A New West man, who police allege sexually assaulted a woman, is now missing and believed to be suicidal.
According to the New Westminster Police Department, 52-year-old Fred William Bilawey hasn’t been heard from since April 16, when he chatted with a friend over a Yahoo messaging board.
During the conversation, Bilawey “expressed suicidal thoughts and stated he was near a body of water,” the release stated.
Police believe Bilawey is somewhere in the Toronto area and does not have access to a vehicle.
“Major crime received some type of information that he hadn’t been heard from and that wasn’t a common occurrence,” New West Sgt. Diana McDaniel told The Record. “We started looking into it and then we determined he was actually missing. … They (investigators) still haven’t located him.”
New West police announced last week that Bilawey was under investigation for an alleged sexual assault stemming from a Craigslist ad looking for waitresses and bartenders.
The initial release stated that police were releasing Bilawey’s photo to the public because investigators believed there were victims who hadn’t come forward yet.
“That was the whole reason for the release, it was to further the investigation with respect to locating more victims and protecting the safety of women who might be responding to these ads,” McDaniel said.
When asked if police were concerned that releasing the photo had driven Bilawey to disappear, McDaniel said they weren’t concerned at all.
“All of that was weighed carefully and it was considered and there was a lot of discussion about it. It was for public safety reasons and in the public interest that we did get the information out there,” she added.
Bilawey is a Caucasian man, 5’11, weighs 190 pounds with short brown hair and hazel eyes. He has a scar under his right eye. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact their local police department or the New West police at 604-525-5411.
