Almost every day after work, Darrick Sampson sits at the spot on the Cowichan River where his son vanished during a historic storm almost three years ago. And he cries.
“I try to find out where he is, and if he’s all right … I feel him around me all the time,” Sampson said Tuesday.
Ethan Sampson was 28 when he was swept away during a winter storm on Jan. 30, 2020, when heavy rains and high winds tore down trees and ripped into the banks of the Cowichan River.
Flood waters rose nearly two metres and inundated homes and vast stretches of flood plain, altering the pathway of the river.
Ethan, a member of Stz’uminus/Cowichan First Nations, was last seen leaving the Quamichan Big House after an initiation ceremony, just metres from the Cowichan River.
He somehow ended up in the raging torrent, but his body has never been found, despite exhaustive searches by friends and family, Cowichan Tribes members and neighbouring First Nations, and search and rescue crews. He was last seen wearing a blue-checked shirt and black jeans with brown hiking boots.
As the Cowichan River reached its lowest level of the year — a drought Level 4, according to the province’s River Forecast Centre — the search for Ethan started up again last weekend.
Sampson said Search and Rescue British Columbia volunteers took to boats and walked shorelines, deploying metal detectors, ground-penetrating radar and ultraviolet scanners for any clues.
“They got a hit on the metal detector five feet down … Ethan would have had a belt buckle on,” said Sampson, noting there have been about eight searches over the years, but nothing has been found.
The changing landscape of the river over nearly three years makes it especially challenging.
With another month before the river starts to rise, Sampson said it’s imperative that people keep their eyes open during the low-water period. He said search and rescue crews are planning more sweeps of the area in coming days and weeks.
Ethan could be buried in mounds of sand and gravel or beneath log jams or other debris, he said.
“The fishermen are out on the river, and they’re keeping an eye out,” said Sampson. “We’re getting lots of help, and it’s good.”
Sampson said he realizes his son could have been swept out of sea, a distance of about three kilometres, in which case he might never be found. But he said the family has given authorities DNA samples for comparison if a body shows up in Canadian or U.S. waters.
It’s been an especially difficult time for the Sampson family as the search resumes. Ethan’s mother, Joyce White, had a stroke this year, along with a liver transplant, and is still recovering.
Sampson said his son would have turned 30 on Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. He worked for SportChek at the Duncan Mall for seven years, played indoor and outdoor soccer and hockey and loved to hunt and fish with his uncle, Ambrose Jim. “He was a good kid, a happy kid,” said his father.
Duncan RCMP Const. Bert Calvo said Tuesday the file remains open and under investigation by RCMP detectives.
Ethan’s case is one of four missing Indigenous persons files still being investigated by the Duncan/North Cowichan RCMP, said Calvo.
Desmond Peters disappeared in March 2007 at the age of 14. He was last seen on Cowichan Way near the Trans-Canada Highway.
Ian Henry, 26, vanished in April 2015, and Everett Jones, a 47-year-old with special needs, disappeared in February 2016 after leaving his Club Road home.
Anyone with any information on the whereabouts of any of the missing men is asked to call North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP at at 250-748-5522 or Crime Stoppers 1-800-222-8477.
dkloster@timescolonist.com
