RCMP stumped by missing Piney woman, "Something happened, she's somewhere"

It has now been nearly three months since a 70-year-old woman from the Rural Municipality of Piney went missing. And her whereabouts remain unknown.

Corporal Julie Courchaine with Manitoba RCMP says it was on October 19th when they first received a call to check on the well-being of Jean Backman. Police attended her property and residence in the RM of Piney but were not able to locate her. 

Since then, multiple resources have been deployed to the area, including search and rescue teams, police dog services, the Office of the Fire Commissioner, the Hutterian Emergency Aquatic Response Team (HEART) and RCMP. Yet, police say there has been no trace.

According to Courchaine, this is still an active missing person's file. 

"Unfortunately, I don't have any new updates, I wish I did," says Courchaine. "Jean Backman is still missing."

Courchaine says investigators are still trying to determine what happened and continue to ask the public to come forward with any information that could help solve this case. 

"I know our investigators continue to work on this file, continue to liaise with the family," adds Courchaine. "Just trying to again to put the pieces together to figure out what happened to her."

Courchaine says through interviews they are trying to gain as much information as they can, with hopes of getting that one key piece that could help lead investigators in the right direction.

Backman was last heard from on October 15th, when she made contact with a friend. And even though that was 90 days ago, Courchaine says there is still hope that she is alive.

"We don't know what happened," says Courchaine. "(It's) obviously concerning that she hasn't reached out to family or friends or anything. So, again we want to find answers and we're just working towards that and hope that someone comes forward or we get some sort of information that can lead us down the right path at this point."

Backman's family has said Jean has no health concerns and that there is nothing to suggest in her house that she was planning on leaving for any length of time. Some have suggested that it literally feels like the senior vanished.

"No one vanishes," says Courchaine. "Something happened, she's somewhere."

In addition to how devastating this is for the family, Courchaine notes the case is also tough on investigators who were hopeful that an extensive ground search would uncover something that could point them in the right direction.

Though Backman has not been seen since mid-October, Courchaine is asking people to think back to that time and come forward with any information that might be relevant to this case. 

At this time there is not a search and rescue mission happening, though Courchaine says that would quickly change if they received a credible tip.