I’m in NS now, but if I were in Toronto I would have loved to have joined in the search as much as I could.
I understand from reading the posts here that Nathan functions at a 7 year old level, but what differs is that he is 37 and has more life experience.
He will interact with people if they call him by name, talk to him about Toronto sports teams or invite him for something to eat or drink, from what I’ve read.
Here’s a section on lost person behaviour for his stated mental age:
Lost Person Behavior
Children (6 to 12 years)
- Their navigational and direction skills are much more developed.
- They are generally oriented to their normal familiar surroundings and become confused in a strange environment.
- They may intentionally run away to avoid punishment, gain attention, or sulk.
- Whether it is intentional or accidental circumstances, they often will not answer when called.
- Darkness usually brings on a willingness to accept help and be found.
- Children this age suffer from the same fears and problems that adults would, but with a greater sense of helplessness.
- The circumstances of loss often reflect their being transplanted into a foreign environment or surroundings by parents or other adults.
Missing persons, or lost person behavior. Subject behavior based on age, and other group categories. Helpful information for good search strategy.
www.k9-search-and-rescue.com
Having grown up and lived in Toronto for most of my life I know that homeless or challenged people are almost invisible in the city. People may stop to give him food or money, but will otherwise may just ignore him. It sounds terrible, and I agree it is, but it’s a fast-paced densely-populated area and the average person is blind to people that appear in the margins. They’re just trying to get from point a to b without being hassled.
(I consider where he was last seen to be in the GTA and there are unconfirmed sightings of him in the Guildwood/Scarborough area which is far east of where he was last seen).
If he’s there, I’d imagine he’s in the greenbelt area with possible access to discarded food and there are public drinking fountains.
I don’t see how an alert of some kind is not being used. I’ve participated as a volunteer in searches in the GTA. I was constantly astounded by how uninformed people are about active searches for missing, endangered people.
Please send out at least one emergency alert so that people will be aware of that fact that he’s missing. They’d do that for a child or elderly person with dementia—why not Nathan?
If I were there, I’d put up flyers where I could. You’re not permitted to place them on TTC or GO train properties, but you can on utility poles near the stations.
I think he ventured out to go back to his old neighborhood and became lost and is likely close to a TTC or GO train station in a green space area. Children tend to go towards water sources, so maybe he’s staying close to the shoreline.
