Parents say young B.C. woman with developmental disability lured online by ‘predator’

The parents of a vulnerable Indigenous woman are speaking out about what happened to their daughter – and how the system failed her.

The Fraser Valley parents of a young Indigenous woman with a developmental disability say their daughter was groomed, lured and sexually assaulted by a man she met online.

They are angry, not just at the man they call a “predator”, but also at the response from the RCMP issued when their daughter went missing.

The family’s terrifying ordeal unfolded last year when the 20-year-old Agassiz-area woman, who we are only identifying as “Sarah”, was allegedly lured online by a man her parents said they had never met or even heard of.

“I believe he was a predator and he was sourcing these things out and he found my daughter and he groomed her to leave,” said Sarah’s father.

Sarah’s parents said she was born with a brain injury and is developmentally delayed.

“If you come talk with our daughter, get to spend time with her, you’ll know she has capacity of (someone) seven or eight,” said her dad.

Her parents recalled their frantic state when they woke up one morning last September to discover their daughter was gone.

“I heard my wife screaming, saying, ‘Our daughter’s gone. Our daughter’s gone,’” recalled Sarah’s dad.

“That’s when the nightmare started for our family,” he said.

“It was heart-wrenching and when I went to come back up to her room, we found the letter,” said her mom.

The letter from Sarah said she’d left with her new boyfriend and wanted to live her own life. But her parents told CTV News that due to her disability, the wording could not have come from their daughter.

The parents said their surveillance video showed a vehicle arriving around 3:30 a.m. and their daughter leaving the family home.

Her parents said they would later learn the man gave Sarah specific instructions for sneaking out and that she was to “…make sure she was wearing her socks and not to wear her shoes up the driveway so she wouldn’t be heard,” explained her mom.

The parents said the man and their daughter stopped at a fast-food restaurant in Hope. While there, the parents said he took Sarah’s phone and turned it off so her location couldn’t be tracked.

The parents said once they discovered Sarah was gone, they immediately called Agassiz RCMP and spoke to an officer

“And he (the officer) goes, ‘How old is she?’. I said, ‘She’s twenty, but she has a disability that she only can comprehend to a 7, 8-year-old,’” recalled Sarah’s mom.

The parents told CTV News that they offered to provide the police with medical documentation of their daughter’s condition, but that police failed to understand the urgency of the situation.

Sarah’s mom took to social media, showing a missing-persons flyer of her daughter and begging the public to help find her.

“I want my baby back. I just want my baby back,” said the anguished mother in the post.

Sarah’s parents said at some point, the so-called “boyfriend” found out police were looking for her and in response, took her to the Kamloops detachment and had her tell police she was fine.

The parents said RCMP let Sarah leave with the man, and later told the family there was nothing in the police file indicating she had a disability. The parents also said the police interaction with their daughter had not been face-to-face because the public office at the detachment was closed.

“How can you do a well-being check on someone if it’s through a camera?”, asked Sarah’s dad.

The parents said Sarah managed to get her phone back and about 24-hours after going missing, she called her sister, who was already in Kamloops looking for her. Her sister picked her up.

But by then, the family said Sarah had already been sexually assaulted. They said they would later learn one of the assaults happened after the suspect found out through social media that Sarah had a disability.

“He assaulted her without her consent. He also videotaped her,” the mom said.

The family believes police failed their daughter.

A spokesperson for RCMP E Division communications said, “the family was informed of our authorities and limitations…” and that “…there are processes available to them should they have concerns about the investigation.”

RCMP would not comment on the criminal investigation into the alleged assault. No charges have been laid.

Meanwhile, Sarah’s parents are warning others of how easily young people can be lured.

“They’re telling them what they want to hear,” Sarah’s mom said.

“Even my own daughter was told that, ‘You go back, they’re not going to want you. They’re not going to love you,’” she explained.

They said their daughter ended up going to hospital after she returned because she was suicidal and suffering from PTSD.

The family said they hope time will heal the hurt their daughter has faced at the hands of a predator.