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Missing U.S. sport-hunter's girlfriend refuses to give up

"You just don't disappear into thin air"

JANE GEORGE

Jimmy Rambone (left) went missing during a hunting trip near the Caniapscau River last September. No evidence of him, or his remains, has been found. (FILE PHOTO)

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Pam Ruzzo still hasn't given up on finding her boyfriend, Jimmy Rambone Jr., an American hunter who went missing one year ago while on a caribou hunting trip in Nunavik.

Ruzzo still clings to the belief that Rambone is still alive, but lost somewhere in northern Quebec. He was an epileptic, and she believes he could have suffered memory loss following a seizure.

"For all we know, Jim could have amnesia caused by a severe seizure and may be with someone and they don't know who he is and nothing reported of him missing," Ruzzo said in a telephone interview from Rhode Island. "We're not sitting right with this because something's just not right. You just don't disappear. You just don't disappear into thin air."

Ruzzo is still living at Rambone's farmhouse in Foster, Rhode Island, where she takes care of his animals and hopes some day to learn exactly what happened to him last year.

"We still have hope and we're hoping to find some sort of closure," Ruzzo said.

Rambone was last seen on Sept. 3, 2003 when he sprinted off in pursuit of a caribou over the rugged tundra near the Caniapscau River, south of Kuujjuaq and east of Kuujjuaraapik.

Rambone, an experienced woodsman and hunter, was on the "trip of his life," one of about 3,500 avid hunters, mainly from the U.S., who come to Nunavik every autumn to hunt caribou.

Most hunters coming from the South choose guided hunts, but Rambone, an expert outdoorsman, chose an eight-day non-guided hunt at Camp Sardine, for $2,900 U.S., from CanadAdventure.

A bright orange jacket and Rambone's camera, found near a caribou carcass, is all that has ever been found of the hunter.

"Bears and wolves don't eat clothing and wouldn't have eaten his gun," Ruzzo said.

Searchers from CanadAdventure and the Kativik Regional Police Force turned up no sign of Rambone. A search team from Rhode Island and the Nova Scotia Canine Association also searched for the missing hunter last October, but could only spend three days on the land, because of bad weather.

"We had to wait the winter. We ran fundraisers to raise the money, as that first trip cost $30,000," Ruzzo said.

During the winter, she hired a private investigator to interview anyone and everyone who had been with Rambone before he disappeared. The investigator's report ruled out foul play.

The searchers went out again with dogs in July with a guide from CanadAdventure.

"They searched a bigger area and came up with nothing and they're very baffled by it. A guide who has been working there for 35 years said they have always found a person, dead or alive, but they've always found him," Ruzzo said.

Now, she needs to pay off $11,000 in debts from the last search before starting another one. In the meantime, Ruzzo has sent posters North and this year's crop of caribou hunters have been advised to be alert for signs of the missing hunter.

"If they come across any of the articles or him they should report it immediately," she said.

Jean-Pierre Bardou from CanadAdventure said it's possible Rambone walked much further than 10 or 20 kilometers from where he was last seen, well outside of the area of the search.

Bardou said, it may be that the sad disappearance of this sports hunter remains an "unsolved mystery."

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