09/18/11: Matthew Sloan, 26, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

Matthew Sloan

Twenty-six year old Matthew Sloan, a teacher in the Fredericton area of New Brunswick, Canada, was last seen around 12:30 a.m. on September 18, 2011 near City Hall. He had been taking part at the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival and had also been spotted near the iRock bar.

He was reported missing at 8:45 p.m. on September 18.

Sloan's friends started a Facebook page and put up posters around the city in the hopes of bringing in tips that might lead to his whereabouts.

Sloan's body was found the morning of Friday, Sept. 23 in the St. John River in downtown Fredericton, by someone walking across the Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge.



About Matthew Sloan
(Source: Excerpt from Obituary)


Born on April 27, 1985 in Fort McMurray, AB, he was the son of Stephen and Janet Sloan.

Matt was a proud graduate of the Kinesiology (Recreation) program at UNB and of the Education program at the University of Maine Presque Isle. He believed strongly in the power of recreation to enrich lives. From his early childhood, Matt played on many sports teams and, in recent years, coached a number of school and community teams. Guided by his studies and his convictions, he worked for several summers with the Fredericton District Soccer Association and as a counsellor at Camp Takajo in Naples, Maine.

Matthew was a respected supply teacher who taught mostly at Nashwaaksis Middle School, Leo Hayes High School and Bliss Carman Middle School. He was also a sports coach and greatly enjoyed music, soccer, volleyball, camping, fishing, coaching and all forms of pop culture.

Matthew is survived by his parents and grandparents, along with his brother, Eric; sister, Lauren and many other members of his family.


Case Details

Name/age: Matthew Stephen Sloan, 26
Date of Birth: 04/27/85
Hometown: Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada
Last seen: 09/17/11, downtown Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, near City Hall
Physical Description: 5’10,” 190 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes
Recovered: 09/23/11, St. John River
Investigating Agency: Detective Rodney Wadden at 506-460-2300.

02/21/11: Barrett Snyder, 24, Biloxi, MS

Barrett Snyder

Barrett Andrew Snyder, 24, was last seen in the early morning hours of Feb. 21, 2011. The Montgomery, Alabama resident was a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and had just graduated U.S. Air Force Officer Training School on Feb. 18. Three days later (2/21), Snyder was on his way to Texas, where he was assigned to begin intelligence training. On his way to Texas, he visited Biloxi, Mississippi, checking in at the Kessler Air Force Base on Feb. 21. He contacted his family that day. That was the last time they heard from him.

Snyder’s fully-clothed body was found floating face-down at the edge of a sand bar in Mississippi Sound at 11:45 a.m. on Sunday, February 27, 2011. The location was about 30 yards from the shore of Miramar Park. People walking on the beach at first thought they were seeing a dolphin; and it wasn’t until they got closer that they saw shoes and realized it was a person.

Biloxi police said there were no obvious signs of foul play.

An autopsy, performed by Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove, showed that Snyder had drowned and had likely been dead for about six days.

Donald Snyder said, "The coroner told me today that they don't believe there was any foul play and that it was probably an accidental drowning," Snyder's father said Monday night. "The police are asking some of the businesses in the area if they have cameras that might have recorded what happened ... because they don't know what happened."

Hargrove said Barrett Andrew Snyder last spoke with a friend in the early morning hours of Feb. 21 and forensic tests indicate Snyder died soon after that.

Police found Snyder’s black 2009 Subaru Legacy about 2-1/2 miles away. The car was parked in the parking lot of Venues, a nightclub on Caillavet Street, in an area where there are piers.

How Snyder reached the area where he was later found remains unclear.

"I know I'm sounding like a grandmother, but Barry, he was a very caring kind of person, and a super guy," grandmother Janet Snyder of Hollidaysburg said. "We are just all in shock, and I can't imagine what happened to him."

Police say the investigation is ongoing.


About Barrett Snyder

Barrett Snyder, a native of Altoona, Pennsylvania, is the son of Altoona optometrist Donald G. and Sandy Snyder and a 2004 graduate of Hollidaysburg Area Senior High School. Snyder played soccer in high school and later went on to play for Grove City College and then became a girls' soccer coach for Mount Aloysius College.

Snyder was living in Altoona until October when he moved to Montgomery, Alabama, and enrolled in U.S. Air Force Officer Training School.

