Saskatoon police turning to landfill in search for woman missing since 2020

Gina Trottier held a sup‐ porter's hand tightly, tears welling in her eyes, as Paul Trottier talked about their missing daughter Mackenz‐ ie.

"We miss her and we've been waiting 1,215 days to hear her voice again," Paul said during a news confer‐ ence put on by the Saska‐ toon Police Service Friday.

Police say they will search a specific part of the Saska‐ toon landfill as part of the in‐ vestigation into the 2020 dis‐ appearance of Mackenzie Lee Trottier.

"On one hand we would like to find nothing and then we'll continue looking," Deputy Chief Cameron McBride said. "On the other hand, we may find her and then we'll proceed down the next course of the investiga‐ tion.

"I must stress that

Mackenzie is still considered a missing person and will be until we have direct informa‐ tion otherwise."

McBride said police ob‐ tained a substantial amount of data in late 2023 that pointed to a specific area of the landfill, located at 42 Valley Road, that may contain evidence in the investigation.

"Over the course of the in‐ vestigation there were sever‐ al devices that were seized, and extraction of information from those devices has led us to the point where we are confident in the location that we're searching," McBride said.

The search will begin May 1 and focus on a specific area that is about 930 metres square and one metre deep.

It is expected to take as long as 33 days.

There have been several leads since Mackenzie's dis‐ appearance, who was last seen on Dec. 21, 2020.

In 2021 the Calgary Police Service announced a person matching her description had been spotted several times in the city's downtown. Those leads came shortly after the family's inter-provincial poster campaign for Macken‐ zie in November 2021.

WATCH| Police and family speak to media about searching Saskatoon landfill:

"Mackenzie is our first born, or as we call her Mac," Paul said. "She loves animals, is very bright and has always been prepared to take those under her wing who need help."

Over the past 40 months the family has found support through the people sur‐ rounding them.

"Early on it was an all out effort," Paul said. "But that never stopped. Our commu‐ nity is still there, is still sup‐ porting us."

While police received the new information months ago, McBride said they deter‐ mined, with consultation from experts, that now was the best time to do the search at the landfill.

"For the sake of the in‐ tegrity of the location and some preparatory work that's already been done, we wanted to ensure that we could keep this site secure and its integrity intact."

Calgary police, RCMP, Saskatoon police dogs and forensic anthropologist Ernie Walker will assist in the search.

The department has promised regular updates to the public.