Drones, GIS tracking and several Search and Rescue agencies are assisting in efforts to locate 62-year old Dilbert Thomas. (Teena Monteleone/paNOW)

By Teena Monteleone

Missing

Multi-agency search underway for Dilbert Thomas

May 19, 2025 | 1:34 PM

Robert Clarke has been counting the days since his good friend Dilbert Thomas went missing.

“Forty-nine days. So, I thought maybe they’d find him right away, but it’s been 49 days now he’s been gone. It’s not like him to do that.”

Clarke said his 62-year old friend often walked, in part to help manage his diabetes, but it was ‘unusual for him to wander off like that.’

Robert Clarke watched search and rescue units from across the province Monday looking for his friend Dilbert Thomas who was last seen March 31. (Teena Monteleone/paNOW)

Thomas was last heard from on March 31. On Monday, the Prince Albert Police Service and the Search and Rescue Saskatchewan Association of Volunteers (SARSAV) began an expansive search of an area between 42^nd Street East and 38^th Street East to Central Avenue; it’s near Thomas’ last known whereabouts.

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“He was last seen in front of Anderson Pump House at 11:40 p.m. and through the investigation, this is an avenue that we believe he could have taken to try and get to a hotel on 2^nd Avenue,” said Prince Albert Police Sgt. Jon Wilde.

Inside one of the command centres where volunteers are mapping the search efforts. (Teena Monteleone/paNOW)

The search area appears to be a mostly unpopulated space of grassland with bush and some small ponds on the South Industrial side of the city. About 40 volunteers are participating, including Thomas’ family. Drones and GPS and GIS tracking are being utilized along with the ground search conducted by Search and Rescue units from Prince Albert, Battleford, Saskatoon, North Cormon Park, Hwy 55, Prince Albert Police Identification and Victim Services. The Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) is providing air search support services, while also training.

Sgt. Wilde explained the extensive search effort is circumstantial.

“In this particular situation, with the information we have from the investigation, we know that we have a large area that needs to be covered that he potentially walked through,” he said. “Speaking with the family, it’s very uncharacteristic of him, so this is out of the norm and why we’re taking the search to this extent to try and provide some closure to the family.”

The search area is between 42nd Street East and 48th Street East to Central Avenue. (Teena Monteleone/paNOW)

Clarke drove from Sandy Bay, which is about 460 kilometres north of Prince Albert, to support the search efforts for his friend. He’s also helped raise a $10,000 reward for anyone who comes forward with information on Thomas’ whereabouts or the circumstances that led to his disappearance.

“It’s very hard. He was well known. He was a bus driver in Southend and the kids still talk about him…they miss their bus driver.”

(Facebook/Dilbert Thomas Search and Rescue page)

While holding back tears, Clarke pleaded to the public for help.

“Please, someone who knows something, come forward. We need your help. We need your help really bad…cause I want him home. That’s all I want.”

The search operation is scheduled to run until 5 p.m. Monday.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Thomas is asked to contact police at 306-953-4222. Anonymous tips can be provided to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com