Weekend search for missing sailor turns up nothing, investigation continues
Posted Nov 30, 2015 05:56:28 AM.
Last Updated Nov 30, 2015 06:12:51 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HALIFAX – The search for a missing sailor near 12-Wing Shearwater has been called off as search and rescue crews have concluded he is not in the area.
Benoit Bilodeau, 48, was reported missing a week ago Monday after he didn’t show up for work, and was last seen Nov. 21 near a bus stop in front of the base.
Over the weekend, a search honed in on a three-square kilometre area around Shearwater, which officials said was the result of a cell phone ping close to the area. The search turned up nothing.
80 members of the Halifax Regional, Hants County and South Shore Search and Rescue crews, as well as the RCMP took part in the weekend search, that was called off late Saturday afternoon. Crews concluded Bilodeau wasn’t in the area.
The RCMP and the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service will continue the search for Bilodeau and the investigation in to his disappearance.
Investigators are reviewing surveillance video from Halifax transit buses to see if Bilodeau got on a bus in the area he was last seen, and are working on the assumption the he is still alive.
CFB Halifax base commander Cpt. Chris Sutherland tells Metro Halifax that he sailed with Bilodeau in 2010, referring to him as ‘very reliable, and calling his disappearance out of character.
Chief Petty Officer Ray Cushing also called the disappearance, “extremely out of character,” when interviewed by the Canadian Press.
Anyone with information is asked to contact military police in Halifax.
