Status Missing person Website Webpage | Occupation Fine Arts life model | |
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Disappeared September 29, 2016
Cypress Provincial Park, West Vancouver, Canada | ||
Debbie Blair is a Canadian woman who disappeared in Cypress Provincial Park, West Vancouver, British Columbia, while hiking on September 29, 2016 with a group of friends. Her whereabouts are not known. The missing person investigation by the West Vancouver Police remains open and active. Meanwhile, ground and air search operations in the area which features unforgiving mountain terrain, have been suspended by the North Shore Rescue on October 2, 2016 due in part to bad weather conditions.
Disappearance and search
Debbie Blair, age 65, went missing around noontime on a warm and sunny Thursday, September 29, 2016 while hiking with her regular Vancouver daytime hiking club along the Baden-Powel Trail toward Eagle Bluffs (1094 m elevation) in Cypress Provincial Park; one hour drive north-west of downtown Vancouver. She was last seen by the group members hiking in front of others, in the area of the Donut Rock Trail junction of the Black Mountain. She has not been seen since. The search for Blair by the North Shore Rescue began on the same evening and continued until 1:30 am with nighttime temperatures hovering not far above freezing. The search resumed at 8:00 am Friday morning and continued throughout the day. Human tracks were found near Dick Creek. After yet another very cold night, there was a heavy rain on Cypress in the early hours of Saturday, October 1, 2016. The NSR search team was made up of around 50 volunteer personnel from Surrey, Lions’ Bay and Coquitlam SAR, aided by West Vancouver Police and the Abbotsford Police Dog Service. Multiple helicopters equipped with Forward-Looking-Infrared (FLIR) scanners were also deployed. Search operations have been suspended on Sunday, October 2, 2016 without finding any confirmed sign of Debbie Blair.
The North Shore Rescue and West Vancouver Police informed the public that the search for Debbie Blair would remain inactive subject to receipt of any new information. The missing person investigation however, is still open. Police requested anyone who believes they saw her since September 29, 2016 to call them. Blair is described as a Caucasian woman, 160 cm (5'4") tall, weighting approximately 59 kg (130 lbs) with short, grey hair. Several theories and counter-theories have been proposed since September 29, 2016 to explain Debbie's demise. One theory is that she was suffering from undiagnosed Alzheimer’s and is hard of hearing. Another theory is that she was unprepared for a worst-case scenario, possibly wearing a T-shirt without a jacket although this has not been confirmed by her group members. It is likely that she stepped off the path for privacy in difficult terrain without leaving a bag on the trail perpendicular to where she was in order to alert slower group walking behind her; and than failed to return to the same spot herself.