The parents of 24-year-old Owen Kiernan Rooney, who disappeared more than two weeks ago from B.C.'s Kootenays region, have come all the way from Australia to aid in the search for their son.
Sharron Rooney told ctvbc.ca it's not like her son to lose contact with family, and he has no history of drugs or depression.
"We haven't heard anything since we've been here. There has been no activity on his bank account or credit card, and he hasn't used his Facebook or e-mail. Owen always used Facebook to communicate with us back home -- that's how we knew something was wrong."
Rooney was found hitchhiking near Christina Lake by police officers on Aug. 14. They noticed bruising on his face, and took him to Grand Forks Hospital, where he checked himself in.
His mother said that he promptly checked himself out of the facility and was last seen around 7:30 p.m. on the same day, sitting outside the hospital reading a book. His cell phone was found broken inside a bag of belongings left at the hospital.
Rooney is 5-9 tall, and weighs 161 pounds. He has short brown hair and brown eyes. He also has two tattoos: one on his shoulder, about three inches in diameter, is a circle with a Celtic star around it. The other is a logo of a triangle with a kangaroo on his calf.
He lives in Kelowna and had attended the Shambala music festival near Nelson the weekend he was found injured.
