HUNTER: Who is the suspected Barrie Butcher? Well-known to cops, for starters

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William “Blake” Robinson vanished from the netherworld of the addicted and desperate around January 18 this year.

Home was, in reality, the notorious homeless camp on Anne, John and Victoria streets in Barrie. Robinson, 45, was a known drug user and frequent flier at homeless encampments, a police source said.

David Cheesequay, 41, inhabited the same world. Living in a makeshift cabin next to his mother’s trailer in the lair of the luckless.

He was last seen by his mother around midnight or early morning on July 27 or 28, police sources told The Toronto Sun.

“When he was last seen, ‘Tattoo Rob’ was walking towards him,” the police source said, asking not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the investigation.

On Aug. 1, officials from the Busby Centre reported Cheesequay missing. Busby is an outreach organization that advocates for the homeless and others at risk. Workers last heard from Cheesequay on July 27 or 28.

Two weeks ago, cops began evacuating the homeless encampment as a result of a red-ball investigation. The results of the probe would not bode well for Robinson or Cheesequay.

Late Thursday, Barrie Police broke their silence on a long and twisting probe into what had started as a missing person’s investigation and morphed into murder. Detectives had arrested a suspect in the two men’s disappearances.

He is Robert “Tattoo Rob” Ladouceur, 52. The accused is well-known to cops and had been arrested earlier this month in Midland after the homeless encampment had been cleared.

Cops say the investigation stretched from a rural property in Huntsville to a north Simcoe County residence.

Investigators believe that Ladouceur is responsible for the dismemberment murders of Robinson and Cheesequay. He was initially banged up with 19 mostly weapons-related criminal offences.

Law enforcement sources say Ladouceur’s criminal record is murky. Throughout the years, he racked up charges for beefs like assault with a weapon, assault on police, assault, a slew of failure to comply charges, and another assault with a weapon.

“It’s not pretty. Saying he’s a career criminal might be an overstatement because career kind of suggests he was good at crime. He wasn’t,” the law enforcement source said, adding what kind of time – if any – Ladouceur served wasn’t in the picture.

“He didn’t do any serious time, and a bunch of the charges were withdrawn,” the source said. “It doesn’t appear anyone along the line recognized that this guy might be dangerous.”

During the investigation, detectives from Barrie Police recovered a treasure trove of evidence, including suspected human remains. The suspected remains are now being analyzed at the Centre for Forensic Science in Toronto.

“Much of the detailed forensic examination of outdoor properties in recent weeks occurred after the primary suspect in this ongoing investigation was identified and arrested,” Barrie police stated in the Thursday release.

Ladouceur now faces charges of first and second-degree murder, two counts of indignity to a body, plus additional weapons and drug-related offences.

So far, cops have been tight-lipped on a possible motive. Nor is it known whether the three men were acquainted.

The allegations against Ladouceur have not been tested in court.

Legendary producer Rod Serling summed up the world in which the three main actors resided.

“You’re travelling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s the signpost up ahead – your next stop, the Twilight Zone!”

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun