SURREY (NEWS1130) – It’s been nearly two decades since a young man vanished in Surrey; his body has never been found but the case is a suspected homicide.

This week, News1130 is highlighting some unsolved mysteries around the Lower Mainland and today, we’re finding out what may have happened to Balraj Rattu.

On November 6th, 1995, six weeks before his 20th birthday, Rattu was seen sitting in a car, drinking with a friend near 138th Street and 72nd Avenue in Surrey.

On the second day he was missing, just after 1 a.m., a young woman phoned the family home and, thinking she was talking to him, said, “Raj, you were beaten up.”

She began laughing and hung up.

Surrey RCMP Corporal Bert Paquet says the next day, there was another cryptic phone call. “This time [it was] described as an older voice, again from a female, and very clearly she said the family son was no longer alive. And that was the end of that conversation, as well.”

Police were never able to trace those calls and the identities of both women remains a mystery.

“Technology back then was definitely not as evolved as it is today,” says Paquet. “Investigators immediately tried to follow up and to identify the origin of those calls, as well as the callers — or caller, if it was the same person — but without success.

“Now, 19 years after the fact, it is impossible to go back and get that information from any kind of system. This technology today would probably be different, but in 1995 things were different and unfortunately not being able to identify the callers or the phone numbers where the calls came from is probably going to remain a mystery until we receive information about these calls, specifically.”

A couple of days after he vanished, police found Rattu’s burned out car in Chilliwack. Inside, they discovered his bloody clothes, but there was no body.

Paquet admits tips have dried up. “If it seemed insignificant then, we want to hear about it. A lot of old, unsolved cases of missing persons or homicides have been solved because one phone call was made. Because one little bit of information that was not provided in 19 years ago is now brought to life.”

There’s no indication Rattu was involved in the drug trade or with gangs. His family is in touch with Mounties for any updates and they’re hoping someone is held responsible.

If you have information about this case you are asked to call Surrey RCMP at 604.599.0502.

Tune in this week for more on this series, as we take a look at some of the most intriguing unsolved mysteries in BC.