Jesokah Adkens -- Missing From Vancouver Island Since September 26th, 2001

Missing Person: Jesokah Adkens

Details from a government source (might be paraphrased): Jesokah was last seen at approximately 21:30 hours. It was thought that she was going to take a transit bus back to the village of Sooke, where her residence was located. By my research, this would have been a short trip.

Last contact: September 26th, 2001 (Wednesday), seen at 9:30pm.

November 10th, 2001. Times Colonist.

Last location: Sooke, BC near Sooke Road, which appears as BC Highway 14 or Juan De Fuca Highway on modern maps. In newspaper coverage, it says she was last seen "heading" to a bus stop outside Saseenos Elementary School, which is near where she went to high school. Furthermore, these buildings were not far from her home. 

After researching the case, I would say Sooke Road around Saseenos Elementary School and Edward Milne Community School is where she was last seen. I did notice that the newspaper coverage of her last known location toggled between her last being seen walking to a bus stop or standing at a bus stop. Perhaps it's a small difference. There is a memorial that appears on Google Maps at 6072 Sooke Road in the westbound lane that marks her last-known location (use old dates for Google Maps if its overgrown in modern times).

October 9th, 2001. The Province,

Yet, another source says she was last seen hitchhiking, which is ominous. However, I do think that this source, posted below, got the information wrong.

October 12th, 2001. Times Colonist.

Age when Jesokah Adkens disappeared: 17

DOB: May 1st, 1984

Sex: Female

Height in inches: 65

Weight in pounds (lbs): 88 pounds according to Canada's Missing but described as 110 pounds in a media article. That is a huge discrepancy but I think if anyone is cross-referencing this to a Jane Doe, use the 110-pound measurement. A weight of 88 pounds at a height of 5'5" would be a person whose weight could be viewed as unhealthily low.

Times Colonist. October 27th, 2001.

Ethnicity: White/Caucasian

Hair color: Blonde, long and straight

Eye Color: Blue

Scar or distinctive characteristic: Scar on her chin, under her lip

Link to Government Source: 2001008160 (right click to open)

Websleuths discussion page: Jesokah Adkens (right click to open)

Clothing: According to a newspaper source, she was wearing a light-blue shirt (called a fleece top in one source), dark blue jeans, and running shoes when she disappeared. Another source says she was wearing a black bomber-styled pullover jacket, her shirt featured The Doors, and her shoes were black.

Parents: Clayton or Clayten and Jocelan Adkens

Commentary and Research

By: Shane Lambert

Original time of writing: February 4th, 2025

Has Jesokah Adkens been found?

Jesokah Adkens went missing on September 26th, 2001. She has not been found since that time. This is a case that received quite a bit of newspaper coverage, both shortly after her disappearance and then in the years that followed.

The Times Colonist, Victoria's newspaper on Vancouver Island, published the first newspaper article that I could find on October 3rd, 2001. It headlined that police suspected foul play in her disappearance. There were several details from this newspaper article that I will bullet point below:

• Jesokah was in Grade 11 at Edward Milne Community School.
• She went missing from a bus stop just down the street from her high school (in front of Saseenos Elementary School).
• She lived in the 6600 Block of Sooke Road (another source says she lived on Kaltasin Road but this didn't make sense to me; I don't see the need to take a bus or hitchhike to that road based on where she was last seen).
• The newspaper article said she lived with a roommate (female), which I found a little strange due to the MP's age (ie. she was a minor). But Adkens had moved out of her original home.
• The police made statements that suggested that she was not a runaway or suicidal. All of her ID and credentials were at her home. I found this very credible and relevant because I think the police generally have a tendency to label a teenager as a runaway or suicidal to take pressure off of their search efforts. 
• A tracking dog yielded no clues.
• The bus driver was interviewed but said nothing that helped.
• She had a boyfriend and there was a recent "quarrel" but that was described as normal. Another source said the boyfriend was not a suspect.

There are two bus stops outside of Saseenos Elementary School on modern Google Maps. However, the street-cam updates for the area only go back to June 2009. The modern bus stops were not present in 2001.

Presumptively, Adkens was waiting for a bus in the westbound lane as that would have been the one taking her home (which would have been a short ride). There is a memorial for her last-known location (48.38739149685625, -123.6908089900206). Toggle between the years at Google Maps if you have trouble finding it.

There was no police apathy in the early days of this case. I found a statement on October 4th, 2001, stating that they were treating her disappearance as a homicide until they had reason not to (Sgt. Don Brown qtd. in The Province). This same article states that she was "heading" to a bus stop, as opposed to being stationary at it, when she was last seen. However, another article on October 6th says she was waiting at the bus stop when she was last seen.

