EDMONTON - Nearly three weeks after a St. Albert couple vanished, RCMP searched a campground east of Edson on Wednesday.
Police wouldn't confirm by press time whether the search of the Nojack recreation area was related to the mysterious disappearance of the McCanns.
Nor would they say whether anything was discovered.
Authorities keyed on at least four locations at the campground, a source said.
Bret McCann -- whose parents Lyle and Marie McCann vanished after embarking on a road trip to B.C. -- said Wednesday night that he was not aware of the search.
"We're anxious but optimistic," he said.
Bret noted that his brother and sister went to the St. Albert RCMP detachment Wednesday to provide DNA samples.
Earlier in the day, Bret said he received an apology from an unlikely source -- the family of Travis Vader, the man believed to have crucial information about the seniors' disappearance.
Vader has been named a person of interest in the McCann case.
He hasn't been charged in connection with their disappearance, but police believe he has crucial information that would help their investigation.
The case has captivated people across Canada, and Bret said he's received sympathetic letters from many of those people -- including some from Vader's family.
"I think they were victimized as well," Bret said of Vader's relatives.
"I understand their situation as well."
The McCanns have been missing since July 3, when they set out in their motorhome, SUV in tow, to meet family in Abbotsford, B.C.
The motorhome was found ablaze July 5 near the Minnow Lake Campground, about 60 km from where Vader was arrested.
Police found the couple's SUV more than a week later, parked in the bush a few kilometres from the scene of the motorhome fire.
The discovery of the SUV led to a weekend-long manhunt for Vader, who was arrested early Monday at a friend's house in the MacKay area, about 150 km west of Edmonton.
Mounties have interrogated Vader, but the McCann family said they're still awaiting answers on what fate befell their parents.
"We're highly anxious," Bret said. "Every time the phone rings, there's a lot of trepidation."
He urged Vader to share any information he has.
"It's obvious he has a family and children and that he had a happy family life before he had those troubles," Bret said.
"I would appeal to that side of him to help us find our parents."
michelle.thompson@sunmedia.ca
- With files from Candice Ward
