Did missing B.C. man choose to disappear? Podcast revisits mysterious case 3 years later

Ian Indridson, pictured here with dog Willow, vanished in the January of 2022. (Courtesy: Laura Palmer)

The mysterious disappearance of a B.C. man who vanished from his Vancouver Island home three years ago is being revisited in a true-crime podcast.

The final known movements of Ian Indridson, 57, were akin to those carried out every other cold January morning at his welcoming waterfront home in Victoria’s Fairfield-Gonzales neighbourhood.

Indridson had made himself some eggs, brewed a fresh pot of coffee, and played with Willow, the beloved black labrador he shared with his wife, Gloria Mendez. Moments later he disappeared, with nothing but the clothes on his back, leaving his wallet, keys, and phone behind.

Laura Palmer, whose podcast Island Crime explores missing person’s cases on Vancouver Island, tackles Indridson’s baffling story in its recently released seventh season. Palmer, who lives in Port Alberni, says she was lured towards his tale because of its particularly unique nature.

“There have been a number of stories over the years about missing people and, in many of the cases, you look at their lives and think there are reasons why they might have disappeared, whether it’s a criminal background, an addiction or mental health issues,” she says.

“This is different, in that he is a very well-established guy at the point of time when he goes missing.”

Indridson was “at the top of his game” as a senior public affairs officer for the B.C. government, he was a great writer, was incredibly social, and was described as a “rock star” by his colleagues, explains Palmer. He lived in a nice home in a leafy, waterfront neighbourhood, and doted on his dog with wife, Mendez.

Mendez told Palmer that her husband and partner of 17 years would, on a weekly basis, when the two were lounging or quietly completing crosswords, exclaim, “I love our life. Don’t you love our life?”

It was Mendez who first approached Palmer with Indridson’s case, because, in a fascinating twist, there were concerns as to whether her husband had closed the door that January morning, and walked out on his own life.

“Arguably the most notable aspect of Ian’s story is that he had a fascination with people who had, in some way, walked away from themselves. Whether it was for a great adventure, to go live in the South Pacific, for example, or to go out in the woods and try and live by their own width,” says Palmer.

Indridson had come from privileged and well-to-do parents, but was frugal and had a conflicted relationship with money. He had a library of books containing stories of people who had purposely disappeared, and had been particularly taken with the book The Man Who Quit Money, a true account of a man who abolished cash and chose to live in a cave in the Utah canyonlands.

Whether Indridson chose to vanish is a question Mendez and the private investigators she hired – all of whom make an appearance throughout Palmer’s podcast – have pondered over at length.

Other avenues are also investigated throughout the season, including whether Indridson died by suicide.

In the period leading up to his disappearance, Indridson was suffering out-of-character anxiety, brought on by a new job, and wasn’t sleeping well. Although “no one, such as his best friend, or Gloria, sees him as being the kind of person who would ever end their life by suicide,” explains Palmer.

While delving into Indridson’s case, Palmer communicated with a swath of people including a large group of Indridson’s colleagues, his best friend from university, the author of The Man Who Quit Money, and even the book’s subject, Daniel Suelo, to understand what could compel someone to wave goodbye to their own comfortable life.

The investigators working on Indridson’s case, currently an open police file, have refused to speak on the matter, which is inconvenient but not unusual in unsolved missing person cases, says Palmer. Mendez, she says, is frustrated that the police “aren’t doing enough” to find her husband.

“It’s possible that some people might come away from this saying that this podcast actually raises more questions, and that’s OK in a case like this where we don’t know for sure what happened,” says Palmer.

“Ian was incredibly well loved and respected. I hope listeners really get to know him and hear people talk about how kind he is, and what a funny, interesting person he is.”

Maybe that, she says, will help listeners understand why, three years on, “people are still trying to find him.”

Anyone with information about the disappearance of Ian Indridson is asked to call the Victoria Police Department at 250-995-7654, extension 1 and quote file number 22-1017.