Since her 17-year-old son Jeff disappeared eight years ago in Mission, Dawn Surtel and her husband can’t help but look at every tall skinny boy they see, who looks like their son.
The BC Police Missing Persons Centre is profiling Jeff, along with two other missing people in B.C., as part of National Missing Children’s Day (May 25) in the hopes that increased public attention may prompt new tips.
The RCMP does not believe the investigations are linked, but chose to profile these missing teens based on input from the lead investigators in each file.
Jeff Surtel has been missing from Mission since April 28, 2007.
He left the family home after being grounded from the computer for a week, a consequence of his grades falling on his last report card. He took with him his distinctive CCM blue mountain bike with yellow forks.
“I dream about him all the time,” said Dawn Surtel. “He is always around the age of 12. I think I dream about him young, because I can’t move forward….I can only look back.”
At the time of his disappearance his father described him as a quiet boy, who spent a lot of time at home – and was interested in programming computers. But his mother adds that Jeff also loved camping and fishing, and said for the most part things seemed to come easily for Jeff, such as baseball and skiing.
She confesses that Jeff’s disappearance has “pretty much ruined our lives.”
After he went missing one of the first dreams she had of Jeff was him coming to their bedroom with a big grin on his face, and telling her and her husband how much he missed them, and that he even missed his brother Rob.
“We miss you Jeff and love you and we are still waiting for you to come home.”
Police have followed up on several leads and possible sightings, but despite this work Jeff remains missing. Jeff Surtel is Caucasian, and at the time of his disappearance was 17, 6’1” tall, and weighed 150 pounds with medium length brown hair, brown eyes, and with glasses. He was last seen wearing dark coloured jeans, a navy coloured t-shirt and a blue hooded sweater.
Please contact the Mission RCMP detachments directly if you have any information about the case. Or, if you want to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Safety tips and information about missing children can also be found at missingkids.ca.
The other two teens being profiled are Matthew Richard, last seen near Sicamous B.C. on October 30, 1999 and Lucas Degerness, last seen June 7, 2007 in Prince George.
