Deceased Merritt man Miguel Mack is pictured playing ball in this undated photograph.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Elijah Mack-Stirling

The Merritt family of Miguel Mack is reeling after receiving confirmation his remains were found earlier this month, after two tragic years of searching for their missing family member.

Mack’s brother, and spokesperson for the family, Elijah Mack-Stirling called the ordeal a “never-ending rollercoaster ride of pain.”

“We still have a long road ahead of us,” he said.

Miguel Mack, 24, was reported missing from his Merritt home in March of 2023.

Police deemed Mack’s disappearance suspicious and a major crime investigator led an investigation in the weeks that followed. On Feb. 29 the following year, the Southeast District Major Crime Unit said he was the victim of a homicide.

For two years, the family has been searching for answers, along with police, drones, dogs and volunteers. 

“My mom was constantly up and down the streets in Merritt and in Kamloops asking anyone for information,” Mack-Stirling said. “She was looking everywhere, even in dumpsters, it has been devastating.”

On June 2, Mack-Stirling was at work at his Kekuli Café restaurant in Kamloops when he got the dreaded phone call confirming the remains of his brother were found. Police had shown up to his mom’s door to deliver the tragic news.

The day marked the third anniversary of the restaurant’s opening, but Mack-Stirling said, he was feeling “off” that morning and didn’t want to celebrate.

“Mom called and I could hear in her voice something was wrong,” he said. “A detective broke the news to me. Everything went black and silent and those two years of emotions came crashing down.”

Top row from left: Elijah Mack-Stirling, Miguel Mack, Levi Mack. Bottom: Casey Mack-Stirling.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Elijah Mack -Stirling

The grim news put an end to the search for Mack, but the family’s journey to find answers to his disappearance is not over and the homicide investigation remains ongoing.

“It’s a transfer of pain from the pain of not knowing where he is to the pain of those two years spent searching and still not having answers, his journey isn’t over,” Mack-Stirling said.

With the remains found, the family travelled to their hometown of Bella Coola for a funeral in the first week of June where hundreds of people showed support.

“In our culture you have to have a service within four days so we started the funeral process a day after the news,” Mack-Stirling said. “When we left Kamloops there were 30 vehicles following us and by the time we stopped in Williams Lake there were 60.

“By the time we go to the foot of mountains at Nuxalk Nation there were over 100 vehicles and over 200 people welcoming us. It was one of the most incredible experiences we’ve had.”

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Mack-Stirling said his family was able to call Mack’s spirit home and do the cultural work they have been longing for. Mack was cremated and brought back to the family’s home in Merritt.

Mack was a son, brother and father of one. He was an athlete who played a variety of sports, and is remembered fondly by the family for being a giving person.

“He was always just himself, whether cooking up a meal or scrapping with you in the backyard,” Mack-Stirling said. “We look at the life he lived and the lives he has impacted no matter how big or small. Regardless of what he did or didn’t do, he is a human being and we have to keep that at the forefront with every human being we encounter. He was my best friend, we were joined at the hip.”

Mack-Stirling has been arranging slow pitch ball tournaments to bring awareness of his brother’s disappearance, as Mack loved playing ball. The next tournament is in the planning stages and will be in celebration of Mack’s life.

“It’s about keeping him in the spotlight not as a missing and murdered man, but as a beautiful soul that touched many lives, and we’ll keep honouring him,” he said.

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Throughout the ordeal, the Mack family has remained tight knit, even through the toughest of emotions.

“I made my family promise at the beginning of this we wouldn’t lose ourselves,” Mack-Stirling said. “We wouldn’t disconnect from the family no matter what anyone of us is going through. The anger that comes up is more often than not covered by the love we have. My mom is very strong and taught us about loving unconditionally no matter what.

“I’ve been furious, I want whoever is involved in this to suffer the way we have. But what good is it living in that world.”

Mack-Stirling said the family will be on a healing journey for the next year, followed by a big celebration for his brother.

“We just ask that whoever knows something to step up and come forward, we don’t have to know who it is, we just want answers,” he said.

Anyone with information about the disappearance of Miguel Mack can contact the Southeast District Major Crime Unit information line at 1-877-987-8477.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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