Tuesday's search for missing Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini took police away from the far western reaches of the city and closer to the residential areas near St. Charles Lake in the Moonglo area, west of Regent Street.
It has now been 10 days since Vagnini was declared missing and efforts to find him have continued unabated — but without success — since search efforts got underway Jan. 28.
Ground searches with police personnel and North Shore Search and Rescue volunteers, and aerial searches with an Ontario Provincial Police helicopter and a GSPS drone, turned up nothing in the McCharles Lake Road and Panache Lake Road areas on the western edge of the city, the location of the last confirmed sighting of the missing politician.
Today, those search efforts continued with North Shore Search and Rescue out to lend assistance to Greater Sudbury Police Service (GSPS) officers, including members of the GSPS Rural Community Response Unit.
While one group of searchers checked out nature trails behind houses on Nova Street, another group of police officers used an unmanned aerial device (drone) in an area near Moonrock Avenue where several new homes were under construction.
The airborne device was aloft for close to half an hour, thanks to extended battery life.
Officers were able to fly it over a large open rocky area, where some heavy machinery was at work clearing the land of overburden.
The drone is able to fly as high as 120 metres to survey a wider area, all the while recording everything with a high-resolution camera. The recording will be downloaded for review on a high resolution computer monitor.
“Members of our Search and Rescue Team working in collaboration with North Shore Search and Rescue will be conducting a ground and aerial search in the Moonglo neighbourhood as part of the overall search effort,” GSPS said in a news release. “There is no specific information to suggest that Michael or the vehicle may be in the area, however as part of our due diligence approximately 10 individuals (officers and NSSR volunteers) will be conducting the search with the assistance of the Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS).”
GSPS said Moonglo is an area “associated” with Vagnini in the sense that he was “regularly seen” there, GSPS spokesperson Kaitlyn Dunn said, without explaining what that means.
GSPS said search efforts on the digital side continue as well. The police service said it is “continuously in contact” with satellite radio company Sirius XM, as well as cellular service companies and banks to see if Vagnini has used any of his electronic devices, credit cards or debit cards.
“These investigative tactics have not generated any leads regarding the whereabouts of Michael Vagnini or the black 2021 Ram 1500 truck with Ontario license plate BK22178,” police said in the release.
Police are still asking the public to be on the lookout for Vagnini’s truck, particularly in public and private parking lots across the city. Residents and business owners area also asked to check all outbuildings on their property.
Anyone with information related to the whereabouts of Michael Vagnini or the vehicle is asked to contact police at 705- 675-9171 extension 2320, which is a dedicated tip line for this incident and is checked regularly by detectives in the GSPS Criminal Investigation Division.
“If you have immediate and actionable information related to the whereabouts of Michael or his vehicle, please call 9-1-1.”
A vigil for Vagnini is being held Feb. 8 as part of the Walden Winter Carnival. The vigil for Vagnini is being held Thursday, Feb. 8 from 8-8:30 p.m. in the TM Davies Community Centre upper lot, following the carnival fireworks. You can learn more about that event here.
Len Gillis is a reporter at Sudbury.com.
