Major crimes unit joins investigation to find missing rancher near Merritt

Days after search and rescue crews suspended their hunt for a missing rancher nearMerrittin B.C.'s southern Interior, the RCMP's Major Crimes Unit has been called in to investigate the disappearance.

Ben Tyner, 32, was reported missing after loggers found his riderless horse, still wearing its saddle, just north of Merritt on Jan. 28.

LocalRCMP and a dozen search teams combed thesnowy backcountryabout 80 kilometres south of Kamloops for a week amid temperatures as low as 20 C, but suspended the effort on Sunday because ofthe extreme weather.

On Wednesday, the B.C. RCMP announced itsMajor Crimes Unit had been dispatched. A statement saidthere's no evidence to suggest foul play, but that the force wanted to cover all its bases.

Tyner, who's fromWyoming, works at a cattle ranch in nearby Nicola, B.C.,and was last seen there on Jan. 26.

Anyone with information on Tyner's whereabouts is asked to contactMerrittRCMP or Crime Stoppers.