It was 2 years ago that Susan Robben sat waiting for her son to join their family at dinnertime. He never came.
35-year-old Tony Walsh vanished in Truro, N.S., sparking an investigation that has left his family without closure.
“It’s very hard. Very frustrating,” said Robben. “It brings out anger, frustration, a lot of ugly crying. You just go through the motions. You’re not living every moment of every day.”
6 months after Walsh’s disappearance, the RCMP said they believe he was the victim of a homicide, even though his body has not been found. Robben said she has not heard any updates or details, but it is still an open investigation.
On Sunday, over 100 people gathered in Truro to hold a vigil and walk for Walsh. Robben’s greatest wish is that renewed attention to her son’s disappearance will trigger a memory from someone in the area.
“We’re just hoping that someone new will say ‘Oh, I saw this.’ And at the time it didn’t seem very important, but it could be the one piece that’s needed to blow this case up, for lack of a better word. We just really need people to come forward,” said Robben.
The only trace of evidence that she knows of is Walsh’s vehicle, which she found in the Salvation Army parking lot 4 days after he vanished.
“We don’t know the where or the why or whatever. This is what we have,” she said.
His daughter, Maddie Chaisson, spoke to reporters before the vigil, standing by her mom’s side.
“He was really nice,” said Chaisson, now a teenager. “He was good at art.”
“Some days are harder than others,” her mother, Hayley Chiasson, said.
“Losing someone without any answers is devastating. Every day is a grieving process and you never get to the end because you don’t know what happened.”
The family did not only want to raise awareness on Walsh’s disappearance. They took the time to mention other families of missing Nova Scotia residents, including the parents of Dylan Ehler, a 3-year-old who disappeared in May last year.
Ehler’s parents attended the walk.
“One person missing is too many,” said Robben. “It just doesn’t affect the immediate family of that one person. It is widespread into the community.”
