Featured

Holly Ellsworth-Clark – FOUND


UPDATE: HOLLY WAS FOUND DECEASED ON SEPTEMBER 10, 2020. A WORKER IN THE AREA SPOTTED HER BODY FLOATING ON THE HAMILTON HARBOUR NEAR PIER 11. OUR HEART GOES OUT TO HOLLY’S FRIENDS AND FAMILY DURING THIS UNIMAGINABLE TIME. THIS STORY WAS WRITTEN PRIOR TO HOLLY BEING FOUND AND HAS BEEN APPROVED BY FAMILY TO STAY UP.

Holly Ellsworth-Clark was 27 years old when she disappeared from Hamilton, ON on January 11, 2020. She was last seen walking out of her home in the Sanford and Cannon St area. Holly is originally from Calgary AB, but moved to Ontario in 2018 to pursue a career in music. The day before her disappearance, Holly called her parents crying and told them she wanted to come home… but that’s not all she said. Despite Holly’s family leaving no stone unturned, Holly remains missing.


About


she started playing this music and it was just stunning. It was really amazingly good

Dave Ellsworth-Clark

Holly

Holly Ellsworth-Clark was born on November 24, 1992 in Clarenville, Newfoundland, but lived most of her life in Calgary, Alberta. She has two older siblings, Caleb and Kate, and her parents are Dave and Greta. Dave says that growing up, Holly was always the out-going one of a family made up of “shy people.” She was always making new friends and would be one to start up a conversation.

In 2012, Holly developed an interest in wrestling. It stemmed from her father, who played the sport competitively in his adult years, and then became her full-time coach. That same year, She won the PANAM junior championship, and was offered a scholarship to the University of Calgary, where she studied political science. During her university career she won three CIS championships.

Holly graduated university in 2016 and was still living at home until she figured out what she wanted to do. At one point, Dave gave Holly his electric guitar in case she wanted to try it. “I didn’t really expect very much,” he says. It wasn’t long before Holly started songwriting and singing. She created a band and even accepted gigs at local bars.

“I am a recovering academic. I did about 90% of a PhD in art so I’m a very experienced art critic. I can’t go to plays anymore, partly because it drives me nuts. Most of them are terrible,” he jokes. “The kids know this. They have always brought their stuff to me pretty reluctantly. With Holly’s music, I gave her my electric guitar to try to encourage her to play some more because I taught her some chords,” he says.  “And then she started playing this music and it was just stunning. It was really amazingly good.” 

Dave says when he went to watch Holly play at shows, even the most experienced bands were impressed by Holly’s talent. He also says guitarists and drummers would often reach out to Holly for collaborations.

“With Holly’s music, I gave her my electric guitar to try to encourage her to play some more because I taught her some chords,” he says.  “And then she started playing this music and it was just stunning. It was really amazingly good” – Dave Clark

New Job

In the summer of 2017, Elle McFearsin hired Holly as a strata manager. “One of the things that stood out about Holly the most is that she could adapt to the situation she was in” Elle explains that whether Holly was talking to her or other co-workers, Holly’s tone or behaviour would change to adapt to their personalities.

Elle says that Holly also enjoyed debating about current events, political issues, social issues, or anything for that matter. But it would never turn into conflict, they would always be healthy debates. “It didn’t bother her to have a different opinion than you might,” she says. 

“We have a very open work place and if you have a personal problem, I’ll happily sit and listen to it and give you whatever help you need, or advice, or encouragement. She would call quite often with boy problems, or friend problems,” she says.

Toronto

In the fall of 2017, Holly went to Toronto to tour with her band and visit her sister Kate. At one of her shows, she met a guitarist named Randy, and they hit it off. They started dating, and a year later she moved to Toronto with him. That was the first time Holly moved away from home. 

In Toronto, Holly and Randy lived in the basement suite of a house, where four others lived. Elle says Holly would often call her to talk about how much she didn’t like living there, the main reason being the roof was shorter than she was. Elle says Holly didn’t want to cause problems and was trying to really make it work. At this time, Holly and Randy created a band with one of Randy’s friend’s Andrew, who was a drummer. But, a year after their band was created, it was broken-up, because Randy and Holly broke up. 

Holly caught feelings for Andrew, but he lived in Hamilton. While in the midst of moving out from her place with Randy, she decided to move to Hamilton to see if it would work between her and Andrew. However, the feelings were not mutual, and this devastated her. 

Elle says that after a month of Holly living with Andrew,  Holly started looking at new places and then found one she really liked. It was a room her landlord was subletting while he went to tour in Australia. He wasn’t leaving until December, but offered Holly his room in the meantime, while he slept on a couch in the basement. Holly moved in the beginning-mid November, and really enjoyed living there. 

The Underground Listener Podcast – Interview with Holly. Listen to Holly’s music Here



Disappearance



“We were able to essentially make up what her week before looked like literally hour by hour” 

Elle McFearsin

Broken window

Holly was allowed to use her work phone and laptop for personal use; so after Holly went missing, Elle, her employer, was able to access Holly’s online activity.  “We have literally everything that she could have had in a digital world including pings, numbers dialed, numbers out. You name it, we have it,” she says. “With that we were able to essentially make up what her week before looked like literally hour by hour.” 

One thing that is not clear, however, is what Holly was up to on January 9th after 6:00 p.m., two nights before her disappearance. There was no cell phone or laptop activity from Holly until 10:00 a.m. the following day. 

Holly came home on January 10th at about 8:00 a.m, but she didn’t come through the front door. She got in the house by smashing a living room window with a brick. One of her roommates, Mohammed, was sleeping on the couch and woke up when he heard the smash.

According to Dave and Elle, when they first spoke with Mohammed about what his interaction with Holly was like, they weren’t able to get a lot of information from him due to a language barrier. It wasn’t until a few months later when Mohammed improved his English that they were able to sit down with him again and ask questions. 

Mohammed told them that him and Holly didn’t say a word to each other for a “long time” – and that they just stared at each other for a few minutes. She did not tell him about her night or why she broke through the window. And he didn’t ask. 

Holly broke the awkward silence between her and Mohammed by asking him for help carrying some groceries up to her room – groceries she left by the door from a previous day. He helped her carry her groceries up, and then she told him he couldn’t sleep on the couch because it was a rule.

Since Holly was subletting her landlord’s room while he went on vacation to Australia, one of the agreements they made was that she would ensure people followed the rules. However, Dave says Holly wasn’t the type of person to be too strict on rules. She was more likely to be understanding and let things slide.

Mohammed tried telling Holly he was sleeping on the couch because he accidentally locked himself out of his room, but Holly was persistent that he had to follow the rules. 

