{"id":894539,"date":"2026-09-13T19:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T19:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/894539\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T19:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T19:18:13","slug":"it-gets-harder-every-year-family-marks-15-years-since-tanya-nepinak-went-missing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/894539\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It gets harder every year’: Family marks 15 years since Tanya Nepinak went missing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Susan Caribou says it’s heartbreaking to be marking yet another year since her niece Tanya Nepinak went missing in Winnipeg’s West End 15 years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It gets harder every year. I pray all the time. I stay up at night sometimes hoping to see her on the street,” Caribou said, adding she sometimes stares out her apartment window for hours at a time hoping she’ll spot her niece walking by. <\/p>\n

“It’s heartbreaking to be doing this again.” <\/p>\n

On Saturday evening, supporters gathered at the corner of Sherbrook Street and Ellice Avenue in Winnipeg’s West End \u2014 near where Tanya Nepinak, 31 was last seen on the night of Sept. 13, 2011.<\/p>\n

The Pine Creek First Nation woman left her home on Sherbrook around 11 p.m. that night, telling her mother she was walking to a nearby pizza restaurant. But Nepinak never returned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The group drummed and sang as they marched down Ellice behind a banner that read “Search for Tanya Nepinak.” Others in the group wore red and held signs with her image printed on them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ADemonstrators marched down Ellice Avenue during a memorial walk honouring Tanya Nepinak on Saturday. (Justin Fiacconi\/CBC)<\/p>\n

“I miss her. She was a good mother and a good daughter and a sister and a niece,” Caribou said. “I don’t want her to be forgotten because she matters.”<\/p>\n

Convicted killer Shawn Lamb was charged with second-degree murder in connection with Nepinak’s death in 2012, but those charges were eventually stayed<\/a>. Lamb was convicted of manslaughter <\/a>in the deaths of Carolyn Sinclair and Lorna Blacksmith.<\/p>\n

Officials briefly searched for Nepinak’s remains in the Brady Landfill for six days in 2012, but she wasn’t found. Last year, Premier Wab Kinew said the province plans to search the landfill<\/a> for the missing woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“She will not ever be forgotten. And I’ll keep advocating and I’ll keep asking the premier, the leaders not to give up on her,” Caribou said. <\/p>\n

She said she’s hopeful that the next search will be successful.<\/p>\n

Nepinak was a loving person who “gave what she could,” her aunt said. Her niece’s generosity helped inspire Caribou to hand out 15 gifts to people to mark the solemn anniversary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I hope it won’t be 16 gift bags next year. I hope we bring her home,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"womanTanya Nepinak was a generous person who will never be forgotten, says her aunt, Sue Caribou. (CBC)<\/p>\n

Saturday’s anniversary memorial walk saw demonstrators walk through the city toward the Oodena Celebration Circle at The Forks, where a vigil for Nepinak was held.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s been 15 years now and that’s a long time, but I’ve kept going and I’ve kept going. I don’t want her to be forgotten,” Caribou said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I want answers, I need justice. Tanya needs justice like everybody else.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":894540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-894539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}