CANADA Canada - Janis Ozollapa, 50, Oakville, Ont, 30 Sept 2014

[deugirtni]

Hmm, why was it 5;25am, more than 12 hours after he went missing?

From the article:

"Halton Regional Police found Janis Ozollapa's Chevrolet Avalanche with the licence plate "OZOLLAPA" on Friday, near the Lighting Centre on Cross Avenue in Oakville.

Video surveillance from Oct. 1 at 5:25 a.m. showed an unidentified male running west on Cross from the lighting retailer.

In addition, the video showed three vehicles travelling east at the same time the person was running west. Police want to talk to the drivers of those vehicles: a motorcycle, a pickup truck and a taxi cab."


How odd. Did he run to catch a train or is the station in another direction?

 

[Unscripted]

Thanks for the map.. all of the little icons are all mushed together on my screen, and I can't seem to make it larger to separate them.. any tricks?

Hi deugirtni,

If you zoom in on the map you should be able to see the area around the GO station in more detail. :seeya:

I don’t think this man is missing of his own volition. From his Facebook page you linked above, he attended a hockey event in Buffalo the weekend before he disappeared. If he wanted to walk away, he could have just driven across the border again and disappeared (unless he didn’t want to leave an electronic trail)? It looks as if he was happily settled into Canadian life with many friends and family. He was quite active on Facebook and VK (Russian social networking site) and it stopped suddenly – nothing since September 30[SUP]th[/SUP].

The truck was ditched at 5:25am the next day; I guess someone wanted to get rid of it under the cover of darkness (sunrise is 7:30). That’s 15+ hours after JO was last seen on Weeping Willow, so maybe there was a lot of dithering behind the scenes? If someone harmed JO they probably thought dumping his truck at the GO station would make it appear that he was a walk-away. Maybe they got to the GO lot that morning, panicked given all the lights (it’s a busy, well-lit place even early in the morn) and dumped it across the street behind the lighting store and then bolted? :moo:

It was overcast and drizzly that morning, so I’m not surprised the CCTV images were pretty fuzzy. And I doubt the eastbound motorists would have noticed someone running west on Cross.
(http://www.wunderground.com/history...ississauga&req_state=ON&req_statename=Ontario)

What piqued my interest, however, was that the Latvian new article (linked above) reported that JO had recently visited a “Canadian passport portal”. There is a Service Canada (passport handling etc.) outlet at 117 Cross Ave., right beside the lighting store. My mazy mind wondered if JO had parked behind the lighting store before while at the passport office (parking can be tight at peak hours), and saw it as a lesser-travelled place to leave his vehicle – it did take 10 days for someone to notify police that it was there.

There don’t seem to be any public appeals from loved ones for his safe return, so perhaps Halton LE have it all in hand? Praying for a positive outcome. lease:

 

[deugirtni]

It seems that although JO went missing September 30th, it didn't really hit the news until October 3rd.

Then on Oct 10th I believe, LE found the truck after a tip from the public. Since they then knew an area of interest, they asked for video camera footage from surrounding properties/businesses, and they received one showing a man running in the early morning hours of October 1st. It doesn't say they saw that the truck was dropped off there at that time. It really could have been any time between September 30th and October 10th? JO could have gone to TO to do whatever, something happened, and someone drove his truck back to park in a hidden area in Oakville in an attempt to keep the investigation out of Toronto?

The 'running man' may have had nothing to do with this at all, but it is suspicious because of the date/time. Perhaps, if 'the runner' has a record of some sort, he came across something and ran because he didn't want to be associated with 'finding' it, in case he might end up being the suspect. I disagree that the 3 vehicles wouldn't have been likely to notice the 'running man', I would think he would stand out like a sore thumb, and bring suspicion onto himself. I wonder if whoever the tip came from, could say if the truck just appeared there that day, or if it appeared at some earlier point in time, ie was the tip from a person who regularly goes by the same place, or just happened to drive by the one time and notice?

I went to that Latvian media link and translated (on the web) what it said. It sounds like there is a little confusion in some areas, regarding words used, and etc. I'm not sure if it is just an issue with the translation, or if the article really reads the way that it seems to read when I translated it. Also, if a detail like the visit to the passport office is known, it is usually known, or at least reported on after the fact, by a number of media, and yet this is the only article in which I have seen any indicaton of the visit to the passport office.

That said however, in the quoted text below, it is stated that JO had attended a game in Buffalo the weekend previous to the date he went missing, and if so, he would have needed some kind of acceptable ID in order to cross the border, as that is now required even just to drive across into the USA from Canada. A passport is one of those acceptable ID's; there are others, but the passport may have been the most convenient, since I believe the special driver's license, whatever it is called, which would also have allowed him to cross, requires a visit to a govt office in a different city (at least it used to). So if he did visit a passport office, I don't think it necessarily means he was planning a getaway, he could have simply required something in order to attend that game.. and if he was instead planning a getawa, LE would surely already know if he had exited the country since his passport would have been used to board a plane, etc. Surely LE has checked border records.

