Mother clinging to hope her daughter’s remains will be found

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This article was published 14/07/2022 (1378 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After two long and painful years, the family of a missing 16-year-old girl knows she’ll never return home — but they refuse to give up hope her remains will one day be found.

Stephanie Harper, mom of Tammy Nattaway, is desperate for closure. She’s clinging to hope the recent discovery of a sweater, which she believes to be Tammy’s, will help investigators solve the case.

“We know that she’s not with us in this world. We know she’s already gone, but we just want to find her remains. We want to put her to rest,” she said.

Tammy disappeared from Garden Hill in July 2020. The remote First Nations community is on the shore of Island Lake, 475 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

Tammy was quiet, compassionate and too timid to run away, so must be the victim of foul play, Harper said.

Since her disappearance, Harper and her family have searched the forests, rivers and lakes for her daughter’s remains. This year, they have set up camp near Wasagamack, a community about 20 kilometres west of Garden Hill.

In June, searchers discovered a sweater there that Harper believes belonged to her daughter.

“When I seen it, right away I knew it was hers — I recognized it,” she said. “I felt a warm connection, a comfort kind of. It was like I was at ease.”

Harper hopes the sweater will lead investigators to discover what happened to her daughter. She is desperate for answers, not just for her sake, but for the community.

“Whoever did this, whoever hurt my family, they can do it again… it’s not just for us; they are still out there,” she said.

The RCMP is holding the sweater as evidence but cannot confirm it belonged to Tammy until it undergoes forensic analysis, a process that will take time, said RCMP spokesperson Tara Seel.

Police expect foul play is involved in the teen’s disappearance and has tasked members of its major crime unit with conducting the investigation.

While officers are not directly involved in search efforts, they have gone to the northern community multiple times and are helping co-ordinate with local safety patrols, Seel said.

Officers are pursuing several different investigational avenues, she said, adding that tips and information from community members are an invaluable resource.

“One piece of information could be what we need to connect multiple other pieces of information. We encourage anyone with any information related to Tammy’s disappearance to come forward,” she said.

Tammy was initially reported as being last seen on July 14, 2020, but police say she may have been spotted shortly after.

Thursday, on what was previously believed to be the anniversary of her disappearance, the police force appealed to the public for more information.

“We sincerely hope that by keeping Tammy in people’s thoughts, that it might encourage someone to come forward with information pertaining to her disappearance. Our goal is to get answers for Tammy and her family,” Seel said.

The RCMP asks anyone with information to call Island Lake RCMP at 204-456-2626, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca