The owners of a cabin west of Smithers had their holiday cut short last March when word from caretakers arrived saying their cabin was destroyed during a house party.
No charges have been laid by the RCMP despite around 20 individual youth being questioned.
The caretaker is calling for people in the community to take more responsibility in protecting their neighbourhood.
The cabin in question is at the end of a highly-populated road with four houses within earshot.
The driveway and property have separate signs reading private drive and no trespassing.
The owners and caretakers have spoken to several members of the RCMP since the incident.
“We brought them an iPhone and an MP3 player we found near the house and still nothing,” she said.
“Surely there were messages from or about the party on the phone.”
The owners of the house have filed for a $150,000 insurance claim and a statement of loss that includes chain saws, a 24 karat gold fishing reel and several other expensive items.
“Everything that was left in the house was broken except two bed frames and some chairs.”
“Somebody even painted a Nazi symbol on the wall.”
It took nearly two weeks to clean and document the missing items and damage to the house.
“My husband was out there for nine days straight helping the owners,” said the caretaker.
“There were gouges in the cedar-panelled walls and the fridge was on the front porch.”
The house-wrecking party occurred shortly after the release of ‘Project X’, a movie about a massive house party thrown by two teens that want to be seen as cool by their peers.
“Unlike prior ‘house party’ movies, Project X says nothing meaningful about its subject matter and, instead, paints teens as unlikeable and reckless automatons,” wrote movie critic, Ben Kendrick.
The caretaker echoes the critics remarks and adds a dose of reality.
“The worst part about all of this is that there are no consequences to those that did it,” the caretaker said.
“So there are quite a few kids in town that think they can do this sort of thing and nothing will happen.”
“That’s not the sort of community I want to live in.”
The caretaker questions the parents of youth who were called in by local RCMP.
“If my kid was involved in something like this I would drag them to the cop shop by the ear,” she said.
“Even if they didn’t wreck anything themselves they were still trespassing and would have witnessed what went on.”
“A lesson needs to be learned here.”
A lesson that may have been glossed over previously, a local business owner said.
A similar incident happened over two years ago near the Hankin-Evelyn backcountry ski hill, when the owners of a house were notified that some people who arrived via snowmobile wrecked their unattended house.
No charges were handed out by the RCMP for this crime as well.
“The cops have told us that there’s not enough evidence,” the caretaker, who wishes to remain anonymous, said.
“They didn’t even stay at the house for an hour and didn’t take any finger prints or anything.”
“They took pictures and left.”
Most of the people questioned about the party were under the age of 18, but the caretaker was told there were people older than 19 as well.
To her, charges of trespassing and break-and-enter could easily be placed on any person over 19 and known to be at the party.
“The owners hope that the reason there are no charges isn’t to brush it all under the rug,” the caretaker said.
“The public needs to know when things like this happen in the community.”
“People are horrified when I show them pictures of the cabin and the damage done.”
The owners of the house want to caution other homeowners in town to safeguard their property, the caretaker said.
“They feel violated and think it’s a good idea to take an inventory of all the items in your house if you plan on leaving town for a while,” the caretaker said.
Anyone with information regarding these separate incidents or the whereabouts of any of the items taken from the cabin are asked to contact the Smithers RCMP at 250-847-3233.
