Ernest Robert Pfaff was 28 when he left his Chatham, Ontario home on the evening of December 31, 1973, saying he was going out to buy a loaf of bread. He left at about 8:00 p.m. in a 1972 Ford Maverick described as light blue with red pinstripes on the sides and a possible license plate of CNH 175. Neither Ernest nor the car were ever seen or heard from again.

At the time he went missing Ernest was 5 feet 7 inches, with a medium build and light brown hair. He was last seen wearing blue slacks, a purple shirt, a beige and brown wool sweater and a three-quarter length pile coat. He had been grieving the recent death of his infant son and had a prior suicide attempt; those facts have prompted speculation that he might have left to start a new life, though no confirmed sightings turned up.

The initial local investigation produced no leads. The case was reviewed in 1997 and his information entered into the Violent Crime Linkage System; it was officially reopened in 2015 and added to Canada’s Missing website. Does anyone from Chatham or the surrounding area remember seeing Ernest or that Maverick around New Year’s Eve 1973?