Renewed efforts to find a hiker who went missing in December were suspended after two days of scouring the wilderness near Charters River in Sooke failed to turn up anything. On the weekend, about 80 searchers from 11 search and rescue teams participated in the search for Melissa McDevitt. The search was renewed after recently discovered data from McDevitt's smartwatch narrowed the search area. McDevitt, 38, was last seen on surveillance video on 9 December in the Charters Creek fish hatchery parking lot on Sooke River Road, a few kilometres away from the Sooke Potholes. The original search seven months earlier lasted nine days. "We would like to acknowledge the significant efforts of Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue and all other assisting SAR agencies during this search period, particularly through challenging terrain."
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Headline
“Search for missing hiker suspended” Not recorded in the catalogue — read from the clipping image. Check it against the clipping below before quoting it.
The second search also ended without a find. The remains were located five months later, in December 2023, not by a search and rescue team but by a volunteer group — see the 2023-12-08 report, also held here. This page was recovered from inside the ProQuest bulk export already held in the archive, where it had been listed as referenced but not held.
The clipping
The full page. The article region could not be verified automatically, so the whole page is shown rather than risk a clipping that cuts off the article. the whole page is shown; the article region within it has not been isolated.
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ProQuest — the scanned page in the Times Colonist digital archive ↗subscription or library card Recorded exactly as captured, including the Greater Victoria Public Library proxy address — it needs a GVPL card or a ProQuest subscription. Without one, search ProQuest for the document ID in the address. This link opens through the Greater Victoria Public Library and asks for a library card number before showing the page. Cards are free for Greater Victoria residents — sign up on the GVPL site; an online temporary card is enough for the digital databases. Outside Greater Victoria, ask your own library whether it offers the ProQuest Times Colonist archive. http://search.proquest.com.proxy.gvpl.ca/pdntimescolonist/newspapers/july-11-2023page-a3/docview/2837663585/sem-2?accountid=6051
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This is a full newspaper page and carries unrelated stories as well as the article summarised here. The text is the OCR made from the ProQuest bulk export during the 2026 research phase, not a fresh pass. Recovered from page 38 of the bulk export.
Record id 2023-07-11-times-colonist-pa3-mcdevitt-search-resumed. Original file in the project archive: 02_articles/2026-07-16_proquest_bulk_export_50_articles_2012-2026.pdf (page 38).
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In the timeline
13 December 2022Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue personnel returned to the mobile command base during the search for Melissa McD
