‘Like I was slapped in the face’: Father of missing N.S. child angered by complaints decision

Last month, Nova Scotia’s Police Review Board dismissed complaints made against the Truro Police Service (TPS) by the parents of a three-year-old boy who went missing more than three years ago.

A decision Dylan Ehler’s parents say has been devastating in their search for answers.

“I felt like I was slapped across the face,” says father Jason Ehler in a remote video interview with CTV from New Brunswick, where he now lives.

Ehler and Dylan’s mother, Ashley Brown accused TPS of failing to adequately investigate their son's disappearance.

Their three-year-old son disappeared from his grandmother's house in Truro May 6, 2020.

After days of searching, including by air, the only sign of the boy were his rubber boots found in a nearby brook.

He remains missing to this day.

In their appeal before the review board, Ehler and Brown claimed the police failed to explore - every avenue – in order to locate their son.

And even now, Ehler feels left “out of the loop” in communications with the force regarding the investigation, which is now considered an open missing persons case.

“I'm not getting what I need, that's the best way I can explain it, with the police side of communications after the hearing, but it's been the same (as) before the hearing,” he says.

Ehler says he’s searched for his son almost every day since Dylan went missing, taking countless videos showing him walking along various waterways and beaches, looking for signs.

Brown declined an interview with CTV, but did express disappointment in the outcome.

In its July 17 decision, the Nova Scotia Police Review board said “The Board appreciates the concern, sadness, and disappointment the complainants have with the way things turned out in relation to the search for Dylan. There is always room to second-guess decisions made at the time.”

But in the end, the board concluded “We are satisfied that TPS acted reasonably in initially responding to the report of a missing child and in the subsequent actions investigating."

But Ehler says there are still too many inconsistencies.

One sticking point for him – a video he took of a cadaver dog brought to the scene by the volunteer Nova Scotia K9 Rescue in September 11, 2020, a group the parents wanted to be involved.

Video of the dog taken by Ehler and shared with CTV show the dog pawing at a large pool of water on the muddy banks.

In its decision, the Board acknowledges the dog’s trainer, Doug Teeft, was not called to give evidence. But it also says it is satisfied with the decision made by the TPS not to call in any outside K9 assistance, and “no evidence to suggest that TPS should have used a cadaver dog at the Salmon River.”

It’s just one issue Ehler says is driving him to explore whether he can appeal the Board’s decision.

“Moving forward, we’re going to appeal their decision,” he says, “I can’t afford $7000 for a lawyer, so I will fight them by myself.”

In his search for answers, Ehler has enlisted the help of retired RCMP New Brunswick officer Gilles Blinn.

Blinn has agreed to look at the details of the case and help with Ehler’s searches.

The former RCMP staff sergeant tells CTV that as a father himself, he feels compelled to do what he can.

“This family, they’re going through a hard time. I’ve never lost a child but I can just imagine the pain and suffering they’re going through, as well as the officers that tried their best,” he says.

“There are a lot of emotions here, understandably…they’re grieving the loss of a child and the worst thing is losing a child but then not being able to find that child,” he adds.

CTV requested an interview with TPS Chief Dave MacNeil to talk about the review board’s decision, and Ehler’s assertion about the cadaver dog, but he declined the request.

Instead, the TPS only wrote in a statement “The Truro Police Service participated fully in the Nova Scotia Police Complaints Commission Review Board process. The Review Board carefully considered all the evidence and documentation presented at the hearing, and we respect their decision in this matter.”

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