No new leads in missing man who left Saint Bernard behind in Hingham

By Matt Collette
Globe Correspondent

When it comes to the search for the owner of the Saint Bernard discovered soaking wet and alone near Accord Pond in Hingham last week, it seems no one has thrown police a bone.

Police now believe the dog's owner, a tall, white-haired man in his 70s -- whom they have been trying to identify and locate -- may have been homeless, said Lieutenant Michael Peraino, a police spokesman. Police have not received any tips that could bring them closer to identifying the man.

“We’re starting to believe that maybe the man was homeless and that’s why no one is reporting him missing," Peraino said. "You’d think that with all the media coverage, someone would have called in a missing person, saying that my 70-year-old father or grandfather is missing."

Operating on the homeless theory, police reached out to shelters in Hingham and surrounding communities, with no luck. "That's what's troubling about this whole thing, that no one even knows who he is," Peraino said.

Police fear the case has gone cold.

"We have no leads," Peraino said. "Right now we have nothing new to go on."

Police had been trying to learn about the owner through a microchip implanted inside the dog. The chip was manufactured by a Nebraska company, who told police the dog was sold at a Hyde Park pet store, which is now out of business. Information about the owner was never programmed onto the chip, Peraino said.

Last Wednesday, divers found nothing as they searched the pond, a reservoir that supplies water to several South Shore communities. Canine units patrolled the surrounding woods the next day, again to no avail. No further searches are scheduled.

In the days following the dog's discovery, an animal patrol officer walked the dog through nearby neighborhoods and to local businesses, asking if anyone knew the owner. No one did.

For more coverage of Hingham, including previous coverage of the missing man, go to boston.com/hingham