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When police issued a public plea for family members to submit their DNA for testing, it shone a spotlight on a long-forgotten Southwestern Ontario mystery – two men who vanished on a Lake Huron fishing trip six decades ago, never to be seen again. This story from days into the search for Henk Halff and Neil Wormsbecker was first published in the Oct. 24, 1967 editions of The London Free Press
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GODERICH – Despite serious doubt by police, the wives of two hobbyist-sailors missing on Lake Huron since Sunday say both men were veteran seamen and might yet be found alive.
Police, however, believe there is little hope the men will be found alive unless they made it to shore shortly after their boat capsized. Officials said it would be extremely difficult to survive in the 49- to 50-degree water of the lake.
Neil Wormsbecker, of 213 West Gore St., and Henk Halff, of 236 Front St. (both in Stratford), both 30, were last seen here early Sunday leaving the harbour.
Their 20-foot Barracuda class sailboat was found capsized and drifting about 7 p.m. by crewmen of the lake freighter Elmdale, two and a half miles northwest of here.
While several Ontario Provincial Police officers began a foot search of the Lake Huron shoreline, an RCAF air search and rescue helicopter from Canadian Forces Base Trenton yesterday combed a wide area of the lake for the men.
The helicopter and its four-man crew remained overnight in London where the aircraft was refueled. Provincial police said it is likely another air search will be made today.
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Search of the shoreline was made from Black’s Point, three miles north of here, to Point Albert, a distance of nine miles. Several off-duty policemen joined the search and a tugboat from MacDonald Marine here stood by.
Two OPP officers aboard the helicopter said an off-shore southwest wind caused the water to be murky although the lake was calm.
The lake was choppy Sunday when the two men set out for what was described by their wives as a pleasure cruise.
Police assume both men were wearing life jackets because the equipment was not in the boat when it was towed to Goderich late Sunday by a MacDonald tug.
Mrs. Wormsbecker said the pair, both natives of the same town in Holland and described as good swimmers and expert seamen, have sailed often from Goderich and had crossed Lake Huron twice to Michigan. Both had sailed on the lake but had never cruised along the shoreline, she said.
Mr. Halff has two daughters and is a motor mechanic at Riehl Motors Ltd. Mr. Wormsbecker, the boat’s owner, works at Cooper-Bessemer of Canada Ltd. He has one son.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Police are asking the missing men’s relatives to come forward and provide a DNA sample so investigators can search for a possible match with other samples stored in the police database that also includes samples of human remains found in Lake Huron. Huron OPP can be contacted at 1-888-310-1122 or 519-482-1677.
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