• Adkens had a probation officer.
• She had dinner with a male friend (called her boyfriend in the November 10th, 2001 Times Colonist) the night she disappeared. Another source, says she had dinner with three friends that night. The name of the restaurant and location would be a good tidbit to have.
• Adkens had a hitchhiking habit.

One thing that I really noticed with this case is that there were different descriptions of what she was doing when last seen. One source says she was at a bus stop, another says she was walking to a bus stop, and yet another says she was last seen hitchhiking. But the only thing definitive was that she was last seen on Sooke Road around Saseenos Elementary School and her high school, Edward Milne Community School, at about 9:30pm after dining out.

In newspaper coverage from 2019, Jesokah was described as someone who kept dangerous associations, involving street people and drug users/dealers. Furthermore, this article (May 22nd, 2019 Times Colonist) says that Jesokah received a benefits payment on the day she disappeared but it was never used.

Modern news link: Times Colonist, September 26th, 2021

• Stated that the bus driver who worked the night she disappeared was interviewed but was not able to provide any details.

Very Similar Case: Vancouver Island Disappearance of Carmen Robinson

Roughly 28 years earlier, a woman disappeared from nearby Victoria on Vancouver Island in a case with some stark similarities. The time gap between Adkens' disappearance and this former case is large but I felt that it should be mentioned. 

The case of Carmen Robinson involves a 17-year-old caucasian blonde woman who was last seen at a bus stop. The age, sex, ethnicity, hair color, hair length and style, and case details involving a bus stop do match up between the two cases.

Furthermore, the two locations, Sooke and Victoria, are in the same part of Vancouver Island. The distance between where Robinson was last seen and Adkens is a half-hour drive according to modern Google Maps and fewer than 30 kilometers in space. Lastly, both young women went missing fairly late in the evening as they attempted to travel home.

One difference between the two cases is that Adkens was last seen going to a bus stop or waiting for a bus at a bus stop (depending on which source you go with). Conversely, Robinson was last seen alighting a bus at a bus stop.

Carmen Robinson's case at Missing Person's Commentary.

28 years between the events is a long time. Yet, it could be the same person responsible for both disappearances. I felt that the cases could be mentioned together as food for thought as reading about the disappearance of Adkens did remind me of the disappearance of Robinson for the reasons mentioned.

Sandra Lee Hopler - Missing from Scranton Since September 1973

Paraphrased details from government source**: Sandra was last seen on September 29th, 1973. She was a student at Keystone Junior College in La Plume, PA, and was last seen at Martz Trailways Bus Station in Scranton, Pennsylvania, or at the pick-up point.

Missing Person: Sandra Lee Hopler
May use the following alias(es): Sandy
Last-contact date: September 29th, 1973 (Saturday)
The area where the MP was last seen: Scranton, Pennsylvania, in the LaPlume area possibly at the Martz Trailway Bus Station or at a pick-up point. Possibly, she would have been near Lackawanna and Jefferson Avenue since that's where Martz Trailways offices were located in 1973 according to the following classified advertisement but the pick-up point could have been somewhere else. The zip code 18440 is given as her place of disappearance, which would be near Lackawanna Trail in La Plume.

23 May 1973, Wed The Times-Tribune (Scranton, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com

Link to government source: NamUs MP#8897

VITAL DETAILS

Ethnicity: White or Caucasian
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 18 years old
Birthdate: June 8th, 1955
Hair: Brown or light brown
Eyes: Hazel
Scar: a small scar on one eyebrow
Height/weight: 5-foot-4 and 125 pounds
BMI*: Sandra Lee Hopler was in the normal range for BMI.
Tattoos: Sandra Lee Hopler did not have any tattoos associated with her profiles.

Clothing and accessories: Burgundy blazer, dark blouse, Seiko watch with a gold face, and a tan shoulder purse

Distinctive: A mole on the back of the hand between the thumb and index webbing, a small mole near lip (left side), pierced ears, and she may have glasses, however, these aren't pictured in the two pictures I found of her. 

Family: Lyle Joseph Hopler Jr. (father, d. in 2002), Patricia Lee Snyder (mother, d. in 2017), and she had siblings.

28 Feb 2002, Thu The Courier-News (Bridgewater, New Jersey) Newspapers.com

Sandra Lee Hopler was last heard from on September 29th, 1973 when she was 18 years of age. This individual has now been missing for about 48 years as of the original publication date of this blog post. 

