Debra Deane Richardson
Alias: Debbie
Missing since: September 30, 1972
Missing from: Gimli, Manitoba, Canada
Date of Birth: May 24, 1955
Age at Disappearance: 17 years
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: White
Eye Color: Blue
Hair: Blonde, Long
Height: 162 cm / 5ft 4in
Weight: 52 kgs / 115 lbs
Physical Build: Medium
Notable: Debbie was pregnant at the time she went missing
Debra Deane Richardson was just 17 years old when she vanished from the Gimli, Manitoba area more than half a century ago. She was young, pregnant, and apparently trying to make her way to Winnipeg when she disappeared. What makes Debra’s case even more difficult to understand is that police did not learn about her disappearance until approximately ten years after she was last seen.
Debra, who was also known as Debbie, was born on May 24, 1955. In 1972, she was described as approximately 5 feet 4 inches tall and 115 pounds, with a medium build, long blonde hair and blue eyes. She was pregnant when she disappeared, although publicly available information does not say how far along she was. There is also no reliable public information identifying the father of her unborn child or suggesting that her pregnancy was connected to whatever happened to her.
According to the information eventually given to investigators, Debra travelled to Gimli in 1972 to visit her brother. She reportedly stayed with him for approximately three months. What happened afterward would become the beginning of a mystery that remains unresolved more than 50 years later.
Debra’s official missing date has been recorded as September 30, 1972. However, some historical records describe her final known movements as occurring in October. The discrepancy may be the result of the extraordinary amount of time that passed before her disappearance came to the attention of police.
According to the account provided to investigators, Debra’s brother drove her to a highway and dropped her off so she could hitchhike to Winnipeg.
It was the last known sighting of Debra.
There is no publicly documented confirmation that she ever reached Winnipeg. There is no known account of who may have picked her up, what kind of vehicle she may have entered, or whether anyone saw her after she was left near the highway. From that point forward, Debra seemingly disappeared.
Her family never heard from her again.
Yet police were not immediately searching for her.
It wasn’t until August 2, 1982, approximately a decade after Debra disappeared, that Gimli RCMP received information from a local resident about what had happened. The resident reportedly told police that Debra had travelled to Gimli to visit her brother, had stayed there for about three months and had eventually been dropped off along the highway to hitchhike to Winnipeg.
By then, investigators were attempting to reconstruct the disappearance of a teenage girl roughly ten years after the fact.
That delay created an enormous obstacle. Memories could have faded. Potential witnesses could have moved away or died. Records that might once have existed may no longer have been available. If Debra accepted a ride from someone that day, identifying that person a decade later would have been considerably more difficult.
Perhaps one of the biggest mysteries surrounding Debra’s disappearance is why so much time passed before authorities were told she was missing.
The publicly available accounts do not adequately explain the delay. They do not identify the Gimli resident who came forward in 1982, explain why that person decided to contact police at that particular time, or provide a clear picture of what Debra’s relatives believed had happened to her during the intervening years.
The circumstances of her final known journey also leave investigators with several possibilities.
Debra may have accepted a ride from someone while hitchhiking and encountered a person who harmed her. It is also possible that she successfully reached Winnipeg and something happened afterward. The available evidence does not establish where along that journey Debra actually disappeared.
Her pregnancy inevitably raises additional questions, but there is no publicly available evidence demonstrating that it played a role in her disappearance. Without knowing more about Debra’s personal circumstances, the identity of the baby’s father, or whether investigators ever explored that part of her life, connecting her pregnancy to a motive would be speculation.
What authorities have said is more troubling: foul play is suspected.
Decades after Debra disappeared, her case became part of Project Devote, a joint initiative involving the RCMP, Winnipeg Police Service and Manitoba government that investigated historical missing-person and homicide cases in which foul play was suspected.
In 2012, Debra was specifically named among the cases assigned to Project Devote. Her inclusion should not be interpreted as evidence that her disappearance was connected to any of the other cases investigated by the task force. Rather, the initiative brought together cases involving people considered particularly vulnerable to violence. Hitchhiking was among the circumstances authorities identified when discussing the cases included in the project.
For Debra, however, the basic questions have remained remarkably unchanged.
Who, if anyone, picked her up after her brother left her beside the highway? Did she make it to Winnipeg? Was there someone waiting for her there? Why did approximately ten years pass before police were informed of her disappearance? And what happened to the 17-year-old girl and the unborn child she was carrying?
There is another frustrating element to Debra’s case: remarkably little information about her as a person has survived in the public record. We know her age and physical description. We know she was pregnant. We know she had travelled to Gimli to visit her brother. But there is little publicly available information about her personality, her friendships, her plans for the future or what she hoped to do once she arrived in Winnipeg.
More than half a century has now passed since Debra was reportedly left along a Manitoba highway.
No confirmed sighting has surfaced publicly. Her family has had no known contact with her since 1972, and no publicly identified suspect has emerged.
Debra would be 71 years old today.
Somewhere in the events surrounding that trip from Gimli toward Winnipeg may be the answer to what happened to her. Perhaps someone gave Debra a ride and never told investigators. Perhaps someone remembers hearing something in 1972 that didn’t seem important at the time. Perhaps someone knows why a pregnant 17-year-old girl disappeared and was never heard from again.
After all these years, Debra Deane Richardson is still missing, and foul play remains suspected.
If you have information on Debbie’s case, please contact any of the following:
Gimli RCMP: (204) 642-5106
Reference Case#: 2015940878
Canada’s Missing Case reference: 2012020069
Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-TIPS(8477)
Online at: https://www.canadiancrimestoppers.org/submit-a-tip/submit-a-tip
Crime Stoppers provides anonymous tipping
Send email to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains at: canadasmissing-disparuscanada@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
Sources: Canada’s Missing, MissingPeople.ca, Project Devote information released by the RCMP and Manitoba authorities, Winnipeg Free Press coverage of Project Devote and Debra Richardson, Royal Canadian Mounted Police information concerning Project Devote, Manitoba government publication An Awkward Silence, Doe Network case information reproduced by Crimewatchers and Websleuths.
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