CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C. — A teen’s puzzling disappearance leaves unanswered questions years later.
Jordan Alexander Holling, 17, was born on Nov. 1, 1999, to Morgan Holling and Andrea Wiley. He worked at the A&W near Discovery Harbour and resided with his mother on 17th Avenue. Jordan has two sisters and several friends. His favorite pastime was skateboarding.
Jordan attended Carihi Secondary School and planned to pursue a career in computer technology.
On Oct. 15, 2017, Jordan worked late at A&W and planned to spend the night with a friend and then head to work the following day for another shift.
After work, Jordan went to his friend’s house on 16th Avenue, where they listened to music and played video games. Jordan was in a good mood, and his friends later said nothing seemed amiss.
For whatever reason, Jordan left his friend’s home carrying his skateboard sometime after 1 a.m. to walk the short distance home.
Jordan never made it home. He was last seen wearing a long-sleeve gray sweatshirt, black pants, and black athletic shoes.
His parents assumed he was at his friend’s house and that he went to work the following day because that was the agreed-upon plan. When he failed to return home on the evening of Oct. 16, 2017, his parents knew something was wrong and immediately went to the Royal Canadian Mounties Police station to file a missing person report.
An extensive ground search involving Campbell River Search and Rescue and volunteers produced no clues to Jordan’s whereabouts.
The Doe Network reports that “in CCTV footage, he was seen walking when a car driving in the opposite direction turned around and spoke with him. RCMP later cleared the people in the vehicle.”
The last sighting of Jordan was captured on CCTV around 2 a.m. on Oct. 16, 2017. He was walking without his skateboard north on Hwy. 19/Willow Street, near 14th Avenue. Some reports say 15th Avenue. Jordan’s skateboard was later found nearby.
Police confiscated Jordan’s laptop and sent it to Vancouver because he had encrypted it. However, experts did not find anything useful.
Authorities also examined Jordan’s bank and cell phone records but found nothing. They attempted to track his phone but were unsuccessful, and it has never been found.
There were two unconfirmed sightings of Jordan. One witness saw him near Nunns Creek Park, and another said he was somewhere along Island Highway. Police combed the park with search dogs but found nothing.
Per Stories of the Unsolved, “In March 2018, the Holling family launched the Random Act of Kindness project to help renew interest in the case. They asked the public to print off an information card about Jordan’s disappearance and hand it to someone while doing a random act of kindness in the missing teenager’s name.”
In 2021, the Holling family received some unexpected news, although not regarding Jordan’s disappearance, but heartwarming and hopeful.
On New Year’s Eve 2021, Aimee Minor, president of a local cat rescue in Comox, found a stray cat in the Comox Valley, about 30 miles from Campbell River, and set up a trap to capture it after tracking it with cameras for a week.
The cat, Jax, had a visible tattoo, and Minor was quickly able to reunite Jax with his owner, the Hollings. The cat belonged to Jordan. Jax disappeared on Oct. 15, 2021, one day before the third anniversary of Jordan’s disappearance.
When Jordan vanished, he wore glasses with black frames, stood 5 feet 11 inches tall, and weighed 145 pounds.
About 7,500 people belong to a Facebook group dedicated to finding Jordan. His parents believe something horrible happened to him and said he would never have run away.
Morgan Holling posted on his personal Facebook page on the sixth anniversary:
You wouldn’t believe the stories I’ve heard. People have messaged and phoned me with every imaginable scenario one could think of. These very from a simple “run-away” (which I cannot believe, not even for a minute), to things so brutal I won’t mention, but cannot forget. Horrible things happened in the early hours of this day, and someone, somewhere, could help. I do believe this. I don’t think many of us truly understand what it’s like to have a loved one go missing unless you have experienced it personally. Not a day goes by without thinking of them, and replaying the scenarios in our heads. I have heard from many others who have lived this tragedy, belive (sic) me, it’s hard. Today, he would be 16 days shy of being 23. The sky was the limit for him. I can only imagine the things he could have accomplished by now. With any luck, we will one day have the answers we seek.
Anyone with information can contact the Campbell River RCMP at 250-286-6221 or leave an anonymous tip by calling Crime stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
True Crime Diva’s Thoughts
While I understand why Jordan’s parents refuse to believe he ran away, I go back to when my son ran away. For several days, I believed he had been abducted because, like Jordan, running away was uncharacteristic of my son. But he did, and my son took no belongings or money with him. So, I don’t think it’s something they should rule out. I learned the hard way that you may think you know your child, but there are parts of themselves they keep hidden from their parents.
Two weeks before his disappearance, Jordan posted on Facebook that he was lonely. While it in no way suggests a reason to run, maybe he was not happy. He once called himself a “sociopath” in a post in September 2017. But he was also a teenager, and teens post weird sh*t all the time. 😀
That said, I think abduction is more likely because of the CCTV footage of Jordan after he left the friend’s house. We know he never made it home, but he was headed in that direction.
But why didn’t Jordan go straight home? Why did he leave his friend’s house in the first place? That’s odd. He had planned to stay the night, then go straight to work. Why did he change his mind? Because he intended to sleep over, he would have had his work clothes with him, yet he did not take anything other than the skateboard when he left the friend’s apartment.
Looking at the pic of Jordan leaving his friend’s place, it seems the friend lived in an apartment, and the only apartments I found on 16th Avenue are Midtown Suites.
The sighting of Jordan at Nunn’s Creek Park could be legit, depending on the time of the sighting. If he was there, why? I read that the city allowed homeless people to shelter at the park. I wonder if that was the case in 2017, but if it were, one of them could be involved.
It is possible that Jordan decided to ride his skateboard for a while before going home. His friend lived on 16th Avenue, which leads to the park. He could then travel south to 14th Avenue and west to Willow Street, which leads to 17th Avenue, where he lived with Andrea.
According to the CCTV footage, Jordan was walking alone without his skateboard, so something happened to him after that sighting. I find it strange that he did not have his skateboard. Why?
Campbell River has a population of about 35,000, so it’s big enough that not everyone knows each other but small enough that a stranger might not be involved. I think someone local is responsible for Jordan’s disappearance. That person saw him walking alone and took advantage of it being 2 a.m. and not many people out and about. I don’t think we should rule out the possibility that someone Jordan knew harmed him.