Please Help Locate Cory Ryan Westcott

Cory Ryan Westcott
Case reference: 2020035556
Missing since: August 31, 2020
Missing from: Nelson, BC
Date of birth: March 7, 1986
Age at disappearance: 34 yrs
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Eye color: Hazel
Hair: Light brown / blonde, shaved
Height: 178 cms / 5ft 10in
Weight: 95 kgs / 209 lbs
Physical build: Muscular
Notable: Gold crown on upper front left tooth. He has pierced ears with earplugs and his left nipple is pierced. Cory has several unique tattoos including a tiger on his left abdomen, full sleeves on both arms, full back tattoo in Hindu style artwork, 2 teardrop tattoos, a dagger and an anchor on his face. (see photos below)
Cory was last seen wearing: Black t-shirt, white pants, black shoes, a multi-colored Supreme brand side-bag
Details: On the night of August 31, 2020, Cory was seen for the last time in Bonnington, located approximately 10 minutes outside of Nelson, British Columbia. Cory was reported missing to the Nelson Police Department on September 4, 2020.

Timeline done by lem72 on Reddit:
(This is extremely detailed!)

Somewhat detailed timeline:
August 31, 2020: Cory went to the gym sometime during the morning. He was in good spirits and has been joking around with the gym owner. Following the gym, he met with a few friends for sushi. Following lunch, Cory ran out to do some errands, purchasing some toiletries and a few packages of hemp t-shirts and undergarments. He went back to his place but didn’t quite get around to putting his newly purchased things away. Those items still sat by the door and on the counter when Cory’s mom went to stay at his place days following his disappearance.

In addition to the recently purchased items not put away and the $500 or so in cash on the counter, Cory’s older phone sat there as well. Cory was seen on CCTV at 6:30 pm at the Shell gas station located on Hwy 6 in Taghum, BC. This is about halfway between Nelson and Bonington, his destination, and only about a 10 min drive (9.5 km or 6 miles) from his place. He drove a grey 2007 Toyota Tundra pick-up truck. The pick-up truck needed some repairs as it had an issue with a sensor that would sometimes prevent it from shifting and would be stuck only travelling at 40 KPH (26 MPH).

He’d have to reset the sensor to get it working normally again by unhooking and re-hooking the battery. In the CCTV footage, Cory is seen wearing a black T-shirt. He filled the truck’s tank with fuel, bought 3 coconut waters and popped the hood to the truck while he fiddled with its battery. It was an annoyance for sure, but he had a tool for the task and knew what to do. He had scheduled to bring the truck in for repairs in the next few weeks.

Next, Cory drove to a friend’s home, one of British Columbia’s many official Cannabis micro-cultivators. He was confirmed at this location between 8:00 pm to 8:30 pm from a third party who attended the residence. Cory’s friend (Isaac) would later confirm that Cory was there that day but would insist that Cory left his residence between 12:00 am and 1:00 am on September 1st. He said he had asked him to leave as he needed to work the following day. This friend worked from home farming cannabis on his property. He has several surveillance cameras surrounding his house and property due to the nature of his farm. However, when asked about camera footage by the police, he told them that none of the surveillance cameras were working during that specific period.

No other witness is confirming that Cory left that residence that day.

Cory’s phone records show a last outgoing call at around 11:00 pm on the 31st. It was a short voicemail message to an ex-girlfriend that lived in Vancouver. She had told law enforcement and Cory’s family that she could only hear noises in the voicemail, noises that sounded like, to her, gurgling sounds. The voicemail was automatically deleted after 7 days from the cellular provider, so there’s no copy of it since the investigation into his disappearance had a bit of a slow start, but law enforcement does have the records showing a call placed to her number on that date at that time.
September 1, 2020: Cory’s mother had been trying to reach him on his cell phone. The phone rang and then went to voicemail. She attempted to call several times throughout the day, and there was still no answer.

