In the midst of a blistering snow storm, Eugene Sexton went out into the hills of Goose Cove late in the evening hoping to find his son.

It was Feb. 25, 2006.

Andrew Sexton had left St. Anthony during a light snowfall that morning with two friends. Each riding a snowmobile, the trio was headed towards a cabin near the town of Goose Cove. When the weather began to take a turn for the worse, the boys began to head back home. While his two friends made it home by noon that day, the 21-year-old was never seen again.

Sexton’s mother, Darlene Pearce, saw her son shortly before he left on the trip, he had stopped by her workplace to borrow some money for gas.

“The weather had gotten nasty at some point in the afternoon, but I kind of figured they’d be back and were hanging out somewhere in town,” said Pearce. “As the evening wore on I still didn’t hear anything, but just assumed they were together.

“It wasn’t until his best friend called me on the phone around supper time. He said the other guys have been back from snowmobiling since lunchtime, but Andrew is not and they don’t know where he is. That kind of set the panic button. Then we started calling around to see if anybody had seen him.”

Sexton’s best friend, William Hedderson, put things in motion with the local fire department and went out with Sexton’s father Eugene in hopes of tracking him down, but the blizzard was too extreme. They had no choice but to wait for the storm to die down.

The fact that his friends didn’t make sure Sexton returned home safely is something that still bothers Hedderson.

“You stick together, you don’t leave your buddies. You just don’t do that,” he said. “It’s a sin, that’s what it is.”





















 

One of the pair who joined Sexton on that fateful snowmobile ride was reached for an interview but declined.

 

The following morning search parties were organized. The RCMP, Canadian Rangers, local fire departments, volunteers, and friends and family took up the search. The five-day search located Sexton’s snowmobile near a cliff in Devil’s Cove. While the machine was found in working order, with a tank still half full of gas and keys still in the ignition, no trace of Sexton himself was recovered.

The trails in Goose Cove are known for being dangerous because of steep cliffs and rough terrain, but Pearce says her son knew the area well.

“As far as I know he had been in that area snowmobiling with friends before, or with his Dad,” she said.

While most just see a snowmobile as transportation or recreation, it was much more than that to Sexton.

“He rebuilt the snowmobile he was on, him and his Dad rebuilt that from practically nothing,” said Pearce. “He liked tinkering with that kind of stuff. If there was anything he could take apart, he’d take it apart and put it back together to see if he could get it working again, even if it already was working fine.”
























As the winter weather began to clear, the Sexton family worked towards mounting another official search. A petition was started, but the request was subsequently denied by the RCMP. The family then created the Search for Andrew Denied campaign.

In April and May of 2006, two searches were conducted involving a Coast Guard helicopter and three boats, as well as a ground search involving helicopters and dogs.

Nothing was found.

Pearce has always felt more should have been done, but she says the RCMP in a small town like St. Anthony have limited resources.

“I can’t say anything bad about the RCMP, the officers in St. Anthony,” Pearce said. “They were incredible in trying to help, keeping us informed and going out of their way sometimes and just doing everything they could do to help. I don’t think there was enough done, but not because they wouldn’t or anything. I think with a small town like that, the few RCMP officers that are available, there’s just things they can’t do.”
























This was not the first time Pearce had lost  a son. Years earlier, Sexton’s younger brother Nathan had been struck and killed by a vehicle, losing another son was almost too much to bear for Pearce and her family.

“It was a small town and everybody knows everybody,” Pearce said “With a support system of family and friends, I credit that to me staying sane. It’s not easy; you never get over it. You learn to cope and to live with it.

“You have a choice. You can either give up and fade away, or you can kick yourself in the butt and go on. They would want you to do that.”

Years earlier, Hedderson also had to bury a sibling. It was a bond that brought him and Sexton together.

“We had a lot in common; I had lost my brother too at an early age,” said Hedderson.  “He was like a brother. We were always together.”
 

While Pearce no longer lives in St. Anthony, she still visits when she can to see her nieces, nephews, and other family she has in the northern town. But now with four unsolved cases, she says the tough memories of the past rush back.

“It’s hard every time I go back,” said Pearce. “Just the fact all this happened in St. Anthony, not just to me but the other families as well, you kind of get this weird feeling as you get close to town. It’s always there. It affects everybody in the same way.”
 

With four people now missing, tragedy is the only common denominator.
 

“There’s nothing other than the fact they are no longer with us.”