I made a vow to protect and love you. I feel that I have failed you my most important role of life as a mother because I can’t protect you right now. Police say a canine unit from Dooley County has volunteered to help in the search for the remains of murdered Investigation began in the early morning hours of March 25th, 2015 when a passerby found the severely injured 18-year-old on Cedar Villa Estates Road on the outskirts of Saskatoon.
My interactions, a beautiful young woman has died. She was a young vibrant woman with her life ahead of her. This case takes us to Yorkton in southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada. That’s where one of the people who truly called Yorkton home lived, Makayla Balli. Makayla was 16 years old and she dreamed of becoming either a kindergarten teacher or a veterinarian someday.
She absolutely loved reading, especially The Hunger Games, and she was also really into fantasy video games. She was quiet and pretty shy, but her mom, Paula, said that being her parent was actually easy. Paula described her as a warm, precious kid, someone who was always eager to please. Makayla loved taking photos of nature outdoors like she could just get lost in it.
She also spent a lot of time with her younger brother and sister and they shared a really close emotional bond. You could tell family meant everything to her. Makayla’s friend, Shelby, received a text message. Makayla and Shelby met on the third day of ninth grade. Shelby later recalled, “Mika walked up to me, poked me in the shoulder, and she was like, ‘Hey, come sit with us.
‘” That’s how they became part of a bigger friend group, around 10 people or so. As they got older and moved into the upper grades, all the way to 11th grade, Shelby and Makayla stayed just as close. They talked like most teenagers do, mhm, about everything. Teachers, family, just daily life stuff, like whatever was going on that day.
That particular day, Shelby didn’t have her phone with her, so she didn’t see the message until she got home from school. And the message said, “Hey, I need some help.” About 20 minutes later, another message came through. “Never mind, I figured it out on my own.” Both of those messages were from Michaela. What made it even stranger was that later that same day, Shelby also got a call from the school asking [music] if she had seen Michaela.
Her grandmother had come to pick her up, but Michaela never showed. Shelby told them she hadn’t seen her at all. When Michaela’s grandmother arrived at the school, [music] Michaela wasn’t waiting outside, so she went into the building to check whether Michaela might still [music] be there. That’s when things started to feel really unsettling.
Teachers and classmates said they hadn’t seen Michaela for most of the day, like almost the entire day. After classes, Michaela was supposed to have music lessons. A concert was coming up soon, and the night before she had been practicing really hard. Paula thought maybe Michaela had gone to her music class early, but once they checked, it became clear that she wasn’t there, either.
At that point, Michaela’s grandmother drove straight to Paula’s workplace [music] to tell her that her daughter was missing. And the craziest part is that the day had started completely normal. Michaela and Paula got ready together that morning. Nothing felt off, nothing unusual at all. Then they got in the car, the grandmother dropped Paula off at work, [music] and Michaela at school, just like any other day.
Michaela attended Sacred Heart High School, which sat right next to the wooded area around Hopkins [music] Lake. She was known as a responsible, dedicated student. So, the question was, why hadn’t she gone to class? And when Paula found out that Michaela had skipped [music] school entirely, she knew immediately that something was very wrong.
When you raise a child from the moment they’re born, you just know them inside and out. And in that moment, [music] um, I could feel it right away something wasn’t right. Paula tried texting Michaela, but there was no response at all. By that evening, Michaela Barlie was officially reported missing and the case [music] was turned over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, better known as the RCMP.
When I got home to grab a few photos for the RCMP, [music] I checked the box where I always keep emergency cash. The lock wasn’t secured and Michaela knew exactly [music] where it was. All the money was still there, just sitting untouched. That was really strange and I’ll be honest in that moment, it just hit me hard. Like everything came crashing down. She said.
Michaela’s phone charger was still at the house, too. Nothing looked disturbed. Nothing seemed out of place at all. One of the first things RCMP [music] did was talk to Michaela’s friends, trying to piece together her last known movements. Investigators also started looking closely at the day before she disappeared because sometimes that’s where the first real clues start to show up.
Sorry to steal just a minute of your time, but can you tell me where you’re watching this from? Like what city are you in right now? And what time is it for you? I’m honestly really curious to know where my audience is coming from. And while you’re typing that in, I’ll go ahead and keep going. That day, Michaela had lunch with her friends and talked about possibly taking a trip, maybe to Moose Jaw or Prince Albert.
Shelby and the others also remembered Michaela mentioning a family vacation to Regina. Later on, Shelby told investigators that the day before she disappeared, Michaela had brought up a guy named Josh. But when Shelby tried to ask more questions, Michaela just stopped responding. After lunch, they went back to class and the teacher later described Michaela as visibly upset, like something was clearly weighing on her.
