Missing Spences Bridge man’s family pleads for information

Jan 29, 2019 | 4:13 PM

SPENCES BRIDGE, BC — It’s a mystery gone unsolved for more than 15 months. In early-October of 2017, Luke Neville disappeared from Spences Bridge and hasn’t been seen since.

Today, Neville’s brother was in the Gold Country community to make a plea to the public for information, in the hopes a new billboard will help offer new clues into what happened to the missing man.

It was just before 5:00 p.m. on Oct. 9, 2017 that Neville was last seen driving a white 2003 Ford E250 in the community. The van was later found — burned out — roughly 20 kilometres from Spences Bridge. There’s been no sign of Neville since.

“Investigators with the RCMP Southeast District Major Crime Unit explained to us that Luke may have met with foul play,” Neville’s brother Mark said in a statement at the billboard site.

“Within days [of the disappearance], this investigation was handed over to the Southeast District Major Crime Unit to try and make a determination as to… the exact circumstances behind Mr. Luke Neville’s disappearance,” RCMP Spokesperson Cpl. Dan Moskaluk told media.

Mark Neville came all the way from Ottawa to install the billboard, with the hope that someone out there who has information regarding where his brother’s whereabouts may come forward.

“We ask anyone who may have information on Luke’s disappearance or about activities on or around Oct. 9 or in the days leading up to that, to step up and do the right things,” Mark read, from a prepared statement.

Mark says after nearly 16 months of searching and waiting, he knows his brother likely isn’t still alive. He just wants to bring their brother home to Ottawa, to bring closure to his family.

“I do believe he’s gone,” Mark Neville said about his brother. “It’s been 15 to 16 months now, and I don’t have any hope he’s alive… I’m doing this for him. I have to find him for my mother, my other brothers.”