The Province from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 8

The Province B.C. Sunday, February 13, 2000 The Jack family left home for a logging camp 10 years ago. They haven't been seen since DOREEN AND RYAN JACK an offer of daycare out tfir fez Story by Jason Proctor Staff Reporter MS something' RUSSELL JACK disappeared at age 9 RONALD JACK a new beginning PRINCE GEORGE ack family are buried at the south end of Gordy's ranch." The caller spat the message out on the evening of Jan. 28, 1996, dispatched after-hours through the closed Vanderhoof station to an RCMP operator. The words are garbled and muted.

Could be Gordy's Cordy's Corrie's. As she plays the three-second tape which represents one of the most promising breaks in the 10-year hunt for the only entire family known to be missing in Canada, it's easy to appreciate the chal- Prince George RCMP Const. Judy Thomas heads the mysterious Jack family case file. lenge facing Const. Judy Thomas.

The veteran RCMP officer has looped the message so it plays consecutively. She's heard the words a million times and played the tape for dozens of people. Police don't know the identity of the caller or his connection to the case. The message has resulted in a line of investigation which like all Jack family investigations to this point has proved fruitless. "There's a lot of Gordy's ranches," sighs Thomas.

"We've put people under hypnosis. We've spoken to psychics. We've done actual excavations. It's hard to rule out anything there's always the possibility that they've been involved in an accident. "But to me, somebody out there knows something." With the involvement of serious crimes investigators from Vancouver, the search for the Jack family has again picked up speed.

RCMP say one of the priorities is the establishment of a cold squad to take on the case. Ronald and Doreen Jack, both 26, together with their two boys, Russell, 9, and Ryan, 4, were last seen on Aug 1, 1989. Ron called his mother that night to say he'd been offered a job at a logging camp by a man he met at the blue-collar First Litre pub, around the corner from his rowhouse home. Ron said Doreen would be working as camp cook, and there was daycare for the kids. For Ron, it was to be a new start a job he hoped would lead to other things.

The family left in the dead of night in the unknown man's vehicle supposedly for the Bednesti and Cluculz Lake area. Thomas says the Vancouver officers lent fresh perspective to the case, combing through the 700-odd tips in addition to filing cabinets full of a decade's work. One of their first suggestions was the release of a new CrimeStoppers poster, which concentrates more on the family than the unknown man who offered Ronnie Jack a job. The previous description of a suspect turned out to be unreliable based largely on the sketchy information of a cousin who dropped by the Jack house as Ron and Doreen were packing. As a result of that focus, police identified and cleared a man who matched the picture the cousin gave.

Now Thomas says she wants the public to open their minds to new ideas. "This unknown male may have just driven them somewhere," she says. "There is that possibility. He may not be involved at all." Although open to tips and information, police are reluctant to speculate about the fate of the family or their reasons for throwing sparse resources into a cold case. As Thomas points out, police cannot be entirely certain the family weren't involved in a car accident but through a network of loggers, hunters and people working the bush, they feel a wreck would have turned up by now.

Clearly, RCMP suspect foul play, but they won't say why. One clue might be the promise of daycare at the camp a bonus Thomas says she has never heard of in the logging industry. Ronald Jack's mother also has a tape of sorts she has played again and again since her son disappeared. The words Mabel Jack hears are in her head a continuous replay of the conversation she had with Ronnie the night he vanished. Mabel and her husband have travelled B.C.

searching for their boy. They attended a pow-wow in Alberta on a rumour the family might be present. They have spent entire summers, exhausted their savings, camped in the bush, searching for any sign of Ron, Doreen, Russell and Ryan. Mabel says she still stares into the passenger windows of every passing car, hoping for a glimpse of her loved ones. "It's pretty hard for us," she says.

"I dreamed about them a lot after they left. Sometimes, Ron would talk to me, and say he's doing fine. One time, I dreamed about him, 1 saw him so close that I thought for sure he was going to come home that day." "It hurts pretty bad. It hurt me pretty bad." 'One time, I dreamed about him, I saw him so close that I thought for sure he was going to come home that day. It hurts pretty Ric Ernst The Province.