MISSING: Marshal IWAASA (Interview with Paige Fogen)
Marshal Iwaasa
Missing since November 17, 2019 from Lethbridge, Alberta
Age at disappearance: 26
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Marshal Iwaasa - FAQ
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On Sunday, November 17, 2019, 26-year-old Marshal Iwaasa spent the day doing laundry and chores in the house he rented in Calgary, Alberta. In the evening, he drove his dark blue GMC Sierra truck two hours south to a city called Lethbridge, where he’d grown up. That night, Marshal spent a few hours at his mom’s house, helping her with a computer problem. He left at around 11 p.m., wearing a green hoodie, black pants, red high-top sneakers and a grey toque. Marshal told his mom he had to get something from the storage locker he’d shared with his sister for the past six years, located in the Northside Industrial Area between Sherring and Churchill, about 15 to 20 minutes away. He said he would be going back to Calgary.
Marshal never returned to Calgary.
He attempted to gain access to the storage unit several times throughout the night.
He finally unlocked the unit just after 6 a.m., and stayed for just over two hours.
He was still in the area at 8:30 a.m. on November 18, 2019.
Nobody knows what happened after.
On November 23, in a remote area outside of Pemberton, BC – over 1,200 km away – Marshal’s burned-out truck was discovered by a group of hikers in a densely wooded area at the trail head to the Brian Waddington Hut. Clothing and items were scattered at the scene – other items of Marshal’s, including truck parts, were missing. There has been no sign of Marshal since he was last seen in Lethbridge. There is still no answer to how or why Marshal’s truck wound up in that location, who drove it, what caused the fire, and most importantly, what happened to Marshal.
Paige Fogen is Marshal’s sister. After visiting the scene in July, she’s confident that Marshal was not there alone, if at all. “This case needs to be pushed into criminal,” she says. “I will not be okay with this until we have answers and I won't stop until we do.”
Marshal Iwaasa was born January 3, 1993, in Lethbridge, Alberta, just over an hour from the Montana border. Fogen describes Marshal as “quiet and reserved,” and “very gentle and kind.”
“I used to like joke when we were little that I had sucked up all the aggression in the womb before he was born, because I'm way more like assertive than he was,” she laughed. “But he's always been very kind to anyone.”
Growing up, Marshal played football and rugby. He was into the outdoors; whenever he went camping, it was with friends or family. After graduating high school, Fogen said he “got way more into fitness and bodybuilding,” and that “he gained a whole bunch of new friends from that.” Marshal still kept a small group of friends throughout elementary and high school, and into adulthood. “We grew up in a really small community in Southern Alberta,” said Fogen. “You know, until now, they all kind of like grew up together.”
Marshal also worked right out of high school, and even before. For a while, he worked at a grocery store to make money. As he got older, he began working manual labor jobs in Southern Alberta. The region is known for its oil and gas industry, and manual labour jobs on power lines and rigs is common. Marshal lived with friends in Lethbridge until he enrolled in the IT program for software development at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) and moved to Calgary.
According to Fogen, Marshal had friends in Calgary, but it wasn’t a large group.
Fogen moved to Hawaii six years ago. Every six months or so, she would visit Canada – usually for a few weeks in the summer. Marshal would go to Hawaii every Christmas, at which time they’d celebrate their birthdays, which are only a week apart. They’d go to the beach, for hikes, and sometimes travel off island. “We would do like all the corny family Christmas stuff,” said Fogen. “We decorated our own ugly Christmas sweaters, then had a competition and voting, made some Christmas cookies/ gingerbread houses, then went to the beach and had a bonfire.”
“This is like really ridiculous,” she added. “We'd get ornaments and like paint the new Bob Ross. All that fun stuff.”
During the years Fogen lived in Hawaii, she and Marshal still kept in contact every week or so. “We would just text each other back and forth,” she said. “Then once he got into school though, it was longer.”
Summer 2019
The last time Fogen saw Marshal was in July and August of 2019, when she returned to Canada for a family reunion, which involved a camping trip in Montana for a week. At some point, she and Marshal went to the storage unit they’d shared for the previous six years.
