(Nikita Jack, right, with Zane Kahpeaysewat, left. RCMP officers are trying to contact Jack. Facebook photo)
APTN National News UPDATE
Surrey RCMP investigators have been in touch with someone who had recently interacted with Nikita Jack and she appeared to be fine and not in any immediate harm, her aunt Jo-Ann Isaac said.
Isaac said RCMP had contacted family members to relay the news, but would divulge little more.
Isaac said police would continue the investigation.
It remains unclear where Jack is at the moment. Jack’s bank card was used in Calgary, police said Tuesday.
Jack’s family reported her missing to police on Feb. 12. Her family said she went missing on Feb. 10 after dropping off her three-year-old daughter at a cousin’s house in Surrey, B.C.
By Jorge Barrera
APTN National News
Surrey RCMP investigators are trying to track down a 23-year-old First Nations woman who was last seen this past Thursday after leaving her three-year-old daughter at a relative’s home in Surrey, B.C.
Nikita Jack disappeared after she stopped by her aunt’s home with her daughter Hazel in the evening to pick up two pieces of mail. She told her cousin who was home that she was stepping out to flag down a friend who was coming by to pick her to go out for coffee.
The RCMP has not been able to contact Jack, but banking transactions indicate her bank card was used several times over the last few days. The last transaction occurred in Calgary and her bank card was used previously to buy a bus ticket in Langley, B.C., for a trip to Kamloops, B.C.
Investigators have not been able to confirm who is using Jack’s bank card. Police do not yet have visual identification of Jack using her card.
“We are treating it as a missing persons case,” said Cpl. Holly Turton. “Once we have determined she is okay, our investigation will be concluded. Until we do that we are going to continue and it will be treated as a missing persons investigation.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, Jack, who kept in constant contact with friends and family by text messaging, Facebook and email, had not been in touch with anyone since Thursday.
Jack’s family and friends are concerned for her safety and issued a press release and photograph Monday urging the public to contact police if they spotted her.
Jack is described as being “Aboriginal” in appearance and about 5’5 in height. She has two tattoos on her hands. On her left hand are the initials NJ, which stands for her name, and ZK on her right hand, which stands for Zane Kahpeaysewat, a boyfriend who has had trouble with the law.
The tattoo on her right hand is infected, her aunt Jo-Ann Isaac said.
Jack’s mother Angie Isaac said Jack met Kahpeaysewat in Kamloops, they broke up and got back together. Kahpeaysewat spent a stint in a B.C. jail and was released in January, said Isaac.
“I met him once in Kamloops he didn’t say much to us, we didn’t have much eye contact,” said Isaac.
The family believes that Kahpeaysewat may hold the answer to Jack’s current situation.
“We don’t know if she is with him or where she is,” said Jack’s father Gerald Jack, his voice quivering with emotion. “We haven’t got a clue. As a father, I have been spinning like crazy. I don’t know what to think. I am afraid for her safety.”
Kahpeaysewat’s travelling options, however, are limited. He is wanted by Saskatoon police for assault causing bodily harm for a domestic related situation. A police spokeswoman said the warrant out for his arrest is limited to Saskatchewan.
Nikita Jack’s friend Sylvia Charlie, who visited Jack’s empty apartment, said Jack was with Kahpeaysewat last Thursday afternoon. Charlie said she took care of Hazel while the two went out for about three hours, coming back around 4 p.m.
“When she came back, she didn’t seem like herself. She looked really down,” said Charlie. “She went and grabbed her daughter and hugged her and told her that she loved her.”
Charlie said she then saw Jack go to the refrigerator and begin gathering photos of her and her daughter. The photos were back on the refrigerator when she returned to the apartment Sunday night, she said.
A few hours after Charlie left following the babysitting stint, Jack texted her cousin asking if there was any mail for her. Jack lived with her aunt before moving out on her own.
“She said she was going to come over within the half our,” said Tim Leon, Jack’s cousin.
While she was with Leon she checked two pieces of mail, chatted on a cell phone and then said she had to step out to meet a friend at the end of the road who didn’t remember the address.
“It was 10 to 15 minutes…and then 20 minutes and still nothing,” said Leon. “Then, I kind of got worried and started calling her, sending text messages and no answer.”
Leon said Jack left a bag of Hazel’s clothes, a car seat and a stroller outside.
Her daughter was inside. It was about 8 p.m.
Friends and family do not believe Jack would willingly abandon her daughter.
“She has a daughter she loves,” said her friend Vanetta Billy on Monday during a march in Vancouver commemorating hundreds of murdered and missing Aboriginal women. “She would not do something like this.”
