Missing without a trace, now someone’s torched his cabin

TERRANCE MICHAEL LANDON HASN'T BEEN SEEN SINCE 2013

CENTRAL OKANAGAN – It’s a strange story that just got a little weirder.

Kelowna RCMP are still looking for Terrance Michael Landon, who went missing in 2013 from the area around the rustic cabin he was building on Crown Land near James Lake, east of the Rutland bench.

Police tried to contact him at the cabin when friends reported they could find no sign of him there when they visited in December 2013. Multiple searches in the area by Central Okanagan Search and Rescue failed to find him.

Now people who knew Landon report that his partially-constructed cabin has been burned to to the ground and his truck and camper vandalized.

David Bekker, a Kelowna man, says he was visiting the area last weekend and found the half-built cabin a pile of ashes.

Bekker said he knows of Landon and his story through his sister, who knew him from camping in the area. “I heard he was out of a job, he started to go recluse, to live off the land. I guess his family didn’t have much to do with him.”

Missing or not, Bekker adds, he doesn’t deserve to have his property destroyed.

“It’s so sad to see it. His truck got trashed. Everything got trashed,” Bekker says. “If the guy ever does show up, he’s got nothing to come back to.”

He thinks kids partying were likely to blame for the destruction. Thieves already pilfered the site soon after Landon was reported missing.

Kelowna RCMP Cpl. Tania Carroll confirmed Landon has not been located and the missing person file is still active. Police are interested in hearing from anyone who might know of his whereabouts or the circumstances of his disappearance.

He is described as 5'7", 141 lbs with brown hair, brown eyes and a full grey beard and is 59 or 60 years old.

Landon’s cabin. , Landon’s truck and camper. Credit: David Bekker


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John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca

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