‘We are grieving’: body found in Steinbach is missing 29-year-old father, family says

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This article was published 13/04/2023 (877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A body found by a child near a home in Steinbach Wednesday is that of a 29-year-old man who went missing almost four months ago, according to his family.

Ryan Maynard’s relatives feared he was the victim of foul play as time passed following his disappearance in the southeastern Manitoba city Nov. 20.

RCMP have not said if the death is being treated as suspicious or a homicide, after the body was discovered off Hespeler Street at about 6 p.m.

In a news release, RCMP said Thursday the body has not been positively identified, but police believe it is related to a missing person investigation.

The results of an autopsy are pending.

Steinbach RCMP and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner continue to investigate.

Maynard’s family members were devastated after being informed of the discovery Wednesday evening.

They are certain the body, which was found in bushes in a rural-like area, is his.

“We are grieving,” said Allison Zaporozan, whose boyfriend is a cousin to Maynard. “I think this is the kind of closure we’ve been waiting for. We can grieve and give him the proper burial he deserves.”

Zaporozan said a seven-year-old child found the body behind a home.

“I can’t even imagine that,” she said of the discovery’s likely impact on the child.

Zaporozan was among the loved ones who visited the scene Wednesday night.

Maynard is survived by a four-year-old daughter.

In January, family members told the Free Press the girl kept asking, “Where is my dad?”

The discovery of the body has been extremely hard on Maynard’s mother, said Zaporozan.

“She’s got the closure, but it’s still hard,” she said.

Maynard’s family was offering a $10,000 reward for information to help locate him, believing people were withholding details that could assist investigators.

His loved ones are now waiting to receive more information about what happened to him.

“We’re going to get through this as a family,” said Zaporozan.

Maynard was last seen leaving a home on Cedar Crescent in Steinbach, about 50 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg, on Nov. 20.

The home is about a kilometre from where the body was found.

He was last heard from by a relative the day he disappeared.

While he was missing, family members were joined by friends and residents during searches in and around Steinbach.

In December, they scoured streets, fields, bushes and yards while searching on foot, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles.

For his family, Maynard’s disappearance was out of character because he stayed in touch and would pop by relatives’ homes.

Maynard was homeless and struggled with addiction and mental-health issues, according to his family.

He was in an addiction rehabilitation program before he went missing.

While appealing for information in January, relatives urged people not to wrongly dismiss his disappearance or their anguish because of his circumstances in life.

They described him as a father who had a “heart of gold” and was trying to get help for himself.

RCMP asked anyone with information about Maynard to call the Steinbach detachment at 204-326-1234 or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers via 1-800-222-8477 or www.manitobacrimestoppers.com.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching