In March 2011, Rita and Albert Chretien disappeared while driving from their home in Penticton, B.C., to a trade show in Las Vegas—their GPS has led them astray…onto a logging road.

A group of hunters found Rita 49 days later in the couple’s Chevy Astro minivan that was stuck in the mud. Thirty pounds lighter, she was on the verge of starvation, having survived on trail mix, hard candy, fish oil pills and melted snow and has told church groups her Christian faith kept her going.

“When we first went off the road, we thought it would just be a short road and we’d be back to the main road right away. The next thing we know we turned down the wrong road and we were where we shouldn’t be and it’s dark and we couldn’t find a way to turn around,” she has said

Three days after getting stuck in northern Nevada, Albert, not dressed for the mountain weather, took the GPS unit and the cell phone and left the vehicle in search of help. He hadn’t been seen since…that is, until this past Saturday, when his remains were discovered by two elk hunters in a secluded area of Merritt Mountain, about 11 kilometers west from where he set off.

Until then, Rita had struggled with the issue of not knowing where her husband was, and for a while had been holding out hope that maybe he had found a hunter’s cabin in the area and sought shelter. But she knew there had been rockslides and washouts and predators.

Miraculously, the remains were intact and hadn’t been scattered by animals, making it possible to confirm his identity by information in his wallet and business cards.

For Rita, it was a relief that he had actually been found even though it wasn’t the miracle she had been hoping for.

“It’s final closure — you can say goodbye, but there’s always that part missing. This is the physical proof that he’s not out there, wandering around somewhere,” Rita told one of the newspapers.

I know what you mean, Rita. It was the same way when my sister’s body had been found…the beginning of saying goodbye.

My heart goes out to Rita and her family.

Melanie Hack
Author of Who Killed My Sister, My Friend
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