Estevan's biggest unsolved mystery has taken a disturbing twist.
Long thought to be a missing person's case, the RCMP's historical case unit has said it is treating the disappearance of Courtney Struble as a murder investigation. Although the RCMP has long considered the case a murder, it was not public knowledge until recently when a Global TV Regina broadcast on unsolved cases noted that the investigation had changed course.
In a recent interview with The Mercury, Cpl. Rob Zentner said after gathering evidence and drawing on their experiences in similar cases, the HCU came to the conclusion that Courtney, who went missing shortly after midnight on July 9, 2004, met with foul play sometime after she disappeared that evening.
"Thirteen-year-old girls can't disappear very easily without some sort of financial resources. They don't have the ability, normally, to look after themselves or provide for themselves for that length of time," said Zentner.
"Once we became involved in the investigation and made an assessment of everything that has been done and based on our experience handling other missing persons' investigations that we've worked on, we've decided to treat this investigation as a homicide right from the get go.
"There is information that we can't share with the media or the public at this time just to protect the investigation, but we believe she is not a runway and she did not go missing of her own free will and she is a victim of foul play."
A source of bewilderment for local residents and police and a continual source of anguish for her family and friends, Courtney's disappearance has been on the minds of many since she when missing on that July evening in 2004.
It has been well documented that Courtney and friends were watching a movie at the Estevan Veterinary Clinic on the city's western outskirts when around midnight, the then 13-year-old decided to walk home. She has reportedly not been seen since.
The Estevan Police Service handled the initial missing person investigation and outside of a few unfounded sightings throughout Western Canada, was unable to make much headway in locating Courtney.
In 2009, as the case reached the five-year mark, the HCU was asked to join the investigation with the hope that a fresh set of eyes might lead to finding Courtney.
Zentner said after a year of going over the evidence collected by Estevan police and other groups such as Child Find Saskatchewan, they began an active murder investigation that has continued until this day.
"We have had teams down to the city of Estevan conducting numerous interviews with family, friends and associates of Courtney," said Zentner. "The people we are interested in talking to is anybody that she had contact with in the last week prior to her disappearance and anybody that may have witnessed something or seen something strange or just may have come across some information throughout the years.
"We have been to other provinces as well, to speak with family and friends of Courtney. There has been a variety of things that have transpired, obviously most of it will be a bit behind the scenes The work that the Estevan Police Service had done, we have continued with that, expanded it and moved upon that."
Although he couldn't provide specifics on whether or not they have any suspects, Zentner said the RCMP believe there are people in the Estevan area that have information that will assist their investigation.
"In the upcoming weeks and months we are going to be hopefully working with those people to get the information we need," he said.
"We are very optimistic that we will be able to get the answers that the family and the community in Estevan are interested in. It is coming up on seven years so it has been quite awhile already so the sooner we can get some of those answers and bring closure to the family that is our goal. We have had good success with some of our other investigations and we have no reason to believe that there will be any difference in this investigation."
If anyone has information about Courtney's disappearance they are asked to contact the RCMP Historical Case Unit in Regina.
