June 3, 2006

Editor’s note: Two accounts of this day were preserved by our family. The first was written by my sister-in-law, who was searching with me that afternoon. The second was written by my father, Jim, and records events from his perspective. There is some overlap between the accounts, but each preserves details and memories that do not appear in the other. Names of some family members have been replaced by their relationship to the writer for privacy.

My Sister-in-Law’s Account

Mike and I headed out for another search. This time, we planned to search in the area that the Ouija board had indicated. We parked the truck and decided to enter the same area where my mother-in-law and I had encountered the sparrow two days earlier.

Lathered in fly oil and dressed from head to toe in protective clothing, we were preparing to enter the woods when we saw three searchers coming toward us, waving their arms and motioning for us to come out of the area.

Mike and I immediately wondered what they had found.

The men told us that we didn’t need to go into the woods and that they were satisfied with what they had already found. I told them that we still wanted to go in—the more they found, the better.

“No,” the searchers told us. “Nothing else can help us.”

Mike asked, “What did you find?”

All three men hesitated before answering.

“We want to know,” I said.

“A skull,” they replied.

“Oh my God. How will we tell Mum and Dad?” Mike said.

The searchers told us that what had been found should allow comparison with Reggie’s dental records. Mike seemed relieved that there might finally be a way to determine whether the remains were Reggie’s.

The searchers asked whether Mike and I wanted to tell his parents ourselves or whether we wanted someone else to do it. We decided that we would tell them.

We first went to the wharf to tell my husband, Mike’s younger brother. He had an awful look of shock on his face.

Then we drove back to the house to tell the family. Mike and my husband then headed out to the search site.

My Father’s Account

My father also wrote about these events. His account begins on Friday, the day before the skull was found, when he was trying to persuade the RCMP to search a different area.

Friday, June 2, 2006

Early Friday I went to Southampton [an office of the PEI Department of Forestry] to see if they had any better maps of the Bull Creek area. They were very cordial and helped me a great deal.

I arrived home at 11:30 a.m. There was an RCMP officer in the kitchen. He was the corporal from the Souris detachment, who turned out to be very friendly and helpful.

I had some new aerial maps on the kitchen counter and a marker pen. I made one circle on the map and put a dot inside it. I said to Corporal Reid, “You are looking in the wrong place. My son Reggie is there.”

I also drove to the site and spoke with one of the searchers. I showed him the map that I had drawn up. I had to come home before they started searching.

Saturday, June 3, 2006

Editor’s note: My father’s written account does not describe the moment when my sister-in-law and I returned after learning that a skull had been found. We drove back to the house to tell the family. My father learned of the discovery shortly afterward. The following continues his account of that day.

My younger son was out fishing and didn’t get clear until about 12:15. He was on his way to go searching with my daughter-in-law, Mike and me when, in front of him, water came up through the pavement. A water line on the wharf had broken and he had to make arrangements to get it fixed.

He figured he would be free at about 2 p.m., so we decided Mike and my daughter-in-law would go out in my truck and start searching. I would stay and go out with my younger son at 2 p.m.

Shortly after 1 p.m., the RCMP found Reggie’s skull.

I drove to the site fairly fast and pulled up beside one of the searchers I had been talking to earlier. He lives near Dundas. I started to carry on a conversation with him, but it wasn’t about finding Reggie—he was never mentioned. It lasted, I guess, about three to five minutes.

I remember saying to him, “I guess I’ll go down to the trailer and see if there are any new developments.”

He never commented.

I noticed there wasn’t much activity around the field, but I never twigged.

There were six or eight people around when I walked into the command trailer. I’m not sure if anyone said anything. I walked over and started looking at the plotter screen.

When I looked up, there were two RCMP officers standing between me and the door. The rest of the people were gone.

I don’t think either of them spoke.

All of a sudden, I looked toward the trailer door and Mike and my younger son were standing there.

I remember I spoke first.

“You found him.”

I don’t know what happened after that.

I know it was a long ride home. All our worries and efforts over the years had climaxed in a swamp out in the middle of the woods.

It was a hard blow to accept, but we live in an area where people are friendly and caring, and they came to our aid—family, friends, clergy, relatives, AA members and complete strangers. They all helped in their own separate way to cushion the blow that, down deep, we knew we would sooner or later have to face with Reggie.