At 4:35 in the afternoon, she texted a friend asking for a ride to the bank, stressing that it was really important. Less than an hour later, around 5:30, Mikaela called TD Bank customer service three times within about 30 minutes. She also checked her account balance and made a transfer of $25. That evening, between 8:50 and 9:30, Mikaela sent messages to several friends and to her ex-boyfriend.
To one friend, she wrote that she needed help. When that friend asked what was wrong, Mikaela never replied. Another friend received a message about a guy who felt really bad about something and was crying. Later, her ex said Mikaela told him she was unhappy and was thinking about leaving town for a few days.
One of her friends, Amy, said Mikaela told her that someone named Christopher was coming to Saskatchewan to meet up with her. The problem with tracking the text messages was that while police could determine when a message was sent, where it was sent from, and who it was sent to, they still needed people to personally provide the actual content of those messages.
The text itself couldn’t be recovered just from cell tower data, and that made putting the full picture together a lot harder. At 6:41 in the morning, a message was sent. Hey, can you give me a ride to the bank? It was from Mikaela to her friend Oxana. Oxana replied, The bank won’t even be open until later this morning. So, there’s really no point in going right now.
>> [music] >> The morning started off like any other. After Mikaela was dropped off at Sacred Heart High School, the school’s Wi-Fi system logged her signing in at 8:08 in the morning. At 8:21, surveillance cameras caught her stopping by her locker to drop off a folder. Just 5 minutes later, she left the school grounds through a back exit.
No one knows exactly which route she took after that, but security cameras later spotted her near Superstore C, walking along the railroad tracks. When Mikaela didn’t show up for her next class, Her ex-boyfriend texted her asking why she wasn’t there. And here’s the thing, as she was typing out a response, she was already on the other side of town.
She headed straight to TD Bank and arrived before it even opened. At 8:51 in the morning, she was seen talking on her phone while waiting outside. At 8:55, the call ended, the shutters went up, and she approached a bank employee. Michaela withdrew $50. Some sources say it may have been $55. So, there’s a bit of disagreement there.
From there, she walked to Terry’s Pawn and Bargain, arriving around 9:00 in the morning. The store’s owner later said Michaela asked about the value of a ring. He described her as quiet and said she didn’t seem upset or stressed at all. He told her the ring didn’t have much value, so he wasn’t willing to make an offer to buy it.
Michaela then left the store. Shortly after, cameras at Home Hardware captured her at 9:11 walking in the direction of Tim Hortons, [music] 160 Broadway Street East. Surveillance inside Tim Hortons showed Michaela buying a drink and sitting down to use her phone. For the next 13 minutes, she [music] stayed seated with a backpack beside her.
One of her friends later pointed out something odd, Michaela usually didn’t carry a backpack. She normally brought a purse to school, so that stood out. At 9:23, [music] Michaela left Tim Hortons through one exit, then came back inside [music] briefly, and finally exited through a different door. At 9:42, she was seen again walking past Home Hardware before disappearing from that camera’s view.
Not long after, cameras caught her [music] walking behind Giant Tiger, heading once again toward Tim Hortons. At 9:49, she re-entered Tim Hortons, and it appeared she was on the phone. There’s no recording [music] of that call. This time, she sat in a different spot, right by the window, facing the entrance. After the call ended, she stayed there for another 10 minutes, staring at her phone and occasionally [music] glancing out the window, like she might be waiting for someone.
At 10:03, she put in her earbuds. Then, 9 minutes later, she sent a message to Shelby. Hey, I need some help. About 20 minutes later, a second message came through. Never mind, I figured it out myself. >> [music] >> While still on the phone, Mikaela picked up her backpack and walked out of Tim Hortons, 160 Broadway [music] Street East.
But just 2 minutes later, she came back inside and sat down in the exact same spot. At 10:39 in the morning, still on the call, she glanced around the room like she was checking to see who was there. 4 minutes later, she ended the call. After that, she stood up and approached a woman sitting at a nearby table. Mikaela asked her for help booking a hotel room, but she didn’t say which city it was in.
The woman told her she couldn’t help, so Mikaela went back and sat down again. Not long after, she made another call and then left quickly. From about 10:45 until roughly 11:55, Mikaela’s whereabouts are unknown. The only thing investigators know for sure is that at 11:35, she sent a message to Shelby. See you at lunch.
At 11:59 in the morning, Mikaela was back at school. She told two classmates that she was planning to take a bus to Regina for a little vacation. Later on, one of those friends told police that Mikaela might have been carrying two phones that day, which yeah, really stood out. Just 3 minutes later, Mikaela left the school again through the back exit.
She walked to the trail stop about a mile away, which was connected to the bus depot. RCMP later said a depot employee had seen Mikaela sometime between 10:00 in the morning and noon. She was asking what time the bus would be leaving. They told her it would be around 5:00 in the evening, but she never bought a ticket.
