RCMP said the remains of an Alberta woman reported missing in 2015 were found in rural Manitoba earlier this month.
A 68-year-old man from Gladstone, Man., has been charged in the death.
Police said Gloria Gladue was reported missing from Wabasca, Alta., on Nov. 17, 2015.
The 45-year-old mother of seven was last being seen entering a residence on Oct. 10, 2015.
Her remains were recovered by RCMP in Manitoba on June 17, 2018, and identified by the medical examiner’s office Tuesday.
The suspect, Grant Sneesby, is charged with second degree murder and offering an indignity to Gladue’s remains.
He is scheduled to appear in court in Desmerais, Alta., on July 12.
Family 'destroyed' by news
In Edson, Alta., Gladue’s eldest daughter Nicole Gladue-Weesemat told CTV News this is not how the family hoped the case would end.
“Hope is what kept us going,” she said. “I never wanted to accept this outcome, I never even thought it would happen. I honestly thought we were going to get her back and remain a family.”
“And now we're just destroyed, devastated."
Gladue-Weesemat said detectives called to give the news Wednesday, and she had to pass it on to her siblings.
“Devastating, hearing them cry over the phone,” she said, adding that she lives a few hours away from the rest of the family.
“Now we know, but it’s not the answer we wanted.”
Gladue-Weesemat said her family has been involved in the National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and spoke at the inquiry when it was in Edmonton.
She said people in Canada need to take the issue seriously.
“Every life matters, and it feels like nobody cares about these Native women and girls who are going missing or getting murdered,” she said.
With files from CTV’s Erin Isfeld
