The days before the disappearance

On Dec. 1, 2005, Reg went to Charlottetown but this time it was different, he came back about 8 p and he was all doped up and was seeing things that were not there.  Up until this, I thought Reg was doing very good, he would sometimes go down to the Bluefin Lounge and have a few beers, he had some home.  He always seemed to me to be in good shape.  He was normal on Friday, but we were having supper Saturday about 6:15 pm when Reg came up from the basement with three library books and he said to his mother, “I am taking these books back to the Library in Charlottetown”.  Helen said, “this is Saturday, the library is closed!”  He just looked at her and out the door he went.  We assume he went to Charlottetown.

When he landed back home about 11:15 pm, he was a different Reggie.  He was out of his mind.  He was seeing, birds, animals, etc.  He was saying that his teeth were splitting and turning crossways in his mouth and he had a wild look on his face.  I asked him if he was on “crystal meth”, he said he had tried it a few years ago and did not like it.

He roamed around all night we did not get much sleep.  Finally, about 8:30 am, we said that we were going to take him to Mt. Hebert Detox, as there was a bed for him there.  Helen told him to go and change his clothes.  Reggie and I were standing near the cellar steps and he said “Nobody is going to lock me up in a cement basement anymore” and he ran down the steps.  Less than a minute later, I glanced out the back door and his car was heading out for Knights Lane, and that was the last we had seen of him.  He had climbed out his window in his room.  There was no way that he was going for treatment.

 

Reggie disappears

The end of this story begins on December 4, 2005. During and prior to a family dinner, Reggie appears agitated and delusional, hallucinating, and in a delirious state, and running up and down the stairs. Although it is not completely clear, we believe that he may have been using “crystal meth”, and that it may not have been a good batch. He noted problems with his teeth and his appearance was suffering with acne appearing on his cheeks and his general appearance and demeanor deteriorating.

Following the dinner, Reggie is confronted on his condition by his family.   In the morning, it is clear that he has not slept all night, and his parents express concern and suggest that he should go to a treatment center. Reggie expresses concern that he does not want to be locked up, possibly thinking he is going to a treatment center, and runs to the basement. Twenty to thirty minutes later, a car is heard to drive away and is seen driving out of the yard. The family then calls for Reggie and discovers that he has crawled out the window of his basement bedroom and driven away.

They attempt to reach him but cannot make contact. Attempts are made to locate Reggie by calling his friends and looking for him in places he was known to frequent. After a short period of time, the RCMP are contacted. There is little that can be done, because no crime was committed and he has not a missing person as he is an adult. The police do help and start the process of a local and then a nationwide search.

There is no clue as to what happened to Reggie. He can’t be reached by phone and none of his friends know where he is. Some think that he went to Ontario, or Alberta. A review of his cell phone records shows that he made a few calls in the 20 minutes after he left the house but did not leave any messages. A further review of his phone records shows calls to the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, and that the phone bill was paid by a third party, but no firm leads are established.

With a very checkered past, and high intellect (with an IQ in the 97th percentile of the population and verbal skills in the 99th percentile), many theories are advanced as to what has happened. Books are found in his room which explain how to change one’s identity, and writings on how miserable his life has become in PEI, where he cannot live and function as an addict without shame lend support to a theory that he has gone to Alberta where he has indicated that it is possible to live easily as an addict, and where he has told friends that it is easy to obtain a fake identity. A very supportive RCMP officer devotes a large amount of time to distributing his photo and contacting welfare and medical centers, but no leads develop.

The mystery continues and the family goes through an awful period of stress, and the fear that there may never be closure. Will he turn up alive or dead? No one knows. In trying to piece things together, Reggie’s belongings are found, and evidence of ongoing involvement in the drug world, which the family had hoped and believed he had been trying to leave were found. More significantly, a huge amount of writings and journals were found which chronicle some of the more significant periods of his life and his recent struggles with fitting into society as a recovering addict were found. Although a very quiet person, he was a prolific writer who dreamed of becoming a writer.   What follows is the story of his disappearance and his view on life.

We hope that anyone who reads this who may have a friend or relative that is doing anything like what Reggie was doing will try and find them help.  We tried many many time, and others did too, with no luck.  Hopefully, you will have better success.