Volunteers search for woman missing since July

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This article was published 13/01/2024 (631 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Loved ones of a 32-year-old mother who has been missing since July took to the freezing streets of Winnipeg Saturday afternoon to hand out flyers in hopes she will finally be found.

Leah Keeper was last seen on Selkirk Avenue on July 25, but wasn’t reported missing until Nov. 21. Her mother, Beverley Courchene, was among the 20 volunteer searchers who walked down Selkirk Avenue, said she knows someone in the community knows what happened to Keeper.

“We’re trying to bring that awareness out, for people to come forward and give any kind of messages if they know of Leah, where she is… somebody out there knows where she is,” she said Saturday.

The group met at Bear Clan’s 584 Selkirk Ave. location, with community advocate Darryl Contois leading the search party. Volunteers wore reflective vests over layers of winter clothing and carried stacks of posters with Keeper’s name, photo, and a phone number to call to provide information.

Keeper is described as 5-3 in height, with a thin build, medium-length black hair and brown eyes. She has two young daughters and worked in health care. Her family fears for her safety, noting she struggles with addictions, and may have been threatened by a man who was providing her with methamphetamine before her disappearance.

“It’s not like her to go missing this long,” Courchene said. “She’s always connected with me because she knows I’m looking after her daughters, so she’d always call and see how the girls are doing.”

North End community members have committed to finding out what happened to Keeper. Some, like Katie Thompson and Brittany Murdock, have created a group chat to share information about her possible whereabouts.

“I think all of us just want to do anything that we can to see that Leah’s brought home safe and that she’s still here with us,” Murdock, who is Keeper’s childhood friend, said.

“I know there’s a lot of women missing in Winnipeg, but when it’s someone that you know and someone that you grew up with, it definitely hits a heartstring,” she said.

Thompson said the community won’t give up until Keeper is found.

“People know. You don’t just go missing and no one knows nothing. Either they know where she is right now, or they know what could’ve happened to her and where she could be,” she said. “But the main (goal) is to spread awareness so more people know and maybe come forward.”

Police ask anyone with information on Keeper’s whereabouts to call investigators at 204-986-6250 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca