ONION LAKE CREE NATION – RCMP have ruled missing Onion Lake man Serayne Kematch’s death as non-suspicious but his family believe he was murdered and continue to seek answers.
Kematch’s body was discovered by ranchers in a pasture near Jumbo Hill approximately 10 kilometres north of Alcurve in the Rural Municipality of Britannia on Oct. 28. The 28-year-old had been missing since April 10.
“I can’t help but think he was moved there after,” said Kematch’s father Marvin Meesto in a phone interview.
He said there’s no way his body could have been missed during the intensive and extensive search for Kematch in April.
“That area was searched two or three days after he was missing,” said Meesto.
“That treeline was walked but now he was found [in October] only a few feet into the bush. There is no way you could miss a body lying there about two metres into the tree line.”
The bush isn’t that thick and there was no vegetation, he said, adding that he and his family and friends searching trained themselves to watch out for even a small piece of article of clothing.
“His body was missed in the search? No way. It’s not possible, not where his torso was found, and his clothing was right there not far from where his torso was. It was at the treeline. No way could you miss him.”
Kematch was last seen walking north of the Centex gas station at Alcurve in the R.M. of Britannia, near the intersection of Highways 3 and 17 around noon.
More suspicious discoveries
That’s not all that Meesto finds suspicious.
During the intensive search and canvassing of area residents by family and friends, Meesto learned about a suspicious vehicle with three males who had blood on their clothes and marks in a nearby ditch.
Meesto obtained video surveillance from the gas station Kematch was at minutes before he disappeared, as well as surveillance footage and eye witness testimony from area farmers.
The video footage from the gas station shows a suspicious car full of young men.
“A car there with three young kids came roaring into Alcurve from what we saw in the footage. Then they were seen spinning out headed north. You could see they were looking for somebody. They just barely slowed down and just went spinning out of Alcurve and went north.”
About 40 to 45 minutes later the car got stuck on a grid road off Highway 17.
A farmer’s video surveillance shows a car going past a driveway on a gravel road about 70 to 80 miles per hour approximately 40 to 45 minutes after Kematch was last seen at the gas station, said Meesto.
The car got stuck in the ditch and the farmers pulled them out.
“They were on their way back to the tire shop when they come across that car. They were in ditch and they helped them out.”
It was the same vehicle that was caught on video surveillance at the Alcurve gas station, he said.
“That same car was stuck. They must have tried to turn around in a grid road and went into a farm and got stuck and [farmers] went and pulled them out. One of them said, ‘you could tell those boys were pretty rough and you could tell they had been in fight with somebody or among themselves.’
“What that [farmer] found funny was that one boy had his back turned towards them when they were pulling them out. He said he was standing by himself and when they were done pulling them out he went up to that boy and put his arm around him and said ‘you don’t have to cry anymore you boys can go home now.’
“Why would he be standing there crying?” asked Meesto. “You could tell they were in a fight and one of them had blood splatter on his cheek. This was about 45 minutes after Keematch was last seen.
Meesto said the three males were from Onion Lake.
“One of them was supposed to be Serayne’s bro.”
Meesto said that the male driving the car was also the same individual that Keematch had a conflict with about a year prior over a girl and the male had come into Meesto’s yard, spinning around with his quad.
“That boy came into my yard [a year ago] roaring and spinning around with his quad. He was drunk.”
Meesto said he told the RCMP about the incident and that earlier this year the RCMP interviewed the farmers and, about a week later, impounded the car in question. But he said RCMP gave him a different name than the one that he gave them of the male driving the car.
Meesto said the RCMP ended up telling him that the three males had blood on their faces and clothes because they were “fighting amongst themselves.”
“They never explained why that boy had his back turned to everyone else and was crying.”
Drag marks found near ditch
Then there are the drag marks that were discovered near a ditch within a few kilometres where Kematch’s remains were discovered.
At about 5:22 p.m. on Sunday, April 14, 2024, a group of Onion Lake residents who were helping with the search found what they believed to be drag marks in the ditch. They made a video of the drag marks and sent them to Meesto’s family.
