EXCLUSIVE: Macin Smith’s siblings speak for the first time about their turbulent year

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 14, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — The first of September marked the one year anniversary of St. George teenager Macin Smith’s disappearance.

Since Macin, then 17, walked away from his home early one morning before school, parents Tracey Bratt-Smith and Darrin Smith have sat down with Gephardt Daily a number of times to talk about their son and raise awareness about his story.

But Macin’s siblings have not spoken publicly about their youngest brother — until now.

At a commemorative event in Liberty Park for Macin, three of his five siblings and his brother-in-law opened up to Bill Gephardt about subjects including their differing thoughts about where he is now and the deep pain caused by his sudden and unexplained disappearance.

Macin’s sisters, Raycelan Hansen and Kailey Smith, brother, Dallan Smith, and Raycelan’s husband, Derek, spoke candidly on a subject that is still highly emotional for them.

Click on the video above to see the siblings’ interview.

Macin, the youngest of Tracey and her husband Darrin’s six kids, was the last one living with them.

While his mother Tracey thinks her son is out there somewhere, experiencing life, his father Darrin believes Macin may have committed suicide. And Macin’s siblings also differ in what they think happened to their brother. Kailey and Raycelan said their instincts change depending on the day.

“I’d like to think he’s around,” Kailey, 24, said. “I hope so every day. I change my mind all the time. I just hope for the best.”

The beliefs of Raycelan, 20 and closest in age to Macin, are changeable.

“It depends on the day if I’m feeling like he’s OK, or if I’m feeling like he’s not OK,” she said.

Their brother Dallan, 22, has a similar viewpoint to his mother.

“He could be anywhere. I think he’s safe, I think he’s OK,” he said.

Macin did leave a note, which his parents discovered a week later folded inside his wallet. They have not released the contents, preferring to say the note contained an “intent,” which led them to believe he may have planned to harm himself.

But despite their differing opinions on Macin’s whereabouts, Tracey said her youngest son’s disappearance has resulted in their tight-knit family becoming even closer.

“We’ve always been a close family, however Macin’s disappearance has caused us to be more raw and honest with our conversations,” she told Gephardt Daily. “It has deepened our relationships even more. We express our love even more freely. They are all really good kids.”

The event in Salt Lake City was organized with the help of Textwich, an organization that provides food for the homeless while simultaneously looking for the lost. Volunteers posted “missing info” on the lunch sacks they handed out to the homeless, and handed out posters and fliers with his information on them. The event did lead to a handful of new leads, which are being followed up on.

Tracey and other close friends of the family have posted Facebook updates almost every day to the Help Find Macin Smith page, whose 15,694 members are known collectively as Macin’s Army.

Multiple possible Macin sightings have been reported, but none have proved credible. Macin’s family has worked with professional search organization Red Rock Search and Rescue and police to bring him home. For seven months, there has been a $10,000 reward in place, offered for information leading to his safe return.

Macin is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds. He has light-blue eyes, and he had short blond hair when he went missing. The Smith family moved to Utah from Canada in spring last year, and there have been search efforts for him there, too.

Anyone with information about Macin is asked to call the St. George Police Department at 435-627-4300, or David Cummings at RRSAR on 702-787-4068.

For Tracey and Darrin exclusive interview with Gephardt Daily at the Tetwich event, please click below.

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