Search for missing Brandon man continues

Jordan Ross is pictured in an undated image (SOURCE: RCMP MANITOBA)

Family, friends and community members continued the search for a Brandon man who has not been seen or heard from since Friday.

41-year-old Jordan Ross’ blue Jeep Liberty was found on the side of the Trans-Canada Highway near the Assiniboine River on June 17th.

The man's older brother, Jeff Ross, has been leading the volunteer search efforts out of their base at the Grand Valley campground.

“It’s something that is completely out of his character to go missing like this,” Jeff said. “He wasn’t answering his wife’s text messages, some red flags went off and we were really concerned.”

Blue Hills RCMP received the report of Ross’ disappearance that afternoon and a search was conducted that included several aircraft, watercraft, and a search on foot.

“I think we’ve had upwards of 300 people assisting with that search,” Cpl. Julie Courchaine, an RCMP media relations officer, told CTV News. “That includes volunteers, different partners, fire departments, different RMs – all sorts of different people have come out to assist with this.”

The expanded search includes RCMP Search and Rescue, the Office of the Fire Commissioner, the Hutterian Emergency Aquatic Response Team (HEART), and volunteers from Brandon and surrounding area.

“We’ve done surface searches from the bridge [on Hwy 1 near Grand Valley] all the way back to Brandon,” said Paul Maendel, a team leader with HEART. “The Assiniboine is notoriously tough to scan the bottom because there’s so much debris on the bottom.”

“We searched as long as we could on Friday night,” said Jeff. “And then Saturday morning we organized a volunteer-based search party. We set up at the campground and there was an overwhelming response from his friends and family to try and find him.”

Members of the community continue to support the search efforts.

“The community has been nothing short of amazing. Just a lot of people that want to find him,” Jeff said. “From businesses, to donations of food and water, to the rescue teams. The weekend was hot and windy, it was a physically exhausting weekend to cover the ground we covered. Just some amazing support.”

Anyone wanting to find out how to join the search effort or to keep updated can join the Find Jordan Ross Facebook group.

Jordan Ross is 5’10 and 175lbs, bald with blue eyes. He is believed to be wearing black ankle boots. Anyone with information regarding Ross’ whereabouts is asked to contact Blue Hills RCMP.