0:20

There are times when friends and family

0:22

members of a missing or murdered individual

0:24

will reach out and ask if there's

0:26

any way to bring more awareness to

0:29

their case. But in a few instances,

0:31

someone else reaches out. The one that

0:33

might be considered a person of

0:36

interest. I originally covered this story

0:38

several years ago, but after a

0:40

back and forth conversation with this

0:42

person and new insights being released

0:44

on a fellow true crime podcast,

0:46

I thought it was time to revisit

0:48

it. and pull all these new

0:50

details together. After all, you never

0:52

know when the right person will

0:54

hear the right message and the

0:56

impact that can have for a

0:58

family. Today, we're going

1:00

to revisit the seriously

1:03

mysterious disappearance of Colleen Smith.

1:05

Colleen Sylvia Smith was born on

1:07

October 11, 1966, and she was

1:09

an only child. She grew up

1:11

in Penticton British Columbia and

1:14

has been described as a

1:16

kind person who enjoys gardening,

1:18

sewing, photography, reading, being in

1:20

nature, and participating in local

1:23

theater. She was also fond of

1:25

animals and a proud pet mom of

1:27

four cats, one dog, and several chickens.

1:29

Colleen moved back to Rock

1:31

Creek, British Columbia, around 2012. The

1:34

residents of the small rural

1:36

community largely rely on ranching

1:38

and agriculture for work while

1:40

enjoying outdoor activities like river

1:42

tubing, hiking, fishing, and camping.

1:44

Colleen had a dream of combining her

1:47

love of sewing and photography by making

1:49

a photo booth at the local fair.

1:51

There, people could dress up in costume,

1:53

have their picture taken with a sepia

1:55

filter on it, and make it look like

1:58

they were in a picture from the old Rock

2:00

Creek has less than 500 people

2:02

living there and that made meeting

2:04

new people a bit tough on

2:06

Colleen. On top of that she

2:08

was also estranged from her mother

2:10

and had a strained relationship with

2:12

her father. She did have some

2:14

friends, particularly a friend named Erica

2:16

whom she met through a local

2:18

theater production in 2013. They would

2:21

run lines at Colleen's house and

2:23

soon a friendship formed. Erica recently

2:25

did an interview on the True

2:27

North True Crime podcast. So we'll

2:29

bring in some of her insights.

2:31

However, Colleen had a romantic relationship

2:33

with a man we'll call Jack

2:35

at the time that she disappeared.

2:37

And after my initial video, he

2:39

reached out. To be blunt, he

2:41

wasn't happy. We had a lengthy

2:43

back-and-forth conversation, and while I did

2:45

offer him an interview to clear

2:47

up any misconceptions, it just didn't

2:49

come together. That being said, I

2:51

will interject some of the important

2:53

points I recall from my conversation

2:55

with him, the first of those

2:57

being that he didn't feel that

2:59

Colleen and Erica had much of

3:01

a relationship at all, and he

3:03

believes that Erica has effectively been

3:05

targeting him. He claims to have

3:07

suffered vandalism at his home due

3:09

to the coverage of this case,

3:11

and that's despite us specifically not

3:13

releasing his identity. By all accounts,

3:15

the relationship between Colleen and Jack

3:17

was not in the best place.

3:19

He seemed to believe that she

3:21

had possibly cheated on him or

3:23

had been encouraged by friends of

3:25

hers to do so. He claims

3:28

that they basically were not together

3:30

romantically by the time that she

3:32

went missing. While an inside source

3:34

I spoke to in the production

3:36

of my original video several years

3:38

ago thought that this relationship was

3:40

active and abusive, Jack claims that

3:42

simply was not true. Colleen definitely

3:44

had financial trouble and had even

3:46

declared bankruptcy at one point. Erica

3:48

stated that Jack was not a

3:50

fan of the four cats, and

3:52

they were confined to Colleen's room

3:54

in the basement. Colleen and Jack

3:56

also shared a chihuahua, and Colleen

3:58

told Erica that Jack had stolen

4:00

the dock. from her, although Erica

4:02

didn't know exactly what stolen meant.

