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Laflemme, Rene 5-30-1981 Canada; Ontario
Topic Started: May 30 2009, 05:56 AM (434 Views)
Ell
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Ottawa cops take over search for missing man

Rene Laflamme's mysterious disappearance pains his family

By JON WILLING

The Ottawa Sun






There was nothing particularly unexpected about Rene Laflamme's plans to hitchhike from Ottawa to Montreal.

By then he was a man of the road with enough savvy to cajole a lift anywhere in Canada. He carried a sticker-clad brown suitcase when he thumbed his rides, knowing it was all the marketing he needed for drivers to pull over and help the carefree 20-something.

So that day, May 30, 1981, his older sister Coreen D'Angelo didn't think twice about dropping Laflamme and his suitcase off at the Innes Rd. ramp to Hwy. 417. She stopped her gold 1980 Chevy Citation on the shoulder of the ramp and Laflamme got out the passenger side.

"Bye Barney. Hope you get a ride soon," D'Angelo told her kid brother.

It was the last time anyone from the family saw Laflamme. No one really knows exactly how he got to Montreal, where he was planning to pick up a welfare cheque before finding a way to Vancouver to live with his girlfriend. A friend spotted him on Montreal's metro system not long after he parted ways with his sister in Ottawa.

Then he vanished.

D'Angelo, now 64, still goes over that Innes Rd. drop-off in her head.

"I don't know how many times I travelled that highway afterwards looking for something, somewhere," she says at her home in west Ottawa.

"Every Christmas we wanted Barney to walk through the door."

"Barney" was what family and friends called Rene Bernard Laflamme, one of six siblings who grew up just outside Quebec City. Their mother, Joan, moved to Ottawa in the mid-'70s after her husband died and Laflamme decided to also make the move to Ontario.

Laflamme's time in the capital was short-lived. He took his life on the road and eventually settled in Montreal, but even with his transient nature, Laflamme always found time to phone his mother. It didn't matter if he was asking to borrow some cash. That phone call let his family know he was alive and well.

"He was a mixed-up kid because he was 14 when dad died and he just travelled around a bit and would come back and go," D'Angelo says, describing a "grey area" for relatives who didn't know if Laflamme was involved with drugs.

The regular call home, or the lack thereof that spring of 1981, was what tipped off Laflamme's family that something was amiss. Laflamme was supposed to be staying with a guy in Montreal, but he claimed to have no knowledge of Laflamme's whereabouts. Instead, the man gave Laflamme's family a picture of Laflamme taken that week. For some reason Laflamme sported a perm, something that was strange for a young man who kept his hair long and straight.

Relatives reported Laflamme missing to Ottawa police, who directed the family to Montreal police since he was apparently last seen there. Some time later, police told D'Angelo they had no record of the missing persons report after she asked about the status of the case. From there, D'Angelo sent letters to anyone who could help bring Laflamme home: RCMP, MPs and even the television show Unsolved Mysteries, which in a typed reply declined to air a segment on Laflamme's disappearance.

The case has come full circle with Ottawa police taking carriage of Laflamme's missing person file, one of the city's nearly 30 cold case disappearances. The family is relieved there has been a detective assigned to the cold case, and although relatives aren't optimistic about a positive outcome, it comforts them to know the file is receiving some attention.

Seeing Laflamme's case posted on the Ottawa police and Ontario Missing Adults websites, along with his name entered in a cross-Canada police database, has lifted their spirits. Police have told D'Angelo they might ask for her DNA to see if there are matches to any unidentified bodies.

EMOTIONAL PAIN

There has been no evidence pointing to Laflamme's death, although there's nothing suggesting he's alive, either. A cushion of nearly three decades hasn't softened the emotional pain carried by D'Angelo, who can't even watch a missing persons report on the news without thinking of her brother. She often loses sleep over it.

"It still bothers you right to your core," she says. "After all these years you think you'd become immune to that. But I can sit on the couch after seeing something like that and ball my eyes out because there's still part of you that wants to know he's okay. But I'm positive he's gone."

Laflamme, who would be 52 today, left an impression on one nephew who looked up to his cool Uncle Barney. David Horbath remembers visiting his "idol" Laflamme in Montreal and playing with tools while working on small projects. Horbath would later became a contractor.

'HARD TO BELIEVE'

"This many years later it's hard to believe there's any hope, really. He was one of those people who called," Horbath says. "I loved him. It's sad the way that things happened."

What deeply saddens the family is that Laflamme's mother died in November 1995 without ever saying goodbye to her first-born son.

"When she was sick in the hospital, I told her to let me know, give me a sign, if he's up there," D'Angelo says.

