E-Pana

Last updated

ProjectE-Pana is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) task force created in 2005 with the purpose of solving cases of missing and murdered persons along a section of Highway 16, all female, between Prince Rupert, British Columbia and Prince George, British Columbia, dubbed the Highway of Tears. Though it started with the scope of investigating victims of Highway 16, within a year of formation, it morphed to include victims along Highways 5, 24 and 97. It is no longer specifically dedicated to Highway of Tears cases. [1]

Contents

Origins

The name E-Pana was chosen from a concatenation of E from "E" Division, which is the RCMP division that has jurisdiction over British Columbia (BC), and Pana, which is the name of an Inuit goddess who cares for souls before heaven or reincarnation.

The task force was created during the Fall of 2005 in order to investigate a series of unsolved murders and disappearances along BC's Highway of Tears, and determine whether a serial killer or killers is operating there. In 2006, the Task Force took ownership of nine investigations. In 2007 the number of cases doubled from nine to eighteen. [2]

The criteria for case selection was changed around this time to more precisely define E-Pana victims.

E-Pana consists of 13 murder investigations and 5 disappearances, ranging in date from 1969 to 2006.

Victims list

Thirteen of the eighteen victims on the E-Pana list were teenagers; ten of aboriginal descent. [3]

The following criteria must be met by the victims in order to be added to the E-Pana list: [4]

  1. The victim was female;
  2. The victim was engaged in one or more 'high risk' behaviours, i.e., behaviours which would tend to place them in the control of strangers in isolated environments without witnesses (e.g. outside the sight and earshot of the bystanders), easy avenues of escape or sources of assistance – primary examples of this would be hitchhiking alone or sex work;
  3. The victim went missing from, or her body was found near, Highway 16 from Prince Rupert to Hinton, Highway 97 from Merritt to Fort Nelson, or Highways 5 and 24 connecting Valemount and 100 Mile House; and,
  4. The evidence indicated a stranger attack, i.e., no suspect was seen or identifiable and there was no grounds to believe that death was the result of suicide, misadventure or domestic violence.
NameAgeFateLast locationYearNotesHighway of TearsSuspectEthnicity
Gloria Moody26Homicide Williams Lake 1969She was last seen on October 25, leaving a bar in Williams Lake. Her body was found in the woods at a cattle ranch 10 km (6.2 mi) away.NoFirst Nations
Micheline Pare18Homicide Hudson's Hope 1970Last seen on Highway 29 at the gates of Tompkins Ranch situated between Fort St. John and Hudson's Hope. Two women who had given her a ride had dropped her off there. Her body was found at Hudson's Hope on August 8.NoCaucasian
Gale Weys19Homicide Clearwater 1973 (October)Disappeared while hitchhiking from Clearwater to Kamloops. Her body was found in a ditch on Highway 5 south of Clearwater. [5] No Bobby Jack Fowler is a person of interest. [6] Caucasian
Pamela Darlington19Homicide Kamloops 1973 (November)Vanished from Kamloops while hitchhiking to a local bar. Her body was found the next day. [5] No Bobby Jack Fowler is a person of interest. [6] Caucasian
Monica Ignas14Homicide Thornhill 1974 (December)She was believed to be going home from school when she was last seen at 11pm on December 13, 1974, in Thornhil. She was walking home alone. Her body was found in a gravel pit or a densely forested area on April 6, 1975, east of Terrace, near Celgar Forest Service Road. Two witnesses reported seeing a car pulled over to the side of the road the night Ignas vanished. [7] The pair saw a man and a passenger who looked like a girl inside the vehicle. Monica had been strangled. [8] YesCaucasian
Colleen MacMillen16Homicide 100 Mile House 1974 (August)Last seen leaving her home in Lac La Hache to hitchhike to a nearby friend's house. [5] NoDNA evidence reveals a match to convicted American rapist and murder suspect Bobby Jack Fowler, who had died in prison in 2006. He had been working in BC in 1974. [5] [6] Caucasian
Monica Jack12Homicide Merritt 1978 (May)Monica Jack was last seen riding her bike on May 6, 1978, near Nicola Lake. [9] For 17 years after she disappeared, Jack's fate was unknown. In June 1995, forestry workers found skeletal human remains in a ravine off a logging road on Swakum Mountain, about 20 km (12 mi) from where Monica's bike was found. Dental records and DNA testing confirmed her identity.NoGarry Taylor Handlen was charged October 22, 2018 for the murders of Monica Jack and 11-year-old Kathryn-Mary Herbert. On 18 January 2019, Handlen was convicted of the first degree murder of Monica Jack. [10] First Nations
Maureen Mosie33Homicide Kamloops 1981 (May)Maureen Mosie, 33, was believed to be hitchhiking from Salmon Arm to Kamloops in the B.C. Interior, when she was last seen on May 8, 1981. Her body was found the next day by a woman walking her dog along a road off the Trans-Canada highway about 16 km (9.9 mi) east of Kamloops. She had been severely beaten.NoCaucasian
Shelly-Anne Bascu16Missing Hinton, Alberta 1983Several days after disappearing, personal items including clothing and blood droplets matching her blood type were found near the Athabasca River. [11] NoCaucasian
Alberta Gail Williams24Homicide Prince Rupert 1989 (August)Alberta Williams went missing on Aug. 25, 1989. Her body was found on 25 Sept. 1989, about 37 km (23 mi) east of Prince Rupert, B.C., near the Tyee Overpass. She had been strangled and sexually assaulted. [12] YesFirst Nations
Delphine Nikal16Missing Smithers 1990 (June)Delphine Nikal vanished on June 13, 1990. The 15-year-old teenager was hitchhiking east from the town of Smithers, B.C.YesFirst Nations
Ramona Wilson16Homicide Smithers 1994

