Priscillia Durocher stood at the podium, gripping her younger sisters hand.
Priscillia is the older sister of Luke Joly-Durocher, who went missing five years ago to this day.
Being seven years older than Luke she reflected back as the older sister who read stories to her younger brother, helped him with homework and built snow forts with him and their younger sister.
“I am usually always with family and friends but sometimes when I am by myself I will break into tears,” she said trying to hold back tears herself.
Priscillia says she tries to stay strong, but there are always those moments where it sinks in and the hurt reveals itself.
“I never really told anyone about this because I’m always trying to stay strong, happy and positive,” she said.
“I will be driving by myself, tears pouring down, and I almost need to pull over because I can’t see anything.
“I have got to keep moving forward and stay strong for my family. We all stay strong for each other but it’s not easy.”
Priscillia was one of the main speakers pleading for the public’s help as the North Bay Police Service held a press conference at Police Headquarters where it was officially announced a reward of $50,000 will be handed out to anyone who can help solve this bizarre local missing persons case.
Luke Joly-Durocher, who was 20 at the time of his disappearance, was last seen shortly before midnight in the North Bay downtown area on March 4th, 2011.
A downtown bar captured images of him outside late that evening five years ago and his bank card was found in the downtown core about 11 days after his disappearance.
At the time of the disappearance Luke Joly-Durocher was described is five-feet eight-inches tall, weighed about 150 pounds and has dark curly short hair. He has a slim build and wears braces on his upper teeth. He was also wearing a bright coloured purple belt which has not been recovered.
“I would never have imagined we would be here all today still pleading to the public for answers to what happened to him, where did he go, who took him from us,” Luke’s father Rob Joly questioned.
Detective Constable Dave Wilson is the lead investigator. He hopes the reward will help someone come forward.
“We are hoping this is something we have discussed for a long time and it’s taken a while to get the funding in place but we are hoping in this case in particular that it’s going to make that change to help that person who knows something to come forward,” said Wilson.
"We have some potential leads, we have some various information to address yet and this is just one more step in order to hopefully get some information and some more clarity in order to push this case forward."
Priscillia hopes someone will come forward to help give the family the answers they need.
“I know there’s people out there that know what happened and whoever you are,” she said.
“I hope you can find the courage to call in and tell the police what you know.”
Any person having information regarding the person(s) responsible for the disappearance of Luke Joly-Durocher is asked to communicate immediately with the Director of the Criminal Investigation Services, Ontario Provincial Police, at 1-888-310-1122 or 705 329-6111; the Investigative Support Section of the North Bay Police Service at 705 497-5555; or their nearest police authority.
