subaru Forester was found on Dec. 10 in the parking lot after she was reported missing.
An extensive search of the sometimes rugged and steep terrain in the area, led by Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue and involving 17 search agencies, was conducted over nine days and included Sooke RCMP, RCMP Dog Services and RCMP Air Services. Searchers put in a combined total of about 5,000 hours in one of the largest searches on the Island.
McDevitt’s father flew in from North Carolina to join the search of Sea to Sea Regional Park, which was suspended Dec. 19 after McDevitt could not be located.
Since then, Sooke RCMP say they have maintained an active missing-person investigation and have stayed in close contact with McDevitt’s family.
“There has been an outpouring of support for Melissa and her family since she went missing,” said Sgt. Kevin Shaw, acting Sooke RCMP detachment commander. “The RCMP and Melissa’s family sincerely appreciate the public’s assistance and continued efforts to find Melissa to this point.”
Anyone with information on McDevitt’s disappearance is asked to call Sooke RCMP at 250-642-5241.
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