“The interaction with Mohammed just indicates that she wasn’t herself. She’s not that ungenerous, she wouldn’t be a stickler for rules in any normal circumstance” says Dave.

Strange phone call

Shortly after arriving home at around 8:00 a.m. Holly called her mother Greta, but her mother did not immediately pick up, so Holly left a voicemail. Greta did not notice the voicemail until two weeks later, but at that time she called Holly back within minutes.

Dave and Greta both spoke with Holly. Dave says it was a short – roughly 15 minute phone call. He says Holly sounded emotionally distraught, was crying, and told them that she was exhausted from running away from two men all night in the woods. They pressed her on it, but Holly would not elaborate. She also told them she did something “very bad” but wouldn’t talk about that either.

“I felt disturbed and I felt that she was mentally ill,” Dave says. “And, we hadn’t heard from the roommates that she had broken the window or anything like that.” In an attempt to make sense of Holly’s story without much information, he thought maybe Holly was running away from two men that she had met on a dating app – or something along those lines. 

Elle and Dave asked Mohammed if Holly had talked to him about running away from two men all night, but Mohammed told them she did not. “We can’t just assume because she didn’t talk to the roommate [about running from two men] that it didn’t happen.” Dave explains that she didn’t even want to talk about it with her family, therefore it makes sense that she wouldn’t talk about it with her roommates either.

Nonetheless, they knew she was not well and were discussing a plan for her to fly over with her brother, who was supposed to go to Calgary for a work trip soon. “We still didn’t quite know how urgent the situation was,” Dave explained. “We were concerned enough that we wanted someone there right away. We wanted Kate there, we wanted Caleb there.”

When Dave and Greta hung up, they immediately called their daughter Kate, who lives in Toronto. They told her about their call with Holly and suggested Kate drive to Hamilton to check on her. Kate dropped everything and drove to Hamilton to see Holly. 

When Kate arrived at around noon, Dave says she brought Holly lunch and comforted Holly for a couple of hours. He says Kate encouraged Holly to seek help for her mental health and that she should get some sleep. Dave says Kate was concerned about her mental health and was bothered that Holly wasn’t committing to seeking help. She wanted Holly to be checked on regularly but Holly wasn’t having any of it. 

After a couple of hours, Kate had to go back to work but could tell Holly was still not doing well, so she called her parents and told them to ask Caleb, Holly’s brother, to visit Holly that same day too. Caleb was coming from Chicago that day and took the bus from Toronto to Hamilton. Caleb got there about five hours after Kate left, and texted Holly when he was in the city. However, Holly did not answer his texts or go pick him up like she normally would. “All the kids are close but I think Holly and Caleb are the closest.” says Dave.

Caleb walked to Holly’s place and when he got there, she wouldn’t let him in the room. He asked Holly’s roommate Emily and a girlfriend of another roommate’s, Tina, if they had a spare key to Holly’s room, but they said no. Caleb was frustrated and walked away, called his parents, and then went back to Holly’s. Dave and Greta called Holly and spoke with her briefly about letting Caleb in. “We knew she was not well,” he says.

Then, Caleb called 911 and requested a wellness check for his sister. 

From what Caleb told Dave, police got there with a mental health expert. Police tried to ask Holly if they could come in but Holly says she was fine and that she wanted to be left alone. Police asked Caleb if he believed she was a danger to herself or others, and Caleb said no, so they told him there were no grounds for them to force the door open, and they left.

Slideshow of Holly and her family

Disappeared

Caleb stayed for a while longer and tried to see his sister, but she wanted to be left alone. So he ended up leaving. “She let Kate in five hours beforehand, five hours later she is in such a state that she won’t let Caleb in and she’s even closer to him.” Dave says it was as if Holly had “gone over a cliff.” 

Holly’s family says after Caleb left, Emily asked Holly if she could come in using a spare key she found. Holly said no, but Emily convinced her to let her in for a minute to check on her. Then, Emily walked in and Tina followed. Holly was visibly upset and sitting on the floor in the middle of her apartment. Emily made Holly a cup of tea and they did some art therapy by painting. Emily did not get any information from Holly as to why she was upset; but still, Tina called Dave and told him everything was fine and that they would take care of Holly. 

“Literally everybody within her family did everything right. And that’s what’s so frustrating. It wasn’t like.. She wasn’t cared for, or wanted, or loved, or looked after… they did everything right. And it still ended up like this,” says Elle. 

Elle says that at around 3:00 a.m., Holly went on her computer to listen to meditation music to calm down. Then, at 6:00 a.m. Holly asked Emily if she would meditate with her, which she did.

For the rest of the day, Elle says Holly was in and out of her room. She says in the morning she was in her room doing youtube searches, listening to music and doing a bit of work. Then at lunch time she scaled the fence. “This was an interesting story that we heard. It was presented to us as a sign of insanity by [a roommate]” says Dave.

She climbed from the second floor down over the railing of the stairs, down over the fence below, to the ground – and then back up the same way. “She was doing a test run I think to see if she could get to where she wanted to go without being observed by cameras,” says Dave. Elle mentioned that there were cameras throughout the home, on the outside and at the entrances. Holly had previously mentioned the cameras to friends and wasn’t sure why they were there or what they were recording. “This scaling of the fence, would fit with her not wanting to be seen on footage,” says Elle.

At around noon, Holly had lunch with Tina and Avery and went back up to her room an hour later. She listened to Spotify from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00. p.m. Right around this time, the roommates saw Holly go downstairs to the furnace room to try to get in, but she couldn’t. Holly went back upstairs to her room to get a mic stand so she could break into the furnace room; but Tina went to lock the door to the basement so Holly couldn’t get down to the furnace room and potentially cause damage. Tina then texted Dave and told him their plan to take care of her wasn’t going to work and that he should fly down there to see Holly right away. 

At 4:06 p.m., Dave then called Holly and asked Holly about the condition of her car, but she was very vague. Then, he told her he was flying to see her the next day. Nine minutes later, Holly walked out of the house, and that’s when she disappeared. The roommates called 911 two minutes after Holly walked out because they were afraid she would break into the video surveillance room. According to Elle, it was pouring rain out that day and Holly left without her belongings and not dressed for the weather. She was last seen wearing boots, sweatpants, and a black sweater. 

“We were talking to her and she was sad a week before. We were asking her to come home because she was sad, and she still wanted to stay. And then she was gone. It was just instant” says Dave. “It was horrific… I was finishing up a job because I thought I would have time to finish it and then go out there and get her. I feel terrible that I didn’t just drop the job and go get her.”


MAP OF WHERE HOLLY WAS LAST SEEN ON JAN 11.


TIMELINE of Holly’s disappearance

  • January 9-10, 2020

    Holly told her parents she had been running away from two men all night in the woods. She got home the morning of the 10th and broke through the third window beside the front door.

  • January 10, 2020 – 10:00 a.m.

    At around 10:00 a.m., EST, Holly called her mother Greta, but Greta did not immediately pick up. Holly left a voicemail. Greta and Dave did not notice the voicemail but called Holly back within minutes.

  • January 10, 2020 – 12:00 p.m.

    At around 12:00 p.m., Holly’s sister Kate drove to Hamilton from Toronto to see Holly.

  • January 10, 2020 – 5:00 p.m.

    Caleb arrived in Hamilton to try to see Holly, but she did not come out of her room. Caleb called 911 so police could do a wellness check on Holly. Police did not deem Holly to be a danger to herself or others, and they left. During this time, Dave and Greta called Holly multiple times to try to convince her to let Caleb in.

  • January 10, 2020 – 8:00 p.m – 1:00 a.m.

    After Caleb left, Holly’s roommates got in to Holly’s apartment using a spare key. They did art therapy, had tea, and talked until just after midnight.

  • January 11, 2020 – 6:00 a.m

    Holly asked Emily to meditate with her, and she did.

  • January 11, 2020 – 12:00-4:06

    Holly had lunch with her roommates at noon and then tried to scale the fence. She also tried to break into the furnace room downstairs where the video surveillance was. Dave called Holly at 4:06 p.m. to tell her he was going to come get her the next day.

  • January 11, 2020 – 4:15 p.m.

    Holly walked out of her house in the pouring rain and disappeared. Caleb and Randy, Holly’s former ex-boyfriend, drove to Toronto to search for her. They reported her missing that evening.


Investigation


The Meeting

When Police arrived to talk to Holly’s roommates, someone told police Holly was carrying a baseball bat when she left. Dave says that due to this, police told him they could not issue a press release because they were not sure if Holly was a danger to the public. However, it was later learned through house surveillance that Holly did not leave carrying a bat. 

Holly’s brother Caleb went to Hamilton with Randy to look for Holly. Caleb called 911 and reported her missing that evening. 

“They were very frustrated and angry, they didn’t get any significant help from the police that night.” Dave says at one point Randy and Caleb ran to the police for help while they were searching and asked if they could borrow flashlights, but they were laughed at. 

“They provided no support at this point in the search” says Dave, adding they received no follow-up for days after Holly was reported missing. 

Dave and Greta arrived in Hamilton late Sunday and began searching. Five days into Holly’s disappearance, both the police and Holly’s family had conducted separate searches, and then they had a meeting together.

“The head detective told us at that time that they had already concluded that there was no foul play involved, then they asked if she had ever done any prostitution, they asked if they had ever done meth. We were telling them the story of her running from two men, they didn’t take that very seriously but they were immediately entertaining the possibility that she probably had a lot of cash from her prostitution. And there was no evidence that she had ever had anything to do with that. None. The meeting was outrageous. It was really outrageous, it was bad. They came to the conclusion, five days in that there was no foul play and that has shifted the nature of their inquiry ever since.” “And as far as I was concerned, at that point there was just as much likelihood that she had been kidnapped than anything else.”

Both Dave and Elle say that despite the many challenges with detectives early on in the investigation, It did get significantly better, and they have an “excellent relationship with them now.” – Elle


Search Efforts


Hotel

Early in the investigation, around 750 people including members of the public went out with grids, with a lead, and conducted searches throughout Hamilton. “It was absolutely intense,” says Elle, adding that one of their goals was to put up posters throughout the city so Holly’s name and face could be recognized.

Around the 19th of January, Dave says they had a bunch of tips saying Holly was in a room at the Budget Inn, located on Sanford Avenue and King Street East. Some people told him they saw two men “drag and drug” Holly up to a room and that she was being exploited. Holly’s family went to the location right away and asked the manager if they could review video footage. The manager agreed and they reviewed footage on three separate occasions. “We saw a lot of suspicion going on,” says Dave. 

He says at one point, Greta and two others were looking at footage when another manager came in and said he needed the room for a little bit, so they had to leave. When they came back, Dave says there was footage that had been deleted. They only noticed because Greta had been keeping track of all the time stamps she had gone through and had yet to go through, because she wanted to go through all of it.

Not long after, Dave called the police. When police arrived, Dave asked police to look through the rooms to see if Holly was there, but the police initially said they could not do that. After a lot of push back from Dave, police went room to room and asked if anyone had seen Holly, but they did not physically search each room. 

“We can’t rule out that holly was there. Not on the basis of their search,” says Dave. “We believe it was probably somebody else, but we never could confirm that and we were dealing with people who were so dishonest we couldn’t trust the management of the hotel.” 

Photo by CBC News

Shut down

Then, Dave says, he irritated the managers so much for six or seven hours, that eventually, the owners asked police to keep Holly’s family off their property. 

Dave says after an hour or two of sitting around and not being able to contact the media at such late hours, they decided to do a facebook live about their experience. “That embarrassed the police in a serious way and that was the beginning of changing our relationship with them,” says Dave.

Elle says within 7 hours there were 20,000 views on that facebook video. 

On July 31st, the City of Hamilton announced that they denied the renewal of the Budget Inn’s business licence, citing concerns of “public safety,” as well as a lack of “honesty and integrity” in its operation.

New sighting

On January 27, three weeks after Holly disappeared, police received footage from a local business on Barton and Wentworth of Holly taking a garbage bag from a garbage bin and making a poncho out of it. Elle says they knew it was Holly because “she has a very, very distinct walk. And she’s tall. She’s 6’1″

Once they had a feeling it was her, they were able to get other footage from surrounding businesses. In between her walking around with a garbage bag poncho on, Holly picked up a full garbage bag and took it for a walk around the block. She was also seen carrying a fanny pack that likely had her bank cards, according to Dave.

The last piece of footage after that was on Wentworth towards Burlington. She was last seen in front of a metal recycling factory. 

At that point around 35 police officers went to search the area with dogs and horses, and they even broke some ice in case she had fallen in the water accidentally. However, the searches did not turn up with any further information about Holly’s whereabouts.

Dave says they’ve been to multiple parks and places where people who are homeless or are substance abusers stay. “We found dozens more places we didn’t even know about when we went back this last month,” he says.

“And in addition to that, there are hundreds of abandoned buildings. Hundreds… Like we couldn’t even begin to search all of the places where she could have stayed if she had wanted to hide out. The only thing we can say with very much certainty is that she probably didn’t use any of the services for homeless people. She didn’t use any of the free meal services herself.” He says his family has checked with every food bank and no one has seen Holly. He says it’s possible somebody else has been getting her food but they are not sure. 


