Jeff Renuad is Missing *returned home*

[Whisper]

The worried Kingsville mom of a missing university student is imploring her son to end the mystery of his disappearance -- and it doesn't matter to her if he's had trouble at school.

"Just call me. We can talk about it, work it out. You can come home," urged Christine Renaud, mother of 20-year-old Jeff Renaud. "Don't worry about it. We can work it out."

It's been 18 days since Jeff Renaud was seen at the house he rents with four other students near the McMaster University campus in Hamilton. When Jeff left the residence on the morning of Jan. 26, his housemates thought he was going to class. He hasn't returned since.

Hamilton police are continuing to treat Renaud as a missing person.

They have said foul play is not suspected. Det. Sgt. Dave Beech has alluded to "difficulties at school."

Beech's comments are the first Christine Renaud has heard about her son having any academic problems. Up until now, she thought Jeff was doing well, now in the middle of his third year of McMaster's engineering program.

"You know, he had a direction. He knew what he wanted to do," she said.

"He's always been a good student, even when he went to Kingsville high school."

Christine said she's been trying to talk to the university about Jeff, to no avail.

"Every time I call, I can't get an answer from anybody. He's considered an adult now -- it's privileged information. I ran into a dead end there every time I called to find out anything."

Christine describes Jeff as a sociable, "happy-go-lucky" person in perfect health, with no history of mental issues.

"He's always smiling, always joking around."

Before he went to university, Jeff lived with his mother and older brother Kirby in his childhood home in Kingsville. Jeff's father died when Jeff was 10.

Christine, 50, said Jeff was his usual helpful self when he visited for the Christmas holidays. And when she drove him back to Hamilton for the start of second semester, he seemed at ease.

Christine also didn't detect anything different the last time she spoke with Jeff -- a phone call on the Sunday night before he disappeared. Their discussion even seemed mundane.

Five-minute talk

"Just what they did on the weekend, and what was going to be on TV, and that was about it," Christine recalls. "It was just a five-minute conversation."

According to Christine, Jeff's disappearance is completely out of character. "He doesn't do anything like this."

Christine isn't aware of Jeff's romantic life, but she said Jeff has lots of friends. They've started a Facebook page to help search for him. At press time, the page had attracted more than 450 members.

Jeff has no vehicle in Hamilton, and usually walks to school. Christine said the latest information she heard from police is that they believe he went to Toronto by GO Transit.

The only items missing from Jeff's room in Hamilton are his backpack and house keys. He left behind his cellphone and laptop.

"I am totally stumped on his behaviour, where he could've gone," Christine said.

Regardless of why Jeff has disappeared, Christine said she just needs to hear from him and know that he's OK.

Growing tearful, she said she wants him to know "that I love him. I miss him. If possible, call home, or text someone where he's at.... Even if he can go where there's a computer, if he could e-mail home or his brother or one of his friends."

Christine said she understands engineering is "a really hard program."

But she repeated that Jeff never seemed under stress to her, and she hopes they have the kind of relationship where he wouldn't feel the need to hide it from her if he did feel stressed.

"He's never had to (hide anything) before," she said.

"That's the thing I'm afraid of. If he is hiding, (this) might put him into more hiding.... Just let him know that he can come home."

Anyone with information on Jeff's whereabouts is asked to call Hamilton police at 905-546-4925 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

UPDATE::::TODAY POLICE SAID THEY DONT SUSPECT FOUL PLAY BUT ARE WORRIED.::::ANYONE IN TORONTO ESPECIALLY PLEASE WATCH FOR A CLUE OF SOMEONE YOU FEEL MAY BE OUT OF PLACE OR DEPRESSED(I KNOW THERES MANY)

[Unamused Cat]

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg107/snarkyphotos/JeffRenaud2.jpg
Jeff Renaud

He looks so young in this missing person photo.

http://www.macinsiders.com/showthread.php?p=45888

[Whisper]

Hes 20 but the town we are from is extrememly small.I dont live there anymore but some of the kids there look and are younger then city kids are.Not street smart at all.Kingsvilles not used to this stuff we had 1 murder until few yrs ago .No crime really or missing people.

