First search for missing former principal Jill Tardiff turns up nothing

Friends and family of missing Jill Tardiff are frantic with worry about what may have happened to the Winnipeg woman, who they say was released too soon from depression treatment at hospital.

"Absolutely she was let out too soon. I don't know if she fooled them or I don't know," said Debbie Lazaruk, Tardiff's best friend.

"I just wish professionals knew more about the disease; that they could have seen that it was too early."

Lazaruk said Tardiff, 61, has suffered from depression for years and had been in Seven Oaks Hospital for about a month before being released about a week ago.

"They thought she was doing well enough and probably she thought she was too, but anti-depressant medication can go up and go down with efficacy. It takes a while to really know whether it's working or not," said Lazaruk.

She said Tardiff got married, for the second time, just this summer. It was her husband, Jim Young, who woke up Monday at 5:30 a.m. and discovered she was gone.

Young said the couple ran some errands on the Friday before she disappeared. They were supposed to pack to go to the lake for the long weekend but Tardiff decided she didn't want to go, saying they couldn't afford it.

She had recently become convinced they didn't have money, which Young said is not the case. On Friday evening she went to bed and when he went to see how she was, she told him she had taken some pills.

Young took her to St. Boniface hospital, where they stayed until being discharged at about 6 p.m. Saturday evening. When they returned home, Tardiff went back to bed and stayed there throughout the weekend.

Young went to bed Sunday night and when he woke up the next morning, Tardiff was gone. She didn't take anything with her — no purse, keys, etc. Young said she's never done that before.

"We have a 61-year-old woman -- out of character for her to go missing like this," said Const. Eric Hofley. "We have a concerned family and investigators are doing all that they can to try and bring her home safely."

Search planned Tuesday night at Whittier Park

The WRHA issued a statement on Tuesday, saying, "The health system has a responsibility to ensure patients discharged from hospital are medically fit for discharge, and that they can leave the hospital safely. It is important to remember that discharge from hospital does not always mean a patient is fully recovered."

The statement continued, "It means, however, that the patient's condition no longer requires acute care in a hospital."

Officials with the WRHA said the decision to discharged patients is done in consultation with patients, their family (if the patient consents) and is based on clinical judgment.

Often times, doctors or nurses will give instructions for post-hospital care, officials said.

Mollie Erickson, a former student of Tardiff's said students from Tec Voc, Kelvin and some adult education students organized a search at Whittier Park at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

"She made a great impact on a lot of the students that she worked with through the years. I'm from Tec Voc, and I also know her niece who was also from Tech Voc, and it's just community – it's how it goes," she said.

Searchers combed the area for hours, but ultimately, turned up nothing.

'She might not know where she is'

Video surveillance shows her leaving her condo in the St. Boniface neighbourhood around 1:20 a.m. Monday.

​Tardiff is described as five foot four inches tall, 120 pounds, with short brown hair that has blonde highlights.

She was wearing a light coloured T-shirt with horizontal stripes, black pants, blue and white running shoes, glasses, and was carrying a blue fabric grocery bag.

Lazaruk is urging the public to keep an eye out.

"Take a look at that picture and look at places [in your neighbourhood]. I don't know what her state of mind is. She may be hiding somewhere, she might not know where she is," she said.

"She's on different medications and they could be affecting the way that she thinks."

Tardiff, who is retired, was a principal and vice principal at several high schools in Winnipeg and "extremely well liked," said Lazaruk.

"In between the bouts of depression she's been a wonderful, wonderful friend that I've known since I was six years of age. [She] was one of those people who would do anything for anybody," she said.

Police are concerned for Tardiff's well being and are asking anyone with information on her whereabouts to contact them at 204-986-6250.