September 2, 2020: Cory’s mother got in touch with his most recent ex-girlfriend, the one he was on a break with, and another close friend, who had also told her that they hadn’t heard from Cory either. They had stated that he had missed appointments that day, which was not like him, and they were growing concerned. He was supposed to have met another ex-roommate and friend for lunch, evening plans with his ex and a counselling appointment he had made. His mom kept trying to reach him through his cell, but by now the calls weren’t ringing anymore, they were going straight to voicemail.

September 3, 2020: Still not having heard from Cory, his mom, Dee, reached out again to Cory’s ex-girlfriend and the other close friend and asked them to report Cory missing with the Nelson Police and that she would be there as soon as she could. Dee was out of town caring for her grandson, while her daughter and granddaughter were at the hospital for sick kids.

Cory’s friend contacted the Nelson Police and filed a missing person’s report. Following the report, the Nelson police contacted Cory’s mom for her statement, details into the circumstances of his disappearance, and to provide her with police contact information and his missing person file number.
September 4 – September 7, 2020: People had started calling the police between the 4th and the 7th about an abandoned grey pick-up truck on the side of a dirt service road that hugs the Kootenay Canal. A search by helicopter confirmed the location.

September 7, 2020: Cory’s vehicle is located, 7 days after his last confirmed sighting, on Rover creek Forest service road, near the Kootenay Canal. The area is a less travelled dirt service road that basically goes nowhere. But not only that, it travels in the opposite direction of Nelson, where Cory lived. It’s about a 7 min (6.5 km or 4 miles) drive from the house he was visiting that night.
Law enforcement estimated that the truck had been there for a week based on the amount of dust and debris. This would mean it had been there since at least September 1st. The vehicle was parked on the right side of the dirt road, near the Canal, not far from the Blewitt Road bridge. There are no street lights, and the area is densely wooded. So, it would be very dark at 1 in the morning. The vehicle had a full tank of fuel. The keys were in the vehicle, allegedly in the ignition, and so was Cory’s flashlight that he carried in the truck.

Law enforcement completed a ground search of the area with search & rescue dogs (not cadaver dogs). The vehicle was not taken in for forensic testing, no testing was done on-site, and the vehicle was released the same day to Cory’s ex-girlfriend, who was a registered owner of the vehicle. She drove the vehicle to the same friend’s home where Cory was last seen, followed by another friend and his wife, the same friend who had reported Cory missing. The friend that Cory was visiting on August 31st would later be heard saying, “I hope I don’t get blamed for his death.”

Cory’s ex wasn’t at the house on the 31st but knew this was his last confirmed location. When asked why she brought the car there, she indicated that she drove the truck to this individual’s place because it’s close. She indicated that she wasn’t comfortable driving the truck back to Nelson with the sensor issue, therefore, she went to the closest place she knew.

September 8, 2020: The earliest Cory’s mom could get there was on the 8th. By this time the ground search was already completed.

September 9, 2020: An individual (Mike) who runs in the same circles as Isaac (person Cory was visiting before he disappeared), went into the store under Cory’s apartment and asked if the corner apartment upstairs was for rent. This was only days after he was reported missing and was not yet reported in local newspapers. The lady at the store advised that she didn’t know so gave him the landlord’s name and number. He called the landlord and left a message. He would then return a second time that same week to the store on Baker Street, asking again if Cory’s apartment was for rent, this time using Cory’s name specifically.

Why would be someone ask if someone’s apartment was for rent only 9 days after they went missing? Did they know he wasn’t coming back? The apartment certainly wasn’t advertised and his missing person’s case wouldn’t be in the news for another week or two. This individual already lived in an apartment across the street from Cory’s apartment.

September 10-September 12, 2020: A water search of the canal, with boats with sonar equipment and divers, took place between the 10th to around noon on the 12th. The damn was turned off and the area was thoroughly searched. No additional evidence indicated that Cory was even in that location. His mom believes that the vehicle was placed there as a distraction, but that her son was never there, to begin with.

September 25, 2020: Cory’s mom only got possession of the truck around September 25th, the day of the first newspaper article into the disappearance of her son. No forensic testing had been done on the truck. Who knows what they would be able to find at this point when law enforcement would finally get around to it? She took the truck in to have the sensor issue repaired, just in case her son would come home. Then, at the very least his truck would be fixed for him. She then parked it at her brother’s house. It would sit in her brother’s driveway for around 1 month before the police would decide to finally do any forensic testing on it.

