Stephanie Nattaway talks to a photo of her daughter Tammy in the hallway of her home on Garden Hill First Nation, asking her to come home or give her a sign of where she is.
“I always say, 'Try harder. Keep us close and in our dreams.' I ask and pray a lot,” she said.
“I know it's been too long. She came home. I know she'd be home.”
It's been four years since Tammy Nattaway, who was 16 at the time, went missing from the Island Lake region, which is made up of four fly-in communities in northeastern Manitoba.
Tammy Nattaway was 16 years old when she went missing four years ago in the Island Lake area of northeastern Manitoba. Her parents and community members are still searching for answers, and are asking people with information to come forward so they can lay her to rest.
Tammy spent her time between two First Nations – Garden Hill, where she lived in foster care, and neighboring Wasagamack – where she had a boyfriend and extended family.
Manitoba RCMP believe she was last seen in Garden Hill in mid-July of 2020, but may have moved to Wasagamack.
Searchers say it's unusual that she disappeared without a trace, save for a piece of clothing, and that despite extensive community-led efforts to find her, she didn't give up. According to her mother, Tammy never left home, and looked after her younger siblings.
“We never had a wake or a funeral for her. We still haven't stopped searching. Can't say goodbye. Can't grow,” Stephanie said.
The Garden Hill First Nation is offering a $5,000 reward for anyone with information that finds him.
Hundreds of searchers
For the past four years, hundreds of Island Lake searchers have scoured both communities – by air, land and water – looking for traces of Tammy, only to find her sweater two years after she disappeared.
Manitoba RCMP say that before her disappearance, Tammy sold her phone, which they recovered. In a statement, they said, “Extensive investigative steps have been taken into Tammy's social media activity and online activity in the lead up to her disappearance.”
RCMP say foul play may be involved in Tammy's disappearance. The RCMP's Major Crime Services is leading the investigation.
Tammy was the oldest of nine siblings but was in foster care on the Garden Hill First Nation. She was not reported missing to police until July 31, a week after she was last seen.
“I thought she was fine because she was under CFS. … They said she was in good hands. But I don't know why they waited two weeks,” Stephanie said.
Island Lake First Nations Family Services did not return repeated requests for comment.
Curt Mason, who is with Garden Hill's search and rescue team, said they have also covered “every inch” of the community, and the search continues each summer until it freezes.
“We dove, towed, we used underwater sonars. We used everything. No signal, nothing,” Mason said.
“Tammy Gone Out” is still scrawled in black marker on the front door of her grandmother's home in the Wasagamac First Nation.
Lena Harper looks out her window every night, hoping to see her granddaughter walking down the street again.
“I wish he could say 'Kokum, I'm home,'” she said.
Lena last saw Tammy in May 2020 before leaving the community for medical reasons.
She said she wanted to stay with the Tammy family at that time, but she was stubborn and wanted to stay with her boyfriend.
“She was always with her boyfriend,” she said.
Tammy's boyfriend lived with his grandfather Wallace Harper – who is not directly related to Lena Harper – on the Wasagamack First Nation.
“I didn't want him there. Wallace was going back to get him.” Lena said.
Tammy's boyfriend's uncle said he and Tammy spent the day at his house on July 19, 2020, according to Lena.
When community members began searching for her and talking about her disappearance, no one came forward to tell Tammy that she had taken a taxi back to the Garden Hill First Nation, Lena said.
“We feel her here. I feel her here,” she said.
Rumors swirl in both communities about what may have happened to Tammy, but Lena believes her granddaughter was the victim of foul play.
“We forgive them. We forgive them. But we want Tammy back. We want her to rest,” she said.
Home in Wasagamack
Wallace Harper said on occasion, he would pick up Tammy and bring her to her home on the Wasagamac First Nation with permission from her foster home in Garden Hill. He said Tammy wanted to be with her boyfriend, her 18-year-old grandson who lived with her, and she often asked if she could stay with him.
Wallace said he doesn't remember the exact date, but he last saw Tammy “two or three nights” before she disappeared, when he said CFS came to pick her up from her home.
“I don't know what happened to him. All I know is that he was picked up and that was the last time I saw him,” he said.
He said when he talked to his grandson about Tammy's disappearance, “he just kept saying, 'I don't know.' He said they were both interviewed by the RCMP.
“I'm just worried about her, I'm worried about where she is. I know what it's like to be lost and not found,” he said, adding that his previous wife's father disappeared years ago.
He said he thinks Tammy's family blames him for her disappearance because she stayed with him, saying rumors almost “ruined her life.”
“I can forgive them too. I know Tammy is missing. I don't know what happened to her.”
Tammy's mother says she can't go on. She doesn't like the sight of development in any community, as she worries it will disturb her daughter's space.
“I wake up in the middle of the night, sometimes in a panic, thinking I have to go and look,” Stephanie said.
“I don't know if she's alive or if someone's holding her hostage. So many thoughts go through my head. What if a bear ate her, is she lost or hurt and no one heard her scream?”
She describes her older daughter as a “very calm girl” who loves to read and “can lighten your mood anytime.”
“He had a soft voice,” Stephanie said. “She was so happy. She would give life to everyone.”
She said she had Tammy at a young age and struggled to raise her children after an alcoholic friend abandoned them for several years. Although Tammy was in foster care, Stephanie always maintained a close relationship with her, despite the difficult circumstances.
“I was in no authority to tell her where to go or where to be, I couldn't take her. I didn't have a home.”
Manitoba RCMP said officers have spoken with more than 150 people, and followed up on every tip received. Their investigation is active and ongoing.
“We're waiting for them (RCMP). It would be nice to tell us where to look … at least,” said search team member Curt Mason.
“No name. Don't tell us who did it, who's being investigated. Tell us where to look. Are we close?”
Mason was involved in the search for 11-year-old Teresa Robsonson when she disappeared in Garden Hill in 2015, and her remains were found in a wooded area.
A young man eventually came forward and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in her death.
Mason believes that someone at Island Lake knows what happened to Tammy.
“Tell us. Let us know what happened. So the parents can relax. So the community can relax,” he said.
Birthday celebration
Every June 5, his family comes together at “Ground Zero,” the last concrete sight on Garden Hill, to celebrate his birthday with barbecue, cake and prayers.
They released lanterns into the sky and even had a drone show that flashed her photo in the sky so that it could be seen by both communities.
“She will never be forgotten, and we haven't stopped watching as we continue to search for her,” said her father, Bradley Nattaway, who returned to the community after recovering from his alcoholism, and Stephanie Nattaway.
“We ask that the community continue to pray for his return as the family and community need closure.” He said.
“It doesn't matter who did it, who hurt her or who hid her,” Stephanie said. “Bring him home. We want him to rest. That's all we want.”
