No trace of missing Victoria investment adviser Harold Backer 1 year later

A year ago, investment adviser Harold Backer told his wife he was going for a bike ride. He has not been seen since.

His disappearance sparked a frantic search on Vancouver Island and in Washington state after video footage showed a cyclist fitting his description getting off the Coho ferry in Port Angeles.

But the search took on a different tone when investment clients, who in some cases were also close family friends, received letters from Backer that explained he had lost their investments.

"It's very sad to think that the young man who spent many, many times in our home, eating with us and being with us, that he could actually do this," said Yvonne Carr of Mill Bay, B.C.

'I'm still very angry'

​Harold Backer, 53, was an Olympic rower before he became an investment adviser.

Carr's husband Tony was a rowing coach at Vancouver Island's Brentwood College in the 1970s when Backer was a student. Some of Backer's other clients were also friends from the tight-knit rowing world on Vancouver Island.

It's not clear how much money in total is missing, but the Carrs alone invested about $800,000 with Backer through his company, My Financial Backer Corp.

"It's very frustrating for my husband and I," Carr said. "We haven't seen him. We haven't heard from him. And there have been no sightings anywhere."

There has also been very little information on the case from Victoria Police, despite the year that has passed since Backer disappeared, Carr said.

"I'm still very angry. I would very much like the investigators to find him," she said.

Victoria Police declined to provide an update on the case this week — saying only that their missing person investigation continues. The force has never said whether it's also conducting a fraud investigation.

But Carr said she doesn't feel like the case is being treated as a priority.

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Other investigations

Backer was a mutual fund investor with Investia Financial Services, starting in 2005.

When he disappeared, the company issued a statement saying it had terminated his registration because of a fraud investigation.

"Mr. Backer failed to follow our policies and procedures, which required him to disclose all outside business activities," the company said at the time.

"Some clients have confirmed that they had personally invested with Mr. Backer and wrote cheques directly to 'My Financial Backer Corp.' as far back as 1996. These monies never flowed through Investia," said the letter.

The company declined to provide any further update on its investigation when contacted by CBC News this week.

Other agencies such as the B.C. Securities Commission and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association play oversight roles in the investment industry. Both organizations said they could not confirm whether they are investigating.

Friends still searching

Regardless of what may or may not have contributed to Harold Backer's disappearance, friends have not given up their search.

Luke Mills has been maintaining a Facebook page dedicated to finding Backer.

He said he has sent information about the case and photos to search and rescue and police organizations in Canada, the U.S., and Central America.

"If he is out there, we are all here to help you out," Mills said. "Life is so much more valuable than money."