Oaklynn's Parentd

By Cheryl Jahn

Parents overjoyed at Oaklynn’s safe return

Sep 23, 2024 | 3:08 PM

SOUTHBANK – It was the heart-wrenching scene of a mother’s joy. Posted on Facebook, it was the scene of Gail Skin, the mother of Oaklynn Schweder, when she was returned to her mother’s arms after being lost near her home in Southbank, south of Burns Lake.

“Once we saw them, we didn’t wait for them to bring our baby to us. We just started running towards her,” says Gail.

And the search involved many.

“So our searchers and the community searchers had searched everything from fields to thick, dense bush, big blow down to, you know, walking along Lake Shores to running boats,” explains Dave Merritt, the Manager for Prince George Search and Rescue.

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Oaklynn was reported missing at six p.m. Thursday night from her home in Southbank, 25 kilometres from Burns Lake. And hundreds turned out to lend a hand.

“It is extremely important that we get resources on the ground as soon as possible and start searching,” says Sergeant Vanessa Munn with “E” Division RCMP. “In this case, we deployed resources from all over the province. Search and rescue also had teams from all over the province. B.C. Wildfire Service assisted and Canadian Rangers. The Band played a large part in this.”

Sometimes the involvement of community members, of which there was a lot in this case, can be invaluable.

“We want to make sure we preserve evidence,” says Merritt. “So sometimes what ends up happening, people just go anywhere and destroy clues and evidence,” says Merritt. “This was very well organized with the community. We all worked as one big search team, for lack of a better term. And the outcome was exactly what we were looking for.”

Merritt says the relief at finding Oaklynn could be felt far and wide.

“If we were recording Richter scale stuff, I’m sure it would have been felt because it was a collective ‘Ahh.’ The [Search and Rescue] community in B.C. did that because we were wrapping it up for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We were sending more and more resources at it. The community was ramping up and now we’re all, you know, so the emotional dump, the emotional feelings of everybody involved was phenomenal.”

Despite the tension that community felt for many, many hours, it was the best possible outcome.