Media


Not always available

Holly’s family has been making any efforts to get Holly’s story in the media. “I would say the media was actually excellent. The negative side of that would be that some individuals who chose to do a YouTube video or blog post about the situation, don’t contact us to get the facts straight. This is frustrating because the information then given, is tainted and incorrect.”

Elle also talked about how hard it is to read comments from people on social media who make up their own theories about what could have happened to Holly. “People comment on things and they make assumptions and suggestions that are not true or are as Dave says, based on their own personal baggage,” she says.

“We actually go through every comment. Watching people make assumptions based on very minimal information is quite frustrating,” says Elle.

“When we needed media attention at a critical moment, one of the discoveries that I made is that there is no ordinary media in Canada at 1:00 in the morning. There are no news desks, there’s nobody to call, nobody will be listening to your story unless you have the personal number to somebody and they’ve already established a relationship “The social media is the media at that hour,” says Dave. 

He explains they had to turn to Facebook live one early morning at around 2:00 a.m., to talk to the public about their experience witnessing what seemed to be human trafficking at one of the local hotels. They had originally gone there because of tips that Holly was being exploited. 


Now



Nearly 7 months have passed since Holly disappeared. Holly’s family continues to reach out to the media for coverage, and they continue to speak with local businesses, shelters, food banks, and other organizations that provide services Holly may be using if she is still out there. 

To date, no more clues or tips have come up, but they are hopeful their hard work in organizing searches, interviews, putting posters up throughout Canada, and posting on social media will help someone who saw her or knows where she is, come forward. 

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Holly’s family had to alter their plans to go back to Hamilton and search. Luckily, the community of Hamilton has been very supportive and searches continue to be conducted. 

“I guess I’m able to focus on the work that needs to be done, but I’m not that great. I find myself staring into space a lot sometimes. I have a bunch of tasks to do, and only got about a quarter of them done,” says Dave.

 “It’s hard to do things when you don’t believe they’re going to come to any fruition. I’ve been pushing myself through things because I know on some rational level they might bear fruit.” “I don’t think I’m entirely well… We’re all trying to care for each other.”

Prior to Holly’s disappearance, Dave had only met Elle once at a Christmas party in 2019. However, since Holly’s disappearance, Elle has developed a close bond with their entire family and has been significantly involved in the search for Holly.

“I’m okay. I decided when this happened that this would be something that I followed through to the end, because if this were me and my family this is what I would hope somebody would do from me,” says Elle. 

Despite the many challenges Holly’s family has faced, they did not expect to receive such overwhelming support from the city of Hamilton. 

“We’ve talked a lot about the bad things that have happened in hamilton, but there’s a lot of good.” Says Elle. “The people of Hamilton have offered their homes to us, there’s a group that goes out every night looking for Holly, there’s another group that have started to make masks that say ‘Have you seen Holly?’ Like the people of Hamilton have really taken her in as their own, and that is something none of us really expected… I think that really needs to be mentioned.” 

Dave adds many of the people who have been good and supportive are police officers. This is one of the many reasons why they have been able to get through this extremely difficult time. 

“Also we get through with inappropriate humour,” Elle adds. “It’s a thing, we’re just stupid… We’re absolutely reckless when we are alone. You simply can’t live in the negative head space during a search. So, we attempt to laugh and bring a little lightheartedness as we go.”

You can support Holly’s family by joining their Facebook group where they post the most up-to date information about Holly, or donate to their GoFund me.

Note from Editor: Holly’s story will be featured on our new podcast Reported Missing.

Podcast OUT NOW

Reported Missing investigates WHY Canadians go missing, HOW it affects society, and WHAT is being done to prevent and respond to the issue.

You will hear directly from families of missing persons, their search for answers, and any challenges along the way. Join us every Tuesday!

If you have any information on the whereabouts of Holly, you can contact: Hamilton Police: 905-546-4925 Family/Search Team: 403-909-2257 Guardians of Our Angels Missing Persons Canada Anonymous Tip Line: http://www.goamissingpersonscanada/tip-line Team Email: bringhollyhome2020@gmail.com

REWARD AVAILABLE FOR ANYONE WITH INFORMATION LEADING TO THE WHEREABOUTS OF HOLLY

Follow us on instagram @missingpersonscanada

Featured

Ashley Morin

Saskatchewan – Ashley Morin was 31 years old when she disappeared in early July, 2018 from North Battleford, Saskatchewan. Her mother Diane Morin says Ashley always carried a black and green bag with her belongings, but one day the bag was left on Diane’s front step. After several failed attempts to contact Ashley, her family reported her missing. 


About Ashley


Ashley was born on March 24, 1987 in North Battleford. She is the youngest of her siblings Janine Morin, 37, and Tyler Morin, 35. According to her mother Diane Morin, Ashley was very involved in sports as a child. She enjoyed soccer, baseball, hockey, and volleyball. “She started playing ball at the age of eight on an all boys team, and she out played the boys on that team,” she says.

Janine claims Ashley’s last long-term relationship ended in 2016, which was very difficult on her. However, in the two years that followed Ashley met new people.

Ashley’s mother Diane says Ashley went to visit her at work on July 1st and the two had a “mother-daughter kind of talk.” This was the last time she spoke to or saw Ashley. Ashley was very close with her family but she was not in touch with them daily.

The family did not know she was actually missing until Ashley’s bag showed up on Diane’s front step one day. “Didn’t matter where she was, what she was doing, she always had that green and black bag,” says Diane. 

She claims the green and black bag Ashley carried with her everywhere had all of her personal belongings – like ID’s, cellphone, and bank card. Diane does not know who dropped off the bag, or when, because when it was dropped off – a family member brought it inside the home, not thinking anything of it, and Diane didn’t realize until days later. When she opened the bag and saw all of Ashley’s belongings, she was confused and attempted to reach her.

Ashley did not answer any calls or messages from anyone in the family, so on July 22nd, her sister Janine went into the police station to file a missing persons report. “I was a nervous wreck,” she remembers. “At that moment [the RCMP] did take me seriously, they were actually compassionate in a sense,” says Janine. However, she says that would be the last and only time she felt that way in regards to the RCMP handling her sister’s case.



Disappearance



Ashley was last seen by family on July 10. The night Ashley was reported missing, July 22, Janine and her cousins went to bars to see if they could find her because she liked playing VLTs. they started to reach out to people on social media asking if any of her friends if they had seen her. Diane says even though the missing person report was filed on the 22nd, the first follow-up from police didn’t happen until a week later.

A year after Ashley’s disappearance, police made a press release to ask the public for help in finding a van that Ashley possibly got into. They also indicate they found no mobile phone, social media or bank account activity linked to Morin since.