A waitress said Mikaela seemed totally normal, calm, and was sitting alone while ordering food. There were no security cameras at the depot or the restaurant, but witnesses confirmed Mikaela stayed there until about 1:45 in the afternoon. Police don’t believe she boarded a bus in Yorkton. At 3:40 in the afternoon, Mikaela’s grandmother parked outside the school getting ready to pick her up.
Minutes kept passing, um, but Mikaela never came out. By 4:00, it was clear that she had missed her violin rehearsal. And less than 4 hours after that, Paula officially reported her daughter missing. When Paula later watched the surveillance footage showing Mikaela’s movements that day, she said, This was absolutely not normal behavior for her.
She never skipped classes, not ever. And watching those clips, it really felt like she was waiting for someone. By 7:00 the next morning, her phone was completely turned off. None of the calls she had made showed up in her phone records, and to this day, it’s still unclear who she was actually talking to. Most of Mikaela’s communication happened through apps [music] like Snapchat and Instagram, and possibly through an app called Kik, which allows anonymous [music] messaging.
Because of privacy laws tied to these apps, those calls couldn’t be traced, which [music] made things even more complicated for investigators. Some of her friends later said that Mikaela had met people online before. A few of them weren’t from her hometown, and at least one of them, um, was from the United States.
That detail alone really widened the scope of the investigation >> [music] >> and raised even more unanswered questions. I never liked the idea of her messaging guys online because it just felt kind of sketchy to [music] me, but she didn’t really listen. She always did things her own way, and honestly, if I’m being real, I probably would have done the same at her age.
Shelby said. It took investigators months to get permission from US authorities and piece together Mikaela’s social media activity on the day she disappeared. For police, it was clear pretty quickly that Mikaela’s disappearance [music] wasn’t typical. Yorkton is a small city, and when people went missing or ran away, it was usually someone whose name was already familiar to law enforcement.
This case felt different. Officers reached out to Makayla’s mobile carriers and the banks connected to her accounts, which gave them a list of names to start looking into. And honestly, the whole community was worried, not just for Makayla, [music] but for her family, too. As Bob Maloney, the mayor of Yorkton, put it, “When a young person goes missing, [music] it’s something that worries everyone.
Like, it hits the whole community hard.” Two days after Makayla was last seen, the RCMP reached out to the public asking for help in finding her. They released a public alert with her description, hoping someone out there might recognize her or have seen something important. She was described as Caucasian, about 5 ft [music] 2 in tall, weighing roughly 125 lb.
She had blonde hair, blue eyes, [music] and wore glasses. At the time she was last seen, she was wearing a turquoise [music] infinity scarf, a burgundy or purple three-quarter length coat and jeans. While talking with Makayla’s friends, police [music] learned that shortly before she disappeared, she told Oxana that she supposedly had around $5,000 [music] in her bank account.
But when investigators looked into it, they found that simply wasn’t true. There was no such amount there. An Instagram post dated March 1st, 2016, [music] which included her Snapchat username, was captioned, “Looking for friends on Snapchat because I don’t really have any in real life. Add me and please don’t be gross and don’t send me nude photos.
I’m [music] honestly just looking for a friend.” Friends gave police several names, and among them [music] was someone named Christopher from North Carolina. According to them, Makayla had [music] been messaging him on Instagram. And yeah, this was the same name Amy had mentioned earlier when she told police [music] that Makayla said someone named Christopher was coming to Saskatchewan to meet her.
Later on, CBC reached out to a man [music] who claimed he was that Christopher. He declined to answer any questions and made only a brief statement. “The only thing I can say is that a few years ago, she was struggling with self-harm. At the time, I was helping people who were dealing with that, and I encouraged her to resist it and turn to God.
The RCMP questioned Christopher, and police in the United States did the same. His home was also searched. Sergeant Donnis of Viszlai from the RCMP’s Historic Cases Unit said that investigators stated there was no evidence to suggest that he was in Canada at the time of Michaela’s disappearance. And just as importantly, there was also no evidence indicating that Michaela intended to harm herself.
Shortly before she disappeared, Michaela had mentioned someone named Josh. Police didn’t have his last name, but during the investigation, they interviewed several men with that name. None of those interviews led anywhere. Michaela’s friends also gave mixed accounts of what she had said about her biological father.
One friend said Michaela talked about wanting to meet him, even though she had never known him. Another believed Michaela thought her father had passed away. Later, a man named Rick came forward saying he believed he was Michaela’s father, but Paula stated there was no proof of that. Police didn’t contact Rick until 5 days after Michaela went missing.
Rick then began his own search. He said he hoped Michaela was alive and safe, and that he would want to apologize to her for all the lost time. His home was searched, DNA samples were taken, and his mother’s home was searched as well. The RCMP later stated there was no evidence linking him to Michaela’s disappearance.
