Family conducts search for Kevin Zapp

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

The city-wide search for Kevin Zapp continues after the Oshawa man disappeared without a trace three weeks ago.

According to the Durham Regional Police, Zapp, 32, was last seen walking in the Simcoe Street North and Taunton Road area in the afternoon on April 25. He has not been seen or heard from since.

Recently, a search party of around 50 to 60 people joined together in the area to comb the streets and wooded areas for any sign of Zapp. The group was assisted by Advanced Tactical Training Search and Rescue (ATTSAR), a group out of the Kitchener-Waterloo area that assists in searching for missing people free of charge.

William Bolton, a representative with ATTSAR, says the group performed a wide search of the area on May 6, but were met with few results.

“It was basically in the whole area of north Oshawa where we went, in and around where (the Zapp’s) live and the surrounding areas, bordering onto the airport and going a little further south,” Bolton explains. “It was fairly open. The main areas of interest to me were the conservation areas.”

However, the searches in those areas were made difficult by high water levels. For that reason, Bolton says that while their search was thorough, it doesn’t necessarily mean that there is nothing there.

“It becomes a process of elimination where we are say, okay well, we’ve pounded the pavement here and we have no signs. So, it doesn’t mean that he’s not there because there was a lot of water where we were. If he was by chance in the water he wouldn’t have been seen,” he says.

According to recent reports, Zapp left his father’s home on the day he went missing leaving behind his cell phone, wallet and bank card.

Aside from the final sightings of Zapp in the area of Simcoe and Taunton, Bolton says it makes it difficult to pinpoint any possible indication of where Zapp was headed before he disappeared, something that could assist in determining further locations to search.

“This is the difficulty that us and the police are having…I have no direction of travel, from what I understand there’s no coverage by cameras to say yeah he was seen here an hour later on this street,” Bolton says. “That’s where it becomes a dilemma, you’ve got this first point, but nothing there after and so it is a bit of a wait and see game.”

The Zapp family has organized a Facebook page to try and gather further information about his disappearance and coordinate further searches.

Zapp (a.k.a. AMBITION) is described as a white, 5’6, thin build, blue eyes, brown hair, wearing a black baseball hat with “Ambition” stitched in red on the front, a black sleeveless quilted diamond-pattern zippered winter vest and dark grey high-cut Timberland winter boots. He has tattoos on his left arm.

Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts is asked to contact their local police service. In Durham Region, the lead investigator is Det-Const. Ormonde of Central East Division at 1-888-5790-1520 ext. 2770.

Anonymous tips can be made to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or on the website at www.durhamregionalcrimestoppers.ca and tipsters are eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000.