The thing that strikes me about all of this is that somewhere I read that he had daily contact with his older daughters, and they also have not heard from him. Even if he was unhappy and wanted to leave his responsibilities here, one would assume he would have kept up contact with his older daughters. That is assuming however, that the older daughters are telling the truth in that they haven't heard from him. I wonder if LE would have any way of verifying *their* phone records, or even if they had that ability, if they would go to those lengths to confirm that JO had not contacted them?

Someone earlier I think(?) enquired about where is the guy's cellphone.. good point.. LE has not mentioned anything, ie whether it had been turned off, and exactly when, or whether any calls were made, or if it has a GPS and where it is located, etc.

I wonder if it was a normal occurrence for him to leave a job in the middle of the day without letting anyone know where he was off to or when he'd be expected to return? I wonder if it was normal for him to not come home to his wife for a couple of days? I wonder if any unidentified bodies will show up in Toronto?

Hi deugirtni,

If you zoom in on the map you should be able to see the area around the GO station in more detail. :seeya:

I don’t think this man is missing of his own volition. From his Facebook page you linked above, he attended a hockey event in Buffalo the weekend before he disappeared. If he wanted to walk away, he could have just driven across the border again and disappeared (unless he didn’t want to leave an electronic trail)? It looks as if he was happily settled into Canadian life with many friends and family. He was quite active on Facebook and VK (Russian social networking site) and it stopped suddenly – nothing since September 30[SUP]th[/SUP].

The truck was ditched at 5:25am the next day; I guess someone wanted to get rid of it under the cover of darkness (sunrise is 7:30). That’s 15+ hours after JO was last seen on Weeping Willow, so maybe there was a lot of dithering behind the scenes? If someone harmed JO they probably thought dumping his truck at the GO station would make it appear that he was a walk-away. Maybe they got to the GO lot that morning, panicked given all the lights (it’s a busy, well-lit place even early in the morn) and dumped it across the street behind the lighting store and then bolted? :moo:

It was overcast and drizzly that morning, so I’m not surprised the CCTV images were pretty fuzzy. And I doubt the eastbound motorists would have noticed someone running west on Cross.
(http://www.wunderground.com/history...ississauga&req_state=ON&req_statename=Ontario)

What piqued my interest, however, was that the Latvian new article (linked above) reported that JO had recently visited a “Canadian passport portal”. There is a Service Canada (passport handling etc.) outlet at 117 Cross Ave., right beside the lighting store. My mazy mind wondered if JO had parked behind the lighting store before while at the passport office (parking can be tight at peak hours), and saw it as a lesser-travelled place to leave his vehicle – it did take 10 days for someone to notify police that it was there.

There don’t seem to be any public appeals from loved ones for his safe return, so perhaps Halton LE have it all in hand? Praying for a positive outcome. lease:

 

[deugirtni]

Sorry to 'quote myself', but the body referred to in this article has been identified as a man missing since 2012:

Human remains found in the Arrow Road area of Guelph have been identified as belonging to Wayne Rutledge, who was reported missing in December 2012.

http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/body-found-in-guelph-identified-as-man-missing-since-2012-1.2056374

Another link re the discovered, as yet unknown body:

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/4913839-forensic-officers-investigate-after-human-remains-found-in-guelph-s-north-end/

 

[haltonhilton]

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/siu-investigating-incident-at-oakville-hotel-1.2058117

This hotel is around the corner from the GO station.

 

[JayFriend]

What piqued my interest, however, was that the Latvian new article (linked above) reported that JO had recently visited a “Canadian passport portal”.

Reading the article, all it really says is he had recently obtained Canadian citizenship and a passport, having lived and worked in Canada for 6 years. Nothing ominous about that. Everybody wants to go shopping and visit the U.S. I don't think Google translate can quite convey the sense of what's written.

 

[southsleuth]

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/siu-investigating-incident-at-oakville-hotel-1.2058117

This hotel is around the corner from the GO station.

Ominous. But why wait three weeks? Could he have just been under the radar that long?

 

[haltonhilton]

The search for Mr. Ozollapa became much more public in the past few days, particularly with the discovery of his truck six days ago (the community coverage in the regional paper picked it up, and personally it was the first I'd heard about it, the picture of his face emblazoned across the front). The police also indicated that they were going to canvas the neighboring businesses of where the truck was found.

Probably completely unrelated, but one theory is that he was simply escaping life/getting away, and suicide by cop could be the outcome. Obviously that is gross speculation of a possible, but unlikely, scenario.

EDIT: Okay the guy who was shot was 41. So definitely not the subject.

 

[JayFriend]

Probably completely unrelated, but one theory is that he was simply escaping life/getting away, and suicide by cop could be the outcome. Obviously that is gross speculation of a possible, but unlikely, scenario.

