Family of missing Ont. man calls for search using ground penetrating radar 22 years after his disappearance

A family refuses to give up hope more than 20 years after a man disappeared from Kitchener. CTV’s Hannah Schmidt explains.

A Kitchener mother is renewing her call for a more intense search for her son who’s been missing for more than 20 years.

David MacDermott, who was 30-years-old when he disappeared, was last seen at his home on Mill Street in Kitchener on Nov. 9, 2002. Since then, there have been no arrests, no answers and, according to the family, a search that isn’t complete.

“It’s a small ask, I think, to bring justice to what happened to my brother,” MacDermott’s sister, Stefanie Shaw said.

The family now believes answers lie within the property itself.

“We have to get a search warrant for that and that’s why we put the petition forward so a proper search is done,” MacDermott’s mother, Linda Shaw said.

“Until a thorough search is done, it’s gonna haunt me,” Linda said.

“As we always have, we believe that something happened in that residence the night that he went missing after celebrating his roommate’s birthday. We believe there was an altercation, we believe there was an accident and we believe that there was a cover up,” MacDermott’s youngest sister, Amanda Shaw said.

The family said the area remains inaccessible due to the current homeowner’s refusal to grant permission for a search. They started an online petition to gather signatures as a way to push the Waterloo Regional Police Service to obtain a search warrant and use ground penetrating radar (GPR) - a tool that could detect buried evidence.

“There are over 3,000 signatures on this petition now. That shows that this isn’t just a family issue, this isn’t just a local issue, this is a community issue,” Amanda said.

Police said a search did take place in the area after MacDermott was reported missing. But launching another one today would be a lengthy process.

“Some of that comes down to the consent of the owner,” Waterloo Regional Police Service Insp. Kyle Lambert said. “And if that doesn’t take place, then there’s judicial applications that we have to do. We need certain evidence to get a judicial application and that takes time.”

CTV News went to the Mill Street property on Wednesday to speak with the current homeowner. They were not home.

“The ability to do ground penetrating radar is something that we’re able to do. It’s something that we’re still working with the owner of the residence to hopefully come to some sort of agreement,” Lambert said. “Obviously we need evidence to believe that an offence has taken place. And then we need to believe that the evidence is at the location we’re searching. That can be through witness testimony, that can be through forensic evidence that we’ve gathered over the years, it can be a culmination of things.”

MacDermott’s family remains hopeful and will continue to gather signatures to support their push for a warrant and GPR search.

“My hope is that the Waterloo Region Police Service and the courts that are responsible for granting the search warrant look at the amount of signatures and they understand that the community that they are to serve and protect is looking for them to serve our family,” Amanda said. “And how they can do that is by granting the search warrant and giving us the closure that we need around that property.”

The family said their goal isn’t just to keep his case in the public eye, but to finish what they feel was never completed.

“It’s hopefully to give justice to what happened to Dave and close a chapter and give peace to my mom and my family,” an emotional Stefanie said. “We’ve been robbed. He’s been robbed. There’s so much I would want to say to him but the one thing I will say is we won’t give up and we’re not going to.”