(June)

She was hitchhiking from Smithers to attend a dance and stay with friends in Hazelton, BC on June 1, 1994. Ramona's remains were found April 1995 north of Yellich Road near the Smithers Airport. Several items were in a small organized pile a few feet away.

Other objects nearby included a half-buried small section of rope, three interlocking nylon ties and a small pink "brass knuckles" type water pistol. [13] [14]

YesFirst Nations
Roxanne Thiara15Homicide Burns Lake 1994 (July)She went missing in Prince George on the July long weekend in 1994. She had worked as a prostitute and told a friend she was going out with a customer. She walked around the corner of a building and was never heard from again. Her body was found August 17, 1994, in the bush along Highway 16, 6 km (3.7 mi) east of Burns Lake. She knew victim Alisha Germaine [15] YesFirst Nations
Alishia 'Leah' Germaine15Homicide Prince George 1994 (December)She was found murdered on December 9, 1994, behind Haldi Road Elementary School off of Highway 16 W. outside of Prince George. Leah was stabbed to death. She knew victim Roxanne Thiara [15] YesFirst Nations
Lana Derrick19Missing Thornhill 1995 (October)She was last seen in October 1995 at a service station in Thornhill. [16] One rumor said she got into the car with two unidentified men. [17] YesFirst Nations
Nicole Hoar24Missing Prince George 2002 (June)Nicole Hoar was last seen hitchhiking to Smithers. Originally from Red Deer, Alberta, Nicole was last seen at a gas station at 5952 Gauthier Road, west of Prince George, on June 21, 2002, at approximately 14:50 talking to a 30-ish year old caucasian man in an orange car [18] YesPolice investigated convicted murderer Leland Vincent Switzer and searched his Isle Pierre property but didn't find any human remains. [19] [20] [21] Caucasian
Tamara Lynn Chipman22Missing Prince Rupert 2005 (September)Last seen in Prince Rupert, on September 25, 2005, while hitchhiking east on Highway 16 near the Industrial Park. [22] [23] YesFirst Nations
Aielah Saric Auger14Homicide Prince George 2006 (February)The body of Aielah Saric-Auger, 14, was found February 10, 2006 shortly after she went missing on February 2, 2006. [24] A motorist found Saric-Auger in a ditch on Highway 16 near Tabor Mountain, nearly 20 km (12 mi) east of Prince George.YesFirst Nations

Suspects and convictions

Investigators are confident that a single serial killer is not responsible for all of the E-PANA investigations. To date only one suspect has been charged in any of the E-Pana cases, Garry Taylor Handlen. Handlen was charged with the murder of 12 year old Monica Jack. [25] Bobby Jack Fowler is believed through DNA evidence to have been responsible for the murder of Colleen MacMillen, but died in prison before charges could be laid. Fowler is also the prime suspect in the murders of Gale Weys and Pamela Darlington. [6]

