At a news conference today, members of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) asked the public to come forward with any information regarding the disappearance and deaths of four seniors from two Muskoka-area properties in the late 1990s.
Police believe 69-year-old Ralph Bernard Grant, 77-year-old Joan Dorothy Lawrence, 70-year-old John Leroy Crofts, and 89-year-old John James Semple were last seen alive when they resided at properties that included residences advertised as ‘retirement homes.’
One property was located at 970 Yearley Road and some resided at a farm property at 132 North Lancelot Road, west of Huntsville. Police stressed that these properties have since been sold and the current owners have no connection to the ongoing investigation.
OPP Interim Deputy Commissioner Paul Beesley, Chief Superintendent Rose DiMarco, and Detective Inspector Rob Matthews provided some new details to the public in hope they will bring people forward who have information that may help the investigation but who have not yet spoken with police.
“At the time of their disappearances, all four had one thing in common: where they lived,” said Beesley.
He issued a plea to the public. “Our goal is simply to find out what happened to these four souls. Many of us either have or will soon have parents or guardians who are reaching a certain age whose life circumstances have left them vulnerable to mental, physical or financial abuse. We need everyone to look out for them.
“We’d like to have witnesses revisit past relationships, jobs or communities… Police cannot solve these types of crimes on our own, especially those that remain unsolved for long periods of time. Police rely on citizens and witnesses to help victims, families and communities find resolution.”
Matthews, who has had a connection to the case since the beginning, provided some background information on what happened in the years prior to the investigation and the decades since.
“This missing person investigation began 21 years ago in 1998,” he said. “This investigation is about the operation of two retirement homes and a third property referred to as the farm property for the most part where elderly people were boarded.”
In 1994, the first home, called Cedar Pines Christian Retirement Home, opened in Emsdale. A second home was then opened in Sprucedale called Fern Glen Manor which was later relocated to a remote area west of Huntsville. “Prior to these homes being closed, they provided services to elderly or infirm who were estranged from their families and had no one else to care for them,” said Matthews. “The people who lived in these homes came primarily from various men’s shelters in Toronto but also from the Huntsville and Burk’s Falls area.”
The properties were owned and operated by four siblings named Kathrine, Paul, Walter and David Laan, he said, individuals who have never cooperated with the police investigation. By the mid-2000s, these properties were sold and have not been operated as retirement homes or boarding homes since then. He reiterated that the current property owners have no connection with this investigation.
In response to a later question, he said that the Laans are of interest in the investigation but would not say whether or not they are suspects. He also confirmed that they are still in Ontario and, in response to another question, affirmed that he has concerns that they are working with elderly people.
For background, Matthews offered information about prior police involvement with the property. In the fall of 1996, he was assigned to investigate a fraud and theft case at the Muskoka Christian School — the school’s treasurer had misappropriated $30,000 including cheques that had been written to Cedar Pines Christian Retirement Home as well as to herself. Charges resulted in successful prosecution.
On December 24, 1997, Matthews received a call from an administrator at a men’s shelter in Toronto who was concerned for the welfare of two men taken to Cedar Pines by one of the home’s owners. On December 25, he and another officer went to the home. They didn’t find those two men but did meet John Crofts, one of the four missing people police are now investigating. Matthews said he had significant concerns regarding the level of care the residents received and took steps over the next several months to address those issues. “Later, we received information from past residents who described their departures from these properties as escapes, leaving in the middle of the night,” he said.
On December 26, Matthews was contacted by the owner of Fern Glen Manor who said the two men were there and he was welcome to attend. Until that point, Matthews didn’t know that home even existed. On December 27 he attended with another officer, met the owner, and was provided with a tour of the facility and eventually met the two men. “They were well dressed, appeared to be well cared for, and they told me they were happy with their accommodation and that they wanted to stay,” he said.
Through the following summer, administrators from various men’s shelters in Toronto relayed information they received from past residents of the homes regarding the level of care their clients had received and it was determined that further police involvement was warranted, he added.
At about the same time, Matthews was assigned to investigate a fraud on behalf of Joan Lawrence, who some called The Cat Lady, regarding her benefits and he eventually learned that she lived on the farm property.
On September 24, 1998, he went to the farm with the Huntsville fire chief and found that Lawrence lived in a small, wooden, uninsulated garden shed located at the rear of a residence adjacent to Siding Lake. “Inside, there was a single bed piled high with clothing, there was no toilet, no running water, there was a small desk like you would find in a primary school with a desk lamp on top. There was a hole punched through the chipboard wall with an extension cord that powered the lamp and a small space heater. The floor was covered in newspaper, cat feces, urine… Joan was inside, standing in her bare feet, she wore several layers of clothing, there were too many cats to count,” Matthews recalled. She was charged $600 per month to live in that shed.
Two days after meeting Lawrence, Matthews returned with the public health inspector and discovered that she was gone and that the shed where she had lived for almost two years was completely cleared out. “We received information that she had moved off the property. We know now that Joan was moved 600 metres away to a nearby abandoned van where she lived among other derelict vehicles for another two months before she met her end on that property.”
During later questions, Matthews said he couldn’t reveal evidence to clarify what he meant by ‘met her end’ but did clarify that no bodies have been found in the case.
The shed where Joan Lawrence lived can be seen to the left in this photo (OPP)
Images of the van where Joan Lawrence last lived. It is second from the right in the row of vehicles in the bottom image. (OPP)
An aerial view of the farm with the home and Joan Lawrence’s nearby shed in the upper left, and the location of the van where she later lived near the bottom (OPP)
By 2002, the investigating team had identified 46 past residents who lived in one or more of the properties, said Matthews. He confirmed that 16 people had died with 12 of them being appropriately reported to the authorities—there were coroners’ investigations and police have no concerns about those 12 deaths.
The four remaining deaths that were not reported are the four missing individuals. “Three of these individuals had significant health issues and did not have the ability to leave these properties on their own,” said Matthews.
“I can attest that this investigation into the disappearance of these four seniors has been exhaustive, and that the file has never been closed. We have utilized significant OPP human resources and specialty services over the years,” he added. “I want to be clear that the OPP is treating this as a homicide investigation. We know the four missing people are not alive.”
Someone out there has information. There is a possibility that there are past residents or employees or witnesses who have not provided statements to police. We urge them to come forward. There is no statute of limitations on fraud or homicide in Canada.
OPP Detective Inspector Rob Matthews
Matthews added that information released in documentaries in recent years was based on information from the first six months of the investigation. “What we know now is significantly more than what was depicted in those broadcasts,” he said.
The location of the two properties and images from the farm on North Lancelot Road
Rewards for information have been posted since early 1998 for each victim and remain actively in place. Anyone with new information can call a dedicated missing persons hotline toll-free at 1-877-934-6363 (1-877-9-FINDME) in Canada only or 1-705-330-4144 from outside Canada. You can also submit information by e-mail at [email protected].
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I gave Joan a lift into town two or three times whenever she was hichiking on Hywy 11. Don’t remember the dates, but I think it would be before 1995. She seemed to be mentally and physically capable. Obviously, she must, I assume , have been living somewhere close to hyway 11. I often observed her in Huntsville shopping for food for her cats. I wish I had known the conditions under which she was living. Perhaps I could have done something to help her.
The vulnerable population make easy targets for the greedy. I remember when this case first was reported and was hoping justice would come but it appears it has not. It is clear to me that the family who owned this compound are responsible for the demise of these people in some way. It is my hope someone can come forward and not fear for their own safety and provide some clues as to what happened to these people.