Ryan Shtuka

24:05But just as they begin to process what this possibly means for Ryan's case, police get a new lead that opens the case up to a very new and terrifying possibility. That same month, the RCMP told Kamloops this week that a man named Jim had come forward with information. He reported hearing what sounds like an angry or violent exchange by the party house at around the time Ryan went missing. Jim says he heard a man's voice angrily saying, quote, Get in the car. Get in the fucking car. End quote. Jim pretty much went to the RCMP immediately with this information, but his tip didn't seem to lead anywhere.

24:43The RCMP said that even with Jim's tip, they still don't have any evidence of foul play in Ryan's case. And again, while this whole story is extremely shocking, it just doesn't really lead anywhere. But May was a busy month for Ryan's case, because around the same time, Heather told the Sunpeaks News that Ryan's cell phone pinged at 3am on February 17th in Sunpeaks. We don't know the exact location, but she believed that this was proof that Ryan was still in town. At this point, Scott says that this whole experience felt like the movie Groundhog Day. They'd wake up, search for Ryan, go to sleep, and do it all over again.

25:21And at this point, they had to think about going home. After all, they have two kids back there who need their parents too. By the end of May, Heather told the Sunpeak News that she and Scott were officially going back home. They felt like the best time to find Ryan had passed. The undergrowth was thickening, which would make it way harder to spot Ryan or any of his belongings. But they weren't giving up. Heather said that daily searches with local volunteers would continue, and she and Scott plan to return for more searches a few weeks later, and keep coming back each month until snowfall. By the one-year anniversary of Ryan going missing, the RCMP announced that despite following up on over 300 tips and sightings, including one where someone thought they saw Ryan working as a lifeguard, None panned out, and they made it clear that they still did not believe foul play was a factor in Ryan's disappearance.

26:12Ryan's roommate, Chris, shared with the Sunpeak News, quote, I have absolutely no idea what happened to him. All I know is that I don't believe he would have gone anywhere with people he didn't know. I don't believe he would have wandered off into the woods, or was drunk enough to wander off without knowing where he was. And I know for a fact he was young, fit, and experienced in cold weather. End quote. Ryan's case is pretty well known, and we know that with more media comes more speculation, and oftentimes some pretty harsh comments. It's really just a numbers game. The more eyes on a case, the more opinions you get.

26:49You have to take the good with the bad. Chris says that a lot of people have questioned his decision to leave the party without Ryan, and he explains that he didn't think about it at the time. He thought that if Ryan wanted to leave with them, he would have told them to wait for him while he got ready to go. I mean, hindsight is 20-20. And while I'm sure Chris wishes he'd done things differently now, chastising him really doesn't do anything to help Ryan. And I will say that there doesn't appear to be any credible reason to suspect that any of Ryan's roommates were involved in his disappearance.

27:22But the searches for Ryan continued. In May 2019, drones were used to search Sun Peaks from a different perspective. They were specifically looking for the red hat Ryan was wearing when he disappeared. But try as they might, nothing was found. By the three-year anniversary, the Kamloops RCMP informed CBC that they'd still been receiving tips and investigated each one. They said the fact that there were few answers was concerning. Reporter Gene Strong told CBC that no matter how much time had passed, the thought of Ryan was in the back of every Sunpeaks resident's mind. It's been a very hard few years for Heather and Scott.

28:01Having a loved one that's missing is a club no one wants to be in. But like we see so often in these cases, their experience inspires them to help others. In 2021, Heather joined forces with other families of missing persons to create the Freebird Project, a non-profit organization aiming to establish an online hub for information and resources about missing people in Canada. We started that with another amazing family that was experiencing their own loss of their brother, Dominic Neron. So Tammy Neron and Kate Sinclair were two, they're two incredible individuals that had been part of a search for their brother.

