The search for David Michael Jeff has moved to Kelowna after dozens of people combed both sides of the Thompson River looking for him in Kamloops on Monday.
Esk’etemc Chief Charlene Belleau, who helped organize the mass search in Kamloops, said there was a potential sighting of Jeff in Kelowna on the weekend.
“We are searching here today,” she told the Tribune from Kamloops. “Family members stayed to continue searching in Kamloops.”
Jeff, 67, was last seen in Kamloops after he evacuated from Williams Lake during the summer’s wildfires.
Homeless outreach worker Wayne Lucier from Williams Lake participated in the Kamloops search and said he’d heard Jeff was possibly sighted near Orchard Park Mall in Kelowna.
“Hopefully something will show up,” he said as he returned to the lakecity Tuesday.
Between 50 and 60 people helped with the search Monday and Lucier said he was very happy with the turnout.
“The RCMP took the lead and we covered a lot of ground along the river bank,” Lucier said. “There were an amazing amount of camps on both sides of the river, but most of them had been vacated.”
If Jeff is in Kelowna, Lucier suspects he will stay hidden as long as possible.
“He likes to stay to himself and won’t try to head indoors until it gets cold,” he said.
Before the evacuation, Jeff was living at Jubilee Place in Williams Lake, a supportive housing unit for persons who are homeless or at-risk-of-homelessness, which Lucier said had been positive.
“David would still go downtown lots, but he felt safe at Jubilee Place and I don’t think he spent too many nights in RCMP cells after that.”