Into Thin Air – Ryan Shtuka | Missing ski resort employee’s family steadfast in push to find their son

Afterwards, the group went to a house party on Burfield Drive. Around 2 a.m. on Feb. 17, 2018, Ryan was seen putting on his coat and shoes and his friends – who’d already begun the walk home – figured he was right behind them.

But he didn’t return home that night, or go to work as expected, and so his parents and the police were called.

The night Ryan went missing, the temperature dropped to around minus 26 C and there was more than half a foot of snow coming down. Waves of friends from back home as well as strangers who live in or near Sun Peaks soon made the journey up the mountain to help search for Ryan.

“When we drove up here, I mean we had no idea what to expect,” recalls Heather Shtuka, Ryan’s mother. “We sat at the command centre all day and we saw mass amounts of volunteers coming in and out to help with that first day of searching.”

Heather and Scott Shtuka were quick to spread the word through radio, television, newspaper interviews, and social media.

“Even on Ryan’s Facebook (page), we have almost 70,000 pretty passionate, engaged members. And we get probably about 100 that join each month that continue to join and support,” Heather said. “And they have formed this community that has not really been seen before.”

Maintaining public traction with Ryan’s case has become part of the family’s effort to find their son.

“the awareness piece is the one thing that we can do,” explains Heather. “It’s the only thing that we can control in this whole investigation and disappearance. It’s to continue to advocate and to bring awareness to Ryan.”

With that vast network of people following Ryan’s disappearance comes speculation. Heather says theories about what happened to the young man does wind up in her message inbox from time to time.

“No fear, we’ve thought of them all. And so somebody speculating on our page, we don’t need it, it’s not necessary, and so we just don’t allow it,” she adds.

Scott stays in contact with Kamloops RCMP to check whether there have been any development in the investigation.

“They’re very open. Any tips we get, we send it to them,” he explains, “And you know, same thing, I’m sure there is some stuff that they don’t divulge because of the sensitivity of the case. But at the end of the day we have a good rapport with them.”

The Shtuka’s return to Sun Peaks a few times a year, while volunteers with the Search, Recovery and Detection K9 team in Kamloops continue to look as often as they are able to.

“It’s really hard. It’s seven years of trees, and leaves, and underbush, and life has gone for seven years and has gone over the terrain and the terrain is so incredibly different than it was seven years ago,” she says of how the search areas have changed.

The police haven’t ruled out foul play, but there also hasn’t been any suspicious evidence that would point to it. And Heather is adamant – the family is sticking with the facts. Which is that Ryan Shtuka was at that party, and then he wasn’t.

“People continue to ask us, so what’s new? And we’re like, the same information that we received Feb. 17 in 2018 is the exact same information that we could give you today, seven years later,” added Heather.

At no point has the difficulty of not knowing what happened to their child gone away. But the Shtuka family has also grown to a place where a mention of Ryan also prompts some positive memories. His childhood love of dinosaurs has become the 3D printed green dinosaur figurines and information cards the family hands out. A ski run event is also held every year on the anniversary of Ryan’s disappearance.

“You know, he was this bright, young man who was sarcastic and loyal and smart and athletic. And really sarcastic, and I know I’ve said that once before but it is really important to mention. He was imperfectly perfect,” his mother said. “We absolutely miss him.”

The effort to keep Ryan’s story and memory alive, is all done in hopes that one day new information about what may have happened to him will be reported to Crime Stoppers or the RCMP.

“If anybody does have any recollection of that night that was here, any little tidbit, it might mean something. So we certainly hope somebody would come forward,” reiterates Scott.

—

To anonymously report a crime or submit a tip, Kamloops, Crime Stoppers can be reached at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the BC Crime Stoppers website.

by Dylana Kneeshaw

Into Thin Air – Ryan Shtuka | Missing ski resort employee’s family steadfast in push to find their son

Our Community