By Tanya Cronin

Search for missing man at Sun Peaks enters third day

Feb 19, 2018 | 4:05 PM

KAMLOOPS — It is a parents worst ‘nightmare’ – a missing child. That’s exactly what an Alberta family is facing Monday, as the search for their son entered day three.

Dozens of family and friends gathered Monday at Sun Peaks to search for 19 year old Ryan Shtuka, who hasn’t been seen or heard from since leaving a house party on Burfield Drive in the resort in the early hours of Saturday morning. It’s believed the teen was headed home just a short walk from the party but after failing to show up for work a massive search ensued and in light of very cold temperatures and harsh wintry conditions time is a factor in finding ryan alive

Three days and still not a word or sign of Ryan Shtuka. Over a dozen friends of the 19 year old set out Monday morning for yet another agonizing search.

“I don’t know to think if he’s out there or if he got picked up, i really don’t know, just doing what I can, I don’t know where else to look for him, I’m just doing what I can,” says Ryan’s childhood friend and roommate James Maxwell.

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Friday night Ryan attended a house party in Sun Peaks resort, where he’s been living and working for the past few months. He was last seen leaving the party on Burfield Drive just after 2 o’clock Saturday morning. It’s believed he was headed to his home just five minutes away.

“I was with him all night from the time we left our house to the bar at Bottoms, and went to the house party with him, then I got tired first, so I left without him and that’s where things went wrong,” he says.

Maxwell moved to Sun Peaks from Alberta with Ryan to spend the winter season at the mountain ski resort. When Ryan failed to answer phone calls, text messages and show up for work Saturday, he knew something wasn’t right.

“We went door to door asking anyone for any footage they may have had, any dashcam footage, hopefully they saw him walk by, but we didn’t have any luck there, and then we were walking around known trails around the village, but we didn’t really have any luck with that.”

But no one is giving up. Large groups of friends and locals are volunteering their time scanning the woods near where Ryan was last seen. Search and rescue’s efforts over the weekend turned up nothing. The RCMP’s Air 4 helicopter and canine unit has been canvassing the area as well.

“It’s within about a three block four block radius where he was, we’re kind of concentrating on that area, that’s kind of where we think he is, some things that really compounded or caused a lot of problems is the snowfall we had Friday night into Saturday, there’s almost a foot of fresh snow.” says RCMP Staff Sgt. Doug Aird. 

Police say Ryan has not used his cellphone or been active on social media since he vanished.The 19-year old’s mom and dad and other family members have made the trip from Alberta to look for their son but with plummeting temperatures and snow there’s an extra level of urgency to find the teen who may have been exposed to the elements for almost 72 hours.

“The quicker we can find Ryan the better, I was just talking to his dad, hopes are that he jumped in a vehicle and hitchiked to Kamloops,” says Aird.

“He’s never done anything like this, he would always just come home, he’s not the type of guy to go on a bender and never come home or never talk to anyone, he would definitely try to get into contact with somebody,” says Maxwell.

Shtuka is described as white, 5’10” tall, 155 lbs, with blonde hair and brown eyes. 

He was wearing dark jeans, a grey/white shirt, a blue coat, and a burgundy ball cap when last seen. 

Anyone with information is asked to call Kamloops RCMP at 250-828-3000.