Aged 24, found murdered Sept. 25, 1989. Last seen in August 1989.
http://www.highwayoftears.ca/Missing Index/albertawilliams.htm
http://www.missingpeople.net/rcmp_step_up_investigation.htm
On the last weekend of August 1989, Alberta Williams, 24, and her older sister Claudia, seasonal staff at the Prince Rupert canneries, were celebrating the end of their summer jobs.
"It was the end of the season, the last pay day," Claudia recalled in a recent interview.
Alberta was sitting beside a man in the pub. Claudia didn't trust him, but at closing time Alberta said she was going to a party at the man's house.
Claudia looked away from her sister for a moment. "Then I turned around and my sister was gone," Claudia recalled. She never saw Alberta alive again.
The man who had the house party denied that Alberta had been at his place that night, Claudia said.
A few weeks later, Alberta's body was found 37 km east of Prince Rupert. She had been strangled and raped, Claudia said.
"It was very sad. My sister and I were close ... I could just imagine what she went through because she was so petite," Claudia said.
The family remains disappointed by the police investigation. "I think there's justice, it's just a matter of following through and getting on the police more to do their job," said Claudia.
Episode 1
The tip
Note - The transcript below is taken from the podcast of Missing & Murdered: Who Killed Alberta Williams? We encourage you to listen to the podcast as some of the material is better conveyed in audio format. This transcript may contain errors, please refer to the audio in the podcast to ensure accuracy.
As a journalist, you spend a lot of time searching for a good story.
Deciding which ones to research, which ones to pitch, and which ones to let go.
But sometimes a story chooses you.
And call me superstitious but I think this story found the exact right person at the exact right time.
Im an investigative reporter at CBC News in Toronto and I remember it was just before lunch last October, when I got the tip that started this unbelievable journey.
You hear of journalists getting anonymous phone calls from whistleblowers, or brown secret envelopes filled with secret documents, but this tip came to me in the most mundane way.
By email.
I didnt recognize the sender but the subject jumped out at me right away.
Intrigued, I clicked it open.
I still get chills when I think about what it said.
She was murdered by **** ***** ******
That was it.
Just one sentence long.
But it was the beginning of a journey that would take my producer, Marnie Luke, and me, across the country, and into the centre of an unsolved murder.
She was murdered by **** ***** ******.
For now, were concealing the identity of the person named in that email. For legal and ethical reasons, we cant point a finger at someone in an unsolved murder without more information.
After reading the email, I immediately Googled Alberta Williams case.
Episode 7
The Notebooks
We go back to Garry Kerr's police notebooks and hear from some new sources.
She sent us these illustrations of the van, and one of the men she remembers seeing with Alberta.
They've never spoken to police, but contacted us to say they saw Alberta get into a black truck with three white guys outside of the bar that Friday night
[h=1]CBC podcast uncovers new information in unsolved murder of Alberta Williams[/h]
[h=3]24-year-old Indigenous woman was found dead in 1989 in forest along B.C.'s Highway 16[/h] By Marnie Luke, CBC News Posted: Dec 19, 2016
.More than 27 years after police "hit a brick wall" in their investigation into the murder of a B.C. woman named Alberta Williams, the RCMP say the case is now "very active" because of new details revealed in a CBC News podcast.
"I can say that because of the podcast, we're getting information," said the RCMP's Wayne Clary, referring to Missing & Murdered: Who Killed Alberta Williams?, an eight-part podcast and online series that launched Oct. 25.
"I would say [the case is] very active right now," Clary said. He refused to elaborate on the new information being pursued and didn't say whether it was information that was broached in the podcast or came directly to the RCMP.
Some of the new details uncovered in the podcast came out through interviews with people who were with Williams on Friday, Aug. 25, 1989, the night she was thought to have disappeared, as well as eyewitnesses who say they saw her the following day.
Previously, the last known sighting of Alberta was on the Friday night.
"The media can be so helpful in these old cases," said Clary, who works with the RCMP's E-PANA unit, which was established in 2005 to try to find the person or people responsible for 18 unsolved cases along B.C.'s Highway 16 — the so-called Highway of Tears
[h=3]Episode 8[/h] [h=1]Resilience[/h] [h=4]As a result of our investigation, the RCMP say they’re receiving new information about Alberta’s death.[/h]
Does anyone know if there have been developments on Alberta's case?
CBC's investigative podcast Missing & Murdered: Who Killed Alberta Williams, which explores the unsolved 1989 murder of an Indigenous woman in Prince Rupert, B.C., is one of the Canadian nominees for the 2017 Webby Awards. (CBC)
And I just came here 8 YEARS after you expecting/hoping for the same thing and ....nothing?? Wow, so sadI just listened to this full series podcast and came here thinking there would be more follow-up. I’m surprised they haven’t been able to solve it. How incredibly sad and frustrating for her family.