On September 25, 2012, the RCMP announced a link between the murders and Fowler. His supposed DNA was found on the body of Colleen MacMillen, one of the presumed victims. [26] Investigators first compiled a DNA profile of the perpetrator in 2007, but technology available at the time did not yield a strong enough sample. New technologies allowed police to re-examine the DNA in 2012, leading to the identification. [27] In addition, Fowler is also strongly suspected of having killed both Gale Weys and Pamela Darlington in 1973. The RCMP believe that he may have also killed as many as ten or possibly even twenty of the other victims. [26] [28] Several of the E-Pana murders took place after Fowler's arrest in June 1995.

In December 2014, a serial rapist named Garry Taylor Handlen was charged with the murders of Monica Jack and 11-year-old Kathryn-Mary Herbert. Police said that Handlen was previously a suspect, but they had not had enough evidence to charge him. According to CBC, the RCMP said that the December 2014 arrest was attributed in part to advances in forensic science, but the specific details were not released. [29] [30] Handlen was convicted on 17 January 2019, for the first degree murder of Monica Jack. The Crown prosecution's case was based largely upon Handlen's confession which was extracted as part of a Mr. Big sting operation. [10]

None of the solved E-Pana cases involve victims that were found or taken near the Highway of Tears. [31]

Funding and resources

In the 2009/2010 year, E-Pana received over five million dollars in annual funding but has since dramatically declined due to budget cutbacks; receiving only $806,109 for the 2013/2014 year. [32] In 2013, Craig Callens, the RCMP Deputy Commissioner, warned that further budget reductions from the provincial government would greatly affect investigations. [33] A 2014 Freedom of Information request stated that the task force had dropped from seventy officers to twelve officers since 2010. [34]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CBC Radio</span> Canadian broadcaster

CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Highway of Tears</span> Stretch of Highway 16 corridor, infamous for disappearances and murders of Indigenous women

The Highway of Tears is a 719-kilometre (447 mi) corridor of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert in British Columbia, Canada, which has been the location of crimes against many women, beginning in 1970 when the highway was completed. The phrase was coined during a vigil held in Terrace, British Columbia in 1998, by Florence Naziel, who was thinking of the victims' families crying over their loved ones. There are a disproportionately high number of Indigenous women on the list of victims, hence the association with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Controversies surrounding the Royal Canadian Mounted Police</span> List of controversial events (1920 - present) that involve the RCMP

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has a history dating back to 1873 and has been involved in several high-profile controversies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Pickton</span> Canadian serial killer (1949–2024)

Robert William Pickton, also known as the Pig Farmer Killer or the Butcher, was a Canadian serial killer and pig farmer. After dropping out of school, he left a butcher's apprenticeship to begin working full-time at his family's pig farm, and inherited it in the early 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobby Jack Fowler</span> American criminal (1939-2006)

Bobby Jack Fowler was an American rapist and suspected serial killer who was active in the United States and Canada from 1973 to 1995. He died in prison of lung cancer during a 16-year sentence following a conviction for rape, kidnapping and attempted rape in Newport, Oregon, in 1996.

Cody Alan Legebokoff is a Canadian serial killer convicted in 2014 by the British Columbia Supreme Court of murdering three women and one teenage girl, between 2009 and 2010, in or near the city of Prince George, British Columbia. He is one of Canada's youngest convicted serial killers, and his trial drew national attention. One of his victims, the 23-year-old Natasha Lynn Montgomery, has been included in the list of missing women and girls suspected as victims in the Highway of Tears murders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Lyle and Marie McCann</span> Double murder in British Columbia

Lyle and Marie McCann were last seen on July 3, 2010, while on a road trip from their hometown of St. Albert, Alberta, to Chilliwack, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. A few days later, their charred motorhome was discovered, resulting in a search that led to the arrest of Travis Vader. Vader was eventually charged with second-degree murder in the deaths of the McCanns, though their bodies have yet to be discovered. Vader was found guilty on September 15, 2016. On October 31, 2016, the second-degree murder conviction was reversed and Vader was convicted of manslaughter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women</span>

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), also known as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and more broadly as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) or Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP), are instances of violence against Indigenous women in Canada and the United States, notably those in the First nations in Canada and Native American communities, but also amongst other Indigenous peoples such as in Australia and New Zealand, and the grassroots movement to raise awareness of MMIW through organizing marches; building databases of the missing; holding local community, city council, and tribal council meetings; and conducting domestic violence trainings and other informational sessions for police.