28:42And 10 months after Dominic had gone missing in a plane crash, they were able to recover the plane and then have some closure. And during that period of time, we had a lot of conversations. They were providing some support and resources on how to do aerial searches, along with, you know, getting drones to come in to do to do work. So we started when we came home, like how can we best create this legacy for both Dominic and Ryan? And it seemed that if we could offer support to other families going through similar situations that we would do so. And so we work as much with families as we can. You know, I've been in contact with two families recently that are going through their own journey.

29:29journey. And if I can provide some support at the onslaught when everything is so overwhelming, and there's this, this feels like this desperate, urgent need, and I can help you navigate through some of those things that we had to go through alone, then I find it like, what an honor to do so. It's a privilege to be able to do that. Of course, in addition to the Free Bird Project, Ryan's family continued to work for him. In March 2022, on Ryan's 25th birthday, a forensic artist created an age-progressed sketch of Ryan. The RCMP also gave an update, stating that the investigation into Ryan's disappearance would remain open until he's found.

30:10So, what happened to Ryan Stuka? At this point, there are many theories. Some have speculated that he could have been hit by a drunk driver, and the driver hit Ryan's body out of fear. Gene Strong, former Sunpeaks news reporter, said that there were other cases in Sun Peaks where pedestrians were hit by drunk drivers late at night. And we know that the path James took from the party that night was created specifically after a hit-and-run accident. But Gene also makes a good point in saying that there were no reports of a damaged car, blood on the ground, or any signs of a car accident when Ryan went missing.

30:45Again, Sun Peaks is a teeny tiny town. It seems like if someone saw anything like this, news would get around. But you never know. Another theory was that Ryan overdosed at the party, and someone or multiple people there hid his body. Heather and Scott have their own theory, and it's way less sensational. They believe that Ryan died after leaving the party. Heather suggested that he might have fallen into a snowbank, and snow plows then covered him with more snow, trapping him. When I speak with families or loved ones close to these cases, I always like to ask if there's any misinformation out there that they'd like to clear up.

31:26And there usually is. Here's what Heather said about that. I always find it interesting, you know, because there's so much information that's come out. And a lot of it goes to and, you know, I always commend people when they're passionate and engaged. That's what you want for any of your members of your community or your Facebook groups for them to be passionate and engaged in the cause. But what happens from that is sometimes that the misinformation happens and then people will continue to think that there's something outside of that. We have been very transparent from the beginning. There's nothing that I know about Ryan's case that you also do not have access to.

32:12So whether I've posted it, whether I've said it, it may not all be in one area, but I have never not said anything. And I don't know if I did that. I certainly didn't plan to be that transparent. It's just that's what we were. We've just continued ongoing. And sometimes it's difficult when people come on and say, oh, so, yeah, the roommate that he was best friends with left without warning and went back to Australia. Well, that's not true. You know, they have a return ticket. That's what the requirement is, is in order to enter Canada, you actually have to have a return ticket to go back. And so those are some of the federal regulations that happened with that.

32:57So this person had gone, they had gone to the police, they gave their statement and said, if you need me to stay, I can change my flight. They said, there's no reason why. So stuff like that is irritating because I know that's not the true. When you spin it, you make it sound so sinister. And I'm not saying that there's not cause to think suspiciously or through analytical lens at some of the information. I just sit there and go, it might not be as accurate as you think. So when you hang on to something and you make it into a truth that is not necessarily true. The other one I think that I find the most difficult is when people are like, well, he was at the party and then this we heard in the car.

33:46Someone said, get in the car, get in the effing car late at night. Oh, my God. How did they not? How did they miss that? How does that not cause concern? I'm not saying it doesn't. it was certainly reported to the RCMP within a day after this person had heard it. But I will say that person did exactly what they were supposed to do. They were community-minded. They were civic-minded. They did their due diligence. They contacted the police with their information. It could have a lot of relevancy and it could have none. It's been investigated. There's nothing further that we can go to. But what I would say is that the information when it was presented makes it sound so much more than it was.

