VANCOUVER – There is renewed hope today in the case of a missing Prince George teen after a person claiming to be him called the Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s MissingKids.ca program.
Fourteen-year-old Lucas Degerness was last seen in June 2007 in Prince George. He was at his school for a meeting with his mom and vice-principal and then he spent the night at a friend’s place. He disappeared the next day and his family has not seen him since. When he went missing he was thought to be carrying a camouflage backpack.
“MissingKids.ca recently received a call from a male identifying himself as Lucas Degerness. The nature of the call has provided renewed hope that Lucas is out there, but also significant concern for his safety and wellbeing,” said Christy Dzikowicz, Director of MissingKids.ca. “We need the public’s help to find him. Even the smallest piece of information could help bring Lucas home. His mom is desperate to see him again.”
Lucas’ 21st birthday was this January, another milestone his mom, Gina Degerness, marked without her son.
“If I could talk to Luke right now, I would say that I have missed you every single day,” said Gina. “Please know that all we want is to hear from you and to know that you are okay. We’ve missed so much of your life already, and we don’t want to lose any more time. We want you to come home.”
Lucas has brown eyes and at the time of his disappearance he had brown hair, a medium build and was 5’8” tall.
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Speaking on Unfiltered with Jill Krop, Gina said they do believe the call was from Lucas.
“It renewed my hope,” she said. “It make me quite happy. And I’m praying hard that it’s not a prank because that would be very cruel.”
Dzikowicz would not provide many details about the call, but said there were details that only Lucas or his family would know. “If Luke is listening himself, his family so desperately wants to see him,” she said.
“Luke has been away for a very long time and we don’t know the circumstances while he’s gone.”
On Unfiltered, Gina wanted to stress that Lucas is not in any trouble. “I had posted an apology on my Facebook page that I’m hoping maybe touched him,” she said. “I need to talk to my son.”
She said Lucas was at a “difficult age” when he went missing and they had moved back to B.C. only two months earlier. “He was not wanting to attend school, and yes, it was not a good time,” she said.
“I was trying tough love and it has obviously backfired on me.”
Anyone with information regarding Lucas Degerness is urged to contact MissingKids.ca at 1-866-KID-TIPS (543-8477) or the police. Tips can also be submitted online at missingkids.ca. All information can be shared confidentially.
Gina had a message for her son Luke:
“For the past seven years, not a day has gone by where I haven’t thought of you, Luke and asked myself where you might be. Although you’re a young man now, I still wonder if you’re safe or if you need help, if maybe you need your mom. I don’t want to have to ask myself these questions every day for the rest of my life. I don’t want your little sister to experience another seven years without her brother. I know how much you adore her and I want us to all be together again. She needs her brother and I need my son. Your older brother and sister have children they would like you to meet and your father, he desperately wants to hear your voice. There’s so many major life events that we want to share with you. Luke – if you read this, I just want to know that you’re okay. It doesn’t matter what’s happened in the past so please call me, or someone who can share the message with me that you’re safe. If anyone sees this and has even the smallest piece of information as to where my son might be or what may have happened to him, please do the right thing and end this misery by calling MissingKids.ca,”
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