Samuel Bird’s Case Went From Missing Person to Homicide — What Happened to Him?
"It’s a damn shame another young native gone in a blink of an eye."
Published Oct. 6 2025, 7:33 p.m. ET
Social media may have its downsides, but one thing it does well is spread awareness about missing children around the world, like 14-year-old Samuel Bird, who disappeared on June 1, 2025, and remains missing as of Oct. 6.
His face, alongside the words “last seen in Canora neighbourhood,” is plastered on signs throughout the city in hopes that someone, somewhere, has information about where he might be.
Just two weeks after his disappearance, however, the case shifted from a missing person report to a homicide investigation. According to a press conference shared by CTV News, nine homicide detectives, along with several other investigators, are now working the case.
As Samuel’s story continues to gain global attention, many are trying to piece together what happened with the limited information available. Here’s what we know so far.
What happened to Samuel Bird?
Samuel Bird, 14, was last seen on June 1, 2025, at around 8:30 p.m. and has not been seen or heard from since. The teen, an Indigenous Edmontonian from Paul First Nation with Nakoda lineage, per Alberta Native News, left his mother’s home in Canora on June 1 around 8 pm.
Edmonton police noted in an Oct. 1, 2025, press release that he was captured on surveillance video around 8:30 pm walking on the property of Holy Cross School near 151 Street and 104 Avenue.
He then went to a friend’s home in the area of 150 Street and 106 Avenue, and that is where he was last seen.
What’s confusing is that Samuel’s disappearance wasn’t reported to police until June 6, per Alberta Native News, and it wasn’t until September, more than three months after his disappearance, that police obtained a warrant and conducted a search of the home where the teen was last spotted, the news outlet noted.
Police now believe Samuel is a victim of homicide and that he is deceased, with his body likely disposed of within hours of his disappearance on June 1.
Authorities believe his remains are “no more than 150 km from Edmonton.” While police do not yet know what happened to Samuel, the details that have been released allow folks to begin piecing together plausible narratives.
Samuel Bird’s remains are still missing, possibly in Edmonton, and his family is seeking help.
With Samuel presumed dead, his family is seeking help to obtain justice and closure. Samuel’s mother, Alanna, said she received messages suggesting “he was in the water” and that "spiritual elders" encouraged searching the river, though police have yet to locate his remains, per CTV News.
She added that Samuel’s disappearance exists “in the shadow of a much larger injustice — the ongoing crisis of our missing and murdered Indigenous children and youth.”
Samuel’s father, Justin P Bird, \said in a statement shared with Distractify, “Hearing that Samuel’s disappearance has been deemed criminal is news no parent should ever have to hear. Losing a child is unspeakable. There is a hole in my heart that will never be filled.”
While acknowledging that the case has shifted from missing person to deceased, he is urging the public to support recovery efforts.
He is also asking anyone hearing about his son’s case to make donations through Treaty Six to “support search and rescue teams, helicopters, boats, and other equipment.”