Search for missing Winnipeg mother of 2 continues more than a year after her disappearance

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Peggy

Posters of Leah Keeper, a mother of two who went missing more than a year ago, were once again shared across Winnipeg’s downtown as her family joined volunteers in a third search walk they hope will lead her back home.

Keeper, a 33-year-old member of Sagkeeng First Nation, was last seen in the city’s North End in July last year, and she was reported missing to Winnipeg police on Nov. 21, 2023. Members of the Bear Clan citizen patrol group have since joined Keeper’s family and friends to search for the missing mother.

“It’s really difficult for us to know that she’s still missing, that she’s still out there somewhere,” Keeper’s mother, Beverley Courchene, told CBC during the third search walk on Saturday organized by the Bear Clan Patrol.

Since losing contact with Keeper, Courchene has received multiple tips from people regarding her whereabouts, but Winnipeg police haven’t been able to locate her, and on Saturday, less than a week from the one-year mark of her disappearance being reported, officers said they have no updates to share on the investigation.

“You’re trying [to] set your mind not to think about it so much but she’s out there struggling,” Courchene said.

In the time Keeper has been unaccounted for, her oldest daughter has turned 12 years old, while her youngest is only one month shy of turning seven.

“She would always call and see how the girls were doing … it’s difficult when they don’t have their mom, they need that parent, they need their mom home,” she said.

A woman with long black hair and brown eyes wearing a white shirt. — Leah Keeper, 33, was reported missing on Nov. 21 and was last seen on July 25, 2023 in the area of Salter Avenue and Selkirk Street in Winnipeg’s North End, police said. (Submitted by Bear Clan Patrol Inc. )

Around 20 volunteers with Bear Clan Patrol walked down Fort Street, Graham and Portage avenues on Saturday afternoon, pasting flyers with Keeper’s face on poles and traffic stops while also talking to the crowd flocking downtown for the annual Santa Claus Parade.

“It’s about getting awareness out there … making sure her face is still recognized and that people still know she’s missing and her family misses and wants her home,” Angela Klassen, the West Broadway co-ordinator with Bear Clan Patrol and missing person liaison, said Saturday.

Keeper’s family requested that the group of volunteers do another search in the downtown core after receiving reports that someone who looked like Keeper was spotted around Central Park in the summer.

“People move around the city, and maybe this might jog somebody’s memory … seeing her face, maybe somebody’s willing to step up and talk now,” Klassen said.

Bear Clan Patrol have been out patrolling the downtown area around four times per week so far this year, Klassen said, with more than 150 missing person searches completed by September at the request of family or police.

“We’re actively out there, we’re actively searching,” Klassen said. “We’re doing what we can to help families find their loved ones and reunite them all.”

Two people paste a poster on a traffic light in Winnipeg's downtown — Around 20 volunteers with Bear Clan Patrol walked down Fort Street, Graham and Portage avenues on Saturday afternoon, plastering flyers with Keeper’s face on poles and traffic stops while talking to people flocking downtown for the annual Santa Claus Parade. (Ron Dhaliwal/CBC)

But Courchene said her family, particularly her granddaughters — Keeper’s 12 and 6-year-old daughters— have endured the struggle of Keeper’s disappearance without direct support from the provincial government.

“They’re supposed to be the advocates, they’re supposed to be there for the families,” Keeper’s mother said. “It hasn’t been that way.”

She wants funding committed directly to families with healing and counselling, as well as the setting up of billboards that display the names and faces of those who have gone missing in the province.

Marilyn Courchene, Keeper’s aunt, said the province should also work in tandem with municipalities to set up crisis mobility vans that can help people on the streets, especially young women.

“Just walking, we could see so many young girls that are needing that help, and there’s no one. We need to start putting our foot down.”

CBC reached out to the province on Saturday for comment but government officials did not respond.

In the meantime the family is working with the Manitoba Métis Federation to set up a reward for the person that could lead to Keeper’s whereabouts, and keep putting up posters out in the streets with her face so her disappearance doesn’t fade away from the public eye.

“We have that hope that she’s still amongst us here in Winnipeg … Leah doesn’t deserve this, she needs to be home,” Keeper’s aunt said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the police missing persons unit at 204-986-6250 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers by dialing 204-786-8477. The family said those with leads on Keeper’s whereabouts can also contact the Bear Clan Patrol.

“I’m going to keep looking for Leah [for] as long as it takes, and hopefully we can bring her home and so that these little girls have answers,” Klassen said.