[Whisper]

Well 20 days missing,no clues,calls,sightings nothing!!His mom as anyone can imagine is a mess.She lost her hubby (Jeffs dad) a decade ago and facing this isnt easy as any parent can imagine.So I guess we just keep looking,keep putting flyers and his face out there here on net and on paper and hope hes not done anything drastic and will wake up and see lifes not that bad and its up to you to change it for the better.You know they say stuff comes back to bite you in the ass.If I knew years ago what I know now I wouldnt have done something very stupid.When I was 23 I packed my kids up and this was a everyday thing I would get up 2 hours after my husband did and get ready for work,wake kids feed them dress them (they were 5 & 3) take to day care and go to work.But this day I did all of those things except take kids to daycare and go to work.Instead I had so much drama going on at the time with my family I am youngest in family yet only one to go to school,get a career,buy a house etc.And I was the first everyone came to for help(money).So I hadnt been getting along with hubby for a bit and I with drew a large amount of money over a few weeks and stashed it away.That day I loaded van up with kids, cloths,food,tent(no clue why tent I hate camping) and I disappeared for 3 months.Looking back now what my mom and family went through I am the first one to tell Jeff if you can get to a phone call someone let them know your alive!!It was a stupid thing to do and if my kids did that now to me I would die but when your younger, you think you know it all and you dont! So Jeff please call at least let your mom know your alive and well and start from there.

[PoongyPrincess]

Poor guy. I think this should be treated like an abduction. He didn't take his cell phone with him which you think he would definitely have if he was planning to make a trip. I can't think of a reason why anyone would want a 20 year old man in college but stranger things have happened. I hope he's found, his mother sounds so distraught.

[Whisper]

Poor guy. I think this should be treated like an abduction. He didn't take his cell phone with him which you think he would definitely have if he was planning to make a trip. I can't think of a reason why anyone would want a 20 year old man in college but stranger things have happened. I hope he's found, his mother sounds so distraught.
No he wasnt abducted they have proof that he walked away from the house intent on going to Toronto.But just are hoping his intentions werent to take his own life.He left cell phone and laptop so his mom or anyone couldnt get ahold of him.We just hope he hasnt done anything regrettable.At 20 you think that smallest prob in the world is the biggest and its not until your older that realize how small it was.His has to do with grades but thats all I know right now.

[Shizz]

Get home safe, Jeff

[Whisper]

I should explain for those not familiar with Toronto and Hamilton.Hamilton s maybe 75 miles away from Toronto (im guessing ).I have a older brother in Toronto who also knows the family and hes gotten 7 others from our home town that also knows the family and they are searching and its great because they know the city.For any of Jeffs family to go to Toronto and look by themselves ,they would be overwhelmed and have a meltdown.Kingsville when we moved there yrs ago was 2000 people compared to over a million in Toronto!!So its hard for Jeffs mom whos alot older then I am to go into the city like that.I live in Windsor 45 miles from Kingsville now and I am fine here but went to Toronto to visit and needed my passport re done and it was nuts to me.Windsor is 225,000 people, small compared to Toronto.Im just trying to explain that for his mom its overwhelming with it all going on.This is something they see on T.V not something Kingsville deals with.Its kinda like Petty Coat Junction does to New York.

[Unamused Cat]

This reminds me of the Matthew Wilson case. He disappeared from Houston and was found in California months later. He didn't want to be found.

http://missingexploited.com/2008/08/14/matthew-wilson-missing-since-2007-found-alive-on-the-campus-the-university-of-california-at-berkeley-he-wanted-to-disappear/

[Whisper]

OMG I just went and looked at the link.And had a flash,I forgot about a young guy from here about 8 yrs ago staged his own disappearance.It was about 4 yrs before he found in Florida.I know its horrible to do that but sometimes your not thinking.As I said I wanted to go away when I was 23 and I did for 3 months and really didnt think anything of it.I was on my own since I was 10 (15 legally) and married,owned our own homes,cars etc and I was so tired of having to be the responsible one in my family.Wasnt getting along with my husband and I ran away with my kids for 3 months.Looking back now it was a stupid selfish move that I wish I had never done.My family and my husbands family went through hell.And I think thats why I am so bound and bent on finding him hopefully.I am going to take my son and go to Toronto Thurs for a few days and my brother and few others from our home town will canvass as much as we can of the city.

[Whisper]

I have a very small update on Jeffs disappearance.I found out today he wasnt a student at McMaster University as his mom and everyone believed.He hadnt been one for sometime and his mom and family didnt know until recently when he went missing.Im kinda pissed that his mom knew this for awhile(she found out after he went missing) and hadnt told anyone.We have had alot of people looking for him and she should have (IMO) at least been honest about it after she found out.Its not reflected on her,he conned her and I hope hes still alive and calls her but I believe hes hiding now b/c she has found this out.I dont believe theres any foul play,just a kid who got in over his head and is afraid to come forward now.

