HIGHWAY OF TEARS
There's something peaceful about driving down long stretches of vacant highway. Trees flank both sides of the road and blur by as drivers push a bit over the speed limit. Low, thick fog seems to be swallowing cars, making each feel like they are alone in the universe. Drivers can fall into a zone and focus only on the road in front of them. Tunnel vision makes drivers ignore the world around them; ignoring every car, every small town, every truck, and every person.
Drivers may not notice the darkness of Highway 16 at first glance. It seems like just another Canadian highway: desolate green wilderness connecting two economically booming cities. It's unremarkable with a small town popping up every few miles. It is an area of Canada known to have more bears than people. An aerial shot shows a beautiful landscape of dense forest and little else. There's not a hint of the highway's gruesome past until drivers pass a large yellow sign that reads: "Girls Don't Hitchhike on the Highway of Tears."
Since 1969, scores of women have either gone missing or have been found dead along this highway. The "Highway of Tears" is a four hundred mile stretch of barren highway connecting Prince Rupert and Prince George, British Columbia. Nearby by towns are few and far between and can be easily overlooked. The towns are mostly First Nations towns--housing the Aboriginal people of Canada. This is the area of British Columbia where many First Nations people have settled after centuries of having their land being taken by European imperialism in Canada. Decades of neglect and ignorance by the Canadian government have allowed this is the area to become impoverished.
Gloria Moody's death began the era of the "Highway of Tears" infamy. In 1969, Gloria was enjoying a road trip with her family when she went out to a bar with her brother. As they left, her brother believed she was right behind him. When he entered the parking lot, she was gone. She would not be seen again until the next day when a pair of hunters found her body about six miles away from the bar. Moody was twenty-six at the time.
The 70's brought in more horror with the disappearances of Micheline Pare, Gale Weys, Pamela Darlington, and Colleen MacMillen. They were all between the ages of sixteen and nineteen. Monica Ignas went missing along the highway when she was fourteen, walking home from school. Monica Jack went missing in 1978. She is still listed as the youngest victim of the "Highway of Tears"--being killed at age twelve. Her fate was unknown until 1995 when her remains were found by a group of hikers.
More women continued to go missing throughout the 80's as well. Maureen Mosie was found murdered in 1981. Shelly-Ann Bascu went missing in 1983 at age 16. Some clothing and other personal items along with droplets of blood were found where she was last seen. She is still listed as missing to this day. Alberta Williams went missing in 1989, and her body was found about twenty-two miles away from the highway.
Cecilia Anna and Delphine Nikal were cousins who went missing a year apart from each other. Both were last seen hitchhiking from one of the larger towns on Highway 16, Smithers. Both are still listed as missing. Their faces are immortalized on the warning billboard at the beginning of Highway 16.
The 90's continued the "Highway of Tears'" destructive path with the murderers of Ramona Wilson, Roxanne Thiara, Alisha Germaine, and Lana Derrick. They were all found within a few years after their disappearances.
Nicole Hoar went missing in 2002. Her disappearance is considered the turning point of the "Highway of Tears" murders. After three decades of First Nations women going missing and being murdered, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police finally noticed. In 2005, they began E-PANA--a task force with the intent of discerning if the murders are caused by one sole murderer or a multitude of murderers. By the time E-PANA was created, it had been thirty-seven years since the murder of Gloria Moody.
E-PANA narrowed down the criteria for a case to be considered as a "Highway of Tears" case. First, the victim must be female. They must also be involved in a high-risk activity such as hitchhiking or prostitution. Lastly, they must be found or last seen within a mile of the Trans Canada Highway which are Highways 16, 97, and 5. These criterion reduces the number of victims down to eighteen. If you ask around the towns along the "Highway of Tears," the number should be up around forty.
Since E-PANA was created, four more women have been added to the list of victims. Tamara Chapman went missing in 2005. She also has her picture on the "Highway of Tears" billboard. Aielah Saric Auger went missing a year later and was found in a ditch on Highway 16. She was fourteen years old. Loren Donn Leslie was murdered in 2010. Her case is rare when it comes to "Highway of Tears" victims. Her murderer was identified as infamous Canadian serial killer, Cody Legebokoff. Madison Scott is the last known victim of the "Highway of Tears." She went missing after a night of partying and camping. She is still listed as missing to this day.
For over two decades, women have been disappearing and found brutally murdered. Most of the cases have gone unsolved. After his death in prison for other murders, serial killer, Bobby Jack Fowler, was named as the killer in the deaths of Gale Weys, Pamela Darlington, and Colleen MacMillen. His arrest in 1995 and death in 2006 along with documented trips outside of Canada, has cleared him of most of the murders. Legebokoff is the only tried killer in all these cases.
There have been many accusations of racism by the families of the victims against the RCMP and their neglect of the "Highway of Tears" cases. The RCMP only began investigating the "Highway of Tears" cases when Nicole Hoar went missing. It is notable because she is the first Caucasian victim. There is also the issue of the criterion listed by E-PANA. These criterion severely diminish the amount of victims that are out there. This leaves a dozen more women whose cases are being ignored and may never be solved. Since its creation, E-PANA has been hurt by budget cuts and corruption. This has left cases unsolved with bodies piling up.
These murders are not the job of one crazed serial killer on a forty-year spree. Highway 16 sees hundreds of truckers and random travelers. It is easy to pick up women at one end of the highway, kill them, dump them, and then drive away. In a few hours, the killer can be in a different city, a different province, or even a different country. The "Highway of Tears" is an ideal hunting ground for predators. They have a plethora of young women who are in need of a ride. They do not have a car and public transit is failing them, so they hitchhike. A predator can easily pick up a naïve and trusting young woman. Her body can easily be hidden for decades in the wooded terrain. Even if her body is found, their case is often ignored by law enforcement. The killer can get away without another thought and never be caught.
The First Nations families have been screaming into the void for decades. All the while, more families join their fight because they've lost another daughter. However, nothing has been done. The RCMP has written off the murders as the result of a "high-risk lifestyle." They zero in on the actions of the women and blame them for their murders. For decades, these murders were ignored with no intent to curb the rate, allowing victims to pile up.
Driving through British Columbia, travelers would never know the gruesome history of the highways they are on. With four hundred miles ahead, they ignore the warning signs on the side of the road, the truck behind them, and the young woman just ahead with one thumb in the air.
http://www.highwayoftears.ca
Kiersten Carney is a junior English major, minoring in Graphic Design. She is currently trying to channel her teenage emo phase into more productive adult things like weird writing and conspiracy theories.
