Arrest highlights importance of ongoing supports for families of all cold cases

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This article was published 05/02/2024 (602 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The families of Tiffany Skye and Claudette Osborne felt conflicted when they learned an arrest had finally been made in the slaying of Crystal Saunders nearly 17 years ago.

Osborne’s sister Bernadette Smith described it as a double-edged sword.

“You’re happy for the family that they’re getting closure, but then it’s emotional because you know that other families are going through the emotion, as well,” she said.

Osborne, 21, went missing in 2008 and her remains have never been found.

“It brings up memories,” Smith said.

RCMP announced last Monday they had made an arrest in Saunders’ cold case. The 24-year-old’s body was found in a ditch near the Lake Manitoba community of St. Ambroise, about 75 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, on April 19, 2007.

The previous night, a city police officer saw her getting into a vehicle at Sargent Avenue and Sherbrook Street in the West End.

Advancements in DNA technology enabled investigators to crack the case. Former Winnipeg resident Kevin Queau, 42, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder on Jan. 27.

The news reopened old wounds for Shaylean Skye, who was eight years old when her 19-year-old sister Tiffany vanished from Winnipeg in August 2011. Her body was found five days later in the Red River near the Lockport dam north of the city.

Police have never identified a suspect.

Now older than her sister was when she went missing, the 21-year-old wants to see the same justice for her family.

“It is nice to hear that there’s some sort of, you know, closure at least, even though it may have been a while,” she said Thursday.

“It’s just so much better for your mindset and being able to, you know, move on with your life.”

Smith and Skye’s families say they are in regular contact with the Justice Department’s victim services branch and police investigators.

Mobilizing support for families during investigations of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls is crucial, Smith said.

“It often affects their mental health and well-being. (Family members) often don’t take care of themselves and they really focus on their loved one,” she said.

At the time of Osborne’s disappearance Smith said there was little support for families of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The family tacked up posters around town and organized searches while they waited years for evidence from Osborne’s calling card records to produce an inkling of her last known location.

“Nobody had reached out to our family… we were really kind of walking this world alone,” she said.

At the time, the victim services program didn’t provide supports to families unless a charge was laid in an investigation. Smith and her family met with then-justice minister Andrew Swan and, within 30 days, the provincial government tweaked legislation so families of the missing and murdered could access supports, no matter what the status of the case might be.

Since then, multiple police and government resources have been made available to grieving families, including a special provincial liaison for women’s issues.

Project Devote, a joint initiative between the Manitoba RCMP and Winnipeg Police Service launched in 2012 to probe cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women, staffed liaisons to keep in contact with families.

Skye and Smith applauded Project Devote, noting the work they did broke down jurisdictional barriers that came up during some investigations.

Investigators have also kept in regular contact with family members.

“There was always someone calling my mom,” Skye said.

The WPS pulled out of the project in 2020, taking a different approach to such investigations.

At the time, nine open files were sent to Manitoba RCMP’s major crimes services special projects unit.

“These investigations remain ongoing and continue to be reviewed and investigated in efforts to bring answers to the families,” RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Julie Courchaine said in an email.

“The recent arrest and charges of Kevin Queau for the murder of Crystal Saunders is an example of a Project Devote file that was retained by the Manitoba RCMP and thoroughly investigated by officers of the MCS Special Projects Team.”

Despite the dissolution of Project Devote, dedicated family liaisons are still in place to support families.

Even after 12 years, Skye and her family are still in contact with officials, but she emphasized the need for support to be continuous.

“When someone goes missing, they’re on the TV, it’s talked about, it’s shared all over social media. But after a while, it just gets swept under the rug,” she said.

“No matter how long it’s been, there still has to be support. These families are still wondering after years and years.

“It doesn’t just go away.”

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca