The location where Mekayla Bali went missing
This is the location where Mekayla Bali went missing.
It is called the Trail Stop Restaurant, and it is situated at 35 1 Avenue North in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Bali was last seen leaving this restaurant by herself at some point between 1 p.m. and 1:45 p.m. on Tuesday, April 12, 2016.
Since then, there have been no confirmed sightings of the 16-year-old.
Bali's behavior on the morning of her disappearance was somewhat erratic, as she visited multiple locations over the course of a five-hour period for reasons that remain unknown.
She left school shortly after arriving, withdrew $55 from her bank, attempted to pawn a silver ring, sat in two different restaurants by herself, texted a friend that she "needed help", asked an older lady to help her book a hotel room, and inquired about the departure time of a bus.
Surveillance footage appeared to show her making several phone calls throughout the day, none of which were logged under her billing account. She was also carrying a full backpack instead of a purse, which one friend said was out of character.
After visiting a bank, pawn shop, and Tim Hortons, Bali returned to her high school at around 12 p.m. and told classmates that she was planning on taking a bus trip to Regina, a city that is 200 kilometers southwest of Yorkton.
A few minutes later, she left her school again, walked to the Trail Stop Restaurant on 1 Avenue North, and ordered some food.
At the time, it was part of an adjoining STC depot. However, the police have said that there is no evidence that she ever got on a bus that day.
One widely held theory is that the teenager was bouncing from place to place because she was planning on meeting with someone. There is also the possibility that she was trying to leave Yorkton by herself and eventually sought help from a stranger.
Although there are hopes that she is still alive, it is difficult to imagine a 16-year-old moving to a new city by herself without being spotted or leaving behind a trail.
Despite her cryptic behavior, one thing is very clear: Bali did not intend on having a normal school day.
Her actions on that morning suggest that she had some kind of plan in place. Furthermore, it seems as though she was in regular contact with someone in the lead-up to her disappearance.
That lunchtime, she finished eating at this restaurant, exited via the front door, and was never seen again. Her phone was unreachable by 7 a.m. the following morning, which means that it was switched off, destroyed, out of coverage, or drained of its battery.
Her movements after she left the restaurant remain a mystery, as this section of downtown Yorkton did not have a lot of surveillance cameras in 2016.
For a full breakdown of the timeline and locations involved, you can check out the "Photos" and "Visualize" sections below.
Address
The address and GPS coordinates for the restaurant are as follows:
Address
35 1 Avenue North, Yorkton, Saskatchewan, SK S3N 1J3, Canada
GPS Coordinates
51.211539, -102.462634
51°12'41.54"N 102°27'45.48"W
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Area Information
Yorkton is a small city in the southeastern region of Saskatchewan.
📍 It is situated roughly 55 yards (50 meters) south of the intersection between Smith Street West and 1 Avenue North.
Photos
Photos of the restaurant and other related images.
Sacred Heart High School
On the morning of April 12, 2016, Bali's grandmother dropped her off at Sacred Heart High School on Gladstone Avenue North at around 8:10 a.m.
However, the teenager did not stick around for long. After putting a binder into her locker, she left the school via a back entrance at 8:25 a.m.
That morning, Bali was seemingly intent on visiting a local bank to withdraw money for reasons that remain unknown.
The previous day, she had asked a friend to give her a ride to TD Bank on Broadway Street.
She also claimed that she had $5,000 in her account. However, this was later proven to be false.
It is unclear whether Bali was lying to her friend or if she was genuinely expecting such a sum of money to be transferred into her account.
Bali's friend was unable to give her a ride that morning. Consequently, the 16-year-old decided to leave the school and walk to the bank by herself.
Coordinates: 51.220686, -102.475367
TD Bank
Bali arrived at TD Bank on Broadway Street East at exactly 8:51 a.m.
Because the bank hadn't opened yet, she waited outside and talked on her phone.
Notably, this call, like the rest of the calls that she made that day, was not logged under her regular billing account. This suggests that she was using a third-party app instead of the call feature on her phone.
Many social media apps have video and voice call features that operate via the Internet.
Although the police can retrieve certain data about these calls, doing so requires direct contact with the company that owns the app. For the Canadian authorities, this can be a drawn-out, bureaucratic process, as many of these social media companies are based in the United States.
In Bali's case, it reportedly took 10 months for investigators to gain access to some of her social media activity. Complicating matters even further was the fact that certain apps encrypt communication between their users.
When TD Bank opened at 8:55 a.m., Bali ended her phone call, walked over to the teller, and withdrew $55 in cash.
Coordinates: 51.210387, -102.458777
Terry's Pawn & Bargain
After leaving the bank, Bali walked westbound on Broadway Street East before heading north on 3rd Avenue.
At around 9 a.m., she entered Terry's Pawn & Bargain and attempted to sell a silver ring. However, the owner, Terry Heddon, refused to buy it due to its low value.
Bali's attempt to pawn her silver ring is telling, as it indicates that the teenager needed more than $55 to achieve her plans that day.
Heddon said that the teenager didn't appear to be upset. Following their conversation, she left the store and walked back toward Broadway Street.
