Traci Genereaux

Image Credit: Contributed

VERNON - The family of a Vernon teen whose remains were found on a rural farm late last year are still waiting for answers.

Traci Genereaux’s father says life has been a nightmare since his daughter went missing at the end of May 2017, and was found dead several months later when police searched the Salmon River Road property of Curtis Sagmoen, in the community of Silver Creek, about 45 km north of Vernon.

“It does not get any easier day by day. You don’t sleep, barely eat. You just want to talk to her one more time. You hear her voice but you know it’s not her,” Darcy Genereaux says.

Traci, who was 18 years old when she went missing, had struggled with drug use and street life, but was trying to turn things around, her dad says.

“Now she doesn’t have that chance or that choice,” Genereaux says.

Police announced in early November 2017 that human remains found during the execution of a search warrant at 2290 Salmon River Road was Traci. Months later, Genereaux says his family is still waiting for justice for Traci. No charges have been laid in connection with what police called a suspicious death.

“Right now it’s a lot of ‘we (police) can’t tell you this, we can’t tell you that. We can tell you we’re working on this,’” Genereaux says. “We figured by now there would be some sort of answer.”

He says the police have been communicating with him on a weekly basis, but there isn’t much they can tell him.

“It’s very frustrating,” Genereaux says.

Police search at 2290 Salmon River Road on Oct. 25, 2017.

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)

Meanwhile, he says they are still waiting to get Traci’s body so they can lay her to rest.

“It would give some closure, at least we’d have her. At least she’s not going to be sitting in the basement of a hospital,” he says.

After Traci’s remains were found, police set up a dedicated tip line and said they were working on a timeline of her activities leading up to and after May 29, 2017, the last known date she was seen in Vernon.

RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Janelle Shoihet said by email that as of today, Feb. 22, the investigation into Traci’s death remains active and ongoing with no further updates available.

Shortly before police announced Traci’s remains were found on the Salmon River Road property, the RCMP brought 37-year-old Curtis Sagmoen into custody for allegedly threatening a sex trade worker with a firearm on Aug. 27. He was charged with that initial offence on Oct. 17, and in the months that followed was eventually charged with three other offences, including assaults against two sex trade workers on July 1 and Aug. 10, and one allegation of using spikes to damage the tires of a motor vehicle on July 19, 2017. He next appears in court Feb. 28 for a decision on whether or not he will be released on bail. Police have not linked Sagmoen to Traci’s case.

Genereaux is urging anyone with unreported information about the Sagmoen farm or his daughter to contact police.

“I’m definitely encouraging anybody who knows anything, even if you feel it’s no info at all. The smallest bit of info could help shed some light on what is going on,” Genereaux says. “Find some courage, hold onto that courage, and tell somebody.”

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