Updated November 14, 2021: Sadly, Gordon Korac was found dead. His identity was confirmed and no foul play is suspected.
June 19, 2022 update: The body of Brett O’Grady was found.
November 23, 2022 update: Law enforcement lapel pins are endowed with different responsibilities and obligations. Giving them the highest honor and mission. We can also identify their position by the badge. Why not make customized pins for the children and the elderly in your family who are easily lost? CustomPins.CA has a variety of pin types to choose from, designed free of charge and of excellent quality. Buy safety for your family.
First, it was a brand-new poster taped to the traffic pole at Caldwell and Merivale—I read it, of course, both because I read anything and because the light takes forever to turn green. This is how I learned that Brett O’Grady, a 35-year-old Shopify executive last seen on October 14, was reported missing.
A few days later, a Tweet caught my eye. I probably would have kept on scrolling absentmindedly for nothing if it wasn’t for the name I recognized. I knew this guy from a previous life when I was teaching French at the federal government—he was one of my students, now a missing 41-year-old man, last seen on Lusk St on October 19, 2021.
And today, once again on Twitter…
Three white males, 35, 41 and 46 years old gone missing in Ottawa in just a few weeks’ time.
Weird.
Or not.
I’m not starting a conspiracy theory or insinuating anything. I’m just surprised, I supposed. I don’t read every single Tweet from @OttawaPolice—I follow this account because it’s an easy way to find out what’s going on when you see a bunch of police in a neighbourhood—so for all I know, missing persons alerts are common.
And come to think of it, I do see a few here and there, but mostly it’s mostly elderly people who wandered off or kids abducted by a non-custodial parent.
I don’t want to sound dismissive. These cases matter, these people matter. But there’s usually an obvious reason explaining the “gone missing” part—dementia, a bitter divorce. The general public is asked to keep an eye out for these people and there are usually located fairly quickly, or at least I hope so.
Other cases automatically lead to assuming the worst. The number of missing indigenous girls and women in Canada is disproportionally high, and murders and suspicious deaths account for a large number of cases. They don’t get much attention and media coverage. It’s only in 2021 that the RCMP tried, at the national level, to identify how many First Nations, Inuit or Métis women and girls have been murdered or have gone missing.
I have to admit I find missing persons cases fascinating—unless they turn into crime, then I’m out.
Missing persons cases are relatable and intriguing to me for several reasons.
First, I’m pretty sure that one the road, I bumped into a few people who may have been reporting missing back home. Not like “wanted” missing but “packed up and never looked back” kind of missing. Back in the early 2000s, you could safely hide in some corners of Guatemala, Nicaragua or Honduras and live a new life disconnected from the world as the local, friendly gringo. I also met quite a few young Israelis who had deserted mandatory military service, plus an alarmingly high number of young Japanese who simply couldn’t take one more day of “salaryman” culture and had picked running away over killing themselves.
Second, it did cross my mind a few times that going missing sounds… well, tempting. It’s a bit like a call of the void situation—this feeling you get when you stand in a high place and think about jumping, but don’t actually want to and don’t actually do it. I wouldn’t actually go missing, I like my current life and I wouldn’t want to hurt people who love me. But alone in places far, far away, it did cross my mind that I could in theory just stop all communication and vanish into thin air just because I can. Obviously, staying missing is a whole different story…
… which brings me to the last point, going missing feels like a very antinomic situation—it’s both a big place and a small world out there, where it’s easy to vanish but where transactions, trips and access are recorded by banks, hotels, border control officials, airlines and security cameras and oh yeah, maybe vaccine passes. Leaving may look deceivingly easy, but staying missing is probably harder than it seems, starting with the fact that you don’t just “slip into a new life” like millions of immigrants around the world will tell you.
Going “fuck it” and checking into a hotel room for a few days or starting the car and driving far, far away is probably more common than it sounds—come on, haven’t you dreamed about it as well when life is too demanding or when it feels like another day in your routine is just too much? But by the time law enforcement and media get involved, I still think staying missing requires at the very least a plan because if you’re spending money, using your phone and showing your ID, you will be found. At least that’s what I’m assuming, who knows…
Still, I find these cases intriguing.
