Almost 10 months after Autumn Shaganash was reported missing, Barrie police have partnered with an advertising company to post signs on Barrie Transit buses and billboards around the city in an effort to locate the now 27-year-old woman.
Shaganash's family reported her missing on June 12, 2023.
More recently, on Feb. 8, Police Chief Rich Johnston announced on behalf of the Barrie Police Services Board that a $50,000 reward had been approved for information confirming the her whereabouts.
“The hope of reuniting Autumn with her family remains the primary focus of detectives from the service’s major crime unit, who have actively been investigating her disappearance,” Barrie police communications co-ordinator Peter Leon said during a news conference this morning outside Barrie Police Headquarters on Fairview Road.
In what is being called an investigative first for Barrie police, which began on April 1 and continues for the entire month, five Barrie Transit buses are carrying a message to "all corners of the city" reminding residents and transit users that the investigation into Autumn’s disappearance remains active, ongoing and that Barrie police are using all available means to reunite her with her family, Leon said.
In addition to the buses, four digital billboards in Barrie will also carry a message which police hope will generate tips from the public that could bring resolution to the investigation which has “stymied detectives” for over nine months, police say.
“The Barrie Police Service wishes to acknowledge the incredible support of the community in this ongoing investigation, Barrie Transit, and the partnership with Pattison Outdoor Advertising who are responsible for the transit posters and billboards depicting Autumn’s image,” Leon added.
Following seven months of mystery surrounding Shaganash's disappearance after she left a home in Barrie in June 2023, her family hired a private investigator to work independently of local police.
Shaganash, who was 26 at the time of her disappearance, was last seen leaving a home in the Allandale neighbourhood near Burton Avenue and Frank’s Way, on the night of June 9, 2023. She was wearing a black hoodie, shorts and Puma sandals, and was carrying a black and tan purse.
Police say she was making her way to the city waterfront to watch the Barrie Air Show with a male friend who was walking slightly ahead of her when she vanished. At the same time, a walk for ALS fundraising event was taking place in Sunnidale Park.
Police have made public appeals for surveillance video and any potential witnesses who may have seen Shaganash on that day to come forward.
A missing person investigation was launched on June 12, when local police were notified of her disappearance.
At that time, Leon told BarrieToday that one of Shaganash’s family members received a text message from her on June 10, but noted she was unreachable after that.
Between 9:30 a.m and 9:45 a.m. that day, a text message was received from Shaganash asking to be picked up. Only three minutes had passed when her sister, Lili-Anne Moore, tried to respond to the message; Shaganash's phone went to voicemail and appeared to have been turned off, according to police.
Leon said it appeared from investigative resources that are available to police that Shaganash had “vanished into thin air,” adding her social media activity had ceased following her disappearance.
Investigators “pinged her cellphone” — a method of determining the estimated current location of a cellphone by using GPS data or by using cell-tower triangulation — and she was last pinged in the Kozlov Street area, which is where she was last seen, in Sunnidale Park.
Sunnidale Park has been searched numerous times by police drones and canine search teams since her disappearance, but to no avail.
Moore said in a recent interview with BarrieToday that she and her family remained hopeful her sister will be returned safe to them one day.
“We really miss her. She was like a second mom to my girls. She loved them very much and she would never run away from us. She was always in contact with family (and) if she went out, she would text us,” Moore said.
“This is very out of character. Something happened and someone has her. I just hope she’s found safe and alive," More added.
Anyone who has information is asked to call the Barrie Police Service Major Crime Unit at 705-725-7025, ext. 2160.
