Missing since 2016, sixteen-year-old Mekayla Bali disappeared after leaving the property of her high school. It is believed that she may have been abducted by someone she met through a social media platform such as Snapchat.
She left the restaurant, and surveillance captures her walking around the various stores, walking through parking lots, and at one point, she has her phone to her ear and is talking into her phone. Phone records indicated she was using a third-party app like the Facetime call feature, as she had no cell phone records matching a call at that time.
I know when I was a teenager, I relied heavily on apps like Facebook, Skype, What?s App to communicate as I rarely had enough minutes on my phone to make calls. I remember frequently going to places like Tim Horton?s or Starbucks to use their WIFI to communicate with friends.
She re-entered the same Tim Horton?s restaurant at 9:55 am. She messaged a friend, ?Hey, I need help,? but twenty minutes later, right before she left the restaurant, she messaged that friend again and said, ?nevermind, I figured it out.?
While in the restaurant, Mekayla asked a stranger to help her book a hotel room. She had previously mentioned to friends she wanted to go on a vacation to Regina, Saskatchewan. Other friends heard her say she wanted to go to Moose Jaw, Prince Albert, or Saskatoon, all larger cities nearest to the small community she lived in.
Her friends said that Mekayla would often talk about leaving town to get away to a big city, but they didn?t pay too much attention to her most recent ideas as they assumed she was dreaming.
Her friends said that she made a habit of making friends online, using social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. In the days before her disappearance, she had mentioned a friend was coming to meet her. All they knew about this person was that his name was Christopher.
Video footage at Sacred Heart High School shows the last confirmed sighting of Mekayla Bali
Video footage shows Mekayla Bali at Sacred Heart High School on the last day she was seen before her disappearance.
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She went back to her school around noon but was only there briefly. 12:03 pm, she was seen leaving the school and that was the last time cameras captured her.
Her phone was turned off, or the battery died, at 7 am the next day. Since no cameras saw her walking as she had been before, it is assumed someone picked her up.
Her grandmother arrived at the school to take her to a violin lesson at the end of the day. When she didn?t come out, Mekayla?s mother was called.
Her mom immediately checked the ?slush fund? she always kept in the house for emergencies. It was untouched. Mekayla also didn?t take many belongings with her. The backpack she is seen carrying could only have held a few days worths of clothing.
In the months following Mekayla?s disappearance, some people Mekayla had been communicating with online were tracked down. Still, none of them were in the area at the time of her disappearance.
Her mother, Paula Bali, remains hopeful that Mekayla will be found. Paula doesn?t believe her daughter had meant to leave for an extended amount of time and thinks she may have fallen victim to a human trafficking operation.
If you have any information about Mekayla Bali, please contact the RCMP. The family is offering a $25,000 reward for her safe return.
