Pip: Someone Saw Something is doing the work that too often gets left undone — keeping names in circulation, case numbers attached to real people, and questions alive long after investigators have gone quiet.
Mara: Today we're in Edmonton, Alberta, following a disappearance that stretches back to 2013, and the family member who has refused to let it go quiet. Let's start with Shelly Tannis Dene.
Echoes of the Missing: The Shelly Tannis Dene Case
Pip: The case of Shelly Tannis Dene sits at a familiar and painful intersection — an Indigenous woman goes missing, and the system that should respond treats her life as a lower priority before the family has even had a chance to panic.
Mara: Her sister Candice was the one holding the thread. The last contact anyone had with Shelly came through a text exchange, and Candice has described it plainly: "It's when I asked her if she was okay over text. She said 'no.' And that was the last thing she's ever said to me."
Pip: That single word — no — and then silence. Shelly's phone was disconnected on November 8, 2013, and that disconnection was what finally triggered the missing persons report, because Shelly always paid her bills and always had her phone.
Mara: Shelly was last seen in mid-July 2013, near her grandmother's house at 114 Street and 102 Avenue in Edmonton. Her grandmother had left on vacation and asked Shelly to watch the home. When the grandmother returned weeks later, Shelly had packed her belongings and gone. The family initially assumed she'd traveled to the Yukon — she'd mentioned wanting to visit — but that lead has never been confirmed.
Pip: And the investigation has not exactly inspired confidence. Edmonton Police labeled Shelly's lifestyle "high risk," a framing that has a long and troubling history of being used to quietly deprioritize cases involving Indigenous women.
Mara: Candice has been direct about her frustration. A witness reportedly saw a man removing suitcases from Shelly's apartment around the time she disappeared. Edmonton Police told CBC News they followed up on that and other leads, but produced no new information. The last time the family heard from investigators was December 9, 2014, when they were told all tips had been exhausted.
Pip: Candice, by that point, had gathered more evidence than the investigators working the file. That's not a footnote — that's the story.
Mara: Shelly was a member of the Fort McKay First Nation, born December 7, 1987. She completed her Grade 12 education in 2010 despite the generational weight of residential school impacts, and was raising a young son. Her family remembers her as a gifted artist — she designed clothing, crocheted, and painted traditional drums.
Pip: If you have information, Edmonton Police Service can be reached at 780-423-4567, file number 13-151984. Crime Stoppers takes anonymous tips at 1-800-222-8477 or online at canadiancrimestoppers.org.
Mara: Shelly has brown eyes, long brown hair, stands five foot seven, and has a scar on her right cheek and a piercing above her left upper lip. She has been missing since August 2013. Her case number is 2014006306.
Pip: A text message that said "no," and then more than a decade of silence from the people who were supposed to find answers.
Mara: Shelly's family is still looking. So is this site. We'll be back with more cases that deserve more than a closed file.
Someone Saw Something 
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