Police in North Bay still investigating a missing person case from over 50 years ago

The North Bay Police Service continues to9 investigateda missing persons case from 1966, where a man walked away from a local psychiatric hospital.

Investigators have now released an age-progressed picture of Philippe Guerin, who went missing in 1966.

Guerin was a patient at a North Bay psychiatric hospital until he disappeared on June 12, 1966, at the age of 27. This year, Guerin would have turned 85.

Ellen White, a private investigator and podcast host for Whereabouts Unknown, explained that Guerin was admitted to the hospital due to mental health issues that caused aggression. She says his family brought him there seeking proper care.

"He was known to start fires. He was known to be very aggressive. And the family did what any loving family would do. They brought him to a place where they felt he would get incredible care. And in fact, that's not what happened and it went sideways as they often did at a North Bay psychiatric hospital and he simply disappeared," said White.

Guerin has been missing for around 58 years, but police are still searching for answers.

White says hospital staff informed the Guerin family that he had abruptly left, leaving all his belongings behind, to find employment. However, she says this scenario seems unlikely given his mental health issues and the security of the hospital.

The Widdifield Police Department initially handled the case before it was transferred to the North Bay Police Service following the amalgamation of the two services. Hospital authorities reported Guerin missing in a letter sent to the Widdifield Police Department.

"The phones were functional and in fact, the policeservicewas only minutes away back in the day, but they chose to mail a letter saying that Philippe had disappeared," explains White.

White also notes there were other delays in the investigation into Guerin's disappearance.

"There was some talk back in the day about the letter being misfiled when the police did receive it. So that created an even longer delay. And police had apologized by way of a newspaper article to the family for that issue with filing," said White.

Despite setbacks, there have been numerous leads over the years, all of which police continue to pursue. Early in the investigation, the Widdifield Police followed up on a lead from a North Bay clergyman who claimed to have picked up a hitchhiker resembling Guerin in the Sudbury area. Police say this lead didn't go anywhere.

White suggested that a chaplain at a North Bay psychiatric hospital might be relevant to the case.

"We needed to focus in Philippe's case specifically on a chaplain at the North Bay Hospital.That chaplain became especially relevant because ultimately he would be charged with 32 counts, 32 different sex crimes against young boys and men. This chaplain would have interacted with Philippe."

Detective Constable Seth Dinsmore declined to speculate on the possibility of foul play as the case is still under investigation.

"If we had evidence to suggest to us that there would be a murder element to it, then it would. Obviously, it would change avenues to that sort of investigation," said Dinsmore.

Guerin's niece, Denise Lee, says something may have happened to him inside those hospital walls. She says her parents were on their way from widdifield to Oshawa when they decided to stop by and visit Guerin. It was only then that they were notified of his disappearance.

"When they got there they were given the runaround of where he was and they kept being passed from department to department. And then finally someone said, oh, he's away for the weekend at home. And then my parents are like, well, no, we just came back from there and he wasn't there," said Lee.

She repeats that the hospital didn't report him missing for a long time. She and her family think the hospital covered up an event that may have led to his death.

"Philippe's parents, they've been gone for a long time. They died not knowing what happened to their son. Since then, four siblings have passed away without knowing what happened to their brother. My dad, he's 82 years old. I don't want him to pass away without knowing what happened to Philippe."

Lee says she doesn't believe he is still alive.

"I think they deserve to know what happened. This family deserves to know what happened," Lee said, emphasizing the need for answers after so many years of uncertainty.