RCMP demanding DNA samples from Highway of Tears taxi drivers: company
Tiffany Crawford, Postmedia News: Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Read it on Global News: RCMP demanding DNA samples from Highway of Tears taxi drivers: company
Families yearn for closure as the police search continues; Investigation focuses on Nicole Hoar but 17 others vanished
BY LAURA STONE, THE PROVINCE
FEBRUARY 15, 2011
Along the Highway of Tears, the possibility of one family's closure bleeds into the minds of 17 others.
Nicole Hoar, a 25-year-old tree-planter from Alberta, went missing from Highway 16 near Prince George over seven years ago. On Friday, police said they were looking for her remains on a two-hectare property in Isle Pierre, about 30 km northwest of the city.
"It's been so frustrating, not knowing what has happened to these girls," said Matilda Wilson, whose 15-year-old daughter Ramona went missing from the Highway of Tears -- a 700-kilometre stretch from Prince George to Prince Rupert -- on June 11, 1994.
Ramona's remains were found April 1995 near the Smithers Airport.
"The closure, that's one thing -- I won't say it's good, but it's very important for families. Although it hurts," she said. "It's your baby. It's your daughter."
Highway of Tears Revisited
Since 1969, 18 women have died or disappeared along a notorious B.C. road. So why is intense, investigative coverage fading along with them?
Adriana Rolston
Summer 2010, Ryerson Review of Journalsim
Travelling west on Yellowhead Highway 16, Vancouver Sun reporter Neal Hall took in the loneliness of the road, especially desolate in 23-below December weather. The isolated landscape was beautiful as the sun climbed and dipped, blushing the tips of the mountains in pink hues. After driving for an hour or more and not glimpsing a house, he thought, “This is the perfect place, if somebody were hitchhiking, to pick them up, kill them and ditch them somewhere in the bush.”
Hall steered his rented SUV toward Prince Rupert, B.C., some 750 kilometres northwest of Vancouver. He wanted to see the spot where Tamara Chipman was last seen hitchhiking before disappearing on September 21, 2005. Now, months later, Hall’s editor had sent him to drive Highway 16, known as the Highway of Tears. The 3,500-kilometre highway begins its mainland stretch in Prince Rupert, curves north toward Terrace, dips down and heads east to Prince George before snaking through Alberta, Saskatchewan and ending in Macdonald, Manitoba. The RCMP had been actively investigating cases involving 18 teenage girls and young women who had been murdered or gone missing since 1969 along the 720-kilometre stretch linking Prince Rupert and Prince George.
Hall had plenty of experience covering such investigations, having worked the crime beat at the Sun since 1986, including reporting the trial of serial killer Clifford Olson. On this trip, he spent three days talking with Chipman’s family, volunteer searchers, a criminology professor at Northwest Community College in Terrace, locals and RCMP officer Fred Maile, who had helped solve the Olson case. Hall’s resulting 2,700-word feature focused on community concerns as well as the family’s agonizing search for something that belonged to their daughter—a piece of clothing, jewellery—that might lead to her discovery. He says he couldn’t have conveyed that detail if he had not driven the highway. “You can’t describe it unless you experience it first-hand. It’s invaluable to impart to your reader.”
Funding for Highway of Tears investigation almost doubled, police say
Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun: Friday, January 23, 2009
VANCOUVER – An investigative police team probing the murders or disappearances of 18 young women in northern B.C. has increased it budget to $3.6 million this year, up from $2.1 million spent in previous years, police announced Thursday.
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"The RCMP is fully committed to pursuing each of the identified investigations in order to bring successful conclusion to as many of the investigations as possible and closure to the families” Vancouver RCMP Chief Supt. Richard Bent said in a prepared statement after the meeting.
He assured the victims' families that the RCMP is committed to catch "the person or persons responsible for their loved ones disappearance or murder."
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Anyone with any information about the 18 files should contact the Unsolved Homicide Tip Line at 1-877-543-4822 or if they wish to remain anonymous Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
Treat ‘Highway of Tears’ victims as women first, police told
PATRICK BRETHOUR
From Monday's Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010 10:49PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010 3:07PM EST
With each discovery of another dead woman found along the so-called Highway of Tears, Gladys Radek relives the pain of the loss of her 22-year-old niece, missing since 2005.
But this time, Ms. Radek’s pain is tinged with anger, over the RCMP’s statement that a woman’s body was found Oct. 8 in a wooded area of Prince George frequented by prostitutes.