Account
Sep 22, 2014
May 30, 2023
Sarah
Skunk
71
47
68 inches
130 lbs
140 lbs
Other
Female
Sarah Skunk, a woman from the Mishkeegogamang First Nation in Ontario, Canada, carried the weight of a difficult childhood. One of eleven siblings, she was taken from her community in the 1960s and sent to a training school hundreds of miles away. This separation at a young age created a distance that would last a lifetime; though she returned for a brief visit in 1976, she never permanently came home. The details surrounding the date and location of her final disappearance are vague and contain conflicting information. Many accounts state the 43-year-old female was last seen by a friend in Thunder Bay, Ontario, in 1995, while her family last saw her in the mid-1980s. She was known to travel, with reported ties to Vancouver, British Columbia, and Washington State, adding layers of complexity to her case from the very beginning. Her family's journey for answers has been a long and painful one, marked by decades of uncertainty and hope. After she was last seen, rumors of her presence in Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, and British Columbia would occasionally surface, but she was never found. The family officially reported her missing in 1995, several years after they had last seen her. Investigators with the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service have pursued leads over the years, a painful rollercoaster for the Skunk family who wished for more sensitive communication regarding updates. On at least two occasions, DNA samples were taken from Sarah's mother to compare against unidentified bodies discovered on the West Coast of the United States, but no match was ever made, leaving the family without closure. In 2017, three of her sisters shared their story and their pain at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls hearings in Thunder Bay. Sarah's niece, Melissa, holds onto the single, powerful memory of meeting her aunt when she was a little girl. She recalls walking hand-in-hand with Sarah, who told her that she reminded her of her own daughter. This brief but meaningful connection has had a lasting impact, fueling the family's desire for answers. The overview of Sarah Skunk's case is one of profound tragedy and unresolved questions. It is the story of an Indigenous woman who, after a childhood marked by forced separation and trauma, vanished without a trace. The investigation has been hampered by conflicting timelines and the vast geographical area she was known to frequent. For her family, the search has been an agonizing wait for information, a testament to their enduring hope and the deep wound left by a loved one who remains lost.
Feb 15, 2000
Seattle
Washington
King County
Unknown
15833
Nishnawbe-Aski Police Department
Thunder Bay, Ontario
,
RM 14009175
2000-02-15
Nishnawbe-Aski Police Department
Black
Brown
Brown
06/14/2026