34:31But we had been there for four months. When this information came out the following November, I'd never heard of that story. We talked to every local. We know them. We go and sit and have dinners at their house. We go into their establishments. We feel very connected. We've gone to fundraisers for other organizations up there. So I felt like we had a really good pulse of what was happening within that community. And I never heard that story. That doesn't mean it's not true. Obviously it was, but how much weight do we give it? So we hadn't heard about that. That was a surprise to us, but the way that it was presented almost made it sound like, you know, where the house was, that's right outside of there.

35:17That's what they heard. It actually wasn't. It was a 25 minute walk away from where Ryan was and where he should have been. Not to say he couldn't have gone there, that this couldn't have happened, that this is not related to Ryan, but people put such weight on it. There's no other person in that entire vicinity that is able to say, hey, I heard that too. There's only one person that was able to say they heard something. We've also heard from other members of the community that said, well, we were outside smoking that night in the same area. Never heard this at all. Never heard anything. So like, how much weight do you put on it?

36:00How much value do you put on it? I don't know. That's not my job. That's an investigator's job. But that's a misinformation that it played such a heavy part in what happened to Ryan. This episode is brought to you by eBay. Before all the algorithm-fed blah and the endless sea of dupes, shopping used to feel more fun. Find that feeling again on eBay. It's not mindless scrolling, it's a fashion pursuit. And when you score that rare Adidas collab or the Dior saddlebag you've been manifesting, it's a rush. eBay has millions of pre-loved finds from hundreds of brands backed by authenticity guarantee.

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37:08We'll be right back. windows.com slash copilot. Obviously, we don't know what happened to Ryan Stuka, but his parents still travel to Sunpeaks to continue their searches. They mark searched areas with green ribbons tied to trees. And in late October 2023, they announced a new reward, now up to$25 ,000. Of course, I asked Heather where the case is today and how we can help. So six years later, I would say that we feel like we're still at ground zero. So no information has come forward. There has been tons of tips. There has been lots of, there's been reviews of the case. It is actually not just the rural detachment.

37:56They have sent it, it's gone to city divisions, it's gone to major crime units. So this file is very comprehensive and has been looked over by numerous people and reviewed by numerous people. So they're still very accountable to us. We still get regular updates. There's that level of respect that comes when we need something that they get back to us right away, even if we pass on information or know that somebody else has. They're very accountable to us. And so we're lucky in that regard. I know that not everybody has the same experiences. but in our particular case, we've been satisfied with the level of service that has been provided for Ryan.

38:41So no new information. Still sitting there. Ryan's still considered a missing person. There's nothing that leads investigators to think that it's suspicious in nature or foul play. That doesn't mean that it's not case, but there's nothing that leads them there. So we continue to do the same thing. For people that are coming in, listening to Ryan's story, reading about Ryan's story is really important to us. One of the things that we always say, share the story. A great way to do that is through, we have these 3D dinosaurs called Stukasauruses that were created by a group of women that I had not known before Ryan's disappearance, and then they've become such a family to us.

39:21I call them the unicorns because they're like mythical creatures that you never expect people to be so amazing and want to help in such an amazing way. So they're my unicorns. And one of the unicorns created this 3D dinosaur, which again, was a love of Ryan's when he was a child. And, and with that has a QR code. And it has a little story about Ryan obviously being missing. But on the backside, it has this poem that talks about kindness, and to look around in your area. And so people purchase them, they're$5. And, you know, they'll purchase them and then they'll send them out either they'll take them on vacation when they go or they'll take them to whatever they're doing whether it's a coffee shop or other sometimes they'll leave them sometimes they'll keep them with them as their journey and it raises awareness for one but I think two parts for that for one I love it because I would imagine that if Brian were here and had the opportunity to go to some of these amazing places, that he would see the world in a different way.

