Little progress on Schaff investigation

By Jaime Thomas

More than a month after Fair Haven resident Jonathan Schaff went missing in Granville, investigations have revealed nearly nothing.

Granville Police Chief Ernie Bassett said local officers are still taking statements from those who interacted with Schaff before his disappearance.

Schaff, 23, has not been seen since late January, when he kept walking past a couple he was with and disappeared on Route 149 near the Vermont border following a bar fight.

All that showed up after the initial search was Schaff’s cellphone in an abandoned vehicle located at Loomis Trucking on State Route 149 in Vermont, an area where a number of abandoned cars and trucks are parked.

The area where the cellphone was found is the same location Schaff was walking when he disappeared, according to Vermont State Police.

Since then, a Vermont National Guard helicopter flew over the area but turned up nothing; two weeks ago, the New York State Police did a helicopter flyover as well, but Bassett said high snow made it difficult to spot anything.

The New York major crimes unit is now offering its resources to the Granville Police Department, who are questioning those who might have information.

Bassett said somewhere in the near future once the weather improves, police plan to search along the river bank with dogs.

“There’s lots of snow in the way. We’ll do a more extensive search as the ice breaks up along the river,” he said. Despite the major crimes unit’s involvement in the case, he said there is no suspicious lead.

“We still can’t say there’s any reason to believe there was foul play,” he said.

Anyone with any information can call Granville police at 642-1414 or Vermont State Police at 802-773-9101.