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economist suntribune police thursday may 30 2002 search rescue no easy task cops by lisa queen staff writer three years ago yesterday 20- yearold tammy lynn lamondin- gagnon a bubbly young woman with a smile that could light up a room went missing it was only six months later york regional police publicly pieced together exactly what had hap pened to ms lamondingagnon the petite brunette was mur dered some time between 1 am and 6 am on may 29 1999 in a millard street home in stouffville investigators are confident their only suspect remains 27yearold pol claassen who committed sui cide at his familys business a week after being questioned by police about ms lamondingagnons dis appearance mr claassen and ms lamondin- gagnon spent time together at a newmarket night club and ulti mately wound up at the stouffville home of his sister who was vaca tioning with her family at the time at 6 am the morning of ms lamondingagnons disappear- ancemr claassen went to a nearby grocery store and rented an indus trial carpet cleaner three years later her remains have never been found york regional police detsgt mark tatz one of the investigators who led the search for ms lamondingagnon knows people question how officers could have failed to turn up her body for three long years at the same time police search techniques have come under scrutiny over the past week with the discovery of murdered washington intern chandra levy whose skele tal remains were found by a man walking his dog in a park where she often jogged the roughterrained park had been searched by police after ms levy had gone missing a year ago but no trace of her was found at that time on tv detective shows and in whodunit movies finding a missing person or a body is often portrayed as an easy task with officers swip ing a piece of clothing with the vic tims scent under the nose of a police german shepherd the dog takes mere minutes to track down its prey but detsgt tatz says reality is far different tv makes it look pretty easy i wish it was as easy as tv he said detsgt tatz who stressed police continue to investigate leads about ms lamondingagnon as they trickle in said investigators wish they could find her body to provide some closure for the young womans family its like each of the cases we have a number of unsolved cases theyre all important to us tammys is as important as the rest of them we would love to find her and put it to rest he said i certainly hope she is going to be found i have no problem com mitting the police resources but you tell me where to start people forget he said york is three times the geographic size of toronto and remains very rural despite years of development just look at an aerial map of york region to appreciate the diffi culties in trying to pinpoint where a murderer might deposit a body when ms lamondingagnon first went missing a witness who was trying to throw police off course suggested she was last seen at newmarkets fairy lake on tuesday morning const john loughry who was new to the job when he and other search and rescue officers hunted for evidence in ms lamondingagnons case the summer of 1999 retraced the steps he took during that painstaking search of fairy lake he demonstrated different tech niques police use in a search such as compass training land naviga tion and advanced technical med ical training police also rely on lost person characteristics depending on whether they are looking for a miss ing toddler an older child a wan dering senior with alzheimers an adult contemplating suicide or human remains officers pattern out the most likely path their victim would have taken such as the toddler who continues to ride his tricycle because he doesnt appreciate he is lost or the alzheimers patient who doesnt allow physical hurdles like deep brush to impede his path tv makes it look pretty easy i wish it was as easy as tv but it is the human element the unwitting or deliberate acts of the victim or criminal that is the most difficult piece of the puzzle to gauge the forces major crimes and missing persons unit was investi gating ms lamondingagnons dis appearance and search and rescue officers were not called in until two days after she went missing as the case moved from a young woman who hadnt come home after spending the night with friends to a more sinister vanishing staff photorob alary york regional police search and rescue offcer const ron disano front demonstrates how police separate move and push aside every inch of brush weed and grass during the painstaking task of looking for a missing person const john loughry back helps in the search although detsgt tatz and other lead investigators insp brad law and insp randy home were well trained in search and rescue techniques york regional police had no formal search and rescue unit at the time ms lamondin- gagnon went missing the unit was established about two years ago in response to an audit of the force and as a result of inquest recommendations still const loughry who also participated in searches for ms lamondingagnon in other areas of the region stressed officers had been trained in search and rescue prior to the formal establishment of the team which acts as a support unit to other departments such as homicide and missing persons in addition to search and rescue personnel officers from other units such as canine underwater recov ery regular patrol major crimes and homicide joined ms lamondingagnons family and friends and a private investigator in the hunt looking back const loughry said there is nothing search and res cue officers would have done differ ently to find her body what would i have done differ ently there isnt anything although fairy lake welcomes joggers moms and tots strolling seniors cyclists and roller bladers every day the open areas and well- used trails of the park mask the dense brush that skirts the train tracks running alongside the park and off the beaten path const loughry demonstrated how search and rescue officers stood shouldertoshoulder using a grid pattern as they spent hours looking for evidence of ms lamondingagnon each tuft of grass or dandelion patch is swept with a foot or baton to ensure small evidence is not over looked while deep brush and steep ter rain pose obvious hurdles const loughry said broken twigs or evi dence snagged on thorns can also point police in the right direction anytime anything suspicious was uncovered identification offi cers were called to investigate const loughry and detsgt tatz said search and rescue officers arent privy to whether any evi dence uncovered aided detectives in the ms lamondingagnon case although officers have to con centrate on the job const loughry insisted each search weighs heavily regardless if the victim is a child an emotionally disturbed adult or a senior with dementia youve got a job to do you pro vide the same commitment to it always its somebodys grandfather or somebodys grandmother some bodys child somebodys loved one its an important person he said the most difficult part of call ing yourself a search and rescue team is sometimes youre just a search team although const loughry said search and rescuers properly scoured each search site for evi dence he admitted he is still upset remains of the young woman have never been discovered other missing personsin york region include linda mariani of richmond hill missing since feb 15 2002 pierre mercon of richmond hill missing since oct 31 1997 anyone with information about ms lamondingagnon or any other missing person in york region is asked to callyork regional police at 9058951221 annual spring savings event 4747 hwy 7 east of kennedy unionville 905 4775524 wwwalmiracom wmmmmummamm mori wed 406 pm thursfri 109 pm saturdays 105 pm closed sunday