The daughter of a New Brunswick man missing since last summer is hoping money will entice people to come forward.
A $10,000 reward is now being offered for information that will help locate Paul Doughty from Musquash.
Doughty was last seen at a business near McKay Loop Road and Route 175 in the Pennfield area of Charlotte County on Aug. 18, 2021.
Search teams found Doughty’s vehicle abandoned on a trail about 10 kilometres northeast of McKay’s Wild Blueberries nearly two weeks later.
Cheryl Beddow said the last 15 months have been a “nightmare” for her family as they continue to wonder what happened.
“It’s something that doesn’t leave your head at all during the day. You’re constantly running scenarios over and over wondering what could have happened,” Beddow said in an interview last week.
A number of searches have taken place since Doughty’s disappearance and the discovery of his vehicle, but he has yet to be found.
With a second winter just around the corner, Beddow said they are desperate to bring Doughty back home, which is why she put forward a reward.
“I was hoping maybe, with everyone having a hard time, money talks and maybe this will give people the incentive to speak up,” she said.
Investigators are not currently treating Doughty’s disappearance as criminal in nature, said Beddow, which is why she can only use her contact info for the reward.
However, Beddow said she has been unable to shake the feeling that something bad has happened to her father.
“I have felt since the beginning that something isn’t right here. I feel like he ran into some trouble with somebody or some people down that way. I think something criminal has happened and somebody has harmed him,” she said.
“I’m not super confident he’s anywhere around where his car was found. We’ve been up where his car was and spread out enough that I think if he were up there, we would have found some sign of him by now.”
We reached out to the RCMP for an update on their investigation into Doughty’s disappearance but did not receive a response.
Beddow is pleading with anyone who has information about her father’s disappearance to come forward — even if they think their information is small.
“I know it’s scary to speak out because people are afraid of retaliation, but it’s going to take somebody being brave and coming forward with info just to send us on the right track.”
Anyone with information can contact Beddow directly by emailing chebed748@gmail.com. You can also call Grand Bay-Westfield RCMP at 506-757-1020 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.