With another person gone missing, a small northern outport and its resident find themselves wrapped up in a web of fear and mystery.

Named after the patron saint of lost things, the town of St. Anthony is located on the high reaches of the Northern Peninsula – surrounded by hills, cliffs and the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of just 2,400, four people have gone missing in the last 15 years.

The disappearances remain unsolved to this day.

Carl Rumbolt has lived in St. Anthony for over 16 years and can call just about everyone by name. He was involved with several searches. He has seen the tension and gloom increase with each disappearance.

“It’s devastating for a community like St. Anthony, now that there’s four cases” said Rumbolt. “It’s like a big black cloud just covered the whole area.”

























The cases have become the hot topic around town, with rumours of foul play, serial killers, bodies being hidden, reported premonitions, and other gossip, theories and hearsay. Many townspeople say they are anxious and uncertain, and each disappearance brings back difficult memories of the one who disappeared before. While everyone is talking about the disappearances, few would go on the record.

“There’s something fishy somewhere,” said Rumbolt. “In an area like this – if anybody gets sick, there’s bingo, there’s crowds to help one another. Everyone pulls together like one big family. There’s no closure in these cases, and it’s in everyone’s mind. It’s in my mind.”





















































It all began with the disappearance of Mildred Sexton in 2002. She was seen by several people walking down North Street on an early spring day, but little did they know this would be the last time she was ever seen. Extensive searches were done from the surrounding hills to the icy ocean, all to no avail. Now, 15 years on, there has been no trace of Mildred Sexton ever found.

Then in 2006, three young men were returning to St. Anthony from the nearby town of Goose Cove on snowmobiles. They were rushing home due to an approaching blizzard, but by noon that day only two made it back safely. After Andrew Sexton, who was 21 at the time, did not return home by 5 p.m. his father began making calls hoping to track him down. Eventually, a search team found his snow machine in working order - a tank still with gas in it and keys still in the ignition. Although there were cliffs nearby that many suspected he had fallen over, no sign of Sexton ever turned up.

Thirty-year-old Cleon Smith was known to take the trail beyond Goose Cove Road often. On a particularly snowy day in 2011 he was seen taking this route he was so familiar with, but he also was added to the missing list. The trail was worked by search teams that same day, with tracks found leading to the ocean near St. Anthony’s abandoned military base. But once again, no sign of Smith has yet to be found.

Now St. Anthony is struggling with a fourth missing person case, one the RCMP has deemed suspicious. It has kept the community restless, unsure if their safety remains intact. Recently having left St. Anthony, Jennifer Hillier-Penney was back in town watching over her daughter while her ex-husband Dean Penney was out duck hunting. Hillier-Penney’s daughter woke up the morning of Dec. 1, 2016, to find her mother’s keys, phone, purse, passport, shoes and coat stowed at the house, but Hillier-Penney herself was gone without a trace.

 

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Mayor Ernest Simms lived in St. Anthony through each of the disappearances, and as often is the case in small Newfoundland towns, he knew all of the missing persons and some of their families. He says the most recent disappearance of Hillier-Penney has sent even deeper shock waves through the little town.

“Generally people over the last number of years have been concerned, but really not to the point that they’ve been worried - until this latest case,” said Simms. “And this latest case has made people very worried.”

Simms says many people have begun adjusting their routines, such as locking doors in places where doors were once kept unlocked without a thought of suspicion or doubt.

































 

“I do things now that I wouldn’t do before, and a lot of people are now doing that,” he said. “My wife does a lot of walking, now I say ‘well make sure you walk before dark.’ I know ladies that walk before daylight, they don’t do that anymore. People sense that there’s something about this case that is just not right.”

Being mayor, Simms is often one of the first people residents come to if they feel they’ve come across something out of the ordinary. He was recently asked to check out a clear plastic bag found near the water.

“People assumed there was something there, that’s the attitude you see now,” he said.

Locals visiting their cabins have also been making efforts to take extra walks around the area on the chance that they may come across something. Recently, Rumbolt came across a group of crows near the ocean. He went out to check fearing the worst, but the crows were just picking at some rotten fish.

“It’s little things like that, it’s always in your mind and you’re willing to check it out,” said Rumbolt. “That eye is always peeled, you don’t know what you’re going to come across and any little clue at all could help.”

A new search is planned for Hillier-Penney when the snow finally clears from the surrounding area. Despite the unease throughout the town of St. Anthony, Rumbolt says the townspeople will keep their family-like relationship with one another, and be there to help out in any future searches.

“I would be there with a heart and a hat to lend my two hands, not a problem at all,” he said.