Daughter raising money for a memorial bench for Darren Werner

Mikayla Werner is honouring her dad in the best way she knows how — with a memorial bench at one of his favourite spots.

“I grew up going for hikes with my dad and the dogs at the Niagara Glen. (It) just kind of encompasses him as a person,” she said.

Darren Werner vanished two years ago on Sept. 16, 2021. Since then, there’s been little discovered about his disappearance.

Niagara Regional Police said in a news release on Sept. 15 that they’re looking at his disappearance as an “open missing person investigation with suspicious circumstances.”

“It’s been a quick two years. Super painful and confusing, but I just really wanted to do something. I felt like I needed to do something for him,” said Mikayla Werner.

Placing a bench at one of their favourite spots seemed like a “no-brainer,” she said, since it’s where they’d spend upward of three hours hiking sometimes.

By starting a GoFundMe, she’s hoping she can make it a reality.

She needs to raise $4,000 to have the bench installed along with a plaque.

“I’m hoping to reach all those people within the Niagara community and beyond that my dad had an impact on or left an imprint on (in) their lives in a positive way,” she said.

The bench will be a way for her family, and those who know her dad, to visit and honour his memory, she said.

She noted her dad loves fitness, his dogs and anything to do with the outdoors.

She said he’d go everywhere with his German shepherd, Bear.

It’s hard to put into words the type of person he is, she said, because he’s “truly a one-of-a-kind man.”

“I think that anybody that you talk to would be like, he’s such a character. He always knew how to make people laugh.”

Donations can be made at https://gofund.me/558bb23d.