A Cape Breton family is starting to lose hope after police called off the search for a missing man, five days after he disappeared.
Kenneth Douglas MacNeil, 50, of Leitches Creek, N.S. was last seen at his trailer on Wednesday. His family has not seen or heard from him since.
“The dog came up here to my brother’s door at 12:30 in the night and when he went back down to see why he let the dog out, there was nobody there,” says MacNeil’s sister, Rose MacIsaac. “The lights and TV were on but he wasn’t there.”
MacIsaac admits she is starting to wonder if she will ever see her brother again.
“They said it’s not looking good right now. If he is in that woods, he’s only got a pair of shorts, green flowered shorts and a grey T-shirt on and his slippers,” she says.
“I haven’t been sleeping good the last couple of nights because I think of him lying out today in the rain,” says his brother, Neil MacNeil. “You just don’t know his frame of mind or where he’s at. It’s not knowing, really.”
MacNeil was recently released from hospital and has been suffering from health issues but his family says he isn’t known to wander off. Neil says, while the police have ended their search, he’s going to keep looking for his brother.
“I went all through down to the next trailer and beyond. It goes from really thick brush to 20 to 30 feet drop-offs. It’s pretty rough,” he says.
“For better or for worse, just find him,” says MacIsaac. “If it isn’t good, at least you got closure. This way, here, everything is still wide open and you don’t know anything. It’s like the whole family is being held hostage.”
Cape Breton Regional Police say the case will be handed over to their major crime unit for further investigation.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Kyle Moore
