After months of searching, the family of a missing Manitoulin Island woman has resorted to renting billboards in their hopes of finding her and have started a crowdfunding effort to help pay for it.
Juanita Migwans, age 31, was last seen in M'Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island on Oct 4. There is currently a $100,000 reward offered for information on her whereabouts.
"Despite in-depth investigative efforts by Tribal Police, and the OPP there have been no leads," said Migwans' aunt, Mary Ashcroft, on GoFundMe.
Ashcroft said Migwans did not have her bank card or phone on her when she went missing. The use of those two items is often used to track the whereabouts of missing people.
"Juanita would not have taken off on her own. She is a daughter, a mother and a close friend to many. She was valedictorian of her graduating class with high hopes for the future. She has vanished without a trace," said Ashcroft in the GoFundMe.
Peggy Simon is a volunteer and fundraiser for Winnie's Angels, which was set up in response to Migwans' disappearance.
Simon confirmed that Migwans had received money from the historic Robinson Huron Treaty settlement and it has remained untouched in her bank account.
"I just believe that it's foul play or it could be sex trafficking, something where they wouldn't need the money and where she's more valuable doing other things. But obviously we're hoping for the best," said Simon.
Migwans was valedictorian of her graduating class and is a mother and a daughter, said Simon.
"She had aspirations and she had goals and she has a family waiting for her to come home and a community that misses her," said Simon.
Earlier media reports said Migwans was last seen on Oct. 2, but Simon said a tip from a sighting on Oct. 4 has pushed up that timeline slightly.
"Somebody had come forward after the first media release that they had actually seen her in the village on the fourth," said Simon.
The family has begun to advertise her disappearance on a series of four billboards across Manitoulin Island and is raising $15,000 through the crowdfunding service GoFundMe to add three more in hopes of receiving information that leads to Migwans being found.
Three additional billboard locations are planned to be added, including: Hwy 17 between Espanola and Sault Ste. Marie, between Espanola and Sudbury, as well as Hwy 69 north of Parry Sound.
So far, the GoFundMe has raised over $5,600 of the $15,000 fundraising target.