Decades later, family renews search for 17-year

Decades later, family renews search for 17-year-old who went missing in woods

Patrick Paddon disappeared on Nov. 29, 1969 outside Truro, N.S.

Patrick Paddon was 17 years old when he disappeared on Nov. 29, 1969 in the woods outside Truro, N.S.

Nearly 57 years later, his niece Nicole Balcom is still looking for him.

On the day he went missing, Patrick was hunting with his father and uncle. The teen didn’t arrive at the cabin where the three had planned to meet, and his family never saw him again.

“The older generation of our family kind of deals with it as, ‘Okay, he died in the woods. That's the end of the story,’" said Balcom during an interview.

She has known the story of her missing uncle since she was young. But in recent years, she hasn’t felt the same sense of closure as many of her family members.

“There could be answers,” she said.

According to a 1969 newspaper report in the Moncton Transcript, police, forest rangers and volunteers searched 28 square miles of the woods where Patrick went missing, but didn’t find him.

On Saturday, Balcom was part of another effort to find her uncle. The new search party was organized by Please Bring Me Home, a group based in Owen Sound, Ont., whose mission is to locate missing persons across Canada.

The group has also organized two public searches for Jack and Lilly Sullivan, the young siblings from Lansdowne Station, N.S., who went missing on May 2, 2025. Those searches drew several dozen volunteers, among them Robert O'Neill.

O'Neill was back in the woods on Saturday to help search for Patrick.

"Everybody deserves answers for their loved ones," said O'Neill. "There's not a better feeling for me than for me to get out … and be able to attempt to find the answers for the families."

In a written statement last week, the RCMP said it is not involved in the recent search for Patrick Paddon but that it does have an open missing person file associated with him.

Rin Heimerle is a volunteer for Please Bring Me Home who also took part in the search on Saturday.

“We wanna spend the time and give the resources to cases that need the resources,” she said. “I think that's more important to us than anything.”

According to a poster circulated by the RCMP, Patrick was carrying a .303 Lee Enfield Mark III rifle, a silver pocket watch, a knife, a compass and a signet ring with the letter P in silver when he disappeared.

None of his possessions have ever been found to Balcom’s knowledge. None were found on Saturday.

O’Neill says the group hopes to search roughly 2.9 square kilometers of the woods, and got through a small fraction of that on Saturday.

“It's going to be slow and tedious to clear this area here,” said O’Neill. “Depending on the time and the amount of searches we can do in here, it may take years.”

Balcom says the Saturday search will be their only one this year as hunting season draws near, but she says the group will return to the woods next spring.

Province will keep covering RCMP critical response for most municipal police

A look inside Atlantic Canada's life-saving helicopters

Bank of Canada governor says Atlantic Canada is less exposed to U.S. tariffs

'We need real action': Experts warn that new measures required to prevent flooding

‘Accommodation deserts’ a main tourism gap in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley

Ben Dornan is a reporter for CBC Nova Scotia based in Halifax. You can get in contact with him via email at ben.dornan@cbc.ca.