I’m in and maybe even willing to do some work on the ground in Taitung, Hualien, Green Island areas. As long as I can remain incognito, so I don’t disappear.
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That storyline is probably pretty accurate.
I would almost surmise you were my brother
@Davesbrother, by the way, the missing story with pictures is also on some Philippines foreigner forums where lots of guys that live around Philippines and Asia chat. But no leads or info.
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If Davesbrother wants to come to Taiwan I would chip in some $ too. Rich families here get away with a lot of bad doing and that can go much beyond what we might imagine towards foreigners. If anything was done to this man and is kept secret because money talks, we, as a foreigner community must help him as a way to protect ourselves. We never know who we are dealing with until someday we deal with some serious cash heavy TWN person who has lots of connections and wants to get rid of us.
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I asked a Taiwanese diver in Phils also …nothing.
You will not believe the runaround from police here , trying to find out more.
Some of their suggestions : Call a Private detective agency …there is a Government registered one , apparently, Call TVBS, call immigration…we are so busy …Better to deal with the local Police , and this from people I know !!
…try to get more info from ex wife 
Anyway , I am still waiting to see what they find out .
I love Taiwan …but sometimes 
I have to fly overseas tomorrow, so pushed for time. Will do more later next week on my return.
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I think the Apple Daily newspaper is responsible for keeping track and upping the numbers.
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I have found a solitary Chinese report (from Hualien) about his disappearance on the ETtoday News Cloud (新聞雲), dated November 17, 2016, under the headline
騎去清水斷崖只留下車！ 加拿大退役老爸…離奇失蹤 (“Rode to Qingshui Cliff and Just Left Scooter! Canadian Ex-military Dad … Bizarre Disappearance”)
Here’s my rough translation of its content:
A Canadian man surnamed “Bai” who lived in Taitung, after arguing with his wife the day before yesterday, left home in a fit of pique and rode a scooter to Qingshui Cliff in Hualien to “distract away his cares.” But on November 16 a police patrol found his scooter damaged and abandoned at the roadside. They found aluminium foil and a battery in the scooter’s storage compartment.
The police investigation revealed that, after arguing with his wife, he left Taitung alone on his scooter in the early morning of November 16, and rode up to Qingshui “to play” (!). He was spotted there by coast guard personnel in the daytime. On November 17, the police discovered his scooter damaged and left in a recreation area. Feeling something wasn’t right, they contacted his wife in Taipei.
His wife said they had been married for more than 10 years (!), and they had one daughter. They had recently had a row, which had caused her husband to leave home in a huff. She was very worried about her husband’s safety, and on the 16th she sought help from the Hualien police to search for him, to check intersection surveillance camera footage, and determine where he disappeared and where he last used his cellphone.
The police said that his cellphone was currently turned off, and that their inquiries had discovered that he had a background in the military and had fought in the Iraq War. His abandoned scooter was damaged at the front and was out of petrol. They did not rule out that he might have run out of petrol, tried to use the battery to start it, and abandoned it at the roadside when that failed. They suspected that he wanted to proceed northward to find his wife, and had gone missing along the way. They would continue to help search for his whereabouts.
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Good work Sherlock Omni. Finally a break in the case.
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Here are essentially the same details repeated in a Liberty Times report of the same date: (The only slight difference is their adding that he’s presumed to have set off on foot when he couldn’t get his scooter going, and that the police had already launched a multi-pronged search and hoped to quickly find him.)
〔即時新聞／綜合報導〕花蓮警方昨日巡邏時，在清水斷崖路邊發現一台毀損且棄置的機車，經過追查後，發現車主為白姓加拿大籍男子，在跟他的台籍妻子連繫後，才發現白姓男子應該是在路上棄置機車後失蹤，目前警方已通報失蹤協尋。
據《三立新聞》報導，加拿大籍男子住在台東，與他結婚10多年的妻子則住在台北，前天（15日）兩人起了一些爭執，白姓男子便從台東騎車要到清水斷崖散心，但機車到了昨天（16日）被警方發現棄置在清水斷崖附近。
該輛機車車頭損毀、汽油耗盡，置物箱裡有電瓶和鋁箔紙，由於白姓加拿大籍男子有軍旅背景，所以當時他可能想要自行接電啟動機車，發現失敗後才棄車步行離開。警方已展開多方追尋，希望儘快找到失蹤男子。
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Thanks Omni, outstanding stuff
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So the wife did not initiate the missing person report , in reality . The police finding the abandoned scooter started it all off ? I thought he went to Taitung to see her ? This sounds like he was going North to see her ?
This report from SETN includes pictures of his scooter:
[
加籍男子負氣離家疑失蹤清水斷崖尋獲毀損機車| 社會| 三立新聞網SETN …
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Yes, he was riding back to Taipei to see her (I presume their fight was on the phone). He lived in Taitung, she lived in Taipei. His scooter was found at the roadside of the highest cliffs in Taiwan. The story ends there. There seems to be no follow up coverage.
Who the hell rides a scooter from Taitung to Taipei?
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Seems like it . Phone switched off , but records should still be available? Maybe to check last calls at least . Anyway , good work finding the articles …makes things clearer.
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I know, seems strange , especially running empty of fuel at a scenic spot ?
So the story of helicopters and Cars/men in the carpark ?
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I was thinking foul play from the beginning, but this is looking more like suicide now. I hope it’s neither, but…
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Yes, that’s it. From what she posted on FB, I think she had bought a home in Banqiao, and that’s presumably where she was living while he had moved to Taitung.
I wonder if he was already suffering from PTSD triggered by his experience in the Gulf War, and this situation with his wife pushed him completely over the edge.
No mention of any helicopter search, though the police did say that they would use all means to search for him. It’s still more likely that that was the wife’s embroidering of the facts.
The TV report mentions that the place where he disappeared is 8 km away from where a male university student had also disappeared, suggesting that there might be some connection between the two, though that seems rather far-fetched.
The media do seem to have completely lost interest in the case after that first report, and the police don’t seem to have pursued it much further. The Hualien police should still have a case file on it that a family member would be entitled to see.
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