On Valentine’s Day, just before she vanished, Michaela received a bouquet of roses during drama class. The flowers arrived in a plain cardboard box, likely ordered online, but Michaela never said who sent them. Police were eventually able to identify the sender and confirmed that this person had no connection to her disappearance.
At that point, the case already felt like a complicated puzzle. And as time went on, it only became more confusing. Two classmates later told investigators that they remembered Michaela saying she had Oxycodone, a powerful opioid. One of them even claimed she showed them the pills at school. Police looked into those claims and determined the pills were not Oxycodone at all.
They were Accutane, a medication used to treat acne. Three weeks after Mikaela was last seen, the RCMP in Yorkton transferred her case to the General Investigation Section, known as GIS, [music] a unit that handles major crimes and complex investigations. Because Mikaela had asked a woman for help booking a hotel room, police checked hotels in the area, but she never appeared on any security footage, and no one remembered her checking in anywhere.
Large-scale searches were carried out, both on the ground and from the air, including the use of drones. Still, there was no sign of Mikaela. Months went by without any answers, and for her family, life basically came to a standstill. They took turns sleeping in the living room, so someone would always be awake and ready, >> [music] >> just in case the phone rang.
Then, a small flicker of hope appeared. On the day Mikaela disappeared, Shelby had sent her a message on Snapchat. That message was opened 3 months later. Shelby sent another message on graduation day, but that one was never opened. Mikaela, your snuggles and stories are missed by your brother and sister.
It is with such sadness they ask, “Mommy, could you take that day away and just bring Mikaela home?” Your loveliness is missed every moment. You’re a beautiful, unique, and delicate flower whom I’m afraid is being trampled in a world of the uncaring who don’t know the value and the treasure that you truly are. And I am scared for you.
The feeling of not knowing if you are all right is beyond heartbreaking. It is unspeakable pain and worry. I made a vow to protect and love you. I feel that I have failed you in my most important role of life is a mother because I can’t protect you right now. Please be safe, my love. >> [snorts] >> You’ll always be my treasure.
Lost you are now, but when we find you, we will all rejoice together. The RCMP stated that they had no reason to believe Mekayla had been harmed, and they also couldn’t confirm reports of possible sightings of her in Saskatoon or Regina. RCMP Inspector Jennifer Ewert said that investigators had conducted more than 100 interviews and followed up on 38 tips, adding that every single lead was being carefully reviewed.
She explained that the RCMP had no indication Mekayla had left the country, though border services were notified just in case. Her social media accounts and banking records also failed to provide any clues. There was simply no digital trail. Inspector Ewert pointed out that in today’s digital age, someone vanishing without leaving behind any electronic footprint is incredibly disturbing for investigators.
She also mentioned that police had been trying to identify a man who was reportedly seen leaving the bus depot around the same time as Mekayla. He was described as either stocky or medium built, somewhere between 40 and 50 years old, standing between 5 ft 10 in and 6 ft 2 in tall, with a tattoo of a burning cross on his left arm.
Inspector Ewert emphasized that this man was not considered a suspect. Police only wanted to speak with him to find out whether he might have seen something or known something important. Later on, the RCMP received information confirming that this man had simply held the door open for Mekayla and had no connection whatsoever to her disappearance.
On July 20th, the Missing Children Society of Canada released an update announcing that a child search alert had been activated for Mekayla across Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta. The organization CEO, Trisha Bailey, said that this type of alert was relatively new and had only been in place for about 4 years.
She explained that it serves as a middle ground between a standard missing or missing at risk child notice and an Amber Alert. And it also allows police to use specialized technology during searches. At the 6-month update in the case, Mikayla’s family announced a reward of $25,000 for information leading to her return.
The money was raised through various community and charitable efforts. On top of that, Crime Stoppers also offered an additional $2,000. Thanks to announce that we have reached our goal and are offering a $25,000 reward for the safe return of Mikayla Bodi. People have been incredibly supportive of the reward fund.
Whether it was kids attending vacation Bible School through donating their coins, lemonade stands run by teenagers, bottle drives, hot dog fundraisers, GoFundMe pages, cash donations, silent auctions, steak suppers in Yorkton and Regina, and my supportive co-workers from the Ministry of Social Services, as well as local service clubs and churches.
Every donation, whether small or large, has made an important contribution to this announcement. But we love her and we are desperate to ensure that she is safe. And that is the most important at this point is just to determine that she’s safe. Paula said she hoped this would lead to more tips coming in. She added that the support from the community, just knowing that people were standing beside her, gave her hope that they would finally get the answers they had been waiting for for so long.
A candlelight vigil was held in Yorkton and Paula explained, Community needs a place where people can, you know, just breathe for a second >> [music] >> and let that pain out. Mikayla isn’t the only missing child. When we hold these vigils, the hope is always that maybe, just maybe, Mikayla will be found. But we’ll also keep doing this for other parents of missing children and we won’t stop searching for answers.
