Thelma Krull: People wear purple in support of missing woman

Family and friends of Thelma Krull are asking the public to wear purple as a sign of support for the Winnipeg woman who has been missing for 11 days.

"There's two [reasons]: One is that Thelma looks great in purple. The other thing is, people are really talking about her purple hair streak. So, purple just makes sense," said Connie Muscat, a close friend of Krull.

"We're trying once again to keep the community talking, keep the community together. We want people to walk by someone, see purple, ask them if they're wearing purple for Thelma and support each other."

Employees at SPIKE Inc. (Special People in Kildonan East), on Henderson Highway, put on their purple Wednesday

 Krull, who was last seen on July 11, worked at SPIKE, which provides respite care for mentally and physically challenged people.

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Meanwhile, a group of indigenous Winnipeggers are doing what they can to help find Krull.

Several community-led search efforts have come up empty-handed, with police admitting they need all the help they can get at this point to find the missing 57-year-old woman.

Kim Ricker of Lake St. Martin First Nation led another, smaller search party near Elmwood High School Tuesday night for the second time this week.

"I believe that every missing person matters and that everyone should get involved," Ricker said.

Faye Tindall, a Winnipeg high school teacher, took part in the search.

"My daughter is 23 and beautiful and aboriginal, and so every time a girl or woman goes missing it really hits home," said Tindall

Ricker has searched for missing people before as part of the indigenous-led group behind Drag The Red. That group combs the Red River with hooks behind boats hoping to find clues in unsolved cases of missing and murdered indigenous women.

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But it was a Facebook post that compelled Ricker to join the search for Krull.

"1,200 missing and murdered aboriginal women and no one bats an eye.... One white woman goes missing in Winnipeg and everyone loses their minds," the Facebook post read.

While she understands the frustration behind that post, Ricker said she hopes that joining the search sends a message.

"I'm hoping that if it was one of ours, we would get the same response. You've got to give compassion to get compassion," she said.

The small group will continue searching the Elmwood area for the next few days before joining the larger search, which is taking place further east in the city, Ricker said.