The family of a missing Devon man pulled away by the currents of the North Saskatchewan River is looking for closure.
Thirty-one-year-old Derek Gene Soosay, from Samson Cree First Nation, disappeared over two weeks ago when he took a swim in the river. He waded into the water from the Devon Bridge Boat Launch around 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 2 and was swept away by the powerful current.
Soosay’s common-law wife, Penny, who didn’t reveal her last name, saw it all happen.
“He started hollering for help,” she said. “When we couldn’t see him at all, we thought he’d just swam ashore.”
Within five minutes, the group called 9-1-1. Police immediately began a ground, air and water search. So far nothing has been found.
“It’s very hard. I cry myself to sleep all the time,” said Penny. “Every time I go to sleep I see that last image and think, maybe I should’ve gone in.”
The boat launch where Soosay went missing was a spot he knew well, according to Penny.
“He would take the kids down there pretty much every day. They’d park and go swimming,” said Penny. “We all spent a lot of time down there in the summers.”
The most difficult part, she said, is the uncertainty.
Soosay’s family is asking for the public’s help in finding him. According to police, he was last seen wearing blue jeans, a black leather jacket, a white, long-sleeved shirt and white running shoes.
Anyone with information is asked to call Stony Plain RCMP at 780-968-7267.
