Police probe 'frustrated' by conflicting information: detective
Richard Leitner, Ancaster

Police are appealing to "the humanity" of anyone knowing the whereabouts of a missing Hamilton man to contact them while his mother is offering a bigger financial reward to do so.

Donna Dixon shook as she made a tearful plea for information on her son, Billy Mason, 28, who disappeared from his east-end apartment in February.

She and police announced that a previous $5,000 reward for information on the puzzling case is being boosted to $9,000 with the help of donations from the community.

Amid a backdrop of family photos and a letter Mr. Mason's eight-year-old daughter wrote to Santa asking for her dad's safe return, Ms. Dixon spoke of her family's painful ordeal.

According to police, Mr. Mason's apartment had been taken over by crack cocaine addicts and he was last seen leaving the building with one or more persons carrying a shotgun.

"There's a little girl out there who has asked God to bring Billy home and now she has on her Christmas list to bring Billy home safely," Ms. Dixon said, her voice breaking with emotion.

"Please help us find Billy. Please understand how we feel as a family. Put yourself in our position," she said.

"I'm a mess. I need answers. Our whole family needs answers. It's very hard with Christmas coming. Billy spent every Christmas with us."

Detective Sergeant Jorge Lasso of the major crimes unit said police have heard "many stories" about what may have occurred, but have no suspects and few credible leads on the case.

He said Mr. Mason had been known to use recreational drugs but isn't believed to have been a crack user even though an unspecified number of crack heads had taken over his Main Street East apartment.

They instead appear to have taken advantage of Mason, who was on a disability pension for manic depression.

"It is not unusual for people involved in the crack cocaine subculture to find a vulnerable person whose apartment they can take over so they can sell crack and use crack," Det. Sgt. Lasso said.

"Unfortunately, because we don't have all the details, I'm not going to speculate as to how long these people had been there," he said.

"However, we have reason to believe that these people had not been a part of Billy's life for very long and we are afraid that these people had found a vulnerable person in Billy."

Det. Sgt. Lasso said police remain cautious about much of the information they have received to date because much of it comes from crack addicts. He said investigators are "reasonably certain" the story of Mr. Mason leaving his building with a person or persons carrying a shot gun is accurate, but can't say if he was removed at gunpoint.

"At this point, I'm prepared to say that we can't say for sure that's what happened," he said. "One of the problems with this investigation is not only the lack of information, but as well the misinformation we're clearly getting, because we are getting conflicting stories and that is very frustrating for investigators."

Ms. Dixon described her son as a loving person.

"He would do absolutely anything for anyone," she said. "He would give his last meal to feed somebody. If somebody was on the street, Billy would bring them in."