Smitherman’s husband located

The family of George Smitherman have a sense of relief this Wednesday night. Less than 48 hours after the former Deputy Premier’s husband disappeared, Christopher Peloso has been found alive. He’s recovering in hospital, after being found conscious but groggy and barely breathing near a Toronto construction site.

Kate Carnegie has the details.

You could see in his eyes that George Smitherman was relieved that his husband was found alive. There was a lot of media attention on this case because Smitherman served as the province’s Deputy Premier, Health Minister and Energy Minister before he stepped down to run for Toronto Mayor in 2010. Smitherman says he will be spending a lot of time at the Toronto Western hospital in the coming days.

Smitherman addressed the media with a sense of relief: “He’s alive and safely in the hands of Toronto Western that we have so much confidence in.”

Just hours earlier around 11am, the 39-year old Peloso was found in a wooded area near train tracks near Lansdowne Avenue and Dupont Street in Toronto.

“When I saw him, he looked like he looked like he was tired, he was dirty, but I didn’t spend anymore time. He was confused.”

Toronto Police K-9 officer Scott Fowlds works along side a 6-and-a-half year old German Shepherd named Ranger. After about 45 minutes of searching, Ranger found Peloso alive:

“At one point, he went into the bushes. I was about 15 feet behind him and he started barking which means he has found a live human body.”

It was Peloso’s cell phone signal that lead police to the traintracks where he was found. Peloso was last seen Monday at 4pm near Davenport Road and Bathurst Street. That’s about 3 km away from where he was found. Smitherman and Peloso live in the area. Neighbors says that a for sale sign went up last Thursday. The couple were married in August 2007 and have a daughter and a son.

Smitherman: The path forward isn’t clear. Expect that we know it’s long and it will be hard and that he and me and our family and our kids especially will be surrounded by an outpouring of love that would restore anybodies faith and confidence.”

Smitherman didn’t give any details about his husbands condition. He also didn’t talk about what could have lead to Christopher’s disappearance or what he had found out. But, Smitherman did thank the media and the public for all of their support.