'We've got to get them home': Organization continues search for missing London Ont. women
An organization who has assisted in locating 40 missing people since 2018, has its sights set on the Thames River near Cavendish Park in London, Ont.
‘Please Bring Me Home’ (PBMH) executive director Nick Oldrieve has come from Owen Sound to help try to find the remains of missing women Kathryn Bordato and Shelley Desrochers.
“The alleged perpetrator of Kathryn’s disappearance and likely murder had openly stated that he had dropped Kathryn off at this park,” said Oldrieve.
“That was the last time she was seen. There's no evidence of her whereabouts after that. We have reason to believe that this is where he had dumped Kathryn's body somewhere in Cavendish Park and more likely down towards the river.”
Volunteers with PBMH worked the river looking for evidence of remains, clothing or anything that could be tied to Bordato (who went missing in 2009) and Desrochers (missing since 2016).
The group was looking for Shelley Desrochers (L) and Kathryn Bordato (R) (Source: London Police Service/Please Bring Me Home)
London police have stated that Ronald Kevin Fangrad was dating Bordato, a 44-year-old mother of two. They say she was last seen around Riverside Drive and Wharncliffe Road.
Fangrad had ties to both women who lived “high risk lifestyles” in the sex trade.
“Ronald, he's now deceased, and he was dating Kathryn at the time that she went missing,” said Oldrieve.
The organization ‘Please Bring Me Home’ is putting up posters of Ronald Kevin Fangrad who is believed to have connections to both missing women Shelley Desrochers and Kathryn Bordato. Fangrad died in 2020. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)
“Shelley had last logged on to her social networks on his computer around the time she went missing. And that was the last evidence we have of her as well, so there is an obvious connection between the two. Is it just all coincidence? I really don't think so. I think he more likely is, involved in both of their disappearances.”
Seven volunteers joined Oldrieve Saturday in the search which started under the bridge at Wharncliffe Rd. and Riverside drive.
Among them was Roberta Kilbourne.
“I'm the lead investigator because I've known Shelley since the age of 12,” said Kilbourne. “I know Shelley and Kathryn personally because I worked for Children's Aid Society at that time. Shelley used to hang out in this area, and Kathryn was last seen here supposedly.”
Kilbourne said she was in contact with Desrochers through the years, and was devastated when she saw the billboard of Shelley on Hamilton Road in 2017.
“We’ve got to get them home,” said Kilbourne. “I'll never stop until we get them home.”
The teams split up on the north and south side of the Thames, often communicating with wireless radios.
Nick Oldrieve, executive director of search organization ‘Please Bring Me Home’ communicates via radio with one of his team members (Brent Lale/CTV News London)
They are hoping to have the same result as earlier this year when they found Eric Spencer in Georgian Bay after he was missing for five-and-a-half years.
“The hope is that we locate human remains today that end up being Shelley or Kathryn,” said Oldrieve.
“If we locate human remains, it's somebody's, so someone's going to be able to go home. Even if we clear this riverside, that's still progress for us. That means that we searched it and there was nothing here and it narrows down the locations but if we find them, it’s even better.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING RCMP alleges Indian officials in Canada connected to extortion, homicides
The RCMP is alleging Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada engaged in clandestine activities linked to serious criminal activity in this country, including homicides and extortions.
Ontario police say 'escalating incidents' between high schools connected to deadly crash
'Escalating incidents' between two Hamilton high schools are believed to be connected to a car crash last week that left a 15-year-old boy dead, police say.
Father of 10-year-old girl found dead in the U.K. called police from Pakistan to say he killed her
The father of a 10-year-old girl found dead in her home in England fled to Pakistan and called U.K. police from there to say he had killed her, a jury heard Monday.
'We apologize to anyone we've offended': Bath and Body Works pulls candles over backlash
A major American retailer has stopped selling its new winter-themed candle over backlash from shoppers who said its design resembled Ku Klux Klan hoods.
Undercooked bear meat linked to outbreak of rare parasitic disease in U.S.
An outbreak of a rare parasitic disease has been linked to undercooked bear meat eaten by dozens of people at a gathering in North Carolina, a new U.S. CDC report has revealed.
Canadian drink company tastes controversy after Simu Liu raises cultural appropriation questions
Controversy bubbled for a Canadian drink company after its founders drew the ire of a Marvel superhero on an episode of a 'Shark Tank'-style reality series.
Striking images show rare floods in the largest hot desert on Earth
Striking images from the Sahara Desert show large lakes etched into rolling sand dunes after one of the most arid, barren places in the world was hit with its first floods in decades.
NDP parodies B.C. Conservative campaign promises with McRib post
British Columbia's New Democratic Party says it is responsible for a parody social media post that has B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad promising to bring back McDonald's McRib sandwiches.
British content creator dies trying to climb Spain's highest bridge
A 26-year-old British man has died after falling from Spain's tallest bridge during an attempt to climb one of its pylons.