Update: The body of a man believed to be the third of three young men missing in Sooke was recovered Tuesday afternoon near Sooke River Road. Read the full story here.
The Sooke River was rapidly rising when three young men were believed to have been travelling nearby on Friday night or early Saturday in a pickup truck. That pickup truck ended up in the river, the bodies of two of the men were found on Sunday, and the search continued Monday for the third man.
Police aren’t sure how the truck ended up in the river, which was believed to be travelling on Sooke River Road, which runs along the river. Sooke RCMP are trying to determine where the vehicle left the road, and noted that it appears the road was covered in “fast-moving” river water Friday night.
There is no indication of intoxication or foul play, police said. The B.C. Coroners Service is in the early stages of its investigation to determine how the men died.
Juan de Fuca search-and-rescue manager Kathryn Farr said the river rose about 4.5 to six metres, flooding low-lying areas of Sooke River Road with several feet of water, after heavy rains hit the area late Friday and early Saturday.
“It’s my understanding that the river levels on Friday and Saturday were the highest they’ve been in about 25 years,” Farr said.
A search on Sunday led to the truck that Cory Mills, Eric Blackmore and A.J. Jensen, all 20, had been travelling in.
Officials discovered the truck in the river and found two bodies along the shoreline downstream shortly afterward.
The names of the men who died have not been released by police, but family confirmed that Mills had been found dead.
“We are blessed to have had him in our lives for the past 20 years,” parents Joanne and Sean Mills said in a statement. “We know in our hearts that he knew he was loved and we may not be able to hold him in our hands anymore, but we will always hold him in our hearts.”
Mills was best friends with Blackmore and played lacrosse with Jensen, his family said. They described him as a compassionate, respectful, funny, quirky and giving person.
“He was always the first to be the one to offer a helping hand,” said Desirée Arnold, speaking on behalf of the family.
“Cory was always there for his friends and family,” she said. “He always had a smile on his face and was always able to be the one to bring a smile to other people’s faces.”
His family said Cory was athletic and loved sports.
“He was energetic and just loved life,” Arnold said.
Ground and air searches continued Monday in an effort to find the third man.
Search-and-rescue volunteers trained in water rescues were out in kayaks and searching the shoreline on foot. The search is focused in the area around Sooke River Road before Sooke Potholes Regional Park.
“We have searchers searching from the river where it’s safe for them to do so up to the road where [the water] crossed,” Farr said.
The force of the water snapped trees on the river’s edge, moved concrete barriers and lifted sunken logs into an elevated parking lot.
Locals said the rain transformed the river and would have flooded parts of the road with more than two metres of water.
Family and friends initiated a search for the three men after they went out on Friday night and didn’t return.
Jensen’s stepmother, Carole Rittaler, said Blackmore’s father told her he saw the young men playing video games at about 10:30 p.m. Friday. Shortly after, he heard the front door close, and they were gone.
They didn’t tell anyone where they were headed and family members said it was out of character for them to take off without sharing their plans.
On Saturday morning, they started looking, and were joined later by RCMP, search-and-rescue teams and volunteers from the community who drove 4x4 vehicles to search logging roads.
The search narrowed Sunday when a Sooke bylaw officer who was assisting noticed something shiny in the river.
“They were physically going in and out of their vehicles trying to search the area. And the bylaw officer located a shiny item,” said Cpl. Joe Holmes of Sooke RCMP.
“Upon looking at it a little better, it looked like a bumper, at which point the helicopter was redirected.”
Refocusing search efforts to the river led to the discovery of the truck in the water and two bodies along the shoreline downstream.
Juan de Fuca search-and-rescue members were joined by groups from Ladysmith and Cowichan, as well as Metchosin firefighters.
An RCMP dive team from Nanaimo trained in underwater recovery was also on hand.
Holmes said the deaths are hitting the small community hard and people are rallying to support the families.
“This is one of those communities — and I’ve worked in a bunch of them — that comes together in times of issues, and this is one of those times. There were people coming out of the woodwork coming out to help and that was very much appreciated,” he said.
A Facebook group started on the weekend to organize search efforts had more than 5,000 members on Monday afternoon. On Sunday, people were using the group to ask what areas still needed to be searched and how they could help.
The community has shifted to supporting the families as they grieve, with people volunteering to provide meals.