4:04

According to Erica, Jack and Colleen

4:06

moved to Rock Creek after a

4:08

bizarre incident at Colleen's job. Colleen

4:10

was a seamstress and worked in

4:12

a fabric store in Penticton, and

4:14

that store was burglarized. Her employers

4:16

thought it was an inside job,

4:18

and they were suspicious of Jack.

4:20

Even though the store owners could

4:22

never prove that Colleen had any

4:24

knowledge of the burglary, they fired

4:26

her. And Colleen was quite upset

4:28

about this. This leads us to

4:30

February 9th, 2016. According to Jack,

4:32

he saw Colleen that morning around

4:35

9 a.m. while he was getting

4:37

ready to go to Vancouver. In

4:39

addition to owning a seamstress and

4:41

photography business, Colleen also worked at

4:43

the Petro-Canada gas station on Crow's

4:45

Nest Highway in Rock Creek. Her

4:47

friend Erica arrived at the gas

4:49

station that morning on her way

4:51

to work. The employees were already

4:53

concerned and trying to figure out

4:55

why Colleen wasn't answering her phone.

4:57

and even spoke to her husband

4:59

about her concerns for Colleen. Her

5:01

husband tried to reassure her, maybe

5:03

Colleen got sick or overslept, but

5:05

Erica says that she knew something

5:07

was wrong. Erica went back to

5:09

the gas station on the morning

5:11

of February 12th, hoping to get

5:13

an update. No one had heard

5:15

from Colleen, but it was payday,

5:17

and Colleen's coworkers were certain that

5:19

she would not miss picking up

5:21

her check. She was having financial

5:23

issues after all, but she did

5:25

miss it miss it. According

5:27

to Jack, who says that he

5:30

spoke to her boss, she got

5:32

paid on the last day that

5:34

she was in, and she was

5:36

paid up to that point. I

5:38

personally have never worked at a

5:40

job where my pay wasn't deferred

5:42

by at least a week, but

5:44

Jack says that's what her boss

5:46

told him. Erica went back to

5:48

the gas station again on February

5:50

13th. Employees at Petro Canada were

5:52

growing more concerned. Erica decided at

5:55

this point to go to Colleen's

5:57

house and she says she found

5:59

Jack in the driveway with his

6:01

truck running and the chihuahua was

6:03

in the truck. Colleen's car wasn't

6:05

there. Jack got out of the

6:07

truck and Erica asked where Colleen

6:09

was and when was the last

6:11

time that Jack saw her. Jack

6:13

said he didn't know anything. He

6:15

said that the last time he

6:17

saw Colleen was on the ninth

6:20

at about 9 a.m. When Erica

6:22

asked Jack what he went to

6:24

Vancouver for, Jack couldn't give an

6:26

answer immediately but eventually said that

6:28

he went to see a friend.

6:30

When Erica asked what friend he

6:32

went to see, Jack started to

6:34

get irritated. Most of Colleen's belongings

6:36

were left behind, including her camera,

6:38

her sewing machine, and her cats.

6:40

It was already out of character

6:42

for Colleen to not show up

6:44

for work. Now, she leaves and

6:47

leaves her pets behind. There is

6:49

a lot of conflicting information about

6:51

who reported Colleen missing and when

6:53

they did so. In my original

6:55

coverage, the inside source that I

6:57

was speaking to said that it

6:59

was Colleen's boss that reported her

7:01

missing, either on February 11th or

7:03

12th. But on the True North

7:05

True Crime podcast, Erica said that

7:07

she was the one to report

7:09

calling missing, and according to Erica,

7:12

she reported that on February 13th

7:14

around 1 p.m. Jack made no

7:16

mention to me of calling her

7:18

in missing. February 14th, around 5

7:20

p.m. Erica was tagged in a

7:22

post made from Colleen's Facebook account.

7:24

It was saying that Colleen just

7:26

needed some space and would come

7:28

back. Later that day, Colleen's account

7:30

unfriended Erica and another community member

7:32

who was also concerned about Colleen

7:34

and making posts about it. On

7:36

February 16th, Erica made a post

7:39

on Colleen's wall asking her to

7:41

get in contact with the Royal

7:43

Canadian Mounted Police or the RCMP.

