A missing Saskatchewan teen has been found.
“After 9 long years it’s been confirmed that Cody has officially been located,” his sister Amber Wolfe said on Facebook Wednesday.
“It’s not the ending I was hoping for, but the wondering has now come to an end.”
The remains of Cody Ridge Wolfe, 17, were discovered May 7.
He disappeared April 29, 2011 after visiting his grandmother on the Muskowekwan First Nation near Lestock, about 100 km northeast of Regina.
“We’re certainly deeply saddened by the outcome,” said his aunt Myrna LaPlante, who organized hundreds of searches and posted regular updates on the Facebook page in Wolfe’s name.
“We did certainly hope and pray that he did come home, and he has arrived home now,” she told APTN News Thursday.
Saskatchewan RCMP confirmed Thursday two boys from the community discovered the remains last week.
“It was reported that two male youth were paddling a boat in a small body of water on the Muskowekwan First Nation looking for geese eggs when they stopped to explore a small island,” Cpl. Rob King said in a release.
“While they were looking around the island the youth discovered human remains.”
Based on information gathered during the investigation and autopsy Cody’s death is not considered suspicious, King added in the release.
“Since Cody went missing, many searches were conducted on foot, horseback, boat and ATV by the family, Muskowekwan First Nation community and the Saskatchewan RCMP. The area where Cody was discovered was surrounded by water and had become submerged intermittently over the years, with the water level remaining high, and only recently became exposed.”
Cody went missing while walking along a grid road to meet up with friends. Investigators believe he may have become lost or disoriented.
“For anyone else who has helped my family in searching Thank you,” Cody’s sister Amber said on Facebook.
“It does mean a lot to us.”
In 2017, LaPlante testified before the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls about her then-missing nephew Cody and her still-missing aunt Emily Osmond.
LaPlante spoke about the emotional and financial toll of searching for loved ones. She hoped commissioners would recommend a fund to help pay and feed searchers, offer rewards and take time off work.
Osmond, who was 78, is still missing after vanishing from her home on Kawacatoose First Nation in September 2007.
Anyone with information is asked to call Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