In the press release, police asked the public to help identify a van or the occupant(s) of a van that Ashley supposedly got into on July 10, 2018 at around 9:30 p.m CST in North Battleford. In the photo, they show an image of a two-tone van (lighter on the top, darker on the bottom), with no windows. Krista Fox, the family spokesperson, says they were not told about the van prior to the press release and ended up finding out through the media.

TIMELINE

  • July 1, 2018

    Ashley visited her mother Diane at work. This would be the last time she saw Ashley.

  • July 10, 2018

    This was the last time anyone (including the public) saw Ashley.

  • July 10-21, 2018

    Ashley’s green and black bag was dropped off on Diane’s doorstep.

  • July 22, 2018

    Janine, Ashley’s sister, reported her missing. Janine and her cousins went to bars to see if they could find her because she liked playing VLTs. They also reached out to Ashley’s friends on social media.

  • July 29, 2018

    Police make a visit to Diane’s home to collect some of Ashley’s things.

  • August 7, 2018

    Police issue a press release on Ashley’s disappearance.


Michael Bird, cousin

My relationship with Ashley was very good. We’d always hug each other, tell each other we loved each other. Ashley was really kind-hearted. She didn’t have kids of her own, but when we had family functions for our kids, she’d always come and be that lovable aunt that she could be. She had a big heart. She was always smiling. I have videos of my boy’s 6th birthday and she’s right there… hugging them, joking around with us and she was loveable and she had a good heart. We all miss her.


Janine Morin, sister

She was always the one person that I could count on and she would be there. If I called her, if I texted her, and said “sis can you come get me?” she would be right there and she would be like “Yea, I’m on my way”. I have five kids at home and she took them as her own. She loved my kids, and they love her and they miss her every day. It breaks a mom’s heart when you try to console your kids and you try to explain something to them, that their aunt isn’t there.


Melissa Bird, cousin

She meant the world to me, she was like a little sister. We are cousins, sisters, and teammates on and off the ice and soccer field. She was always with me during FSIN tournaments. She was the best aunt to my kids, she always had a beautiful smile and hugs for them. I miss her so much. My kids miss her.


Diane Morin, mother

She was very athletic. She played ball from the age of eight, until she was 18. After that she played soccer, volleyball, hockey you name it. Very friendly and outgoing. She started playing ball at the age of eight on an all boys team, and she out played the boys on that team. She was my baby. We went all over with her when she was playing ball. It was me and her with my mom and dad. We travelled to all of her games. She’s my baby. I miss her.


Freda Bird, aunt

I’m also Ashley’s godmother. It didn’t matter when or what time of the day you saw her, she always hugged and kissed you, she was a very loving girl. She is. I’m not going to say was, I’m not going past tense. She’s my youngest’s brother’s youngest daughter. We’re all very very close. I felt like she’s my daughter too. Doesn’t matter what length of time, or to what extent we have to go, we’ll find her. I promise. I failed her as a godmother, I wasn’t there for her. Mark my word, we’ll find her. If it takes everything I got. She’s just not one of those statistics. Regardless of what people think, we’ll keep searching and we’ll do everything we can to find her. She’s that special to all of us. I love that kid.


Krista Fox, family spokesperson

I’ve known both families probably since I was a young teenager and I’m in my 50’s now. We live in a community where all our families are quite intertwined or grew up with each other, knew each other. I did know Ash, unfortunately not as close as you hear from her family. Like they said over and over again she had a smile that lit up a room, and I’m very fortunate that I was invited into this family. They’re very near and dear to my heart and they are my family. Each and everyone of them. I will help bring her home that was my promise, and I will not break it and I will do whatever it takes and I don’t care how tired I get, and I don’t care how many days we look, I don’t care how many times we get sent looking I will continue to do it every single day until we bring her home. We’re not giving up. We’re never giving up. We will bring her home.



#BringAshHome


Krista claims they’ve had to seek resources on their own, such as search assistance. They’ve turned to RCMP in other surrounding communities for help, including Prince Albert, Saskatoon, and Regina. She says whenever they tried to conduct their own searches, they received “zero support” from the North Battleford RCMP. Freda Bird, Ashley’s aunt, says the family was instructed by RCMP to leave ribbons or visible markers on things the family found on their search, like clothing, and that the RCMP would go pick them up when they could. She is not sure if the things were actually retrieved. 

Back in March a man named Cory Smockum was found guilty of the attempted murder of Adrienne Lennie, who was friends with Ashley. Lennie testified in a Saskatoon courtroom that Cory told her she would “end up like Ashley Morin.” It is unclear whether Adrienne’s testimony had an impact on the investigation of Ashley’s case.

Ashley’s case is now considered a homicide by police. If you would like to support Ashley’s family and raise awareness for Ashley’s case, you can join their Facebook pages “missing: Ashley Morin” ” and “Auction for Ashley.” Every year, the family organizes an awareness walk from North Battleford to Saskatoon, which is approximately 140 km in distance, to raise awareness for Ashley’s case. They are doing their 2nd Annual walk July 10-12, 2020 and anyone is welcome.

Ashley’s family and friends follow-up on every tip they receive and have searched endlessly for her. They are offering $20,000 to anyone with information that leads to Ashley’s whereabouts. Ashley Nicole Morin is described as 5’ 2”, 110lbs with dark brown hair.  She was last seen wearing grey sweat pants, a black t-shirt with white writing on it, a black hat and sunglasses.

I reached out to Saskatchewan RCMP Media Relations with many questions regarding Ashley’s case and the handling of her case; however, the response I received back was an email directing me to two press releases from 2019, and the following message: “Saskatchewan RCMP along with the Major Crimes Unit continues to investigate the disappearance of Ashley. Our efforts are focused on determining what happened to Ashley and bringing her home. We will have RCMP members from Indigenous Policing Services attending the walk Friday to support the family.” 

Featured

Marshal Iwaasa


Marshal Iwaasa was 26 years old when he was last seen seen on November 17, 2019 in Lethbridge, AB. He lives in Calgary, AB but on November 17 he went to Lethbridge to visit his mom. Six days later, his truck was mysteriously found burned down in the backcountry of Pemberton, BC. Marshal’s family and friends have helped his story reach nation-wide headlines, but his case remains unsolved. 


About Marshal


“Once you get to know him, he comes out of his shell”

Paige Fogen

Marshal Iwaasa was born on January 3rd, 1993 in Lethbridge, AB. He has one older sister, Paige Fogen. Paige says Marshal has always been a pretty quiet guy. “That’s the biggest difference between me and him. He’s quite introverted and shy, but once you get to know him he comes out of his shell.”

Marshal enjoyed playing rugby and football. He had a core group of friends from junior high all the way through high school, and when he started new hobbies like going to the gym, he met people there too. “He fit in with a whole bunch of different people” says Paige. After graduating high school, Marshal worked for a few years.

