Continuing search for backpacker missing from Kelowna now focused on finding his remains

KELOWNA – Time has not healed this wound.

Denise Allan, mother of missing backpacker Charles Horvath, has renewed her plea for information about what happened to her son 29 years ago.

"I am pleading for any witnesses to find the courage to come forward and help us locate the remains of my beloved son,” Allan said in a press release form the Kelowna RCMP.

"They can remain anonymous. We just want to find him and bring him home for a proper burial so we can move forward with the mourning process and end our emotional search.”

Horvath was last seen on May 26, 1989 cashing a cheque at the Orchard Park Royal Bank. His camping equipment and personal belongings were later found at Tiny Town campground on Lakeshore Road.

Just 20 years old at the time, Horvath disappeared three weeks after arriving in Kelowna after backpacking through Canada from the United Kingdom.

RCMP consider his disappearance suspicious and continue to work with Allan.

They ask anyone with information to call Sgt. Paul Gosling of the Kelowna Serious Crime Unit at 250-762-3300.


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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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