<i>Highway of Tears</i> (film) 2015 Canadian film

Highway of Tears is a 2015 Canadian documentary film directed by Matthew Smiley and narrated by Nathan Fillion. The film concerns the notorious Highway of Tears cases on British Columbia Highway 16 from 1969 to the present.

Dana Nicole Bradley was a 14-year-old girl who disappeared in St. John's, Newfoundland on 14 December 1981. Last seen hitchhiking on Topsail Road in St. John's, her body was discovered four days later in a wooded area south of the city. An intense and highly publicized investigation followed, and in 1986 a man confessed to her murder, but later recanted. As of 2024, the homicide case remains open and unsolved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Double murder of Andrea Scherpf and Bernd Göricke</span>

Andrea Scherpf and Bernd Göricke were a young German tourist couple shot and killed in Chetwynd, Canada in early October 1983. A Canadian was convicted of the murders in 1991, but was later exonerated by DNA evidence and released. The case remains unsolved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Marrisa Shen</span> 2017 child murder in Burnaby, British Columbia

Marrisa Shen was a 13-year-old Canadian girl who was raped and murdered in a wooded area in Central Park, in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Shen was reported missing by her parents on the evening of July 18, 2017, after she failed to return home from what was supposed to be a brief trip to a nearby Tim Hortons. Early the next morning, police located her body in the park by tracking the GPS device inside her mobile phone. The RCMP stated the attack appeared to be random. After Shen's murder, the RCMP told parents to talk to their children about safety and warned the public to be vigilant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Madison Scott</span> Missing person from British Columbia, Canada

Madison "Maddy" Geraldine Scott was a Canadian woman who disappeared on 28 May 2011, after a party she attended at Hogsback Lake, 25 kilometers southeast of Vanderhoof, British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Helen Claire Frost</span> Missing person, British Columbia, Canada

Helen Claire Frost went missing on October 13, 1970, four days before her 18th birthday, after telling her sister Sandy that she was going for a walk. She had recently broken up with her boyfriend, and had given up her firstborn child for adoption earlier that year. Frost left her apartment on the 1600 block of Queensway in Prince George, British Columbia and has not been seen since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Jean Virginia Sampare</span> Missing person, British Columbia, Canada

Jean Virginia (Ginny) Sampare is a Canadian woman who went missing on Thursday, October 14, 1971, outside Gitsegukla, British Columbia, Canada. She was last seen by her cousin near the railroad overpass on Highway 16 outside of Gitsegukla. Sampare's cousin, who was walking with her, went to get a jacket or a bike from his home and when he came back Sampare was gone. Despite the police and local community searching nearby areas for her for the 8 days following her disappearance, their efforts proved unsuccessful. She has not been seen since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Lisa Marie Young</span> Nanaimo BC woman missing since 2002

Lisa Marie Young was a 21-year-old Indigenous Canadian who disappeared from Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada on June 30, 2002. She had attended a local nightclub and two house parties, before accepting a ride to a fast-food restaurant, from a man, Christopher William Adair, she and her friends met earlier at the club. Although Young has never been found, her disappearance is being investigated as a homicide.

The 2019 Northern British Columbia homicides were a spree killing that took place on the Alaska Highway and Stewart–Cassiar Highway in British Columbia, Canada, between July 14–19, 2019. Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky are believed to have killed Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese, before killing Leonard Dyck within a six-day time frame.

Amber Alyssa Tuccaro was a Canadian First Nations woman from Fort McMurray, Alberta, who went missing in 2010. Tuccaro was last seen near Edmonton, hitchhiking with an unidentified man. Her remains were found in 2012. As of 2024, her case is still unsolved.

