Timeline: from 'Virgin River' Set to Tragic Discovery—the Story of Actor Stewart Mclean
The alarm was first raised when Stewart McLean failed to maintain contact with those close to him, prompting friends and family to report him missing to the Squamish detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). In British Columbia's Sea-to-Sky region, missing person bulletins frequently involve hikers or backcountry travelers who misjudge mountain trails. McLean’s sudden absence, however, raised immediate red flags among peers who knew his daily habits and professional commitments in the Lower Mainland.
Squamish RCMP initiated ground and digital searches across the corridor connecting North Vancouver to Whistler. Patrols focused on transit routes, remote parking turnouts, and wooded paths along Highway 99. Seven days after the missing persons file was opened, search teams converged on a wooded sector near Lions Bay, an affluent village perched between the steep slopes of the Coast Mountains and Howe Sound. There, searchers located McLean's body, bringing an abrupt and tragic end to the active search.