Gerald White holds his daughter's missing person poster (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

SHANNON WHITE

‘The unknown is the worst’; Gerald White back in Kamloops searching for Shannon

Apr 28, 2022 | 4:07 PM

KAMLOOPS — Shannon White was last seen on the morning of November 1, 2021 as she left for work. She would never arrive and later was declared missing. What followed was an intense search and rescue operation, and RCMP investigation into her disappearance.

“Every day, it’s a heartache and heartbreak. The unknown of not knowing where she is just tears me up as well as her family and friends,” said Shannon’s dad Gerald White.

Now almost six months later, the efforts to find even a trace of Shannon continues for those closest to her, and those in the community as the investigation remains active.

“Shannon White still is missing and the investigation is open and ongoing. Just reminding the public to keep their eyes open for anything that could help in the investigation,” said Kamloops RCMP Cst. Crystal Evelyn.

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“It’s not so much challenging as it is frustrating,” added Mike Ritcey, Kamloops Search and Rescue. “She has to be somewhere, and there is a group of us going out. It’s not an official search but there is still a lot of us out there looking.”

The search for Shannon has taken the teams west, southwest and north of Kamloops with no sign of the young woman turning up. For her dad, not knowing is the hardest part.

“The unknown is the worst. Not knowing where she is, it eats you up in the heart. We can’t wait to find her, we have every confidence one day we will find her and we can move forward from that,” added Gerald.

As the weather improves and backcountry recreational activities begin, hikers, bikers and everybody else is asked to keep an eye out for clothing, jewelry or anything else out of place.

“While people are up there doing their hiking or biking, if they maybe just take a couple minutes out of their time when they’re stopped to rest. Maybe just take a few minutes to take a look off the path and see if they can find anything. Anything that would help locate her, I would greatly appreciate that,” said Gerald.

This morning Gerald, along with Shannon’s dog Buddy walked down to Riverside Park to place a purple lock on the Kamloops hope sign that Shannon showed him during a visit last July.

“I know purple is her favourite colour. I knew coming out I wanted to put one on the ‘Hope’ sign, because that’s what we’re hoping. We’re hoping that we can find her. If people come down and see this (lock) maybe that will help trigger something for them to help remember her and always hope we can find her,” Gerald explained.

It’s been nearly six months since Shannon White disappeared. One-hundred seventy-eight days of heartache. Half a year of not knowing. But for Gerald and everybody else who knows Shannon, the hope will live on, the hope that endless questions could finally receive their answers.