"He delayed going to the training in Alabama so he could finish the soccer season at Mount Aloysius," Donald Snyder said. "He just loved coaching that team."

He graduated from U.S. Air Force Officer Training School on Feb. 18 during a ceremony his parents attended at the Maxwell Air Force Base.

Snyder said the Air Force is assisting with funeral arrangements, which are pending.

"This has been quite a shock for the whole family," Snyder said. "We've just been trying to make sense of it all."

If you have any information about Barrett Snyder, call the Biloxi Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division at (228) 435-6112 or Police Dispatch at (228) 392-0641.

06/29/07: Gianluigi Urso, 36, Windsor, ON, Canada

Louie Urso

On June 29, 2007, an ambitious, well-liked elementary school principal, Gianluigi "Louie" Urso, 36, made headlines in what was a baffling disappearance just before the Fourth of July weekend.

Urso's sudden disappearance was highly out of character.

Urso had been the popular principal of St. John the Baptist Catholic elementary school in Belle River, Ontario since January 2007. He had begun his teaching career in 1996 at Our Lady of Carmel, became vice-principal of Queen of Peace school in Leamington in 2000, the moved to Holy Cross in 2002. He went on to become principal of L.A. Desmarais September 2006 before he was transferred to St. John the Baptist. He was described as a passionate, dedicated educator full of fresh ideas.

"There was no limit to what Louie could do, no limit. Anything that he tackled was done absolutely the best possible way."
- Carm Casalena, friend

Urso was also a co-owner of La Cantina, a specialty food store on Cabana Road in Windsor, with his brother and served on a fundraising advisory committee for Transition to Betterness (T2B). T2B is a charity organization that improves hospital rooms to make them more comfortable for cancer patients.

Urso, who lived in LaSalle, Ontario, was last seen early in the early morning hours on Friday, June 29, in the Walkerville area of Windsor, Ontario--about 12 minutes south of Detroit.


Photo credit: Windsor Star

After his disappearance, concerned restaurant owners, community organizations, and parents from schools he had worked at, put up posters around the Windsor area seeking information.

Holy Names vice-principal Carm Casalena, who knew Urso since he was 10 years old, told the Windsor Star, "There was no limit to what Louie could do, no limit," she said Wednesday before Urso's body was found. "Anything that he tackled was done absolutely the best possible way. He was loving to everyone. He was kind. He was religious. He loved his family. He loved his children (students). He did everything he could for his kids that he taught. "

At 8:40 a.m. on July 3, a phone call about an abandoned car led police to Urso's 2006 black 4-door BMW 525. The car had been left in the parking lot of a vacant building at the corner of Mill and Sandwich streets; it was locked, the alarm system was on, and there were no signs of foul play in or around the vehicle. The car was towed away and examined by forensics officers.

The Search for Louie Urso

According to the Windsor Star, after the car was found, "about a dozen uniformed officers and plain clothes detectives from Windsor and LaSalle combed the area around Mill Street between Sandwich and the Detroit River. Mill Street Heritage Park was cordoned off by yellow police tape. A police dog was brought to the scene at 12:45 p.m. and the Windsor police boat was searching the Detroit River." Other reports indicate that police boats searched the area around around Mill Street Heritage Park on Windsor's west side.

Urso's body was found by OPP unit divers in 10 feet of the murky Detroit River off an old dock at Mill Street Heritage Park on July 4. The location was not far from where his car was found the day before.

Inspector Greg Renaud of the Windsor police major crime unit told Canada.com that the OPP arrived around 12 p.m. Wednesday to help with the search.

“We gave them a general area of where to look at,” Renaud said at the scene after the body was found. “Within 30 minutes they had located a body, down about 10 feet in the water.” (Canada.com, 7/4/07.)

Windsor police have not reported the cause of death, but said there is no indication of foul play.

On July 12, hundreds of family and friends gathered at Assumption Church for a funeral mass. Louie Urso was not married, but leaves behind 11 nieces and nephews.