Joan Laflamme was buried in Pinecrest Cemetery in a plot designed for two. D'Angelo says the extra space is reserved for the worst-case scenario.

"If we ever find Barney, we'll put him next to mom."

JON.WILLING@SUNMEDIA.CA

---

PROFILE OF A MISSING MAN

LAFLAMME, Rene Bernard 'Barney'

- Case: ON-MM-1981-05-01214

- Date of disappearance: May 31, 1981

- Location of disappearance: Ottawa

- Age at disappearance: 24 years

- Date of birth: April 12, 1957

- Height (estimate): 171 cm (5-foot-7)

- Weight (estimate): 68-69 kg (149-152 lbs)

- Hair colour: Black, worn shoulder length, recently permed

- Eye colour: Brown

- Gender: Male

- Race: Caucasian

- Dental information: Teeth in poor condition

- Medical Information: Unknown

- Notable identifiers:

Facial hair: Moustache

Leg: Scar from a stab wound

Build: Medium

- Clothing/Jewelry:

Shirt -- checkered

-- Source: missingadults.ca


http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/05...624151-sun.html
Ell

Only after the last tree has been
cut down;
Only after the last fish has been
caught;
Only after the last river has been
poisoned;
Only then will you realize
that money cannot be eaten.
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Ell
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Ell

Only after the last tree has been
cut down;
Only after the last fish has been
caught;
Only after the last river has been
poisoned;
Only then will you realize
that money cannot be eaten.
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Ell
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Date Of Disappearance : 31 May 1981
Additional Images
Location Of Disappearance : Ottawa, Ontario
Age At Disappearance : 24 years
Date Of Birth : 12 April 1957
Height (estimate) : 171 cm (5'7")
Weight (estimate) : 68 - 69 kg (149 - 152 lbs)
Hair Colour : Black
- worn shoulder length, recently permed
Eye Colour : Brown
Gender : Male
Race : Caucasian

Dental Information : Teeth - poor condition
Medical Information : Unknown
Notable Identifiers : Facial hair - moustache
Leg - scar from a stab wound
Build – medium


Clothing/Jewelry : Shirt - checkered
Other Personal Items : Unknown
Additional Information : Rene was last seen in Montreal, Quebec on May 29th, but was expected to return to Ottawa by the 31st. He had planned to travel out West to visit with a girlfriend who had recently moved to B.C. Rene arranged to leave with a friend on the 31st so that he could get a ride part way.

Rene was very close to his family. Even when he left town for short periods of time, he always remained in contact with his mother. He did not return to Ottawa as scheduled and has not been heard from since May 29, 1981.


Contact : Ottawa Police Service – Adult Missing Persons Unit
613-236-1222 Ext. 3726
Case 81-176665

OR

Crime Stoppers 613-233-TIPS (8477) or
Toll-free at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477)
Source Links : Ottawa Police Service
Laflamme family website
http://www.missingadults.ca/viewMAcase.php...At=10&CurCase=1
Ell

Only after the last tree has been
cut down;
Only after the last fish has been
caught;
Only after the last river has been
poisoned;
Only then will you realize
that money cannot be eaten.
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Ell
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Heart of Gold
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Rene "Barney" Laflamme born April 12th, 1957, missing since May 29th, 1981.

"Barney" frequently hitch hiked between Montreal (where he lived), Quebec City and Ottawa to visit with family and friends. The weekend of his disapearance he left Ottawa for Montreal and was expected back in Ottawa the 31st of May. He was last seen in Montreal that weekend by a friend on the subway. He had recently permed his shoulder length hair and wore a checkered shirt. The Laflamme family has not seen or heard from him since.

Barney had a strong relationship with his family, especially his mother and would not have disapeared or ceased to have contact with them. The Laflamme family has always held a strong belief that something happened to Barney which has prevented his return home.

The family hopes new information can be brought to light in order to be able to continue the search for Barney.

Descriptives at time of disapearance:

Age: 24 yrs at time of disapearance
Height: 5' 7"
Weight: 150 pounds
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Dark brown/ almost black recently permed/ shoulder length
Clothing: Last seen wearing a checked shirt
Teeth: His teeth were in poor condition
Scars/ Tattoos: Scar on his leg resulting from a stab wound (not certain which leg).

For more information regarding this case please feel free to view the Ottawa Police Missing Persons Web page: http://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/serving_otta...issing_main.cfm
http://sophie.elise.wheeler.googlepages.com/home
Ell

Only after the last tree has been
cut down;
Only after the last fish has been
caught;
Only after the last river has been
poisoned;
Only then will you realize
that money cannot be eaten.
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