Disappearance of Mekayla Bali

Mekayla Bali (born Mekayla Margaret Kim Niebergall on July 2, 1999, in Regina, Saskatchewan) went missing from her hometown of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, on April 12, 2016. She lived with her mother, aunt, maternal grandmother, and two younger siblings, and was in 11th grade at the time, playing violin and participating in her school's drama club. Her mother described her as shy and quiet, and friends called her caring and attentive to others' needs.

Using witness statements and hundreds of hours of surveillance camera footage, investigators reconstructed much of Bali's movements on the day she disappeared. She was driven to school by her grandmother, seen on camera placing a binder in her locker at 8:21 a.m., and left through the back entrance at 8:30 a.m. Cameras subsequently tracked her walking along railroad tracks, attempting to pawn a ring at a local pawn shop, withdrawing money from her bank account, and spending an extended period in and around a combined Tim Hortons/Wendy's restaurant, where she used her phone repeatedly and briefly asked an older patron for help renting a hotel room. She also inquired at the local STC Bus Depot about a bus to Regina but left without buying a ticket, later returned to school for lunch and told two classmates she was planning a bus trip to Regina, then was last seen leaving the Trail Stop Restaurant near the bus depot between 1:00 and 1:45 p.m. Her phone was turned off the following morning, and neither her phone, bank account, nor passport has shown activity since.

The case was initially investigated by the Yorkton RCMP, who made a public appeal for information on April 14, 2016. The investigation was later transferred to the RCMP's General Investigations Section and, after one year, to the RCMP Historical Case Unit. Child search alerts were issued for several provinces in July 2017 and expanded nationally in December 2017. In August 2017, RCMP conducted a three-day ground search near Bali's high school but found no new evidence. Police identified a person of interest — a man seen leaving the restaurant with Bali who was later located and questioned — but no suspect has been named and police have stated they have no evidence of foul play, treating the case as a missing person investigation.

Numerous reported sightings have been investigated over the years, including possible sightings in Vancouver in 2016, at an event in Alberta in January 2017, in Edmonton in 2019, and in Penticton in 2020, none of which have been confirmed as Bali. Her family has raised a reward for information, which has fluctuated over time and reached as high as $100,000 (CAD) by the sixth anniversary of her disappearance. The case has received extensive media coverage, including podcasts, a television documentary, and a long-form news feature, as well as significant attention on video-sharing platforms following the release of surveillance footage by the RCMP. Theories about her fate discussed publicly include that she ran away, died by suicide, was trafficked, or was targeted by an online predator, though none have been confirmed by investigators.