Jeannine Nicole Ermineskin was 38 years old when she disappeared from Edmonton, Alberta, on January 6, 2022. The Indigenous woman was last known to be in the city’s downtown area, a part of Edmonton she knew well and was known to frequent. Investigators later determined that Jeannine had gone to a Toronto-Dominion Bank location inside Edmonton City Centre, where surveillance footage showed her withdrawing money before leaving the area on foot.
Information obtained during the investigation indicated that her cellphone continued to show activity until approximately 10:00 p.m. that evening, and police said the phone information suggested she remained within only a few blocks of the central Edmonton area for the rest of the day before the activity abruptly ended. No confirmed sighting or communication from Jeannine has been publicly reported since then. She had been living with her boyfriend before her disappearance, and relatives and friends had remained accustomed to hearing from her. The prolonged silence was therefore deeply concerning to those who knew her, particularly because family members have said that Jeannine ordinarily maintained contact with them even when circumstances in her life were difficult.
At the time she vanished, Jeannine was approximately five feet eight inches tall and weighed about 134 pounds, with a thin-to-medium build. Her natural hair was brown, although it had been dyed blond when she disappeared, and police have noted that she had also dyed it pink in the past. Edmonton Police Service records describe her eyes as brown; later investigators clarified that she sometimes wore blue contact lenses, which may explain why some earlier public notices described her as having blue eyes. She was last described as wearing a black jacket, black pants and a red hoodie, although an earlier public description also referred to a red-and-white scarf. Jeannine went by the nickname “Nikki” and had previously used the names Verlya Ermineskin and Candace Joyce Ermineskin. She also had numerous distinctive tattoos that could help identify her, including a crown, diamond, flower and stars on her right arm; the word “love” across the knuckles of her right hand; an eagle, female faces and feathers on her left arm; “love” across her left wrist; the name “Daniel” on the right side of her neck; butterflies on the right side of her back; a cheetah on her left abdomen; and a feather with the name “Shyla” on her upper left back. These identifying details have remained part of the Edmonton Police Service appeal for information as investigators have continued trying to determine where Jeannine went after her last known movements downtown.
As the weeks and months passed without an answer, Jeannine’s disappearance remained under active investigation. Edmonton police publicly appealed for information about her in March 2022, and searches continued during the year. In October 2022, her case received renewed attention when the Edmonton Police Service included the search for Jeannine in its annual sweep of the North Saskatchewan River and surrounding river valley. That operation brought together police officers, Edmonton Fire Rescue Services personnel, City of Edmonton park rangers and local search-and-rescue organizations, with drones also used during the search. Police emphasized that the river sweep was part of a broader annual effort involving outstanding missing-person cases and did not announce evidence establishing that Jeannine had entered the river. Inspector Brent Dahlseide of the Edmonton Police Service said at the time that investigators had continued actively searching for her throughout the year and were again asking the public to help bring attention to her disappearance. Despite the searches of Edmonton and the river area, no discovery was publicly reported that explained what had happened to Jeannine.
The investigation did not end as the years passed. In January 2025, more than three years after Jeannine was last heard from, Edmonton police renewed their appeal and released additional information about her final known movements. Constable Matthew Broadfoot of the Edmonton Police Service Missing Persons Unit explained that Jeannine had withdrawn money from the TD Bank before she was last seen leaving on foot. Investigators had examined information from her cellphone and concluded that she apparently stayed in the same general central Edmonton area, within a few blocks, until her phone activity ceased later that night. Police said their investigation had repeatedly led them back to that part of the city and expressed hope that someone who lived in, worked in or frequented the neighborhood might remember something important that had never been reported. Authorities did not publicly identify a suspect or announce a confirmed explanation for her disappearance. Instead, they continued to seek witnesses and information that could reconstruct the gap between Jeannine’s last documented movements and the point at which all contact with her ended.
To bring renewed visibility to Jeannine’s case, Edmonton police partnered with Native Counselling Services of Alberta, REACH Edmonton and Crime Stoppers on a billboard campaign in central Edmonton. A digital billboard was placed near 107 Avenue and 101 Street displaying her photograph and requesting information from the public. Native Counselling Services emphasized that Jeannine remained loved by her family and friends and that finding answers mattered not only to those closest to her but also to the wider Indigenous community. Police likewise stressed that even seemingly minor information could help investigators determine what happened after her last known activity. As of the Edmonton Police Service’s current missing-person listings, Jeannine Nicole Ermineskin remains reported missing. Her case is the unresolved story of a 38-year-old woman who entered Edmonton’s downtown core on January 6, 2022, was captured on surveillance withdrawing money, left on foot, and remained connected to her cellphone until later that evening before her known trail disappeared. Years of police work, family concern, searches of Edmonton and the North Saskatchewan River area, renewed public appeals and a billboard campaign have yet to provide the answer her loved ones have been waiting for: where Jeannine went after that evening and what happened to her. Anyone with information about her whereabouts or her movements after she was last seen is asked to contact the Edmonton Police Service or provide information anonymously through Crime Stoppers.Last Seen: Jan 6, 2022