[Whisper]

I have a link here to explain the secret life Jeffs been living.I guess I jumped the gun being pissed b/c his mom shouldve known he was in University there.Now it turns out even his classmates and roommates didnt even know.He went to class each day,took notes etc,etc.So heres a link much easier for you to read it yourself. http://www.windsorstar.com/Missing+Kingsville+native+living/1349809/story.html

[LocalCelebrity]

Still nothing? He just doesnt realize what he is doing to his poor mother and loved ones. :(

[jo_momma_82]

I have a link here to explain the secret life Jeffs been living.I guess I jumped the gun being pissed b/c his mom shouldve known he was in University there.Now it turns out even his classmates and roommates didnt even know.He went to class each day,took notes etc,etc.So heres a link much easier for you to read it yourself. http://www.windsorstar.com/Missing+Kingsville+native+living/1349809/story.html

When I was put on academic suspension (for skipping too many classes), I was so afraid to tell my family and I remember feeling like a fraud b/c I didn't tell my family for a few months. At the time, it felt like the end of the world to me. Hopefully he'll come home safe and will realize that this is merely a bump in the road that few will even remember or care about years from now.

[Whisper]

Yeah I know it can be scary.When I was 23 and just needed a break from work,marriage,& my family.I went to work one day and didnt go home,that morning I packed up my kids and didnt drop at daycare I packed up my van and we were gone.And I know first hand the hell people go through looking and searching.If my kids ever did that to me Id kill them!!Hopefully he will wake up and see lifes not always as bad as we make it in our minds.

[Whisper]

x

[Whisper]

Just a update I saw in our paper today and thought I d pass along b/c I have had a few ask me if there was anything new. Missing Kingsville student entered U.S.
KINGSVILLE -- News that her son crossed the Niagara Falls border the day he went missing has broadened her search and raised more questions for a worried Christine Renaud.

Her 20-year-old son Jeff Renaud disappeared Jan. 26 from the Hamilton house he rented with four McMaster University students.

Hamilton police had told her Jeff took a bus from Hamilton to Toronto the day he disappeared. Within the last few weeks, she said police told her he crossed the border at Niagara Falls the afternoon he went missing. The Kingsville mom is still waiting to find out more information such as how he crossed and if he's still in the States.

“It's just that I’ve been searching across Canada and now to find out he’s possibly in the States? So now it’s like, OK I have to start all over again,” she said Wednesday night.

Going from Hamilton to Toronto and backtracking to Niagara Falls in one day raises more questions for Christine.

“How he got from Toronto to the Niagara border is a mystery,” she said.

Failed to re-enrol

Christine said there hasn’t been activity on his bank account and she contacted the only relatives she has in the States and they haven’t heard from her son.

Jeff was a McMaster University student but he didn’t re-enrol last fall. His housemates said they didn’t know that and they thought he was still taking classes up to his disappearance.

In early March, Hamilton police considered Jeff a missing person and didn’t suspect foul play. Police were concerned about his state of mind.

“Who’s to know for sure other than Jeff why he left?” Christine said.

The worried mom said she’s not coping well and she’d just like Jeff to call home or get in touch with one of his friends by phone or computer to let her know he’s all right.

“The process of this is taking way too long. It’s just been way too long. It’s been almost two months.”

Christine’s friends from work have organized a prayer vigil Sunday. The vigil starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Lakeside Park pavilion in Kingsville.

Christine was speechless when asked what that meant to her.

Anyone with information on Jeff’s whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or Hamilton police at 905-546-4925.

[Whisper]

xx

[Pete Bondurant]

Don't look at me...I didn't do it!

[Whisper]

http://http://i578.photobucket.com/albums/ss221/windy11_2009/Picture915.jpg

[Whisper]

Well here we are in Aug and still nothing.When they had proof he had crossed over to the States its was kinda a glimmer of hope but still nothing.This was in our paper last night,this is consuming Kingsville we dont have stuff like this normally.Missing Kingsville man featured on America's Most Wanted
Wednesday is Jeff Renaud's 21st birthday, and the event coincides with the missing man's case being featured on the website of America's Most Wanted.

"No one has seen or heard anything from him," said Renaud's mother Christine who, along with a friend, has lobbied the people at America's Most Wanted to feature the case.

Renaud, a Kingsville native who was a student at McMaster University in Hamilton, disappeared from the house he shared with four fellow students on Jan. 26.

Hamilton police say Renaud took a bus to Toronto the day he disappeared.

Police have determined that later that same day Renaud crossed the border into the United States at Niagara Falls. They tracked him through his driver's licence.

