'We have to find him'

The mother of a missing 20-year-old man said she won’t stop searching until her son is found.

Ryan Shtuka was last seen leaving a house party on Burfield Drive at Sun Peaks Resort in the early morning of Feb 17.

That was the night he vanished, and he hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

“We won’t stop until we find him and my husband and I will stay on this hill until he is found and comes home with us,” said his mother Heather Shtuka.

Search and rescue crews, RCMP and volunteers all focused their efforts around the Sun Peaks Resort area.

Shtuka said unless you see all the snow in person, it is hard to grasp just how easily someone could get lost.

“You look at the terrain, you look at the snowbanks, you look at the amount of snow that has fallen, the tree wells and you can see even going through it with two or three volunteers we are still not touching everything that could be touched."

News of the missing young man has spread across British Columbia, with people posting missing flyers and posting to social media through #findryanshtuka.

“I don't get to lie in a corner, curled up and cry, neither does my husband after he comes home day after day from morning, noon and night searching for his son and can't find him,” Shtuka said. “Those are devastating things that are happening to us but we don’t get to curl up in a ball. We don’t get to do that now."

“We have to wait and we have to find him.”

Shtuka said they have been surrounded by love and thank each volunteer that has come out to search for their missing son.

Monday marks day 17 in the search for the 20-year-old and a $5,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to his whereabouts.

Anyone with information is being asked to contact Kamloops RCMP.