With heavy rains on the way for the Coquitlam area, the son of a missing 64-year-old Korean man is still hopeful volunteers will find his dad.
On Facebook today, Sam Noh is still encouraging people to keep looking for his father, Shin, and suggesting people recall if they heard someone saying the word "mennonite" because this is a landmark church the older man may be looking for to find his way home.
Noh, who suffers from Alzheimer's and went missing from his home last Wednesday, may be walking the trails or staying out of the rain in the woods around the Coquitlam River between the cities of Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam. He is described as an Asian male, 5'6" tall with an average build, clean shaven with black hair, which is greying on the sides. He was reportedly wearing a green and blue plaid shirt, dark green pants and a black New York Rangers ball cap.
A Facebook page and website have been set up by Noh's son, Sam, to keep track of the search and Coquitlam RCMP have said they will follow up every lead.
"We are trying to establish the credibility of all the tips, we are basically processing them at this point," Cpl. Jamie Chung said Thursday.
Currently, the two-member RCMP's missing person's team are tracking down about 50 leads, and RCMP officers from other details may be added as well.
Chung couldn't say what the police would do if the search continued into the weekend, however, he said Victim Services would be available to help the family if needed.
Throughout the week, volunteer search teams were combing the region from Coquitlam to Port Coquitlam, taking special care to check out the trails and green belts along the Coquitlam River. Some helpers, like Lynda Stefiuk, were just there to do what they could. "I heard about it on the radio and wanted to help out," she said.
In an email later, Stefiuk said she joined a team of searchers at Lions Park.
Meanwhile, back at his Port Moody fitness centre, Sam Noh fields questions from reporters, searchers and police and was optimistic that his dad, a retired pastor of a Korean church in Coquitlam, would soon be found. "I can sleep now knowing that people are out there looking for my dad," Noh told The News on Wednesday.
According to Sam, his dad enjoyed walking and would often take jaunts to Rocky Point Park and other points around the region before he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and continued to enjoy the fitness regime even after.
But his fitness and mobility may have made it difficult for searchers to find him as they fanned out across the Tri-Cities this week.
On his Facebook page, Sam thanked everyone and offered an interactive map with the latest information at shin-noh.ca.
He's asking people to talk to Noh, if they meet up with him, and keep him occupied, and then call 911 or Coquitlam RCMP immediately at 604-945-1550 and quote file number 2013-27945.
