It has been a year since Byron Watson, 23, went missing after he left his auntie’s home on Lonsdale Street in Maple Creek, Sask., a small town located just off the Trans Canada Highway between the Alberta border and Swift Current.
His auntie Frances Delorme says when he left her sister’s house on Nov. 26, 2023, nothing was out of the ordinary and Watson told his family he would be back.
“It was a regular Sunday, he had no plans, he left the house saying he was going to ‘peace out’ and that he would be back later and he never returned home. We don’t know where he might have gone or what happened to him,” Delorme tells APTN News.
Delorme said Watson, from Nekaneet Cree Nation, was employed at the Maple Creek Livestock Auction Barn and was always at work each day and the Friday before he went missing, he was at his brother’s hockey game to support him.
“Byron was a happy-go-lucky person. He was always ready to lend a hand to anybody who needed it and he was planning to go back to the oil fields that following January,” added Delorme.
When Watson went missing on November 26, 2023, multiple ground searches were done in the following weeks and months in Maple Creek and the surrounding area including in the nearby Nekaneet First Nation. The searches were lead by family members and search parties from Nekaneet where Watson and the family is from.
Maple Creek RCMP have also assisted in the search using remote pilot aircraft systems and have done a number of air searches in the area but both the RCMP and family still could not find Watson.
In a statement to APTN News, a spokesperson for the Maple Creek RCMP said they continue to search for Watson and had little details on what may have happened or where he may have gone.
“As the anniversary date of his disappearance passes, we continue to encourage anyone with information on the whereabouts of Byron Watson to report it to Maple Creek RCMP,” the statement said.
Delorme said the RCMP informed them there haven’t been any new leads in the case.
“As of now we have no idea where (Watson) is or where he could have gone,” said Delorme.
Delorme also said CP Rail Police had surveillance images of a person they believed to resemble Watson in mid-December of 2023, however upon a closer look from the family, they believe it wasn’t Watson because of the specific kind of clothing the individual was wearing.
“We couldn’t identify him for sure. We didn’t recognize the pants or the boots. He would always leave the house in jeans not sweats,” added Delorme.
The family has also previously criticized Maple Creek RCMP for not taking Watson’s disappearance as a serious matter initially and assuming Watson was at a home in Nekaneet.
“(Watson’s grandma), Kokom Joyce tried to file a missing person’s report on Nov. 30 of 2023. She called in the morning to say that she was missing and at 1 p.m. that day they had called back and said that he was not missing and that he was at a house in Nekaneet First Nation. Kokom Joyce didn’t like that answer so she had called a family member to go to the home and check to see if he was there, he was not there. That’s what happened there,” said Delorme.
For now the family said they will keep looking for their loved one and are asking anyone to come forward who may know what happened to him.
“Byron is loved, Byron is missed and his life matters. We want him to come home. We want answers to his disappearance and if anyone can tell us where he is, please come forward and let us know. As a family we want our boy back and since his disappearance we had hung a red shirt that stays on the window representing that he is still missing.”
“We would like to thank everyone who has helped search for him, especially to the community Nekaneet First Nation,” said Delorme.
Watson is 5’8”, 175 lbs., he has black hair and brown eyes.
If anyone has information on where Byron Watson is, you are asked to call Maple Creek RCMP at 310-RCMP or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
