Unsolved Cases in Province of Saskatchewan

Last seen swimming towards the boat

File Number: 104200202

Manitou Lake, Saskatchewan - On September 17, 1995, Bradley Wiesner, was last seen at approximately 8:00 p.m. Wiesner had been on an island with other individuals on Manitou Lake, south of Neilburg, SK, when the boat they were using started floating away from shore.

Wiesner was last seen swimming towards the boat, however, he disappeared in the darkness. Extensive air, diver and water searches failed to locate him.

If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Bradley James WIESNER please contact one of the following agencies: F Division RCMP Historical Case Unit (SACP) at (639) 625-4111 or Toll free 1-833-502-6861 / saskmissingpersons@rcmp-grc.gc.ca Or Crimestoppers: 1-800-222-TIPS (8477)

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LYING IN A POOL OF BLOOD

File Number: 104200130

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: Chelsey Gunn, whose brother Anthony was killed over a decade ago, at her home in Saskatoon on Jan. 21, 2020 said she was eight months pregnant when she woke up at 2 a.m. on a late August, 2010 morning with a feeling of dread - an instinct, she calls it - gnawing at her about her younger brother.

Anthony Gunn should not have been in Saskatoon that night. He was supposed to be out of town for work, painting at a construction project. But he and Chelsey were preparing to move in together and she had needed help with the cable hookup, so he'd returned home a day early and was staying with their mother.

Chelsey called their mother's house to check on him, but no one answered. She tried calling again and again. Eventually, her teen brother answered and said Tony, as he was known to the family, was lying in a pool of blood, moaning.

Chelsey gathered her children and walked over to the home in the 600 block of Avenue M South. Yellow police tape surrounded it.

"That's when I knew, then and there, he was gone," she said.

At some point in the ensuing years, the police investigation into Anthony's death went from being just an "unsolved" case to a "historic" one, joining more than 20 historic homicides or suspicious missing person's cases in the caseload of the Saskatoon Police Service's historical cases section.

Though time has passed, police say these cases are not "cold" - it is still possible for new evidence to emerge and new witnesses to come forward. The cases can still be cracked, even with the passage of months, years or decades.

Anthony Gunn's death was first considered a suspicious death, but police soon upgraded it to a homicide. He was 23. His August 26th death was recorded as Saskatoon's seventh homicide of 2010. No one has been charged.

Chelsey continues to hope that charges will be laid in her brother's case.

SHOT IN CHEST THROUGH THE DOOR

File Number: 104200139

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: Darren Greschuk lived with her common-law wife, Michelle Sansom, in a small bungalow on a quiet street in Riversdale. He owned a tow-trucking company. He was also a partner in a successful tree removal business. They'd been together since high school and had a son, Dustin.

Michelle Sansom still remembers the sound that changed her life forever.

A crisp, loud bang rang through Saskatoon's Riversdale neighbourhood.

The shot, fired into the darkness on that July night more than a decade ago, sent a shock wave through Sansom's comfortable, middle-class existence.

"At this time we were in the neighbourhood for ten years. We trusted it. We never had any issue. We were pretty comfortable," she recalls.

That domestic bliss was shattered on July 8, 2006.

It had been an unseasonably warm July and the rain that night was a welcome respite. The couple left their front door open to let the cool breeze into the living room. Dustin, who was 10 years old at the time, was sleeping at his grandparents' place. Michelle and Darren ate takeout burgers at the coffee table in the living room, listening to rain fall outside.

When Michelle went to bed first, around 10 p.m., Darren told her to leave the door open. He wanted to keep the refreshing breeze flowing through the house.

The next thing she remembers is waking abruptly to loud noises. She walked out of the bedroom, she says. That's when she first saw a face that would haunt her for years to come.

"It can really tear you apart. You brain is never the same after someone puts a gun to your head," she says.

The man had walked into their house and hit Darren over the head with a handgun. He demanded money, waving the gun and ordering them outside onto their deck.

"He kept demanding money, 'Where is your money?" He thought Darren had money, which he didn't," she says.

