In the early hours of a summer night in the remote community of Berens River First Nation in Manitoba, a family was shattered by a sudden and violent death. Orval McKay, a 29-year-old father and brother, was left to die on a road after a hit-and-run, a crime that remains a painful, unanswered question for his loved ones and investigators. Known to friends and family as "Monks," Orval was part of a large, close-knit family deeply rooted in the Anishinaabe community, which sits on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg. His 2015 obituary named his mother, Shirley, ten brothers, and four sisters as those left to mourn him, along with his two young children, Nickolas and Tifara.
The incident occurred at approximately 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 13, 2015. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers from the Berens River detachment were called to Main Street on the First Nation for a report of a collision involving a pedestrian.
When they arrived, they found Orval McKay suffering from serious injuries. The vehicle that struck him had already fled the scene. He was rushed to the local nursing station for medical attention, but his injuries were too severe, and he succumbed to them. In the immediate aftermath, a news report noted that nurses in the community were upset and angry that a Lifeflight Air Ambulance and a doctor were not dispatched to assist him.
The investigation into Orval’s death was launched by the Berens River RCMP. The case was quickly classified as a homicide, and the search began for the driver who fled without rendering aid. Despite the passage of time, no arrests have been made, and police have not publicly released a description of the suspect vehicle or identified any persons of interest. The case is now considered a cold case, listed on the Manitoba Crime Stoppers website as an unsolved homicide, a silent appeal for anyone with information to come forward and break the years of silence.
The McKay family has been forced to endure further heartbreak in the years following Orval's death. In a deeply tragic turn of events, Orval's mother, Shirley McKay, was killed in June 2018. One of Orval's own brothers, Anthony McKay, was convicted of manslaughter in her death, compounding the family's grief and loss. This subsequent tragedy has only deepened the shadows surrounding the unsolved killing of Orval, leaving a family doubly broken by violence.
Days after Orval's death in 2015, his family held a wake at his aunt’s residence in Berens River before laying him to rest. No public vigils or anniversary appeals for information have been reported in the media since the initial investigation, and the specific details of what Orval was doing on Main Street in the moments before he was struck remain unknown to the public. The community of Berens River, a place with a history stretching back to the fur trade, is home to both the Anishinaabe and Swampy Cree peoples and is connected by its relationship to the river and the vast lake it feeds. It is in this remote setting that the answers to Orval McKay's death are believed to be held.
As of July 2022, the investigation into the homicide of Orval McKay remains open and active with the RCMP Historical Case Unit and Manitoba Crime Stoppers. The fundamental questions of who was behind the wheel and why they did not stop remain unanswered. Investigators continue to ask that anyone with information regarding the hit-and-run collision that killed Orval McKay call the Berens River RCMP at 204-669-3268 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477. Tips can also be submitted securely online at www.manitobacrimestoppers.com.
