Winnipeg police have charged a man with second-degree murder after a more than seven month-long search for a missing indigenous woman came to a tragic end.
Christine Wood, 21, disappeared on the evening of Aug. 19, 2016 after leaving a Winnipeg hotel where she was staying with her family. Wood was visiting the city from the Oxford House First Nation in northern Manitoba for a medical appointment. She never returned after leaving for an evening out with friends.
Family, friends and strangers joined the search for Wood, holding out hope that she would be found safe. Police have not said if a body has been found, or what led to her death.
“It's tough. It's really hard,” Melinda Wood, Christine's mother, told CTV News on Saturday.
James Favel, leader of the Bear Clan Patrol, said he and his volunteer community safety group had encouraged the family to hold out hope for a brighter outcome.
“I've been all this time telling (Christine’s mother) to stay positive, we're going to find her. This is going to be OK. I was wrong. So that's a bitter pill right there,” he said.
Brett Ronald Overby, 30, was charged in connection to Wood’s death on Friday. His Winnipeg home was under investigation for several days in late March, CTV Winnipeg reported, although police have not released any information about the nature of the investigation.
Favel said about a week ago, Wood's mother was asked to submit a DNA sample.
Overby was also charged on March 23 with assaulting a woman between January 2011 and January 2017, according to court documents obtained by CTV Winnipeg. He was released on a $2,000 recognizance. The charges have not been proven in court.
Winnipeg police said they will release more information at a news conference on Monday.
Wood’s cousin-in-law Robert Sneep said he would pass by Overby’s home regularly while desperately hunting for his missing relative.
“We would drive by here seven nights a week. At least three, four times a night,” he said on Sunday.
The prolonged search was difficult for the family. Wood’s cousin Mavis Young said the way it ended has been a crushing blow.
“I’m a mother myself to four daughters, and to lose one of them… I don’t know how my aunt and uncle must feel,” she said. “I was hoping maybe she left to go to another province and she’ll make her way back, and it would work out somehow. But it didn’t.”
Favel said Wood’s death underscores the need for his group to bolster safety efforts in the community.
“This is why we do it. That's precisely why we're here, because of these outcomes. We want to see less of them,” he said.
A vigil was held in Christine Wood's honor in her home community of Oxford House on Saturday.
“It's awful. Our family has been devastated by this,” Young said. “The community was there to comfort them.”
With files from CTV Winnipeg
