Vehicle in Goat River belonged to missing woman
Posted on 01. Jul, 2011 by Chris Shepherd in Creston |
Two East Kootenay stories have merged into one with news that the vehicle which ended up in the Goat River – the vehicle SAR technicians were investigating when one of their own drowned – belongs to a missing Creston woman.
Alana Chipesia. Photo supplied by the RCMP.
Alana Chipesia’s family reported her missing after she left the home on Saturday, June 18. According to police she drove away after she was involved with a “minor police complaint,” leaving in her 1997 Pontiac Sunfire before the RCMP arrived.
Police have since pulled that Sunfire from the Goat River south of Creston. There were no occupants in the vehicle when they examined it.
“RCMP investigators believe that Lana Chipesia was the driver and sole occupant of her vehicle at the time that it crashed into the Goat River. Lana Chipesia, 23 years old, is presumed drowned however she remains classified as a missing person until she is located,” said RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk in a release.
The Sunfire went off Highway 21 on Wednesday, June 29 and search and rescue crews were called out for what they expected would be a body recovery. Something went wrong, however, and one of the technicians, Sheilah Sweatman, 29, of Ymir, drowned. Her body was recovered the next day on Thursday, June 30 and later that day police confirmed the car belonged to Chipesia.
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