RCMP are appealing for help across the country in finding a person of interest in the 2017 homicide of Nanaimo teen Makayla Chang.
Chang was 16 when she was last seen alive outside of a Tim Hortons in downtown Nanaimo in March 2017.
Two months later, investigators located her body and deemed her death a homicide.
Before her body was found, officers searched the home of Steven Bacon – an older man described as a friend of Chang's whom she stayed with on occasion.
Bacon was never named a suspect in the death and Chang's killer has not been identified or caught.
But a new development in the case came Monday, when RCMP said they were trying to locate Bacon, now 59, calling him a "person of interest" in the investigation.
"At this point, we have exhausted all avenues of investigation and have been unable to locate Mr. Bacon," Nanaimo RCMP Sgt. Rob Graves said in a news release. "While we cannot rule out that he is in Nanaimo or remains on Vancouver Island, we have been unable to locate him and are now asking the entire country to help us as we believe he has important information."
Police released a new photo of Bacon in hopes the public can help find him.
He's described as a white 59-year-old man who is 5'10" tall and 200 pounds with grey hair and/or facial hair and a distinctive tear drop tattoo under his left eye, a Bugs Bunny tattoo on his upper right arm and an unidentified tattoo on the back of his right hand.
Bacon may be using alternative names including Michael Dufour, Michael Vincent Defoure, Steven Michael, Mike Vincent or Mike Jannis.
Police say he is known to use public transit.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call local police, Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
