Gods River residents search for teenager

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This article was published 08/07/2009 (6249 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Searchers from Gods River First Nation are in Thompson this week trying to retrace the last known steps of Christopher James in the hope of finding the 17-year-old alive and well.

Organizers say James is the fourth Gods River resident to apparently vanish over the past few years. Two are teenagers who disappeared without a trace after leaving the remote northern community to go to school, while James went missing July 3 in Thompson after being treated for a Tylenol overdose. The fourth person is an adult reported missing to Winnipeg police.

Gods River councillor John Ross, who’s helping co-ordinate the search for James, said Tuesday the case has unnerved some parents in his community. Ross said they are wary of sending their older children out of Gods River for high school as the local school only goes up to Grade 9.

"We’ve been fighting for a new school for along time," he said.

The search for James has also rekindled memories of fruitless searches for the two missing teenagers, Sunshine Wood, 16, who vanished in Winnipeg in Feb. 20, 2004 and Dwayne Ross, 19, who disappeared in Thompson Oct. 1, 2004.

The fourth missing Gods River resident is Conrad Hastings, in his mid-40s, who disappeared about two years ago in Winnipeg. He was in the city for medical treatment.

"We’re just going through the same thing again," John Ross said. "You feel helpless. You can’t do anything. You just keep wondering."

Christopher James’ father, Bertie James, said it’s not like his son to wander off without contacting family.

"It’s been six days already," he said Tuesday. "I’m just concerned something has happened to him."

Ross said James was flown out of Gods River, 585 air kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, last Friday to be treated in Thompson for an overdose.

James was then discharged and was last seen drinking at the Mystery Lake Hotel in Thompson. He then left, but never showed up to meet his sister at the place where he was supposed to be staying. It’s believed he was last seen in a wooded area nearby.

He was last seen wearing a black hoody, black and grey cargo pants, a blue T-shirt and has a shaved head. He has a tattoo of the number 27 on his left forearm, and the number 02 on his right forearm.

Ross said if anyone has information or has seen James, call Thompson RCMP at (204) 677-6911.

Ross said James attended classes last year at the Frontier Collegiate Institute in Cranberry Portage, but returned home shortly after his girlfriend committed suicide.

"He couldn’t cope with it," Ross said.

Bertie James said his son planned to go to school this year in Thompson.

He also said until Tuesday he’d been looking for his son in Thompson by himself.

"As time goes on we’re becoming more concerned," he said.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca

Sunshine Wood, 16, was last seen leaving the St. Regis Hotel in Winnipeg’s downtown on Feb. 20, 2004. She moved to the city the previous fall to attend Grade 10 classes at Gordon Bell High School. Her family has said she soon fell in with the wrong crowd and started skipping classes.

Dwayne Tyler Jack Ross, 19, has not been seen since leaving a party on Queen’s Bay in Thompson early Oct. 1, 2004. Ross was attending Grade 12 classes at R.D. Parker Collegiate in Thompson when he vanished.

Christopher Justin James, 17, was last seen in the early morning hours of July 3 at the Mystery Lake Hotel in Thompson. He had been flown to Thompson hours earlier from Gods River after ingesting Tylenol pills.

 

Conrad Hastings, mid-40s, was last known to be in Winnipeg. He had been flown out of Gods River for medical treatment when he disappeared. Because of his age his family didn’t worry immediately, but when he failed to return a missing person’s report was filed with the Winnipeg Police Service.