WINNIPEG – Police put up tape and put bright flags in a field at Valley Gardens Community Centre just before 2 p.m. Tuesday as they searched for Thelma Krull, 57, missing since Saturday morning.
Police searched Valley Gardens Community Centre again on Tuesday; family members said a locator ping came from Krull’s cellphone at that location on Saturday. Police also searched Bunn’s Creek Tuesday.
Family, friends and strangers also continued to look for Krull, who set out for a walk at about 7:20 a.m. Saturday. There have been no reported sightings of her since she was recorded passing a neighbour’s surveillance camera at 7:23 a.m. Saturday.
About 200 of her family, friends, neighbours and complete strangers showed up at her house Monday, eager to search anywhere they could for her.
“I’m shocked. It’s a little disturbing,” said neighbour Dan Labossiere. “I don’t know what to say, to be honest.”
Krull, 57, has been missing since Saturday morning and after several search efforts, Monday night saw the largest turnout.
“I’m just here to help,” said Elmwood-Transcona MP Lawrence Toet. “That’s what it’s all about. It’s a whole community coming together. This isn’t about me, it’s about a family that needs help and a community coming together to do that.”
Krull told her husband Bob at 7 a.m. Saturday that she was going out for a hike in East Kildonan with plans to meet him at Canadian Tire on Regent Avenue in a couple hours.
She was seen walking past a neighbour’s house on Filbert Crescent in Harbourview South, captured on the home surveillance system at 7:23 a.m.
Her daughter Lisa Besser called her mom’s cellphone at 9 a.m., but there was no answer.
She never showed up at Canadian Tire to meet her husband.
By 10:30 a.m. the family launched a missing person’s report and they’ve been searching for her ever since.
WATCH: Third day of searching for Thelma Krull, 57
“She’s very healthy and very active there’s no medical concerns,” said Besser.
Her mother had been training for a seven-day hike in British Columbia next month and walked several hours everyday. She was also a Scout leader and knew survival skills.
“That’s why we’re so worried right now,” said friend and co-worker, Connie Muscat. “She would have known what to do, where to go, how to get help, so we are very concerned something else has happened.”
Winnipeg Police Air1 searched from the air Saturday evening and on Sunday, volunteers and Winnipeg Search and Rescue (WINSAR) helped with a scene tracking dog.
Posters were all over Transcona and East Kildonan by Monday and volunteers were searching empty fields, trails and homes under construction.
“Yeah, we think we’ve hit everywhere,” said Robert Krull, Thelma’s son. “We’ve done a lot of the trails even close to the Perimeter.”
But the family isn’t giving up — they plan to search until they find her.
Krull was last seen wearing black capris, a bright orange shirt and hiking boots. Besser said she had her iPhone 4 and white earbuds and a black fanny pack.
Anyone with information or who saw Krull between 7:23 and 9 a.m. on Saturday morning is asked to call the Winnipeg Police missing persons unit at 204-986-6250.
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