It's approaching the 44th Christmas without her sister and close friend.

A winter wonderland takes on a different meaning for Coldstream's Nancy Nickoli, and her older brother David, a part-time resident of B.C.'s Gulf Islands. It's a time and life of continuous wonder as to what happened to their sibling and her friend back in September 1981.

Nancy's older-by-a-year sister Carol, and close friend Wayne Atha of Vernon, vanished without a trace Sept. 14, 1981. The pair had gone fishing at Bouleau Lake, a small body of water in the hills off Westside Road in Vernon. When the platonic couple (both were in relationships with other people) didn't return home that night, Wayne's father went to the lake very early the following morning. 

Wayne's Ford F-150 Lariat – which belonged to his dad – was found at the lake. On the Facebook page Cold Case B.C., posted on this year's Sept. 14 anniversary date, it's alleged the friends' car-top boat which also belonged to Wayne's father was found overturned in the water. That, according to the siblings, is not exactly accurate. We'll get to that.

There were no signs at the lake of Carol, 19, and Wayne, 20. Their bodies have never been found. There have been no reported sightings of the two in 43 years.

"The police report says they (police) were up there pretty much the next four days, including a dive team," said David, now 67. "The most logical conclusion is that there was a boating accident, and two young people died. My gut tells me that's not right."

Wayne was a very good swimmer. Carol, "not so stellar," said Nancy, but she could swim. Bouleau Lake is not that wide. And on the day the pair went to the lake, weather records show it was beautiful late summer day, 20 degrees Celsius, and the sun was shining.

Had the boat overturned somehow, and Carol and Wayne fell into the lake, they should have been able to swim to shore.

"There's no reason they couldn't have swam that distance, middle of the lake to the shore," said Nancy. "It was a beautiful day, the lake would not have been frigid like in middle of winter."

The RCMP Dive Team, which arrived at the site a couple of days after the pair was reported missing, said David, was on sleds that were dragged through the lake in three areas the boat may have been on the water. The lake, said Nancy, could not have been dragged with a net, or lines, searching for the pair.

"It's a mountain lake and it's full of snags," she said. "Your typical mountain lake with all sorts of s--t. Silty bottom, deep sludge, silt, that's what I understood."

"According to the police there's three metres of visibility in the lake," added David. "Once below that three metres of visibility, you don't see much. So when the dive team went in, they went in with lanterns. The bottom has a foot of silt, and it could be more."

Nancy's gut also says to her that drowning doesn't seem logical.

"Physics tells you it's not right because when people drown, they float," said Nancy, now 61. "The gases build up and the bodies float. For the most part. There are instances where they haven't floated, of course."

That particular Monday of Sept. 14, 1981, was a fabulous Monday, said Nancy. She had been called to work in Falkland, but she found time in the morning to braid Carol's hair. Carol had recently signed up for a post-secondary legal secretary course at Okanagan College but classes hadn't started. Wayne was delivering furniture for work. Mondays were his day off.

There was nothing that morning to indicate anything was wrong with Carol. She was in a good mood, said her sister.

"She was planning, either a couple of days later, or that night or the next night, a pre-wedding dinner for her boyfriend's brother," said Nancy. "They (Carol and her boyfriend) were going to that. I had put her hair in French braids that morning. We were really close. She was a grade ahead of me. We just did everything together."

Wayne was an experienced fisherman, said Nancy, familiar with the boat, and both she and David believe he was familiar with the Bouleau Lake area.

"If my memory serves me correctly, the Atha family used to go up there on a regular basis," said David. "Wayne was familiar enough to know where to fish on the lake, based on what his dad recommended. That's my memory."

When Carol and Wayne failed to return from the lake that night, panic set in for Nancy. In an era before cell phones, Nancy only knew that her sister had driven her Nova to the Atha's, as that's where the boat was, and they left from there to go fishing.

David had moved out of the family home by then. He said he was at work "a day or maybe two" later when he heard about the disappearances on local AM radio CJIB's noon-hour newscast.

"I phoned the house, my sister-in-law answered, and she said, 'Carol's missing,'" said David.

Wayne's dad left home at 4 a.m. the next morning to go searching at the lake. He arrived by 5 a.m. and was the person who found the truck. The RCMP report doesn't make it clear if Mr. Atha found the boat but he did flag down a logging truck to relay news of the disappearance to the RCMP.

According to the siblings, the boat was found capsized and sitting perpendicular in the water, mostly submerged. But, the police report shows the boat was found to have been in gear when located.

Nancy said Carol had left for the fishing trip wearing shorts and a tank top. She had taken a pair of jeans to change into later, and when she arrived at Wayne's home, she borrowed a sweater from his younger sister, Gail, also a friend of Nancy's. 

Carol's shorts and tank top were found in the truck. And found on the truck's tailgate? Life jackets.

"It would be very unusual for the life jackets not to be in the boat," said David.

A paddle, a cooler, and some fishing bobbers were found on the lake by RCMP. The rest of the fishing gear, they surmised in their handwritten report, was at the bottom of the lake.

One other thing keeps niggling at Nancy. There was a reported sighting of Wayne, Carol and the truck at a gas station that day. But it was later in the afternoon. Mid-afternoon. Carol had arrived at the Atha's just after 12 p.m.

"So there's some dead time there, time that can't be accounted for," said Nancy.

Added David. "If they put on the lake at around 4 p.m., they'd have been off the lake by 6 p.m."

The search for the friends lasted about four or five days. Nancy's bosses at the time, Pete and Marge Klassen, brought their camper to the site and were serving food and coffee to the searchers and people helping to look for Carol and Wayne.

David drove up to Bouleau Lake on the Sunday following the disappearance. He didn't run into anybody during his search of the area.

The cold case into the disappearance of Carol Nickoli and Wayne Atha on Sept. 14, 1981, remains open.

"Police have been very cooperative, wonderful to work with, and we have nothing but praise for the RCMP," said David.

Vernon North Okanagan RCMP current media liaison officer Const. Chris Terleski said he spoke with the investigator assigned to the case, and there isn't any new information to share.

"We very much appreciate you shedding light on and bringing attention to this case," said Terleski. "Much time has passed and the renewed attention brings the possibility of generating new information that could help advance the investigation, and bring closure to the family."

If anybody does have any new information to pass along they are asked to email , call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 if you wish to remain anonymous. Quote RCMP file #198116574.

Both David and Nancy believe their sister and friend were victims of foul play, that neither of them would just run off and disappear.

"I think somebody did something," said David.

"The circumstances just don't line up," said Nancy. "Those life jackets, they always put in the boat. It was a miserable boat to sit in if you didn't sit on the life jackets. And they were found on the tailgate.

"Carol would never have left me. People have been spouting off and saying that they ran off but Carol would not have done something like that.

"Not a chance in hell."