In 2014 Paige moved to Hawaii with her husband, but despite the distance between her and her brother, they remained close. Marshal would visit her every Christmas, and since their birthdays are seven days apart, they celebrated them together too. “It’s like a big part of what he does.” she says.

Before Paige left for Hawaii, her and Marshal decided to get a storage locker for their belongings. They picked a storage locker that had 24 hour access, and required a unique code to get in. 

In 2018, Marshal decided to go back to school. He moved to Calgary in August and enrolled at SAIT, a community college, where he studied software development. “He was trying to be an adult, he had just gotten his first apartment,” says Paige.

”I noticed that when he got into SAIT, it was harder to get a hold of him” she says she attributed his distancing to being in school and stressed with homework and finals. However, they would still talk every week or two. 

In July-August of 2019, Paige and her husband flew down to Canada for a couple of weeks to go camping with her in-laws and attend a family reunion. She says Marshal was treated like family by them and was invited to tag along. “Everything seemed fine. He talked to me about what it was like in school, how he was doing, what he wanted to do. Nothing seemed too off” 

In the two months leading up to his disappearance, Paige says Marshal was taking weeks to reply to her messages. This was around the time when they would book his flights to Hawaii for Christmas, so she tried to get in touch with him about that. “Before he went missing it was harder to get a hold of him, I did notice that. Me and my husband had talked a lot about ‘is he avoiding us?’”

She says she thought he may have been using apps like snapchat to contact people, and since she doesn’t use snapchat, she reached out to a few of his friends to see if they could get a hold of him. However, they could not. The last time he messaged her was in October.



Disappearance


Photo By Lara Fominoff, Lethbridge News NOW


On November 17th, Marshal went to Lethbridge, AB to visit his mom and get a computer box from his storage unit. He attempted to get into the unit just after 11:00 p.m., but it was closed. Paige says they initially rented a unit because it had 24 hr access, but the owners of the facility changed at some point and the hours of availability changed – so they could no longer access the facility between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. She believes Marshal likely did not know this, which is why he tried to access it when it was closed.

Paige believes Marshal slept in his vehicle until 6:00 a.m. when he could access the unit. She says that was not out of character as they had slept in his vehicle before when they missed border hours. When Marshal finally could access the unit, he was there for about two hours, and then left.

The video footage that would have been available, was automatically erased after a few days, so it was too late for the police to access it. Therefore, it is not known whether he was alone, or what he took out of the unit. However, when Paige went back with the police to do a search of the unit, she says nothing significant was missing. 

On November 23rd, Marshal’s truck was found burned-down in the backcountry out of Pemberton, B.C by hikers, who alerted police. Police did not get to the site until the 25th – which is when they reached out to Marshal’s family. When his family couldn’t get a hold of him, they reported him missing that same day.

Police went through his phone records. They found that Marshal’s phone had been cut off since early November, meaning he was not paying for a phone plan. Paige says she did not know this, but it didn’t surprise her when she found out. She thought he maybe couldn’t afford a phone plan, but didn’t want to tell anyone.

“That would be exactly my brother. If he couldn’t afford it, he would turn it off.” She says there were other times when he would go without a phone plan for a couple of months and be ok with it. He would just message her through email or whatsapp. “He was so nonchalant about not having a phone,” she says.

Police also found out he was not enrolled in school prior to his disappearance, and his family was not aware of this. In an interview with Global News, Marshal’s mom Tammy Johnson reacted to the news by saying “Marshal just wasn’t ready to tell us he wasn’t going to school, that would be a hard thing to do, to tell your family,”


DISTANCE FROM LETHBRIDGE, AB TO PEMBERTON, BC

TIMELINE of Marshal’s disappearance

  • November 17, 2019

    Marshal went to Lethbridge to visit his mom and grab a computer part from the storage locker.

  • November 17, 2019

    At around 11:30 p.m., Marshal attempted to get in the storage locker but couldn’t access it because it was closed, so it is believed by family that he spent the night in his vehicle until the next morning. This was not out of character for him to do.

  • November 18, 2019

    At around 6:00 a.m., Marshal finally got in the unit and was in there for about two hours.

  • November 23, 2019

    A group of hikers found Marshal’s burned-down truck in the backcountry of Pemberton, B.C and were suspicious, so they contacted the RCMP.

  • November 25, 2019

    Pemberton RCMP visited the truck site and contacted Marshal’s family to let them know his truck was found. After several attempts to contact Marshal failed, his family reported him missing.


Initial Search Efforts


Marshal’s vehicle was found by hikers, who also discovered some of his clothing and items around the vehicle location. One of the hikers, James Starke, told Global News reporters that he and a group of friends had set out to visit the remote Brian Waddington Hut north of Pemberton, B.C.

“At the trail head, we came across a pickup truck that had been completely torched, but it looked like it had been torched, you know, extremely aggressively,” James Starke said. The group felt uneasy about the situation so they took photos, and drove back into an area with cellphone service to call Pemberton RCMP.

In a press release, Investigators say there is a “discrepancy between photos taken by the original hikers who located the scene and called police and RCMP photos taken when officers arrived some time later.” Police do not indicate what time they received the tip and what time they followed-up on it.

They say “It is possible other backcountry users encountered the items prior to RCMP arrival, and police are asking anyone who may have happened across the scene and inadvertently disturbed the items, to come forward.” When police arrived on scene, they examined the truck where it was found because due to the winter conditions at the time, it was “physically impossible to have a tow truck access and remove the truck”

Police say all evidence that was seized from Marshal’s vehicle was forensically processed and retained for potential DNA testing. Right now the evidence cannot be DNA tested by the RCMP crime lab unless officers have reasonable grounds to believe a DNA-designated criminal offence has been committed. They say “At this time no such evidence or grounds exist.” which means they have deemed Marshal’s disappearance as suspicious, but not criminal in nature. 

Police found that prior to his disappearance, Marshal hid the fact that he had stopped attending post-secondary classes prior to his disappearance. They say, “In examining Iwaasa’s personal affairs in the months leading up to his disappearance – including interviews with close friends as well as his financial, medical and social media activity – there is evidence to suggest he was experiencing stress in his life and had become withdrawn.” It is unclear whether this conclusion is based on the investigator’s personal judgement, or a psychologist or other expert evaluation. 

Investigators say they continue to monitor Iwaasa’s personal affairs including potential personal contacts as well as social media, phone, medical and financial activity. They state they have not found any “footprints of life.” Although police have shared most of their findings with Marshal’s family, not everything has made public to protect the integrity of the investigation. This includes additional details and insights into the circumstances, scene and evidence.


Investigation & Search


November – December 2019

RCMP conducted a ground search and retrieved cellphones and a laptop, as well as other electronics, his current passport and an expired passport. According to Paige, Marshal always carried his passport in his glove compartment, along with old, broken cell phones. 

