Fifty years after his mother disappeared without a trace from her Apsley-area home, Rod Harris is still hoping to solve the mystery of her disappearance.
On Friday (April 22), Rod is hosting a candlelight vigil in memory of Francis Muriel Harris, who has been missing since April 21, 1972. The vigil takes place from 7 to 9 p.m. in the parking lot of the North Kawartha Community Centre off McFadden Road in Apsley. Rod is asking people to bring their own battery-operated candles and chairs.
Rod was 13 years old when he returned home from school at 3:40 p.m. to discover his mother was not at their home on Highway 28 just south of Apsley in North Kawartha Township.
The unexplained disappearance of Francis has been documented over the years — including by Ryan Scott, a licensed private investigator who volunteers with Please Bring Me Home, a Canadian non-profit dedicated to helping families find missing loved ones. Over the summer of 2021, Scott published a three-part series on the case in Apsley Backroads magazine.
On the morning of Friday, April 21, 1972, the 45-year-old mother of three travelled with her 42-year-old husband Stan for one of his regular physiotherapy appointments at 9:30 a.m. in Peterborough. After leaving the appointment, they stopped in Lakefield on the way back to Apsley, where Stan went to the bank and Francis went to the post office.
A witness reported seeing the couple together in the family car on Highway 28 later that morning. Stan said the couple ate lunch together before he left for his job at the Department of Highways (now the Ministry of Transportation) by 1 p.m., although witnesses claimed seeing his car (along with another car) at the family’s home during that afternoon — a report Stam denied.
VIDEO: The Mystery of Francis Harris – Missing Since 1972 (1977 “Code 10-78” episode)
Francis was never seen again. Her husband — who reported her missing three days later — claimed she had abandoned the family, although many of her possessions (including her purse) remained in the family home. Subsequently, there were many rumours about the couple, including infidelity in the marriage.
In 2012, police received a tip that prompted them to spend three days examining the vacant land that was once the site of the family home (it had burned down in 1990 and is now where the Apsley Veterinary Services is located). Ground-penetrating radar and heavy machinery found nothing.
On April 21, 2020, the Ontario Provincial Police issued a media release stating they were continuing their investigation into Francis’s disappearance and included a forensic artist sketch of what she may have looked like in 1992 at the age of 65 if she were still alive. Today, she would be 94 years old if she were still alive.
Her husband Stan, who had always maintained he was not involved in her disappearance, passed away in June 2021 at the age of 92.
Anyone with information about this case can contact the Peterborough County OPP at 705-742-0401 or 1-888-310-1122 (case #20090023). Anonymous tips can be made to Peterborough Northumberland Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or online at stopcrimehere.ca.
Anonymous tips can also be submitted to Please Bring Me Home’s tip hotline at 226-702-2728.