7:45

And let them know that she

7:47

was okay. The following day, February

7:49

17th, Colleen's Facebook account made another

7:51

post saying, Does nobody know? what

7:53

alone means. We know Colleen did

7:55

create distance in personal relationships with

7:57

her family at times, but we

7:59

have no way of knowing if

8:01

it was actually Colleen making these

8:04

posts or someone who accessed her

8:06

account. Erica said that Colleen had

8:08

a desktop computer at home and

8:10

wondered if that's how the posts

8:12

were being made. Other residents of

8:14

Rock Creek were sending Colleen Facebook

8:16

messages. They were being read, but

8:18

no one ever got a reply.

8:20

On Tuesday, May 3rd, 2016, almost

8:22

three months after she had last

8:24

been seen, Colleen's car, a blue

8:26

2005 four-door Chevrolet Cobalt, was found

8:29

in a Walmart parking lot in

8:31

Colona, approximately 81 miles north of

8:33

Rock Creek. The inside source for

8:35

my original coverage noted that it

8:37

wasn't unusual for Colleen to drive

8:39

almost two hours to this Walmart,

8:41

as Rock Creek had basically no

8:43

stores. The car contained no evidence

8:45

of Colleen's whereabouts or any personal

8:47

items other than Colleen's glasses. Interestingly,

8:49

True North True Crime reported that

8:51

the license plates were also removed

8:53

from the car. The car was

8:56

found locked, undamaged, and in good

8:58

working order, although it looked a

9:00

bit weathered. This of course would

9:02

make sense if the car was

9:04

parked there for almost three months,

9:06

but there's speculation about how long

9:08

it had actually been there. There

9:10

were snow removal vehicles coming through

9:12

the parking lot at this time.

9:14

and it seems reasonable to think

9:16

that they would have noticed it.

9:18

The inside source for my original

9:21

video said that they asked about

9:23

security cameras in the Walmart parking

9:25

lot, but apparently the car was

9:27

out of their view. So there's

9:29

no way to tell exactly when

9:31

the car got there. Erica seems

9:33

to think that the car wasn't

9:35

there since February, and she might

9:37

have a compelling reason to believe

9:39

that. On March 17th, a photo

9:41

of a car matching Colines was

9:43

taken on the back road between

9:46

Okenog and Vazoo Lake and Vazoo

9:48

Lake. By the time Erica got

9:50

to the vineyard where the car

9:52

had been seen, it was no

9:54

longer there. And no one at

9:56

the vineyard knew anything about it.

9:58

Two weeks later, her car was

10:00

found in Colona. This could mean

10:02

that her car was moved around

10:04

for some reason. Jack tells me

10:06

that as far as he's concerned,

10:08

the car was sold or stolen,

10:10

and that explains how it pretty

10:13

much was cleaned out of personal

10:15

items. He also doesn't believe that

10:17

it was in the parking lot

10:19

for long, specifically because the battery

10:21

was still charged, and he tells

10:23

me that if that car sits

10:25

for two weeks, the battery would

10:27

be dead. While I've personally spoken

10:29

to numerous sources on this case,

10:31

there is little public information coming

10:33

from law enforcement. There's no clear

10:35

timeline of Colleen's movements leading up

10:38

to her disappearance, which makes it

10:40

difficult to trace her whereabouts. Because

10:42

Colleen disappeared in the winter, there

10:44

was initial concern that she could

10:46

have gone off the road, but

10:48

Colleen's car was found. Jack's house

10:50

and backyard were also searched, which

10:52

he shared with me that one

10:54

of these searches happened on his

10:56

birthday. but there have been no

10:58

public reports about any evidence being

11:00

found in those searches. The RCMP

11:02

has been keeping a lot of

11:05

information confidential, like whether they trace

11:07

the IP address of the device

11:09

making posts on Colleen's Facebook. RCMP

11:11

did say that there's been no

11:13

activity on her phone or bank

11:15

account since her disappearance. True North

11:17

True Crime makes a good point

11:19

that the more in-depth searches of

11:21

her digital information would require a

11:23

search warrant. and there likely isn't

11:25

enough evidence of foul play to

11:27

support obtaining those warrants right now.

