Police are not ruling out a connection between the disappearance of three members of a Mississauga family and the grisly discovery of three charred bodies inside a burnt-out vehicle north of Barrie.

Samuel Masih, 36, and his two young boys were reported missing early Friday morning when they failed to return home.

Masih’s wife, Brintha Shanmugalingam, called police from the family home at 1:30 a.m. Friday, to say her husband and children were going to a movie at 4 p.m. but hadn’t been seen since.

Neither the OPP nor Peel Regional Police will rule out a connection in the case with the charred remains of three people found in a burned car just a few hundred metres from a drive-in movie theatre near Barrie early Friday morning.

Autopsies in that case are scheduled for Tuesday, according to the Ontario Coroner’s Office.

Peel Police officers visited the family home near Burnhamthorpe Rd. and Hurontario St. Friday morning and were later joined by OPP investigators from Caledon, who remained on-scene until 4 p.m. Saturday.

Several OPP officers were seen entering the garage and the main area of the home, carrying black boxes and white plastic bags between their vehicles and the property.

“We are still investigating our missing-persons report and the OPP is doing their investigation, and we will do whatever we can to assist them and make a determination whether there is any connection,” Const. Lilly Fitzpatrick of the Peel Police told the Star. “At this point we can’t say whether there is or there isn’t [a connection].”

The two-storey home is a modern, pink-brick house with a two-car garage and large backyard in a predominantly upper-middle-class South Asian neighbourhood. Gardening tools, a hose and bags of topsoil sat by the side of the house Saturday morning as if dropped just moments ago. Two small children’s bicycles leaned on the porch and a “Jeep” Power Wheels toy truck sat plugged into a wall socket beside the front door.

As of Sunday afternoon, the scene hadn’t changed and there was still no answer at the door.

Several neighbours who spoke to the Star said the family moved to the neighbourhood more than five years ago from North Bay.

Shanmugalingam’s mother also lives at the home and takes care of the boys, according to neighbours.

Junior Sookaran, who coaches the oldest son in soccer and whose daughter used to babysit him, told the Star the couple has been having marital problems lately and were readying for a divorce, a claim repeated by neighbours.

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The family drives a grey Toyota Venza SUV, not seen in their driveway or on the street since Thursday, according to area residents.

Ghufran Ahmed lives across the street from the family. He told the Star he last saw the “charcoal grey Toyota” on Thursday.

Peel Police have not released any photos or descriptions of the three missing Mississauga family members. The OPP have not released the make of the vehicle nor the approximate ages of the victims involved in the Barrie vehicle fire.

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