Family of missing Pennfield-area man hopeful after search by volunteer Ontario dog team

For more than three years, Amanda Saia has clung to the hope of finding her grandfather Paul Doughty, who disappeared inPennfield.

Today, she feels closer to being able to lay him to rest, thanks to two volunteers fromOntario with dogs trained to detect human remains.

Sherri Hall and DeberaSalo, members of theOntario Search and Recovery Canines, and three of their dogs,recently spent two days scouring about 35acres of dense woods off the McKay Bye Road, seeking signs of Doughty.

The 76-year-old who was living alone inMusquash disappearedAug. 18, 2021. His car was found abandoned in the woods about two weeks later, roughly10 kilometres northeast of a business where he was last seen.

Since then, there have been no real developments in the case or clues about what happened tothe father of five and grandfather of nine, Saia said.

"[We]can't even, like, grieve him because we don't know what happened or where he is," she said.

But the family feels "hopeful" after observing the search.

WATCH |Doughty's granddaughter describes grieving a missing person:

How search dogs are helping an N.B. family look for loved one

2 days ago

Duration 3:04

Sherri Hall and Debera Salo of the Ontario Search and Recovery Canines, and three of their dogs, recently spent two days scouring dense woods for 76-year-old Paul Doughty of Musquash, who's been missing since Aug. 18, 2021.

"Nothing was found per se, but there was one 'area of interest' and that area requires further investigation" byOromocto RCMP, said Saia, describing it as a "chilling moment."

"It just kind of felt,like, confirmation, I suppose."The family gaveRCMP the location.

Saia, who lives inSaint John,has pushed to get the RCMP to use cadaver dogs as part of their investigation and been turned down by several non-policecanine search teams across North Americafor a variety of reasons, including distance and costs.

"It's really different from when someone passes away because at that pointall you have to do is really heal," she said. "There's nothing you can do.

"In this situation, you feel like you should always be doing something, but you can't just come out and search in the forest all day by yourself either. So it's always a very crushing and uneasy feeling."

Son frustrated

Doughty's son, James Doughty, agreed.

"You try to kind of put it in the back of your mind, where, it's been three years, but it's difficult," said James, who is Saia's uncle.

"And it's been difficult to get any type of searching done, and having no real information to go on."

James spoke to hisfather the day he disappeared. His father, whom he described as"very easy going, do anything for anybody, give you the shirt off his back," called him at work and wanted him to go to McKay's Wild Blueberries to buy him a pie, said James.

He"sounded a little bit off. That was the last time we heard from him."

In hindsight, James wonders whether undiagnosed dementia may have started to set in.

"Knowing my dad as I do, there was no way he would bring [a two-wheel-drive]vehicle in here himself under normal circumstances," given the rough terrain, he said.

"It's frustrating because in this province, we don't have the resources we need for families in our situation. You're kind of left to your own devices. And I meanyou just shouldn't have to do it yourself, right? There should be people to help."

No criminality suspected

West District RCMP Sgt. Mark Blakelysaid Doughty's case doesn'tmeet the criteria for police dog services, but he declined to say what those are.

"For officer and public safety reasons, we do not discuss our operations and tactics," he said in an email.

Blakely alsodeclined to comment on the volunteer search team's findings, citing the ongoing investigation.

He did say police do not believe criminality is involved in Doughty's disappearance, but declined to say why.

The file remains active and a priority for the RCMP, he added.

Dogs can detect 100-year-old remains

Hall, the Ontario team lead, said theyvolunteered to take on the case because they found it "intriguing," "inspiring," and "obviously very sad."

Although more than three years have passed since Doughty vanished, that's "no issue whatsoever" for the searchdogs, said Hall,acertified dog handler for about two decades, based inHaliburton.

Talon, her 10-year-old Belgian Malinois;Kon, her three-year-old Swiss shepherd; and Rinnie, Salo'sfour-year-old yellow Lab, allrecently participated ina five-day course in New York in "cold case" searches, and "had absolutely no issues detecting 100-year-old bone fragments," she said.

"You must remember that the dogs are not actually looking and sniffing for a body. They are trained to find the highest concentration of decomposition odour.

"So if there was a body that slowly decomposed over a year or twoand at the same time was ravaged by scavengers and [there's] nothing really much left to find, the dog will still be able to tell you that there was a body here."

The "probability of detection," however,depends on getting the dogs' noses into the right spot. That depends on several factors, including the terrain,said Salo, a handler for five years, basedin Orangeville.

"The big trees aren't bad, it's when you get into the scruffy stuff that's the hard stuff to get through."

Weather can also be afactor, said Salo. Rain that pools on the ground, for example, cansuppressany odours until the soil can absorb the water.

That's why they don't tell families they're coming to find their loved ones, she said. They tell them they're going to "clear" certain areas so those can be crossed off the list of places they need to continue searching.

'Ready? Find him'

"Ready? Find him!" Hall shouted, unleashingTaloninto the thick brush, watching him closely for any change in behaviour, while Salo served as their "flanker," responsible for guiding them,using a GPS and mappingsystem, and watching for any unsafe conditions.

After about 45 minutes, they returned to their van, where Salo retrievedRinnie and Hall became the flanker, as Doughty family members looked on.

Later, the dog handlersalternated positions again and Hall 'sKon led the search for Doughty.

In total, they spent about 10 hours over two days searching.

'Sorry state' of search and recovery

Hallhopes the case will help raise awareness about the "sorry state of [search and recovery] in Canada," she said, referring to how few human remains detection police dogs there are the RCMP have only 12 across Canada how rarely policeuse non-police dogs like theirs, and how little training is available to volunteer dog handlers, forcing them to travel to the U.S. for courses.

She estimates they each spendabout $10,000 a year on training, travel and helping families like Saia's. They don't charge families for their services. Instead, they save money from paying contracts, such as looking for unmarked graves at residential schools, and "pay it forward," she said.

In some cases, families will also raise money to help cover some of the costs, such as travel,accommodations or meals. Saiaraised $2,000 online within a couple of weeks for Hall's gas money and Salo's flight.

"I want to be able to lay him to rest with his late wife [Dorothy], as it should be," Saia said.

"We're definitely due some closure, that's for sure."

Anyone with information about Doughty's disappearance is asked to contact the OromoctoRCMP at506-357-4300. Information can also be provided anonymously through Crime Stoppers by calling1-800-222-TIPS (8477), by downloading the secure P3Mobile App, or by Secure Web Tips atwww.crimenb.ca.