Renewed investigation into young fathers’ suspected drowning 30 years ago

The children of two men who disappeared 30 years ago say they want closure. As CTV London’s Scott Miller reports, their bodies were never found.

Victoria Weidemann and Anthony Lippett were too young to remember the day their fathers Erwyn Lippett and Simon “Kirk” Weidemann went missing during a family camping trip at the Brucedale Conservation Area near Port Elgin, on July 20, 1995.

“I was six months old when dad went missing. All I was told at first is him and Simon went out on a canoe ride and didn’t come back. They ended up drowning over here, they say,” said Erwyn’s son, Anthony.

Lippett and Weidemann’s canoe was found, half full of water, as were paddles and lifejackets, but the bodies of the 24 and 25-year-old young fathers, were never recovered.

While they were presumed drowned, several alleged sightings of the pair over the years has sparked questions about the Lippett and Weidemann’s actual whereabouts. Did they drown, or did they fake a drowning, and start new lives?

“So, the question has always been, did they actually go out in this canoe? Was it a ruse? There have been witness statements that came forward that said that they were seen a day or two after, even up to like a year after. And these are different witness statements. So, we need to see what was done on those witness accounts before we really get conducting a search on the lake, because right now the needle is kind of stuck in the middle,” said Nick Oldrieve, of the group Please Bring Me Home.

The Owen Sound-based missing persons investigators, Please Bring Me Home, are now on the case. They recognize trying to locate two men, presumed drowned in Lake Huron 30 years ago, is a tall task.

“You’re supposed to believe half of what you see, and nothing that you hear when you’re looking at 30-year-old cases. But we want to make sure that there’s been real effort put into debunking these witness sightings, and we hope to get those answers from the O.P.P.,” said. Oldrieve.

“Honestly, I cried pretty good after they took the case, because it was just me doing it for years and years and years. Even my family wasn’t really helping or saying too much at all. So, it was such a relief to know that there were other people who would actually help, and actually cared too,” said Weidemann.

“I mean he has a headstone that has no body underneath it. So, I just kind of want an answer. Whatever that answer is, is fine by me,” said Weidemann, who was two years old when her father, Simon, went missing.

Both Lippett and Weidemann concede the answers they seek aren’t comforting ones. Either their fathers drowned in Lake Huron 30 years ago, as previously thought, or they ran off, deserting their families. Either way, Victoria and Anthony say they just want to know what happened that evening, off the shores of Bruce County.

“The way I looked at it back then, I was just a kid he didn’t want to have. And then as I got older, and my mom was talking about it, and Victoria, even to this day, my mom will still talk about it, so it’s nice to hear, and maybe get some answers. Hopefully we can get some closure, and just hope for the best,” said Lippett.

“It’s really difficult to run a search for somebody who’s been missing for 30 years, let alone on Lake Huron. It’s not impossible. A needle in a haystack would be easier. But it’s not impossible. They are somewhere, so, you know, we want to put in any effort that we can, to locate these men,” said. Oldrieve.