Paula even traveled to British Columbia after a tip came in claiming Mikaela might have been seen in the Burnaby area. But sadly, and yeah, this was heartbreaking, just like all the tips before it, that lead went nowhere and ended in a dead end. How do you I think the the difficulty is how do you move? You just don’t move forward with your life, and I can really say since April the 12th, my life is frozen, and my children’s lives are frozen.
And you don’t just move on, and life for everybody else in the world continues, right? But our life doesn’t, it stays stuck at April the 12th. And um yeah, to think that um you don’t know where your child is or what has happened to them. It’s unbearably painful. For the 6-month update in Mikaela’s case, Paula traveled back to Vancouver holding on to determination and hope that maybe this time something would be different.
Two tips came in that seemed promising at first. Two unconfirmed reports claiming [music] Mikaela may have been seen in Vancouver after people recognized her face from family posts on social media. Those reports gave the family a small spark of hope, but at the same time, um they also brought a lot of anxiety because no one could say for sure whether they were real.
Paula immediately put up several missing person posters and began talking to local residents hoping that even one conversation might lead to something concrete. [music] Every interaction, every glance at those posters felt like a chance the kind her family had been waiting on for years. [music] Paula said her daughter had never shown any interest in going to Vancouver before, which made [music] this possible location feel unusual, and because of that, something they had to check carefully.
“I didn’t want to miss an opportunity. If there was even a chance we could learn something new about Mikaela’s disappearance,” Paula said. You could hear the tension in her voice, the fear, the exhaustion, but also that stubborn determination pushing her forward despite all the disappointments that came before.
Every minute in that city mattered because even the smallest detail could have been the key to finding her daughter alive. We still don’t have any confirmation that she was there, Paula said. I think we’re so desperate for any information that when even the smallest signal comes in, of course the RCMP checks it, but we also tried to do everything we possibly could on our end.
But just like all the tips before it, this one led nowhere. Each brief moment of hope eventually collided with harsh reality, leaving the family once again in grief and uncertainty. Paula and her family visited places where unhoused people often gather and also went to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, an area widely known for struggles with drug use and social instability.
She explained that she desperately hoped Michaela was not there because her daughter had never struggled with mental health issues or drug addiction. That belief offered a tiny bit of comfort, even as it carried its own fear about Michaela’s safety. Still, no matter how promising these tips first seemed, they, like all the others, brought no answers.
Every step taken, every address checked, reminded Paula and her family just how difficult and uncertain the search for Michaela remained and how time kept moving forward. After returning from Vancouver, Paula announced that she wanted to continue the search in Calgary and Edmonton. At this point, every city and every neighborhood felt like a possible missing piece.
And despite the pain, despite the setbacks, the family was ready to keep moving forward because stopping was never an option. They say it takes a whole village to raise a child, and I’ll add this to find a child, it might take an entire country. Paula said. She also emphasized just how deeply this situation has affected Michaela’s family, how it’s changed their everyday lives, weighed on them emotionally, and left a constant sense of worry that never really goes away.
It’s incredibly exhausting for my other children. You really can’t understand the chaos and fear that take over a family when someone goes missing. We’re very close family and for her brother and sister, this has been an absolute tragedy. Paula added that she planned to take time off work so she could dedicate herself fully to searching for her daughter.
She explained that every single minute matters [music] and no possible lead can be left unexplored. When she returned to British Columbia to continue the search, Paula told CTV News that deep down, she felt her daughter was not safe but still alive. Every phone call, every tip, [music] even the smallest hint about Michaela’s whereabouts felt like a chance to save her.
After reports came into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police [music] about possible sightings of Michaela near Metrotown Mall, Paula went there immediately. She handed out flyers, talked to people, and tried to gather any information that might shed light on where her daughter could be. Every conversation mattered, even the ones that seemed small or uncertain.
“We don’t have any specific reason to believe she’s here and she never talked about wanting to come here,” Paula said. “But we’re willing to check anything we hear. Every tip, every little detail could be the one that changes everything [music] and we’re not going to ignore any possibility.” When winter arrived and the holiday season began for most people, for the Barley family, it was filled with sadness and anxiety instead.
Paula said she didn’t plan on celebrating Christmas at all because her heart was still with [music] her missing daughter. There’s no holiday spirit when everything is unknown. Every hour of that season was heavy with thoughts of Michaela, her safety, where she might be, and how to bring her back home.
Right now, we don’t celebrate birthdays, we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. We don’t We don’t I didn’t do anything for Christmas at all um because it just hurts too much. It feels like there’s nothing to celebrate until I know what happened to my daughter. Mikaela Barley had now been missing for exactly 1 year. One full year of pain, unanswered questions, and constant uncertainty.
