Missing Edmonton woman's remains found in Sask. after four years

Remains found by the Saskatchewan RCMP belong to an Edmonton woman, officials confirmed on Thursday. The woman had been missing for four years, reports Global News.

Cheyenne Partridge’s remains were found close to Maymont, Sask., nearly two years ago, though it was just this week that her identity was confirmed by officials.

RCMP say the remains were discovered northwest of Saskatoon by around 90 kilometres in a remote area in July of 2018. The location was just a few hundred metres from the North Saskatchewan River.

Partridge’s cause of death is still under investigation.

"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 in a statement.

This is reportedly the first time Saskatchewan RCMP have identified remains with the National Missing Persons DNA Program (NMPDP).

Previously, the remains were compared to several missing person cases in Saskatchewan and Alberta but there were no matches.

A DNA profile was then developed by investigators who worked with the NMPDP.

“The DNA profile was then compared against DNA profiles from missing persons and their relatives from across the country by the National DNA Data Bank,” the RCMP noted in a statement.

Biz Nicotine, Partridge’s uncle said she appeared to be upset when she left without shoes or a jacket in 2016. She was 25-years-old at the time.

He said that was uncommon because she was "close to our family and would keep in touch with everybody."

The case has been kept open by the Edmonton Police Service since 2016.

"While the cause of Cheyenne’s death remains undetermined, the investigation remains open," said Sergeant John Smith who is with the Edmonton Police Service’s missing persons unit.

This marks the sixth time that investigators have identified human remains with the help of NMPDP.

The program began in 2018 to support investigations involving unidentified remains or missing persons. The program compares missing persons DNA profiles and unidentified remains with 500,000 DNA profiles held in the National DNA Data Bank.