Highway of Tears article w/crimemap

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Summersolstice said:
Good question. I think back to the missing women cases in the Lower Mainland. It's good to see that the RCMP have been looking at the HOT cases in a new light. Did that happen as a result of Nicole Hoar's disappearance? She didn't fit the profile of having a "high-risk" lifestyle.
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"High-risk" is not limited to the sex and/or drug trade .. it includes hitch-hiking, which is the most notable high-risk activity for Highway of Tears victims (i.e. Nicole Hoar was known to be hitch-hiking from Prince George to Smithers.) A couple of Highway of Tears victims may have been involved in the sex trade or involved with drugs, while some were not engaged in any of those high-risk activities whatsoever (off the top of my head, Gloria Levina Moody and Monica Jack, possibly Shelly Ann Bacsu).

I think the RCMP commitment to solve these cases has always been there, just that increased funding, new investigators and newer techniques/technology (i.e. advent of ViCLAS in the 1990s) are helping to shed new light. It does seem that Nicole's disappearance brought more media attention to the Highway of Tears. It is a long-standing misperception that she was the first and only caucasian victim on the Highway of Tears.
 
sillybilly said:
"High-risk" is not limited to the sex and/or drug trade .. it includes hitch-hiking, which is the most notable high-risk activity for Highway of Tears victims (i.e. Nicole Hoar was known to be hitch-hiking from Prince George to Smithers.) A couple of Highway of Tears victims may have been involved in the sex trade or involved with drugs, while some were not engaged in any of those high-risk activities whatsoever (off the top of my head, Gloria Levina Moody and Monica Jack, possibly Shelly Ann Bacsu).

I think the RCMP commitment to solve these cases has always been there, just that increased funding, new investigators and newer techniques/technology (i.e. advent of ViCLAS in the 1990s) are helping to shed new light. It does seem that Nicole's disappearance brought more media attention to the Highway of Tears. It is a long-standing misperception that she was the first and only caucasian victim on the Highway of Tears.
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Yes, hitchhiking is risky. However, this term has commonly become known as involving drug use/sex trade. Thank the Pickton case for that.

This unfortunate term lends itself to value judgments about the victims, and makes some people think that the victims in some way deserved their fate. I've seen many comments on news sites about "wasting money" investigating a bunch of murders of women who didn't matter. These websites seem to have closed their comments and removed the remarks today. I don't think it is an accident that the many of the victims are people that someone thinks will not be missed.

Indeed, Nicole isn't the only caucasian. She is, however, an outsider, and the one whose disappearance seems to have stimulated new interest in the HOT. Having persistent family members, who are able to get the media and public to pay attention, helps. Nicole's family has been working with Ray Michalko, and he, too, is a considerable force in keeping the public involved and interested in the HOT cases.

Here's today's installment in a series:

http://www.kelowna.com/2009/12/14/p...en-an-arrest-in-the-highway-of-tears-mystery/

What kind of person provides information because they wonder if the police have gone over a crime scene with a fine-toothed comb?

A man or group of men who live in the area, rather than a serial killer? How have they kept this so quiet? Surely there are spouses, friends, neighbors and co-workers who have suspicions.
 
Summersolstice said:
Yes, hitchhiking is risky. However, this term has commonly become known as involving drug use/sex trade. Thank the Pickton case for that.

This unfortunate term lends itself to value judgments about the victims, and makes some people think that the victims in some way deserved their fate. I've seen many comments on news sites about "wasting money" investigating a bunch of murders of women who didn't matter. These websites seem to have closed their comments and removed the remarks today. I don't think it is an accident that the many of the victims are people that someone thinks will not be missed.

Indeed, Nicole isn't the only caucasian. She is, however, an outsider, and the one whose disappearance seems to have stimulated new interest in the HOT. Having persistent family members, who are able to get the media and public to pay attention, helps. Nicole's family has been working with Ray Michalko, and he, too, is a considerable force in keeping the public involved and interested in the HOT cases.

Here's today's installment in a series:

http://www.kelowna.com/2009/12/14/p...en-an-arrest-in-the-highway-of-tears-mystery/

What kind of person provides information because they wonder if the police have gone over a crime scene with a fine-toothed comb?

A man or group of men who live in the area, rather than a serial killer? How have they kept this so quiet? Surely there are spouses, friends, neighbors and co-workers who have suspicions.
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BBM

I know that is the common understanding of the term HRMP, and that is why readers need to know that hitch-hiking is an official, additional factor that the HRMPP considers in their victimology assessment. Because this thread relates to Highway of Tears victims, it is important that people understand the HOT victims do NOT appear to fall into the same category that includes involvement in drugs and the sex trade ... they merely meet the HRMP criterion due to their high-risk behaviour/habit of hitch-hiking.

