The Lost Boys of Lake Ontario
On March 17, 1995, six teenage boys went missing after leaving a party and heading to Lake Ontario for a night of “goofing around.”
The group consisted of Jay Boyle (17) and Chad Smith (18) of Pickering, Robbie Rumboldt (17) of Pickering, Jamie Lefebvre (17) of Scarborough, Michael Cummins (17) of Oshawa, and Danny Higgins (16) of Ajax.
On March 16, 1995, the boys were at a party held in Pickering, Ontario. At around 12:50 AM the following day, six teenagers, Jay, Michael, Jamie, Danny, Robbie, and Chad, left the party, telling others they were going to the marina to “goof around.”
According to Monique Vavala, Jay’s girlfriend at the time, Jay called her at 1:30 AM to say he was planning to go on a joyride on a water tricycle, but she convinced him not to go and he promised to come to her apartment with Robbie and Michael. However, he never arrived and was not seen again.
Vavala also revealed that the previous night, Jay, Chad, and Robbie had taken the water tricycle for a joyride and returned it to the marina without properly securing it. Surveillance footage from the marina showed Michael, Robbie, and Jamie at the East Shore Marina at 1:48 AM. It is believed that the boys stole a water tricycle, a 14-foot imitation Boston Whaler boat with no life jackets, and a case of beer from another boat.
Two of the boys were experienced boaters, but the boat only had a half tank of gas. Two marina residents reported hearing a motorboat on the lake between 2:30 and 3 AM. The girlfriends of two of the boys reported them missing to the police, but their report was not taken seriously.
The search for the boys began on March 20 but was called off on March 22. Private citizens continued the search, but no trace of the boys was found. On March 29, a gas tank believed to be from the stolen boat was discovered in Wilson, New York.
Despite the extensive search efforts, no sign of the boys or the boat was found. The families of the missing teenagers were left with many unanswered questions…
