Caitlin Potts, 27, was last heard from on Feb. 22, 2016.
Image Credit: RCMP handout
May 10, 2016 - 8:00 PM
ENDERBY - The family and friends of a missing woman are in agony not knowing where she is or what happened to her since she disappeared over two months ago from the Okanagan.
Caitlin Brandy Potts, a 27-year-old First Nations woman, was last heard from Feb. 22 when she told her sister she was leaving Enderby, where she’d been living for about a year, and was on her way to Calgary.
Her sister, Codi Potts, says they were very close and talked almost every day until all of Caitlin’s social media accounts went quiet and no one could reach her. Codi, who lives in Calgary, has been going over and over Caitlin’s last message, trying to figure out what happened to her.
“She messaged me saying she was coming back to Calgary. I was asleep.... I wish I would have been up,” Codi says, choking back tears. “Her plan was to move back. She didn’t want to be with the people she was with in Salmon Arm and Enderby. She was leaving her ex-boyfriend.”
Caitlin was last seen Feb. 21, caught on a camera at a gas station in Kelowna, Codi says. The North Okanagan RCMP has appealed multiple times to the public for tips, but say there are no solid leads.
“I honestly just want to know where she is,” Codi says.
She describes her sister as outgoing, funny and "that person you would just love to meet." She has an eight-year-old son and loved the outdoors. Codi says she would post videos of her ‘little adventures’ in the B.C. outdoors on Instagram. Now, her social media pages are filled with friends and family asking where she is and if she’s all right.
Codi says it would be unlike her sister to just go away for a while and not tell anyone.
“I honestly don’t think she would do something like that,” Codi says. “I know she wouldn’t do this.”
A close friend of Caitlin’s, Rena McKay, says although Caitlin didn’t have a phone for a while, it’s very out of character for her to stop replying to Facebook messages and Snapchat messages, which is how they communicated almost daily.
“She wouldn’t go this long without talking to anybody,” McKay says.
The thought of not finding her friend alive is a difficult one, but the longer Caitlin remains missing, the more McKay is losing hope. No matter what happened though, she wants to find answers and some sort of closure.
“I do want that. I want it mostly for her son, I know how much her son meant to her,” McKay says.
Family and friends are planning to come to the Okanagan as soon as possible to conduct a search of the last areas Caitlin was known to be. Codi says they expect to leave May long weekend, and are asking for donations towards gas, shelter and supplies for posters. Donations can be made here.
Codi is also asking anyone with unreported information to contact the RCMP.
“I miss her and we just need to find her,” Codi says.
If you can help find Caitlin please call the Vernon-North Okanagan RCMP at 250-545-7171 or any police force in your area. If you want to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers 1-800-222-8477.
Caitlin Potts (left) with sisters Ashley and Codi.
Image Credit: Contributed
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News from © iNFOnews, 2016