Found Deceased Canada - Bob Smellie, 65, St. Charles, ON, 11 April 2016

[musicaljoke]

Sorry, he put a post on kijiji to get a ride home from Hagar, but Hagar is the same place he was going to call his wife from so she could arrange a ride from friends?


I'm feeling bad for these folks if it's just an illustration of how bad their circumstances were, but this business with getting back from the sale is very odd.

Hitching and arranging rides is not odd for small town, northern Ontario. Chances are you know the people who respond to the ad. Hagar is just a little pit stop with a general store where the bus will let passengers off who are heading down the sideroad to St. Charles (pop 1200). It would be very common to catch a ride with someone.

But, it is odd that he never made it to his doctor's appointment, never met the people who wanted the truck, and that he had the appointment day wrong. He would have had his health card with him, so he's not likely in hospital somewhere with a stroke, or his wife would have been contacted.

 

[Just4TB]

Maybe they're just not into techno gadgetry. I wonder if she means that she has only one picture that she can share online. I noticed that she keeps reposting the same thing on her fb.

Reposting the notice repeatedly potentially increases the viewing audience, as various friends of friends see it pop up on their friends timelines. Hope that Bob turns up alive somewhere.

 

[JuneBug67]

The ride ad stated that he was looking for occasional transportation going forward as well. Not key to the story, but gives some flavour to the point musicaljoke is making about the common nature of this kind of arrangement in small communities.

 

[JuneBug67]

Reposting the notice repeatedly potentially increases the viewing audience, as various friends of friends see it pop up on their friends timelines. Hope that Bob turns up alive somewhere.

I had the sense that she was not deliberately reposting, but just had the 'post to Facebook' option ticked when she was replying in the comments section. It was the same story posted over and over minutes apart.

 

[JuneBug67]

For those not local to the area, just to give a sense of the lay of the land, St. Charles is a tiny town a few km off the Trans Canada between two larger poplulation centres - Sudbury about 40 minutes to the west and North Bay bout an hour to the east. Bob was travelling to North Bay and there are 4 communities on the highway between St. Charles and North Bay ranging from several hundred people to several thousand in population. Numerous other exits to other communities off the highway, including a reserve. So while its Northern Ontario and there are long stretches of nothing but highway, it's not a drive where it would be particularly easy to just get lost or disappear. Mostly just relatively flat two lane highway with the occasional passing lane and a lot of trees. There would still be snow in the bush. There woyld be a handful of bridges and steeper embankments and the latter part of the drive does run close to Lake Nipissing in parts. But generally, it's gotta be a real mystery as to what is going on here.

 

[True North]

I hope they find him. I'm not suspecting foul play so much as something medical has happened to him.

 

[True North]

The ride ad stated that he was looking for occasional transportation going forward as well. Not key to the story, but gives some flavour to the point musicaljoke is making about the common nature of this kind of arrangement in small communities.

His wife said they were selling to buy an SUV. Why need an occasional ride?

 

[Georgeo]

This truck looks just like my husband's truck! Kind of creepy. Hope they find the man safe and catch the punks who did this. The poor wife must be out of her mind with worry! And the asking price of truck is only $4,500 ! Surely they won't harm the owner for such a low value vehicle. Moo

 

[JuneBug67]

Here are all kijiji ads for any sleuthers who haven't had a chance to dig them up yet:

http://www.kijiji.ca/o-posters-other-ads/42883034

 

[Georgeo]

Reposting the notice repeatedly potentially increases the viewing audience, as various friends of friends see it pop up on their friends timelines. Hope that Bob turns up alive somewhere.

Yes, and it was the day he expected to sell the truck. Ride from Hagar to his home at 5:00 pm. Hagar is the point at which he would have been dropped off by bus from North Bay had he sold the truck.

<modsnip>

police should treat this more seriously as 4 days have gone by with no sign of him!!!!!

 

[musicaljoke]

His wife said they were selling to buy an SUV. Why need an occasional ride?

Maybe there were times when they had separate activities.

 

[flipflop]

AK83606 is the plate #, according to the wife making comments on the article posted above.

 

[JuneBug67]

His wife said they were selling to buy an SUV. Why need an occasional ride?

Dunno. I missed the part about the SUV.

 

[Just4TB]

I hope they find him. I'm not suspecting foul play so much as something medical has happened to him.

I tend to agree... and the medical issue caused the truck to leave the roadway. I am familiar with the country around there, lots of places it could leave the road and not be noticed for some time.

 

[JuneBug67]

I wonder about the possibility of hitchhikers as well. If he was soon to be needing the kindness of strangers himself for rides he might have been sympathetic.

 

[musicaljoke]

I tend to agree... and the medical issue caused the truck to leave the roadway. I am familiar with the country around there, lots of places it could leave the road and not be noticed for some time.

Yeah, I agree with you. Particularly at 7:00 am. The traffic is fairly light at that time in the morning. His wife said that he'd need to buy gas right away. How far is it to the nearest gas station that would be open this early?

The newspaper article said that a helicopter search had been conducted on Thursday, with no results.

http://www.nugget.ca/2016/04/15/frantic-woman-searches-for-husband

 

[Sillybilly]

Seems it is time for a refresher.

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[flipflop]

He is described as a white male who is 6&#8217;2&#8221; tall, and weighing approximately 141 lbs. He has short gray hair and brown eyes. It is possible he is wearing blue jeans, a black t-shirt, a camo-coloured jacket and brown hiking boots.
Monette says police have searched the area around St. Charles, as well as roads leading out of the town and continue to follow up on all leads.

https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/update-missing-st-charles-man-280583

 

[Inspector_North]

I hope they find him. I'm not suspecting foul play so much as something medical has happened to him.

I travel that route and many other routes in Northern Ontario often. We have had several weird things happen on the highway over the years. I remember when two men travelling from Alberta to Newfoundland in the Fall disappeared around Sudbury. There were reports of seeing them fill up in North Bay, and the search was therefore mainly from North Bay east.

In the end, someone spotted a body floating in the water while fishing in the spring. What happened?

Well, it seems that there was maintenance going for some guard rails, and the night the rails were removed and to be replaced either the next day of a few days later, the men hit black ice and left the highway at that spot and landed in a lake.

We just had a cold spell around April 11th, and I wonder if he may have left the road. In northern Ontario, the landscape can change overnight, and it is sometimes very difficult to spot and find a vehicle that left the road.

Another time I came across a vehicle that was several hundred yards in a marsh. The elderly driver forgot he took his medication and fell asleep while driving. Lucking he left the road where it was not 'bush' or 'rock cuts'.

Just saying. MOO

 

[redwing7225]

http://www.nugget.ca/2016/04/16/missing-man-found-dead---wife-confirms

Condolences to the family and friends.