Family of missing Indigenous woman hopeful new billboard, reward could provide answers

The family of a missing Indigenous woman is hoping a new RCMP billboard campaign in northwestern Alberta and a $10,000 reward will generate leads in a case that stretches back nearly six years.

Shae-Lynn McAllister, a member of Horse Lake First Nation, was 20 years old when she disappeared from the Shell gas station in Fairview, Alta., on the night of July 7, 2019. She had just finished work at the local A&W.

Fairview is about 550 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

RCMP originally treated the disappearance as a missing persons case, but a social media post Monday said that "as a result of our investigation, police believe she is unlikely to be found alive." 

"I've cried, I've prayed and I've prayed," said Shae-Lynn's mother, Trudy McAllister, from her home on Duncan's First Nation, about 40 kilometres east of Fairview.   

"[I'm] hoping one day she might just come walking through this door. Anything. I'm hoping someone will come forward and say something.

"I wouldn't wish this on anyone."

The mother of two is described by family as a friendly, happy person with a smile that could light up the room. 

She loved being a mother and she adored her two young children, eight-year-old Tyson and seven-year-old Serenity. 

Family said she also struggled with addiction and substance use in the years leading up to her disappearance, but was working to try to get clean and enrol in treatment. 

The children are being raised by their paternal grandparents Sherry Schischikowsky and Rory Obrigewitch in nearby Hines Creek, about 30 kilometres north of Fairview. 

Obrigewitch said the children were too young to really remember their mother, but every now and again they will remember little things. 

"And it's heartbreaking, that part of things," Obrigewitch said.

"We always just tell [them] that she's [their] guardian angel. That we're not going to give up looking for her," said Schischikowsky.