Walk remembers Sudbury woman who went missing two years ago

Two years after she disappeared, the family of Wendy Lafortune are still hoping for closure. She was last seen in the New Sudbury area of the city.

May 1 marks the second anniversary of the disappearance of a Sudbury woman.

Wendy Lafortune was last seen in the New Sudbury area, walking along Lasalle Boulevard. On May 3, her sister Lorry will hold the second annual Wendy’s Walk to retrace those steps in her honour -- and for other missing women.

“It’s to bring awareness to the fact that these girls are not home. None of us has our family members,” Lorry Lafortune said.

“Mother’s Day is coming (and Wendy’s) daughter is going to have no mom again. We need answers.”

Lafortune said living without answers is agonizing, but she holds on to hope that one day she will find out what happened to her sister.

“I am emotionally drained,” she said.

“I am numb. I am up and down. I am strong. I am strong (and) I am keeping going. The fight is far from over.”

Lafortune described Wendy as a bright light, someone full of energy. She was living with addiction to crack and speed but had just completed a recovery program a week before she disappeared.

“Ending up in the wrong area, wrong people, wrong hands,” Lafortune said.

“I don’t even know. In the matter of a week, she changed her life completely back that way. I don’t know why she went that way -- something brought her back that way.”

To help deal with the trauma of not knowing what happened to Wendy, Lafortune said her cats are pet therapy and help bring her calmness.

This past year, she also wrote a self-published children’s activity and story book entitled, ‘Always With Me.’

“I have written a book in honour of Wendy,” she said.

“It’s on grief. It’s for little hearts. A lot of the time, they don’t understand where somebody went.”

Lafortune said $4,000 is needed to keep the billboard going and she hopes people taking part in the walk will help.

She also said someone knows something about what happened to her sister. Lafortune hopes the walk encourages anyone with information to share it to help her family find answers.