POLICE: Film crews cause rumours about missing man
By Mona Mattei
Rumours that Owen Rooney’s body had been found are unsubstantiated, says Staff Sergeant Jim Harrison of the Boundary detachment RCMP. Early this week the Sentinel was contacted with the news that missing Australian Rooney had been found after eight months of searching. Harrison squashed these rumours that came from a re-enactment that took place last week. Rooney’s parents and sisters were in fact in Grand Forks once again last week, but it was to film a show for Australian TV, explains Harrison. “We had a lot of activity on the Rooney file last week because there was a news crew from 60 Minutes Australia in – they were filming a show on that. They were here from Australia so we were up in the helicopter and the family was back in town. Someone seeing the helicopter heading up the North Fork might have thought that.” Owen’s parents left to return to Australia on Saturday. “It’s still an ongoing thing. We haven’t given up on it by a long shot,” Harrison added. Owen was last seen at the Grand Forks Hospital on Aug. 14, 2010 at approximately 8:00 p.m., sitting just outside the hospital on a picnic table. Owen left the hospital alone leaving behind all his belongings and has not been seen since. Owen is 5’9″ (175 cm) in height and is 161 lbs or 73 kg. He has blue eyes, short brown hair and has two tattoos, one is on his left shoulder blade about three inches across of a circle with a Celtic star around it. The other tattoo is on his right calf, a logo of a triangle with a kangaroo inside and the words “Australian Made” underneath. This calf tattoo is about the size of the bottom of a coffee mug. Anyone with information regarding Owen’s whereabouts or any details on his disappearance, however insignificant the information may be, are asked to contact the Grand Forks RCMP at 250-442-8288, their local police service, Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or through the website that the family have set up (www.find-owen.com). Other police beat:
Last week there were a couple of attempted and successful break and enter crimes at local businesses: Yaky Jacquie’s and Listowel trophies. Harrison says that the criminals are most likely travelling through the area as the pattern fit similar crimes reported in Rossland just days before.
