Father of girl missing in Estevan for a decade says he’s angry at RCMP

Photo from Missing Children Society of Canada

ESTEVAN, Sask.—The father of a missing girl who police believe was murdered a decade ago says he hasn’t been kept up on developments in the case, adding he thinks RCMP still consider him a suspect.

Mark Struble told News Talk Radio in Saskatchewan that he’s upset RCMP didn’t include him in a plea to the public for any information they might have.

On Tuesday, his ex-wife Joy Struble spoke to the media about her grief at the loss of her daughter, 13-year-old Courtney Struble, who disappeared while walking home in Estevan, Sask., on July 9, 2004.

Mark Struble says the girl had been living with him at the time because she wasn’t getting along with her mother, adding he and Joy had split up years before.

He says he believes undercover officers have tried to get him to confess “to something I never did” and says he may have been the focus of a sting operation last summer.

RCMP won’t say whether they had a suspect or person of interest in the case.

Mark Struble says last summer a group of men claimed to have a flat tire on a trailer in front of his home and he went out to help them.

“They were doing, I think it’s called a character profile,” he says.

“I used to watch a lot of CSI and stuff, so you know what they’re doing.”

He says all he is asking is to be kept in the loop.

“Fine, you think I’m the suspect, but you know, I’m the father. I deserve to know as much as everybody else does,” he says.

“It’s bad when the whole of Saskatchewan knows before the father knows.”

Mark Struble admits he has been in trouble with the law in the past—though he declined to describe the nature of his criminal record—but says that was in his late teens and early twenties.

He says he did not harm his daughter: “My two kids are the only things I’ve really done right in my life.”

RCMP would not comment on Struble’s concerns. They have said they are treating the case as a homicide and believe her body is still somewhere in the area and want people to check their rural properties for any evidence.