Police in Winnipeg have recovered a pair of eyeglasses that they believe belong to a grandmother who went missing on Saturday. They’ve also released 14 seconds of surveillance footage showing Thelma Krull walking down a residential street.
“We have a lot of work left to do,” said Det. Sgt. Shaunna Neufeld at a news conference Wednesday where she appealed to the public for tips in the disappearance of the 57-year-old administrative assistant.
Thelma Krull has been missing since Saturday, when she left the house to go on a long walk, according to husband Robert Krull, who briefly spoke with reporters. She hasn’t been seen since.
Sgt. Neufeld said glasses were found in the area of the Valley Gardens Community Club on July 14. Neufeld is hoping to talk to anyone who may have noticed something.
“There were people playing tennis, playing football, out walking, jogging,” she said.
The 14-second surveillance camera clip released by police shows a woman walking briskly down an unnamed residential street.
The timestamp on the video suggests it was taken Saturday morning at 7:23 a.m.
Robert Krull told reporters that the day Thelma went missing, she was supposed to meet him around 10 a.m. at a Canadian Tire store.
When Thelma didn’t show up, he initially “assumed she had changed her plans,” he said. “It’s not that uncommon.”
Thelma’s daughter Lisa Besser told CTV Winnipeg on Monday that her mother was also going to pick up a cake for her grandson’s birthday party later on Saturday, which is "something she would not have missed."
Robert Krull said he believes it was about 7 a.m. when Thelma left the house that morning, but he was unsure.
His wife had been taking long walks for about a year and was “very proud of the distances and effort she was making,” he said.
Thelma spent the Friday night before her disappearance on the deck of their home reading and using her phone, he added. “Everything was good.”
Sgt. Neufeld said Thelma liked to walk through a variety of areas of Winnipeg, including the Valley Gardens area, the 2,000 block of Henderson Highway and the 1,500 block of Regent Ave. W.
Neufeld said only one piece of surveillance video had been recovered and police are asking anyone in the area with security cameras to review their footage from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.
Neufeld also asked members of the public to check outbuildings, green spaces and vehicles on their properties, “in the event that Krull has suffered a medical condition.”
Neufeld said the short video released is important to the investigation “because it shows (Krull’s) clothing that she was wearing and her manner and gait of walking.”
Krull was wearing a dark capri-style pants, hiking boots and a red, orange or fuscia shirt. She is 5-foot-4, 170 lbs and has short, dyed blonde hair with a purple streak, and normally wears glasses. She may have been carrying a fanny pack.
Robert Krull thanked the hundreds of volunteers who have been searching for Thelma and said he is trying to “stay positive.”
“Thelma was a very, very positive person,” he added. “A door closes, a window opens, that’s the kind of person she is.”
