A body found northeast of Barrie, Ont., on Wednesday is believed to be that of 15-year-old Brandon Crisp, who disappeared from his home last month after a dispute with his parents over a video game, police said.
A teenage male's body was found on Wednesday morning by hunters, said Sgt. Dave Goodbrand of the Barrie Police Service.
Police are not yet confirming the body is Crisp's, but it was found in the Shanty Bay-area where they had been searching since Oct. 20.
"At this point we believe it to be Brandon, and we're still obviously in the early stages of our investigation," he said. "It's not confirmed because nothing's confirmed until we have pathology, but we believe it to be Brandon."
The Crisp family has been informed that a body was discovered and an autopsy will be conducted to determine the identity, Goodbrand said.
Crisp's parents, who had urged the police to do more to access records on their son's Xbox and online gaming accounts to try to find the teen, were "obviously distraught" to be told a body had been found, he said.
The Barrie police will be co-ordinating their pathology investigation with the Ontario Provincial Police.
The teen disappeared on Oct. 13 after arguing with his parents over a favourite Xbox video game, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. They had taken the game away from him because they felt he had become obsessed with it and his many connections in the online gaming community.
Officers had been searching cornfields and the bush in the Shanty Bay-area around Barrie where Crisp was last reported seen walking on the Oro-Medonte Rail Trail with his bicycle.
Crisp was sighted twice on the day he disappeared. His bicycle was found on Oct. 20.
