Wilson Grant Nokohoot was last seen in Regina on May 30, 2008. (Regina Police Service)

Blaine Nokohoot is trying not to give up hope, but after more than a year without a phone call or a visit from his cousin Wilson Nokohoot, he thinks his missing relative could be dead.

The two men used to see each other almost every day. They would spend time rummaging through dumpsters in their downtown Regina neighbourhood, searching for bottles they could return for extra money. Then in May 2008, Wilson Nokohoot stopped coming around.

The 44-year-old man was last seen on May 30, 2008, on Smith Street in Regina. His family contact the police in August, after he stopped picking up his cheques from a trust fund set up with compensation money he received for the years he spent at Gordon's Indian Residential School.

"Something happened to him. I don't know what, but I doubt if I will ever see him again," Blaine Nokohoot said about his missing cousin.

"I'd like to know what really happened," Nokohoot said. "We'd like to know for sure, so we can get some kind of memorial going."

No evidence of foul play

Nokohoot's disappearance is one of 238 open cold-case files currently in the hands of RCMP or city police forces in Saskatchewan.

A case goes "cold" after being open and unsolved for six to 24 months after an initial disappearance or death.

Long-term missing-persons files make up the majority of the cases, but they also include unsolved homicides and unidentified human remains.

Regina police don't have any answers for the Nokohoot family. Const. Michelle Solomon, who works in the missing person unit for the Regina Police Service, said investigators haven't found any signs of the missing man.

"We have talked to several family members and friends and we haven't had that brought up — that he would be a specific target for any reason," Soloman told CBC News.

She said investigators have followed up tips and leads from the community, and haven't found any evidence of foul play.

But Wilson Nokohoot's family still worry that he may have been mixed up with the wrong people.

"I figured something was wrong right away cause he was into solvent abuse, so were his friends, and I figured something happed from there," said Blaine Nokohoot.

Nokohoot told CBC News that the police still visit him occasionally, but they never have any new information about where his cousin might be. For now, Nokohoot is trying to accept the idea that he may never see his cousin again.

His wife, Harriet Kahnapace, is trying to stay optimistic. "I pray and maybe one of these days he'll show up on the doorstep, you know," Kahnapace said. "It's hard, because you don't want to accept that he might really be gone."

There are 238 open cold-case files currently in the hands of RCMP or city police forces in Saskatchewan.