Still no trace of Tamra

Saskatchewan police have called off the latest search for a missing Regina girl, Tamra Keepness.

Searchers had been combing the Muscowpetung First Nation reserve, located 60 kilometres northeast of the city since Sept. 4.

Up to 30 searchers from the police, RCMP, Search and Rescue Regina and Montreal Lake Cree Nation took part in the fruitless exercise, which ended Friday night.

• FROM SEPTEMBER 7, 2004: Police back at reserve in hunt for Tamra

Tamra, who turned six on Sept. 1, was reported missing by her family on July 6. There have been repeated searches of the downtown Regina area surrounding the home from where she vanished, as well as of other areas in and around Regina.

Police have not given a reason for why they had focused on the reserve. It was believed that investigators may have been seeking to establish a connection with a burnt-out van found last week on the reserve.

Walter William Obey, a 31-year-old man from Muscowpetung, was on Tuesday charged with stealing the Volkswagen van 10 blocks away from the family's downtown Regina home the night that Tamra disappeared.

• FROM SEPT. 9, 2004: Man charged with stealing van near Tamra's home

Police spokeswoman Elizabeth Popowich said the team spent a difficult week searching a 20-square-kilometre section of the reserve.

The searchers had paid particular attention to some steep ravines and deep gullies, but found no trace of Tamra. It was unclear whether any houses had been searched, for which the police would have needed individual warrants.

Conducting another fruitless search for Tamra was demoralizing, according to Popowich, but the police were still hopeful of solving the case.

"We can never let go of the hope that there will be a resolution to this, and even the hope – however remote – that there's a positive resolution," Popowich told the Regina Leader-Post.

INDEPTH: Missing in Regina

A $25,000 reward has been offered for information leading to Tamra's whereabouts.