Toronto filmmaker believes missing crowdfunded money may have wound up in Calgary

It appears to be a case of one step forward and two steps back for a Toronto filmmaker who's crowdfunded production money has been missing for months.

As CBC Toronto first reported Monday, the money went missing in March, Kelly Showker says, shortly after the end of her Indiegogo campaign, which she launched to pay for a documentary about the ordeal and trial of Mandi Gray, who was sexually assaulted by a fellow York University student in 2015.

• $12K raised to fund doc is missing, and no one seems to know where it's gone

A one-digit error in the transit code meant no one was sure exactly which Royal Bank account the money had disappeared to, she said.

Showker says she found out this week that RBC now knows where the money went. But she said she's been told that the customer who received it in error is refusing to give it up.

So she's launched a YouTube campaign in effort to find the person and convince them to return the money.

RBC has not confirmed Showker's assertions.

"Somebody in Calgary has the money and they may already have spent it, or the may still have it," she told CBC Toronto on Wednesday. "We're asking the person who has our funds in Calgary to please come forward and help our film get made.

"We had 108 people donate and none of them have had their funds go to the person the funds were intended for."
 
Mandi Gray's mother, Sheryl Gray, who donated $3,000 to the campaign, has a message for the person who they believe wound up with the money.

"This isn't a lottery; you didn't win it," she said from Winnipeg, where she lives, on Wednesday. "It belongs to someone else, and you're hurting people by not doing the right thing and giving it back."

The YouTube video features Showker and Gray holding up a series of placards on which they've written a narrative of the problems they've faced. They appeal for help in locating the person in Calgary who they believe has the money.

The film is called Slut or Nut: The Diary of a Rape Trial. It deals with Mandi Gray's struggles after she was sexually assaulted and her high-profile court case. Her attacker was convicted earlier this year, but the case is being appealed.

As well as telling Gray's story, the unfinished documentary is billed as a teaching tool for other young women who may someday face the same ordeal.

RBC, Indiegogo say they're looking for a solution

RBC issued a statement Tuesday. It reads: "We recognize that this is a difficult situation for our client and have advised her on the steps she needs to take with Indiegogo to recover the funds for her film."
 
Indiegogo says its bank is working with RBC to find a solution to Showker's dilemma.