Her case was officially transferred to the RCMP’s Historic Cases Unit, the division responsible for long-term and unresolved investigations. Honey, never give up. I will never stop searching. As I’ve said before, my treasure is lost. I will devote myself to finding you. There is no more sense of saying or normality or continuity in a fractured family.
One can’t sit at a dining room table with an empty spot. One can’t sleep in a comfy bed not knowing where your child is. We have not been able to move a positive identification or a confirmation of of where Mikaela was past that 1:45 timeline at the Yorkton bus station. That is information that we can’t move past.
People just don’t vanish without anybody knowing anything. There is someone out there who knows something. It’s been a year, excruciating year for this family, and they just want to know she’s safe. I feel like I don’t know any more today than I did at that point. And so, yeah, it is frustrating. The moment that I realized she was missing, I realized this is not going to be easy cuz this isn’t within this child’s character.
So, I know there’s probably other issues at play that I’m not aware of. It’s people’s responsibility and duty to look for my daughter. No one will ever take that responsibility or duty more than their mother. And so, um I have Yeah, treaded where probably people shouldn’t go, but I have um the feeling and just knowing my child that, you know, she needs help.
I don’t believe she’s safe. My sister, Mikaela, vanished a year ago. It has been the saddest year of my life. My life has changed so much. I miss Michaela and cry for her every night. I don’t understand what happened to Michaela. I just want her to come home. Michaela, I love you and miss you each day. If you know where Michaela is, call 911.
If you have Michaela, take her to a safe place and let her go. Then Michaela can come home to us. July of that same year, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said there was a possibility that Michaela may have left Canada and traveled to the United States. Investigators specifically looked into potential sightings in Portland or Seattle, [music] but there were no confirmed sightings and no solid, reliable evidence to support those theories.
That information added an entirely new layer of tension and fear for the family. Even the idea that Michaela might be across the border suddenly expanded the search area and made everything feel even more overwhelming. Every new theory, [music] every possible scenario brought a flicker of hope, but at the same time, it also deepened the uncertainty and fear.
And that’s a feeling the family has been living with for years [music] now, stuck in this endless loop of possibilities, just trying to find one real lead, one clear answer, anywhere. Dive team began a detailed search of Hopkins Lake, located behind Sacred Heart High School. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police made it clear that this operation wasn’t triggered by a specific tip or witness statement.
Instead, it was part of a broader effort to systematically examine every possible scenario, including the chance of an accident. Divers carefully searched the lakebed, going through the area piece by piece, but unfortunately, nothing was found. That result only deepened the family’s anxiety and intensified the uncertainty they had already been living with for years.
In March of 2018, Mikaela’s family announced the launch of a fundraising initiative called Glimmer of Hope. The goal was to increase the reward for information that could help locate Mikaela to $50,000. Every single donation mattered. To the family, each dollar felt like a small light of chance, however fragile, to get closer to the answers they had been desperately waiting for.
That same year, Paula spoke at a child find event in Saskatoon. She stressed that Canada could learn a lot from the United States when it comes to responding quickly and effectively to cases involving missing children. “This is more like a dedicated task force,” she said firmly. “It brings together the military, emergency responders, police, and people who can actually support the family in real, practical ways.
There’s legal guidance. There’s coordination. Everyone comes together and works from a different angle, more focused, more organized, looking at every possible scenario so nothing slips through the cracks.” Her words carried a lot of pain and frustration, but also a clear determination. Even after everything, Paula was still pushing for change, still fighting to make sure the search for Mikaela would be as thorough, coordinated, and effective as it possibly could be.
We really need to stop and rethink the way we search for missing children, and honestly rebuild that whole system from the ground up. Thousands of posters with Mikaela’s face and name were put up across Canada and the United [music] States, so her story and her face would stay in people’s minds. Every poster was a reminder that Michaela was still missing and that even the smallest detail could matter.
“We haven’t lost hope,” Paula said, her voice filled with both pain and determination. “Deep down, I feel that Michaela is alive and that she needs to be rescued from whatever situation she’s in.” You could hear it, the fear, the love, and that unshakable belief that her daughter could still come home. On Michaela’s 18th birthday, her mom once again made it clear that the family wasn’t stopping.
They would keep looking for her daughter for as long as it takes until she’s found. The day before her birthday, on July 1st, the family organized a charity barbecue to raise awareness in the community and collect funds to continue the search. People showed up to support them, to remember Michaela, and to stand together in that shared space of hope and solidarity.
That night, Paula said she couldn’t sleep. And honestly, that happens a lot on days like these. Days when she should have been celebrating her daughter’s birthday. Days when Michaela’s missed graduation exists only in her memory. The night felt long and heavy, filled with thoughts, memories, and [music] that constant, never-ending question of where her child might be and how to bring her home alive and safe.
It’s another huge milestone, and a part of you still hangs on to this hope that maybe, just maybe, today will be the day we hear something from Michaela. If she’s able to reach out, Paula said. You try not to just sit there and stare at your phone all day, she added, her voice trailing off. Like that’s easier said than done. Paula said.
According to Paula, in the 14 months since Michaela disappeared, investigators received around 240 [music] tips, and she added, “For me, it’s just unacceptable that after 14 months, I still don’t know where my daughter is. We don’t have any more answers now than we did on the very day she vanished.” Time keeps moving [music] forward, whether you want it to or not.
I see Michaela’s friends on social media, they’re having babies, building careers, and it’s hard. I’m happy for them, but it hurts knowing Michaela doesn’t get to experience any of that alongside them. Paula received a phone call that instantly sent a wave of anxiety and hope crashing over her. On the other end of the line was a man who said he believed he had spoken with Michaela back in March near the high club in Edmonton.
His voice sounded tense, and he admitted that at the time he had no idea Michaela was considered missing. It wasn’t until he later came across a post about her on social media that the memory suddenly clicked. That brief interaction outside the club came rushing back, and he realized it might actually matter.
The man called the tip line and didn’t hesitate to speak directly with Paula, doing his best to walk through every detail of that night. He said he had stepped outside for a cigarette when a young woman caught his attention. According to him, she introduced herself as Michaela. They talked for a few minutes, just a short conversation, nothing that seemed significant in the moment, but something that stayed in his memory.
Paula later said she was standing outside while listening to him, completely focused, trying to hold on to every word he said, every detail, every small piece of that story felt important. Even those few minutes from that night now carried so much weight. The call brought back a flicker of hope, but at the same time it painfully reminded her of the uncertainty and fear the family has been living with for so many years.
I think what struck him the most was that she didn’t look like someone who belonged in that area, Paula said. He told me she came across as really sweet and kind of naive. Paula added that when he described Michaela’s personality, that part really stayed with her the most. Paula passed every single tip she received to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, including this one, even though her relationship with police had become tense and complicated over time.
She explained that her criticism of law enforcement came from the fact that there had been no meaningful progress in the case. In her view, the RCMP is an overly bureaucratic system where processes move painfully slow, making it harder to respond quickly when new tips or information come in. The RCMP stated that they do investigate all tips and reported sightings of Mekayla, but unfortunately, despite the family’s initial hope, none of that information has led to new results.
Every call, every message was reviewed carefully, yet nothing brought them any closer to answers. The reward for information was increased to $50,000, hoping it would encourage people to come forward even with the smallest detail. However, in 2020, it was announced that the reward had been cut in half after one donor asked for their contribution back.
In a post on Facebook, Paula wrote, “I’m very grateful for this person’s generosity and their willingness to help us search for answers,” she said. “But what breaks my heart is the outcome. Not so much that the money had to be returned, but that Mekayla Barlee is still missing. And even with an increased reward, no new information about where she might be has come forward.
Since there’s no government funding for families who are searching for missing loved ones on their own, we keep going only because of the generosity of our community.” That same year, there was another possible sighting, this time in Penticton. Paula contacted police immediately, hoping this could finally be a breakthrough.
But authorities later confirmed the woman in question was not Mekayla. Once again, it showed just [music] how thin the line is between hope and heartbreak when you’re searching for a missing child. On what would have been Mekayla’s 20th birthday, her family organized a gathering to bring more attention [music] to missing children in Saskatchewan.
Paula said one of the biggest fears parents have is that their missing children will eventually become just another statistic that who they were, their personality, their dreams, their smile, will slowly be forgotten. Around 25 people attended the event and Paula stressed [music] that families like hers need more support from the government.
On the fifth anniversary of Michaela’s disappearance, a memorial was held near her school. The event began with prayers and a moment of silence. One by one, people stepped up to speak, sharing memories, emotions, and thoughts about Michaela. Time kept moving, but there were still no answers, leaving a heavy emptiness in both the family and the community.
On the sixth anniversary of her disappearance, a press conference was held in hopes of generating new leads. An update on the reward was also announced. Thanks to anonymous donations from local businesses, the total reward reached $100,000. The mayor of Yorkton, Mitch Hip Sly, said those donations showed just how deeply Michaela’s disappearance has affected the community and how strongly her hometown wants to bring her home.
He added that every single donation represents hope, support, and a clear message. The city has not forgotten its child and it’s standing with the family in the fight to find her. We’re all in this together. We really are one big family. We’re a small community and that’s just how we show up for each other. He said.
As of now, more than 600 tips and reported sightings involving Michaela Barley have been received and sadly, not a single one has led to a breakthrough. has ever saved more than 600 tips from all over the world. The RCMP historical case unit says it investigates all of them. When her cell phone stops working and the last time she’s seen by her friends is basically the last contact we have of her with anyone.
Um I don’t want to say that Michaela fell off the face of this earth. Um but for someone, you know, just to disappear without reaching out and contacting family and friends, especially in this day and age with technology. For investigators, that’s not a good sign. We’re wondering if whether or not Michaela has approached anyone else for assistance.
Not just not just for a hotel room, but possibly for a ride somewhere, maybe some money, uh maybe the use of a cell phone, anything like that. Getting access to Bali’s social media accounts has been challenging for the RCMP. Both Instagram and Snapchat are based in the United States, so they’re protected by that country’s privacy laws.
Getting access to that took 10 months for the RCMP, and when they did get that information, there were thousands of pages of it. Sifting through that is a challenge in itself, but we have assistance units that are helping us that are doing that. Police said there’s no evidence to develop any theories about what happened to Bali.
In the meantime, officers, including Kim Stewart, keep turning the case over in their minds. I’m always watching, and I know that’s how the other members are. You know, you don’t you don’t put the investigative time in like, you know, we all have on this file and not be watching for her. The Saskatchewan RCMP and the Washington State Patrol unveiled new transport trucks featuring a large image of Michaela as part of the Homeward Bound program.
These trucks traveled routes stretching from Mexico all the way to Vancouver, turning highways into moving billboards for hope. The Homeward Bound program is a large-scale, long-term initiative launched in 2005 by the late Officer Renee Pedette. It brought together the Washington State Patrol’s Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit and Kimway Transportation.
The goal is simple, but powerful: to make missing people visible, remind the public of children and young adults who need help, and increase the chances of bringing them home. The program uses specially designed semi-trailers that travel across North America displaying age-progressed [music] images of missing individuals.
Since its launch, 32 missing children and young people have been featured, and three of them have been reunited with their families, proof that efforts like this can truly make a difference. As of 2023, the RCMP had received more than 1,000 tips in Mikaela’s case. Every single one was reviewed carefully.
Every detail was treated as potentially important. But sadly, none of them provided new information beyond what investigators already knew. The impact of Mikaela’s disappearance on her family has been massive, touching every part of their lives. Every free moment is devoted to searching for her non-stop work on social media, traveling, following up on tips, making phone calls, writing letters, and running a dedicated Facebook page called Let’s Bring Mikaela Barley Home.
That page became a hub of hope, a bridge to the public, and a way to keep everyone informed. Every comment, every message, every tip felt like it could be the one that finally [music] mattered. Mikaela’s aunt later shared something heartbreaking. Her younger brother and sister completely stopped playing their musical instruments.
They felt like they didn’t have the right to joy or music while their sister was [music] still missing. Every sound, every note felt wrong without Mikaela there. Her younger brother even struggled with something as simple as pouring himself a drink. That ordinary everyday act became overwhelming because he felt this crushing guilt, a fear that his sister [music] might be somewhere without water or food.
It was a level of helplessness no child should ever have to carry. Day after day, it wore him down, leaving an invisible wound that only seemed to hurt more [music] with time. The atmosphere in the home changed completely. It was filled with quiet pain and constant anxiety, where every movement and every glance reminded them of Mikaela’s absence, of the empty space she left behind among the people who loved her so deeply.
While talking to her two younger children about Mikaela’s disappearance, Paula said, I think one of the most painful moments is when they crawl up onto my lap and say, “Mom, >> [music] >> I’m scared Mikaela is going to forget about us.” And I look at them and tell them she will never forget you. She will never ever forget either [music] of you.
The strength and persistence that Paula and Mekayla’s entire family continue to show in the face of such overwhelming loss and shock are honestly incredible. Every single day is filled with anxiety, pain, >> [music] >> and this constant never-ending hope for something, any kind of news, any small sign of where their child might be.
Paula’s determination to find her daughter, her absolute refusal to give up or back down in the face of uncertainty and fear, shows a level of inner strength that’s hard to put into words. It’s the kind of strength that can inspire other people who are going through their own darkest moments. Her resilience and her belief that Mekayla can still come home have become a powerful symbol of how unbreakable a parent’s love can be even when everything feels hopeless.
Paula said that if she could speak directly to Mekayla, she would say, “Hold on. We’re coming for you. We’re looking for you, and when you can, run home.” If you have any information at all about Mekayla Barley’s disappearance or her possible whereabouts, please contact authorities immediately. You can contact the Yorkton RCMP by calling 306-786-2400.
You can also reach Crime Stoppers at 1-800-262-8477 or contact your nearest police department. If you know anything, even something that feels small, please speak up. One detail could make all the difference. Every detail matters, even something that seems minor or completely insignificant.
When it comes to a missing child, those little things can turn out to be everything. There’s still hope that somewhere out there, someone may have seen something, anything that could help shed light on what really happened. And that information, no matter how small it might feel, could be the key to bringing Mekayla Barley home safe and alive.
Police and her family are holding on to every call, every tip, every lead because sometimes it’s the smallest piece of information that finally reveals the truth and leads to the answer they’ve been waiting for.
