2 years later, mystery of Tamra Keepness remains unsolved

CBC News

Regina marked a grim anniversary on Wednesday. It's been two years since Tamra Jewell Keepness was last seen by her mother.

The then five-year-old girl went to bed at her home in the city's core neighbourhood on the night of July 5 and vanished.

Her disappearance galvanized the community and sparked an unprecedented search effort that involved dozens of officers from the Regina police service and the RCMP. Hundreds of trained searchers and other volunteers joined the effort.

The search was expanded to areas around Regina, including a First Nations reserve.

A $25,000 reward was offered and more than 1,000 tips were phoned in to police. The Regina police set up a special team of investigators to take a second look at the files on the case. However, that too failed to produce results.

In April, police said they were scaling back the investigation.

The case cast a light on social conditions in some poverty-stricken areas of the city.

It also focused attention on the adults who were at the home before the girl disappeared.

Tamra's stepfather Dean McArthur said in 2004 he and the girl's mother, Lorena Keepness, were unhappy police were treating them as suspects.

McArthur received a nine-month sentence for assault after punching Russell Sheepskin at the house on the night Tamra disappeared. He and Sheepskin, who had been staying at the house, said they had been drinking and that the incident had nothing to do with the little girl's disappearance.

Police believe Tamra was a victim of foul play.

Regina police Chief Cal Johnston said in April investigators have pursued every avenue open to them. It will take new information to break the case, he said.