Joan Dorothy Lawrence, 77, vanished from the Huntsville, Ontario area in the autumn of 1998. A former poet and journalist known locally as the Cat Lady, she lived alone in a small uninsulated shed on a rural property, without running water or adequate heat, and spent much of her limited pension caring for numerous cats. Social services were already arranging to move her to safer housing when she was last seen in November 1998.

A friend and fellow resident alerted the Ontario Provincial Police after hearing gunshots and seeing a backhoe operating around the time she disappeared. A broad land, air and water search of the property found no sign of Joan, but did recover several cats that had been fatally shot. Police later identified three other elderly residents of properties owned by the same family — John Semple, John Crofts and Ralph Grant — as missing under suspicious circumstances. Investigators say the four are believed to be homicide victims; pension cheques for the three men were still being cashed, and family members faced fraud charges. No one has been charged in the disappearances.

What details about the property, the family who owned it, or the timeline around November 1998 might help someone who knew Joan or the other missing residents come forward?