The deeply missed and long-term missing persons from the southwest

Last year 2,533 individuals were reported missing to RCMP detachments in Saskatchewan – of those, three have yet to be found including Maple Creek's Byron Watson. 

This year marks the 11th annual installment of Missing Persons Week with the theme Stories not Statistics.

Organized by the Saskatchewan Missing Persons Partnership (SMPP), the declaration aims to raise awareness about missing persons, discuss prevention strategies, and promote services and supports available to families of missing persons. The SMPP consists of representatives from Indigenous groups, police services, the provincial government and community agencies across the province.

There are currently 140 long-term (more than six months) missing persons in Saskatchewan. Four of those individuals are from the southwest. 

Byron Watson was last seen on November 26 around 9 a.m., on Lonsdale Street in Maple Creek. The 23-year-old is 5-foot-8, 175 pounds, and has black hair and brown eyes. Since his disappearance, the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) along with the Saskatchewan RCMP remotely piloted aircraft systems and civilian searchers have covered extensive ground in their search for him, and a media conference was held in December in Maple Creek. 

Photo of Byron Watson courtesy of Keegan Delorme

Swift Current's Kandice Singbeil hasn't been seen since May 26th, 2015, when she was riding a bike around downtown Saskatoon. Her children were eight years old and four months old when she disappeared at age 32. At that time, she stood 5-foot-4 and weighed 166 pounds, with dyed blonde hair and brown eyes, and a pierced lower lip. After two weeks of investigation, police suspected Singbeil's disappearance to be homicide. The case remains open until she is found. 

Kandice Singbeil billboard photo courtesy of Pauline Singbeil 

Benjamin Entz has been missing since September 18th, 2011, and was last seen leaving the Waldeck Hutterite Colony that evening on a tractor. The next day the tractor was recovered, but Entz has yet to be found. He was born and raised on the Waldeck Hutterite Colony and would now be 66 years old. Over the past 13 years, the investigation has involved numerous witness interviews, air and ground searches, and media releases. 

Benjamin Entz photo courtesy of ​Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police (SACP)

June Pauline Stevens had just turned eighteen years old and was living in Cadillac when she disappeared on July 31st, 1948. Today she would be 93. It was speculated that Stevens may have travelled west to join her mother in Port Alberni, B.C., or east to be with other relatives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. However, neither have been proven true and she remains missing for 76 years. 

Photo of June Stevens courtesy of ​Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police (SACP)

Once an initial missing person report is made, Saskatchewan RCMP investigators bring in a number of resources to assist as necessary, including police dog services, remotely piloted aerial vehicles, the search and rescue unit and more. As each missing person investigation is different, the resources used in each case vary as well.

If you think you know something, say something – it's never too late.

Any piece of information may be what leads investigators to finding the answers they need to locate someone. Report information to local police or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.