Indigenous woman Tatyanna Harrison missing seven weeks: Vancouver police

UPDATE: Missing Indigenous woman Tatyanna Harrison’s remains found, VPD says

New efforts are underway to find a missing 20-year-old Indigenous woman who was last seen on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside seven weeks ago.

Tatyanna Harrison’s mother and the Vancouver Police Department have released a new video detailing the woman’s last known whereabouts.

“Each day that passes without finding Tatyanna increases our concern for her well-being,” Const. Tania Visintin said Saturday.

“Tatyanna’s family, friends, and the community have been instrumental in helping establish a timeline of her last whereabouts. The VPD and Tatyanna’s family want to ensure that the entire community remains engaged in the ongoing search for Tatyanna. We are asking everyone to share this video so we can find Tatyanna.”

Natasha Harrison describes her daughter as “a very strong and beautiful girl” who has been “a voice for people who suffer, or people who don’t have one.”

“She’s articulate, she’s smart, she’s an avid reader — she’s fearless,” Natasha says through tears in the three-minute long video, her voice breaking through her words.

According to the VPD, Tatyanna was in regular contact with her family until the end of March.

Movements between Feb. 3-May 3

VPD Det. Kevin Boyle, who works in the missing persons unit, notes she was staying in Surrey until around Feb. 3. That morning, Tatyanna spoke with Surrey RCMP officers in the area of King George Boulevard and Bolivar Road.

“She had been living on the street and told officers she had no place to stay,” Boyle says in the video.

Days later, on Feb. 9, Tatyanna is said to have checked into a shelter along Terminal Avenue in Vancouver. She stayed at the shelter until Feb. 22, “often in the company of a male companion,” Boyle notes.

The next day, on Feb. 23, Tatyanna used an RBC ATM in the area of Broadway east of Cambie. Then, a month later, on March 23, the woman reported her debit card lost at the RBC on Main and Hastings streets. She was given a new card and was seen withdrawing cash on video along with a man, who has still not been identified.

“This was the last bank transaction made by Tatyanna,” Boyle explains in the video.

Vancouver police are looking to speak with a man who was seen with missing Indigenous woman Tatyanna Harrison. The man is considered a witness and not a suspect, the VPD says. (Courtesy VPD)

The VPD and Tatyanna’s loved ones are urging the public to help identify the man seen in the video.

March 24 is the last day Natasha heard from her daughter, when she received a text message from an unknown number. Tatyanna was seen by City of Vancouver Park Rangers two weeks later, on April 7. She was staying in a tent with a man in Robson Park, near Kingsway and Carolina Street.

While police say she was referred to an outreach centre that day, there’s no indication she attended one.

Tatyanna then met with a friend on April 22 in the area of Hastings and Abbott, at the Grand Union Hotel.

Five days later, she was supposed to pick up a welfare check. Boyle says she never made it.

Related article: Downtown Eastside community supports mother in her search for missing Indigenous daughter

Natasha reported Tatyanna missing on May 3.

The 20-year-old is described as being 5’1″ tall with brown eyes and a slim build. When she was last seen, she had medium-length auburn hair, though police say the style and colour may have since changed.

She is often wearing prescription glasses and baggy clothes.

Anyone with information about Tatyanna’s whereabouts or the man who has yet to be identified is asked to call the VPD’s dedicated tip line at 604.717.2530 or email vpd.missing@vpd.ca.

You can also make an anonymous report to Crime Stoppers at 1.800.222.8477.