Police follow trail in missing groom case
SASKATOON — The trail of a missing groom-to-be appears to end at the South Saskatchewan River, where Saskatoon police discovered blood on the frigid shore.
New information from investigators outline a potential path Gregory “Myles” MacIntosh, 28, took from his bachelor party at an Idylwyld Drive bar to the river near Rotary Park. A series of incidents involving a fight on a pub-crawl bus, a mysterious drowning and DNA evidence on the river’s ice “may be connected,” Saskatoon city police said.
Earlier this week, his family said they fear his disappearance and the river mystery are connected. They said MacIntosh, an electrician originally from Nova Scotia, was set to be married on Feb. 15.
Witnesses to all three incidents have been interviewed, but investigators are still looking for people who may have more information.
On Feb. 1, MacIntosh was with friends at Outlaws, a nightclub on the 700 block of Idylwyld Drive, for his bachelor party. Police say Outlaws staff asked MacIntosh to leave the bar following some sort of disturbance. “Unbeknownst to his friends, Mr. MacIntosh left the bar at approximately midnight, February 2,” police said in a news release.
A man who identified himself as a manager at Outlaws declined to comment when reached by phone this week.
“You can speak to the police,” the manager said before hanging up the phone.
MacIntosh’s friends were just moments him behind leaving the bar, but they couldn’t find him outside. His family say they believe he got on a pub-crawl bus — which takes people to several bars in one night — outside Outlaws.
At about 12:05 a.m., police were called about a fight between two men on a pubcrawl bus at the intersection of Eighth Street and Lorne Avenue, just south of the Sid Buckwold Bridge. One of the men involved fled the scene before police arrived and a search didn’t turn up the missing suspect.
Investigators say the bus left a bar on the 700 block of Idylwyld North en route to an east-side bar.
At about 12:30 a.m., police responded to a report of a person walking on the ice and possibly falling into the water along the east side of the river. Search and rescue crews did not find a body, but police the next day found blood on the ice. Investigators are awaiting the results of a DNA analysis.
Missing person investigators have found no evidence of banking or cellphone activity from MacIntosh.
“Based on the circumstances of the missing person report, its subsequent investigation and the other two incidents reported to police shortly after Mr. MacIntosh was last seen by friends, the incidents may be connected,” police said.
Police stress that none of three investigations have concluded and much more work is ahead.
MacIntosh’s friends spent all night and day looking for him, but had focused their search along routes he might have taken to get back to his west-side home. He was officially reported missing around 4 a.m. Feb. 2.
MacIntosh’s family has asked for privacy while the investigations unfolds.