“We have so much different stuff in there; it's kind of like a mishmash of his stuff and mine,” she said. “I have mostly like books and family items, and he like kept extra household items that he had… camping stuff, tools. We had a bunch of Christmas ornaments in there.”
When Fogen returned to Honolulu in August, she left Marshal with some items to put in the unit.
Over the summer of 2019, Fogen and her family were under the impression that Marshal would be returning to SAIT in the fall semester. The topic of school wasn’t something they discussed much, but she noticed Marshal would avoid certain questions. “He would like throw kind of hints to me,” she said, adding that Marshal “would say things like, ‘in my field sometimes you don't need like the degree. It's just kind of like who you know and your experience.’” Fogen said it seemed like Marshal was “kind of testing the waters of like, ‘I don't know if I'm going to go to school.’” She said it’s possible Marshal just hadn’t told them yet, but she wasn’t sure. “[We] just kind of left it at that, whenever he was ready to tell us,” she said. “We didn't really know but we didn’t look too much into it. We just kind of let it be how it was.”
In November, after he’d been reported missing, Marshal’s family found out he hadn’t returned to school that fall.
In talking to Fogen, certain elements of Marshal’s personality become clear: he was stressed, but she said there were “no other major stresses other than what we though was stress related to school.” Although he was “for sure” a private person, he wouldn’t want to lie. “I know for certain he wouldn't want to lie to me - or he wouldn't lie to me,” she emphasized. “He would avoid it, though. That’s the difference - he wouldn't lie but would definitely avoid talking about it. So, he wouldn't be in the position where he would lie.”
November 17, 2019: Lethbridge, AB
The financial trail of Marshal Iwaasa ended on Friday, November 15, 2019. There have been no transactions since this date.
On Sunday, November 17, Marshal spent the day doing household chores, “and I would guess cleaning his house,” Fogen said, “because when I went to clean it out, it was like pretty clean for a guy - like for my brother's house.” Marshal was renting a basement unit with a family in Calgary, and had done some laundry that day in their shared unit. That evening, Marshal drove his dark blue 2009 GMC Sierra truck to his mother’s house in Lethbridge to help her with a computer problem.
At 11 p.m., Marshal left. He said he was getting something from the storage unit and going back to Calgary to go to school.
We know Marshal was at the storage unit at around 11:30 p.m.
We know he tried to gain access numerous times throughout the night.
“There were like multiple [attempts] in a row, just like, what I think of it as… you get there. You're putting your code. It's not working. You're like, ‘what the hell's going on?’ You're like putting it in again. And again, try to figure it out,” she explained. “You go back and look around your shit, make sure you have the right code, go back again. Try it again.”
Based on the activity log, which Marshal’s family has, Fogen said it looks like he had tried the code a few times, “then after a while you can see he like took a break of trying to log in and then just waited until it opened.”
Fogen said that Marshal’s determination to gain access to the unit was not surprising, and that she believes he didn’t know the unit would be locked at that time.
“If he's determined to get something, or like needed something that he drove down from Calgary to get, he would just like wait it out,” she said. “He would be determined to get it.”
We know Marshal gained access to the unit just after 6 a.m. on Monday, November 18, and stayed until about 8:30 a.m.
This is the last indication of Marshal Iwaasa.
We don’t know if he was alone, or what exactly happened after. Everything was still in the storage unit, including Marshal’s camping gear. There is no video footage of Marshal leaving the area, and over the next week, no evidence of Marshal and his truck anywhere else.
Northside Industrial Area between Sherring and Churchill: Lethbridge, AB
November 23, 2019: Truck discovered in Pemberton, BC
The Brian Waddington Hut is a structure in Phelix Creek, on the shores of Long Lake, north of Pemberton, British Columbia - about a 14 hour drive from Lethbridge. At capacity, the hut sleeps 40 people. Located near the peaks of Mt. Aragorn, Shadowfax, Gandalf and Peregrine, the hut is about 15 to 20 km from the main road. It has two access points: the Phelix Creek FSR, the main logging road used to access the hut, and the Phelix Creek Trail. The FSR ends where the Phelix Creek Trail begins. From the trailhead, it’s a two to three hour hike to the hut, which requires online registration for anyone wishing to use it.
