CANADA Canada - Shelly Bacsu, 16, Hinton, AB, 3 May 1983

Two years later, on May 3, 1983, 16-year-old Shelly Ann Bacsu vanished near Hinton, Alberta. She was walking west on Highway 16 from her boyfriend's parents' trailer to her home about five kilometres away. It is the only Alberta case on the Highway of Tears list.

Some of the Grade 9 student's clothing and her school books were found near the Athabasca River, but her body was never recovered.

Two people reported seeing someone getting into or being pushed into a van, possibly with a B.C. licence plate, on Highway 16 west of Hinton about the time Shelly Ann disappeared.

The girl's devastated parents, Sandy and Muriel Bacsu, told the Edmonton Journal shortly after her disappearance that "she's our baby and we won't stop looking until we find her."

Her case remains unsolved.

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Richard said:

Shelly Anne Bacsu
Missing since May 3, 1983 from Hinton, Alberta, Canada.
Classification: Non-Family Abduction

Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: April 7, 1967
Age at Time of Disappearance: 16 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'0; 90 lbs
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; brown eyes.
Medical Conditions: Bacsu has rhumatoid arthritis and a hearing impairment.
Marks, Scars: Bacsu has freckles on her face and a small scar on her forehead.
Clothing: A gray jacket, a purple sweater, a red sweater, blue jeans and blue/gray cougar runners. She had a ring with a green stone, opal stone earings and a necklace with two red hearts.
Dentals: Her teeth were in perfect condition at the time of her disappearance
AKA: Shelly Anne Urban

Circumstances of Disappearance

Bacsu was last seen at approximately 8:30 PM on May 3, 1983 as she walked down Highway 16 towards her home near Highway 40 in Hinton, Alberta.

Following her disappearance, articles of her clothing were found near the Athabasca River, but she has never been recovered.

At first, authorities suspected that she had run away, but after the articles of her clothing were found, they believe foul play may be involved.

Investigators
If you have any information on Bacsu's wherabouts, please contact:

Royal Canadian Mounted Police
K Division, Hinton Detachment
780-865-5544

Email: kdivision.webmaster@rcmp-grc.gc.ca


You may submit tips on an anonymous basis.

NCMEC #:RCMP8913038

NCIC Number: M-257336453

Please refer to these numbers when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
Edmonton Journal
The Doe Network: Case File 28DFAB

LINK:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/28dfab.html

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Found remains near Hinton renew hope for family

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The mystery is considered to be part of the Highway of Tears murders and disappearances. At least 18 young women and girls went missing from locations along the Yellowhead highway and its intersecting highways 97 and 5. Thirteen of the cases have been declared homicides, and besides the local disappearance of Shelly-Anne, all of the incidents occurred in British Columbia between 1969 and 2005.

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Chickadea said:

Here is something more current.



http://www.hintonparklander.com/2013/05/03/shelly-anne-still-missing-after-30-years

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[h=1]RCMP cold case unit seeks leads on three missing Alberta women[/h]

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The oldest cold case is that of Bacsu, who was reported missing near Hinton, 290 km west of Edmonton, on May 3, 1983.

The 16-year-old, who had brown hair and brown eyes, was last seen around 8 p.m. after she left a friend’s house in the Sunset Trailer Park on the western outskirts of Hinton.

Investigators said Bacsu was walking home, a distance of around seven kilometres. Witnesses saw the teenager, who was carrying her school books, cut through the trailer park before walking westbound on Highway 16. Friends and family members grew worried when she didn’t arrive home by 9:30 p.m., and by 11:30 p.m., she had been reported missing to the RCMP.

A dark-coloured van was reported near where Bacsu was last seen, but a Western Canada-wide search for the van failed to turn up any leads. A few days after she went missing, searchers found some of Bacsu’s belongings near the Athabasca River. However, Bacsu’s remains have never been found.

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Zazulak said social media and advances in DNA evidence can yield new information in cold cases.

He also appealed to the public for information — including from the potential killers.

“Either come forward and take responsibility for what happened, or at least extend some kindness and compassion to the families and provide us with the location of their remains anonymously.”

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Cold Case: A look inside the Alberta RCMP’s Historical Homicide Unit

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Standing at RCMP K Division Headquarters in Edmonton last Wednesday, an investigator held up a tiny grey jacket. It was obviously dated; dirt caked around its edges, blue pen marks, rips and tears and most notably, a red evidence tag on its zipper.

Inside the pocket was a library card that helped police identify its owner back in 1983.

Her name was Shelly-Ann Bacsu.

The 16-year-old left her friend’s house in Hinton, Alta. more than 30 years ago. She was walking the seven kilometres home but never arrived.

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More than three decades later, Bacsu’s family and police are still looking for answers.

“It’s a case that is still open,” Zazulak said. “It has been worked and reviewed and had different techniques applied to [it] over the years and we continue to do that today.”

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But it’s more than just DNA. The unit works closely with forensic laboratories to ensure any advancement means a re-evaluation of what they already have collected, like fingerprints, shoe prints or tire prints from a scene.

“The development of a database of different footwear has helped us over time,” Zazulak said. “The more cases we submit to those databases, over time, the more robust and useful the databases become.”

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