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Langley trucker Clark Sutherland has "vanished off the face of the Earth" after calling home from Wyoming just over a week ago.
"A truck has gone missing in a public place. It's a real mystery," family friend Wally Martin said yesterday. "Where is it? A truck can't disappear."
Sutherland, 67, who has a wife and two teenage children, was last heard from on May 30, when he complained of being ill.
"This is absolutely not like him," said his wife, Christine Sutherland, a Langley school teacher. "He's vanished off the face of the Earth.
"I'm afraid he didn't wake up and now he's in his truck somewhere."
Christine said her husband, who has been driving rigs since 1961, has never missed a delivery.
During the phone call, he said he was feeling sick and needed rest; she said she could hear him being physically ill. That was the last anyone has heard from him.
The load on the 18-wheeler is railway-related material. It was due at Pueblo, Colo., on May 31.
U.S. police have found no traces of Sutherland's self-owned 2000 Freightliner. The truck, which has a white cab and black hood, has B.C. licence plate P7-1796. The trailer has a blue canopy with B.C. licence plate 21884Y.
Sutherland was making a delivery for the Langley-based Road Rider company.
A missing-person's report was filed with Langley RCMP on June 3; U.S. police in Utah and Wyoming have been alerted.
Christine and a friend returned yesterday from a four-day search of the area with scant information.
Sutherland's credit and debit cards have not been used. His cellphone accepted messages for a few days but then went silent. It is believed the batteries died.
Before disappearing, he had swiped a card for points at a fuel dock in Cokeville, Wyo. His last call was traced to a cell tower at Wamsutter, Wyo.
"The American state police have told us he probably wanted to take off. That really isn't him," said his niece, Michelle Robertson. "He has always been faithful about calling home. He phones his 90-year-old mother every few days.
"This is very hard on the family. It's just like he's evaporated. There is no sign of him. I hope somebody spots the truck." Christine believes he pulled off the road at a quiet spot and "needs help."
But Martin said Sutherland "would not have taken his truck on any kind of back road."
"Even if it went over an embankment, it's highly unlikely it would have vanished. State police's attitude has been: 'It's a free country. He's free to go missing.'
"He's not lost because he wants to be. He's in some kind of difficulty."
Christine hopes everyone will be on the lookout.
"I just want him found," she said.
Phone Langley RCMP at 604-532-3200 if you can help.
kspencer@png.canwest.com
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