It’s nothing short of a miracle that a Grafton man was found alive after being lost in the woods for five days in Lake of Bays Township near Huntsville.
Ted Nasmith (age 76) was found by OPP Emergency Response Team members at approximately 1:20 a.m. on Friday, September 4, 2020.
He’d been missing since Monday, August 31, 2020. With no food or water he survived in dense brush with steep cliffs and bad weather for five days.
What started out as a picnic with his wife Cecilia (age 70) nearly ended in tragedy for the couple who have been married for 48-years.
After going out for a picnic the couple because lost in the woods near where they were staying at Toads Lake.
Each had thought the other brought a cell phone, but no one did. Stuck in dense brush, with no one knowing they were missing they were lost.
Walking on Monday and Tuesday, sleeping in the woods, they persevered.
On Wednesday they climbed a hill, hoping to spot something, but all they could see was forest.
Ted went down the hill and a short time later was followed by Cecilia, but the two somehow became separated.
Cecilia started screaming for her husband, but it was no use. The two were now alone and lost.
Cecilia spotted hydro wires, but since it was late in the day, she hunkered down and for the third night she slept in the woods.
On Thursday, by chance she followed a trail that lead her to a road. She flagged down a vehicle and called 9-1-1 starting a massive search by the Ontario Provincial Police.
There were 23 members of the OPP Central Emergency Response Team, two members of OPP Central Region canine team, OPP helicopter, drone, OPP Huntsville Detachment Marine Unit and members of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry involved in the search.
Two members of Northumberland OPP who are part of the Emergency Response Team were involved in the search.
Constables Jeff Nicholas and Rich Boyd were involved in the search that eventually lead to Ted Nasmith being found on Friday, September 4, 2020 at approximately 2 a.m.
Today’s Northumberland caught up with Boyd on Friday afternoon as he was starting his shift following a long night of searching.
Today’s Northumberland contacted Cecilia Nasmith who spoke with Boyd on the phone to answer any questions she may have about her husband and where he was found.
After Today’s Northumberland interview Boyd who was one of five officers that found Nasmith.
Boyd wanted it clear that Cecilia Nasmith was the hero in police finding her husband.
“In my opinion she’s the hero in this story. We all did our part to get him out. But had she not persevered and pushed through to get herself out of the woods to get help, we don’t have any idea when we would have got the call that they were missing.”
Boyd described the terrain as very think bush, steep inclines, bodies of water including lakes and rivers, very wet, rocks, cliffs, “and working against us also there were multiple ATV trails that run into other ATV trails. So to try to follow one is very difficult, because it turns into two and so on.”
The temperature though the week went down to nine degrees Celsius and it had just rained heavily just before Nasmith was found.
“Time is definitely against us.”
“It’s very important to get as many resources out there as possible as quickly as possible.”
During the search, Nicholas was assigned as the Search Manager who deploys officers in different locations.
With all officers involved having a GPS the Search Manager can plot what areas have been searched and what areas need to be.
There was an area that had yet to be covered between two bodies of water and a river that ran between them.
“The concern at night, there was a lot of incline. When I say incline there is basically a cliff on either side.”
The area was over two kilometres away from the nearest road where the five officers were assigned to search.
At a split, three officers went in one direction while Boyd and another officer went in another.
A short time later Nasmith was spotted by the three officers. Boyd and another officer quickly went to the area.
“They were walking up a hill and they glanced over. He (Nasmith) actually has a bald head and when their flashlights hit him, he stood right out.”
Nasmith was conscious and in pain. He was missing some of his clothes which is common for people suffering from hypothermia.
The three ERT members stayed with Nasmith, built a fire and wrapped him in emergency blankets to try and get him warm.
Boyd and another officer drove out of the trail and got a stretching and warming packs from paramedics and went back into the area where Nasmith was located.
“We didn’t know what injuries he had so we put him on a stretcher and a group of six or seven of us from our Emergency Response Team carried him out the two-and-a-half kilometres to an ambulance.”
Boyd said a large storm with heavy rain had gone through hours before and when Nasmith was found he was very wet and very cold.
At times Nasmith was incoherent speaking with police.
Boyd said in his experience it’s “very rare” that a person being lost in the woods, at that age and for that amount of time would come out alive.
“Basically everything was against him. But he had the will to push on.”
Boyd said it was a team effort of everyone involved in the search working together from the helicopter, canine, marine unit, Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry and Central Region ERT members.
“It was a great outcome.”
“So often you have negative experiences in policing just because of the nature of the job. We were five days in on this search. Everyone was holding out hope, but when that member of our team yelled out that he located him – that he was alive and conscious – it kind of indescribable.”
“We’re really happy for the family.”
Speaking with Cecilia Nasmith on Friday who had just visited her husband at the hospital she said, “he’s very, very weak and needs to get his strength back.”
“He’s cut all over.”
Nasmith said her husband will be in the hospital for at least 24-hours.
Looking back, she didn’t think either of them would be coming out of the woods alive.
“I actually was prepared to accept that we weren’t.”
While resting at her cabin on Thursday night, with her husband still lost in the woods, it was at that time, she didn’t think he would be found alive.
“I really lost hope around 8 p.m. when it started to rain hard. I thought to myself this is his second night in the rain and that really upset me.”
Nasmith can’t express her gratitude for all the people who searched for her husband and is looking forward to meeting them.
To the support they’ve received in the Grafton and surrounding area, “you guys are amazing.”
Getting messages and reading the positive thoughts online she said, “you may not feel you helped, but you certainly did. It puts you in a brighter place than you’d otherwise be.”
Breaking News – Massive Search Underway in Huntsville Area For Grafton Man Missing Since Monday
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
