RCMP have confirmed that two cousins who went missing in Dawson Creek, B.C., have been found dead weeks apart.
On Tuesday, police confirmed they had identified the remains of Darylyn Supernant, who was 29 when she was last seen alive on March 15, 2023.
Supernant’s remains were found April 19, 2024, on the 219 Road of Dawson Creek, a city of approximately 12,000 residents about 750 kilometres northeast of Vancouver and 20 kilometres from the Alberta border. Police say DNA testing was done to confirm her identity.
Supernant has been identified just weeks after police confirmed the death of her cousin, Renee Didier (Supernant), who went missing on Dec. 2, 2023, and whose remains were found May 18 near the Kiskatinaw River, which runs west of the city.
Both women are Cree, according to family, who also said they are not believed to have had the same social circles.
The pair are among four people to go missing in Dawson Creek throughout 2023, prompting community-wide searches and questions about public safety. At the time, RCMP reported a rise in gang-related violence — so much so that additional officers from the province’s Uniform Gang Enforcement Team were deployed to the area to support local police.
Also missing is Dave Daniel Domingo, a 24-year-old believed to have been in a rural area near Dawson Creek on Aug. 29 when police responded to reports of a possible shooting.
Cole Hosack, a 24-year-old from Prince George, was last seen on New Year’s Eve at the same bar where Didier was spotted shortly before she disappeared.
That bar has since shut down, though police previously told CBC News they don’t believe it is linked to the disappearances.
Police have also not linked any of the missing cases to each other or indicated whether they believe they are connected to gang activity in the region.
Investigations into the deaths of Didier and Supernant remain “active,” RCMP say.
Anyone with information is asked to call Dawson Creek RCMP at 250-784-3700 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Supernant remembered as ‘happy go lucky’ by mom
In a January interview, Supernant’s mother, Shelley Supernant, told CBC News she hadn’t felt safe since her daughter went missing, especially with other active crimes in Dawson Creek.
“I look at cars differently. I look at people differently. I look at roads differently. My mind is different now,” she said at the time. “A lot of people in Dawson Creek are on edge.”
Supernant said her daughter was “happy-go-lucky” with an infectious laugh and enjoyed hobbies like crocheting and fixing up clothes. She was a user of illicit drugs, which her mother described as a “high-risk” lifestyle.
Still, Supernant said, it was unusual for her daughter to go more than a week without checking in, and she worried she would be a victim of the increased violence in the city.