Candlelight vigil marks three months since Trina Hunt’s disappearance

PORT MOODY (NEWS 1130) — It was a somber anniversary for the family and friends of Trina Hunt, with Sunday marking three months since the Port Moody woman’s disappearance.

Bathed in the flicker of candlelight and twilight, a small group of those closest to Hunt gathered at Rocky Point Park for a vigil, pledging to continue the search.

Hunt, 48, was last seen around 6 a.m. on Jan. 18. Her husband reported her missing later that day when he returned home from work.

Police, search and rescue crews, and hundreds of volunteers scoured the area around her Heritage Woods home but found nothing.

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Stephanie Ibbot, Hunt’s cousin-in-law, says the people who love the missing woman will not stop looking.

“The first three months you’re in a fog. You’re really lost,” she explains.

“Now that it’s been three months, the reality’s setting in, but the drive to keep searching, and to not stop until we find her has also really set in. We focus on the search so that we don’t have to focus on the other stuff, the grief. We can’t really even start to grieve until we’ve gotten that closure.”

Seven different searches set out over the course of the day.

“Lots of Trina’s family and friends are coming out. The community has been incredible, even complete strangers,” Ibbot says, adding hiking groups have volunteered to scour the more challenging trails.

“They just feel the need to help somehow and this is a way that they can help us. Every trail that we search, tells us where Trina isn’t, which leads us closer to the answer of where she is.”

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The in-person evening vigil at Rocky Point Park will be small because of COVID-19. But the family is encouraging people to light a candle at home, and attend virtually through Facebook.

Ibbot says the outpouring of support is fitting since Hunt herself is so generous and kind.

“She just has a sparkle in her eyes that never goes away. She is so giving, so caring. There is a hole in our lives without her here.”

Last month, friends and family hung a banner from the overpass by the Rocky Point Park, featuring a picture of Hunt and police contact information.

A GoFundMe launched in February has raised more than $20,000 to fund the continuation of the search with private crews.

“We’re not going to stop, and if there’s someone out there that knows where she is they need to go the Port Moody Police and let us know, let this suffering end,” Ibbot says.

Port Moody police have said the investigation remains active, and that foul play is not suspected.

Anyone with information about Hunt’s whereabouts is asked to contact Port Moody police at (604) 461–3456.