North Bay Police Inspector Kirk Kelusky and Detective Constable Greg McCLenaghan visited the site where 16 years ago on April 7th, 2000, 34-year-old Russell Hoffert was last seen.
The psychiatric patient had wandered off the hospital site, which he had done in the past. On that night the weather was not conducive for an evening stroll.
As a matter of fact, a blizzard rolled in that day.
Kelusky, who was the lead investigator back in 2000, remembers the call about a missing person north of the city. He says Hoffert was last seen walking along Bomarc road wearing a denim shirt with the sleeves rolled up, jeans and no winter clothing in conditions that were reported as cold as -20 with the windchill.
“The sightings confirmed the type of clothing that he was last seen wearing and the reason people were calling was the clothing was just not conducive to weather that was going on at that time,” Kelusky recalled.
“The initial officers came up right away and started searching the main roads and the trails. I will call them trails because that time of year even getting around in vehicles is tough and making our presence known. So that if he is out here and he is cold or in need, that he would be able to walk towards us.”
Russell HoffertRussell Hoffert Description:
Missing since April 7th, 2000
Was 34 (would be 50 today)
Brown eyes
Curly black hair
Aboriginal male
Scar on abdomen
5’-7”
183 lbs
Slender build
Kelusky says they used horns, lights and sirens trying to catch Hoffert’s attention if he had been nearby. Police spotted footprints at the end of Bomarc Road near a gravel pit but no clues since. Police continued to search for him by foot until about 2 or 3 a.m.
“Not finding any sign of him at that point, there was an assessment made by the duty shift that we are going to organize an intensive search with more resources as soon as possible.”
At sunrise the ERT team returned to the area along with help from the OPP which included a canine unit and a helicopter.
“We did a methodical search of all the high probability areas where he could be, and in this type of setting we are looking at the back roads, trails, within the circumference of the point last seen,” said Kelusky.
They came up with nothing.
“To search in this area is tough because once you get off the trail you are in thick tamarack bush here and you are basically on your hands and knees trying to get through the bush. So part of the mythology of the search is determining where the high probabilities of the search should be, and the probability of somebody walking too far in the bush gets less and less after each step you take. But keep in mind if it’s cold we would search a perimeter off each road, we call a high probability area,” said Kelusky.
Sixteen years later and the city police hope somehow bringing this cold case forward again will catch someone’s attention that might know where Hoffert went on that stormy night.
“We did intensive interviews and other than the sighting up here earlier in the evening, we received no other sightings,” said Kelusky.
“There is always some kind of evidence despite the time that has gone by.”
Police invited the media to visit he location where Hoffert was last seen as part of the Police Service’s continuing series on unsolved missing person and homicide investigations.
See those other cases here: http://northbaypolice.ca/community/unsolved-investigations
