Russell Hyslop hasn’t been seen for more than two weeks since going missing in Thompson June 19 but his parents Tom and Jeanette Shaoullie are hopeful that he will be found.
“I don’t want to think that my son is dead yet,” says Hyslop’s mother Jeanette. "I don’t want to lose that hope. I have that hope to locate our son so we can have closure.”
“We’re crying out for a safe return hopefully,” said his father Tom, but they know it might not turn out as they hope. “They’re searching for body recovery right now, so it’s pretty hard on us.”
Hyslop, 26 and a father of three sons, is from Lac Brochet and was in Thompson for medical treatment just prior to going missing. He had been intending to go to the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba (AFM) in the city to enter a treatment program.
“He never went there,” said Jeanette, who was in Thompson at the time her son went missing and last had contact with him via Facebook on June 18.
After that, his trail goes mostly cold after he left his aunt’s home on Brandon Crescent the following day.
“Manitoba Housing security cameras have a glimpse of him walking off down the street, that’s about it,” says Tom.
Hyslop was wearing a grey sweater and faded pants on the day he was last seen, as well as a dark-coloured shirt – maybe black or navy blue. He stands about 5’6” tall and weighs about 130 pounds with fair skin, light brown eyes, brown hair and a goatee.
While he was a solitary person who enjoyed hiking and nature walks, he wasn’t the type to take off without letting anyone know where he was going, or to set off unprepared.
“If he’s hiking far he’ll take some belongings, you know, like a backpack with camping stuff,” says his father. “He didn’t bring his camping stuff from back home, just his casual wear.”
Hyslop’s parents canvassed other Lac Brochet residents who were in Thompson over the Nickel Days weekend to see if they had run into their son, but no one has seen him since June 19.
“We’ve been getting a lot of tips different information from everyone,” says Jeanette. “That day he seems to have been seen here, he seems to have been seen there, everywhere and we’ve been going everywhere”
“It doesn’t add up,” said Tom.
With searchers having covered most of the perimeter of Thompson, the plan now is to search along the sides of the highway out to the Split Lake junction, with searchers from Nelson House doing the same thing heading south from their community towards Thompson. The family also plans to mount a water search on the Burntwood River if they can round up some boats.
“We come from an isolated community and we don’t have those resources here,” Jeanette says. “Everything is back home. We don’t know many people with boats in Thompson.”
Searchers have received support from Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and Giant Tiger, as well as some help searching the river from Manitoba Hydro.
“We don’t know how long we’re going to be here and we hope that we find our son,” says Jeanette. “We need closure. And we have our hopes up that he’s still alive.”
Hyslop going missing has been hard on their grandchildren too.
“They’re asking about their dad, wondering where their dad is,” says Jeanette. “It’s so sad talking about it.”
Anyone with information about Hyslop can contact Thompson RCMP at 204-677-6911, call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477, submit a secure tip online at www.manitobacrimestoppers.com or text “TIPMAN” plus a message to CRIMES (274637).
