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It was the larger number of tips from the public on the deaths and disappearances along the Highway of Tears that prompted RCMP to add more officers to the case.
The two members are based at North District headquarters and will be members of the ongoing team of investigators working on the rash of tragedies across the North.
"The two members in Prince George were added due to the volume of tips they were dealing with through Operation E-Pana," said provincial RCMP spokesman Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre. "Obviously a lot of that information is centred in the North, where these members are located."
E-Pana is the operational name given to the Highway of Tears cluster of investigations, which centre on 18 females who have either disappeared or been murdered. Many met their mysterious fate along Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert.
The victims and the year they went missing are: Gloria Moody, Williams Lake, 1969; Micheline Pare, Hudson Hope, 1970; Gale Weys, Clearwater, 1973; Pamela Darlington, Kamloops, 1973; Monica Ignas, Terrace, 1974; Colleen MacMillen, 100 Mile House, 1974; Monica Jack, Merritt, 1978; Maureen Mosie, Kamloops, 1981; Shelly-ann Bascu Hinton, Alta., 1983; Alberta Williams, Prince Rupert, 1989; Romona Wilson, Smithers, 1994; Roxanne Thiara, found in Burns Lake, 1994; Alishia Germaine, Prince George, 1994; Lana Derrick, Terrace, 1995; and Nicole Hoar missing from Prince George, 2003.
Investigations into the disappearance of Tamara Chipman of Prince Rupert in 2005 and the murder of Aielah Saric Auger of Prince Gorge in 2006 are being conducted by local agencies, who are in close contact with the E-Pana investigators.
The original Highway of Tears focus started with nine of these victims, then another nine victims were added in October to the investigative database for reasons so far undisclosed by Mounties.
Lemaitre said the new files "all have some kind of common bonds with the original files, like women, age group, vulnerable situations by themselves" but so do many others who are inexplicably not in the mix.
Activities in the public about the victims, including regular meetings between victims' families and the RCMP, have generated a spike in tips, in the past several months. Lemaitre said he believes there are those who know something but have held on to the information.
"We are trying to reach out to the ones who were hesitant or who maybe felt what they had wasn't important," he said. "We have to renew that message that please, let us know, there is no downside to doing that. You can do it through Crime Stoppers and never have to give your name and you'll never have to go to court."
Crime Stoppers can be reached at 1-800-222-TIPS / www.pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca. The E-Pana investigators in Prince George can be reached at 561-3100.
Highway of Tears task force update promising:Wilson
By Thom Barker
THE INTERIOR NEWS
March 14, 2007
The RCMP are making good on their promise to keep the families of Highway of Tears victims in the loop.
On March 2, Supt. Leon Van der Walle, head of the Highway of Tears task force was in Smithers to give an update.
"It was fairly good, actually," said Matilda Wilson, mother of Ramona Wilson who disappeared in 1994 and whose remains turned up almost a year later.
"They're still not going to give us all the details, but everything sounds pretty promising."
Wilson said she realizes making headway on her daughter's murder is a long shot, but the police force's new commitment to communication gives them hope.
"That's a plus for us because now we know they're working hard at what they're doing," she said.
Wilson told The Interior News the families were informed of several initiatives the RCMP are undertaking including profiling, investigating locations and putting out the word to anglers, hunters and people who work in the bush to be on the lookout for potential clues.
"It takes a long time because there's so many logging roads that need to be looked at," Wilson said.
Meanwhile, Ray Michalko, the Surrey private investigator also continues to work the case.
"I just spent some time in Kamloops chasing down some Tears leads and am going to be working in Smithers sometime between April 14 and 18," he told The Interior News.
Michalko said he has several people of interest to talk to and will pass any information he gathers on to RCMP investigators.
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