CHEK News - Apr 20, 2023

Summary

CHEK News: Apr 20, 2023 (Dean Stoltz) "Signs that highlight case of missing Nanaimo woman believed to have been stolen"

source: https://www.cheknews.ca/signs-to-highlight-case-of-missing-nanaimo-woman-believed-to-have-been-stolen-1149479
archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20240206101421/https://www.cheknews.ca/signs-to-highlight-case-of-missing-nanaimo-woman-believed-to-have-been-stolen-1149479
clip: https://lisamarieyoung.ca/n/cn20230420

[Reproduced under Copyright Act (Canada) s.29.2 - Fair Dealing for the purpose of news reporting]

Signs that highlight case of missing Nanaimo woman believed to have been stolen

Lisa Marie Young was 21 years old when she went missing on June 30, 2002. This June will mark 21 years since she was last seen.

Cyndy Hall knew Young and to this day is keeping the case in the public eye.

In March she erected four lawn signs in the grass near the corner of Bowen Road and Dufferin Crescent, but they were stolen.

Then last week she put up three more signs in the same spot. They too were taken, leaving family and friends of the missing woman heartbroken.

“So the first time it was upsetting and I felt angry. The second time I felt a lot of grief,” Hall told CHEK News Thursday.

Young had been at a bar and then a party on June 30, 2002. She was last seen leaving with a man in a red Jaguar.

Her last known location was somewhere along Bowen Road where she’d called a friend on her cell phone, but was never seen again.

The signs were meant to keep her case in the public eye and Hall believes people who know something about her disappearance could be behind the signs being taken.

“I strongly believe people out there know what happened to Lisa,” said Hall. “They know information and I think they know where her remains are and it’s just, why else would you take the signs?”

She agrees it could be a case of petty vandalism, but the signs were never found and she says there are similar-style signs around the city that never get touched.

Police have continued to receive tips over the years and when asked Nanaimo RCMP confirmed the investigation remains active.

There is also a $50,000 reward that’s been put up by an anonymous donor for direct information that leads to her remains.

“I know for a fact that Lisa’s file is still very active and to this day the lead on her file in the Serious Crime Unit are still investigating tips and getting active tips so I do believe the signs were working because we were getting a lot of comments,” Hall said.

The missing signs are now also being investigated by the RCMP.

In a release, Nanaimo RCMP says the signs were first stolen in March, then replacement signs were stolen sometime between April 16 and 18.

Police say Hall spoke with the nearby businesses before putting the signs up who had no objections. Police also confirmed City of Nanaimo employees did not remove the signs.

Anyone with information about the missing signs is asked to call Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345.