The family of
an American Seventh-day Adventist doctor who disappeared in Ukraine nine months
ago will hold a service in April to celebrate his life.
Dr. Jay
Sloop, a retired obstetrician serving as Upper Columbia Conference Health
Ministries director, was helping church leaders in Kiev establish a lifestyle
center in the Ukrainian capital when he went
missing during an early morning walk
in Zamkova Gora Park. Sloop, 77, was last seen on May 15, 2013. Security camera
footage showed him entering the park in central Kiev, but not leaving.
No
substantial leads have since emerged in the case, despite extensive searches
and an ongoing investigation by Ukrainian police and the U.S. embassy in Kiev.
“We know little more than we did within hours of Dad’s initial disappearance,”
son Greg Sloop said in a blog he set up to keep friends and family informed of
the search.
While active
searches ended in September, the family continues to follow up with contacts in
Ukraine and maintains a hotline where people can report information, he said.
In a February
12 blog post, Sloop reiterated the ambiguity of the situation and said the
service is not reason to further speculate on Dr. Sloop’s status. “No matter
what you might believe, we are left without Dad in our lives right now. We’d
like to take time to remember who he is and was, what things were important to
him, and reminisce on the time he spent with us,” Sloop wrote.
The April 26
service will “be a good time to create a small sense of closure for everyone
involved,” another son, Richard Sloop, told the Yakima Herald.
Details on
the service can be found at sloop.net/wordpress.
