Marshal Iwaasa was last seen by his family on November 17 (Photos supplied by Alexis Iwaasa)

By Justin Goulet

Family marks one-year anniversary of Marshal Iwaasa’s disappearance

Nov 18, 2020 | 11:55 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – It’s been over one year since a southern Alberta man went missing.

Marshal Iwaasa was last seen on November 17, 2019 by family in Lethbridge. His burned-out truck was later located in the backcountry in the Pemberton, British Columbia area.

In the last year, multiple searches have been conducted by RCMP in British Columbia and Lethbridge Police, who continue to lead and keep the investigation into Iwaasa’s disappearance open.

Unfortunately, there are still many questions that have been left unanswered, according to Iwaasa’s sister, Paige Fogen. Iwaasa is said to have accessed his family’s storage unit before going missing.

“We still don’t know what happened, anything after he left our storage unit, or his code was used to leave our storage unit, there’s never been any trace, no financial records, no bank records, or no phone records of indicators of what he did after that time,” Fogen told Lethbridge News Now.

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Fogen said the family is taking this week to look over what the last year has taught them and make plans for what they can do going forward, as the search for Marshal Iwaasa continues.

“We don’t know what our exact steps are. This year is completely different with all the restrictions and the changes that are taking place in the world. We would have liked to get together as a large family but unfortunately at this time, we can’t even do that,” she said.

“So, for us, we’re looking at what we can do that keeps everyone safe but also continues to bring awareness.”

This past January, in honour of Iwaasa’s birthday, the family held a vigil at Winston Churchill High School in Lethbridge. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fogen said she isn’t sure if they will be able to do something similar at the start of 2021.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

Fogen told LNN that the community has been extremely supportive since her brother went missing.

“The amount of support that we’ve received has been tremendous, from all over, all different people – people that we know, people that we don’t know. Everyone has just been so supportive, and I think the biggest thing for me is I’ve always tried to thank everyone because we couldn’t do it alone, it’s so much work and so challenging,” she said.

“I was even looking back at last year at all the people that we had putting up posters to continually raise awareness, sharing it in their communities and people still continue to do that. That’s something that we couldn’t do on our own.”

She said the help from the community, at home and out of province, has been so meaningful to the family.

A Facebook group started by Fogen, ‘Find Marshal Iwaasa’, has over 12,000 members.