The mystery deepens as the tragedy unfolds.
At one point it was thought that Roze Burk might be headed to Manitoba, where she had relatives. The sad truth we now know is the 68-year-old woman and her dog ended up nowhere near there. Still, they were a found very long way from home.
Roze’s body was found near a tiny hamlet called Niton Junction, 156 km west of Edmonton on the Yellowhead Hwy. That’s about 260 km driving from her farm home just east of Red Deer.
Her little dog, Jewel, who went everywhere with her, was found alive near where Roze was discovered.
The death of Roze, a mother, grandmother and widow who lived on the family farm just east of Red Deer, was confirmed by her family on Monday.
She disappeared on March 12, last seen that evening at the Deer Park Co-op grocery store at about 8 p.m.
After she went missing — in her grey 2008 Ford Escape — it was revealed that Roze may have suffered from undiagnosed dementia, which could have played a role in her disappearance.
Yet the night she went missing no one noticed anything unusual. Roze chatted with the best man at the wedding of the one of her sons while she waited for food to be prepared at the Co-op store deli. She had run into him at the store coincidentally. Nothing seemed out of sorts at the time, based on what the friend said later.
Yes, Roze was moving a little slower since he had last seen her but she suffered more and more from arthritis, so this was to be expected.
It wasn’t until the next day that her family realized something was wrong and called police. Roze and her son Wayd have homes in the same farm yard.
A week later, family and friends organized a search by vehicle. Then RCMP called in the Red Deer County Technical Rescue Task Force as well as civilian aircraft to scour the surrounding Red Deer area.
Police said at the time that it was difficult because they had no real starting point to search for her, such as finding her vehicle somewhere and going from there.
Tamara Burk, married to Wayd, said the family felt “devastation” when they received the news of Roze’s death of Friday afternoon. They announced her fate on Facebook on Sunday evening.
Blackfalds RCMP Staff Sgt. Ken Morrison could not confirm Burk’s death on Monday because he was still waiting for a positive identification from the medical examiner.
However, family say a pilot who knew that she was missing was flying over the Niton Junction area on Friday when he spotted a vehicle that could be Roze’s.
Police found the vehicle at 10:46 a.m. on Friday, said Tamara. Roze was found, but not in her vehicle. That afternoon, police told the Burks that they had found Roze, however they were given very little other information.
“Jewel was picked up later in the afternoon ... in the vicinity,” Tamara said.
“We can stop searching but it doesn’t answer very many other questions. There’ll be unanswered questions forever,” she said.
They don’t know what happened to Roze or how she died, or even how far away she was from her vehicle, said Tamara. “They don’t know yet. They are looking into it.
“We know nothing.”
“We have no idea why she would be there.”
Jewel, too, is part of the mystery. If dogs could talk, maybe she could answer some of the questions that remain.
“Supposedly she’s in good condition. She (Jewel) looks good,” Tamara said.
Some of the answers about Roze’s disappearance and death could come with the police investigation.
A family friend was bringing Jewel home on Monday and she was scheduled for the dog groomer later in the day.
Jewel, hopefully a comforting link for the family, is going to be given to Roze’s eldest granddaughter.
A Facebook post from Sunday evening reads: “The family would like to send out huge thank yous to all of the wonderful volunteers that helped at our searches, as well as the Deer Park Alliance Church for the use of their facility. We definitely extend our deep appreciation and thanks to all you facebookers who have been sharing and keeping your eyes peeled. We did our best but didn’t quite reach her in time. Roze has now rejoined her husband and oldest son as an angel and will be dearly missed by many here on earth.”
As of Monday afternoon, over 400 people had offered condolences on the Facebook page: Missing- ROZE BURK.
Funeral plans have yet to be made.
“We’re just taking a day at a time, going through the process,” Tamara said, as they’ve been doing since March 12.
barr@www.reddeeradvocate.com