HAMILTON

The apparent abduction of a loving husband and father took another sinister turn as investigators found evidence his suspected kidnappers drove through Brantford Monday night.

And Tim Bosma, 32, may not have been the first person the two men targeted while pretending to be interested in buying a pickup truck advertised online.

Hamilton Police have revealed the missing man’s cellphone was found late Thursday in an industrial area in the west end of Brantford.

“Last night, police conducted a ground search of a very large area, nothing further of Mr. Bosma’s was found,” Det.-Sgt. Matt Kavanagh said at a press conference Friday.

He said police have also “received information” that Bosma’s 2007 black Dodge Ram 3500 diesel pickup was spotted around 10:10 p.m. Monday in downtown Brantford, about 25 km west of his home.

The self-employed family man posted an ad on Kijiji in an effort to sell his truck for $27,000.

Two men, believed to be from Toronto, responded to the ad by cellphone and showed up at Bosma’s home in rural Ancaster to take the vehicle for a test drive around 9:30 p.m. Monday. It’s believed the pair may have been dropped off by a third person.

“He smiled at me and said he’ll be right back,” Bosma’s distraught wife, Sharlene, said of her husband at a heartbreaking press conference held Thursday. “I haven’t seen him since.”

More than 150 officers conducted an extensive search by air and on the ground but four days later neither Bosma nor his truck, with Ontario licence plate 726 7ZW, have been located.

Investigators have now obtained cellphone records for the number they believe the men called Bosma from, a phone registered under “a bogus name.” Kavanagh said the phone has been “turned off” since it was used to call Bosma.

However, through the phone records police identified a Toronto man who took the same two men for a test drive in his vehicle — which is “similar to Bosma’s” and was also advertised for sale online — a day before the Ancaster man vanished.

The pair showed up at the man’s business on foot in the middle of the day last Sunday, Kavanagh said.

“The owner of this vehicle was not harmed,” he said. ”He’s a very large individual and I think that was his advantage.”

The man was able to add to the description of the men Bosma’s wife provided to police.

Both men are white and believed to be in their early 20s.

The first man is described as about 6-foot-1 or 6-foot-2, 170 to 180 pounds, with short light to medium brown hair, unshaven, wearing blue jeans, a long-sleeve orange shirt, running shoes and several tattoos on his arms.

Most notably of the tattoos was the word “ambition,” framed by a box, tattooed on his wrist “where a person wears a watch,” Kavanagh said.

The second man is 5-foot-9 or 5-foot-10, with a small to medium build, dark hair and wore a red hooded sweatshirt with the hood up over his head.

Police are urging businesses and any individuals with surveillance cameras in Brantford to check the footage from Monday, between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., for the pickup truck or anything out of the ordinary.

Anyone with information is asked to call the tip line police have set up at 905-546-2100 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).