Durham Regional Police are conducting a ground search along the shoreline of Lake Ontario after a shoe that is believed to belong to missing teacher Jeffrey Boucher was found in the area.
Officers with the Public Order Unit are conducting the search in the immediate vicinity of Heydenshore Pavilion in Whitby, where the shoe was found by a passerby last week.
According to Durham Regional Police, the area has been “extensively” searched already but is being looked at again given the discovery of the shoe.
“We found a shoe that appears to have come from the water and that is probably the closest thing as far as a location for Mr. Boucher,” Det. Jeff Kennedy told reporters on Monday. “There is nothing to suggest with any degree of certainty that he is in the water but the shoe was found near the water so the reasonable course of action for us is to search the area.”
According to Kennedy, officers are currently walking along the shoreline and looking for further clues into Boucher’s disappearance.
There are plans to bring in a boat from the Toronto Police Marine Unit to search the waters of Lake Ontario, however that effort is currently being stymied by the build-up of ice.
“It is going to be a very slow effort and we are unfortunately in the hands of Mother Nature,” Kennedy said.
Boucher, 52, disappeared on Jan. 13 after apparently leaving his family’s home to go for a run.
Police have no clues in the teacher’s disappearance.
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