An Ontario family is still searching months after their son went missing during a ski trip in Quebec’s Laurentian Mountains.
“It’s tough,” Chris Toman told Global News on Wednesday while fighting back tears in a hotel room at Mont Tremblant, a ski resort about two hours north of Montreal.
Toman has been searching for his son, Liam Toman, 22, who went missing overnight in February while on a weekend ski trip there.
“In that time, we’ve covered hundreds of kilometres within the area, up to 20 kilometres from the resort,” said Kathleen Toman, Liam’s mother, adding that eight groups of people have searched forests and swamps.
“We’ve had some training on how to track and how to do this type of work,” she said, “so we understand what to look for and how to be safe.”
Her son’s wallet was found in mid-March close to where he was last seen during the early morning hours of Feb. 2nd.
Toman was out that night at popular resort bar called Le P’tit Caribou.
Get daily National news
“We saw video footage inside the bar, and then we saw him leave the bar, and then we see him talking to people,” Liam’s father told Global back in early April.
“He did text me accidentally, and I think he was trying to text his one friend that had left. And from the text, we ascertained that he meant, ‘Meet me outside.’”
That text was sent at 3:16 a.m.
The family said he has not used his phone or accessed his bank account or any of his social media accounts since that time. They only found out he was missing the following day at around six o’clock from one of his friends on the ski trip who said they hadn’t heard from Liam since 3 a.m.
Provincial police conducted searches on foot, water and by helicopter. By April 30, the Sûreté du Québec’s search was partly concentrated in a swamp near the P1 parking lot next to the ski village.
“We’ve come up with nothing,” Kathleen said.
Liam’s close friend, Shireen Khamissa, has also been pushing the search online via a website and a Facebook group she created.
Anyone with information can contact his family and friends online or provincial police (SQ).
The Toman family says they are convinced that someone knows something, and they suspect foul play. One element in the investigation baffles Liam’s father.
He said he believes that if there was more surveillance footage, Liam’s last whereabouts would be easier to trace.
Global News asked the resort about their surveillance cameras, but a spokesperson said they were not able to comment due to the ongoing police investigation.
An SQ officer confirmed that their probe is ongoing, and that they have not ruled out a criminal case.
Khamissa told Global she doesn’t want her friend to be seen as just another statistic. “He is more than just a picture that you see,” the 22-year-old said. “He’s a whole person. He’s our favourite person.”
Comments