The family of a 17-year-old boy from Mission, B.C. who disappeared without a trace five years ago has issued a heartfelt plea for answers.
Jeff Surtel vanished just after midnight on April 29, 2007 after he was last seen by neighbours riding his mountain bike. An intense search for the teenager followed shortly afterward, but neither he nor his bike was found.
Jeff's parents Gary and Dawn Surtel have not been able to move past the loss of their eldest son.
"It's been horrible. There's not a day that goes by that we don't think of Jeff. There's not a young man that I pass in the street and I don't look at him," Gary said.
"It's pretty unbelievable, just hope one day he's going to knock on the door, but he never does," Dawn said.
The week Jeff went missing his parents had discovered his grades were slipping. A month earlier he had stopped talking to his brother.
Dawn says someone must have information about her son's disappearance.
"I think he just went out to think and something happened, and somebody knows what happened," she said.
Gary says the discovery of Jeff's bike could give an important clue.
"Just wherever the bike was found would tell us where to start to look, because right now we have no idea which direction he went," he said.
The Surtels urge their son to call them or the police to let them know whether he is all right.
"I know he's a man now, he's 22, so if he is out there, wants to live his own life, just let us know. I mean we're just heartbroken here," Dawn said.
The couple knows there is a possibility Jeff may not be alive, but they are holding onto hope.
"It's a hard word that ‘hope,'" Dawn said. "It just leads to disappointment, every single time, but I guess you just can't stop hoping."
An age-progressed picture of the teenager has been released in an effort to help figure out what happened to him. Anyone with information on his disappearance is asked to call Mission RCMP or Crimestoppers.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Bhinder Sajan
