Staff photo by Lizz Bottrell
Team leader, Bob MacKay from Regain Search and Rescue, flags a suspicious piece of bone.

Staff photo by Lizz Bottrell
Ken Cardwell, a paramedic out of Regina, inspects the bone to determine whether it’s human or animal.

Staff photo by Lizz Bottrell
John Bradley, Emergency Social Services Director, talks with Lorraine Runns, a trained search and rescuer from Carry the Kettle, about the origins of a bone.
By Lizz Bottrell, Citizen Staff

A search for missing person Terry Sagal, whose car was discovered outside of Kennedy on December 20, 2001, turned up nothing but old animal bones. Though many findings seemed promising at first sight, all were quickly dismissed as animal bones. “We found lots of animal bones, but no human remains,” said Sergeant Brent Shannon, a member of the Regina Police Service Cold Case Unit spearheading the search.

The Cold Case Unit decided to conduct a search on May 24 in the Kennedy area due to optimal search conditions. The fact that most ground area remains uncovered from new spring growth and that many areas previously covered in water dried up, this time of year made for perfect search conditions. However, despite high hopes that Sagal’s remains would turn up on this search, he is still a missing person.

“We’ve now completed a very thorough search of the area in each direction of where the car was found,” said Sgt Shannon. “In order to go back to the area, new information would have to come forward.” The most recent search marks the fourth time Regina Police made the trek out to Kennedy to look for Sagal. When Sagal’s car originally turned up in the area, it snowed a lot overnight, covering up any trace of Sagal. The person who discovered Sagal’s car followed his tracks north to an intersection, but by the time RCMP attended to the scene, snow plows came by and washed away any further tracks Sagal may have left behind.

For this fourth search, about 20 trained search and rescue personnel came to Kennedy to conduct a thorough search in hopes of finding Sagal’s remains. The trained search and rescuers came from Regina, Estevan, and Carry the Kettle and ranged from first timers to those who’d been out on half a dozen searches.

John Bradley, an Emergency Social Services Director for the City of Regina, orientated search and rescuers quickly before everyone began as to what exactly they were hoping to find. “We’re looking for human remains,” said Bradley. “We’re looking for bones that are finer and bleached white. He was wearing a leather jacket that may have survived as well as glasses.”

The search area included the areas surrounding four roads leading away from the intersection where Sagal’s footprints were allegedly last seen. Everyone split into teams of four to conduct what is called a Type Two search. “A Type Two search is wider spacing,” said Bob MacKay, team leader for Alpha Team. “It’s purposeful wandering. You walk in a zigzag motion in your direction of traveling so you can cover more ground. This is opposed to a grid search where you search closer together.”

When everyone split up to follow their search routes, Sgt Shannon sent me off with Team Alpha in order to take in the whole experience of a search and rescue mission. For my first mission, I felt very excited and hopeful that Team Alpha would come across something promising.

Within two minutes out on our path, Lorraine Runns, a search a rescuer from Carry the Kettle, found a smaller bone which caused some excitement within the group. Runns called a halt to the line and MacKay came over to inspect the bone. After some time trying to determine the bone’s origin, he called in Bradley to take a further look. In the end, he determined the bone was too big to belong to Sagal, therefore, it belonged to an animal.

After the excitement, we continued on our way. I closely watched each person’s technique, hoping to gain an understanding as to how exactly they expected to spot such tiny bones in the grass. As I observed Runns diligently searching her area, her years of experience became very evident in the thorough way she searched, leaving no object unturned.

The whole experience was very quiet, which almost made me feel uncomfortable, however, at the same time, with no one talking, there were no distractions from the task at hand.

The group searched through bush and decaying cow-pies. The search area that’s now exposed to the harsh climate was once covered in many feet of snow the night Sagal went missing. As we trekked along, all I could think about was how long he could have possibly survived in all this cold and snowy weather so many years ago.

After speaking with Sgt Shannon earlier in the day, he informed me that Sagal may not have even come to the area in the first place. One may wonder then, where else Sagal may have ended up. Sgt Shannon has three theories. First of all, Sagal committed suicide in the area and in that case, chances of finding his remains were relatively high. Secondly, foul play could be involved and in that situation, the perpetrator may have just dumped Sagal’s car in the area, leaving Sagal somewhere completely different. Lastly, Sagal could have simply chosen to disappear. “Right now Terry could be sitting on a beach somewhere, reading the Kipling Citizen and laughing,” said Sgt Shannon.

The most exciting part to the day occurred just after 10 in the morning when rookie search and rescuer, Lynda Chamney from Estevan, found a jaw bone with a couple of intact teeth. As we continued to search the ground in the area, we found another dozen bones. When Constable Kelly Guider, with the Kipling RCMP, came to investigate the finding, he figured they were all just remains from a cow. He first identified that the molars came from a cow and went on to determine the origin of the remaining bones.

Before long, Regina paramedic, Ken Cardwell, showed up at the scene to give the final call on the bones. “This is a cow’s jawbone,” said Cardwell. “See, those are a carnivore’s teeth.”

And that was that, the end of the excitement.

The most unfortunate part about neglecting to turn up any human remains is the fact that Sagal’s disappearance still remains a mystery to his family. It’s just too bad that something, anything could not have been found to provide some sort of closure to a family that has clearly been suffering the uncertain loss of a loved one for over six years.