What the case of a man who vanished in the Village 23 years ago can tell us about Toronto's missing

Every time Joshua Hind hears about anotherperson disappearing inToronto's Village neighbourhood, he's transported back in time.

When he heard about the case ofTessRichey, the 22-year-old who went missing in the Church and Wellesley area in late November, Hind found himself a teenager again, living three hours away from Toronto, helplessly trying to find his own loved one.

Hind's uncle, Larry Arnold, disappeared from the area more than two decadesago.

The circumstances beara haunting resemblance toRichey'scase. Arnold's body was found more than four weeks later, less than a 10-minute walk from where he was last seen.

'How far we haven't come'

Days after her disappearance, Richey'slifeless body was found in a stairwelljust steps away from where she was last seen with an unknown male. Her family would later tellCBCNews it wasRichey'sown mother,who had travelled to Toronto from North Bay, who found her.

"That got me thinking, really, about how far we haven't come with regards about how missing persons are dealt with," Hind toldCBCNews.

"It brought to mind the similarities between my uncle's story andTess'sstory... and that it wasn't the police that found them."

His comments come on the heels of a news conferenceon Friday, in which Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders announced the force is reviewing its handling ofRichey'sdisappearance and exploring how it might better respond to missing persons cases.The acknowledgementfollowed months ofmounting concern over whether police have beendoing enough to solve a spate of disappearances in thearea.

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At least seven people have gone missing in the downtown core since last spring. That number includesRicheyas well as 27-year-oldAllouraWells, a transgender woman who vanished over the summer and whoseremains were identified last week.

Police also provided an update on the still-unsolveddisappearancesof SelimEsenand Andrew Kinsman. They saidthose cases are unrelated to the 2012 Project Houston investigation, which centred onthree other men who vanished fromthe same area that year.

'They weren't the ones to find him'

"Uncle Larry" as Hind knew him, lived in the Chatham area and travelled to Toronto about six times a year. His visit in October 1994 was his last.

He was last seen on Oct.14in the Church andWellesleyneighbourhood, leaving a bar with another man. After that, the case wentcold.

The community put together a postercampaign as police investigated. Hind later learned the detective on the case wrote two Crime Stoppers stories hoping for leads. But apart from him, the family believed, few other resources were put into pursuing the investigation.

It would be four years before Paul AlanHacheyconfessedto the 46-year-old's murder,facing DNA evidence that linked him to another homicide and multiple sexual assaults, said Hind.

A friend,CBCNews reported at the time, said Arnold had left an answeringmachine message saying he wouldn't be able to meet for dinner and that he was "having fun."

His body wasfound more than a month after he disappeared, in a wooded area nearRosedale'smillion dollar homes across from David Balfour Park, which was described at the time as an area "known for sexual cruising."

"Did they do enough? Idon't know," Hind said. "He was found by a hiker who happened to be walking through that area. It's hard for me to say... but they weren't the ones to find him."

'High risk' of hate crimes

Much was made at the time, says Hind, of the fact that Arnold was gay, and that he was last seen leaving a gay bar with another man.

"It was as though his death was just a hook-up gone wrong," Hind toldCBCNews. "Every newspaperarticle,every TVstory made a point of saying he was gay, as though that was somehow relevant to his death."

In 2001, Hachey was convicted in Arnold's murder, says Hind, after pleading guilty to another murder and sexual assault.

In the end, it turned out that Arnold was the only manHacheykilled, Hind says. Investigators never did findamotive for his death, butHind wonders if the perception that being gay meantliving a high-risk lifestyle played a key role in his uncle's case going cold.

"The high risk is that gaypeopleare more at risk of beingtargetedfor hate crimesand for abuse," said Hind. "Andpolice need to take these cases maybe a little more seriously than they would in other areasbecause there are more factors that come into play when someone goes missing in The Village."

"Gay people, LGBTQ are still the targets of crime and we certainly can't blame them for being extraon edge when, so far, fiveor six people have disappeared from that community."

Speaking to reporters Friday, Saunderssaid part of the reason for launching the probe into how it handled Richey's casewas to find out what police knew, when they knew it, and assess how they might improve their processes.

That's good news to Nicki Ward, director of the Church and Wellesley Neighbourhood Association.

"I'm really glad professional standards are being called in," she said. "I have never seen the relationship with Toronto police break down to such a degree."

The force is now supplying four community resource officers to keep watch over the area. Meanwhile, somein The Village have banded together to try to set up a walk-safe program to help ease fears in a neighbourhood on edge.

Initiatives like that and the fact that many set up their own search parties for the missing are also something Saunders says raise concerns.

"Ihave to question whether or not, as a service, we're offering the right value to the community."