Vehicle recovered, victim still missing following North Thompson River drowning

“If we go back to May, a vehicle went into the North Thompson River. At that time, the driver was observed by witnesses as seen to be carried away by the river,” Kamloops RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Dana Napier told CFJC Today.

“Yesterday, the vehicle was recovered and pulled out from the river. Sadly, one person is still missing regarding this incident.”

Adventures With Purpose uses technology like sonar to find missing people and their vehicles in the water. They don’t charge families or law enforcement, but they document all of their searches online. They groups says they’ve found 44 people since December 2019, but they weren’t available for an interview on this particular search in Kamloops ahead of deadline.

Benina Jepkoech, 24, is presumed to have drowned, though a 21-year-old woman who was also in the vehicle was rescued by three bystanders who jumped into action. One of those bystanders, Chaz Peterhans, told CFJC Today that a red sedan narrowly missed a bench before it plunged into the river.

Napier said people along the river should continue to keep a look out and report any potential sightings of Jepkoech to Kamloops RCMP.

“The investigation continues,” Napier said. “We are still hoping to find the driver from this incident and then we will examine the vehicle to see if there is any evidence that we can glean from that.”

by Aaron Schulze & Victor Kaisar

Vehicle recovered, victim still missing following North Thompson River drowning

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