The drive to the trailhead is a journey across slick mud, gravel, boulders, potholes and creeks.
It’s inaccessible by GPS. It requires four-wheel drive.
It’s not easy, and it’s not a place you’d happen upon by accident.
It was here, at the remote trailhead to the Brian Waddington Hut, that a group of hikers discovered Marshal Iwaasa’s burned out truck on November 23, 2019 – about a week after he was last seen in Lethbridge. They took photos of the truck and the various items scattered at the scene, including three smashed phones - linked to Marshal - “lots of clothing thrown all over the place,” an Xbox, Playstation, and an expired passport.
It was later determined that parts of Marshal’s truck, which he’d recently paid off, were missing. It’s possible they’d been stripped.
His contact lenses, contact solution, a Mountain Hardwear Scrambler 30 backpack, his SAIT issued Samsung Laptop, his wallet – believed to be a Nixon wallet with a screen spot for a license – and his most recent phone: a pearl-coloured Samsung Galaxy s6, were also missing, and have never been found.
James Starke is one of the hikers who took the photos of Marshal’s torched truck. He posted them to the South Coast Touring Facebook group. “It felt like a crime scene and had a very eerie feeling,” he said in the post. According to a CTV News article, in which Starke was interviewed, nobody except he and his group had been registered to stay at the hut. They were on their way there when they made the discovery.
Fogen said Marshal had no connection to the Pemberton area, nor did anyone in their family.
After the hikers reported their discovery to police, BC RCMP spent two days attempting to access the site. One of their vehicles had been damaged during the initial attempts. When they arrived on November 25, more photos of the scene were taken.
Nobody was yet aware, but something had happened in those two days.
November 26, 2019
Marshal’s mother and sister were in Hawaii when they received a call on November 26 from BC RCMP asking if they knew where Marshal was. They were told that his truck had been found in a remote area of Pemberton, BC; police didn’t elaborate on the circumstances.
“I didn't realize how crazy it was… how it was like burnt out, and I don't think I imagined that. But we definitely knew like it was weird for his truck to be there without him there.” Fogen’s initial thought was that Marshal’s truck had been stolen, and that Marshal would probably find out soon. “Once I got that call, I ended up calling my cousins and Marshal’s friends and asking if any of them had talked to him,” she said. “[Asking] if they knew where he was.”
“Lethbridge is pretty small,” explained Fogen. Marshal’s family in Lethbridge immediately began searching for him there.
Nobody could find Marshal, or anyone who had talked to him recently, nor could they figure out why Marshal’s truck would be over 1,200 km away, in a place where he had never been. “We couldn't figure anything out.” Marshal was reported missing that day.
The following days were “crazy” and “super stressful” as Fogen and her family tried to piece together what was happening from Hawaii. Within three days, the Facebook group FIND MARSHAL IWAASA was created by his family to appeal for information. It now has over 12,400 members.
One of the most pressing mysteries of Marshal’s disappearance is the lack of any CCTV footage of Marshal or his truck between Lethbridge and Pemberton. By the time he was reported missing, the surveillance footage from the storage unit was unavailable. Much of the early efforts of the Facebook group – which is run by Marshal’s family - was appealing to anyone who might have video from in and around the Northside Industrial Area, in Lethbridge, or anywhere along the vast expanse and multiple routes to Pemberton, BC.
The lack of visual evidence, in conjunction with Marshal’s financial records – which indicated that he never filled up his truck with gas along the route, or made any transactions elsewhere – begs the question: who drove Marshal’s truck to Pemberton?
“They have gotten a little bit more to his financial records and did not find any occurrence of him filling up gas,” Fogen said. “That itself is suspicious… you have to fill up gas if you're driving that truck. So what's to say it was Marshall driving that truck up there?”
Another element to Marshal’s disappearance that’s been discussed - first by LPS in a media release and online - is the discrepancy between the original photos taken by the hikers, and those taken two days later by police. On August 8, Marshal’s family addressed the discrepancies in a Facebook post.