40:30He'd have a chance to meet incredible people and experience in some life-altering adventures. And so as his mother, of course, I'm thrilled. And I take such joy in watching the journeys wherever they go. The other part, which is the more important part, besides the sharing and spreading awareness, is that I think what it does is it makes people look around in their community and think, how else can I provide kindness? Is there a family that's experiencing a loss or missing child like Ryan? Do they need support? Is there something that I can do? Maybe it's looking around and seeing your neighbor requiring something.

41:12And what it does is refocuses our minds on doing something that's kind. And I think in this world right now, it feels like kindness is in short supply. This brings me right to our call to action. With this new reward available, it's important that we share Ryan's missing person poster. And of course, if you're looking for more ways to support the family, you can join the Facebook group, Missing Ryan Stuka, and follow the Instagram account at Find Ryan Stuka. And if you feel so compelled, you can get yourself a Stukasaurus and help spread the word about Ryan. I got a box of them to share on my travels, and just left one in New Hampshire and Georgia.

41:51Because as you guys know, I fully believe there is always hope.

42:00As a reminder, 20-year-old Ryan Stuka was last seen in the early morning hours of February 17th, 2018, at a house party on Burfield Drive in Sun Peaks, British Columbia, Canada. He was wearing dark gray jeans, a white and gray shirt, a blue jacket, and a burgundy hat with the logo of a rugby club he was a part of, the Nor 'Wester Athletic Association. Ryan has blonde hair, brown eyes, is 6 feet tall, and weighs 180 pounds. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Kamloops Rule RCMP at 250-314-1800 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. But as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time.

42:50Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney, and is a Voices for Justice Media original. This episode contains writing and research assistance by Haley Gray. If you love what we do here, please don't forget to follow, rate, and review the show in your podcast player. It's an easy and free way to help us and help more people find these cases in need of justice.

43:28Thank you.

43:57Welcome to the Secret After Show. Our emotional support puppies are in the room, and let's talk about Ryan's case. This is another one of those cases, you guys, where he's just gone without a trace. Which feels so weird to say because I don't ever feel like that's really the case. Like, how does someone actually just vanish into thin air with no evidence? But it feels that way in this case. I mean, people don't know when he left the party. Nobody remembers him leaving. But then the people who are there later don't remember him being there at all. I don't know. This is a hard one. I do want to give a shout out to the Sun Peaks community for the way that they really seem to have rallied around this family.

44:45That doesn't always happen, and I think that that's really amazing, and I just want to give them some accolades for that. I also do want to point you guys one more time to Heather's book, Missing From Me. It's no secret that I really like when families tell their own stories. So if you want to hear everything in really great extreme detail, go buy Heather's book. I think it's really fantastic. And of course, I'll have a link to that in our show notes. Now on to what's going on with me. Well, a lot is going on with me. Um, as you guys might have seen, I took last week off for a little rest. Oh my goodness.

45:25I needed some rest. Um, I actually spoke to my dad for the first time in five years. and I have about two hours of audio that I don't know what I'm going to do with. To be totally honest, I'm split between like, I want you guys to hear it because this is probably, no, I know, it's the first conversation where I came ready with questions, which is kind of crazy to think about and to say, but all those other times I talked to my dad, I didn't really have like anything planned out. Because I think it's such a hard and really scary thing to do, I usually just kind of did it in the moment. You know, that last call, that's the first episode of Voices for Justice season one.

46:13I was just like, I'm going to do it. I'm going to call him. And I like pressed dial and didn't have anything in mind other than asking him to go on ABC 2020. And when I met with him in 2017, of course, you know, I called him before and we planned to meet. I did have time to prepare, but I didn't. I just thought I'd go there and have a conversation with him. So this time, for the first time ever, I came with a long list of questions. And not only that, I came with his own statements. You know, he's made this case that I need to rely on my memory. I didn't see anything and I didn't hear anything, which is true.