The fact that a detailed synopsis of his case is now on the America's Most Wanted website provides hope for the man's mother.

"I'm just hoping maybe somebody sat beside him on a bus or a train and they'll call," said Renaud.

"Jeff, if you're reading this call home. Call one of your friends to let everyone know you're OK."

Renaud said staff at America's Most Wanted have told her they will try and have his case featured on the broadcast version of the show.

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed," said Renaud.

Renaud was a computer engineering student at McMaster University but he had failed to re-enrol last fall.

He had hoped to become a video game programmer.

Renaud had many friends across Canada and kept in contact with them through the Facebook website, but his communications stopped after his disappearance.

Anyone with information on Jeff's whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or Hamilton police at 905-546-4925http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Missing+Kingsville+featured+America+Most+Wanted/1859019/story.htmlhttp://i30.tinypic.com/30m9t8m.jpg

[Persephonae]

My heart goes out to everyone affected by this. I "dropped out" when I was 18. I did contact my family about 3 months later, but still didn't see them for nearly a year. This is one time where I really hope the Rainbows got him.

[AngelFire]

I hope he did not do anything to harm himself. When you are so young any little problem seems to be the biggest deal in the world. I hope for his mother's sake that he is simply hiding and will be found safe soon.

[Whisper]

As I said before when I was 23 I took my 2 kids and packed up the van one morning and disappeared for 3 months.I now know how stupid that was,my mom was a mess,my husband had no clue where I was and it was stupid and I would never do that today.I just hope hes o.k and calls at least ,his mom lost his dad already.My son was on vacation this week in Whistler Mountain BC and he was at Jeffs cousins vacationing for the week.His cousin said his mom and them are a mess but they think hes alive.

[Nell]

How is he living? Do they really think he is alive, or do they just hope?

[Whisper]

They figure since they havent found a body,so I figure they are hoping hes still alive but who knows?Cant work in states without papers though.I know Heaven cant work for another 3 months until her green card and her hubbys working 2 jobs b/c they just bought a house and shes opened a dog babysitting service where she has dogs for a few days when people go away and daytime while they are at work.She needs to make money b/c I dont have a endless pit for her to use !!

[Whisper]

HE CALLED!!!!!FROM TEXAS!!UCAT FIND HIM AND KICK HIS ASS ALL OVER YOUR GREAT STATE PLEASE??? Mom relieved
missing son calls home; Man turns up in Texas after six months
Jeff Renaud, the Kingsville native who went missing from his Hamilton home in January, has turned up alive and well and living in Texas.

Renaud, who turned 21 Wednesday, called his mother Christine's home Tuesday evening from a payphone at a Walmart in Corpus Christi, Texas.

"Just around 6 p.m. the phone was ringing and it was a collect call and it was Jeff," said a relieved Christine Renaud.
It was like oh my goodness, it's a miracle. He sounded great."
Renaud said she didn't ask her son much about his whereabouts over the last six months, she just asked him if he wanted to come home.

"I didn't ask him any questions," said Renaud.

"I asked him if he wanted to come home and he said yes. We'll wait till he gets home and we'll go from there."

Renaud said her son told her he had accessed a computer for the first time since January on Tuesday and checked his e-mail account.

"That's when he realized everybody was looking for him," said Renaud.

"He said he was on the America's Most Wanted website and saw his own picture."
Renaud said she is making arrangements for her son's return, probably by bus, because he doesn't have a passport.

She said she will be patient when it comes to learning what Jeff has been up to.

"He'll let me know in time," said Renaud.

"Just to get him home in the first place is the priority. There's lots of time to talk about that. He's alive and well and that's the main thing."

Hamilton police say they are happy with the outcome of the case even though it utilized a lot of resources.

"It's a positive outcome and that's the way we have to look at it," said Hamilton police Staff Sgt. Dave Beech, who oversaw three detectives in the elusive hunt for the man.

Renaud's case had just been put on the America's Most Wanted website when he called his mother.

Renaud had been a computer engineering student at McMaster University in Hamilton and was living in a house with fellow students.

Renaud actually had failed to enrol for classes last fall but maintained the impression he was still attending school.

On Jan. 26 he left his house, withdrew cash from his bank account and bought a bus ticket to Toronto.

Later that same day Renaud crossed into the U.S. in Niagara Falls on foot at the Rainbow Bridge. Police traced him through his driver's licence, but after that all activity from his bank cards and licence ceased.

Beech said he wants his detectives to speak with Renaud for a debriefing after he returns to Canada.

"As to where he's been all this time, we really won't know until we've had a chance to speak to him," said Beech.

