Police say the remains of a four-year-old boy who disappeared near the North Saskatchewan River in Prince Albert in May have been recovered.
Shortly after 5 p.m. on Saturday, Melfort RCMP received a report of human remains discovered along the North Saskatchewan riverbank near the James Smith Cree Nation.
Police say evidence collected at the scene by the RCMP was sent to Saskatoon for examination by a forensic pathologist and forensic anthropologist.
The Office of the Chief Coroner has confirmed the identity of the remains as Sweetgrass Kennedy.
Sweetgrass was last seen in Prince Albert on May 10. According to eyewitness accounts, the youth was playing near the North Saskatchewan River.
Police note that over the past two months, an exhaustive search for the youth was conducted by the local community and professional search and rescue involving:
- Police
- Fire
- City of Prince Albert Departments
- RCMP
- Prince Albert Grand Council (First Nations Emergency Management Branch)
- Grandmother’s Bay Search Team
- Stanley Mission Search Team
- Government of Saskatchewan (Emergency Management and Fire Safety)
- Mobile Crisis
- Saskatoon Police Service – Air Support Operations
- Professional Search and Rescue Teams (Prince Albert North Search and Rescue, Buckland Search and Rescue, Saskatoon Region Search and Rescue)
The Grand Chief of the Prince Albert Grand Council says closure will come to the family of Sweetgrass, with the discovery of his remains. “They can bury their child in a proper way, so that they know he’s not in the river or anywhere else. So, I’m relieved that way,” said Grand Chief Brian Hardlotte.
Despite being last seen on May 10, Hardlotte says searchers never gave up looking. “We don’t really give up. I’m really glad that the search itself wasn’t really called off. The [Prince Albert] Police Service and the RCMP continued,” Hardlotte explained.
(PHOTO: Sweetgrass Kennedy. File photo.)