One of the missing men was located after I drafted this article earlier this week.
Brett O’Grady and Gordon Korac are still missing. If you have any info, contact the Ottawa Police Missing Persons Unit at (613) 236-1222 extension 7300.
I hope they will be found safe and sound.
Amen to the last sentence! In my head missing person often leads to murder, not running away for their life. But once, I think 15 years ago, a well-known Indonesian singer was reported missing (she was at the airport, the gone) just like movie, later on police found her hundreds km away from Jakarta she was hiding, having a bit depression with her divorce, surely she needed a break.
I like to think Canada is overall a pretty safe place, even though bad things happen as well. I hope these two cases have a happy ending… (and I hope you’re doing well! Long time no see! Are things getter better in Indonesia?)
ah thanks for asking! I think things surely better, WHO has recognized our country to have the most vaccinated population (but since we are a LARGE country, is still long way to go I guess, at least in major cities, the number of vaccinated people gets higher). kids are going back to school (literally) mostly on bi or weekly basis in big cities.
Bali has opened its border, some countries have allow vaccinated Indonesian traveler without quarantine. But when we traveled back to Indonesia, 3-day-quarantine is still mandatory (but it is shorter than previous one 0f 8 days).
Phew, it’s good to hear that the region is doing better. I can imagine vaccinating a large population (and very spread out) is a challenge, but it’s good news overall. From what you’re explaining, I’m guessing the country is in a better place than at the same time last year 🙂
« Si à 50 ans, t’as pas ta Rolex, t’as raté ta vie »
It’s from Jacques Attali, i think, to justify the grossness of this raclure of Sarkozy.
.And i think it’s a possible cause of these men missing. We live in a culture that strongly suggests that the world belongs to white men, and when arrives the 40s, these.men, who did everything like they were told to do to achieve happiness, like having a wife, a good job, 1,8 child, a house and so on, discover their life is crappy and it’s almost too late for them to change anything.
The appeal of disappearing could rise then, especially since the culture in which they have been risen consider that men who need mental healthcare are losers.
It’s a mix of patriarcal pressure and toxic masculinity. I’ve heard not that long ago (not about me, and it was like 10 years ago), that it was anormal, heavily implied in a bad way, that a man in his 30’s or 40’s didn’t have a family, as if he was some kind of pervert.
Feng had a perspective very similar to yours when I told him about these cases. It was interesting because as a woman, my initial reaction (i.e. why people can choose to leave, if this is what happened here) is different. It was a good reminder to see the other side of the struggle.
Et la phrase mythique est toujours en cours dans ma famille (de sans Rolex, ça va sans dire).
Indeed. When we see a teenager or young woman disappear, there is probably a crime committed most of the time. When it’s a white man in his 30s or older, unless he is linked to organized crime, it’s almost certain he is not victim of a crime. And unfortunately sometimes he is the perpetrator of a crime like we saw recently in Québec.
The most chilling part as I was writing this article was digging into missing indigenous women cases… it’s like nobody cares 🙁
The report about them acknowledges the disinterest toward them is akin to a genocide. It gave the vapors to right-wingers, but it’s pretty accurate.
It would be challenging at least as nowadays everything is being tracked and leaves a trail. However, there are ways, if planned in advance and CERTAIN people can be kept in the dark forever or can at least have a really hard time to locate anyone who want themselves to appear as missing. Starting with a legal change of name and a requirement for that not to be disclosed would cover a lot of traces.
I’ve always been intrigued by famous cases, in particular the case of Jim Thompson who went missing in the Malaysian jungle or the infamous Lord Lucan also back in the 70’s who was only declared dead a few years ago, though never found. The case of the Australian baby snatched by a dingo was also strange to say the least.
Oh, the Australian baby is one of the most strangest mysteries I know! Now I’m curious about the Jim Thompson case… the “getting lost in the jungle” reminds me the case of the two Dutch backpackers in Panama (this one is weird too!).
I feel for relatives of missing persons. I think the term is “ambiguious grieving” because you just don’t know what happened. Did they leave? Did they choose to end it? Was a crime committed? Not knowing is the worst.