Once out on the deck, Darren convinced the man to go back inside the house for the keys to his garage. That's when Michelle ran, leaping off the deck. She squeezed herself between two houses and waited.



"It was just my instinct to run," she recalls. "I feel so bad to this day that I couldn't get help. I got away, but why couldn't I get help? I was so terrified."

Michelle sat there, huddled in the darkness for what felt like an hour. She threw stones at her neighbour's window, hoping to wake her up, but was afraid to make too much noise. The man who'd broken in said he had other friends coming, and she didn't want them to catch her.

Then the shot came - one of the loudest sounds she had ever heard.

Darren, it was later revealed, had locked the intruder out of the house, but the man apparently shot through the door, sending a bullet into his chest.

Darren died in a hospital bed two weeks later.

Talking to Saskatoon StarPhoenix in 2016, "It's been ten years of trying to block this Guy's face out of my mind," Michelle says of the intruder, who has never been arrested.

She has heard from investigators over that time, but they've given no indication of a break in the case. Through a spokesperson, police confirmed the file is "active."

"I can't believe they haven't made an arrest - I'm telling you that people know. It's as though Darren was nothing to nobody. And he was - so important to all of us," she said.

Greschuk's case is one of 12 unsolved murders over the last decade in Saskatoon. Police say most of the investigations are assigned to detectives and none have been declared 'cold' cases.

Detective Grant Little is in charge of the historical case unit, tasked with investigating old, unsolved crimes, but the seasoned detective also works active files.

He is not in charge of Greschuk's case, but two unsolved homicides from the last 10 years - James Favel and 23-year-old Anthony Gunn - are part of his active investigations.

He said he feels for victim's families who are still waiting for justice.

"There are things going on a regular basis, but unlike TV, it doesn't happen over the commercial break," he said.

Little said every passing year makes a homicide investigation harder to close. Memories fade. Witnesses or suspects die. Detectives retire. Physical evidence deteriorates.

"Where there is a will, there is a way, but the passage of time is a big enemy. It doesn't mean it can't be done, it just means it's harder," he said.

Investigators are hoping someone will come forward or leave a tip to bring closure and a killer to justice.

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Last Seen in Regina, SK

File Number: 104200184

Regina, Saskatchewan - On April 9, 1973, Gary Percival was last seen in Regina, SK. A witness did state that he may have been a patient in a hospital in New York State in 1974.

Percival has not been located and his whereabouts is unknown.

Date Last Seen: 1973-04-09
Last Seen Location: Regina, Saskatchewan
Age: 28 Years Old
Date of Birth: 1945-11-27
Race: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Height: 188 cm (6'2")
Weight: 78 kg (171 lbs)
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Distinguishing Features: Unknown
Clothing Worn at time of disappearance: Unknown
File #: 1973-06908 and 2002-14794
Agency: Regina Police Service

Anyone with information regarding Gary PERCIVAL is asked to contact the Regina Police Service at 306-777-6500, or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, or (if applicable) contact the nearest detachment of the RCMP.

The Prospectors Who Vanished Calendar

File Number: 104200226

La Ronge, SK - In June 1967, 59-year-old Metis leader James Brady and 40-year-old Cree band councillor Absolom Halkett boarded a tiny plane and departed the small Saskatchewan town of La Ronge. From there, they flew north to a remote lake on a trip to prospect for uranium.

James Brady was born in the province of Alberta on March 18, 1930. His mother was Metis and his father was Scottish. Brady grew up in a family of seven. His parents owned a farm in southern Alberta. Brady attended St. Mary's College in Calgary. He went to medical school at the University of Toronto. After finishing his education, he worked as a doctor for a while. He eventually became a professor of medicine. Brady decided that he wanted to study anthropology. He had been interested in studying Native Americans for a long time. Brady believed that if he studied these people, he could learn something about himself. He began studying the Cree people in northern Canada.

