Mackenzie Lee Trottier’s gifts from last Christmas remain unopened.
They were placed under the tree along with the rest of his family’s gifts at his home in Saskatoon. Four days before the holidays, a year ago, the 22-year-old disappeared.
“Her gifts eventually, after a month or two, were packed and put away in the closet and they are waiting for her,” her father Paul Trottier said in a telephone interview.
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Family members are hoping for a Christmas miracle that she will return this year.
“Mackenzie was a huge Christmas fanatic. Usually he made things by hand for the family. So it will be a challenge again this year, ”said her father.
The tree is not in Trottier’s house and neither are the stockings or lights. The milestones have been particularly difficult for family and friends who have been searching for the woman for the past year.
They describe her as an old, loving soul with a passion for saving animals.
“It’s like losing a part of your body,” Trottier said. “So you limp in some ways and do the best you can, but you still miss that part of your family, that part of you.”
The family has organized poster drives in cities from Manitoba to British Columbia.
Family members follow up on councils and communicate with the RCMP and other law enforcement agencies. They have offered a reward of $ 20,000 for information leading to the whereabouts of the young woman.
“Over time, your energy level starts to drop and you get to a point where you’re not sure where to go or what to do,” her father said.
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In June, Saskatoon Crime Stoppers published a drawing of a man believed to have information about Trottier’s daughter. The city police had previously released still images of the man from video surveillance.
“We get all kinds of leads that can come through the city police, and that gives us a bit of hope. And when things don’t go well, or it’s not Mackenzie, it’s disheartening. It’s a roller coaster that goes up and down. “
The felony unit continues to investigate his disappearance. The posters in Calgary have sparked a resurgence of councils.
A Saskatoon police spokesman says officers are working with Calgary police to follow up; however, reports of possible sightings have not yet been corroborated by the police in any of the provinces.
Investigators have not speculated on the cause of his disappearance.
“There are basically three options and they are difficult,” said his father. “One is that she is no longer with us, but we are not going there.”
The second possibility is that you simply have not returned home. But, Trottier said, her daughter thought of home as “her landing place, her safe space.”
“The third is that someone took her.”
That is why the family has posted missing posters in cities believed to be in the path of human trafficking networks.
“I focus on Mackenzie because she is my daughter. But there are a lot of missing women in this province and I want people to start paying attention to what is happening, ”Trottier said.
Police describe Mackenzie Lee Trottier as five feet tall, weighing 145 pounds and with a medium-length blonde shave on the right side. He has green eyes, a fair complexion, broken front teeth, and a tattoo on his right ankle. She usually wears a lot of makeup, black yoga pants, a heavy green jacket, and carries a large purse.
“Come home,” her father said. “We are waiting.”
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Reference-globalnews.ca