Police seek public’s help finding missing baby’s remains in Alberta homicide

Police in Alberta are asking for help to locate the remains of an infant whose mother, a 23-year-old Inuk woman from Cambridge Bay, was killed in their apartment in St. Albert, Alta., last year.

The Alberta RCMP major crimes unit says it now believes Ayla Egotik-Learn died last September, and not in December as previously reported. Originally from Cambridge Bay, she had moved to St. Albert in 2024.

The remains of her daughter, Braylee Beasley, who was about five months old last September, are believed to have been placed in a waste disposal bin outside Door 11 at the Sturgeon Point Villas Apartments in St. Albert sometime between mid-September and mid-November 2025, the RCMP news release said Tuesday.

Alberta RCMP are asking the public for information as they believe this waste disposal bin in St. Albert, Alta., may have held the remains of infant girl Braylee Beasley. (Photo courtesy of RCMP)

Police are asking anyone who may have disposed of large bedroom furniture — including a mattress, dresser, bedframe, nightstand or wardrobe — in that bin during that time to contact investigators.

People can also complete an online survey allowing police to contact individuals who may be witnesses in this homicide investigation.

“Knowing the date this furniture was disposed will significantly increase our investigators’ ability to identify a search site,” the RCMP survey says.

As of Thursday, Alberta RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Mathew Howell said the search continues and there are no updates.

The investigation began Jan. 23, when St. Albert RCMP responded to a report of a suspicious item at an apartment on Rivercrest Crescent and found human remains later identified as those of Egotik-Learn.

After discovering Egotik-Learn’s body, officers learned daughter Braylee was missing and have since been trying to find her.

On Jan. 29 at a St. Albert hotel, police located Egotik-Learn’s 33-year-old common-law partner, Christopher William Beasley, who is the father of the missing girl and who lived with them in the same apartment.

They charged Beasley with second-degree murder and two counts of indignity to a human body — one involving Egotik-Learn and one involving their daughter.

The murder charge relates only to Egotik-Learn.

In a January press conference, RCMP Insp. Wayne Stevenson said that although the search is ongoing police believe the baby is likely dead.

Family members have described the loss as devastating. A GoFundMe fundraiser launched Jan. 30 has raised over $10,000 toward a $16,000 goal so far.

“We should be celebrating milestones with baby Braylee — first words, first steps, her first birthday,” the GoFundMe says. “Her smile would light up a room. We need her found.”

The fundraiser says the money will help cover travel costs for Egotik-Learn’s family travelling between Nunavut and Alberta.