(Photo credit: Supplied)

By Stephanie Swensrude

MISSING PERSONS

Weekend search planned for Shannon White and Ryan Shtuka

Jun 22, 2022 | 4:25 PM

KAMLOOPS — Though her son Ryan has been missing for four and a half years, Heather Shtuka hasn’t given up hope.

“Through our searches we focus on the very last time Ryan was seen. However, he had almost 21 years that he was impactful,” said Shtuka.

“He was impactful to my husband and I, our family, our loved ones, his friends, his community, he had an impact — even up in Sun Peaks he had an impact. Because he matters so much.”

Ryan was 20 years old when he was last seen leaving a party in Sun Peaks on February 17, 2018. Heather organized a search for this Sunday near the Heffley Dump.

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“If you are available, even if it’s for a day or half a day. I always say that it only takes 15 minutes. I know that sounds silly, but it really only takes one person for whatever length of time that’s needed to find somebody.”

The search isn’t just for Ryan — Heather actually organized the search with Shannon White in mind. The 32-year-old Kamloops woman was last seen leaving for work on November 1, 2021. White’s friends reached out to Heather back in November when the official search was called off.

“People always ask, what do you do in the first little bit, when those official sources go home, what do families do? They usually reach out to us and ask, do you have any advice?,” Heather said.

“And we start off very general: what’s been done… what is your goal for what searches will look like, how do you want to coordinate them, what resources do you know of right now?”

Dog handlers were out Wednesday (June 22) preparing for the weekend search. Mike Ritcey is a volunteer who has been heavily involved in the searches for both Shannon and Ryan. Ritcey will be joined by a newer search dog and a cadaver dog from Vernon.

“The people that are coming, they’re coming from all walks of life,” said Ritcey.

“It’s not an organized search by any search teams. It’s organized by a group that’s been looking for Ryan Shtuka, and then there’s a group that’s looking for Shannon. They’re doing lots of work putting it together… we’re gonna be helping where we can.”

Ritcey said giving the families hope keeps him going.

“They’re both very grateful for us not giving up and people keep on looking, that’s all we can do is bring hope,” said Ritcey.

“Hopefully, one day somebody will do the right thing and come forward and give us the information we need to give the families some answers to what happened.”

Heather won’t give up until she finds those answers.

“It’s the last physical thing I can do for my son,” said Heather. “Going out and searching and continuing to do that… whatever can be done to find to find Ryan, we are doing, within our power.”

The search teams are again appealing to those heading out of town to hike or mountain bike to take a quick look around for anything that looks like it might be out of place, as it could potentially help with the investigation.