15 years on, Chantal Desruisseaux of Williams Lake says she knows nothing more about her son’s disappearance than she did a week after he went missing.
Tyler Walton was 25-years-old when he was last seen in Williams Lake on Nov. 9, 2009. He had recently moved back to the lakecity where he was born and was reported missing by his family on Nov. 18. At the time he was described as five feet and ten inches tall with brown hair and brown eyes.
As the days, weeks and years pass, all his mother can do is keep going.
“I’m hopeful somebody has a conscience and will come through,” Desruissaux said, adding someone out there must know what happened.
“Just people, come forward please.”
Terri Hutchings is a longtime friend of Desruissaux and has been helping with the search for Walton since the beginning.
“We will never give up hope of finding out the truth, whatever that may be,” Hutchings said in an interview with the Tribune.
Hutchings and Desruissaux met years ago as single moms living in Williams Lake, when Hutchings’ own son was still in diapers. She remembers Walton as a friendly and outgoing person who helped rebuild a computer for her and played games with her son.
“Ty would give his shirt off his back for anyone,” Hutchings said. She spoke about the warmth Walton had for those he loved and recalled a time when, as a teenager, he ran into his mother on the city bus and gave her a big hug.
“That was Ty,” Hutchings said.
In the years following his disappearance, Hutchings said rumours have come to misrepresent Walton for who he is. Police investigations have found Walton was involved in the drug trade at the time of his disappearance, but there is no evidence to confirm a connection. This kind of information, Hutchings said, has led people to dismiss Walton’s case.
“Ty wasn’t who people are making him out to be...Ty is a person,” she said.
Hutchings said if it gets to the point where Desruissaux can no longer search for Walton, she won’t give up, and when she can no longer search, her son will.
“It tore all our worlds apart,” Hutchings said about Walton’s disappearance. “Lead us [to the answers] so Chantal can move on,” she pleaded.
Walton's father Ken Walton died in August 2018 after battling cancer. In a previous interview with the Tribune, he spoke about how difficult it was to not have any closure. “Every day goes by and we still don’t know what happened,” Walton said at the time.
The investigation is ongoing, and any little bit of information could help police find more answers. Anyone with information is asked to contact Williams Lake RCMP at 250-392-6211 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
