EDMONTON—The RCMP publicly apologized to the family of Amber Tuccaro for failing to properly investigate her disappearance nine years ago and unveiled a new poster for her ongoing murder investigation on Thursday.

Amber, a member of Mikisew Cree First Nation from Fort Chipewyan, disappeared from the Edmonton area on Aug. 18, 2010 while riding in a vehicle with an unknown man in rural Leduc County. Her remains were found on Sept. 1, 2012 in a rural area south of the city. She was 20 years old.

On Thursday, Alberta RCMP Deputy Commissioner Curtis Zablocki publicly apologized to the family at a press conference for a series of failings during the initial investigation.

“I fully acknowledge that the early days of our investigation into Amber’s disappearance required a better sense of urgency and care,” Zablocki said.

“The Leduc detachment’s initial missing persons investigation was not our best work and was not in line with our established policies and guidelines … On behalf of the RCMP, I am truly sorry.”

But for the Tuccaro family, it’s too little too late.

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Amber’s mother, Tootsie Tuccaro, pointed out at the press conference that an apology to the family was one of 17 recommendations in a report that came as a result of her complaint to the RCMP’s Civilian Review and Complaints Commission. Her son Paul noted that when they asked an officer they were dealing with in 2014 for an apology, he said it wasn’t warranted.

“As of right now, the apology doesn’t mean anything to me, because they did it because they were told to … An apology needs to be heartfelt. Not just words,” Tootsie said, adding she doesn’t accept the apology.

After Amber’s disappearance, RCMP released a recording of a telephone call where a man’s voice can be heard in the background saying they’re driving into the city as Amber fearfully asks where they are going. Police pleaded with the public to identify the voice if they recognized it, and even put photos of Amber and police contact information on billboards in the Edmonton area. But no one has ever come forward with information that led to charges.

“The most ironic thing about this case is we have a voice,” Tootsie said. “We have a voice of the person Amber last was with. And now I have to be Amber’s voice.”

She prays police will continue to make serious efforts to find Amber’s killer and that one day the perpetrator will be caught and charged. But she’s frustrated that the apology for the initial investigation’s failings comes nine years after Amber’s disappearance.

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission report, which was released to the family just under a year ago, discovered numerous failings in the initial missing persons investigation that minimized the significance of Amber’s disappearance.

Early in the investigation, Amber’s case was removed from a national missing persons database due to a report that she was found, and was not entered back in the system for more than a month.

A series of miscommunications resulted in police accidentally destroying a suitcase that contained Amber’s belongings three months after her disappearance. The complaints commission report found RCMP members failed to ensure the investigation was thorough, supervised and monitored.

Zablocki said numerous changes have been implemented in how the force now deals with missing persons files, both at Edmonton K Division, the Leduc detachment, and nationwide.

“Amber’s disappearance and the subsequent investigation has been a real catalyst for change in the RCMP in regard to missing persons investigations,” Zablocki said.

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Some of the officers involved in the initial investigation are no longer with the RCMP, Zablocki said, while others received a “remedial approach” to improve performance.

The RCMP has put greater emphasis on the importance of communication with families early in missing persons investigations, one area Zablocki acknowledged was “deficient” in the initial investigation.

They RCMP has also implemented mandatory reviews of missing persons files within 24 hours, followed by a 72-hour review, and they’ve enhanced the missing persons unit with more resources at K Division, Zablocki said.

There is now also an online missing persons training program that RCMP members must take, which is also being implemented at Depot, the RCMP’s national training headquarters.

Paul, Amber’s brother, said there needs to be timelines provided to families updating them on missing persons investigations and regular followup with the families so they don’t feel they’re being left in the dark.

“You can make all the change you want, but we want to see it, we want to be able to read it. Because anyone can say anything,” Paul said.

“If you’ve got a paper trail, that goes a long way.”

A lawyer for the family said they’re in talks with the RCMP about compensation.

Tootsie said her family has been lucky to have the support of people such as April Eve Wiberg, founder of Edmonton’s Stolen Brothers and Sisters Movement, and Muriel Stanley Venne, founder of the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women.

She noted many families don’t have the strength, patience or resources to continuously press police and get their stories out to the public. So she hopes her family’s effort will bring greater attention to missing and murdered women cases, and encourage families like hers to not give up.

“Every missing and murdered woman, they need the attention. They need to be in the news. There needs to be posters,” Tootsie said.

The last nine years have been very hard on the family, Tootsie said. She compared her pain to an open wound that continually gets worse.

She said she’ll remember Amber as a tough, resilient woman who loved her family deeply. She would always tell her mother, “You got this, mama.”

She hopes the new poster the RCMP unveiled will lead to fresh leads that could help close the case. But it also stirs painful memories. Tootsie remembers teasing Amber about her passion for singing and dancing, and how she hoped one day to be famous.

“She would tell me, ‘One of these days, mama, there’ll be a poster of me. A big billboard,’” Tootsie said. “Today, there’s a new poster for her. But not the way it’s supposed to be.”

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