Family of missing B.C. teen says shift focus from ex-boyfriend
The brother of a teenage girl from Squamish, B.C., who has been missing for two weeks says too much attention is being paid to her former boyfriend.
Jodi Henrickson, 17, was last seen around dawn on Bowen Island after attending several house parties on June 20. She was reported missing four days later when she failed to come home to Squamish, approximately 60 kilometres northeast of Bowen on the mainland.
One of the last people who may have seen her is her former boyfriend, Gavin Arnott, 20. He has been in the media spotlight since news broke that he was charged with assaulting Henrickson in April.
Arnott, a resident of Bowen Island, was given a conditional discharge for the assault and sentenced to 18 months probation. The conditions were that he have no contact with Henrickson, complete counselling and anger management, surrender any firearms in his possession and that he be prohibited from possessing any firearms for five years.
Police have said they are not focusing on any one person in their investigation.
Henrickson's brother, Rob, said he still hopes his sister ran away and will come home.
"We don't believe the media should be focusing on the ex-boyfriend here," he said. "This is a missing persons case. We want our sister home, or my sister, to come home. I think the media should be focusing more on my sister instead of the ex-boyfriend."
Arnott and his family have maintained he had nothing to do with Henrickson's disappearance, saying the assault charges have been blown out of proportion by the media.