Joanne Wolfe-Lafond, 56, was found dead in front of her home on Jan. 13, 2019. Investigators immediately determined her death to be suspicious.
More than four years after Joanne Wolfe-Lafond was found dead outside her home on Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, a renewed search in the case is underway.
Saskatchewan RCMP’s historical case unit on Tuesday advised the public “of an increased police presence” on the First Nation.
Police will “be in the area over the next couple of days conducting a search in relation to the 2019 homicide of Joanne Wolfe-Lafond,” RCMP said in a news release.
Wolfe-Lafond, 56, was found dead in front of her home on Jan. 13, 2019. Investigators immediately determined her death to be suspicious.
RCMP on Tuesday said investigators with the historical case unit appreciate those who have already come forward with information connected to the case.
“Significant advancements in these types of investigations would not be possible without the help of witnesses and community members coming forward,” Cpl. Tanya Gordon said in a statement.
Wolfe-Lafond’s daughter, Amanda, has said she last saw her on Christmas Day 2018. She had just moved out, and came back for the holidays.
She said on Jan. 13, 2019, Wolfe-Lafond was dropped off at home after a night out with friends. Amanda said she believed that was the last time anybody saw her alive. Her body was found approximately 10 hours later.
“My sense of safety was completely gone. I thought the boogie man went away when you were a little kid. I would stay awake at night so I could watch over my son and partner and make sure no one broke into my house (to) finish the job,” Amanda said in a 2021 interview.
She suspected a family member or community member who knew her mom — and knew that she would be coming home alone that night — is responsible.
Amanda said her mother was a special care aid and one of the first employees at the community’s care home.
She was passionate about taking care of elderly people properly — “not the way you hear of how the elderly are treated in other care homes,” she noted.
“She kept to herself, but you didn’t want to mess with her. She would fight for herself. She was a kind person, but she was also passionate.”
Wolfe-Lafond’s death was one of two in the area in less than two months. She was found dead two months after 66-year-old Deanna Greyeyes was found dead in a field near Leask on Nov. 26, 2018.
At the time, around 300 people lived in Muskeg Lake, between Blaine Lake and Leask, about an hour’s drive north of Saskatoon.
Charges in the death of Deanna Greyeyes were laid in early 2022. In December 2023, her nephew, 35-year-old Stephen David James Greyeyes, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and improperly interfering with human remains. He was sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter and two additional years for the interference.
Court heard Stephen Greyeyes was in the grips of a methamphetamine high when he started fighting with Greyeyes in the basement of her home on the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation on Nov. 23, 2018. He told police that voices told him to end his auntie’s life.
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