The images clearly highlight the missing, moved and damaged items. In one image, it looks as if a phone and other items were neatly placed beside each other on the ground. Fogen has never had the opportunity to look through all the items at the scene, but she said she knows that some items do not belong to Marshal.
Initially, Marshal’s family identified the gaming consoles as belonging to him. In January 2020, when Fogen went to Marshal’s house in Calgary and discovered his Xbox and Playstation were still there, she realized the ones discovered at the scene did not belong to her brother. The owner of the consoles found with Marshal’s truck is unknown.
There’s also the issue of the steering column, which had been removed from Marshal’s truck. “We confirmed that RCMP did not take it, so it was always missing,” said Fogen.
Who was at the scene during those two days?
The RCMP has preserved the items, but nothing has been tested. “We don't know whose DNA is up there,” said Fogen. “We don't know whose fingerprints are up there. They just have the items, but they aren't running them.” In a press release, Lethbridge Police said, “The evidence cannot be DNA tested by the RCMP crime lab unless officers have reasonable grounds to believe a DNA-designated criminal offence has been committed. At this time, no such evidence or grounds exist.”
What Happened?
The border was notified about Marshal’s disappearance, and was checked. It was confirmed that Marshal never legally entered the United States. Pawn shops in Canada were also checked. Extensive searches conducted by Marshal’s family, BC RCMP and private investigators have yet to locate any sign of Marshal or his missing items. On Wednesday, December 4, 2019, BC RCMP announced that the initial search for Marshal had been suspended due to ongoing snowmelt. That month, Pemberton RCMP turned over the investigation to the Lethbridge Police Service.
On Friday May 22, 2020, the truck site and surrounding area was searched using cadaver dogs. That evening, the Iwaasa family was informed by LPS that the search had been completed and that nothing was found. Another ‘exhaustive search’ in BC began on June 24, involving Lethbridge Police, members of the Pemberton RCMP and surrounding detachments, 12 police officers in total, along with 15 Search and Rescue personnel from Pemberton and Squamish. A helicopter and all-terrain vehicles were used to access the site, and police said an RCMP fire investigator, several private investigators and members of the Canadian Search and Disaster Dogs Association would be conducting a ground search.
This search with the RCMP fire investigator - seven months after Marshal disappeared - was the first attempt by police to investigate the cause and manner of the fire that destroyed Marshal’s truck.
Almost nine months later, nobody knows what happened after 8:30 a.m. on Monday, November 18. There is no way of knowing which route Marshal’s truck took from Lethbridge to Pemberton. There is no trace of his items, which remain missing. There has been no financial or phone activity since before Marshal was last seen.
Every aspect of Marshal’s disappearance is suspicious, but one nagging issue is that of the gas. Media coverage of his disappearance in western Canada was swift. Even if he had paid cash, how had nobody noticed Marshal - with his distinct tattoos, hair and truck - stop for gas at the many stations from Lethbridge to Pemberton? Regardless of the route taken, the trip would have required multiple stops. “There's still nothing,” Fogen said, “and you know, that in itself should be suspicious enough [for police to be looking at it as a criminal case].”
Fogen emphasized that her family is open to, and have considered, all scenarios. The weather during the first few weeks of the search was fairly mild. As Marshal’s family was “still figuring things out,” Fogen was concerned about the possibility that Marshal might have been out there and exposed to the elements; she thought about hypothermia and animals. She was told that for the first three or four nights, “he definitely could have survived… he would have been cold or uncomfortable but he would have been fine.”
That was in the beginning.
Awareness, Challenges & the Push for a Criminal Case
Marshal’s family had wanted to visit the site earlier, but had been told they had to wait until the police had finished their search. By then, Fogen said they were told that visiting the site was too dangerous – it was the reason the initial search had been called off. After finally visiting the truck site in early July, with the help of 4LOW BC - which provided 4x4 vehicles to navigate the rugged terrain - Fogen is confident that Marshal was not at the scene by himself, if at all.
“It was so hard to get up there,” she said, emphasizing the distance and struggle of getting to the site, which took them over 30 hours.
