Rose's Cantina

Over the past four years, I've taken an amazing virtual journey to hell and back with my cousins John and Cindy. It started with a Facebook post from John's sister, Julie Major. Her niece, Ashley, had disappeared from her home in Salmon Arm, British Columbia.  I didn't know I had a cousin named Ashley. I didn't even know I had a cousin named John. Over these past few years, I've gotten to know them very well; they allowed me into the inner sanctum of their family and their pain. They gave me the privilege of telling Ashley's story warts and all. The journey has been horrendous at times. It's difficult watching people you care about sit with a pain that never leaves them, to see them leaning toward the phone waiting for police calls, to worry that John would get into a fight with a boyfriend that didn't call the police for a week after Ashley left him. It was always something. John qualified for EI under a relatively obscure provision that...

Embed from Getty Images I got an email from Ashley Simpson's dad yesterday who is lining up the ducks, getting ready for his quest to find his daughter who disappeared a year ago from her home in Salmon Arm. John Simpson was originally going to drive across the country but now he's decided it would be cheaper and faster to fly out and rent a car. He's got about a month before he has to return to Huntsville to take up his summer duties as the cook at the Longhouse. He says he's hoping it won't take that long but he's prepared to keep looking as long as he can. John wants, no needs, some sort of resolution. He's hoping for the best, and expecting the worst. That's what happens when your daughter disappears without a trace. The cops have no leads they are willing to share with the family. The answer is always the same: they're looking at the evidence. This will be a lonely quest for this kind and loving man who has spent the winte...

My cousin Ashley Simpson made a New Years list this week, sadly, as part of a story about women who have disappeared from the North Okanagan Shuswap in British Columbia. The popular Castanet website for Vernon gave the details. Here is an abridged version. It's been almost a year since anyone has seen Caitlyn Potts . Potts was last seen on Feb. 22, and made contact with friends on social media Feb. 26, but has not been heard from since. The 27-year-old First Nations woman was reported missing March 1. Two months later, another North Okanagan woman went missing. Ashley Simpson , 31, was last heard from on April 27 and then on July 22, Deanna Mildred Wertz , 46, was also reported missing. Potts and Wertz were from the Enderby area, while Simpson was living in the Salmon Arm area. Police said on the morning of July 19, Wertz went for a walk somewhere in the wooded area near her residence on Yankee Flats Road (the same area where Ashley disappeared) and has not been...

Every morning for five months now, my cousin John Simpson has wept on his pillow, each day unable to awaken from a bad dream, a nightmare, Groundhog Day, whatever you want to call it. Everyday, John and his wife Cindy awake with the same mantra: "Come home, Ashley. Where are you? Please be safe." It's the definition of insanity, finding yourself with the same hope expecting things to change. They never do. Sometimes, life's a shit sandwich, served cold. But John has to go on, for the family, in her memory. It's not always easy, putting one foot in front of another. So he walks in Ashley's memory, and in the name of the countless others, missing and murdered women in this country who have disappeared without a trace. He plays cards, and builds bonfires., cooks marshmallows for the grands. It's how he's built. He's a Simpson. A man of few words. A man who just gets things done. But we know inside, it's eating him up. We al...

Update: The remains found by polce were another girl. Thankful but it's disturbing for another family. It is with a heavy heart that I report that the police have found human remains at a site in Salmon Arm. As you know, my cousin, Ashley Simpson , has been missing from that area for more than a month. I remain forever hopeful that this is not the Gypsy Girl. But thought you'd all like to know... This is a report from the Salmon Arm Observer. The Salmon Arm RCMP and BC Coroners Services announced late Tuesday afternoon that they are investigating the discovery of human remains located by police. The Salmon Arm RCMP were called to an area on 6th Street NE on May 20. Investigators located what have been confirmed as partially decomposed human remains in an area between 6th Street NE and Lakeshore Drive. The remains were located down an unused steep footpath that is overgrown. Police say the remains appear to be fairly recent. “At this time the Salmon Arm RC...