Coordinates: 51.211034, -102.459707
Tim Hortons
Following her failed attempt to pawn a ring, Bali walked east along Broadway Street and continued past the bank that she had visited just minutes earlier.
Then, at roughly 9:10 a.m., she entered this Tim Hortons/Wendy's combo restaurant near Dracup Avenue.
Bali ordered a drink and sat in a booth in the Tim Hortons section by herself for about 15 minutes. Although she spent most of her time looking at her phone, the surveillance footage shows that she turned around at least three times to check who was entering the restaurant.
This may suggest that she was expecting someone else to arrive.
However, at the time, she was also ditching school. Therefore, she may have simply been on edge.
At one point, it seems as though she disassembles her phone. Unfortunately, the security camera was not close enough to capture exactly what she was doing.
Some have theorized that she may have been using a burner SIM card and that this would explain why her phone calls weren't being logged under her billing account. However, there are also a number of unremarkable reasons why she may have taken her phone apart.
For example, older Android phones would sometimes hang due to heavy app usage. To "fix this", it was common to take the battery out and put it back in again.
Another possibility is that she was checking to see if a certain component was dusty, clogged, or broken.
At around 9:23 a.m., Bali can be seen tapping her right hand on the table, almost as if she is anxiously trying to decide what her next move should be.
Seconds later, she grabs her backpack and heads toward the Tim Hortons entrance on the western side of the building. Then, for reasons that remain unknown, she stops at the western entrance, turns around, and heads for the eastern exit in the Wendy's section.
Coordinates: 51.209851, -102.451597
Bali left Tim Hortons
Bali's actions after leaving Tim Hortons were erratic.
Between 9:30 a.m. and 9:50 a.m., surveillance cameras captured her walking north on Eight Avenue and north on Sixth Avenue. She then returned to Tim Hortons via the parking lot beside Giant Tiger (bottom arrow).
During this 20-minute period, she was sending text messages and talking on the phone.
In the map above, you'll notice that we have highlighted the locations of three hotels.
Google Maps shows that Yorkton's hotels are mostly clustered in this section of the downtown area of the city. This may be significant due to Bali's actions after she returned to Tim Hortons.
Coordinates: 51.210694, -102.452542
Hotel
The 16-year-old returned to Tim Hortons at 9:50 a.m.
The security footage shows that she still had her phone up to her ear when she sat down at one of the booths.
At 10:12 a.m., Bali sent a cryptic text message to her friend, which read, "Hey, I need help."
Following another phone call, she texted her friend again and said, "Never mind, I figured it out."
Unfortunately, she never elaborated as to why she needed help, as the messages were not read until a later time.
At 10:25 a.m., Bali left Tim Hortons for the second time and returned after just one minute. Then, after seemingly talking on the phone again, she approached a woman in the restaurant (blue circle) and asked her to help her book a hotel room.
When the woman refused to help, the teenager put her phone back up to her ear, grabbed her backpack, and then left Tim Hortons for the third and final time.
Coordinates: 51.209872, -102.451826
Bali left Tim Hortons for the final time at 10:40 a.m
Bali left Tim Hortons at about 10:40 a.m. and proceeded westbound on Broadway Street.
She then turned to her left and walked down Seventh Avenue before turning around and heading back toward Broadway Street.
Following this short and unexplained detour, she continued westbound past the now-closed Ramada Hotel.
Unfortunately, Bali's whereabouts between 10:45 a.m. and 11:55 a.m. are currently unknown.
She returned to her school at 12 p.m.
Judging by Google Maps, a relatively fit adult can walk between Tim Hortons and Sacred Heart High School in 15-20 minutes. This means that there is a considerable 40-minute "gap" in her movements.
Coordinates: 51.210064, -102.455362
Bali returned to school at 12 p.m
Bali returned to her high school at 12 p.m. and approached two students in the main lobby.
During their short conversation, she claimed that she was planning on taking a bus trip to the city of Regina for a vacation.
Notably, one of the students later told investigators that Bali might have been carrying two phones.
Although this would explain the unrecorded phone calls, it is important to note that there doesn't seem to be a great degree of certainty surrounding this statement. Furthermore, a second phone is not visible in any of the surveillance footage.
Coordinates: 51.220412, -102.475366
Trail Stop Restaurant
Bali's meandering trip across Yorkton ultimately led her to the Trail Stop Restaurant at 35 1 Avenue North.
The last reliable sighting of the 16-year-old took place at this location.
Bali entered the restaurant at some point between 12:15 p.m. and 1 p.m. and ordered some poutine (fries topped with cheese curds and gravy).
She left between 1 p.m. and 1:45 p.m. and was never seen again.
An employee at the depot said that Bali approached her and asked what time the bus was leaving. After being told that the bus was departing at 5 p.m., she left without purchasing a ticket.
Frustratingly, sources differ on when this interaction occurred.
One source states that it happened at around 12 p.m., while others say that it occurred sometime between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.
If the latter, broader timeline is correct, then it may explain at least some of the "gap" in Bali's journey between Tim Hortons and her high school.
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