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![\"MIKAELA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4124215_web1_260408-Pritchard-00009.jpg\")
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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
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Investigators took DNA samples from Leah Keeper\u2019s children and used them to confirm the identity of remains found on the 600 block of Pritchard Avenue in December.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI want answers. What happened within those three years, what happened with those remains?\u201d<\/p>\n
Courchene said she suspected the remains might belong to her niece when police first announced they had been recovered in November. Investigators later approached the family and requested DNA samples from Keeper\u2019s children, ages 6 and 12.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember sitting at home and watching the news and thinking, \u2018What if it\u2019s our Leah?\u2019 Little did I know it would be confirmed yesterday that is was her,\u201d Courchene said.<\/p>\n
She said police told the family Keeper\u2019s death is suspected to involve foul play, but have revealed little more about the ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want answers. What happened within those three years, what happened with those remains?\u201d<\/p>\n
Keeper was last seen in Winnipeg, near Salter Street and Selkirk Avenue, on July 25, 2023, but wasn\u2019t reported missing until Nov. 21 of that year.<\/p>\n
Courchene said it was not uncommon for Keeper not to contact her family for periods of time, but after months passed, they realized something was wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were used to her taking off, but not for that long time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her disappearance sparked numerous searches from a variety of First Nations-led citizens groups, including Bear Clan Patrol, Morgan\u2019s Warriors and the Evelyn Memorial Search Team, Courchene said.<\/p>\n
Darryl Contois, who participated in searches, said he encountered Keeper inside a tent near Pritchard Avenue in October 2023, about one month before she was reported missing.<\/p>\n
Contois said she was with a man who was \u201cvery aggressive,\u201d but when he asked if she needed help, she said no.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n Leah Keeper, the 32-year-old mother of two, was last seen in Winnipeg, near Salter Street and Selkirk Avenue.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cShe didn\u2019t give me any indication she was in trouble,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I knew what was going to happen, I would have taken her out of harm\u2019s way.\u201d<\/p>\n Contois said he later returned to the area where he last saw her and \u2014 although the tent remained \u2014 she was nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n He spoke with detectives about the encounter at some point in the investigation, he said.<\/p>\n Courchene described her niece as an outgoing and kind person who had no difficulty making friends and spent a lot of time socializing on Facebook.<\/p>\n Courchene\u2019s sister, Beverly, adopted Keeper when she was a child through an informal agreement with Keeper\u2019s biological mother.<\/p>\n Police said Keeper was born in Little Grand Rapids First Nation and raised in Sagkeeng.<\/p>\n Courchene disputed that information, saying her niece was born and raised in Winnipeg but spent time in Sagkeeng.<\/p>\n Keeper graduated high school and was training to become a nurse\u2019s assistant when she fell in with the \u201cwrong people\u201d and developed issues with addictions, she said.<\/p>\n One year before she disappeared, Keeper spent the summer with Courchene in Sagkeeng engaging in traditional Indigenous practices in an attempt to get sober, her aunt said.<\/p>\n Courchene brought her back to Winnipeg to get vaccinated for COVID-19, and Keeper remained in the city.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, we want everyone to know that she was deeply loved by her family.\u201d<\/p>\n At one point, she was living in a Manitoba Housing unit, but Courchene believes she was \u201ccouch surfing\u201d around the time she disappeared.<\/p>\n \u201cWe acknowledge how heavy this is for everybody,\u201d AMC Grand Chief Kyra Wilson said, alongside Courchene.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, we want everyone to know that she was deeply loved by her family.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson described the number of missing Indigenous people in Manitoba as an ongoing crisis.<\/p>\n That was echoed by Sagkeeng Chief E.J. Fontaine, who said many of the people who disappear come from his community, which is located about 100 kilometres north of Winnipeg.<\/p>\n \u201cSagkeeng is one of the most, if not the most, impacted community from the missing and murdered woman crisis,\u201d Fontaine said. \u201cEvery time we hear of one of women being impacted by that phenomena it hurts even more.\u201d<\/p>\n WPS Chief Gene Bowers is in the process of reaching out to Indigenous community leaders regarding the investigation, police said.<\/p>\n The disappearance of Indigenous women in Winnipeg has remained a concern in Manitoba for decades.<\/p>\n The issue was at the forefront of the provincial election in 2023, when the NDP government campaigned on the promise of searching area landfills for the remains of four Indigenous women slain by convicted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t The New Democrats made good on that promise after winning the election, recovering the remains of two victims from the Prairie Green Landfill north of Winnipeg last February.<\/p>\n A second search for the remains of other victims, believed to be buried somewhere at the city\u2019s landfill on Brady Road, began in December.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the province declined to provide any updates on the search, including how many hours have been worked, how many tonnes of material have been moved or whether searchers have uncovered anything of value.<\/p>\n \u201dGiven the sensitivity around the landfill search, we won\u2019t be providing any one-off responses. When there is an update available it will be provided to all media at the same time,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n \u2014 With files from Erik Pindera<\/p>\n tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Tyler Searle Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press\u2019s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic\u2019s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022.\u00a0Read more about Tyler<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber<\/a>.<\/p>\n Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.<\/p>\n \t\t
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