For the first time since Tim Bosma disappeared Monday night, his wife addressed the media — and the men who took him.
Barry Gray / The Hamilton Spectator
Sharlene Bosma deliver a tearful plea on May 9, for the safe return of her husband Tim following his disappearance on May 6.
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Sharlene Bosma says her husband is missing because of a truck.
For the first time since Tim Bosma disappeared Monday night, his wife addressed the media — and the men who took him.
“It was just a truck,” she said in a tearful statement at Hamilton police headquarters Thursday.
“It is just a truck. You don’t need him, but I do and our daughter needs her daddy. So please, please let him come home.”
For three days, more than 150 police officers have scoured rural Ancaster — conducting aerial, ground, and marine searching — looking for any clues in their search for the 32-year-old man.
Friday, police will not be searching, instead focusing on the deluge of tips that have come in from across the province.
Bosma went missing after taking two men for a test drive in his 2007 Dodge Ram pickup, which he had been trying to sell online through Kijiji and Autotrader. He told his wife he’d be right back.
No one has reported seeing him — or the truck — since.
Police have not said how the men arrived at the home. No vehicle was left behind.
Because Bosma had included his phone number in the ads, there are no email correspondences for police to track.
Bosma had his cellphone on him, but it was turned off shortly after his disappearance. Because of the rural area’s poor reception, police were able to track its last signal only to within 50 kilometres.
“That goes into Grimsby, Six Nations … outside of our area,” homicide Detective Sergeant Matt Kavanagh said.
Though it is still considered a missing person case, the homicide unit is leading the investigation because of the unusual circumstances.
The truck has been flagged for border officials and police agencies across the province, but has not yet been spotted. Bosma’s credit cards, too, have been flagged, but have not been used since his disappearance, Kavanagh said.
“Of course it’s worrisome (that they haven’t been used); it’s worrisome that he’s been gone this long,” Kavanagh said. “But we’ve still got to keep hope.”
A canvas of the area led police to believe the truck had headed in the direction of Brantford, rather than Toronto or Niagara.
The marine unit was called in Thursday to search a pond in an area off Book Rd. The search stemmed from a tip from a neighbour who heard noises around the time of the disappearance.
Nothing was found.
Kavanagh said Thursday night that police have now exhausted all of their search resources. Friday morning, they will continue wading through the enormous amount of tips that have come in, thanks to media coverage.
“We still have a lot of work to do, to follow up all these tips,” he said.
The family, too, has not given up.
For three days, dozens of cars and trucks — each one slapped with a FIND TIM BOSMA poster — lined the family’s driveway on Trinity Rd. Family, friends, even strangers spread the word online
“This does not feel like real life,” Sharlene Bosma said at the media conference Thursday, her family behind her for support. “This only happens on TV and in movies. It does not happen in real life.