The private searches organized by Marshal’s family have also solidified Fogen’s belief that Marshal is not there – and that the time to consider other avenues, and finally investigate Marshal’s disappearance as a criminal case, is long overdue. “We hired a PI team who organized the last search that happened in Pemberton on the site and the amount of resources that they brought in make me feel very confident - and they have also expressed that they're very confident - how had there been a body up there, they would have found it and their trained dogs would have found it,” she said.
“So, we can now say, ‘Okay, Pemberton Mountain. There isn't a body on that site.’ So now they need to look at other options. They thought that they would find him come spring or when they did the search, and now they've not found him. So now they need to start looking at other things.”
One of the many challenges with Marshal’s case is how RCMP failed to conduct a fire report at the time of the discovery. In November, there was no attempt to investigate the source or timing of the fire, yet police said an examination of the vehicle and the area at the time offered “no evidence to suggest a criminal offence had been committed and no evidence to suggest that anyone other than Iwaasa was present when the vehicle was burned.”
The private investigators hired by Marshal’s family had pushed for the fire investigation, which finally happened in June. Fogen is still waiting for the results. They still have no answers as to when or how the fire occurred.
Should the results indicate arson, it would mean Marshal’s case would become a criminal investigation – which remains the focus for Fogen and her family going forward.
“We shouldn't have to push this hard to get these types of answers,” she said.
Marshal’s disappearance has gained significant media attention, in large part due to the efforts of Fogen and her family to advocate for Marshal, their support for one another, and their willingness to pursue any avenue to share Marshal’s story.
“I think that's probably like the biggest thing about our family and our group is that you know, we're so fortunate - and I'm so fortunate - to have a big family that's supportive and that you know, [that’s] how we've always been, even before Marshal went missing,” she said. “We have always been like this and I'm just really lucky to have all of them there to help me through this and so that we together… have this group keep pushing for answers.”
Support from the community includes that of other families with missing loved ones, who have provided guidance and support since the start. Fogen noted that most of their group is based in western Canada, and is grateful to those who continue to spread awareness about Marshal wherever they are.
This week, the family is preparing a media release and launching a petition to have police launch a criminal investigation into Marshal’s disappearance, and continues to work tirelessly to build momentum in Marshal’s case. Despite their efforts, there are still more questions than answers - and regardless of what comes, Fogen is dedicated to ensuring that other families in similar situations do not encounter the same systemic barriers. “This is still not the end,” she said. “This is a whole different world that we've been brought into and it has really changed, you know, our trajectory of our whole family where we're going and what we're doing.”
“This is something that I do want to help make better changes for because I don't want other families have to go through this quite frankly.”
Help Find Marshal Iwaasa
To anyone who might have information about Marshal’s disappearance, Fogen said she understands that people have different fears and might be scared, but just wants to know what happened to her brother.
“Report it to Crime Stoppers. You can do it anonymously. You can do it over the phone. You can do it on the internet,” she said. “There are so many ways that you could get the message through to us just to give us an answer. There are ways to stay anonymous and to do it. Right now, we really don't have very much answers and we have a lot of questions, so it's really hard.”
MARSHAL IWAASA
TIMELINE
NOVEMBER 15, 2019:
Last known financial activity on Marshal’s bank account.
Sunday, November 17, 2019 – Last confirmed sighting of Marshal:
Marshal spends the day doing laundry/household chores at the house he rented in Calgary, AB.
That evening, he drives from Calgary to Lethbridge, AB (approx. 2 h 8 min / 211.9 km) to visit his mother, Tammy.
Marshal leaves at 11 p.m. He says he’s getting something from the storage unit, located approximately 15 to 20 minutes away in the Northside Industrial area between Sherring and Churchill, and then going back to Calgary.
November 17 – November 18:
11:30 p.m. to 6 a.m.: Marshal tries to gain access to the storage locker numerous times.
He’s able to gain access at around 6 a.m.
He stays for just over two hours
November 18, 2019:
Marshal was still in Lethbridge as of Monday November 18, 2019 at 8:30 am at the Northside Industrial area between Sherring and Churchill.
There is no video footage of Marshal leaving the area, and no other footage of Marshal or his truck. It is not known if Marshal was alone.
