Trio missing near Williams Lake, B.C., as RCMP appeal for information

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. – RCMP in Williams Lake, B.C., hope someone can help them track three people believed to have vanished over the summer.

On Sept. 1, police in the Cariboo city said 44-year-old Mihai Vornicu and his 58-year-old wife Marie Olarte had been reported missing by relatives almost one month earlier.

Vornicu and Olarte were believed to have travelled from the Maple Ridge-area to Williams Lake, where their grey, 2005 V50 Volvo station wagon was found abandoned in late July.

On the same day police announced the couple’s disappearance, the family of a second man, Robert Dragoescu, contacted the Williams Lake detachment to report the 32-year-old had not been heard from since July 25.

That was one day before the abandoned Volvo was found, and police say Dragoescu, Vornicu and Olarte knew each other and were together in Metro Vancouver just before all three were last seen.

There’s also concern because Olarte has medical issues that require medication.

Cpl. Dan Moskaluk says anyone with information about any of the three is urged to contact Williams Lake RCMP or Crime Stoppers.