46:51I was 12. I saw very little and remember even less, unfortunately. So I came prepared with a list of questions and his own statements. And it was really different, really, really different this time. Like I said, I don't know what I'm going to do with that because on one hand, that's what he wants. He wants more attention and he wants this whole conversation to come out. I think that he thinks it proves some type of point. You know, he keeps saying that I was brainwashed by the police and there's this agenda with American police to turn families against each other in cases of the missing, which obviously I think is bullshit.

47:36But I did release a clip on social media that I want to play for you here. So I'll do that now. You were manipulated so badly, Sarah. I mean, you know. Do you think Alyssa was afraid of you? No. You guys keep saying she was. Because you told me before that you don't remember fear in Alyssa's eyes, but you remember defiance, so you don't think Alyssa was afraid of you. You don't know. You don't even, Sarah, I'm amazed that you even spent the time you did with Alyssa. Who's the one that talked to you to get on the roof and jump off that roof? Was that your fearsome, I'm scared to death, Alyssa? Alyssa wasn't afraid of hardly anything, Sarah.

48:13Okay, so in that same letter dated May 27th, do you recall writing to Alyssa your words, quote, I am so sorry you were afraid of me, end quote. That had to do with Alyssa telling people, you know, I'm afraid my dad's going to kill me, which is every statement that you made, everybody else makes it. Right there, you just said it. Oh, there you go, Sarah. Ear spot, guys, earmark that one. Come on, Sarah. What is wrong? Is your career that important that you're going to manipulate this into a lie? You've destroyed your own family. You're helping destroy. That is just the tip of this iceberg. And like I said, I don't know what I'm going to do, but there is more to come.

48:52I am finishing Alyssa's story, so stay tuned. Now on to our segment of hope. And this is right in my backyard. This is also published by Brianna Whitney of AZ Family, who is a fantastic journalist who cares a lot. I always like to highlight really cool journalists. So shout out to Brianna Whitney. I love you. You're amazing. And this is from her. So, again, this is from azfamily.com, and the headline reads, quote, Arrest made in 2005 cold case murder of baby found at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, end quote. Obviously, that is really, really dark and hard, but let's go on to learn more about this.

49:37The article reads, quote, The victim became known as Baby Skyler, and the desperate search to find the person who killed her went on for nearly 20 years until now. DNA and genealogy led Phoenix detectives to 51-year-old Annie Anderson in Washington, who is now facing first-degree murder charges and will be extradited back to Arizona. Now, in the article, it explains that basically she wasn't a suspect at the time, but was later identified, quote, after investigators approached someone related to Skyler and asked for a one-time use to test that person's DNA. End quote. Apparently, you know, law enforcement is declining to elaborate on how this person was related to Skyler.

50:20I don't think that's super important. What is important is that when they confronted her, she confessed. However, they are not releasing that to the media, which I know people want to know, but I think this baby also has a right to privacy. I don't think that people need to know those gruesome details. I don't know. Come for me. I don't care. I'm just glad that there's some type of resolution, and obviously this is just a baby, a newborn baby, and how does that baby feel justice in any way? I don't know. But it makes the segment of hope obviously because it's finally solved. One more cold case off the books, one more cold case solved, one more terrible person off the streets.

51:06It's also another win for DNA technology, which appears to be solving cases left and right these days. And if that doesn't give us hope, I don't know what does. But as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time. Do you ever meet someone and think, wow, they've really been through it, and then realize we all have? That's what We're All Insane is all about. It's a podcast where real people sit down to share their stories that have shaped them, the raw, unfiltered moments that don't usually make it into everyday conversation. There are no scripts, no interruptions, and no filters, just honest storytelling that unfolds naturally.

51:46From heartbreak and loss to recovery and resilience, every episode is a reminder that even in our darkest moments, we're never really alone. If you love hearing real stories that make you feel something, stories that connect us all, this is one you'll want to subscribe to. You can listen to We're All Insane wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Sunday.