November 23, 2019:
A group of hikers discover Marshal’s burned out truck at the trail head to Brian Waddington hut, in the backcountry outside of Pemberton, BC. The site is approximately 14 hours from Lethbridge, where Marshal was last seen a week prior.
The hikers take photos and report the discovery to police.
Items at the scene: Three smashed phones, “lots of clothing thrown all over the place,” an Xbox, Playstation, and an expired passport.
Truck parts are missing.
Marshal’s contact lenses and contact solution are still missing.
Initially, Marshal’s family identified the gaming consoles as belonging to Marshal. In January, Paige finds Marshal’s Xbox and Playstation at his house, and confirms that the ones found at the scene did not belong to Marshal.
There is no video footage of Marshal or his truck, or any records of him filling up gas, between Lethbridge and Pemberton.
November 25, 2019:
After two days, RCMP arrive at the truck site and take photos.
One of the RCMP vehicles had been damaged due to the ruggedness of the terrain leading to the site
November 26, 2019:
Marshal’s sister and mother, who are in Hawaii, receive a call from BC RCMP asking if they know where Marshal is. They’re informed that Marshal’s truck has been found in a remote area of Pemberton, BC.
Marshal’s family immediately starts searching for him in Lethbridge.
Marshal is reported missing that day.
November 29, 2019:
Marshal’s family sets up the Facebook group FIND MARSHAL IWAASA to raise awareness about Marshal’s disappearance and appeal for video footage from the area in which he was last seen.
The group now has over 12,400 members.
Wednesday, December 4, 2019:
BC RCMP announce the initial search is suspended due to ongoing snowmelt.
December, 2019:
Pemberton RCMP turn over the investigation to the Lethbridge Police Service.
January 3, 2020 (Marshal’s 27th Birthday)
6:30 p.m. - a candlelight vigil for Marshal is held at Winston Churchill High (1605 15 Ave N Lethbridge, AB).
January 2020:
Marshal’s sister, Paige Fogen, visits Marshal’s house in Calgary. She discovers that Marshal’s Xbox and Playstation are still there, and realizes that the consoles found at the scene do not belong to Marshal.
January 25 & 26, 2019: Ground search for Marshal Iwaasa:
Saturday January 25: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sunday January 26: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Family, friends and community members conduct a ground search for Marshal in Lethbridge, Alberta, out of the Helen Schuler Nature Centre.
Wings of Mercy (Mike Hoffman & Myles) provide drone support, Alex Mcneil provides canine support, and Kelly James provides SAR coordination.
Thursday May 21 – Friday May 22
On Friday, May 22, the truck site and surrounding area is searched using cadaver dogs.
On Friday evening, the Iwaasa family is informed by LPS that the search had been completed, that nothing was found, and that the RCMP had searched extensively and were now done their search.
June 2020 - Lethbridge Police Service press release:
“In examining Iwaasa’s personal affairs in the months leading up to his disappearance — including interviews with close friends as well as his financial, medical and social media activity — there is evidence to suggest he was experiencing stress in his life and had become withdrawn,” Lethbridge police said.
Police say an examination of the vehicle and the area at the time offered “no evidence to suggest a criminal offence had been committed” and “no evidence to suggest that anyone other than Iwaasa was present when the vehicle was burned.”
June 24, 2020: Pemberton Search
An ‘exhaustive search’ in BC begins on June 24.
Lethbridge Police, members of the Pemberton RCMP and surrounding detachments, 12 police officers in total, along with 15 Search and Rescue personnel from Pemberton and Squamish are involved in the search. A helicopter and all-terrain vehicles are used to access the search site. Police say an RCMP fire investigator, several private investigators and members of the Canadian Search and Disaster Dogs Association will be conducting a ground search Wednesday and Thursday.
July 3, 2020: Family visit to Pemberton, BC & August 2020
Marshal’s family travels from Lethbridge to the truck site for the first time. It takes them over 30 hours.
4LOW BC provides assistance with 4x4 vehicles to access the site.
On August 8, 2020, Marshal’s family releases the photos of the site taken on November 23 and 25, highlighting the missing, moved and damaged items between the two sets.
They announce they’re putting out a media release and a petition to have Marshal’s case be deemed criminal in nature.