Matthew Wiinikainen was 17 years old when he was last seen on March 30, 1995, in Gaspé, Quebec. The Indigenous male teenager was staying in detention at the Youth Center known as Unité La Rade, which was located in the Gaspé hospital area. According to Canada’s national missing-persons case record, Matthew disappeared at approximately 11:00 p.m. during a change of guards at the facility.
He had escaped from the youth center, and that moment became the last confirmed point in the publicly documented account of his whereabouts. The available official information does not explain why Matthew had been placed at Unité La Rade, how long he had been there, whether anyone assisted him in leaving, or precisely which direction he traveled after getting away from the facility. Those unanswered details leave an especially difficult gap in the timeline, because while authorities know where Matthew was immediately before he vanished, the public record provides little indication of what happened once he left the grounds.
Matthew was born in 1977 and was described at the time of his disappearance as having brown eyes and short brown hair, a slender or thin build, and a light or fair complexion. Publicly available official records do not provide a height, weight, clothing description, possessions he may have carried, or information about transportation he might have used after leaving the youth center. There is also no publicly documented destination in the federal case profile—no identified friend or relative he was known to be heading toward and no location where he was expected to arrive. This absence of detail is significant because Matthew disappeared late at night while still only a teenager, leaving investigators and those who cared about him with very little publicly known information from which to reconstruct his movements. The national case record includes an age-progression image intended to help people recognize how Matthew might appear later in life, ensuring that recognition of him does not depend solely upon a photograph taken when he was 17.
Matthew’s disappearance is recorded under Canada’s Missing case reference 2017062421, while the Sûreté du Québec identifies the investigation with reference number 357-161005-001. Authorities have asked anyone with information concerning Matthew to contact the Sûreté du Québec at 1-800-659-4264. Information can also be provided anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS, and Canada’s National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains is another point of contact for information connected with the case. The official public profile does not describe confirmed subsequent sightings, explain what became of Matthew after he left Unité La Rade, or provide a publicly documented trail showing where he went after approximately 11:00 p.m. That leaves the central question unchanged: a 17-year-old teenager escaped from a youth facility in the Gaspé hospital area during a guard change and then disappeared from the documented record. In overview, Matthew Wiinikainen’s case begins with a clearly identified place and approximate time but quickly becomes a mystery, with his final confirmed whereabouts at Unité La Rade and no publicly established account explaining where he went afterward or what circumstances prevented him from returning to the people who knew him.Last Seen: Mar 30, 1995
