Saskatchewan RCMP say they have identified the remains of a woman missing since 2016 with the help of the National Missing Persons DNA Program.
They say it’s a first for the province and for the entire RCMP.
Partial human remains were found nearly two years ago in a remote rural area northwest of Saskatoon.
Police at the time found no matches to outstanding missing persons cases in Saskatchewan or Alberta.
Investigators developed a genetic profile and were able to compare it to those in a national DNA bank of missing persons and their relatives.
The profile matched that of Cheyenne Partridge, who disappeared from Edmonton in November 2016.
The cause of her death remains undetermined and the Edmonton Police Service is investigating.
“Having a loved one go missing can be very traumatic for a family, and it was very important to investigators that we identified Cheyenne so that she may be brought home to her family and provide them with a sense of closure,” said Cpl. Kelly Bates with the Saskatchewan RCMP’s historical case unit.
A December 2016 Saskatoon Police Service news release said officers were helping their Edmonton counterparts in searching for the 25-year-old woman.
“Police and family are concerned for her safety and well-being,” it said.
Partridge was described as being Indigenous, standing five-foot-four, weighing 120 pounds and with brown eyes and black hair. She was last seen wearing a shirt with a heart design on it.
The National Missing Persons DNA Program was started in 2018 and is operated by the RCMP. It enables the DNA profiles from missing people and unidentified remains to be compared to some 500,000 others in the National DNA Data Bank.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2020
