Ryan Nicotine in an undated photo courtesy of his family.
After missing for more than four months from Battleford, Sask., the family of Ryan Nicotine is pleading with the public to help find their loved one.
“He just disappeared; nobody is speaking out about this, nobody wants to come forward with information so we’re pleading to the public to come and help us. Bring our brother home,” said Vanessa Nicotine-Benson, Ryan’s older sister.
According to a release from the RCMP, Nicotine, 39 was last seen at 4 p.m. on July 5 in North Battleford. A missing persons report was filed on July 10.
But the family told APTN News that police officers had contact with Nicotine the next day, on July 6, at around 3:30 a.m. while he was walking north on Highway 4 in Battleford.
“He had asked them for a ride and they said that they were on a call and that they couldn’t give him a ride, but they called him a cab, they said his cellphone was dead,” said Jenn Nicotine, Ryan’s cousin.
The family said they were told by police that 20 minutes later, Nicotine withdrew $100 from a bank machine and then paid for a cab twice.
But according to the family, when police went to the cab company, “they had no record of picking him up anywhere like a date and time,” said Jenn.
The family said police informed them that Nicotine had not withdrawn money from his account since that morning.
Saskatchewan RCMP have conducted searches by air throughout the Battleford area including by the Battle River south of Battleford.
“Somebody should say something to us because he needs to come home,” said Nicotine-Benson. “He has six babies and he has a grandbaby who just turned two, and a couple of his kids already celebrated their birthdays without their dad, and can you imagine how hard that would be without one of your parents?
“The only one who raised you and has been with you your entire life can’t be there to sing happy birthday to you.”
The family has also travelled to Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton and Calgary to put up missing posters hoping Nicotine may have caught a ride or hitchhiked to one of those cities.
The family has also raised $3,500 as a reward for anyone who has credible information in finding him.
The latest update the family received from the RCMP was that they were able to access Nicotine’s bank statements, health card information and cellphone. Police said they will contact the last people Nicotine was in contact with.
The family said one piece of information doesn’t sit right with them.
They told APTN a person found Nicotine’s cell phone in an area by the river south of Battleford, but when the phone was found it was clean and visibly untouched by the weather.
“We did two searches in the exact place, the cellphone wasn’t there and when this cellphone was found a month later it was found outside clean, there was no dirt on it, there was no cracks on it – it’s as if someone decided to hold onto the phone for a month and put it there outside,” added Nicotine-Benson.
“It’s just hard on my mom, my mom is a cancer survivor and she’s weary. She cries herself to sleep and smudges every night, praying to Creator to bring her baby home. I hear my dad outside yelling his Cree name in all four directions asking for him to come home, begging his baby boy to come home,” said Nicotine-Benson in tears.
Nicotine is from Red Pheasant First Nation. He is 5’9, 140 pounds and was last seen wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans and white running shoes.
Anyone with information on Nicotine’s whereabouts is asked to contact Battlefords RCMP at 310-RCMP or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
