Some Answers from the Cold Squad
When I started writing "When Terry Went Missing", I decided to contact the Cold Squad in Regina to get some clarity on a
few matters. They were helpful to an extent, but they took a very long time in
responding and they didn’t have answers for all of my questions.
Excerpts from Email from the Regina Cold Squad:
Re: Terence Sagal
From: Yum, Alex
2016-07-13
Hello Loretta,
I hope all is well with you and thank you for your patience
on this matter.
In answer to your questions:
Did the Regina Police conduct a search within the city?
From my review of the reports a search of the city was done
in an attempt to confirm the places Terence had stated he would be attending to
prior to leaving his residence the morning of December 18, 2001 – gas station
to purchase fuel, convenience store to buy chocolate, liquor store, and grocery
store to buy ingredients for a cake.
Though Terence’s vehicle wasn’t recovered by police until December
20, 2001 it was observed abandoned in rural Saskatchewan the afternoon of
December 18, 2001.
Did the Regina Police search Terry’s home?
Nothing in the reports I read stated whether or not there
was a search of Terence’s home
Can we get a summary of the meeting I and my husband had with RPS on December
23?
I cannot find a report which documents this meeting.
Best Regards,
Alex
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I had sent my questions to the Cold Squad, I had mostly wanted to know how easy it is for a person to voluntarily go missing. They didn’t answer that question, but there is useful information available on the internet from the Canadian Centre for Information on Missing Adults:
It
is not a crime for an adult to go missing.
It is not a crime for an adult to sever all
contacts and voluntarily walk away from her/his life to start over elsewhere.
As a result, police have the difficult job of balancing the missing adult’s
right to privacy with finding out the reasons for the disappearance.
In some cases, the person no longer wishes to
remain in contact with her/his loved ones. When this happens, police have to
respect the missing person’s decision. In most cases, the searching family is
notified that the missing person has been located but no further details are
shared without the missing person’s consent.
So if Terry did go
missing voluntarily, someone would have been informed. As far as I know, no one
in our family has been informed.
