B.C. mudslides: Friends and family ID man missing, presumed dead after Highway 99 slide

Vancouver -

Friends and family have identified the man still missing and presumed dead after last week's Highway 99 mudslide near Lillooet, B.C., as 36-year-old Brett Diederichs.

Diederichs was born in New Westminster, but left for Ontario when he was nine and became well-known in Toronto’s restaurant scene.

He and his wife had recently moved back to B.C., and were in the process of relocating from Peachland to Victoria with Diederichs’ mother when a small slide initially blocked the highway during their drive.

Diederichs got out of the car to see how he could help, which friend Chris Searl says was in his DNA.

“No one is surprised by that that knows him, he wouldn’t have thought twice about anything like that,” said Searl. Diederichs was training to become a paramedic so he could help with the wildfire effort in B.C.

When the larger slide came roaring down the hillside, Diederichs managed to get his wife and mother back into the car, before being swept away by the torrent of mud and debris.

Authorities have not publicly identified the last person missing since last Monday's slide. The bodies of the other four were recovered last week, but the search for the fifth has been suspended since the weekend.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Janelle Shoihet said authorities' working theory is that the last victim was potentially swept into the river.

“The river levels are far too high to be looking at that as an option at this point,” she said, adding the search may resume in the spring.

Searl said Diederichs’ wife broke the news to him. “Madison called me and FaceTimed me when it wasn’t sure, but everyone kind of suspected he wasn’t going to be found. Definitely the hardest FaceTime or iPhone call I’ve had in my life," said Searl.

He first met Diederich 10 years ago in Toronto, where they both worked in the restaurant industry. They became close friends.

“It was really really cool to see just how kind he was to everyone and every guest and all the staff, right down to the dishwasher. Always a smile, he was just a really special guy,” said Searl.

He said Diederichs’ best friend has flown out to B.C. from Toronto to help his wife Madison cope with the loss, and plan a funeral.

Searl said the couple was "unbelievably in love."

"Just a beautiful couple and really cool people, and she is heartbroken and devastated,” he added. A GoFundMe has been set up to raise money for her.

More than $70,000 was donated in a single day, a testament, Searl says, to how many lives Diederichs touched.

“He was just a humble guy that cared about everybody, and that affected so many people on so many different levels through the restaurant and through music and through love,” said Searl.

“He was all those amazing things, and we are all going to miss him very very much.”