Family offers $5,000 reward in search for woman missing from western Manitoba First Nation

The family of an Indigenous woman from western Manitoba who disappeared without a trace nearly a year ago is now offering a reward for information that leads to her being found.

Melinda Lynxleg,41, was last seen at the beginning of April 2020 at Tootinaowaziibeeng First Nation, located 65 kilometres west of Dauphin, according to her aunt, Betty Lynxleg.

"It's painful," Lynxleg told CBC News. "For the whole family and the siblings, you know, I guess when you lose somebody like that and you just don't know what happened, it's not only shocking, but it's just it's a daily hurt."

Lynxleg says her niece was last seen walking down a gravel road not far from the community's COVID-19 blockade.

"That would have been the last time anyone saw her," Lynxleg said. "She did not make it to the blockade. She wasn't logged in [at the blockade]."

So we don't know anything really ... from when she disappeared. It's really just a void, there's nothing there.- Betty Lynxleg, Melinda's aunt

Her purse was later found on the ground nearby.

Lynxleg says family and friends haven't heard from the missing woman since, and there has been no banking or social media activity since April2.

"You're always wondering what happened, where is she,"Lynxlegsaid. "Is she, you know, being kept somewhere, that sort of thing? All kinds of things are going through your mind every day."

Melinda is a single mother to six children ranging in age from four to 22, Lynxlegsays. The children are being looked after by Melinda's parents.

RCMP review dozens of tips

In November, RCMP said officershad interviewed more than 50 people, followed up on a number of tips, and continue to liaise with partner agencies on Melinda's disappearance.

"We continue to actively investigate her disappearance," RCMP Cpl.Julie Courchaine said in an email this week, adding that officers continue to canvass for tips."Even something that seems insignificant, may be beneficial to the investigation."

Lynxleg says potential sightings the RCMP released on throughout the past year gavethe family a little bit of hope, but the information was not accurate. That information has now been removed from its online media release, the Mounties say.

"People did say they sighted her," Lynxleg said. "But when we did look at cameras and stuff like that, it was never her, so none of those sightings were accurate.

"So we don't know anything really from this point from when she disappeared," Lynxleg said. "It's really just a void, there's nothing there."

Family offers reward

Melinda's family is now offering a $5,000 reward for credible information that leads to finding her. They have also set up a Facebook page in an effort to generate leads.

"We want anybody to tell us where to find her, where she could be," Lynxleg said. "Locations, you know, something that's going to lead us to a solution. And so the reward has just been put up and now we go from there."

Lynxleg says the family is planning more ground searches once the snow melts and weather warms up. She is now seeking more support for her family, especially after Canada held the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which produced more than 231 recommendations.

She says while thatwork is important, it is not helping her family who needthe support now.

"We don't have the resources to conduct thorough ground searches or any kind of searches, we don't have the equipment, we don't have the trained personnel, we don't have the communication tools so that commission report has many recommendations that could help our family right now," she said.

'We just want to find Melinda'

Lynxlegsays she and her family get especially anxious anytime police report a body has been found somewhere in the province.

"You're just on, you know, pins and needles when you hear a body's been found or, you know, a missing person has been located and you're just waiting for that phone call," she said. "It's the hardest is on her parents and her siblings they try to keep that away from [her children]."

She says she couldn't say whether her niece is still alive.

"We just want to find Melinda," said Lynxleg. "So please come forward with information, and if they feel more comfortable to go through the tip line with the police, they can do that.

Family offering reward to help find Melinda Lynxleg

4 years ago

Duration 1:30

The family of an Indigenous woman from western Manitoba who disappeared without a trace nearly a year ago is now offering a reward for information that leads to her being found.

"I just encourage anybody that knows anything, any tiny little piece of information that they might have seen Melinda crossing the street."

Anyone with information is asked to call Roblin RCMP at 204-937-2164, orCrime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.

"We love Melinda and we don't want to believe that she's gone," Lynxlegsaid.