Belleville, Ont., family still searching for answer 15 years after father’s disappearance

Sunday marked 15 years since an investigation into the strange disappearance of Belleville man Calvin Vanness was opened.

Through all these years, his family has been trying to unravel the mystery.

“He was very much a family man, old fashioned,” said his son, Travis.

This is the lasting memory of Vanness, to his children and grandchildren.

In March of 2008 the 65-year-old retired Nortel employee went off to see his brother in Arden, Ontario.

This would be the last time anyone would ever hear from him.

“I know for a fact that there’s people out there with information. We would just love an anonymous call and to be given the location of his body,” said Travis.

Travis said it wasn’t unusual for his father, an avid hunter with family and friends in northern Ontario, to go off the grid, but when nobody heard from him for a week, concern crept in and a police investigation was opened.

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All the more confusing, two weeks after his disappearance, police discovered his car at the Gardiners Road carpool lot in Kingston, a place his son said there would be no reason for him to have been in the first place.

“Somebody else drove that vehicle to Kingston and put it in the lot, he didn’t do that,” added Travis.

As the police investigation continued and no leads were found, years began to pass, and the family was forced to accept that they’d seen their father, perhaps for the last time.

It was in 2010 that the Belleville Police turned over the case to the Ontario Provincial Police.

Global News reached out to the OPP but they were unavailable for an interview.

As of last year there was still a $50,000 reward put out by police for information in the disappearance of Calvin Vanness.

“He hasn’t been forgotten, you know. it still drives us, a little batty,” added the younger Vanness.

Travis said reliving the experience every year to make public appeals for information is painful.

Despite the pain, he says, he gets by with some help from his family, and the memory of his father.

Anyone with any information regarding the disappearance of Calvin Vanness in 2008 is asked to contact the OPP.