Remains found in September are those of Megan Gallagher: Saskatoon police

The family of a missing Saskatoon woman finally got some closure Tuesday.

According to Saskatoon police, human remains found near St. Louis in late September have been identified as those of Megan Gallagher.

Gallagher, 30, was last seen on video surveillance footage at a corner store on Diefenbaker Drive in Saskatoon in September of 2020. In January of 2021, police announced they were treating the investigation of her disappearance as a murder.

On Sept. 29, police and other agencies launched a four-day search of an area of the South Saskatchewan River near the village of St. Louis. The remains of an unidentified individual were found on the first day of that search.

In a media release Tuesday, the Saskatoon Police Service’s Major Crime Section said the remains had been positively identified as those of Gallagher. Police also confirmed she had been murdered.

At a news conference on Sept. 29, police said they believed Gallagher had been abducted, confined and ultimately murdered in Saskatoon before her remains were disposed of in the area of the search.

Four people have been charged with first-degree murder, three others have been charged with committing an indignity to human remains, and two are facing charges of aggravated assault and unlawful confinement.

One of the people charged with first-degree murder, Summer-Sky Henry, remains at large.

After a recent court appearance by one of the suspects, Megan’s father, Brian, told media the toughest thing was not knowing where his daughter was.

“There’s obviously multiple people involved in this, and there’s multiple people involved in this against one woman. It takes me down some very dark holes and I have to force myself out of there and wait for the process to unfold,” Gallagher said.

“It’s the way we resolve these things. Keeping the silence isn’t doing anybody good. Breaking the silence works.”

Gallagher admitted there may never be closure, but there could be steps taken to prevent a similar incident from happening to anyone else. He added he’ll never forget his daughter.

“I’m going to carry Megan in my heart for the rest of my life,” he said.