It’s been exactly one year since Antonio Madeira left his home in Toronto’s west end for the last time and his family says they are no closer to determining his whereabouts.
The 76-year-old Portuguese man was last seen near Winona Drive and Mulberry Crescent, which is in the vicinity of Vaughan Road and Oakwood Avenue, on July 12, 2022 sometime between 10:30 and 11 a.m.
“A year to the day (since my father went missing) and we’re no closer to knowing what happened to him,” Madeira’s son, Michael, told CP24.com on Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s been a year. It’s been tough.”
In the days and weeks following Madeira’s disappearance, police searched the immediate area where he was last seen and set up a command post.
Teams of volunteers looked throughout Toronto and beyond, and plastered the city with posters and flyers.
Private search crews, some with sniffer dogs, even tried their hand at locating him.
Lots of calls came in initially and there were some possible sightings, but in the end nothing ever came to fruition and there’s been absolutely no trace of Madeira, according to his family.
“We haven’t found anything. We don’t have any clues,” Michael said.
“The problem is we just don’t know where to be searching.”
Antonia Madeira is described as five-foot-five and 150 pounds with a thin build, a tanned complexion, hazel eyes, balding short white hair, and a full white beard. He was last seen wearing a dark or black jacket with a distinctive large white stripe on each arm, light khaki pants, white or light-colour shoes, and a multi-coloured baseball cap, and carrying his wallet and keys.
Madeira speaks Portuguese and understands Spanish and Italian, but struggles with English, his son said. Known to take daily walks in the Oakwood-Vaughan area, he walks with a slight but distinct limp and often strolls with his hands clasped behind his back.
Michael said Madeira, who liked to hang out with friends outside Oakwood Village Library and Arts Centre at 341 Oakwood Ave., may have undiagnosed dementia.
Michael said he and his family have accepted the fact that their loved one may have passed away.
“We pray for closure and we hope we get it one day,” he said, adding if they knew for sure that he was dead they’d plan a memorial. Until then, everything remains in limbo.
Madeira’s family got together to observe his 77th birthday on January 27.
Today, however, they’ve opted to quietly mark the one-year anniversary of his disappearance.
“We’re just trying to keep busy,” admitted Michael, who said that he thinks about his father every day and that his life has changed “dramatically” since the day he went missing.
“We don’t know what to do. We’ve just had to adjust to life without our dad.”
Madeira’s case is now being handled by Toronto police’s Missing Persons Unit.
“We do not have anything new to share with the community in relation to this investigation, however we will be sharing his story on social media tomorrow to mark the date he was reported to police,” investigators wrote in a statement to CP24.com.
“We have also selected this case to be highlighted by the podcast 24 Shade of Blue that Antonio’s son will be partaking in.”
Anyone who may have any information pertaining to Madeira’s disappearance is asked to contact Toronto police, or Crime Stoppers anonymously. People can also call Michael directly at 647-282-8439.
