Landfill search for First Nation woman's remains in Thunder Bay, Ont., comes up empty

After a nearly month-long search of the Thunder Bay Solid Waste and Recycling Facility, police found no new evidence in the homicide investigation of Deborah Anishinabie, a 42-year-old member of Sandy Lake First Nation. Anishinabie was last seen on December 5, 2024, leaving New Newfie's Pub in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and her body was discovered on December 14, 2024, less than two kilometers away. Levi Michael Lawson, 25, faces second-degree murder and indignity to a human body charges. The landfill search, which began September 22, 2025, and ended November 21, 2025, cost approximately $700,000, with $600,000 for equipment rentals and $100,000 in overtime wages. The search involved the Thunder Bay Police Service, Nishnawbe Aski Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police, Lac Seul Police Service, and the City of Thunder Bay. Nishnawbe Aski Nation deputy grand chief Anna Betty Achneepineskum criticized the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse people, noting that Indigenous women are 12 times more likely to go missing or be murdered than non-Indigenous women in Canada.