Family can at long last lay teen to rest
Every year for nine years, the Wolfe-laplante family has looked for Cody.
Cody Ridge Wolfe went missing on a stormy April 29, 2011, after leaving his grandmother’s house on Muskowekwan First Nation. He was 17. His aunt, Myrna Laplante, said the family has never given up hope of finding him.
“Every effort and energy that we could was dedicated to bringing him home,” she said Thursday.
The family was gearing up for another “massive search” this year when the COVID -19 pandemic put those plans on hold. A week ago, on May 7, a discovery on a small island finally put them to rest.
It might not be the end they hoped for, but now the family knows what happened to Cody.
Two male youths came across his remains while paddling a boat and looking for goose eggs, according to the RCMP.
Laplante was in a family meeting on Wednesday evening, when she met with Cody’s parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers and sister. For some, she said, there’s a feeling of relief.
“We know where he is, and we know where he was all these years,” she said. “We know that we can bring him home and we can lay him to rest.”
Laplante first told the Leader-post about the discovery on Wednesday. The RCMP confirmed the details on Thursday. They do not consider Cody’s death suspicious, based on their investigation and an autopsy.
After the May 7 report, officers from Punnichy RCMP went to the small island on Muskowekwan, where they confirmed the discovery of human remains and then secured the scene. An autopsy completed on May 13 confirmed the remains were those of Cody.
The remains were surrounded by water and had become submerged over the years, according to the RCMP release. That might explain why extensive search efforts, including on foot, on horseback, by ATV, by canine units and with underwater rescue teams, were unable to locate Cody all these years.
“The water level remaining high, and only recently became exposed,” said the RCMP release.
Laplante will remember Cody as a typical teenager who enjoyed life, loved music and was part of a close-knit family.
She said he was going to visit friends when he disappeared. His last text came after midnight. She suspects he became disoriented and slipped into the water on that “cold and rainy night.” But she can’t know that, and suspects she never will.
“Somethings we’ll never have an answer to, I don’t think,” she said. “We don’t know exactly what transpired after he made his last text.”
The family is now planning a wake for May 19 and a funeral on May 20 on Muskowekwan, which is about 100 kilometres northeast of Regina. Laplante said the celebrations will be open, though proper physical distancing will be observed, given the pandemic.
She extended her “sincere thanks” to everyone who has helped in their searches over the years.
The Wolfe-laplante family has faced tragedy before Cody’s disappearance. An aunt, Emily Osmond Laplante, went missing in 2007. She has never been found.
Myrna Laplante hopes one day they can find the same closure in Emily’s case they now have for Cody.