Canadian Drowning Deaths Among Young Men

SeriouslySearching

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Looking at the map which is on Shadow's site (Thanks, Shadow!), I began to look at the Canadian side of the picture. If this is so common as LE believes it to be...shouldn't it be occurring there, too?

If you run across any Canadian drowning victims, please post them here.

I did find this tid bit on their previous stats:

Alcohol Consumption and Fatal Accidents In Canada, 1950-98.

Among males there was a significant association with alcohol for both falling accidents, motor vehicle accident and other accidents, but the association was insignificant for drowning accidents.

http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:12814494
 
Looking at the map which is on Shadow's site (Thanks, Shadow!), I began to look at the Canadian side of the picture. If this is so common as LE believes it to be...shouldn't it be occurring there, too?

You'd think so but I guess the only college kids who drink and fall into rivers are along the I-94 corridor and in a few parts of the northeast. I googled with different combos with words like Canada, drown, drowning, alcohol, statistics and college and only found a couple of kids who drowned, but they were from swimming or boating accidents. The safety websites focus on toddlers mostly; plus fisherman and boaters. Not 1 statistical website says a word about college kids who drink. So, I guess kids in Canada can drink 3 times the legal limit but never accidentally end up in a river; unless maybe the Canadian part of the map is blank because serial killers don't want to deal with customs.
 
I'm not sure if this fits, but after scouring the internet (I am nowhere near as sleuthy as most of you guys) I came across some information about the drowning death of a male in Kingston, Ontario. His name is Joe Grozelle, and he disappeared from his dorm on October 22, 2003, and his body was found floating in the Cataraqui River on November 13th. Apparently, he was a top student and played basketball.

I hope this works:

http://www.rmcclub.ca/eVeritas/2005/200508Grozelle.htm
 
I could swear I read about this case on here, somewhere, but just in case - and since it's Canadian - I'll add it here.

Ryan VanValkengoed, 17, disappeared on January 11th, 2008 after leaving a friend's house (one of the articles I read mentioned that there was a party) on Friday night in Crediton, Ontario. The walk home was supposed to take 10 minutes, but he never made it. Some of Ryan's belongings were found near a tree by the Ausable River. His body was found in the river on the 14th, and drowning was determined to be the cause of death.

http://lfpress.ca/perl-bin/publish.cgi?x=articles&p=221656&s=hottopics

http://www.grandbendstrip.com/2008/01/remembering-ryan.html

This article (below) states that there had been a party going on, the night Ryan disappeared. All of the kids at the party - including Ryan - had been drinking. Apparently, his bottle of alcohol was found near the tree.

http://cgi.bowesonline.com/pedro.php?id=57&x=story&xid=368288
 
I'm surprised that I hadn't heard about this early on. I attend the same university as Robert, but I don't recall receiving an e-mail about his disappearance.

Robert Barrington Leigh, 20, disappeared on August 13th, 2006. He was an honors math and physics student at the University of Toronto. Robert was visiting his family in Edmonton, when he disappeared. On Sunday night, he told his parents that he was going to ride his bike over to the Edmonton Folk Music Festival and, after sending his girlfriend - who was in Italy - a late night text message, was never seen again. His body was found in the North Saskatchewan River on August 22nd, 2006, with no physical signs that would indicate foul play.

What I don't quite understand, is that they found the bike he'd been riding in the bushes near the river, but at some point, the bike just disappeared.

http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Bonokoski_Mark/2006/08/23/1770603.html

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/08/17/1761672-cp.html

http://rmbl.greencollege.ca/press/globeandmail22aug2006_later.html
 
Derek Dyson, 19, was last seen on the morning of Sunday, August 25th, 2002 at 1:30am in City Park, Saskatoon. He and a friend had gone out to a club on Saturday night, and afterward, Derek decided to walk home instead of staying at his friend's place in City Park. I'm not sure where City Park is, but based on what I've read, my guess is a suburb in Saskatoon. Anyway, Derek lived on the other side of the river, but nobody knows how far he made it because he disappeared. His body was found in the South Saskatchewan River on Thursday, August 29th. Due to the limited information that's available, all I know is that his body was found and an autopsy was conducted, but the cause of death hadn't been determined and police weren't saying if foul play was involved because they didn't know.

http://peppermintpatti53.tripod.com/derek/id5.html

I can't get Tiny URL to work, but if you click on the link below, it'll take you to the right page.

http://tiny.cc/SXtwz
 
Also came across this list from Facebook:

Here is a list of the men currently missing around BC... beginning with those in the Lower Mainland / Fraser Valley.

*In no way am I stating this list is anywhere near complete*

**Chilliwack resident Michael Scullion, 30, last seen in Agassiz April 10, 2008.**

Burnaby resident Kellen McElwee, 25, last seen in Langley March 19, 2008.

Langley resident Derek Kelly, 32, last seen at Bridge Lake Jan. 1, 2008.

**Langley resident John Kahler, 29, last seen at Stave Lake Nov. 2, 2007.**

Burnaby resident Brian Braumberger, 18, last seen June 1, 2007.

Mission resident Jeff Surtel, 17, last seen in Mission riding his bicycle in 2007.

Gaganpreet Suveen Sandhar, 20 years old, last seen June 17, 2006.

Chilliwack resident Brandyn Dirienzo, 20 years old, last seen at his Bole Ave apt. in Chilliwack Oct. 4, 2006.

Abbotsford resident Munny Sidhu, 17 years old, last seen in Abbotsford March 30, 2006.

Shawnigan Lake resident Gavin Ritchie, 19, last seen leaving his home Feb 14, 2008.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Vancouver resident Richard Tamassy, 42, last seen April 15, 2008.
Vancouver resident Greg Cyr, 43, last seen Oct. 26, 2003.
Vancouver resident Ron Carlow, 38, last seen June 20, 2007.
North Vancouver resident Matthew Price, 22, missing since July 15, 2004.
North Vancouver resident David McMorran, 45, last seen Feb. 14, 2005.
Burnaby resident Patrick Ratto, 43, last seen July 25, 2006.
Burnaby resident Terry Beckett, 55, last seen April 21, 2008.
Burnaby resident Asim Chaudhry, 24, last seen July 20, 2007.
Coquitlam resident Kenneth Shigehiro, 46, last seen March 4, 2008.
Chilliwack resident Brandyn Thomas Dirienzo, 20, last seen Oct. 4, 2006.
Abbotsford resident Beric Bason, 26, last seen at Loon Lake July 25, 2007.
Surrey resident Ranvir (Ron) Atwal, 28, last seen April 5, 2004.
White Rock resident Wade MacKenzie, 23, last seen in North Delta Jan. 16, 2008.
Kelowna resident Aaron Derbyshire, 22, last seen Sept. 30, 2006.
Kelowna resident Michael Bosma, 26, last seen Jan. 9, 2006.
Kelowna resident John Ernest Patrick, 40, last seen March 21, 2008.
Greenwood resident Gary Hansen, 52, last seen May 27, 2005.
Maple Ridge resident Marty Balfour, missing since Dec. 2002.
 
Hopefully Canadian LE will take this more seriously than US authorities.
OT- I watched AMW tonight and John Walsh seemed outright ticked off. He came right out and said that LE (per se) take homicides more seriously than missing persons. But, it does seem that the FBI are compiling lists of MPs...perhaps they're catching on to something.
 
There was a young 19 or 20-year-old male who fell off the Bishop Grandin Bridge into the Red River in Winnipeg in 2000 or 2001 and drowned. The Winnipeg Sun initially ran the headline that he was murdered, but it was soon confirmed an accidental drowning. It was a very high-profile case in Winnipeg at the time, and resulted in the province of Manitoba implementing minimum drink prices in bars, as well as stricter laws regarding the over-serving of alcohol at licenced drinking establishments.

In 2007 or 2008, there was a young university math wizard who drowned in the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton. Just fell into the river and drowned. I believe I posted that one on this site when it happened, but it may have been another site.

I don't think there is much to the serial killer theory. Drunken college-aged men do really stupid things, and take needless risks that put them in danger of meeting all kinds of tragic endings. The La Crosse - Eau Claire cluster in Wisconsin does look a bit suspicious, but given the long, proud history of over-comsumption in those towns, and the large populations of college students, as well as the prevelance of many bars right along the rivers, it's not surprising such a cluster would occur. As for the smiley faced connection, where do you not see smiley faced graffiti? Apparently in only about 20% of the locations of the "suspicious" drownings were they even able to find any such grafitti. It's an urban legend inspired by the over-active imaginations of some retired investigators.

