Four years after Krull abduction, police hope to find possible witness driving gold sedan

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This article was published 10/07/2019 (1898 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Four years to the day after Thelma Krull went missing, Winnipeg police held a press conference Thursday to say they’re looking for the driver of a gold-coloured car.

“This can be the difference-maker in this investigation,” police spokesman Const. Jay Murray told reporters Thursday.

Police say they want to talk to the driver of the four-door sedan — believed to be a 2005-2010 Toyota, Hyundai or Honda that was in good condition.

“This person, who was in a position to observe Thelma, may not yet realize that they saw or heard something of value, and for that reason, we want to speak to them,” Murray said.

The driver might not live in the area surrounding Civic Park in the city’s northeast corner — where Krull’s eyeglasses were found days after she went missing July 11, 2015 — or even in Winnipeg, he said.

It was the first update in the case since November, when police announced Krull’s remains had been discovered by a hunter in the RM of Tache on Oct. 27. DNA tests on the human remains found 50 kilometres southeast of the city in a wooded area proved to be those of the 57-year-old Winnipeg grandmother.

Krull had left her Harbourview South home at 7:23 a.m. for a walk intended to help her train for a hike she planned to take on the West Coast with her brother. She was captured on a neighbour’s surveillance camera for 14 seconds.

Police believe Krull walked from her home to Civic Park, arriving at about 8 a.m.

Investigators said they believe Krull was attacked near Valley Gardens Community Club, dragged to a nearby vehicle, building or residence and then slain. They’ve said Krull was likely forcibly taken from Winnipeg, and her killer is connected to the area where her remains were found.

At a 2017 news conference marking the second anniversary of her disappearance, police said they believed the grandmother had been the victim of foul play. Later that month, police released a composite sketch of a heavy-set Indigenous man they considered a potential suspect.

Now police are saying they’re looking for the driver of a gold-coloured car not connected to the man described in the sketch. Murray said he couldn’t provide any details or a description of the driver of the car.

Krull’s friends, family, community volunteers and police spent hours searching in East Kildonan and Harbourview South, where she was known to hike.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca