RCMP scour reserve after case ruled homicide

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This article was published 08/09/2022 (1438 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As RCMP investigators search a northern community for a 22-year-old man who has been missing for almost a year, his grief-stricken parents wonder why it took so long.

Rico Cody Linklater was last seen in Nelson House, where he lived, on Oct. 21. Two days later, he was reported missing. RCMP believed he was still in the community or had travelled to Thompson, 90 kilometres to the east.

On Tuesday, RCMP announced Linklater’s case is being investigated as a homicide. Major crimes, search and rescue, and underwater recovery teams joined Nelson House RCMP on Monday to search the area until Saturday.

His parents, Sylvia Wood and Roger Linklater, hope they will finally get answers about their son.

“We just really want him home, just for closure on our part and his siblings. That’s all we want now, at this point,” Linklater said.

The couple wonders if the investigation would have gone differently if his death had been declared a homicide and investigators had arrived sooner.

“It’s surprising, and it did take too long. I mean, if it was somebody else, a different (ethnicity) it would have been a whole different story,” Linklater said. “Everybody says that in Nelson House, if it was somebody else, like a little white boy.”

In the weeks after their son’s disappearance, both parents say the RCMP did not keep regular contact, at one point saying COVID-19 restrictions were preventing them from visiting.

“The RCMP were the ones that were taking care of this case, but they would never come see us,” Wood said.

“They never asked us whether we felt safe or anything at all. They didn’t even come here to tell us if they talked to anybody,” Linklater said. “When we’d tell them something, all they’d say was ‘we’ll look into it.’”

RCMP media relations officer Cpl. Julie Courchaine said officers have been in regular contact with the family, but did not give details or explain why investigators had recently determined his death is a homicide.

“In any investigation, especially homicide, investigators are limited in what they can share with the family in order to protect the integrity of the investigation,” she said in an email. “Be assured that investigators are working diligently on this file as they would any other homicide and hope to be able to provide answers to Rico’s family.”

In December, the parents came to Winnipeg to make a public plea for information that could lead to their son’s whereabouts. They were critical of the RCMP’s updates. After the media attention, they said interest appeared to pick up, but searches were still being done by community members and themselves.

“Everywhere that people said to check, I was there digging around on my hands and knees,” Linklater said. “It was very tiring, nerve-wracking. It was scary, too, because what if I found him? I wouldn’t have been able to handle it.”

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee, who helped the family with their public call for support in December, said he hoped RCMP would have answers for Wood and Linklater soon.

“It is my hope that the RCMP will work diligently in finding answers about who is responsible for taking your beloved son away from you,” he wrote in an email.

His parents say Rico is a quiet and grounded young man; he spent much of his time at home with his family. He was quick to stop a fight before it started, and was known as a peacekeeper in his group of friends.

“He didn’t deserve this. He wasn’t a mean person, he was a humble, humble guy,” Wood said.

They say there has been talk in the small community that he was a victim of foul play. The couple, who has 12 children, has tried to stay out of the investigation for fear of retribution by those responsible and to keep their other children safe.

“We’re just trying to live day by day without showing our little ones how much pain we’re in,” Linklater said. “Rumours are crazy… everything’s just draining our spirits.”

It’s become increasingly difficult to trust people, he said.

“It’s a small community. We’re all closely related, a lot of people are closely related, and we believe everybody wanted to get involved in the search in a proper way,” Linklater said.

“But the thing was, what if a few or more people that were involved in the search know something and they were just to be there?”

Wood said they decided to speak out publicly a second time because they know someone has information about what happened to their son.

“I want them to know how much that they’re hurting our family,” she said.

Anyone with information should call RCMP at 204-484-2837, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca