THUNDER BAY — Family members and police are asking for continued public assistance as search efforts remain ongoing for a missing 65-year-old man, whose last confirmed sighting was in the city in late November.
Joseph Alexander Lawson, commonly known as Alex or AJ, is confirmed to have been last seen on Nov. 27, 2022, in the 200 block of Madeline Street. He is described as an Indigenous man with a dark complexion, standing about five-foot-nine and weighing 140 pounds with a medium build, with long and straight grey hair, usually with facial hair, and has brown eyes.
A news conference was organized Thursday morning at the Airline hotel, which is hosting a command centre for the search efforts.
Daughter Kimberly Lawson described her father as genuine, wearing his heart on his sleeve. She said her father would give the shirt off his back to those in need, and has a great sense of humour and an outgoing personality.
She said he loves to walk, and would walk across the city.
“Please check your yards, properties, buildings, commercial and residential construction sites, and trail cameras,” she said. “For people in the Madeline Street area, please, please check your home surveillance for any footage since Nov. 27.”
“If you see our dad, stay with him and call 911. Please bring our dad home. We love him. We miss him. We just want to bring him home.”
Wanda Skunk, Lawson’s sister, said she wants to be able to bring her brother home.
“I just wish we could find him now. It’s too long for him to be missing. As I know my brother, he’s always on foot walking from anywhere. He gets all over the towns. He could go from Thunder Bay to Kenora,” she said. “I just pray we can find him and bring him home now.”
Det. Insp. Jeremy Pearson said police have received a significant amount of information for the public and various leads, which have been followed up, but investigators have been unable to corroborate and confirm a more recent sighting.
“That remains our starting point and our continued plea for public assistance to advance the search and to bring us to the next potential sighting that we can then work to confirm and continue our search for Alex,” Pearson said.
Pearson said city police have sent messages to policing partners advising that Lawson was a missing person.
Lawson was last seen wearing a black baseball cap, a light-coloured North Face puffer jacket with a dark upper area, blue jeans and black shoes.
