Six months after Blayne Ferguson went missing, the Vernon man’s family is making sure his name isn’t forgotten, while putting pressure on the RCMP to get to work on finding him.
Ferguson, 28, has been missing since Sept. 21, 2023, and while police have been in constant contact with his family, they haven’t yet provided much of an update beyond saying the investigation is progressing.
“There’s been a lot of evidence taken and sent out for forensic analysis,” Ferguson’s mother, Linda Cassel, told The Morning Star. “They’re close, that’s what they keep telling me.”
Vernon RCMP media relations officer Cont. Chris Terleski said Thursday that police are still actively investigating the disappearance but have no information to release at this time.
Cassel said the family, including Ferguson’s children, are waiting to hear the worst; they believe Ferguson was killed, judging from a video that was circulating on social media.
“My son was brutally assaulted, and it was videotaped and posted on social media. It was actually Snapchat that contacted the RCMP,” she said. “According to one of my children and others who have seen the video, there is no way that my son would have survived.”
Cassel said she can’t say who the culprits are but she believes they are local to Vernon.
She cried for the first two months after her son’s disappearance, but she’s now onto a different stage of grief.
“I’m done being sad; I’m angry now.”
Cassel has organized a march for Ferguson that will take place Thursday, March 21, exactly six months after his disappearance. People are invited to take part and meet at the field area behind the People Place on 27th Avenue at 2 p.m. From there, the march will go up 30th Avenue to the courthouse, where it will make a brief but loud stop, before heading down to Polson Park — Ferguson’s favourite hangout spot in town — for refreshments and a candlelight vigil in the band shell area.
Cassel says the family wants the march to be a safe space for all, free of drugs and hate, adding its intention is to spread the word that Ferguson is still missing while putting pressure on the RCMP to deliver the answers the family is searching for.
The march is also a chance for people to think of Ferguson as a kind and thoughtful father, son and grandson, and a person who loved to skateboard at Polson Park and make people smile.
It’s been an immensely difficult month for the family, between Ferguson’s disappearance and the loss of his sister to drug overdose in February. But Cassel said the family has resolved to band together no matter what news eventually comes from police.
“I want it to be known that we have not given up as a family, we will not give up until my son has seen justice,” Cassel said. “I want to be able to bury my son, I want his children to know what happened.”
Cassel said if anyone is eventually charged in relation to her son’s disappearance, she’ll attend every court appearance, adding she already has a collection of letters that could be used as victim impact statements at a future sentencing.
However, that doesn’t mean she is brimming with faith in the court system.
“Our justice system is really broken,” she said. “Even if they were to charge them with first-degree murder, 20 years from now they’ll walk away scot-free.”
A GoFundMe campaign to help cover family expenses while Cassel has been off work has stalled out at just over $3,000, but Cassel’s aunt has made 250 silicone bracelets that will be available by donation at the march to anyone who would like to help out.
Above all, Cassel hopes the march and candlelight vigil will show how much Ferguson means to the people around him.
“There are people who I don’t know who have messaged me and told me what an impact my son has had on their lives,” Cassel said, recounting a time when a young woman messaged her shortly after Ferguson’s disappearance, telling her she is now living “a straight life” thanks to Ferguson’s support.
Cassel said the video that allegedly shows her son being murdered has members of her family living in fear.
“My daughter still won’t walk to school,” she said. “She has a real issue going outside by herself.”
But Cassel said she is proud of her daughter, who in spite of everything managed to graduate with honours and will walk the stage in June.
“I asked her how she did it and she said, ‘Those monsters took my brother, they’re not allowed to have my dreams or my future.’”
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