October 2020: The police have since reassigned Cory’s case to a new investigator, presumably in a different department. This new investigator had arranged for the truck’s forensic testing and has been in touch with Cory’s cell phone provider to obtain Cory’s phone records, which he confirms having, and is working with the cell provider to get any information on where his phone pinged (off which towers).

There 2 main ways to locate a cell phone:
The first and most common way is through the Central Switch. Basically, law enforcement goes through the phone service provider to gain access through a central switch. Your phone communicates with cell towers regularly. Law enforcement would need the person’s cell number, otherwise known as a digital network number. The cell number is associated with the hardware record # (think of it as you’re your phone’s serial number).

The hardware record number is then entered into the provider’s central switch which then searches for the hardware. They will then be able to see which towers the phone is hitting or hit within specified days and then triangulate its location. If the phone is on, a ping can be sent through the GPS system to your phone and then the phone will then report back its location. Usually, police will be able to coordinate with the cell provider and need a warrant, court or production order to get this information.

The second way is the rogue tower method, which tricks a person’s phone into thinking the device is their cell phone provider’s tower. Essentially, it disrupts all cell users’ regular service within the area and forces it to connect to this device, then makes each cell give up or show its digital network id. The network IDs are compared to the network ID of the hardware that they are looking for. When they find it, they then can send several signals to that device and the device will respond and send several back.

All the return signals are analyzed to provide a geo-location. It needs to be within 15-20 km (9-12 miles) away from the target cell phone. It’s a specific device more commonly known through the Harris corporation brand name StingRay, which intelligence and law enforcement agencies use mostly in the US, but have been also known to be used in Canada and the UK. The catch to this technique, though, is that the phone has to be on. It’s not known how widely this is used in Canada due to privacy laws and/or if only CSIS or areas within the RCMP use this technology at all, but what we do know is that this would not have been an option in any case for Cory as his cell seemed to have died or was turned off before he was reported missing.

The person’s residence that Cory was visiting that night is in a treed area, it is a substantial enough property size and sits farther back from the road. You cannot see the house from the road. No warrant has yet been obtained to search this property.

November 2020: In November, Dee asked the Nelson PD detective to organize an independent search of the crown land surrounding the area where Cory was last seen, which was permitted so long as she or the other searchers did not cross over into private property. She and 8 other individuals and loosely searched the area and put up missing posters. Dee had come as close as legally possible to the last known location and for a second time put up a missing person poster, as the friend in which he was visiting had previously taken it down. This individual has done nothing to assist in the search of his so-called friend, has indicated that his numerous cameras coincidently were not working that day and has taken down the missing person’s posters in the areas surrounding his property.

Cory is described as 5’10” tall with a muscular build, weighing between 190 lbs and 210 lbs. He was 34 years old at the time of his disappearance. He has hazel eyes, is clean-shaven with light brown hair. He was shaved bald at the time of his disappearance. Cory has many distinctive tattoos covering his body, including a cross on his neck, Buddha on his back, ‘Sarah’ on his chest, two teardrop tattoos under his right eye and an anchor tattoo under his left eye.

When contacted, the Nelson Police advised the due to the ongoing investigation, they were not in a position to comment on them on any of the questions we asked. But did add that the circumstances of Cory Westcott’s disappearance remain a very active investigation. They ask that the public not assume their information is insignificant or that the police have already received the information they hold.

If you have information on Cory’s case, please contact any of the following:
Nelson RCMP: 250-352-2156
Reference Case#: 2023NR-4819

Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-TIPS(8477)
Online at: https://www.canadiancrimestoppers.org/submit-a-tip/submit-a-tip
Crime Stoppers provides anonymous tipping

Send email to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains at: canadasmissing-disparuscanada@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

Note: Any illegal activities mentioned in the details or in the timeline provided from Reddit user lem72 are alleged.

Sources:
Canada’s Missing
RCMP
Reddit