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 Hiker Richard Code has gone missing. |
Before venturing out into the wild, Richard Code told his landlord: If I'm not back by Sunday night, call the police.
Monday morning, she did just that.
The 41-year-old missing man left his Scarborough home early Thursday morning, destined for a wooded area north of Huntsville.
He had made such solo excursions about four times before and left detailed instructions on where he planned on going, complete with GPS co-ordinates and his desired location marked on a map, "so if he was to get in any problems, people would know where to go and look for him," Toronto Police Det.-Const. Jeff Emms said Tuesday.
The plan was to hitchhike up to an area north of Hunstville, near Burk's Falls, then take a bus back from Huntsville on Sunday.
However, an air search of the area where he was thought to be — on the north side of Horn Lake — was fruitless, Ontario Provincial Police Staff-Sgt. Stacey Whaley said.
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"We exhausted the general area where we know (he intended to be)," Whaley said, adding officers searched by snowmobile as well. "At this point we don't have confirmation that Mr. Code has even arrived in the area. There's no evidence physically that leads us to believe that anybody has been in that area that we're discussing."
Code didn't bring anything to make a shelter, nor did he bring food, but he did bring an axe and supplies "to help him catch food and live off the land," Emms said.
He told his 86-year-old landlord, whom he works for around the house, "that if he wasn't back by Sunday evening, to call the police," Emms said.
"Nothing at all suggests foul play," Emms said. "It's a big question mark. We're wondering, did he make it up there and if he did, did something happen to him?"
Emms said it's not known whether Code might have hitchhiked north on the 400 or perhaps taken a bus.
The checklist Code left behind shows that he planned on taking $50 for a bus ride home, plus $40 should he need extra cash, Emms said.
"He doesn't have a cellphone. He has no cellphones. He has never owned one," Emms said.
On his previous solo excursions, it seemed Code learned a little more about surviving in the wilderness each time. "I think this was the topper," Emms said.
His brother from the Kitchener area made the trip north to be in the search area, Emms said.
Officers were concentrating their efforts Tuesday on canvassing the small contingent of seasonal and full-time residents in the area where Code was meant to be, Whaley said.
While it isn't uncommon for people to take solo trips into the Ontario wild, it is uncommon for police to get involved, Whaley said.
Code was described as white, six feet tall, 174 pounds, with a thin build, short, black, spiky hair, a clean-shaven face and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing beige cargo pants, a dark jacket, hiking boots and a black, "Yukon-style" hat, police said.
Anyone with information was asked to contact police at 416-808-4200 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-8477, 222tips.com, or by texting TOR and your tip to CRIMES.