Son scours province for missing dad

Michael Mateyshin has launched a boat into at least 12 sloughs, where he drops two ropes — one attached to a magnet, the other to an anchor — into the water, hoping something would hook the car his father drove before he disappeared last month.

Mateyshin, 45, has been on the road almost every day since his father, 84-year-old Victor Mateyshin, was reported missing on Sept. 22. He figures he’s now driven between 3,000 and 4,000 kilometres on central Saskatchewan rural roads.

"It’s the old man, so I have to put the miles on," Mateyshin said Tuesday at his home in Dana, a community of a few dozen people.

Wet snow whipped around Mateyshin’s house — a converted general store — as he sat inside at his dining room table, talking about the search that’s consumed his life for almost six weeks. The change in weather adds to the anxiety, he said.

"I have to do everything in the sloughs before it freezes up, then back to the ground search," Mateyshin said. "I just want to find him, one way or another."

On his well-worn map of Saskatchewan, Mateyshin has highlighted an area that stretches from Saskatoon to Melfort between Humboldt and Prince Albert — a neon-yellow rhombus that marks the areas Mateyshin has searched.

He covers the rural roads in his gold 1989 GMC truck. On the sloughs, Mateyshin uses a depth finder and fish finder with his anchor and magnet rig, but he hasn’t found one clue indicating Victor’s location.

He even tried a psychic, who claimed Victor had slid off the road into trees. Mateyshin phoned the psychic "for a different groove on things," but the directions he got over the phone led to nothing new.

Victor was last seen Sept. 16 between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., about 16 km north of Dana, which is about 40 km northwest of Humboldt.

RCMP and local volunteers spent about a week searching — on the ground and in the air — abandoned areas, trails, bluffs and any spots not visible from roads for Victor or his 2005 white Crown Victoria four-door car.

"Everybody’s been willing to help," Mateyshin said. "The phone doesn’t stop ringing. It’s been good to have support. It really helps."

Victor was in good health when he disappeared and had no known illnesses. There has been no activity on his credit or debits cards since he disappeared.

Victor was driving alone when he was last seen. The car’s body style is the same as a police vehicle and bears the Saskatchewan licence plate 432HJQ.

To go missing like this is highly out of character for Victor, his son said.

"It’s a terrible mystery," Mateyshin said. "I don’t know what the heck is happening. It’s a total disappearing act."

RCMP in Prince Albert and Colonsay are following tips from the public, including a possible sighting in Prince Albert, said RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Paul Dawson.

Investigators are trying to confirm Victor’s appearance in P.A., but so far have not made any conclusions, Dawson said.

Mateyshin said Victor might have been in Prince Albert on Sept. 18, two days after he was last seen.

Some big-game butchers from the Dana area were heading north for a job and stopped at Wal-Mart in Prince Albert. They believe they saw Victor, but didn’t speak to him, Mateyshin said.

Because the run-in happened before Victor was reported missing, no one in the group reported the sighting until they got home a week later.

Mateyshin said RCMP are studying surveillance footage to determine if Victor visited the Wal-Mart.

"We need 100 per cent confirmation before they put everything into gear for a search," he said. "If I can get a piece of information about him in P.A., I’ll comb every inch of that place."

Victor’s presence in P.A. is entirely plausible, Mateyshin said.

"He would go up to P.A., no problem," Mateyshin said. "He likes going to the casino and playing the slots. He’s retired, so that’s how he’d like to spend his time."

Victor spends a lot of time on the road, travelling to farm auctions, visiting friends or volunteering. He’s married, but has been "separated for years," Mateyshin said.

Victor has lived in Dana for the past 20 years. He was raised on a nearby farm, but left to fight in the army at 18. Later, he taught at schools in Rosthern, Yellow Creek and Rabbit Lake, among other stops, before moving back home.

"He was be-bopping all over the province," Mateyshin said of his father’s work history.

Two days before Victor went missing, the two men had coffee, as they had done since Mateyshin moved to Dana 10 years ago.

Mateyshin knew something was wrong when he went to visit Victor and found his father’s dog, Brutus, at home without food. The dog went everywhere with Victor, Mateyshin said.

He doesn’t believe foul play was involved in Victor’s disappearance, although he noted his father has picked up hitchhikers.

"I figure he must have hit a dead end or took a wrong turn somewhere or fallen asleep at the wheel," Mateyshin said. "It’s a needle in a haystack. Hopefully we get to the bottom of it. It’s one day at a time for now."