Police ask for tips in senior’s disappearance two years ago

RCMP are again asking for tips about a missing senior who has not been heard from in two years.

Ywanna (Jean) Backman was last seen on Oct. 13, 2023, and was last in contact with a friend two days later. Backman, who was 70 at the time, was reported missing to Sprague RCMP on Oct. 19, and officers searched her property in the Rural Municipality of Piney that day.

Manitoba RCMP said in a news release Friday that a provincewide missing persons unit, which operates out of the Winnipeg Police Service’s headquarters, has been investigating tips and doing interviews for the past two years.

“We aren’t giving up. We know there’s someone out there with crucial information that can help move this investigation forward,” RCMP Sgt. Tyler Lamy of the provincewide unit said in the release.

“We want to bring Jean home. We want to find the answers for her family and for the community. And we aren’t going to stop until we do.”

RCMP believe Backman might have been wearing a green jacket when she disappeared.

Police asked anyone with information about Backman’s disappearance to call Sprague RCMP at 204-437-2041 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).