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On March 17, 1995, six young men were reported missing:
- Jay Boyle, age 17
- Chad Smith, age 18
- Michael Cummins, age 17
- Robert Rumbold, age 17
- Jamie Lefebvre, age 17
- Daniel Higgins, age 17
Their disappearance has stumped investigators and family members for more than two decades.
The teens were last seen together at a party in Pickering Friday March 17th, 1995.
They reportedly left a party at 12:40 a.m. on March 17, 1995, planning to ‘goof around’ at a local marina.
Three of them were seen on video surveillance heading towards the Frenchman’s Bay Marina that night and 1:48 am.
One or more witnesses heard a boat on the lake between 2 and 3 a.m. At 3:30 a.m., two teens reported them missing when they failed to return.
There’s been no sign of the teenagers since, or virtually any confirmed information related to their disappearance.
By 2 p.m. on March 19, a search team was combing Lake Ontario. The search, which involved several police forces and the military, was called off on March 20. Hundreds of volunteers from across southern Ontario joined the search, but no bodies, vessels or pieces of clothing, according to the DRPS, connected to the missing teens were found.
On March 29, A red gas can believed to have belonged to the 14-foot Boston Whaler replica the police believe the boys stole, washed up in Wilson, NY. But a private investigator hired by the families of the missing boys, Bruce Ricketts has questions about even this.
He says he’s faced constant roadblocks, and much of the information he’s received from police through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests is heavily redacted.
Years after the disappearance, red pants closely resembling the pair Jay was wearing the night he disappeared were found in the Niagara River. They contained remains, but DNA has not been extracted.
The boys are believed to have stolen a Boston Whaler replica and a water tricycle from two Pickering marinas and taken them for a deadly ride on Lake Ontario.
Neither vessel has ever been found.
If you have information on this case, please contact any of the following:
Durham Regional Police Service: 905-579-1520 ext 2511
Reference Case#: 95-26936
Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-TIPS(8477) or online at https://www.canadiancrimestoppers.org/tips
Crime Stoppers provides anonymous tipping
Send email to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains at:
canadasmissing-disparuscanada@rcmp-grc.gc.ca