Search continues for Ontario journalist missing since Monday night

BROCKVILLE, Ont. – Police have found the car belonging to a missing Ontario journalist but continue to search for the man himself.

Provincial police in Brockville, Ont., got a call Tuesday night from a resident in the township of Elizabethtown saying a vehicle matching the description of the car driven by Steve Pettibone had been found.

Const. Joel Doiron says the vehicle had been abandoned in a field off a rural road.

After confirming that it was Pettibone’s car, police began to search the rural area surrounding the vehicle.

Doiron says a canine unit, officers on ATVs and a police helicopter are part of the effort.

Pettibone was last seen at 7:30 a.m. on Monday when he left his home in Belleville, Ont., to go to work at the Brockville Recorder and Times, where he is the sports editor.

His colleagues say he never arrived.

Police say Pettibone is 39 years old, about five foot 10, has brown eyes, balding hair and a goatee.

The newspaper’s managing editor, Derek Gordanier, has written a column appealing for assistance in locating the journalist, saying the disappearance is “out of character” and has left the newsroom “incredibly concerned.”