For one Edmonton-area family, July 3 marks a sombre anniversary – it was on that day two years ago, that Lyle and Marie McCann were last seen alive.
“We go about our daily life, but always with a heavy heart,” Bret McCann, the couple’s son said Tuesday. “There’s always that burning question, we just don’t know what happened to my parents.”
The last time the couple was seen alive, was at a gas station in St. Albert on July 3, 2010 – as Lyle McCann pumped gas into the couple’s RV, ahead of their planned road trip into B.C. along Yellowhead Trail.
Two days later, the RV was found burned at a campground – days after that the SUV they were towing was found several kilometres away.
RCMP investigators and volunteers have scoured the bush around Highway 16 – in addition to a number of other locations – but have turned up little evidence.
In late July, 2011, Bret McCann asked the court to declare his parents legally deceased, even though investigators have yet to find the remains of the couple.
In April 2012, RCMP charged the only person-of-interest they had identified in the case with two counts of first-degree murder.
Travis Vader was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday in connection to the case – an appearance only his lawyer attended.
Vader has reserved his election of plea until his next court appearance, scheduled for August 7.
Although charges have been laid in connection to the couple’s disappearance, Bret McCann said a $60,000 reward is still available for any information on the case.
“Even though Travis Vader has been charged, that reward is still available,” McCann said.
As the McCann family tries to move forward from the case, the couple’s son told CTV News he often thinks back to the last time he saw his parents, on the night before they left.
“My dad and I shot some pool downstairs, then we had supper and we gave them some gifts that we wanted them to take to Vancouver,” McCann said. “That was the last night we saw them.
“I've been thinking a lot about that lately.”
