How did police miss Brian Lush's body? Human error — or policy gaps — may have played a role

It sounds like the start of a true crime documentary: a search for a missing man ends with his body found in the trailer of a truck. The twist, of course, is that the missing man had been driving that truck — and it's precisely where he was last spotted alive.

For Brian Lush's family, it's a bizarre tragedy that they're now forced to cope with, after the remains of the 51-year-old trucker were discovered in his rig's trailer in Port aux Basques, N.L., on the truck's way back home from Ontario.

Lush was last seen around his rig at a gas station in Summerstown, Ont., on April 24. Ontario Provincial Police investigators said at the time that security video showed Lush walking around the side of the truck and out of frame. 

The OPP says they led an intense search for Lush for the next two weeks, one that involved dog teams, drones, helicopters and search and rescue experts.

But they appear to have somehow missed Lush's body, right where he'd last been spotted.

Details about the case are scarce, as it remains under investigation, but the Ontario police force and the Newfoundland and Labrador RCMP say they don't suspect foul play. It's not clear where in the trailer Lush's remains were found, or whether the trailer was thoroughly examined before it crossed the Ontario border on its way back east to Newfoundland. 

OPP spokesperson Bill Dickson said Friday the force won't be releasing any other details about the case. "We prefer to provide any additional information to the family," he wrote in an email.

Former police officer Dan Salomons knows just as much about this case as the public: very little. But if he had to guess, based on his own experience investigating missing persons cases, human error could have come into play.

"On the surface, it doesn't look good," Salomons said, in an interview in his home office. 

"But that being said, I've been involved in a number of investigations, homicide, whatever it is, that on the surface it doesn't look like we're doing a good job or we're not doing as much as we possibly could. But we as investigators have information that we can't release to the public, because it would compromise an investigation."

Salomons was an officer for 13 years with the Peel Regional Police in Mississauga. The first thing any police officer does, he says, is search — thoroughly — the area where the person was last seen.

"Any time that I have done a missing persons investigation, there is … a pre-recorded checklist that you have to go through and just check all the boxes to complete the missing person report," Salomons said.

One of the first standard places to look is the area they were previously in.

He'd often find children hiding in strange places inside their own homes, for instance — uncovered only because officers would leave no stone unturned.