Community gathers for 'search party' to support family of missing Surrey teen
CTV
Dozens of people gathered in Surrey's Holland Park on Saturday to show their support for the family of missing 18-year-old Joseph Maku.
Dozens of people gathered in Surrey's Holland Park on Saturday to show their support for the family of missing 18-year-old Joseph Maku.
Advertised online as a "search party," the gathering began with elements of a vigil. Community members stood holding missing person posters as members of the Maku family addressed the crowd, thanking them for their presence.
A student in his first year at UBC, Maku was last seen leaving his family home on 130 Street near 96 Avenue on Oct. 22.
His sister Brenda told CTV News earlier this month that Joseph had just come back from a run, and told his younger siblings that he was going out again and would be back.
He never returned, and Brenda reported him missing in the early hours of Oct. 23.
At Saturday's gathering, Joseph's mother Rose Juan held back tears as she described raising five children as a single mother. Joseph's father died from cancer when he was just two years old, she said.
As she grew more emotional, she addressed Joseph directly.
