Dangerous person alert issued in Manitoba after woman abducted from home
CROSS LAKE — Mounties issued a dangerous person alert Thursday after a woman was abducted from a First Nation in northern Manitoba.
Officers were searching for Joshua Paupanekis, 39, alleging he fled with the woman after another person was attacked with a hammer in a home in Pimicikamak Cree Nation
RCMP said Paupanekis was armed with a knife and that they believed 20-year-old Raeanne Thomas was in immediate danger.
The alert lit up cellphones across the province. Multiple police units, along with police dogs, continued to scour the area well into the afternoon. Police said the suspect may have left the community.
“Our officers are doing everything they can to safely locate Raeanne and arrest the suspect,” Sergeant Paul Manaigre, a RCMP spokesperson, said in a press release.
The Mounties asked the public for information and said the suspect shouldn’t be approached as he’s considered armed and dangerous.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2026.
The Canadian Press
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