'It's hard not knowing': Winnipeg mom offers reward for location of missing son
Jill Coubrough | CBC News | Posted: July 12, 2017 10:00 AM | Last Updated: July 12, 2017
Christopher Guimond has been missing since April 2015; mother believes he's dead, but hopes for answers
For the last two years, Dorothy Starr says she has barely slept — she is kept awake wondering what happened to her missing son.
"Maybe sometimes I'll get a couple hours of sleep," the Winnipeg mother said. "It's hard not knowing where your child is at — what was done to your child."
Christopher Guimond, 48, phoned to tell her he was on his way home a little over two years ago. He never arrived.
- Christopher Guimond's family 'hoping and praying' he'll be found safe
- Jennifer Catcheway's parents join search for Christopher Guimond
Starr, 69, has saved up money to offer a cash reward for any information that locates him.
"I hope someone will come out and tell what happened," Starr said. "Someone has to know something out there."
Surveillance video from April 7, 2015, shows Guimond getting off of a southbound bus a few blocks from his home at the intersection of Pembina Highway and Plaza Drive.
He hasn't been seen since.
Mother believes son was killed
Starr said she has received little information about the investigation from Winnipeg police.
She continues to search the city with family members, even though she no longer believes her son is alive.
In the months leading up to Guimond's disappearance, Starr said her son confided in family members that he was being threatened, although she doesn't know why. She also received a tip that leads her to believe Guimond was killed.
"The rumour is that he was buried somewhere, by a creek somewhere, but where?" Starr said. "Not knowing what really happened to him, it hurts. I think about that every day."
Lack of police action, family says
A spokesperson for the Winnipeg Police Service said Guimond is still considered a missing person and the investigation is ongoing.
"It is an active, open file and investigators are still interviewing people," a spokesperson said in an email.
But Starr said she has seen little action — even at the beginning.
Starr said police efforts to search for Thelma Krull, a Winnipeg grandmother who disappeared three months after Guimond went missing, seemed far more urgent.
"You seen cops everywhere with dogs, every day," she said. "You didn't see nothing like that on the news for my son. That's kind of disappointing."
She believes she knows why.
"Chris is aboriginal," she said. "I think it has a lot to do with that."
Starr said she and her son were close — they spoke every day — and he had never gone missing before. She describes him as a funny, friendly man who travelled between Winnipeg and Ontario to work as a fishing guide.
"He was a good person," Starr said. "I don't know why people would hurt him. He helped people in any which way he could."
She hopes offering a reward yields a new lead. She is not giving up until she brings her son home and gives him a proper burial, she said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Winnipeg Police Service's missing persons unit at 204-986-6250 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477.