EDIT: I just found my original post on the young student who drowned in Edmonton.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42378
 
A sixteen-year-old male, Mason MacPhail, attended a concert at a waterfront club in Toronto, became separated from friends, went missing, and ended up being found in the lake. He had an autistic disorder, but - and this is just my opinion - he must have been fairly high-functioning in order to attend a concert. I believe this happened on May 26th, based on the second link I've included in this post.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/05/28/mason-mcphail.html

There is a second young man, a 19-year-old university student named Shane Fair, who went missing in the early hours of May 16th after an end-of-the-year dance at Ontario Place. He failed to board the bus back to campus and hasn't been seen since. Police have been scouring the lake for his body.

http://www.thestar.com/gta/crime/article/641395
 
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2009/05/31/9628276-sun.html


Toronto Police have confirmed a body pulled from the water at Ontario Place yesterday is that of missing York University student Shane Fair.
The teen's body was pulled from Lake Ontario near the spot where he vanished two weeks ago — dashing the hopes of relatives and friends who had organized waterfront searches and plastered the downtown with posters appealing for help finding him.
"The family of Shane Fair would like to thank the public interest and support during this difficult time, and has kindly asked for their privacy," investigators stated in a release.
 
Here is another autistic boy who is missing at this point.

"Brendan Davis, 23, was last seen on June 17 at his southeast home in the neighbourhood of Forest Lawn. Family reported him missing on Tuesday and say his disappearance is out of character"

http://ca.entertainment.yahoo.com/s/cbc/090624/canada/canada_calgary_missing_calgary_brendan_davis

Here is another article that I hope is not the boy:
"Emergency crews recovered a man's body from the Bow River on Wednesday afternoon after it was spotted by two people who were sitting on the shore."

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2009/06/24/bow-river-body-calgary.html

Check the comments box and note what Yard-man wrote.
 
It makes sense, that as the waters in the United States warm up , the drownings could move into Canada where the water is still cold enough to render the victims helpless.
 
Here is another autistic boy who is missing at this point.

"Brendan Davis, 23, was last seen on June 17 at his southeast home in the neighbourhood of Forest Lawn. Family reported him missing on Tuesday and say his disappearance is out of character"

http://ca.entertainment.yahoo.com/s/cbc/090624/canada/canada_calgary_missing_calgary_brendan_davis

Here is another article that I hope is not the boy:
"Emergency crews recovered a man's body from the Bow River on Wednesday afternoon after it was spotted by two people who were sitting on the shore."

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2009/06/24/bow-river-body-calgary.html

Check the comments box and note what Yard-man wrote.

I could not find a picture of Brendan Davis. Is this him?

http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/lo...emains_Davis_090820/20090820/?hub=CalgaryHome

The human remains found at the base of Sulpher Mountain in Banff have been identified.


The medical examiner says the remains, which were discovered by hikers on July 29th, have been identified as Brendan Craig Davis.
 
Search underway for young man missing from Halifax-area hospital
(The Canadian Press) – May 23, 2011

HALIFAX — Police say a search is underway for a 22-year-old man who ran away from the Nova Scotia Hospital in Dartmouth.

Andrew Forest of nearby Lower Sackville is described as five-foot-six and 160 pounds with a slim build and short brown hair.

He was last seen near Pleasant Street in Dartmouth and police say they're concerned for his safety.

RCMP say about 60 ground search and rescue volunteers were joined by a helicopter and firefighters in a search on Monday.

The effort followed the discovery of some clothing on a trail near First Lake.

However, there was no sign of the missing man.
 
Chilliwack resident Michael Scullion, 30, last seen in Agassiz April 10, 2008. Burnaby resident Kellen McElwee, 25, last seen in Langley March 19, 2008. Langley resident Derek Kelly, 32, last seen at Bridge Lake Jan. 1, 2008. Langley resident John Kahler, 29, last seen at Stave Lake Nov. 2, 2007. Burnaby resident Brian Braumberger, 18, last seen June 1, 2007.
 

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