Missing Fredericton man found deceased
Body of Robert “Bob” Gordon, 71, who disappeared in early July 2023, was found in Meductic area, reports Fredericton Police Force; criminality not suspected in his death
A Fredericton man who went missing almost a year ago has been found, but sadly, he’s deceased.
The Fredericton Police Force issued advisories last summer that Robert (Bob) Gordon, 72, had been reported as missing to authorities, and it sought tips from the public to aid in the effort to find him.
He had last been seen at the Mactaquac Convenience store July 10 at 2:48 p.m., and he left there and travelled in the direction of Mactaquac Provincial Park in his 2017 Nissan Frontier truck.
In a post to social media Wednesday morning, the force announced his body had been found.
“Robert (Bob) Gordon, reported missing in July 2023, has been located deceased near Meductic, New Brunswick,” it said.
“Foul play is not suspected and next of kin has been notified.”
The advisory didn’t indicate how or when he was found. However, his obituary indicates he died April 14.
Police thanked members of the public for helping in earlier search efforts and offered condolences to Gordon’s family.
In an interview with the Fredericton Independent last fall, his widow, Judy Gordon, spoke of her husband and the ordeal of not knowing what had become of him.
She said he was the jester in the relationship, always cracking corny jokes.
“Bob’s the smart Alec,” Judy said in September. “He was 71 going on 10.”
He was a people person, she said, a skill he used to great success in his long career in the retail sector, from which he retired.
The couple met in 1975 while working at K-Mart in Fredericton. Judy was a native Frederictonian, but Bob was originally from Peterborough, Ont.
“It was love at first sight,” Judy said. “He was cute and he had these big blue eyes.”
They married in Fredericton in 1980.
She said in September that the most trying aspect of her beloved husband’s disappearance was the complete mystery of what happened to him. While she was scared for his well-being and feared he might be dead, not knowing what happened was far worse than the thought of possibly having lost him, she said.
Two months after he went missing, she said, fear, sadness and uncertainty haunted her at every turn.
“No, it doesn’t fade. Every morning, I can’t believe he’s not here,” Judy said last fall.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.