CANADA Canada - 6 Missing Teens, Pickering, Ontario, 17 March 1995

[branmuffin]

I lived in Toronto when these boys went missing. You shake your head when you think of the foolishness of taking a rowboat out in Lake Ontario in March. But then you remember some of the crazy things YOU did, like climb up a water tower. You feel invincible when you're that age but looking back in retrospect you realize it could have been "there but for the grace of God, go I".

I really hoped that the remains found in Niagara back in '98 was going to be closure for at least one family member but that didn't turn out.

I was checking the currents of Lake Ontario and found this chart and where a wreck or bodies may have ended up. So it was quite possible that the remains found in Niagara could have been one of the boys.

GLCFS Products

I also checked how much ice was still on Lake Ontario in March 1995. According to the attached report in March of '95 Lake Ontario was already down to 2% ice coverage so it's very possible the remains of a boat with human remains could have drifted toward the opposite shore based on the currents in the above chart.

https://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pubs/fulltext/2005/20050028.pdf

It's very possible, based on the lack of ice and lake currents, that some UIDs found in New York state could be any one of these young men.

 

[Coffee56]

Cross posting. I see a resemblance between Chad Smith and Mostly Harmless from FL.

I believe the boys probably did drown the night they disappeared but have found conflicting reports that they were seen after though the reliability is questionable.

Features line up in shape distance etc - Ears, eyes, eyebrows (thinner on Chad but general shape looks the same to me), lip line etc.

I can’t tell on the nose. They seem to have the same general shape but Chad has only one photo and that area is difficult to pull out.

Chad’s lips appear fuller but MH’s lips look much fuller in pics where he’s clean shaven.

Chad has lots of freckles that I’m not seeing on MH. As a kid the sun always brought out my freckles but as I’ve gotten older they are just about gone. I’m not sure if this would still be a factor

I’m unable to find any identifying info on Chad. No height, weight, tattoos, no missing reports. Nothing other than part of this group of 6

On sightings:

FOI documents show possible sightings of the boys.
Some put the boys in Kew Beach in Toronto, near the home of Jamie, days after the disappearance. But then one witness said she spotted Jamie in a Burger King near Clarence, NY on March 19. Another person said she saw Chad at his home on March 17.

The mystery of the Lost Boys: Part 2

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)


FL - FL - Big Cypress National Preserve, Male hiker, "Denim" and "Mostly Harmless", 23 July 2018 #3

 

[Coffee56]

I find this area in the 2 interesting

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I do hope these boys will eventually be matched up to some unidentified boys who are waiting for their names back. But I don't see enough resemblance to "Mostly Harmless." MOO.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Bumping up for 6 lost boys

 

[ChatteringBirds]

As long as I remain a member here, I'll keep bumping up their case(s), if needed...

From March 2022:

STILL MISSING: March 17 marks 27 years since six boys disappeared in Pickering

It's been 27 years since the teens dubbed The Lost Boys vanished in Pickering without a trace.

www.durhamregion.com

 

[tarabull]

The 'Lost Boys of Pickering' went missing 28 years ago

Jay Boyle, Michael Cummins, Danny Higgins, Chad Smith, Robbie Rumboldt and Jamie Lefebvre are still missing.

www.durhamregion.com

 

[moonshoes]

Bump for the 6 lost boys

 

[spartanx]

It's really amazing that no trace of any of them was ever found... bodies don't always turn up in the great lakes but six bodies disappearing is quite unusual...
I think the simplest answer to this mystery is the correct one... they drowned and their bad luck continued when conditions, currents or whatever took their bodies to a place where they wouldn't be found... it's a tragic situation that the families haven't been able to close the mystery properly as there are still people looking for "answers"... plus I read in an article that the families haven't submitted DNA for comparison purposes... after 27 years I find it hard to believe...
whatever it is
Rest in peace

 

[tarabull]

2025 marks 30 years since The Lost Boys of Pickering went missing

Police believe the six teenagers took an ill-fated ride onto Lake Ontario but a private investigator wasn’t convinced and spent more than a decade trying to put the broken pieces together.

www.durhamregion.com

 

[dotr]

The Lost Boys of Pickering: A haunting cold case remains open after 30 years

Police believe the six teenagers took an ill-fated ride onto Lake Ontario but a private investigator wasn’t convinced and spent more than a decade trying to put the broken pieces together.

www.durhamregion.com

''Just three of the boys — Michael, Jamie and Robbie — were spotted on video surveillance entering the East Shore Marina on Frenchman’s Bay after they had left a party. This was at 1:48 a.m. Despite no sign of Jay, Chad or Danny on the tape, Durham police believed all six of the boys stole a 14-foot Boston Whaler replica and a water tricycle and died of hypothermia in the frigid waters of Lake Ontario after their boat capsized.
But there have been no bodies, no clothing or no boats that have been officially tied to the group of friends.''

Paywalled.
3 December 2025

Grainy tape may solve the mystery of the 'Lost Boys of Pickering'

The six teenage boys drank and enjoyed the night in the quaint suburban city, unaware they would soon become the focus of a baffling unsolved mystery.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[ColyH]

There has been larger ships that have disappeared in the Great Lakes and was never found so it is not surprising if a small boat would disappear and never be found.

 

[dotr]

March 17, 2026

Pickering Lost Boys: 31st anniversary of 6 boys missing in Ontario

Three decades later, the families of the Pickering Lost Boys are still searching for the truth.

www.durhamregion.com

Who were the ‘Lost Boys’ of Pickering?​

''Nothing concrete to tell investigators or loved ones what happened to Jay Boyle, Michael Cummins, Danny Higgins, Chad Smith, Robbie Rumboldt and Jamie Lefebvre in the early hours of March 17, 1995.
The private investigator who worked tirelessly, thoroughly and pro bono, Bruce Ricketts died two years ago — without ever knowing the answers himself. In 2018, Ricketts spent several days sharing what he knew with The Pickering News Advertiser. And he continued to be in contact every year with updates.
There is nobody known to be actively working the case now that he’s gone.'

''People all over the world are still interested in this old, but haunting case.
Coverage by “armchair detectives” continues on YouTube, with commenters sharing their beliefs about what happened. Some are friends, others acquaintances and, of course, many are strangers who remember hearing about it at the time or simply have an interest in the case.
Ricketts had a theory that the boys may have been involved in drugs, something he shared with the News Advertiser in 2018.
“That area was a hot spot at one point in time,” he said at the time “There was an awful lot of smuggling going on from Durham to that area of New York and back.”