Today marks the 6th anniversary of our son Michael James Bosma’s disappearance from Kelowna BC. How can something feel like a million years ago and yet so fresh?. Our lives have been forever changed since Mike went missing. As a family we have endured the past six years of uncelebrated birthdays,the huge void at any family gathering and the anguish of waiting for a unidentified body to be ID not sure what to hope for. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that one of our children could just vanish off the face of the earth. The helpless feeling of not knowing where our son is has been the hardest thing to learn to live with. The worst part is that your loved one’s remains could be found somewhere and not be identified for a long time…if ever. I know I have said this many times but there really is a need for a data base for missing people of Canada.
Because Michael suffered from Mental Illness (and trust me when I say Mental Illness is very much a suffering disease) the easy explanation is that he took his own life, which in itself is a whole new horror. But there has never been any evidence of that,no body has been found and Michael is not the only young, vibrant, healthy man to go missing. Since Michael has gone missing almost 40 other young men have gone missing in BC alone. I am astonished and amazed at how many people go missing and how little we hear about them. If your lucky your loved one makes the headlines for a few days.
This year the RCMP officer that looked after Mike’s case retired and I met the new officer. He will be handling Mike’s case from now on and will contact us if there is any news. I was informed that last year someone using the name Michael Bosma with the same birth date was stopped at the Border of the USA and Manitoba. The authorities contacted the local RCMP and soon realized that this was not the Michael Bosma that is missing from Kelowna BC. However it was encouraging to know that this investigation is on going and that Mike’s name is still in the “system.” When I met the new officer in charge of Mike’s case we agreed that a Press Release would happen this year to see if anybody remembers anything from that January day six years ago. We just need to know where our son is. He needs to be with his family. Hopefully this press release will happen…..
Here is the list of men that are missing age 35 years and younger by Name and Date since Mike went missing January 2006. Some of these men do have mental health issues, and some are known to the police but is there some sort of connection? How do people especially young men disappear and no one has seen or heard anything?
2006
Michael Bosma, 25, January 2006, Kelowna
Munny Sidhu 17, March 2006 Abbotsford
Gaganpreet Suveen Sandhar, 17, June 2006, Surrey
Aaron Derbyshire, 22, September 2006, Kelowna
Brandyn Dirienzo, 20, October 2006, Chilliwack
2007
Desmond Peter, 15, March 2007, Cowichan Valley
Jeffrey Surtel, 17, April 2007 Mission
Lucan Degeneress, 14, June 2007, Prince George
Brian Braumberger, 18, June 2007, Burnaby
Asim Chaundry 24, July 2007, Burnaby
Kyle McDonald 24, August 2007, Victoria
2008
Derek Kelly, 31, January, 100 Mile House
Wade McKenzie, 23, January, White Rock
Kelly McElwee, 25, March, Langely
Michael Scullian, 30, April, Chilliwack
Shahil Sharma, 30, November, Surrey
Geoff Meisner, 33, November, Kelowna
2009
Tyler Walton, 25, Nov, Williams Lake
2010
David Haywod, 29, Feb, Vancouver
Shawn MacDonald-McLaughlin, 21, March, Coquitlam
Owen Rooney, 24, August, Grand Forks
Adam Myers, 25, October, Burnaby
Josh Bowe, 21, November, Mission
Justin Guenette, 26, November, Williams Lake
2011
Stephen Begg, 35, Feb, Surrey
Darren Jansen, 17, April Kamloops
David Cox, 27, April, Cranbrook
Olivier Howard, 30, April, Nelson
Leonardo Cheong 35, July, Richmond
Randy Neilson, 27, Oct, Grandforks
Mandeep Bal, 24, Oct, Surrey
Lee Lamb, 27, Oct, Nanimo
Mitchell Galivan, 19, Oct, Vancouver
Tyler Fetterly, 26, Oct, Prince George
Brian Baruk, 20, Nov, Vanvouver
Demetrios Rokanas, 34, Nov, Parksville
Matthew Huyszar, 25, Dec. Vancouver
Seyek Nourbakshs-Saleh, 26, Dec, Vancouver
Petition for a DNA Data Bank for the Missing of Canada http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41301.html