/Cold case remains unsolved but warmth of family stokes fire not to give up 
Amateur sleuth Mike Mildon holds up his finger for another scoop from the backhoe to find the remains of Harold Heaven. Mildon is Heaven's great-great-nephew and has been spending years looking for his great-great-uncle who disappeared mysteriously from a cabin in Minden 86 year ago.

Cold case remains unsolved but warmth of family stokes fire not to give up 

By Chad Ingram

However before the pair of investigators could proceed with thedig they had to wait months for the ground to thaw and then were sloweddown by restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It seemed to some that the search was over and it was just a matter of time. Except itwasn’t. It was clear to see the disappointment in the investigators’ faces and in their body language tired from the physical exertion andthe mental fatigue of a long search that dated back years as they hoped to document the victorious result.

Asked by local media and Global Television about their next step Mildon said this effort is far from over.
“The search for Harold continues. It’s not the first time we hit a dead end. We had a lot of confidence going in. It hurts yeah. It really sucks.It’s unfortunate. You guys saw the whole family was around and we wanted to give them something. Some form of closure” he said.

His friend and partner in this search to find the truth Rowe said there are other potential sites to search.
“People talk obviously. Everyone has their own theory. It’s just difficult tosift through and take them as seriously as we would like to so we’regoing to regroup and like Mike said we’re not done but I can’t tellwhat exactly our next move is” he said.

The pair have been workingfor the past few years interviewing people in the Highlands andfollowing up leads in hopes of bringing closure for the family. Theirsearch was also being documented.
Mildon who is the great-greatnephew of Heaven and his friend Rowe were optimistic about theprospects of closing the cold case. It only added to the disappointment.
However it was the family around them that gave them strength following the disappointment.
“I think that was the best part. I mean my whole goal was to give them ananswer today and I kind of built that up in both of our minds so yeahit sucks on that front but there is so much love and support aroundthat bump and I think everyone saw it so yeah. Very thankful for them.I’m disappointed with how today went” Mildon said.

The possibility of not finding Harold wasn’t even considered by Mildon and Rowe.
“We’ve been so focused on the end goal which is an ending an answer” hesaid. “I don’t know how our documentary ends. I don’t know how the story ends.”
Rowe added “We’ll know when we’re done and we want that tobe with Harold but it if it’s not we’ll know when and we just knowthat’s not right.”
The pair of investigators said they wouldn’t havegot as far as they have and learned what they have without thecommunity’s support.
“It’s been irreplaceable. I was telling theHeaven family we needed the town to come together to tell us theirmemories of Harold and how they came to know the story and I’d sayalmost everybody we came into contact with was supportive and was happyto talk to us and we wouldn’t be here today without them so a huge partof our story a huge part of Harold’s story and just really paintsMinden in a lovely light” he said. “You know good people.”

As far as any lessons go from this Mildon said he was reminded about a conversation he had with an aunt who died recently.
“During her interview one of the things I basically said was the whole reason I think I was doing this documentary was one to find an answer to become closer to the Heaven family and I do think through that we’ve … Yeah we’ve … Jackson definitely has become closer” he said laughing.“But I feel really I have grown … I have a great relationship with alot of ‘em” he said.

The lesson taken from this experience including this setback is perseverance Rowe said.
“I mean we hit dead end after dead end and none bigger than today butwe’re going to like I said we’ll regroup but I don’t think our spiritit’s not done yet” he said. “We learned a lot about perseverance andwhat it takes to solve something like this. It’s not as easy as somepeople make it seem.”
Like any intrepid investigator from the movies Mildon was not giving up.
“There’s a lot of things we can still go off of. On to the next one” he said