EDIT: Okay the guy who was shot was 41. So definitely not the subject.

Well, I'm more likely to believe the Russian Mafia was involved. :thinking:

 

[deugirtni]

Weird that there hasn't been a word at all in this case. Are they looking for him? I suppose not? Now a cold case? No leads? Weird!

 

[deugirtni]

It will be one month tomorrow (today since it is after midnight now) since Mr. Ozollapa went missing.

Police search for leads in Oakville in month-long case of missing Burlington man

Police renewed their call for witnesses on Wednesday, nearly a month after Janis Ozollapa was last seen leaving his work site on Weeping Willow Drive in Oakville on Sept. 30 at around 2 p.m.

http://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/4950212-police-search-for-leads-in-oakville-in-month-long-case-of-missing-burlington-man/

 

[Unscripted]

A bit more from The Spec (published 6am, Oct 31, 2014):

"Harris said it wasn't unusual for her husband to work late. So when he didn't come home, she wasn't worried and went to bed."

"The disappearance is "so out of character," his wife says. Ozollapa typically spends most of his time working, or at home with his family or friends. He didn't go to bars."

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4953977-burlington-man-gone-missing-without-a-trace/

 

[Tealgrove]

If I recall correctly she said that if he worked late he called home to say goodnight to his young daughter. This is extremely strange. I wonder if they have searched the river area for any clues. If he headed west, he'd be heading straight to 16 mile creek which is a small river, not really a creek.

 

[deugirtni]

And he also apparently spoke to his grown daughters outside of the country every day, and apparently they have not heard anything from him either. Weird that he hasn't shown up yet, in one way or another. Must be terribly difficult for his wife financially, considering he was self employed, and he is considered a missing person, ie no life insurance at this point anyway I wonder what his cellphone records revealed, obviously LE are not saying if calls were made the day he went missing, etc.

 

[JayFriend]

It makes one wonder what LE actually knows about this man as opposed to what they're saying. Of course they would have access to cellphone records. When Latvia broke back out of the Soviet Union 20-odd years ago, there was quite a reversal of fortunes and rise in crime. Where would one find the money to become a successful businessman and emigrate to Canada to start up a business? I'm still thinking Russian Mafia.

 

[deugirtni]

It seems like so many 'foreigners' come to this country for a better life, and do in fact find it through hard work and starting their own businesses. It wouldn't really take a lot of capital to start a renovation/construction business, and if one did good work, got referrals, and had a community of Latvian friends who might call upon Latvian companies first, I could see such a business becoming successful in a relatively short time. It also may be true that whatever type of dealings he left behind in Latvia were not stopped when he came here. There is this article in another of the Burlington newspapers, which actually questions why police have not released that video. To do so may just spark more conversation, and perhaps better awareness by the drivers of the 3 vehicles they are seeking, or who knows, perhaps the 'running man' may gather some leads also.

One wonders why the police don’t make the video they are working with available.

http://www.burlingtongazette.ca/police-investigation-into-missing-burlington-resident-janis-ozollapa-not-turning-up-any-useful-clues

 

[roytr]

Early this morning (Nov 5), police were stopping vehicles on Cross Ave. They were asking drivers if they normally drove this route at this time, and if they saw a person running along Cross Ave. on Oct 1.

I suspect that police have not released the video because of the possibility of false leads due to the poor quality of the video. However, I am curious what the video shows. Is the person running from the truck, or simply running down Cross Ave to catch a train? Hopefully police have checked other video sources (such as the GO station) in order see if the same individual is spotted.

 

[Unscripted]

"The Halton police homicide unit has now taken over the investigation into the disappearance of Ozollapa, 50, who has been missing since Sept. 30."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/janis-ozollapa-burlington-contractor-missing-since-sept-30-1.2825177
(Published Nov 5th @ 8:55pm ET)

Article and video at link, including part of the security camera footage. (Earlier MSM reports say that the unidentified man ran west on Cross Ave., away from GO Station entrances — not shown in the attached video.)

 

[roytr]

"The Halton police homicide unit has now taken over the investigation into the disappearance of Ozollapa, 50, who has been missing since Sept. 30."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/janis-ozollapa-burlington-contractor-missing-since-sept-30-1.2825177
(Published Nov 5th @ 8:55pm ET)

Article and video at link, including part of the security camera footage. (Earlier MSM reports say that the unidentified man ran west on Cross Ave., away from GO Station entrances — not shown in the attached video.)

That video is quite helpful. I had no idea that the footage showed the truck pulling into the parking lot as well as the person running away from it. The bit at the end about his cellphone is interesting. It would seem likely that his cellphone is still somewhere in the area.

 

[Unscripted]

Per CBC (link above) his mobile was an iPhone, and it pinged in the area where the truck was found (157 Cross) for 2 days after his disappearance.

Maybe Running Man ditched the phone in a public waste receptacle nearby and the City subsequently collected the garbage on the Thursday (Oct 2nd)?