Family members of 82-year-old Jane Whitehouse announced on social media that the search for the missing Langley woman has been suspended.
"The search has been suspended, but the case is not closed," wrote Melanie Sora on behalf of Jane's daughter, Eileen. "The search will be resumed in the summer once the water levels have diminished and it's safer to do a recovery."
Whitehouse has been missing since Oct. 25. She is described as Caucasian, five feet and five inches tall, about 140 pounds with grey-blonde hair.
Whitehouse's van was found abandoned near Hicks Lake Road, a remote forest service road north of Harrison Hot Springs, and reported to the RCMP on Oct. 27. Since then, Kent-Harrison Search and Rescue, RCMP Police Dog Services and other search and rescue organizations have been combing several kilometres of the area. Rescuers searched from the ground and in the air, using drones, infrared sensors, search dogs and more to find Whitehouse.
As of Thursday, Nov. 7, Infrared picked up no heat signatures and search dogs have not picked up a scent. One of Whitehouse's shoes was found by the van and the other was found further off the main road. Sora said the RCMP and Search and Rescue have concluded that Whitehouse likely slipped into the creek and was carried further downstream.
"In the remote chance that she didn't go into the waters, she most likely would have tried to find shelter in some underbrush and would have succumbed to hypothermia," Sora wrote. "She has not been found. The chance of her surviving the fall into icy waters is pretty much nonexistent. This is high altitude in the mountains with winter weather setting in. There's snow and it's now too dangerous to try to locate her."
The family has urged private search parties not to navigate the mountainside as colder weather sets in.
"We don't want to see anyone injured or worse in attempts to find Jane," Sora wrote. "If anyone is in the area though and they do see something unusual or of curiosity, please report it to the RCMP and do not touch anything."
The family would like to thank a multitude of people who helped in the search for Whitehouse, including Search and Rescue workers from across the Fraser Valley and those who helped spread the word.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Jane Whitehouse should contact their local police, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477(TIPS).
