Family Of Missing Woman Heads North For One More Search

If you’re like most parents, there isn’t anything you wouldn’t do for your kids. Elizabeth Rutledge is no different. But she’s in a position you’re lucky enough to likely never occupy. She’s the mother of Christina Calayca, the Toronto resident who vanished on a camping trip a month ago after going jogging in a remote and dense region of Rainbow Falls Provincial Park, a few hundred kilometres from Thunder Bay.

Seventeen days of searches by authorities failed to find any concrete clues about what happened to the 20-year-old and police and rescue crews have stopped the hunt, arguing it’s no longer likely to be productive. And that’s where that protective instinct we all feel comes in.

Despite the odds, Christina’s mom is convinced her daughter is still alive and if there’s even a small chance of finding her, she’s willing to conduct the search herself. That’s what sending her distraught family up north one more time this weekend.

Rutledge spends time in her daughter’s Parliament St. apartment, hoping to somehow commune with the missing girl. “I love to be in her room so I can communicate with her and I’m hoping she’s going to give me the message where she is,” she explains, her voice choking with tension and emotion. “Even her spirit. I wish that she just come and speak to me (sic) where I can find her. Just tell me where she is.”

Cards of prayer and encouragement give Rutledge hope as the family sets out on a journey those in official positions now refuse to make. Most don’t think Christina met with foul play but simply got lost in the unfamiliar territory. But the Calaycas aren’t so sure.

“We know Christina the best, we’re her family, she’s very close to us,” outlines her aunt Karen Caguicla. “And we know there’s no way she could disappear, there’s no way she could just be lost.”

The refusal to give up and the assurance that one day soon Christina will come home is what sustains Rutledge and makes the 14-hour trip bearable. When asked if she believes her daughter is still alive, her answer is both halting and haunting. “Yes,” she responds. “Yes. She is.”

The family knows their numbers aren’t enough to cover all the ground that’s needed up north. So they’ve created an online petition designed to convince the OPP to resume the search. If you’d like to sign your name to the request, click here.

Related stories:

Mom believes daughter still alive

Father joins search

Vigil held for Christina

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