It has been a very tough 11 years for Rob Joly as he continues his quest to find out what happened to his son 11 years ago today.
"I feel we are going to get answers soon," said Joly.
On March 4, 2011, Joly's son, Luke Joly-Durocher, a 20-year-old from Témiscaming was in North Bay to visit with friends and was staying on Sherbrooke Street.
The friends consumed alcohol prior to going to a bar where Luke was refused entry. Luke then visited a second bar on Delaware Street where he was last seen alive. Family members reported Luke missing on March 7, 2011.
While the Ontario Provincial Police and the North Bay Police Service have continued to put hours of work into finding out what happened to Luke on that day; a private investigator from Barrie found out about the story and was compelled to help join the search.
White, who is with Pulse Private Investigations out of Barrie, and operates a podcast called Whereabouts Unknown says finding out that Rob Joly had rented a tracking dog and was seen with the dog walking through the streets of North Bay looking for Luke really touched White and her investigation team.
"That snapshot is really what captured our attention as a team," said White.
"The desperation and the sadness that we saw in Rob at that time."
See related: Police hope new video will help solve Luke Joly-Durocher disappearance
See related: Father optimistic 2020 will be the year he finds his son
While there is no more public information that can be released about the case, Joly says White along with the police services are working together along the same path.
"I can't get into too many details but Ellen White and her team has joined us this last year and things are progressing.," said Rob.
"There are some things that are unfolding. I cannot express how happy I am to have her assist us in finding Luke.'
White says she met Joly this summer during the filming of a W5 feature on the missing persons case.
From her exprerience, it is unusual for a parent like Rob Joly to be so involved.
"Rob is one of the bravest and most courageous people I have ever met," said the long-time private investigator.
"Rob is a hands-on guy. He put out his own posters and even rented his own tracking dog. He has been boots on the ground from the very beginning."
He is still doing that to this day.
"This is my son we are talking about, this is my only son," noted Rob.
"Luke was definitely taken advantage of. We know he is a victim of foul play but new information developing - it has been a long time. It has been over 10 years and at some times throughout these 10 years, the case seems to die down. Some people say it is a cold case but it is not a cold case. Just because the North Bay Police are understaffed and we are dealing all with COVID-19, I feel that it is my duty to keep the word out there; to put posters out on the highway or Tim Horton's and just keep active with it because we are not going away anytime soon here."
Joly says with all the Facebook pages out there they may not be confidential so reach out to police with tips.
"It is important that anybody with information we ask them to call the 289 975-0909 number and that your information will be taken seriously and will be passed on accordingly to what is important and what is not," said Joly.
"I think using that number has been very beneficial," noting that they have run so targeted social media ads that look like posts.
"People see the post and it gives them an avenue and they are certainly welcome to call Crime Stoppers. We usually list that in our posts."
A reward of up to $50,000.00 remains in place for anyone with information on the whereabouts of Luke. The public can call the dedicated tip line at 705-497-5555 or email [email protected] .
White hopes time has helped fear to wear off witnesses who may have been holding onto some valuable information for over a decade.
"Many years ago some may have thought they feared for their safety, and there was an incentive for them not to come forward. If they did bad things could happen to them or their families," explained White.
"We want to stress that those things were rumour, we don't think anybody has a reason to be afraid and we also want to remind people and we have had a fair amount of interest in this about that $50,000 reward."
White says this missing person case proves that this can happen to anyone.
"Luke is a reminder for us that this can really happen to any of us," said White.
"You can be wrong place and wrong time along with doing all the right things in your life - all the things 20 years old's do and be as average as they come and still cross paths with some pretty dark characters."
