Summary based on the NamUs case record (can2020009578) and
1 other sourceAndrew Melchior Gunzinger was 24 years old when he disappeared in Ontario on May 18, 1989. Although his missing-person case is associated with Toronto, the last confirmed sighting of the young man occurred near Orangeville, Ontario. According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s national missing-person record, Gunzinger had been at a farm belonging to his girlfriend’s father.
At approximately 1:00 a.m., following a dispute between Gunzinger and his girlfriend, he was seen leaving the property. That moment became the last documented sighting of him. What direction he traveled after departing the farm, how he intended to return to Toronto, and whether he encountered anyone after leaving are not explained in the publicly available official record.
Born in 1965, Gunzinger was described as a White male with a medium build, standing approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing about 130 pounds. He had blue eyes and straight brown hair that reached approximately to his shoulders. Several distinguishing characteristics could have helped identify him, including scars on his right hand and right arm and a visibly chipped right front tooth. These physical details have remained an important part of his missing-person profile because there is so little publicly documented information about what happened after he walked away from the farm in the early morning hours.
Gunzinger was also wearing a distinctive combination of clothing when he was last seen. His clothing was described as a green cotton lumberjack-style shirt with a black leather vest, tan corduroy pants and a tan leather coat. On his feet were black leather Harley-Davidson boots. There is no publicly documented indication that any of these belongings were subsequently recovered, nor does the official case summary describe a confirmed sighting of Gunzinger after he left the Orangeville-area property. The circumstances therefore leave investigators with a clearly established final location and approximate time but very little publicly disclosed information about the events that followed. The absence of a documented trail after his departure has left a considerable gap between the ordinary disagreement that preceded his leaving and the enduring disappearance that followed.
The case remains recorded in Canada’s national missing-person system under RCMP case reference 2020009578, with the Toronto Police Service Missing Persons Unit identified as the investigating agency and police reference number 1989-4004.D42. The official listing asks anyone with information to contact the Toronto Police Service Missing Persons Unit at 416-808-7411 or provide information through Crime Stoppers. Decades after Andrew walked away from the farm near Orangeville, the central questions remain unanswered: where he went after leaving, whether he reached another destination, and what circumstances prevented him from being seen again. His disappearance began with a confirmed sighting at approximately 1:00 a.m. on May 18, 1989, but the publicly documented trail ends there. In overview, Andrew Melchior Gunzinger was a 24-year-old Toronto man last seen leaving his girlfriend’s father’s farm near Orangeville after a dispute, and despite detailed identifying information and the continued involvement of law enforcement, the publicly available record provides no confirmed account of what happened to him after he disappeared.Last Seen: May 18, 1989