It was a cold winter day in La Ronge. While flying across northern Manitoba, as the two men sat in the plane, they looked out at the beautiful scenery. The ground below them was covered with thick white snow, and the sky was a dark blue. Brady and Halkett realized they were lost. They were in a plane that was designed to carry four people, but only had room for two. So they decided to share the seat with another passenger. When they landed on the lake, they found themselves in a canoe, and they continued their journey on foot.

The only way to get out of the wilderness was to cross the rugged terrain of the Canadian Shield also called the Laurentian Plateau. For three weeks, they lived in a tent while they tried to locate a safe spot to build a shelter. They survived on wild berries and moose meat. They crossed the lake every day. They took turns sleeping in the tent.

By the time another plane arrived to restock their camp about a week later, the men were gone. The RCMP investigated, but neither the men nor their bodies were found. Police quickly ruled out foul play and closed the case within weeks. The best guesses to come out of the investigation: the men had gotten lost or been eaten by a bear.

To those who knew Brady and Halkett, however, those weren't plausible explanations. Both were experienced bushmen; they wouldn't just vanish. And why had the investigation wrapped up so quickly?

In the past few years, the bodies of what appears to be the two men were discovered. An American tourist and fishing guide found a waterlogged corpse with its wrists tied in the water where the men had been prospecting.

In a recent book, Cold Case North, author Deanna Reder writes that her mother, who knew the men, said they were taken by a UFO - to her it seemed more logical than any of the other theories. Others suspected the men's deaths were no accident, but assassinations. Brady specifically was an ardent communist who challenged the Canadian government and the church, advocating for First Nations' self-governance; back then, it was enough for the RCMP to surveil a person. Some even suspected they found a uranium site and were killed by business partners who wanted it for themselves.

If you are wondering why the authorities closed the case so quickly, there are many mysteries that exist in this world. Some of them are solved very quickly while others never are.

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Stabbed to death at a graduation party

File Number: 104200235

Regina, Saskatchewan - Misha Pavelick was 19-years-old when he was stabbed to death at a graduation party near Regina Beach on May 21, 2006. 200 people were reportedly at the party, but those responsible for his death were never found.

Saskatchewan RCMP launched a podcast examining the murder, in hopes of digging up new information about this 18-year-old cold case.

Misha's father, Lorne Pavelick, still remembers the last conversation he had with his son before Misha went to the grad party that evening.

"I asked him if he would be safe and he said 'yes' and 'not to worry," Pavelick said. "I told him 'I love you' and he said 'I love you too, Dad.' So I am grateful that I had that opportunity, that I was given that gift to remember."

Later that night while he was sleeping, Pavelick received a frantic phone call from one of Misha's friends who told him his son had been stabbed and it didn't look good.

Misha's older sister, Kathleen Marshall, remembers getting the call from their dad saying things were not looking good for her brother. The family and several of Misha's friends arrived at the Regina General Hospital. Hospital employees took the family to a separate room where they delivered the news that Misha didn not make it.

Pavelick said the family was told it would be a complicated investigation because of the circumstances that surrounded it.

"I don't know what my expectations were, but our hopes absolutely were for someone to be held accountable," Kathleen said. "There were so many people there so there's definitely people that saw what happened and know what happened first hand."

15 years after the murder, Pavelick said the family was excited when Saskatchewan RCMP approached them to do the podcast.

"I must say that I am grateful to the RCMP, which may sound weird, but I am grateful that they have assigned some importance - like they do for most of their cases - but in this case for Misha and they created this podcast," Pavelick said. "As a family we are hopeful that there will be some results."

The podcast includes interviews with Pavelick's family, RCMP officers involved in the case and other police experts. Those involved hope the podcast will encourage someone to bring forward information that could help police solve the case.

Producing a podcast to assist with an investigation is a first for the RCMP. Sgt. Donna Zawislak with the RCMP Historical Case Unit said podcasts have proven to be a positive way to share historical cases.

"They are great because they can be shared so many times, plus they leave an imprint on the internet for a long period of time," she said.

The first episode was released on Friday morning on the Saskatchewan RCMP website and Apple Podcasts.

Any update on this case, please contact us at fileupdate@ucfiles.com