It's been 25 years since Danny Gaulton went missing, but family still holds hope
CBC
A few months after Danny Gaulton moved to Alberta, he disappeared.
The 26-year-old from Labrador West just finished school, and moved to Grande Prairie, Alta. to find a new job as a correctional officer.
That was in 1997 — he hasn't been seen or heard from since.
"It really began a nightmare that has just continued to this day," said Gaulton's youngest sister, Valerie Champion, in an interview with Labrador Morning.
"It's like there's a part of our lives that have stood still since that moment and have not had any type of resolution."
It's been 25 years since Daniel Gaulton, also known as Danny, disappeared. He was last seen at the now demolished Park Hotel in Grande Prairie.
No matter how much time has passed, Gaulton's family members say they're determined to find out what happened to Gaulton, who's remembered as a cheerful person who made friends wherever he went.
"Right now, and what has been for 25 years, is to bring Danny home, put him to rest with our mother and the rest of our family, and to bring some closure to our life," said one of Danny's other sisters, Josephine Gaulton-Rowe.
"Since Danny's disappeared in 25 years, it's just a living hell."
A few years ago, the family reached out to someone they thought might be able to help — Ellen White.
White is the senior investigator of the podcast, Whereabouts Unknown, which takes a deep-dive into the stories of missing people.
White says trying to go back a quarter of a century to determine what happened to someone like Gaulton is incredibly challenging. But after posting about him on social media a few years ago, she says she was surprised to discover many people reaching out to share what they knew.
"Within the hour, people were reaching out to us on this 20-something year old case saying, 'Listen, I was there, I saw what happened," said White. "And from that, it really just snowballed."
White says she's interviewed about 150 people about the case, who all share the same story. Many of the tipsters told White that Gaulton is "no longer with us," she says, and she believes that to be true.
