At age 17, Mariella Lennie came to Yellowknife for a fresh start. Her body was found seven months later. Thirty years on, the case remains open.

Lennie was last seen leaving the Discovery Inn on 50 Avenue on Oct. 6, 1991. At that time, the nightclub upstairs was just warming up while the Red Apple restaurant was seating people for dinner. It was 6 p.m. and the thermometer hovered around 4 C when she left alone on foot.

Twelve days later, Lennie was reported missing. Her body was found floating on Great Slave Lake near the now-defunct Con Mine on May 8, 1992, almost seven months later. The identified her body using dental records.

Very few details are publicly available from this open investigation.

SA国际影视传媒淎 cause of death is not something we can discuss at this time,SA国际影视传媒� Cpl. Mike Lewis told Yellowknifer.

SA国际影视传媒淪uspicious death, foul play has not been eliminated,SA国际影视传媒� the police force stated of the circumstances.

Lennie was found partially clothed with one shoe on and her face was SA国际影视传媒渦nrecognizable,SA国际影视传媒� her aunt, Bert Lennie, told the National Inquiry Into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) during a meeting in Yellowknife in 2018. She could have been SA国际影视传媒渇loatingSA国际影视传媒� for months, said Bert. Yellowknifer consulted with a diving expert who said a body floating for months and found in this condition was SA国际影视传媒渧ery unlikely.SA国际影视传媒�

SA国际影视传媒淭he birds, the fish, what they had done to the body over that time, so we couldnSA国际影视传媒檛 view it,SA国际影视传媒� Bert told Yellowknifer, speaking on behalf of the family. SA国际影视传媒淭hey () showed me the death certificate and said she hadnSA国际影视传媒檛 been shot or stabbed but there was a bump found on her head.SA国际影视传媒�

At the time of her disappearance, Mariella came to Yellowknife to live with Bert and attend school. She left her four-month-old baby with her parents, Wilfred and Sarah in her hometown of Tulita.

SA国际影视传媒淪he was very pretty, outgoing, she could talk to anyoneSA国际影视传媒� but also SA国际影视传媒渘aive, too trustingSA国际影视传媒� said Bert.

Shortly after her arrival, Mariella left her auntSA国际影视传媒檚 place and moved in with her cousin. A few months later, Bert found out Mariella was missing through local gossip and the media.

SA国际影视传媒淎 friend told me and I saw it later in the news,SA国际影视传媒� said Bert. SA国际影视传媒淚 thought, oh boy, sheSA国际影视传媒檚 taken off.SA国际影视传媒�

She suspected the bubbly teen may have ventured out willingly but then met with foul play.

SA国际影视传媒淗er attitude was, SA国际影视传媒楴othing would happen to me.SA国际影视传媒� And somebody took advantage of that,SA国际影视传媒� Bert said.

As the months dragged on and no one had heard from Mariella, her family started to look for her locally, collecting patchy tips.

SA国际影视传媒淧eople were saying she might be in Edmonton; we saw her here, we saw her there,SA国际影视传媒� said Bert.

Lewis told the Yellowknifer the police have been working diligently in the background.

SA国际影视传媒淥ver the years, multiple suspects have surfaced and some have been cleared through several techniques, including the use of polygraph examinations,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

But from the outset, Bert felt the family and the could have done more to work together.

SA国际影视传媒淚 donSA国际影视传媒檛 want to run them down but I still have questions. Like, why I wasnSA国际影视传媒檛 I contacted as soon as she was gone? They (the ) say itSA国际影视传媒檚 open, so inform us every now and then,SA国际影视传媒� said Bert. SA国际影视传媒淪heSA国际影视传媒檚 always in our minds. Somebody out there must know who did it.SA国际影视传媒�

Mariella is one of many Indigenous women who went missing or was murdered in and around Yellowknife around that time.

SA国际影视传媒淭he possibility that LennieSA国际影视传媒檚 death is related to other missing Indigenous women has been, and will continue to be explored both within the NWT and in other jurisdictionsSA国际影视传媒� said Lewis.

In 1990, 15-year-old Charlene Catholique went missing from Behchoko. She was last seen walking along Highway 3 toward Yellowknife. That same year, 24-year-old Mary Rose Keadjuk vanished. Her last known whereabouts was at The Gold Range Hotel, where she was staying. In 1996, Dorothy Georgina Abel was attacked in Yellowknife and subsequently placed in a coma. She died four years later in a hospital in Edmonton. Her case remains open but her files have been lost. In 2010, 22-year-old Angela Meyer went missing from her family home and hasnSA国际影视传媒檛 been seen since.

The MMIWG report stated 1,181 Indigenous women went missing or were murdered across Canada between 1980 and 2012, representing 16 per cent of all female homicides in the country despite constituting four per cent of CanadaSA国际影视传媒檚 female population. Some Indigenous leaders insist the number of missing and murdered is actually higher.

Several of the victimsSA国际影视传媒� families have told the media they are frustrated by the lack of evidence and follow up by .

Bert expressed her exasperation in her closing statement to the MMIWG inquiry: SA国际影视传媒淲hy is it taking so long to solve this? ItSA国际影视传媒檚 just (the) Northwest Territories, itSA国际影视传媒檚 not like New York.SA国际影视传媒�

Yellowknifer attempted to contact the families of these victims but did not heard back from them prior to publication deadline.

Anyone with information on Mariella Lennie or any open investigations is asked to contact the NT Major Crimes Unit at at 867-669-1111 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

This is the first in a multi-part series on Yellowknife cold cases.