11:30

Interestingly, both Jack and Erica have

11:32

the same perspective on the RCMP's

11:34

initial reaction, basically that the police

11:36

were not concerned enough. Erica was

11:38

told Colleen will come back. Jack

11:40

was told Colleen's an adult and

11:42

can leave if she wants to.

11:44

Erica decided she wasn't just going

11:46

to wait for the RCMP to

11:48

help out. In addition to the

11:50

Facebook work and appearing on the

11:52

podcast interview, Erica also reached out

11:55

to Wings of Mercy, a volunteer

11:57

organization that helps rural communities with

11:59

searches for missing people. With drones

12:01

that can take aerial photographs of

12:03

hard-to-reach places, forensic anthropology, and cadaver

12:05

dogs, wings of mercy is well

12:07

equipped to help a case like

12:09

Colleen's. But, given that there is

12:11

no clear location where she was

12:13

last seen, wings of mercy has

12:15

no way to determine where they

12:17

should start their search. It might

12:19

be that the RCMP also ran

12:22

into similar issues, and are waiting

12:24

for more tips to come in

12:26

to better define a potential search

12:28

area. Despite the limited coverage of

12:30

this case, there is no shortage

12:32

of theories. The first theory, the

12:34

one that I'm sure you're all

12:36

thinking of, is that Jack did

12:38

something to Colleen. Honestly, I'm split

12:40

down the middle after my interactions

12:42

with him. He's at times extremely

12:44

defensive, at other times borderline aggressive,

12:47

and in some cases, almost tactless

12:49

in his views and descriptions of

12:51

Colleen. He left me feeling like

12:53

he didn't like her much. And

12:55

there were several references to her

12:57

being promiscuous and possibly having cheated

12:59

on him. That could be motive.

13:01

But there's also an air of

13:03

blame that he seems to be

13:05

placing directly on Colleen, one that

13:07

at times does feel like he's

13:09

hurt that she just up and

13:12

left him, specifically leaving this whole

13:14

mess of her being missing as

13:16

even more of a burden to

13:18

him. If she did go into

13:20

hiding, is that reaction really all

13:22

that hard to believe? Erica thinks

13:24

that foul play is the most

13:26

likely scenario. And there are a

13:28

couple of people out there that

13:30

have more information that they're not

13:32

sharing. Friends of Jack would tell

13:34

Erica that Colleen had actually been

13:36

in contact with the police. Jack

13:39

told me about some of those

13:41

stories as well, which I clarified

13:43

with him is just not how

13:45

missing persons cases work. If her

13:47

identity was confirmed, the case would

13:49

be closed. And Jack has seemingly

13:51

demonstrated some odd behavior after Colleen

13:53

went missing. In March of 2016,

13:55

just one month after Colleen disappeared,

13:57

Jack began selling what were believed

13:59

to be Colleen's belongings on local

14:01

buy-and- and sell Facebook groups, including

14:04

a camera and a sewing machine.

14:06

Jack tells me that those items

14:08

did not belong to Colleen at

14:10

all, but were actually the property

14:12

of his recently deceased mother. Colleen's

14:14

dad came to get a U-Haul

14:16

trailer that belonged to Colleen. He

14:18

noticed that there were two large

14:20

locks on it and asked Jack

14:22

to open it, but he declined.

14:24

After driving it back to his

14:26

home, Colleen's dad got the locks

14:29

cut off to find the U-haul

14:31

empty. Did Jack get rid of

14:33

Colleen's belongings that were in the

14:35

U-Haul? Jack tells me that he

14:37

never had access to that trailer.

14:39

Only Colleen did. While Erica believes

14:41

Jack was involved, she's open to

14:43

other theories as well. There is

14:45

a distinct possibility that Colleen did

14:47

run away. Her car was found

14:49

at Walmart. Maybe she drove there,

14:51

picked up some supplies, and left.

