Police don’t expect foul play, team up with local search and rescue teams to look along riverbank

Kelly Pickering has been pacing in her East Flat home for the past week.

Her 31-year-old son, Donald Arthur Light, who lived there has been missing since the evening of Nov. 19—an unexpected occurrence for Pickering and her family.

Despite a public Facebook group with 1,300 people coordinating on searching and hanging up posters and the police investigating the disappearance, she said the family doesn’t have any concrete evidence on the whereabouts of Light.

“He gave no indication of being unhappy. He gave me a hug and a kiss and said ‘I’m going for a walk. I’ll see you in a while,’ and went out. He wasn’t unhappy. He wasn’t stressed,” said Pickering.

Light was last seen at about 8:15 p.m. on the 400 block of Eighth Street East. Pickering said he was wearing a long, dark jacket, a dark toque, blue jeans and loafer-style, tie-up shoes when he left their home.

A week before his disappearance, Light was looking for a change and quit his job at 6th Avenue Car Wash after three years.

“I wasn’t upset with him quitting his job, I just wanted him to get another one. I can see him being tired of what he was doing. He’s very smart. He wrote a novel and started a second one and has been querying agents for publication. He played guitar and he taught himself how to play,” said Pickering.

“He’s very introverted. He’s not boisterous or anything, he’s very introverted. He’s quiet.”

Light has three siblings: a twin brother named David, a younger brother named Braden and Adam, his youngest brother, has cerebral palsy. Pickering said it’s hard to believe Light would walk away from taking care of Adam.

“Donald did so much with him and for him. The sun rose and set on Adam. That’s why I can’t understand if he walked away. I can’t understand because he was so dedicated to his little brother,” she said, explaining he would take half an hour off of work every day to drive his brother home from kinesiology appointments. “Donald never complained.”

“He just loved him to death.”

Pickering said Light’s phone was last traced at McIntosh Mall at about 11 p.m. the night he went missing.

“I can’t sleep, and I pace. I’m pacing right now. It’s hard to sit down. I wish I could be out searching, but the police have asked me to stay home in case he phones, like he might reach out, so we need somebody by this phone,” she said.

“If you’re out there Donald, come home,” she added with emotion in her voice, urging the public to phone the police if anyone sees him.

Police have obtained information in their investigation suggesting Light may have been by the river shortly before his disappearance. On Wednesday, officers teamed up with Prince Albert Northern Search and Rescue, Buckland Search and Rescue, Prince Albert Grand Council Search, Rescue and Recovery and the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency to search along the riverbank using drones.

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A news release from the police said investigators do not suspect foul play in Light’s disappearance, nor do they suspect the incident is related to other active missing person cases.

Prince Albert police will be conducting additional door-to-door canvasses this week in the area he was last seen. There’s been no social media, cell phone, or banking activity from Light since the day he disappeared.

“They’re trying,” said Pickering about the police’s efforts. She has hope that someone will find her son safe and sound.

“I feel it in my heart he’ll show up at the door.”