SYDNEY, N.S. — A local man says he has stumbled upon items he believes are connected with a police investigation into the abduction of a teenage girl back in August.
The man – who wished not to be identified and corresponded through social media — said on Monday he was about 100-150 feet from the road cutting trees in the Mira area when he saw a helmet. The helmet was tucked under a tree stump like it was placed there on purpose and in a spot and manner as if it was hidden.
“It threw me off,” he said. “I stopped what I was doing to look around for a crashed bike, then found the duffle bag.”
After seeing girl’s clothing in the duffel bag and food, it struck him that it was probably connected to the alleged child abduction case in August.
The food included eggs that were mouldy but not broken.
The duffel bag also appeared to be hidden partially under a fallen tree but placed in the direction to be hidden from the road. A pair of boots were placed next to it.
The man took photos of everything he found but left it all as it was in the woods wanting to ensure it remained undisturbed until the police could retrieve the items. In the meantime, he did post photos on Facebook under a fake account he created under a fake name but didn’t reveal the actual location. People were commenting concerns on the post for him to contact police.
After leaving, he decided he would go back and get an exact GPS location.
The man said he wanted to do the right thing but didn’t want to contact the Cape Breton Regional Police as he’s had issues with some officers in the past.
Monday afternoon regional police spokesperson Desiree Magnus said they had not been contacted with this information. Magnus said after viewing the post, officers were attempting to contact the individual in order to get more details about the items he found but have been unable to.
However, Monday night the man who says he found the items said he has since reached out to an officer he knows in hopes of seeing the items recovered.
On Tuesday, Magnus said they still did not have any record of this individual reaching out to police on this matter.
The Nova Scotia RCMP was contacted Tuesday and the media spokesperson said he was not aware of this incident either and asked for a copy of the Facebook post. The officer said even if officers did go out to retrieve items it wouldn’t be revealed as that would be evidence in an investigation.
After an intensive eight-day ground and aerial search over heavily wooded terrain in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in August, a missing teenager was located in an isolated location of the Canoe Lake area near Marion Bridge. On Aug. 24, a 47-year-old man appeared in Sydney provincial court and was charged with abducting a child under the age of 16.
Three additional charges have since been laid against the accused: two counts of resisting/obstructing a police officer and one charge of assault.
There is a publication ban on the names of the accused and victim.
Sharon-Montgomery-Dupe is the enterprise reporter at the Cape Breton Post.