14:53

Colleen didn't have a lot of

14:56

money, but Jack claims that she

14:58

probably made a few thousand dollars

15:00

a month and didn't have a

15:02

lot of expenses. Why wouldn't she

15:04

take her camera or her sewing

15:06

machine? Granted, the sewing machine might

15:08

be too big to travel with,

15:10

but a camera? You would think

15:12

that she'd want to take that

15:14

with her so she could make

15:16

some money to help keep her

15:18

afloat. If she did run away,

15:21

why would she presumably still post

15:23

on Facebook? Why would she keep

15:25

thousands of people hearing her story,

15:27

keeping eyes out for her, when

15:29

she could just reach out to

15:31

the RCMP and let them know

15:33

that she was okay, closing the

15:35

investigation? who herself was an experienced

15:37

teenage runaway, would often get caught

15:39

by the RCMP. How could Colleen

15:41

have evaded RCMP for nine years

15:43

now? Then there's the possibility of

15:45

a crime of opportunity. Maybe she

15:48

went to Walmart for a normal

15:50

shopping trip and something happened. I

15:52

ran this scenario by Jack and

15:54

got no sense of concern or

15:56

worry and little more than a...

15:58

that's possible. There's also information that

16:00

Colleen also started to host couch

16:02

surfers before her disappearance. There is

16:04

danger in having strangers stay at

16:06

your house, even just for a

16:08

night or two. Maybe one of

16:10

them saw an opportunity and took

16:13

it. Jack acknowledged with me that

16:15

this was indeed happening, but wouldn't

16:17

that app track who was using

16:19

it and where? Wouldn't investigators have

16:21

looked into that almost immediately? Erica

16:23

is also considering that Colleen might

16:25

have taken her own life. While

16:27

Colleen was struggling financially and in

16:29

her relationship, she was also still

16:31

going to work regularly and making

16:33

plans to meet up with friends.

16:35

Does that explain how her car

16:38

got almost 81 miles away from

16:40

her home? Would she take her

16:42

license plates and all her personal

16:44

belongings with her to hide what

16:46

she had done? We previously covered

16:48

the case of Joyce Meyer Summers,

16:50

and that was indeed the outcome

16:52

there. But do we have that

16:54

happening in this case? This part

16:56

of Canada is beautiful. I've been

16:58

to Colona myself, but its forests

17:00

are also lush and vast, and

17:02

its rivers deep and wide. Could

17:05

Colleen's body? be out there somewhere.

17:07

Colleen Sylvia Smith is still missing,

17:09

and she is still missed. She

17:11

deserves to be found. If she's

17:13

missing of her own accord, don't

17:15

we have some duty to confirm

17:17

that, so that people who might

17:19

be considered persons of interest can

17:21

have that dark shadow removed from

17:23

their lives? Are you the person

17:25

who can help move this case

17:27

forward? If so, your urge to

17:30

contact the Midway RCMP. At 250,

17:32

2244. and reference file number 2016-366.

17:34

If you want to remain anonymous

17:36

you can call crime stoppers at

17:38

1-800-22-847-7 or submit a tip online

17:40

at BC crime stoppers.com. Do you

17:42

have any insights or even a

17:44

case you'd like to suggest? Feel

17:46

free to send it to me.

17:48

You'll find a comment form and

17:50

case submission link at Lord Narts.com.

17:52

Thank you to the numerous sources

17:55

that I've spoken with about this

17:57

case. The True North True Crime

17:59

podcast, Wikipedia, citydata.com, Mynelsin' Now.com, Google

18:01

Global .ca, the .com,

18:03

the RCMP and web

18:05

sleuths for .com, and

18:07

web to for information contributing to

18:09

today's story. extend my offer to once

18:11

again extend my offer to

18:14

Jack for a full and depth

18:16

interview. by Candace episode was written

18:18

by Lorden and John by and

18:20

produced by you to our Thank you

18:22

to our audience here for the

18:24

live recording session hosted on

18:27

the channel Lordin Arts Studio 2. Special thanks

18:29

to to mysterious financial supporters financial Robert

18:32

Martin, Robert James Steffen

18:34

Crawford, and Jade. and Jade

18:36

of all, all, thank you

18:38

for listening. We are taking

18:40

a short break, but please join

18:42

me again in two weeks with another

18:44

case that I know you'll find I

18:46

know mysterious. seriously mysterious