"Our detectives definitely want to speak to him."

Beech said keeping such a low profile could be done if Renaud was able to find work under the table, but if he had been stopped by police and had his driver's licence run it would have alerted police in Hamilton.

"It's just one of those things. It was a weird case," said Beech.
http://www2.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=5812429d-a5e9-47c0-8f34-62400eda7f82

[Misskittychaos]

WOW. I bet his mom is stoked, my parents would beat the hell out of me but to each their own.

[Whisper]

She is and she just wants to get him home and them Im sure she will beat the shit out of him!!

[Whisper]

Well heres a happy ending at least 1 case!

'Nothing matters ... he's safe at home'
While his family fretted over his disappearance, Jeff Renaud had fled to Texas, where he spent six months living in a make-shift tentAugust 13, 2009KINGSVILLE, Ont.
-- The night before he disappeared, Jeff Renaud already had a plan in place. He didn’t know exactly where he was going, but he knew he had to go.

“It was shame. I couldn’t, didn’t want to come to terms with it,” he said. “I was running out of excuses.”

The 21-year-old former computer engineering student had flunked out of McMaster University in the spring of 2008. But for nine months, Jeff maintained an elaborate charade that convinced everyone around him that he was still enrolled. He continued to live in the apartment he shared with other students in Hamilton. He attended classes. He even took notes.

No one suspected anything. “Everything was just the same as before,” said his mother Christine. “Everything was fine and then next thing I knew, Jeff was missing.”

That night on the phone, Jeff kept mum about his plans. But the next day, he took a backpack stuffed with clothes, a Rubik’s Cube and a copy of the young adult fantasy novel, Eldest, and boarded a bus to Niagara Falls. The $400 he withdrew from his bank account bought him a ticket that got him across the Rainbow Bridge into the U.S. and all the way to Corpus Christi, Tex., where he stepped down about 30 hours later.

“I walked around for a bit, looking around the city,” Jeff said. “Then survival mode kicked in.” Though the days were still quite warm, he said, the nights got chilly. He acquired a sleeping bag and a pillow, and built a makeshift tent in a secluded area using some tarps. That tent was Jeff’s home for six months.

He spent his days trying to cobble together enough cash to keep up his supply of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He learned that if he loitered outside the Home Depot store, customers may offer him casual jobs weeding gardens or doing manual labour. On the days he couldn’t find work, Jeff hunkered down at the public library to read books and newspapers.

While her son was sleeping under the stars in Texas, Christine was trying to hold it together in her Kingsville home, tucked away from the street behind a row of towering pine trees. Using the help of Hamilton police, missing persons organizations, Facebook and America’s Most Wanted, she tried every avenue she could think of to locate her son.

Christine said she never gave up hope. “I just had a positive outlook. I knew Jeff was there somewhere. I kept strong.”

Then, last week — the day before Jeff’s 21st birthday — she got the phone call she’d been dreaming about since Jan. 26 when Jeff vanished. “There was a collect call. Right away I knew it was Jeff,” she said. “I said, ‘Jeff, Jeff, is that you?’ He said, ‘Yeah, Mom, it’s me.’ I asked him if he wanted to come home and he said, ‘Yeah.’

“I was really excited and I was like, oh my goodness, finally my prayers are answered. I was crying and laughing at the same time,” she said. They made arrangements to fly Jeff to Detroit, where they were reunited Aug. 5.

Forty pounds lighter and feeling relieved to be back, Jeff enjoyed a birthday dinner of pork chops and noodles at home with his family.

Jeff says he called because he simply felt he was ready to come home. He knows he dragged his mother and older brother Kirby through a lifetime of heartache over the past nine months, but said while he was away, he put those thoughts out of his mind. “It was easier to live in the moment than to think about the past.”

Christine has vowed to put the nightmare behind her. “I’m just glad that he’s home,” she said Wednesday, standing on her porch with her arm around her son. “Nothing that’s happened matters because as long as he’s safe home, everything is workable.

“It’s something that he figured he had to do. There’s a lesson to be learned — not to run away from your problems. Running away never solves anything.”

Peering out from under the brim of his Texas Longhorns ball cap, her shy-looking son said he didn’t want to talk about the lessons he learned. “It’s up to you to learn your own lessons,” he said. But, he admitted, “calling home would be the right answer.”

Jeff is now looking for work to help pay off his student loans. He said he may someday decide to go back to university. “We’ll see,” he saidhttp://www.windsorstar.com/Nothing+matters+safe+home/1886649/story.html http://i27.tinypic.com/1zztm5e.jpg