Mekayla Bali -- Teenager Missing from Yorkton, Saskatchewan Since 2016

Mekayla Bali Missing Person Case: Overview

Missing person: Mekayla Bali

Last-contact date: April 12th, 2016 (Tuesday) at 1:45pm
Disappeared from: Yorkton, Saskatchewan at the STC Bus Depot

Link to Government Source: Canada's Missing 2016018567

Official Description of Mekayla Bali’s Disappearance

Canada's Missing Description: Mekayla was last seen at the STC Bus Depot in Yorkton at 1:45 p.m. on April 12th, 2016. She went to school in the morning but left shortly after arriving. She went to several businesses in Yorkton throughout the morning, then returned to school around noon. She bought lunch at the restaurant in the bus depot but did not get on a bus that day. Mekayla left the bus depot in the early afternoon and hasn't been seen since.

Physical Description and Clothing Details

Ethnicity/Race: White
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 16 years old
Hair: Blonde, shoulder lengthed
Eye color: Blue
Height and weight at the time of disappearance: 5'2" and 126 pounds
Clothing: Black/grey leggings, infinity scarf, turquoise blouse, maroon boots, and maroon coat

Timeline of Mekayla Bali’s Last Known Movements

Mekayla Bali was a high school student when she went missing from a small city in Saskatchewan known as Yorkton. This is an individual who had a well-documented timeline on the date of her disappearance. That's partly due to messages she sent before disappearing but it's also due to the surveillance footage that was available at the various venues that she visited the last day that she was seen.

Websleuths or amateur investigators who are thinking of doing some research on this case might benefit from watching the following Youtube video. It contained some useful information and video pertaining to her timeline. If you want to watch her timeline, then go to the 7:05 mark of the video.

Key Observations: Behavior at Tim Horton's

The part of the case that intrigued me the most was her behavior in the Tim Horton's restaurant. At one point, she leaves the restaurant, re-enters, and then exits out the opposite door. To me, this looked like the actions of someone who was having trouble coordinating a pick-up, maybe for a shared ride and possibly with a stranger or someone she knew. The way she exits the Tim Hortons, re-enters, and then chooses the other exit might seem strange but the action is consistent with someone who isn't sure which door her ride is going to pick her up at. Perhaps, she never did actually find that ride.

I wondered if she was using ridesharing apps or shared-ride classifieds like what you find at Kijiji, Craigslist, or on social media. It would be interesting if any ridesharing apps that were operating at the time had a record of drivers who were planning to pass through Yorkton on the day that Mekayla disappeared. Perhaps her driver wasn't reliable and that's what caused her to explore bus travel instead.

Did Mekayla Bali Consider Hitchhiking?

It's also interesting that she went to the bus depot but did not purchase a ticket. This is clearly someone who was dabbling with the idea of intercity travel on the day of her disappearance. That dabbling does invoke one phrase that's common to both intercity transportation and missing people: hitchhiking.

It's not quite fair to say that she was last seen hitchhiking but if the Tim Horton's scene was a failed pick-up location for a shared ride and if she didn't like the prices of the bus tickets then she might have turned to the cheapest form of travel there is: thumbing a ride.

Reliance on hitchhiking is a well-known risk factor when it comes to missing people. This possibility cannot be discounted, especially as she has now been missing for almost nine years as of early 2025. It would be very difficult for someone her age not to register on social media or touch base with someone who could help her for such a lengthy period.

Comparing Mekayla Bali to Beverly Sharpman

Similar Case: Beverly Sharpman

Mekayla Bali's case did remind me of the case of Beverly Sharpman in some ways. Sharpman went missing at the age of 17 in Philadelphia in the late 1940s. She attended high school the day she disappeared before leaving at a train/bus station. There certainly are many differences between the cases but the age, attending high school, and demographics are similar. Similar cases are always good food for thought.

With Sharpman, it's thought that she may have been pregnant and may not have wanted to reveal this to her mother or family. There were also themes of an inappropriate marriage or inappropriate relationship surrounding her case. However, Sharpman was using train services for traveling and she sent a message that hinted at some of her plans. That has created some conjecture that she survived her disappearance event while Bali's case seems a bit more futile in that regard and more mysterious. Nonetheless, I think some of the themes between the two cases could be compared.

Mekayla Bali Case Update: Nine-Year Vigil Sparks Renewed Hope

Mekayla Bali Case Update: Seven-Year Vigil Sparks Renewed Hope

• Vigil Date: Held on April 12, 2023, in Yorkton, SK, marking seven years since Mekayla Bali vanished on April 12, 2016.
• Last Sighting: Mekayla, 16, was last seen at the Yorkton bus depot, 1:00-1:45 p.m., on security footage.
• Family’s View: Paula Bali, her mother, finds the lack of leads “baffling” despite extensive efforts.
• RCMP Action: Released an age-progressed image in 2023 to show Mekayla at 23, seeking new tips.

Source: Regina Leader Post, April 11th, 2023/Larissa Kurz

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

I am not a Private Investigator, however, I am currently studying to be one as of February 2021.

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