AMPS MISSING PERSON UPDATE – APRIL 3, 2023
MEDIA RELEASE
MISSING PERSON- UPDATE: April 3, 2023
The Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service (AMPS) continues to seek the public’s assistance in locating missing person Casey Oakes, age 30, of Akwesasne. He was last seen boarding a boat on Wednesday, March 29 and was reported missing on Thursday, March 30, 2023.
At this time police have no new information to share.
Tomorrow, (April 4, 2023) the search will continue with the assistance of our partners:
- AMPS, HAVFD, RCMP, and OPP Marine units will continue to search waterways of the Snye Channel;
- SQ Zodiak marine patrol;
- SQ divers will return to search;
- SQ Air Support will be utilized;
- OPP K9 and ERT will be attending to conduct a dryland search
Please avoid the search areas and command post at this time.
The following information has been previously provided:
Casey Oakes, age 30, was reported missing on Thursday, March 30, 2023. He was last seen Wednesday, March 29, 2023, at approximately 9:30 p.m., boarding a small, light blue coloured vessel departing from the East end of Cornwall Island.
He was wearing a black vest, snow pants, black face mask and a black toque.
The local waterways are continuing to be searched. Police estimate that there are eight kilometres of waterway to search. Searchers include members from Akwesasne Mohawk Police marine unit, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Marine unit, Ontario Provincial Police air support, divers from the Sûreté du Quebec and the Hogansburg Akwesasne Volunteer Fire Department.
During the search, police located and spoke to a local male inside a cabin on St. Regis Island, Akwesasne, QC. At this time, police cannot connect the male to be related to our investigation. A vessel matching the description as being operated by Casey Oakes was located near the location of eight deceased persons (see previous releases).. It was removed by police and placed in secure storage for further processing. Clothing articles that have been identified as belonging to Casey Oakes have also been located.
Police will continue the search and request that the public and the media stay away from the search and command post area.
If you have any information to assist with the investigation, please contact Akwesasne Mohawk Police at 613-575-2340. If you wish to provide information that would help investigators and would like to remain anonymous, call the Seaway Valley Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or submit a TIP online at seawayvalleycrimestoppers.ca
It is important to note that a public request for information is not the first step in all missing persons’ cases; if police can investigate and locate the missing individual while maintaining that person’s privacy, it is the preferred outcome. In some cases, taking the additional step of notifying the public and media and asking for their help is necessary. That may happen very quickly in an investigation, or it may be a step that is taken later when all other investigative avenues have been exhausted.
040323-AMPS-Media-release-Missing-Person-Update-for-April-3-2023