The journalism coverage I found for this missing person case was either modern or written years after her disappearance. She has been mentioned in cold case articles for the region she lived in, however, these articles did little but mention the broadly known details of this case. The oldest article using the databases I searched was from 2010.

I did find a second picture of her using Ancestry. She had a photograph in the 1973 yearbook for James Caldwell High School. Her hair was parted in the middle and she had a wavy characteristic to it that is consistent with the photo of her from her missing person profile. Sometimes the place of hair parting can be discerned from Jane Does so this is one point of comparison if you are looking at descriptions of unidentified remains.

Online sources say that Sandra Hopler was going to New York, that she told her plans to a roommate, and that she was last seen at a bus station or pick-up point for Martz Trailways. The details of this case could be opened up by someone in the family or the roommate (if surviving), people who may know more publishable details, or have some publishable information on the investigation.

I tried to find information on the bus schedule since these are sometimes in newspapers. However, I found only an article from 1962 when the original service between Scranton and New York was announced from Martz Trailways. This article may or may not contain information about where she was dropped off.

25 Jun 1962, Mon The Tribune (Scranton, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com

One major point with this case is simply if she got on the bus or not. From what I gathered, she was seen waiting for the bus. Sometimes an attractive young woman waiting for a bus attracts the attention of someone offering a rideshare. But if she did get on the bus, then New York becomes the focal point. 

This individual has a landing page in a family tree with Ancestry. There was little information there but it could be updated in the future.

Thank you for reading. If have any information about this case, consider contacting the authorities.

Author: Shane Lambert, (Freelance Writer)

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

Shane Lambert, (Freelance Writer) is not a Private Investigator, however, he is currently studying to be one as of April 2021.

If you like this blog, then you can join the affiliated Facebook group: MPC Facebook Group

Website hashtag: #MPCSL

*For BMI values, I use the UPPER or HIGHER ranges that are given for height and weight.
**Might not be the exact meaning that NamUs or Canada's Missing conveys. I improve upon their descriptions with my research.
Disclaimer: Non-opinionated information at this site generally comes from government sources or police reports. Other sources may be used.

['missing and murdered', 'Missing and murdered indigenous women', 'Shane Lambert Forsa', 'Shane Lambert Facebook', 'Missing person Facebook Group', "Canada's Missing", 'CharleyProject.org Sandra Lee Hopler', 'DoeNetwork Sandra Lee Hopler', 'Sandra Lee Hopler missing person', 'what happened to Sandra Lee Hopler', 'missing Scranton person', 'missing Pennsylvania person', 'missing Scranton woman', 'missing Pennsylvania woman', 'missing Scranton women', 'missing Pennsylvania women', 'missing woman Scranton', 'missing woman Pennsylvania', 'missing from Scranton', 'missing from Pennsylvania', 'Scranton missing persons', 'Pennsylvania missing persons', 'Sandra Lee Hopler missing from Pennsylvania', 'disappearance of Sandra Lee Hopler', 'foul play', 'missing since', 'has not been seen', 'whereabouts of', 'missing person', 'missing persons database', 'theories', 'what happened to Sandra Lee Hopler']

Attempt to Match -- Nancy Lynn Jason (#MP13877) vs. #UP7477

By: Shane Lambert

Updated: July 17th, 2024

In this article, I am going to look at the missing person case of Nancy Lynn Jason, NamUs #MP13877, and compare it to the Jane Doe case of NamUs #UP7477. The goal is to evaluate the likelihood that they might be one and the same person.

On that matter, I will start with one of the Jane Doe's composite sketches and a couple of photos of the missing person. In my opinion, they do look alike, with striking similarities in hair parting, swarthy skin tone, and general features.

Composite sketch of Jane Doe #UP7477.

Nancy Lynn Jason.

Nancy Lynn Jason.

Next, I'll look to see if the circumstances of their cases match up. The timeline of the two cases must match up.

Nancy Lynn Jason vs Jane Doe UP7477

Firstly, Nancy Lynn Jason went missing when she was 18 years old in July of 1977. The Jane Doe was found on August 24th, 1982 in the trunk in a state park. She has been dubbed "The Cheerleader in the Trunk" accordingly. The first point, that the Jane Doe had to be found after the missing person was last seen, does check out. 

We can move on to the more complex points.

August 26th, 1982. The Baltimore Sun.

