Tragic missing-persons cases stay with more than just family, friends

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This article was published 26/12/2015 (3647 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I’ll never forget the people who could not be found in the summer and fall of 2015. I’ll never forget those who were found, but without answers.

It is a tragedy when any person is missing. These missing people — those I came to know a little about but wrote about a lot — will stay with me.

In 27 years of journalism — 25 as a sports writer and two as a general news writer — I had never covered a missing-person case. Until now.

I covered stories about five missing people: Thelma Krull, Jill Tardiff, Claudette Osborne-Tyo, Reid Bricker and Krystal Andrews.

Of them, only Tardiff, 61, and Andrews, 23, were found. Tardiff, a beloved retired educator, was found in the Red River not far from her home Sept. 10, three days after she had gone missing. It was ruled a suicide as Tardiff had been battling mental illness. She had been hospitalized just before she disappeared but never got the help she needed.

Andrews, a young mother of two small children who had been with her fiancé for 10 years, was found dead Nov. 9 not far from her God’s Lake First Nation home two days after she disappeared. It is believed she was slain by someone in her own community, but no one has been arrested.

For Krull and Tardiff, I went to places where family, friends and strangers were searching for them. I wrote stories about how no one was giving up and the hope they’d be found. For Andrews and Bricker, I went to candlelight vigils in November at the Manitoba legislature where people openly grieved, and tears fell. I spoke to Terry White, Andrews’ fiancé and the father of her two children, about how proud he was of her. As he hugged their preschool daughter and looked to the sky, tears filled his eyes, and snow fell on his face. He believes someone who lives among them in God’s Lake took Krystal from them. That person still walks free. I know Terry must clutch his babies so close. But I don’t know how he gets through each day.

Reid Bricker’s parents publicly shared that they had found a suicide note their son, battling mental illness, had left for them to find in his apartment. A hospital had to let Reid, 33, leave at 3 a.m. after a short stay following his third suicide attempt in 10 days, without calling anyone in his family, because the law said they must. His mother, Bonnie, is now advocating for changes to Manitoba’s Personal Health Information Act so no other family will have to suffer as hers is suffering. Reid still hasn’t been found. His family believes he must be dead. I listened to Bonnie speak at the vigil about her son and the changes brought on by his illness and I thought of how he was once her little boy. She tucked him in, she packed his lunch, she encouraged his hopes and dreams. I’m sure she still sees that little boy, and to her, that’s who is missing. She lives each day with the despair of not knowing what has become of her child.

Brenda Osborne lives with that same despair. Her daughter, Claudette, was 21 and a mother of four when she disappeared in 2008. I met Brenda in October at a temporary camp in front of the Manitoba legislature where she was living with a goal of bringing attention to the issue of Child and Family Services’ frequent apprehension of children. Amid the grief, determination and exhaustion on Brenda’s face, I could see she will never stop looking for her child or for answers.

Both Claudette Osborne-Tyo and Krystal Andrews are among the 1,200 missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada. Their families will continue to search for justice.

Krull, who disappeared on July 11, was the first missing-person case I wrote about. She has not been found. Even this many months afterward, there are no leads. Krull, 57, disappeared early one brilliant summer morning, after going for a walk in her own neighbourhood. I was there the next day when searchers were combing fields just behind Krull’s Harbourview South neighbourhood. A local search and rescue group and police were there. More officers arrived with quads and a dog. A huge gathering of people set out on foot from Krull’s house. The heat was sweltering, but she’d only been gone for just over 24 hours. I was so naive. I thought she was sure to be found that day, resting or sleeping somewhere along the path. I was going to see her brought home to hug her children, husband, grandchildren, best friend. How can she still be gone, and without a trace? I wrote stories later in the fall about those still searching for Krull. Now the trail, already cold, is also covered in snow.

I frequently look at the Facebook pages for Krull and Bricker. I watch police news releases for Andrews and Osborne-Tyo. I hope Krull and Bricker will be brought home someday and the mysteries surrounding the cases of Osborne-Tyo and Andrews will be solved.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca