Search for missing London women zeros in on man who knew both of them

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An organization searching for two missing Londoners is trying a new strategy – seeking people who spoke to a man involved with both women.

Please Bring Me Home is putting up posters with the face of Ronald Kevin Fangrad, now deceased and long a person of interest for police in the disappearances of both Kathryn Bordato and Shelley Desrochers.

“It’s a bit unorthodox,” Nick Oldrieve, the organization’s executive director, said. “I have to believe and I have to hope that Kevin told somebody something before he died about one, if not both of these women.”

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Working with volunteers from many sectors, including law enforcement, Please Bring Me Home gathers tips and investigates cold cases across Canada.

Its website and the posters placed in communities show the faces of those who have disappeared, but Fangrad is a special case.

“We don’t like giving him fame, but I think someone he talked to likely holds the key to one if not both of these women,” Oldrieve said.

“Did he say something negative to (another) woman in a threatening way? Did he take women somewhere secluded and appear anxious? I am hoping there is some kind of mistake this man made, where he mentioned something. That’s why we are talking about him.”

About 100 posters will be distributed throughout London.

Although they never publicly use his name in connection with Desrochers or Bordato, London police had Fangrad on their radar for years for the disappearance of the women.

A 44-year-old mother of two, Bordato was last seen between 7 and 8:30 a.m. around Aug. 16, 2009, near Cavendish Park, southwest of Riverside Drive and Wharncliffe Road North, London police believe. An investigation into her disappearance began in February 2010.

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Her boyfriend told investigators he dropped her off at the park either that day or the next, London police Det. Insp. Alex Krygsman said in an episode of the series Never Seen Again released on Paramount Plus last year.

Fangrad was Bordato’s boyfriend, her children said in the same episode. The episode was written, produced and directed by Serena Marotta, a Western University graduate and one-time Free Press reporter.

In the episode, former detective and now Western University criminologist Michael Arntfield said he suspected and interviewed Fangrad about Bordato’s disappearance during his investigation at the time.

About six years later, Desrochers, a 42-year-old mother and grandmother, disappeared. Police say Desrochers was last seen near English Street and Lorne Avenue in the city’s east end on Jan. 2, 2016.

In the Never Seen Again episode, Krygsman said Desrochers logged into her Facebook account for the last time that day at the London home of a man known to her. The same man had been a boyfriend of Bordato, Krygsman said, though he didn’t use Fangrad’s name.

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Three years after Desrochers’ disappearance, police held a news conference at the intersection, outside the house where Fangrad had once lived, though they didn’t tell reporters about the connection.

That same year, in March, Fangrad was arrested on charges of assaulting a woman more than 30 years earlier.

A week later, a court released him from custody and police took the unusual step of issuing a warning about Fangrad to sex workers, even though the historical charges didn’t involve sex workers.

“The London Police Service is advising the public of a male who poses a high risk of violence toward women, specifically sex trade workers and intimate partners,” a police news release said.

Ronald (Kevin) “has been assessed as a high risk for sexual violence and violence toward women,” the news release said.

Sex workers told The London Free Press at the time that Fangrad was known to them. Both Bordato and Desrochers engaged in sex work at times.

Charges against Fangrad were withdrawn in July 2019, and in exchange he signed a peace bond to stay away from the woman and her family.

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In November 2021, London police revealed that a man connected to the disappearance of Bordato and Desrochers had died.

“This individual provided very limited co-operation with investigators and there was evidence to indicate that this person withheld information from police,” police said at the time.

The person’s death closed off “a key avenue of inquiry in both cases,” police said.

There are other theories about the disappearances of the two women, but Fangrad’s involvement is the most substantial so far, Oldrieve said.

Fangrad “is the last person to see Kathryn and Shelley had logged on to his Facebook account at his home computer,” Oldrieve said. “We cannot put Kathryn or Shelley anywhere beyond being with Kevin.”

For more information on Please Bring Me Home, visit pleasebringmehome.com. Anonymous tips can be sent in by email, tips@pleasebringmehome.com or by phone, 1-226-702-2728. Tips can also be mailed to PO Box 74, Owen Sound, ON N4K 5P1

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