According to the NamUs profile for the Jane Doe, the "body may have been at that location for three or more years." The Jane Doe was thought to have died somewhere between 1972 and 1982. If we assume that Nancy Lynn Jason died at about the time of her disappearance in 1977, then her estimated date of death would overlay with the estimated date-of-death range of the Jane Doe.

Secondly, the sex and ethnicity between Nancy Lynn Jason and the Jane Doe match. They are both white females.

Thirdly, the distance between Nancy Lynn Jason's last-known location and the spot where the Jane Doe was discovered are reasonably close. Nancy was last seen in Bethesda, Maryland while the Jane Doe was found about 40 miles away in Frederick, Maryland.

Interestingly, Nancy's disappearance may have involved southbound hitchhiking toward Florida, as she was planning a trip there at the time of her disappearance. However, Frederick is northwest of Bethesda, not south, which complicates the idea of her being found along her intended route. It’s possible she was transported to Frederick after an incident near Bethesda.

Next, Nancy Lynn Jason had brown hair and so did the Jane Doe. The length of the hair and the parting point on the forehead appear to be similar in the photos of Nancy Lynn Jason and the composite sketch of Jane Doe, further supported by what looks like a shared swarthy skin tone and general facial features.

Lastly, the height between the two does not really match. Nancy was thought to be 5'7" while the Jane Doe was thought to be about 5'4". However, taking heights from human remains isn't an exact science when it comes to figuring out how tall the person was in life.

The discrepancy in the heights is small, and taken alone, it cannot be used to rule the two individuals out. You shrink after you die, so perhaps that the Jane Doe was shorter than Nancy Lynn Jason could be overstated.

The so called "Cheerleader in the Trunk" was found by mushroom foragers. She was in a steamer trunk in a park setting.

Comparison Chart: Nancy Lynn Jason vs. Jane Doe

Attribute	Nancy Lynn Jason (MP13877)	Jane Doe (UP7477)
Date	Last seen: July 17, 1977	Found: August 24, 1982; Est. death: 1972–1982
Location	Bethesda, Maryland	Frederick, Maryland (40 miles northwest)
Sex	Female	Female
Race	White/Caucasian	White/Caucasian
Age	18 years	Estimated 17–45 years
Height	5'7" (67 inches)	5'4" (64 inches, estimated)
Hair	Brown	Brown, medium-length
Circumstances	Hitchhiking, planning trip to Florida	Found in trunk, state park

Based on an analysis by Grok, an AI developed by xAI, there is a 40–55% chance that Nancy Lynn Jason and Jane Doe are the same person. This estimate accounts for the timeline overlap, matching demographics, and notable similarities in hair parting, swarthy skin tone, and general features between Nancy’s photos and Jane Doe’s composite sketch, balanced against the northwest location of Frederick versus Nancy’s southbound intent and the height discrepancy, which may reflect forensic imprecision.

Grok also stated that there was an implied match between Nancy's plan to hitchhike and an effort to conceal the Jane Doe. I did not quite understand what the AI meant when that was said. I took it to mean that when hitchhikers go missing, something clandestine is usually involved. Certainly, when a body is put into a trunk and disposed of in a park, something clandestine has happened. So perhaps the AI meant that there were matching circumstances between Nancy and the Jane Doe that way.

The Two Have Not Been Examined

The Jane Doe has numerous rule-outs listed at her profile but she has not been compared to Nancy Lynn Jason. Also, Nancy Lynn Jason has numerous rule-outs but she has not been compared to the Jane Doe. At this point, I think it's possible that they are one and the same person. I hope that they are looked at and, if they are not matched, at least they could be listed as rule-outs of one another.

Lorelee Sue Lhotka -- Missing Since 1975 in Washington state

Details from NamUs**: 

Reported to have left home for a doctor's appointment. Supposed to take the bus, but would also hitchhike. Wallet found in Wenatchee National Forest in 1978 at the Blewett Pass.

Missing Person: Lorelee Sue Lhotka
Last-contact date: 1975, possibly in early February
The area where the MP was last seen: Seattle, Washington
Link to government source: NamUs MP#6849

---

VITAL DETAILS

Ethnicity: Uncertain, but she is listed among missing Indigenous people in Washington state
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 19 years old

Birthdate: Might have been June 27th, 1957
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Scar: No scars known
Height/weight: 5'3" and 120 pounds
BMI*: Lorelee Sue Lhotka was in the normal range for BMI.
Tattoos: Lorelee Sue Lhotka had no tattoos associated with her profiles. If you know that the missing person did have tattoos, please post a remark at the end of this blog post.

