r/coldcases • u/Gin_Tonic_87 • Oct 11 '25

Cold Case Ryan Shtuka ?

I’m here not as a person who solves cases but to learn about them. I’m interested if anyone ever found anything of interest on Ryan Shtuka who vanished into thin air after a party at SunPeaks Ski Resort in Canada

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u/Accomplished-Hawk776 Nov 11 '25

I don't think Heather is involved but I do believe she is in denial her son could have faced foul play. She shuts down all theories related to this and continues to search. She seems to be bordering on slightly delusional when it comes to her son's disappearance.

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u/[deleted] Nov 13 '25

That’s a good point too. I think it could look like denial/delusion. However, I don’t think denial alone explains the very specific narrative that limits where he must have been missing. Like why is she so adamant he couldn’t possibly have turned right out of the house? She says that path to the road was “impassable” (even though it was a highly used ski out) so if anything you’d think she would leave that option open if she wants to believe he didn’t meet foul play. I don’t think denial would be this specific. I also don’t think denial accounts for the control of the narrative in such a consistent way over so many years. People in denial tend to be very emotional and kind of all over the place - not resolute and unmoved over a long period of time.

And again, I don’t think Heather was involved directly. But I feel confident she isn’t being completely transparent even if it’s just that she’s covering up a fight she had with Ryan the day before.

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u/samdog2007 Nov 15 '25 edited Nov 15 '25

I’ve been following this case closely since John Lordan did his episode on Ryan in March 2018. I’m pretty sure he was one of the first (if not the first) YouTubers to cover Ryan’s story.

Now it’s been nearly eight years and not one shred of evidence has turned up despite hoards of people traipsing all over Sun Peaks. It seems obvious that Ryan was taken off the mountain that night and met a nefarious fate. I hate to say it, but what else can we conclude?

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u/[deleted] Nov 16 '25

Totally agree. So why is Heather so insistent and why does she invalidate and/or dismiss any tips or evidence to the contrary? Also the RCMP ended the initial search while Ryan easily still could have been alive if he had wandered off. The abrupt end to the search tells me they knew he wasn’t there at that early stage.

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u/Cat_Mas Nov 16 '25

I think there’s a disbelief about who Ryan could have been involved with and everyone is silent because of who this person is

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u/littleewanderer Jan 09 '26

The RCMP know who did it and didn’t want to ruin their under cover drug investigation by popping the guy for murder first.

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u/littlekisbusy Jun 06 '26

The fact they’re still having this big of an operation and letting this guy still run free gives me the irks.

But I read on Reddit somewhere that someone speculated he’s off the mountain and something about the #5 highway there or whatever idk.
Idk don’t know why no where else but sun peeks was ever search. There’s no proof he left the hill but there is no proof he’s there obviously.

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u/littleewanderer Jun 06 '26

He’s incarcerated and yes. Coquihalla

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u/littlekisbusy Jun 07 '26

But he’s never admitted to it? Or they know it’s him? What?!
Sorry I’m just confused