Maple Bay’s Diana Weld was more than delighted when her 19-year-old son Owen was found walking along a woods road near Lake Cowichan four days after he disappeared.
Owen went missing on Feb. 14 after he was last seen driving his SUV through Lake Cowichan soon after leaving his new job on his first day of work.
Diana said she learned from Owen after he was found that he was driving on a woods road near Caycuse when he hit a washed out section and badly damaged the car and suffered a concussion.
She said Owen tried to call and text for help, but he was outside cell range and couldn’t connect with anyone.
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“The timelines after that aren’t very clear because Owen was injured and likely in shock and spent much of the next few days mostly sleeping or unconscious,” she said.
“He did manage to collect some water but the only food he had were some saltine crackers. He thought it best to stay with the car until he was found, but that section of road was not searched, although Owen did hear helicopters. On Sunday (Feb. 18), Owen felt well enough to start walking and he walked about 15 kilometres with a jug of water and a baseball bat.”
Diana said that in the early evening, some campers saw Owen walking along the road and pulled up to see if he needed any help.
“They insisted that they give him a ride and they recharged his phone and made him a sandwich,” she said.
“With his phone charged, the messages that he began sending on Wednesday finally went through. The campers took him to Tim Hortons in Lake Cowichan and he was taken by an ambulance from there to the hospital. He has a concussion, was dehydrated and he had lost some weight. He was released the next day.”
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Diana said she was on her way home on Sunday from searching for Owen in the Port Renfrew area with friends when she received a text from him that was likely sent on Wednesday night that she was only receiving after several days.
“By that point I had resigned myself to the fact that Owen was not coming home so we were really happy that he had been found,” she said.
“We’re so glad to have him home. The whole community really came together to try and find Owen and bring him home. What happened in those four days was breathtaking and amazing. People from all over Vancouver Island and even from the Mainland came together to try to find Owen and we want to thank everyone who helped.”
Diana said Owen has been tired and quiet since he was released from hospital.
“He’s doing surprisingly well physically, but he’s struggling a little emotionally,” she said.
“We’re just happy to have him home.”