Lorelee Sue Lhotka was last heard from on January 1st, 1975 when she was 19 years of age according to her NamUs profile. However, it should be noted that dates of January 1st in NamUs often refer to an unspecified time of the year.

On this matter, I found one source that said she was last heard from on February 1st of that year. This individual has now been missing for over 50 years. 

I did not find any media coverage with her case at Newspapers.com. I did find a divorce record for a "Lorelee S. Lhotka" dated to December 22nd, 1977.

It was in Washington but I can't be sure it's regarding the missing person, however, I think it was. It was filed by the husband and might be a divorce in absentia. The place of the divorce was Mason, Washington. Her address might have been near Rainer Avenue S. and 57th Avenue S. in Seattle.

One task with this case is to find out what her alias of Spamola refers to. It seems that her maiden name might have been Davis. Furthermore, the pinpoint location of where her wallet was found in 1978 would be very interesting. I found a source that said it was found in the Blewett Pass (Google Maps).

Lastly, this missing person should be looked at concerning all Jane Does that come out of the Wenatchee area that are estimated to have died around 1975.

What stands out with this case was that her wallet was found at Blewett Pass and she was known to hitchhike.

Tags that I've associated with this blog post are below. It's interesting to see what can connect unrelated cases. Click one of the tags to go to an article that is related to this one in some way, shape, or form.

Author: S.K. Lambert (Blogger Hobbyist and Freelance Writer)

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

S.K. Lambert (Blogger Hobbyist and Freelance Writer) is not a Private Investigator, however, he is currently studying to be one as of March 2021.

Website hashtag: #MPCSL

*For BMI values, I use the UPPER or HIGHER ranges that are given for height and weight.
**Text might be paraphrased. If taken verbatim, then grammar or spelling errors are not necessarily corrected from original sources.
Disclaimer: Whenever possible, government sources are preferred for getting the details of a missing person's case. However, any source that the article writer deems reputable may be used.

Looking Back at the Non-existent Missing Person Case of Carolyn Eaton

Author: Shane Lambert

On February 14th, 1982 a Department of Public Safety officer found a dead body roadside off of Interstate 40 in Arizona. It was Carolyn Eaton, a minor who had run away from home in December of 1981. It would take 39 years before she would be identified. Below is a snippet of the original journalism from the time.

UID-AZ - #UP9864 - Valentine Sally Jane Doe - Williams, AZ - 14 Feb 1982 16 Feb 1982, Tue Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona) Newspapers.com

The Jane Doe had numerous profiles online and she was dubbed Valentine Sally. She was talked about extensively at her Websleuths.com forum. Honest attempts at naming her were made but they all failed until the individualization process known as DNA profiling zoomed in on her. There are probably hundreds if not thousands of Does that are waiting to be identified in the same way but the highly skilled labor that's required to perform the work only inches forward case by case.

The lengthy process of identification through familial DNA requires that a Doe's DNA be compared to a relative's. The problem is, finding a relative to compare to isn't easy: one has to have their DNA in an accessible databank to begin with. If a relative is found, that still doesn't end the task of matching the Jane Doe to someone who is missing. If the relative was a distant one, then the branches of the family tree have to be explored to find a worthwhile candidate for comparison. This process can be difficult.

What might be easier is good old-fashioned online Websleuthing. The catch is that in order for the Websleuths to do their thing, there has to be a report online of the missing person. For Carolyn Eaton, I found no missing person reports associated with her name prior to her identification as Valentine Sally.

The Jane Doe mystery was popular enough among Websleuths that if Carolyn Eaton simply had a missing person's profile online at one of the websites that offer such publishing that the case of Valentine Sally might have been solved a long time ago. Timely solving would do a lot: it would help apprehend any murderer, for starters. Why should we let those guys grow old in the comforts of their homes? 

Adding profiles to databases would streamline the process of identifying Does. The familial DNA process is too slow and too expensive. Websleuths aren't necessarily fast -- but they are cheap because they are volunteers and they are hobbyists. They are effective too but there's that 'catch' to think about: where the DNA people need DNA profiles to compare, if Websleuths are going to identify a Jane doe then they need a Missing Person's report to compare to.

If you have filed a police report for a missing person, then that's a good first step in trying to find the person. However, you should also make an effort to get the case profiled at Canada's Missing or NamUs, the latter being for the USA. If you can't get something up through those avenues in a timely manner, there's always DoeNetwork, CharleyProject, or this blog that you're looking at right now.

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.

Website hashtag: #MPCSL