No trace of Ben Trommels after six months
ALISON LANGLEY
Ambiguous loss. It was a term Monique Smith had never heard before.
Today, six months after her 24-year-old son disappeared without a trace, those two words have become a daily reality for the Niagara Falls woman.
“Ambiguous loss is frozen grief,” Smith said.
Defined as a loss that occurs without closure or understanding, ambiguous loss can leave a person searching for answers and can delay the process of grieving.
“They say, time heals all wounds… not in this case,” Smith said. “The six-month mark just went by and I’m finding it harder and harder.”
Smith’s son Ben Trommels vanished without a trace on Feb. 11.
“When I sit in his bedroom, I can still smell him,” she said.
“I refuse to wash his pillows, they smell just like him. Other days, I go into his closet and hug his clothes.”
Trommels, who struggles with schizophrenia, vanished after leaving his Casey Street apartment in the city’s north end.
Several hundred people came together in mid-February to search Fireman’s Park and the Niagara Regional Police dive team also searched the large pond at the park.
In the weeks following his disappearance, the Niagara Parks Police and Niagara Helicopters searched the Niagara gorge looking for any sign of the missing man.
No trace of Trommels has been found.
Smith urges anyone with information on her son’s whereabouts to come forward.
“He’s out there somewhere,” she said. “How can you vanish without a trace? Somebody out there must Stearne said.
“We want kids to know what could happen if they don’t reduce their screen time, get more sleep, stay hydrated, eat well-balanced meals and stay active.”
Annually, the organization sees over 20,000 people in Niagara through the Healthy Heart Schools’ Program, community preparedness, diagnostic services and smoking cessation programs.
It’s newest program, HeartCORE, was launched in the fall of 2015.
The high-intensity resistance training program is designed to increase strength and metabolism during a 15-minute, once a week, work out. The routine, performed with slow controlled movements, is suitable for all ages and fitness levels.
For more information, call 905358-5552 or visit www.heartniagara.com. know something.”
Smith describes her son as a typical “mamma’s boy.”
“Ben is my only child. I did so much for him on a regular basis even though he is 24. He called me for everything.”
Meanwhile, Niagara police do not suspect foul play in connection with Trommels’ disappearance.
“Detectives have conducted a thorough investigation which has exhausted numerous investigative leads,” said NRP Const. Phil Gavin.
Police ask anyone with information to call 905-688-4111, ext. 2200.
Trommels is described as 5’10” tall, about 170 pounds, with a light olive complexion, hazel-coloured eyes and a shaved head. He has a scar over his left eyebrow.
He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a black bomber style jacket, a blue zip-up hoody and running shoes. He may have had a pair of fuchsia pink ear buds.