Search for Yellowknife man called off

Ground and aerial searches have been suspended on Thursday for a 37-year-old man who has been missing for over a week.

George Collins was last seen on Sept. 8 and was reported missing the next day. Since then, volunteers with Yellowknife Search and Rescue and the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association have been helping RCMP with search efforts.

Const. Kathy Law told CBC News that police will continue looking for Collins, but the volunteer searchers will no longer be involved.

"The RCMP has no leads and no other areas in which to go to [and] search," Law said Thursday.

"Yellowknife and the surrounding area is a really big area. So until we get some tips as to possible sightings, then we really have nothing to go on and no areas of interest to search."

Tents spotted

Law said police made the decision after a ground search Wednesday night failed to turn up any new information about Collins's whereabouts.

That ground search was focused in a wooded area between Frame Lake and the Lakeview Cemetery, after what appeared to be tents were spotted from a search and rescue airplane earlier that day.

Police say Collins has been known to camp that area from time to time, with one report that he might have been there on Sunday. However, they say searchers have found nothing of significance in that area.

RCMP are still urging anyone with information about Collins to contact them. Law said some people have sent in a few tips, but those tips have not amounted to anything so far.

Police describe Collins as a Métis man, about 6'1" in height and weighing about 250 pounds (113 kilograms). He has dark shoulder-length hair and may have facial hair.

History of mental illness

He was last seen wearing black pants, a fall jacket and scuffed-up black sneakers, according to police.

Collins has been living with his uncle, Ed Michelin, who said it is unusual for his nephew to be away for so long without checking in.

"I'd like to know that he's safe," Michelin told CBC News on Wednesday. "Whether or not he chooses to stay out, that's OK. But I'd like to know where he is."

Michelin said Collins, a former computer technician who has been unemployed for several years, has a history of mental illness and is not taking any medication.

With a fondness for television shows like Survivorman and Mantracker, Collins occasionally likes to wander into the bush for some peace and quiet, according to his uncle.

"He kind of, like, avoids people … if you saw him out somewhere, he might not come over and chat. Like, he'll probably just go on about his business," Michelin said.

"He's wandered off in the winter but he hadn't stayed out very long. Like, a day, overnight, and then back the next day," he added.

Michelin said Collins knows how to live on the land, but he was not wearing any warm clothing when he left home last week.