“There was a scuffle in the ditch where he disappeared,” said Meesto. “You can see tracks. It looks like someone was dragged; two heel marks in the ground. One, you could see very clear with a shoe on, and the other one wasn’t as clear, with socks on. That is someone being dragged backwards.”
Injuries suspicious, say family
Meesto also finds his son’s injuries suspicious.
“For his death not to be considered suspicious, there is one broken rib 10 ribs down, which is where the vitals are. They can’t determine how that rib was broken and they can’t find any marks on the rib. There was not very much to go on, just skeletal remains.”
They were able to see Kematch’s body on Oct. 29. His son’s remains were, “picked clean by animals,” said Meesto, adding that, “it was hard” to see his remains like that.
“There’s no doubt that foul play is involved. I know he was killed.”
Meesto said the family was told by the coroner that Seryane had died of exposure because his clothes were all inside out and that is a sign that someone with hypothermia.
“A person who starts getting warm, hypothermic, would have shed his clothes.”
Keematch was last seen around noon on April 10, 2024, at the Centex gas station at Alcurve. He had phoned his father for a ride.
“I was at work. He phoned me at 12:07. I looked at my phone and it said Centex Alcurve. I knew it was the gas station between Onion Lake and Lloydminster. He said ‘dad can you come and get me?’ I knew where the phone call was from, but I said, ‘where?’ and he said, ‘Alcurve.’ I didn’t think anything like this would happen. I said, ‘it’s only 12 miles to Onion Lake.’ I didn’t think anything would happen,” he repeated.
“I said, ‘I’m at work and I can’t get away right now.’ Serayne said, ‘Oh OK,’ and asked me if I knew anyone who was coming to town, and I said, ‘I imagine there’s a lot of traffic.’
“I never thought anything of it,” added Meesto. “During the day it was warm, it was nice. It was a little a chilly at night but not cold. It was only 12 miles and broad daylight and a lot of traffic going back and forth to Onion Lake.”
“Serayne was young and healthy,” he said, pointing out that walking would be nothing for him.
“Knowing Serayne, he would have caught a ride back to Lloyd. He had $50 on him and he was closer to home it was only 12 miles”
Highway 17 between Onion Lake and Lloydminster is a busy highway, especially during the daytime.
Meesto said that an Onion Lake hockey team charter bus was also on the highway just shortly after the time his son had gone missing. The hockey team was on their way to Airdrie and neither the driver nor the passengers saw him walking on the highway.
“He only made it about 300 metres from that gas station, where he walked out of sight at 12:17 p.m. It doesn’t sound right at all.”
RCMP had conducted extensive ground searches of the area because police were told that Kematch was going to walk back through the rural area to Onion Lake.
Meesto said they are waiting to hear what RCMP say about his clothes, if blood was found on them.
“No way blood could have washed off if he was murdered, stabbed, like I think. His clothes would be bloody.”
Not happy with investigation from start
Kematch’s family aren’t satisfied with how the police handled Kematch’s disappearance from the start.
“They should have kept us updated. One time, I had had enough and I told them, ‘We are dealing with a matter of life and death.’ That was three to four days into the search. They were withholding information they wouldn’t tell us anything. I said, ‘We’re looking for my son. We are trying to find him, maybe he’s still alive maybe it’s too late.’
“It’s just another Indian,” added Meesto. “That’s how I see it. They don’t want to waste time investigating it otherwise they would have helped us more during the search, come check up on us. No one phoned me and asked how the search was going. I had to phone them.”
Serayne Kematch will be missed
Meesto said he adopted Serayne and that his biological father is coming from Vancouver, B.C. for the service and burial later this week.
“I raised Serayne like my own since he was 11. He was a nice boy. I will miss him just being there, being part of the family.”
On Monday, Oct. 28, the RCMP drove into his yard as he was leaving and asked him to go back to his house so they could talk to him.
“The RCMP said, ‘I think we found your son,’ and I just broke down.”
