Greater Sudbury Police desperately want to talk to a woman who spoke to a man driving Jeffrey Mason's car the day they believe Mason was murdered seven months ago.
Police confirmed at a press conference Wednesday they believe the man driving Mason's car in the early morning hours of Nov. 16, the day Mason was reported missing, to be a suspect in his death, said Insp. Susan Evans.
Mason's body was found last Thursday by two anglers near the Stobie Dam in Onaping Falls. The Stobie Dam is located between Vermilion Lake and Vermilion River.
On the day he was reported missing, police found Mason's home in Dowling burned to the ground and his car was also found burned in a laneway in Minnow Lake. Both the home and car were destroyed as a result of arson, say police.
Police have information that a woman driving a red car communicated with the man driving Mason's car at the Mac's convenience store in Chelmsford, located at the intersection of Hwy. 144 and Errington St., said Evans.
"We believe she has key information and, of course, police are very interested in talking to her," said Evans.
Evans stressed the woman is "in no way a suspect" and "did nothing wrong," but police are convinced she talked with the driver of Mason's car and can provide crucial information that would assist the investigation.
Police don't have any physical description of the woman or the car she was driving, except that it was red in colour, said Staff Sgt. Sheilah Weber, the lead investigator into Mason's murder.
They also don't know if the woman is local and that's why they have provided information to other police services across the province in the hopes she will come forward, said Weber.
Police remain convinced there are members of the public who possess important information relating to Mason's disappearance and murder and urge them to come forward, said Evans.
"We're asking the public to assist...even if they think information they might have is unimportant, let us be the judge of that," she said.
Police confirmed for the first time Wednesday they searched the area where Mason's body eventually surfaced on two occasions - once in late November about two weeks after he was reported missing and again in March.
Police have forwarded numerous items for forensic testing from Mason's home and since his body was recovered, said Evans.
It's believed Mason's car was torched before 6:50 am on Nov. 16, but police don't have a specific time on when the communication between the woman in the red car and man driving Mason's car took place.
Anyone with information about the woman driving the red car or any information on Mason's murder is asked to contact Greater Sudbury Police at 675-9171 or Crime Stoppers at 675-8477.
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