Kevin Gilmour, wherever you are, your family has come from B.C. and is searching for you so they can help you.
They will bring you home, help you find work, and do whatever it takes to help you get back on your feet. You’ve done nothing wrong and you are not in any trouble.
That’s the message Kelly Gilmour and her fiancé Aron McKinnon want her 30-year-old brother to get if he reads this story, she said Thursday.
After learning that Kevin was missing, the couple flew to Red Deer on Tuesday morning from Maple Ridge, B.C., and have been scouring every location they can think of to try and find him.
“We are very, very worried about him,” Kelly said.
The mystery of Kevin’s disappearance began last week.
He was being evicted from his apartment on June 30 because he had fallen behind in rent. He had received a call that day at noon from the building manager and he told her he was downtown trying to get a U-Haul.
The building manager eventually went into the apartment at 3 p.m. where she found a few blood drips in the bathroom and on the floor, knives with a bit of blood on them, and Kevin’s keys, wallet and cell phone. Also still in the apartment were all his belongings, including his valuable paint gun equipment.
The apartment was locked and it appeared that someone, possibly Kevin, had thrown the keys under the door into the apartment. The building manager immediately called Red Deer RCMP who on July 1st issued a release that Kevin was missing.
Kelly said her brother is not social, has few life skills, and spends all of his time just playing online video games alone. He especially likes Warcraft and World of Tanks. He also has “a huge procrastination problem.” The power to Kevin’s apartment had been cut off so he had been running an extension cord into the building’s hallway.
But he’s always been responsible at work, very careful with his money, and doesn’t drink or do drugs although he cannot handle emotional turmoil, said Kelly.
She and McKinnon fear that Kevin may have become depressed, although he has no history of this. He had come to Alberta from B.C. and found work with an oil service company a few years ago, and was making good money. He has another sister who lives here — Lauralee Gilmour — who helped him out when he first came here.
Kevin had saved a lot of money when working and quit his job because he was going to take a trade.
But he never got around to it, said Kelly, and in May he called his sisters asking for money — something he had never done before.
Kelly said he is the type of person who never checks his bank account although he could make a dollar go a long ways.
His sisters helped him out, giving him about $4,000, which brought his rent up to date until the end of June.
At the same time, whenever they tried to call him he seldom if ever returned their calls. When they did speak with him, they explained all the steps he needed to take to get himself in order and prepare to move.
Kelly last spoke with her brother on June 8 and and he sounded fine, she said. And then the police called her on July 1.
Since arriving in Red Deer, the couple have checked with the hospital, Greyhound, homeless shelters, and library.
They have left flyers at a lot of places, including with homeless people, and scoured the bushes around the apartment at 6209 60 St.
Red Deer RCMP have been very helpful, but they don’t have any information for them, Kelly said. Police in B.C. have been contacted in case he headed that way.
Kelly said she feels like it’s probably her brother’s choice to be missing but she really doesn’t know. He’s never done anything like this before and he’s not been suicidal, Kelly said.
He had gone to basic military training at one time but got pneumonia and had to leave. He never re-applied, Kelly said.
The couple have a family wedding they need to attend this weekend, but may try and come back to Red Deer after that.
Kevin could call police, who have sent him an email asking him to contact them and letting him know that he’s not in trouble and his family is worried about him, Kelly said.
He is described as Caucasian, 1.88 metres (6-foot-2), brown hair and bluish green eyes. Anyone who may have seen Kevin is asked to call Red Deer RCMP at 403-343-5575. The RCMP case number is 2016-826-077.
barr@www.reddeeradvocate.com