Michael Lovejoy

Michael James Lovejoy was a 35-year-old transport truck driver from Flint, Michigan, who was a husband and father. In the spring of 1994, he had been working for his employer, RTS Transport Inc., for only five weeks. His life was cut short in a violent, and still unexplained, act that has left his family searching for answers for more than three decades.

On the morning of Friday, April 8, 1994, Michael began what should have been a routine cross-border haul. He left the American Axle & Manufacturing plant in Buffalo, New York, shortly before 11:00 a.m., his white 1991 GMC tractor pulling a trailer loaded with automotive axles. His destination was the GMC truck and bus plant in Pontiac, Michigan, with an arrival scheduled for 10:00 p.m. that night. He crossed into Canada at the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge at approximately 12:20 p.m. and proceeded west. Between 1:30 and 1:45 p.m., witnesses saw his truck, marked with the distinctive red and blue RTS lettering, pull over onto the westbound shoulder of Highway 403 in Brantford, Ontario, about a mile east of the Park Road North overpass, now known as the Wayne Gretzky Parkway.

For reasons unknown, Michael’s truck remained parked in that unusual spot for an extended period. Witnesses later reported seeing a second tractor-trailer, similar in color and markings to an RTS truck, parked directly behind Michael's rig that afternoon. Some also saw a man walking between the two vehicles. This individual has never been identified. Another RTS driver traveling the same route noticed Michael's parked truck but received no answer when he tried to reach him on the CB radio, where Michael was known by the handle "SuperTramp."

The next day, Saturday, April 9, at around 2:15 p.m., the same coworker stopped to check on the truck. He made a grim discovery inside the sleeper cab. Michael Lovejoy was dead, having been shot multiple times. Investigators from the Brantford Police Service arrived at the scene, but the circumstances only deepened the mystery. Robbery did not appear to be the motive; Michael's wallet was still in the cab, and the valuable cargo of automotive axles was untouched. His shoes and socks were found on the floor of the driver's side, and his wristwatch alarm had been set for 5:30 p.m.

The investigation into the male victim's homicide was extensive. Police received and followed up on more than 300 tips from the public in the months following the murder, but none led to an arrest. The identity of the man seen walking between the two trucks and the significance of the second transport vehicle remain key unanswered questions in the case. Over the years, the Brantford Police Service has continued to review the evidence, hoping that advances in technology could provide a breakthrough.

Decades later, the case remains active. In a June 2026 appeal for information, Brantford Police confirmed that investigators are constantly re-examining the file. Handwritten notes from the original 1994 investigation have been digitized and entered into modern databases designed to identify links between cases across different jurisdictions. While police have not specified what evidence was collected, they have noted that advances in DNA technology have helped solve other historical cases and that they continue to review all evidence from the Lovejoy investigation.

More than 32 years have passed, but investigators and Michael's family have not given up hope. Police believe that someone, either in Canada or the United States, has information that could finally solve the case. They have urged anyone who might have seen something on Highway 403 that day, or who may have heard someone talk about the incident in the years since, to come forward. Even the smallest detail could be the missing piece. The Brantford Police Service continues to seek information regarding the person or persons responsible for Michael Lovejoy's murder and can be contacted at 519-756-7050, or tips can be provided anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.