Katharina Buczek
Lisa’s parents were frustrated by this and decided to contact local news outlets in hopes of sparking awareness. Although, JoAnne tried to avoid the cameras, fearing how the public would perceive her daughter.
“You couldn’t tell by looking at her that she was First Nations, and I didn’t want people to know that and judge her… to discriminate against her because of that,” JoAnne told Ha-Shilth-Sa.
Yet according to Lisa’s aunt, Carol, this effort still did not make a difference.
“It took them two months before [the police] would do a search for Lisa. It was our Tla-o-qui-aht men that came right away, organized and with tips, did searches in different areas,” Carol said.
Eventually, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s (RCMP) Serious Crime Unit did take on Lisa’s case.
Over the past few years, searches at undisclosed sites in Nanaimo using ground-penetrating radar and K9s have been conducted.
The investigation into the 21-year-old’s disappearance has also grown to contain information from hundreds of witnesses and approximately 15,000 documents.
Despite intel pouring in from community members, though, no tips have led to a crack in Lisa’s case.
The Nanaimo community has continued to rally around Lisa’s family– who began conducting annual walks and candlelight vigils following the young woman’s disappearance.
In 2017, though, these events paused after JoAnne Young began experiencing deteriorating health. She ultimately suffered from hypertension, received dialysis, and needed a kidney transplant.
But, after never receiving the new organ, JoAnne sadly passed away in 2017 at 54-years-old. She never received any closure in her daughter’s case.