Searches of the area were conducted by helicopter, ground personnel, dogs and underwater at a nearby creek, but RCMP found no sign of him. The search was suspended for the winter. 

Police appealed to gas stations and convenience stores along any of the possible routes to check their surveillance video for Iwaasa, or his truck — a dark blue 2009 GMC Sierra, with Alberta licence plate BLL 1099.

January 2020

Ground search was conducted by family and friends in Lethbridge Alberta.

February 2020

Lethbridge police confirmed with Marshal’s family that he was seen at Sherring and Churchill Industrial Park around 8:30 a.m. on November 18. 

The family made a plea to anyone in the Sherring and Churchill Industrial Park area or businesses nearby to review their security camera footage from November.

June 2020

Police issue a press release stating a new search was underway. A helicopter and all-terrain vehicles are being used to access the search site. Police said an RCMP fire investigator, several private investigators and members of the Canadian Search and Disaster Dogs Association would be conducting a ground search. 

Paige and her husband relocate to Canada from Hawaii to be a part of all search efforts.

July 2020

A team by the name of 4LOW B.C. reached out to Paige and family and offered to take them to the truck site in Pemberton, B.C.

They took vehicles equipped and well-prepared to drive in the rough terrain. Paige says they studied the map to the site extremely well so they knew exactly where they needed to go. The drive should have only been 13 hours from Lethbridge; However, it took the group 32 hours both ways due to unexpected incidents and several patches of area where there is absolutely no cell service. 

She says Marshal had no ties to British Columbia and would not have known the area at all, let alone the backcountry of Pemberton. She says after visiting the site it solidified to her that Marshal did not go there out of his own will.

She also says her family has reason to believe Iwaasa’s vehicle has been stripped of parts after examining it at the site. 

Paige also remembered that Marshal had just paid off his truck in full in September, so she does not understand why he would completely burn it. She also says some broken gaming devices were found which she believes were not Marshal’s.


Now



Paige and her family are wanting Marshal’s case to be deemed criminal in nature so it can be investigated by a specialized team of investigators, which could lead to a new break through in Marshal’s case. 

If you want to support Marshal’s family, you can join their Facebook group here. and donate to their GoFund me fundraiser, which clearly lists what the donations will be used for.

To date, police say they have looked into and checked all available avenues and known sources of information to determine Iwaasa’s movements including CCTV footage from businesses, highway traffic monitoring images, national park/gate camera footage and made requests for dash cam footage from members of the public. At this time there is no known CCTV footage of Iwaasa or his vehicle after he went missing.

Iwaasa has been listed as missing with the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains (NCMPUR) and his DNA and dental records are on file to aid in identification if remains are later located. Investigators say they are conducting interviews with several individuals who may have information on Iwaasa’s disappearance, continue to check various databases and will follow-up on new leads.

Iwaasa is described as five feet, 11 inches tall and approximately 170 pounds, with brown eyes, a moustache and shoulder-length brown hair, usually worn tied back. He was last seen wearing a green hoodie, grey tuque, red high-top shoes and black pants.

Anyone with information about Marshal Iwaasa is asked to come forward. LPS has jurisdiction of the investigation and can be reached by calling 403-328-4444. To remain anonymous call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at http://www.p3tips.com.

FAQ’S WRITTEN BY MARSHAL’S FAMILY

REWARD AVAILABLE FOR ANYONE WITH INFORMATION LEADING TO THE WHEREABOUTS OF MARSHAL

Follow us on instagram @missingpersonscanada

Featured

Trevor Hamlyn


Trevor Hamlyn

(Pepsi)


Trevor Hamlyn was 33 years old when he disappeared on Saturday June 16, 2018 in the area of Imogene Crescent in Paradise, Newfoundland. Earlier that day, Trevor purchased a bottle of Jameson whisky and a two-litre bottle of ginger ale. He was planning on attending a friend’s party that night. Three days later, Trevor’s mom got a call from his roommate saying he hadn’t seen Trevor since Saturday. After his family couldn’t get a hold of him, they reported him missing. Trevor’s case remains unsolved.


About


People always knew him for his smile. He had a great smile

Ashley Hamlyn

Trevor

Trevor Hamlyn was born on May 24, 1985 and grew up in a rural area around the Bay in central NL. Trevor and was nicknamed “Pepsi” by friends and family because he always had Pepsi available. His father Bob worked for Browning Harvey, the manufacturer for Pepsi, so Trevor would bring several cans to school everyday. When it was someone’s birthday, he would give them a can.

Trevor has a younger sister, Ashley, and an older brother Geoff. “We had a good relationship because we were only one year apart,” said Ashley.

Trevor was very protective over his little sister. He was always standing up for her and making sure she felt included around his friends. “He would never let anyone say anything bad about me,” she said. “I was a little bit less outgoing, but he was a great brother. He always took care of me… he didn’t announce it and let everyone know, he just did it.”

“We used to get sent to our rooms for time outs, but our rooms were next door to each other, So we’d always send each other notes underneath our doors.” Ashley holds onto many memories with Trevor. Growing up, they took full advantage of living in the outdoors and would often go fishing and quading.

He wasn’t into sports at school, but spent a lot of his spare time hanging out with friends. “Everyone liked him. He had lots of friends” She also describes him as being a “jokester” and always wanting to make people laugh, “not by telling jokes, just the way he was,” she said. “People always knew him for his smile. He had a great smile.” 

It was easy for Trevor to make friends, but he struggled in school. Trevor would often skip class and get into trouble, but despite being a “wild child” as Ashley describes, he never wanted to disappoint his mom, Michelle. “He always wanted mom to be proud of him. Everything he did,” she said. Trevor pushed through his challenges at school and was about to graduate, when suddenly, his father passed away of a heart attack three months before the ceremony.

“It was hard [for him] but Trevor pretty much kept everything to himself,” said Ashley. “He wasn’t a conversationalist. He wasn’t a big talker. He was the strong, silent type but always smiling,” 

Trevor did not make it to his graduation ceremony, but the following year, it was Ashley’s turn to graduate – and Trevor was right there beside her, supporting her. “He did the father daughter dance with me,” she said. “I didn’t even know he was going to do it, it was just a spur in the moment thing like he just came up to me and said ‘let’s dance’” 

SLIDESHOW OF TREVOR AND FAMILY

Career

After high school, Trevor didn’t know what career path to take. He worked a few different jobs including one as a chef, which he really enjoyed. But, he knew it wasn’t a long-term career and wanted to pursue something else. That’s when he got into siding and other home renovation work. 

A couple years after graduating high school, Trevor attended the College of the North Atlantic (CONA) for business, and graduated from the program in 2010. 

