MONTREAL — The family of an Ontario man is making a deeper technological dive to fish out clues on what happened to their son, who went missing in Mont-Tremblant, Que., 21 months ago. Metadata linked to Liam Toman’s phone the night the 22-year-old disappeared from the Laurentian ski resort might offer fresh information on his whereabouts, said his father Chris Toman. “We’ve been mining that data with a digital forensic expert in conjunction with the SQ,” Chris said, referring to the Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police force. He said cell tower pings, router data and other signal metrics could further help searchers home in on where in the sprawling mountain resort or beyond to look. “Those are kernels, or data packs, that we have requested — some production orders through the SQ to retain that from some of the third-party apps — and that allows us to narrow that search area a little tighter,” the father said. The renewed digital effort comes alongside another ground search for Liam over the weekend by volunteer teams and trained search-and-rescue dog units. Toman vanished at around 3 a.m. on Feb. 2, 2025, after leaving a bar in the ski village north of Montreal following a night of dinner and drinks with friends on a ski trip in Mont-Tremblant. Liam’s parents and stepmother have said he was last seen on camera walking back toward his hotel, but there was no footage of him heading inside. A last call and text were sent from his phone at around 3:15 a.m., with no activity on his bank account, social media or phone since. “If you see the video surveillance, he’s walking with purpose,” said Chris. “He’s not lost ... he’s not stumbling. He’s obviously had something to drink, which they all do, but he’s got his faculties, he’s multitasking ... phoning, texting.” His disappearance prompted provincial police to carry out searches by land, helicopter and in nearby bodies of water. After his wallet was found in a nearby parking lot seven weeks later, police dispatched more helicopters, dogs, ATVs and searchers on horseback while volunteer groups combed the surrounding hills. Authorities have not ruled out criminal activity. The family has also launched a blue wristband campaign, inviting visitors to wear the bracelets as a sign of support and to help keep attention on Liam’s disappearance. A $50,000 reward remains in place for information leading to his location, as his parents continue to work with police, forensics analysts and the community to find their son. This weekend marked the 18th or 19th visit Liam’s parents had made to the resort since February 2025, they said. Since then, new lighting and upgrades to cameras — more now record footage rather than offering only a livestream, for example — have given a small measure of solace to Chris as well as Kathleen Toman, Liam’s mother, and Lara Toman, his stepmother. “Now if this happened, he would be on camera,” said Lara. “They’ve really taken those steps,” she said, while noting that a security audit at the resort is ongoing. “If anything positive comes out of this, it’s that we don’t want another family to go through this,” said Chris, who lives in Whitby, Ont. The couple described Liam as kind, quick-witted and risk-averse. “He was an old, sensitive soul. He loved his outdoors. He made friends easily, he was very sociable,” Chris said of his son, who graduated from Niagara College with an electronics technician diploma in 2024. Chris recalled teaching his boy to swim, skate and grill a good steak, while Lara remembers Liam’s close relationship with her own son. “His stepbrother, Ryan, they were best buds,” she said. “When they were younger, they were sort of like this little team, whether it was football or dodgeball. “I was lucky to be a bonus mom,” she said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2026. Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press
