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Members of the Ontario Volunteer Emergency Response Team (OVERT) scour for Jeffrey Boucher in the thick woods in the Taunton Rd. and Brock St. North area on Jan. 15 2014. The search for the missing Whitby, Ont. teacher Boucher began when he failed to return from a morning run early this weekFred Lu/The Globe and Mail

Police are ending the ground search for a missing Whitby, Ont., man, saying they are "truly stumped" by his disappearance — although they do have several theories about what may have happened.

Det. Sgt. Mitch Martin, the lead investigator in the case, says Durham regional police have had very few leads to go on and that it appears Jeffrey Boucher "has simply vanished."

The 52-year-old high school teacher disappeared last Monday after it's believed he headed out for a routine morning run, although no one saw him leave his home in the community east of Toronto.

Martin says there are four "working themes" about what could have happened, including the possibility of foul play, but there's no evidence to suggest that is what happened.

There's also no evidence that Boucher has taken his own life, Martin said.

The other two scenarios are that Boucher has walked away from his life or that he possibly fell while he was out running.

"Now that one is starting to become less realistic in my opinion, only because of the amount of search effort put forward ... and the fact that we're in a fairly populated area," said Martin.

"I find it hard to believe that he's fallen down while running and we haven't found him."

Police have been in touch with Boucher's family every day since he was reported missing and that police will continue their investigation until they find him, Martin said.

But after a week of searches involving ground, air, canine units, ATVs and a trained volunteer search team, police say they've thoroughly covered the area around Boucher's home and will be removing their "public order assets."

If any further evidence is found in another geographic area, police say they will be immediately deploy there.

Boucher is described as white, six feet tall and 180 pounds with grey and white short hair.

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