Family holding out for justice for missing woman

Misty Potts Sanderson has an impressive pedigree. Her first cousin is Cameron Alexis, Alberta Regional Chief for the Assembly of First Nations. Her distant cousin is Treaty 8 Grand Chief and Mikisew Cree Nation Chief Steve Courtoreille. She is the highest educated in her community of Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation with a master degree in environmental studies from the University of Manitoba. She has worked for Treaty 6. She is a full participant of the culture, dancing pow wow and attending Sundance. She is respected in her home community and the neighbouring Paul First Nation, where she also has family.

Misty was “a bright light for this community,” said Alexis.

Then in 2011 it all fell apart. Her brother died and her marriage broke up. Past abuses came back to haunt her.

“She tried to take the good things in her life and do good with herself. I think that she just gave up because too much at one time got to her,” said younger sister Eva Potts. “I think it was too much for her.”

Misty turned to prescription drugs and more recently meth. Her boyfriend ended up in jail.

Now, Misty, 37, is missing. And presumed dead, says Eva.

“There is no way she would go this long without talking to her family,” said Eva.

The last time Eva spoke to Misty was a telephone conversation on Feb. 24. That same week, Misty phoned her five-year-old son Gabriel, who resides north of Winnipeg with his father. Her last Facebook message was March 7 to her niece. Misty was last confirmed seen on March 14 on Highway 43 and a range road outside the Alexis Nakota Sioux reserve.

On March 30, the Potts family reported Misty missing to the RCMP in Mayerthorpe, which has policing jurisdiction over the reserve. That phone call ended with brother Percy Jr. swearing and hanging up in frustration, says Eva. Early contact with the RCMP and requests to act on what Eva calls “promising leads,” to conduct searches, to check video surveillance, and to question people received little response. But now, says Eva, the relationship between the family and the RCMP has improved, with the family hearing almost daily from the police.

Mayerthorpe RCMP have conducted ground searches in the vicinity of where Misty was reported last seen. 

On March 29, the RCMP reached out to Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia as Misty has family and friends in all three provinces, says Cpl. Sharon Franks, with RCMP strategic communications in the southern Alberta district.

“We’ve renewed our plea to the public,” said Franks. “This is a missing person’s case. We’re actively trying to find her.”

The RCMP Missing Persons Unit, “K” Division General Investigation Section, Police Service Dog, and Parkland search and rescue team are assisting with the investigation. 

The Potts family has been searching on its own.

Right after Misty’s disappearance, the family received a tip that Misty had been seen on her way to Edmonton. Family members spent two weeks blanketing downtown Edmonton. They went to agencies that provided free meals and spoke to people living on and working the streets, including some girls from Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation. Nobody had seen Misty.

Eva and volunteers have searched the reserve as well as the neighbouring Paul First Nation. More recently, working off a reading from a psychic, they combed the Wabamun lake area on Paul First Nation. They have also spoken to healers for help. A 2 a.m. phone tip to the family on April 28 led them to an unsuccessful search of a garbage site on Highway 67 in front of Keephills. Eva was told her sister’s body had been dumped there.

“I just felt that I needed to go check. Of course I’m scared. Every day I’m scared to go search but I can’t sit at home and wonder. I can’t relax. I’ve got a lot of anxiety,” said Eva. “When I was walking through the bush (on an earlier search) I was telling my cousin, ‘What if I find Misty and there’s nothing, there’s no clues?’ These people, if they did kill my sister … is there going to be any justice?”

That question eats away at Eva.

“There’s a lot of anger. There’s a lot of heavy burden, because justice does help. It does help knowing that somebody is going to answer for this,” she said. “I want to know who did this to her… You can’t just do something to someone and cover it up. Somebody knows something.”