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-08-19. Retrieved 2018-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ↑ Hall, Neal. "Police reveal details of E-Pana investigation into 18 female unsolved cases in northern B.C." www.vancouversun.com. Archived from the original on 2018-10-01. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  3. ↑ "Those Who Take Us Away: Abusive Policing and Failures in Protection of Indigenous Women and Girls in Northern British Columbia" (PDF). Human Rights Watch.
  4. ↑ "Working Together to End Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls National Scan of RCMP Initiatives May 2017". www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca. Government of Canada, Royal Canadian Mounted Police. 2017-05-31. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Culbert, Lori (2012-09-24). "Victim's family still heartbroken after dead U.S. sex offender linked to Highway of Tears slaying (with video)". Canada.com. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Culbert, Lori. "Bobby Jack Fowler, dead U.S. sex offender, linked to three B.C. 'Highway of Tears' murders". www.ottawacitizen.com. Archived from the original on 2018-09-30. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  7. ↑ "Cold case murder: 14-year-old girl vanishes along Highway of Tears". Global News. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  8. ↑ "Monica Ignas – Dec 13, 1974 – 15 – Murdered – Terrace – HOT Probe". www.unsolvedcanada.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  9. ↑ Culbert, Lori. "Monica Jack, 12, headed home on her bike but she never arrived". www.vancouversun.com. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  10. 1 2 Fraser, Keith (2019-01-18). "Garry Handlen guilty in Monica Jack murder: What the jury didn't hear". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  11. ↑ "DF – 771BC563". archive.is. 2013-01-17. Archived from the original on 2013-01-17. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  12. ↑ "Unresolved: Alberta Gail Williams". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  13. ↑ "B.C. Crime Stoppers: The case of 16-year-old Ramona Wilson of Smithers". Global News. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  14. ↑ "The Death and Afterlife of Ramona Wilson | Hazlitt". Hazlitt. 2015-06-16. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  15. 1 2 Hall, Lori Culbert and Neal. "Unsolved cases of murdered and missing girls and women along B.C. and Alberta highways, from 1969 to 2006". www.vancouversun.com. Archived from the original on 2016-01-02. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  16. ↑ "Unresolved: Lana Patricia Derrick". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  17. ↑ Keller, James. "First Nations, cities say B.C. has known how to fix Highway of Tears for years". www.theprovince.com. The Canadian Press. Archived from the original on 2020-08-31. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  18. ↑ "Help Crime Stoppers: Young woman goes missing in Prince George in 2002". Global News. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  19. ↑ "Former Owner of Pinewood Rd Property Had Theories on Nicole Hoar Case – Opinion 250 – News for Northern and Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada". 250news.theexplorationplace.com. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  20. ↑ "RCMP conclude search of land near Highway of Tears" . Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  21. ↑ Pelisek, Christine (2011-07-10). "Canada's Highway of Tears: Why Are Women Disappearing?". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  22. ↑ "Family searches for clues as seventh girl disappears". Ammsa.com. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  23. ↑ "Unresolved: Tamara Lynn Chipman". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  24. ↑ Hall, Lori Culbert and Neal. "Unsolved cases of murdered and missing girls and women along B.C. and Alberta highways, from 1969 to 2006". www.vancouversun.com. Archived from the original on 2016-01-02. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  25. ↑ "Charges laid in slaying of 2 B.C. girls in '70s cold cases | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  26. 1 2 "Deceased U.S. convict linked to 3 B.C. cold cases". CBC News. 2012-09-25. Retrieved 2012-09-26.
  27. ↑ Culbert, Lori (September 26, 2012). "Victim's family still heartbroken after dead U.S. sex offender linked to Highway of Tears slaying". Canada.com.
  28. ↑ "Suspect named in 1995 double homicide, linked to 20 others". 2012-09-25.
  29. ↑ cbc.ca, CBC News
  30. ↑ https://vancouversun.com/news/Suspect+killings+well+known+police+serial+rapist/10431704/story.html .Vancouver Sun
  31. ↑ "'Strong suspects' but no charges in Highway of Tears investigation: RCMP". CBC. June 26, 2014. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  32. ↑ Culbert, Lori. "Police budget, officers cut in Highway of Tears probe". www.vancouversun.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-27. Retrieved 2018-09-30.
  33. ↑ "E-Pana Announce Significant Development and Request for Public Assistance". BC RCMP.
  34. ↑ "Police budget, officers cut in Highway of Tears probe". Vancouver Sun. 2001-11-24. Archived from the original on 2015-09-27.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.