Facts in this Case:

Name/age: Louis Urso, 36
Last Seen: 6/28/07, 11:30pm, South Walkerville
Recovered: 7/4/07, Detroit River near Mill Street Heritage Park
Physical Description: white male, 5'2", 145, brown eyes, closely shaved hair, goatee. Last seen wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans.
Residence: LaSalle
Investigating Agency: La Salle Police Service, 519-969-5210.
Links: Louis Urso Missing (Facebook), Principal Urso (Facebook), Legacy.com Guest Book

03/07/98: Trevor Hoheisel, 27, Chicago, IL

Trevor Hoheisel, 27, a former St. Cloud State student and member of the Army Reserves who was living in Blaine, MN, was last seen leaving a sports bar near his hotel in Chicago, IL. His body was later found in the Chicago River.

Police believe he got turned around with all the tall buildings in the area and ended up on the pier, then accidentally fell into the water while fishing his hotel key card out of his wallet.

------------------------------------
Timeline
Trevor Hoheisel went to Chicago with roommate and longtime friend Brian Erickson to watch the Minnesota Golden Gophers play in the Big Ten basketball tournament. He and Erickson had frequently traveled to Gophers' games and had tickets to see the Gophers play in the Final Four in San Antonio in the upcoming weeks.

Following the Gophers' loss, the two men took a taxi to meet up with several old friends at Dick's Last Resort, a restaurant and sports bar located a block and a half from their downtown hotel--the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers.

He was last seen leaving the bar alone at 11:30 p.m., after telling friends he was tired.

According to The Minnesota Daily, "using footage from a surveillance camera located just outside the bar, police detectives have determined that once Hoheisel left the bar, he was uncertain where the hotel was located, because it was surrounded by large buildings of the unfamiliar downtown area.The camera, which rotates 180 degrees, caught a figure that police determined to be Hoheisel standing near a pier overlooking the Chicago River at the time he was reported to have left the bar. He apparently stopped when he realized he was going the wrong way.When the camera returned to the pier, Hoheisel was nowhere to be found. Police believe once he was on the pier, Hoheisel reached in his wallet for his hotel card. Detectives told the family that he must have fumbled with the card in the rainy and slippery night and reached to grab it, causing him to lose his balance and fall into the river."

Hoheisel's body, which was found three days later by Chicago police marine unit divers, came to rest in a small isolated section off the main river just outside the bar where he was last seen. His wallet was found nearby.

The family told The Minnesota Daily that neither they nor the police suspected foul play.

About Trevor
Trevor Hohesiel was the son of Riley and Lynn Hoheisel of Howard Lake, MN. Family and friends describe him as very compassionate, accepting of others and family oriented. He was also an avid sports fan and, according to friend Bill Kinzinger, "a hard competitor" and "a team player." He coached football, loved playing baseball for the Orphans baseball team during the summer, and he and his roommate were avid fans of the Gophers basketball team, frequently following the team to games.

He graduated from Braham High School in 1988 and went off to "St. Cloud State University for three years before enlisting in the Army Reserves, where he excelled within the ranks of military intelligence."

At the time of his disappearance, Trevor Hoheisel worked for W. Houle Construction under the supervision of his cousin, Randy Houle.

Funeral services for Trevor Hoheisel were held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 14, 1998 at Church of St. Mary in Waverly, MN with Revs. William Martin and Nicholas Zimmer officiating.

Interment service was at St. Joseph's Cemetery, Pierz, Minn. with the Rev. Ken Brenny officiating.

Sources
http://old.mndaily.com/articles/1998/03/12/6207
http://www.herald-journal.com/archives/1998/stories/trevor.html
http://www.herald-journal.com/obits/1998/hoheisel0398.html

Facts of Interest in this Case
Name/age: Trevor Riley Hoheisel, 27 (from Blaine, MN)
Hometown: Howard Lake, MN (small town with population of 2,000)
Last Residence: Blaine, MN
Birthplace: Cedar, MN
Date of birth: 8/14/70
List of known residences: Cedar, Lanesboro, Moose Lake, Herman, Braham, Howard Lake, St. Cloud and Blaine, MN
College: former St. Cloud State University student
Family: parents Riley and Lynn; stepfather Bob; brother and sister-in-law, Brandon and Jennie
Physical description: no information
Last seen: 03/07/98, Dick's Last Resort Bar (425 E. Illinois Street), 11:00 pm, Chicago, IL
Hotel: Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers (301 East North Water Street)
Recovered: 03/10/98, Chicago River
Cause of death ruling: drowning
Manner of death ruling: accidental
Injuries: No signs of foul play
Blood Alcohol Content: unknown