A reward to help find a woman missing more than six years from North Battleford, Sask., has been increased to $30,000, her family tells APTN News.
Ashley Morin is originally from Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation.
The 31-year-old last contacted her family on July 10, 2018, and was last seen in that west-central Saskatchewan city in mid-July.
Ashley’s sister Janine Morin says she immediately knew something was wrong when a resident found Ashley’s bag on the ground near a school.
“I’m not sure where she was going, but the bag that she would always carry was found on 96th Street and 15th Avenue by John Paul II Collegiate. A bystander found it, picked it up and brought it to the RCMP detachment,” said Janine, who reported her sister missing on July 22, 2018.
The RCMP detected no activity on her mobile phone, social media and bank account that following year.
A year later, Saskatchewan RCMP said they believed Ashley was the victim of a homicide based on tips and witness statements.
They released a single, grainy image of a two-tone, windowless van that was on the corner of 96th Street and 16th Avenue in North Battleford at 9:30 p.m., the same day Morin went missing.
RCMP are still wanting to speak with the driver or the occupants of that van, who they say may have valuable information to help find Ashley.
“It was a shock to our family when we were first notified knowing that this van was even involved,” said Janine. “When this information was released, we knew nothing about it. It was just a major shock; we didn’t even know that this was a van (that may be involved in my sister’s disappearance) and it was released one year later, so it kind of left us all in the dark.”
Janine tells APTN the RCMP can’t update the family on the investigation because it is still an active case. But she said the RCMP did tell her that investigators are still doing a lot of interviews, backtracking in their leads and making sure they haven’t missed any details.
Family members have put up posters and highway signs of Ashley and held numerous awareness walks in North Battleford and Saskatoon, calling on the public to come forward and speak with the police.
The family believe there are people who know what happened to Ashley.
Janine says her message to the public, is: “Please, please speak up. If you know anything in any regards about Ashley missing, you may think it’s nothing, but it may be something to us.
“There is a $30,000 dollar reward for information of my sister’s whereabouts,” Janine added. “She is loved. Our family is waiting to bring her home whatever that may look like, we just want to bring her home.”
The family has increased its social media activity and continues to share Ashley’s missing person information and photos, hoping for someone to come forward with additional tips for police.
“Ashley is the most caring and loving woman, honestly, to have in our life,” said her sister. “She is a pleasure to be around, she is very athletic, very family oriented, she would be the one that would give the shirt off her back if you needed it.”
Anyone with information on Ashley’s whereabouts can call Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers (anonymously) at 1-800-222-8477 or the RCMP “F” Division Historical Case Unit at 639-625-3156.