By then, Trevor drifted apart from his high school friends because of the difference in lifestyle he had compared to them – everyone got married and had kids. “He wasn’t interested in doing any of that,” said Ashley. “He kind of never got through the next phase… he kind of just got stuck where he was.”

Ashley said Trevor got into a serious relationship after high school, a five year relationship which left him heartbroken. After that, he wasn’t open to the idea of getting into another serious relationship. So, he focused on his job instead

One year before disappearance

Trevor worked in siding for over a decade, then in 2017 (a year before his disappearance), he decided to start his own business. Ashley said it wasn’t long before Trevor realized that running a business wasn’t for him. He enjoyed the labour part of his job, but not so much the invoicing. “Unfortunately that didn’t really pan out for him at the end,” said Ashley.

Trevor was losing money on his business and ended up losing his truck. Then, he lost his business altogether. “Looking back in hindsight, from Christmas on he kind of pulled away from family a bit. He wasn’t around as much,” Ashley said that was one of the biggest differences she noticed in Trevor in the months leading up to his disappearance. 

The most significant thing Ashley can remember in the moments leading up to Trevor’s disappearance, is that he sustained an injury to his arm. About a month prior to his disappearance, he had a cut on his arm with significant bleeding.

Trevor told his family that he was in the woods with three people and was accidentally cut with a knife. He said he had to walk a home to bandage it up (a few miles away), and his feet ended up getting blistered. His mom told him he had to go to the hospital the next day. “We actually think it was a warning to trevor, and someone actually physically meant to harm him,” said Ashley.

Ashley doesn’t know who he was in the woods with because Trevor didn’t mention it, but she believes whoever it was, left him there. “That’s why he probably didn’t go to the doctor right away.”


Disappearance


Trevor wasn’t top on security”

Ashley Hamlyn

Facebook account

Trevor’s mom got a call from Trevor’s roommate Tuesday night, June the 19th at 11:00 p.m. saying that he had not seen Trevor since Saturday. She called Ashley to the phone and after getting some information from the roommate, they started contacting a couple of his close friends. None of them had seen him, so Ashley called police that same night and filed a missing persons report.

Ashley said Trevor had just gotten a new phone but didn’t activate it yet, so they couldn’t actually call or text him. Normally, he would just message people on social media or use other people’s phones to make calls. She said it wasn’t unusual for Trevor not to have a phone on him, in fact, he was always breaking phones. She said the problem was so bad that “Blackberry actually kicked him out and told him he wasn’t allowed to get another blackberry”

After he couldn’t get another blackberry, he got a samsung phone instead. Ashley knew this because she found the brand new box of the samsung phone in his room. But, the Samsung phone was missing. 

This is the Paradise home where Trevor Hamlyn was last seen. (Sherry Vivian/CBC)

That night, the police came over to Ashley’s mom’s house and spoke to their family. She got the impression that they thought Trevor would be back within 24 hours, but when he didn’t show up, police issued a press release the next day.

Ashley knew it was difficult for police to get access to a lot of Trevor’s stuff including social media accounts, so they decided to go to Trevor’s place to do a search of their own. At the time, Trevor was renting a room off a friend. When they went into his room, they tried to look for basic things like his wallet. His wallet was not in his room, but it was found upstairs with no money inside. 

Then they looked at his computer. One of the first things they noticed was his computer was on, and he hadn’t been logged out of Faceook. “It was not surprising, Trevor wasn’t top on security” but, she said his history browser was completely wiped out. 

They told police they had access to his Faceook, and police were on their way. They started looking at his messages to see who he was speaking with last, and that’s when they noticed a message from someone Ashley didn’t know. Somebody that Trevor owed money to. 

“As we’re reading this, that’s when the police officer showed up,” she said. 

Further information will not be disclosed to protect the privacy of all involved.


MAP OF WHERE TREVOR WAS LAST SEEN ON JUNE 16


TIMELINE of Trevor’s disappearance

  • June 16, 2018

    Trevor was seen at a Sobeys purchasing a bottle Ginger ale, and then at the liquor store connected to Sobeys buying whiskey. He was planning on going to a party that night.

  • June 19, 2018

    Trevor’s roommate called Trevor’s mom to say he hadn’t seen Trevor since Saturday. He was reported missing that night.


Investigation & Search


The iPhone

Ashley took Trevor’s computer home and five days later, police came back to get it. She said police involvement into Trevor’s case was good and they started asking a lot of questions, but most of the information police had was information her family gave them. “We were pretty much the investigators,” she said. She recognized that police had many hurdles including privacy laws which prevented them from getting into Trevor’s personal stuff early in the investigation. 

“I found out a lot of things,” said Ashley. 

The first ground search was June 23rd. Ashley said family, friends and strangers came to the search. They made a social media post announcing the search, and the story was picked up by the media. Ashley said in total, they had 30 people there and it was the biggest search they had. 

“The first search we did, was actually the most interesting search.” Ashley said one group found a white iPhone on the ground and pointed it out. Afterwards, she compared the serial number of the white iPhone to one of Trevor’s old cell phone boxes at home, and it was a match.

She said it was very odd that an old phone of his, which he didn’t use, was found in their search area. “Our theory is that someone planted it. It was placed there. And the reason why we say that is because it was a white iPhone, it was found face up on the grass, we just had rain and there was no water, no mud, no leaves, no nothing,” she said.

“We do believe it was planted there to throw us off the track of where we should be looking. To occupy us,” she said.

She said looking back, she wishes her family would have been provided with the appropriate resources to conduct a thorough search. “We learned after that you should have a signup sheet of everyone doing the search.” She said something they learned is that in missing person cases, it’s common for people to attend a search simply to learn more about the investigation and try to compromise it.


Media


Experience with news outlets

“Some media outlets are really good. They are really considerate of the family. Some of them just want the story, and some just like to spin things”

She said some news outlets put an emphasis on the fact that Trevor was suicidal. “We know that’s not the case. He never had mental health issues, he was never on medications. The police had actually checked with our family doctor three times asking this question,” she said.

“With my father passing, and how hard it’s been on the family, he would never do that. He would never commit suicide. He would never put my mother through that, she’s been through enough.”


Now


Trevor’s case has not been classified as a homicide by police, it is only an active missing persons case. Since his disappearance, his story has not reached national headlines. Ashley hopes that by telling his story, someone with information on Trevor’s whereabouts will do the right thing and come forward with information. 

Police ask that anyone with information contact them at 729-8000 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Anonymous information can be reported on the NL Crime Stoppers website at www.nlcrimestoppers.com.

You can support Trevor’s family by joining their Facebook Group where they post the most up-to date information about Trevor’s case.

Follow us on instagram @missingpersonscanada