Foul Play Feared in Disappearance of Teamster Aide
Police are baffled by the disappearance two months ago of a top Teamsters officer and union reformer but his wife fears he may have met foul play.
“All we’ve been running into is dead ends,” Police Lt. Ralph Davis said last week of the search for Terrence Toler, 37, president of 4,000-member Local 439 who vanished in mid-October. “Anything is possible.”
Toler was last seen when he left his home Oct. 16 , telling his wife he planned to go directly to the union hall for a meeting with a running mate in his effort to move into the union’s top post, secretary-treasurer, in a coming election.
Two days later, police said, Toler left a message on his home’s telephone answering machine: “Carla, I love you. This is Terry. I’ll be out of town for awhile. I’ll call you next week.”
He never called, Mrs. Toler said.
“I’m not of the belief that there hasn’t been any foul play,” she said. “I think it’s definitely possible. It just seems so clean-cut to me. Everyone down there (the local’s headquarters) had something to gain by getting my husband out of the way.”
Police say no union members are suspect in the disappearance and that all have been “fully cooperative” in the investigation.
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