Quietly, about mid-February, the active search for Jordan Naterer resumed.
“This is our child, and we don’t give up on our children,” said Josie Naterer, in an interview last week with The Spotlight.
Jordan, 25, was last seen in Manning Park October 10, 2020, after telling friends he planned an overnight hike.
Related: Search efforts to resume for missing Manning Park hiker; Trudeau speaks on case
Exhaustive means went into looking for the missing electrical engineer from Vancouver, involving Ground Search and Rescue (GSAR) groups from across the province, Vancouver police and RCMP.
The official search ended after about two weeks. However Jordan’s family and friends then worked privately, raising money through a Gofundme page and hiring a private search company, employing their own helicopters and drones.
Those efforts came mostly to an end in December, because of deteriorating weather.
Related: Two months later, family, friends of missing Manning Park hiker continue to search
While the Naterer family lives in St. John’s, Nfld., Jordan’s father Greg has been staying in B.C. for the past two months, helping to co-ordinate new search efforts.
The family is relying on small teams of experts, including an avalanche technician, a first-aider, a former military officer and GSAR specialists which go out several times a week.
Their search is focused on Windy Joe Trail, Monument 78 Trail, Skyline I and II Trails, and Frosty Trais.
As the snow melts, searchers are able to go a little farther each day, and it’s hoped another helicopter pass can be made before the spring foliage obscures a sky view.
“To date we have found no clues, absolutely nothing.”
Through social media and advertising campaigns directed at the Lower Mainland population – and including the placement of billboards – the Naterer family has come into contact with many people hiking in the area the weekend Jordan disappeared.
From their photos and recollections, Josie and Greg now believe their son never made it to the summit of Frosty Mountain. His cell phone pinged twice from the mountain on the day he disappeared, but both times that was before his car was left in the Lightning Lake parking lot of the resort.
Josie isn’t sure what to make of that timeline.
The Upper Similkameen Indian Band (USIB) has provided crucial aid.
“When we have, for example, a bone or a track on the trails we send it to them right away and they are immediate in responding to us,” she explained. “They’ve been outstanding and they’ve also offered to bring out some of their trackers in June to help us.”
Some days are easier, and then harder, than others and Josie relies on her own support network. “We are a very strong family. We are a very committed family.”
Earlier this month a body was discovered in Silver Creek near Hope.
While Josie discounted the idea it could be Jordan, she didn’t know for certain until Monday, April 19, that the person had been identified and was not her son.
Related: ‘I am not leaving without my son,’ says mother of missing Manning Park hiker
It’s impossible for the family to give up hope of finding Jordan alive, but Josie has also come to acknowledge different outcomes.
“We have to be logical and we have to be honest with the situation…My husband will eventually come home and we are going to move on in a different way as a family and hopefully we will someday have closure.”
Her voice crackles with grief and pride as she describes Jordan.
He is an undergraduate electrical engineer from Memorial University, and had just just completed his Masters at the University of B.C. He is a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada scholar.
“You couldn’t have asked for an easier child to raise,” she said. “He was just a keener, just a keener interested in everything. He loved Legos, loved reading, loved swimming, loved biking and karate as well. He loved music. Jordan was an accomplished musician. He was a pianist and he was such a well-rounded, kind gentle-hearted, academically inclined child…He’s just an incredible young man, that what’s make this very hard.”
The gofundme page to support the search for Jordan is still active and has raised $140,321 so far. Josie said she hopes the family can reach its $150,000 goal, allowing the search to continue as long as possible. DONATE HERE TO HELP FIND JORDAN NATERER