There will always be those who pass moral judgment on the Pickton and PJ KARE victims due to sex and drug trade involvement, but they cannot affix that moral sticker to those girls and women who have disappeared or been murdered along the Highway of Tears.

PS: I have no clue why my word "Smithers" is appearing in red in my previous post. I didn't put in any special formatting, and it seems to come and go between red and black in a rather willy-nilly fashion.
 
"A Five-Part Investigative series
A Vancouver Sun investigation tells the full story, for the first time, of the Highway of Tears victims and raises questions about other similar unsolved cases."

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/vanished/index2.html

I have searched for the additional "Parts" to "Canada's National Tragedy" that was started a few weeks ago, but can't find it. Maybe the above 5 part series is the continuation. Dunno :waitasec:
 
sillybilly said:
"A Five-Part Investigative series
A Vancouver Sun investigation tells the full story, for the first time, of the Highway of Tears victims and raises questions about other similar unsolved cases."

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/vanished/index2.html

I have searched for the additional "Parts" to "Canada's National Tragedy" that was started a few weeks ago, but can't find it. Maybe the above 5 part series is the continuation. Dunno :waitasec:
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I couldn't bring up the current Vancouver Sun series earlier today, which is why I posted another link. Must be trouble on their website.

The whole business about "high risk" is, in fact, why there seems to have been a lack of interest from the general public. It is very important for people to understand the definition the police are using. Some of these women were not believed to be hitchhiking, but walking along the side of the highway. And that is something that could happen to anyone.
 
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/va...ed+home+bike+never+arrived/2345239/story.html

This is the first time I've seen Monica's biological father's name, "Philip Swakum". Interesting that Monica's remains were found near a logging road on Swakum Mountain, approx 20 kms away from where her bike was found nearer her Nicola Lake home that she was returning to that day. Could be coincidence, but have to wonder if the perp had an issue with the dad.
 
sillybilly said:
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/va...ed+home+bike+never+arrived/2345239/story.html

This is the first time I've seen Monica's biological father's name, "Philip Swakum". Interesting that Monica's remains were found near a logging road on Swakum Mountain, approx 20 kms away from where her bike was found nearer her Nicola Lake home that she was returning to that day. Could be coincidence, but have to wonder if the perp had an issue with the dad.
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It's a sad statement that a 12-year-old girl riding her bike on her way home is considered as having engaged in a "high-risk" activity. That's the issue I have with this blanket categorization of women and girls on the list. It seems more like a value judgment than useful information.
 
Summersolstice said:
It's a sad statement that a 12-year-old girl riding her bike on her way home is considered as having engaged in a "high-risk" activity. That's the issue I have with this blanket categorization of women and girls on the list. It seems more like a value judgment than useful information.
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While specific activities may land a victim in the "high risk" category, it would be naive to assume that is the ONLY factor that includes a case in the jurisdiction of a particular taskforce. Pretty safe to say that other factors (available evidence, topographical/geographical patterns, persons of interest, etc.) come into play in determining which cases may or may not be connected. True, Monica was not hitch-hiking, but she was riding her bike on a major thoroughfare, her bike was found beside the road, so chances are she was accosted by someone travelling that route as opposed to the local priest. Because other victims were known to be hitch-hiking on a major thoroughfare, it may be the crime is opportunistic simply based on their proximity to the highway.

The "blanket categorization" is probably done moreso by the public than LE. The same way that the public believes cases were not being investigated because the victims were native ... when, according to my records, there are AT LEAST 8 caucasian victims on the list.
 
sillybilly said:
While specific activities may land a victim in the "high risk" category, it would be naive to assume that is the ONLY factor that includes a case in the jurisdiction of a particular taskforce. Pretty safe to say that other factors (available evidence, topographical/geographical patterns, persons of interest, etc.) come into play in determining which cases may or may not be connected. True, Monica was not hitch-hiking, but she was riding her bike on a major thoroughfare, her bike was found beside the road, so chances are she was accosted by someone travelling that route as opposed to the local priest. Because other victims were known to be hitch-hiking on a major thoroughfare, it may be the crime is opportunistic simply based on their proximity to the highway.

The "blanket categorization" is probably done moreso by the public than LE. The same way that the public believes cases were not being investigated because the victims were native ... when, according to my records, there are AT LEAST 8 caucasian victims on the list.
Click to expand...

I think it is a very interesting coincidence that a private investigator starting doing his own investigations and the police set up this particular investigative team right around the same time, in 2005. The Pickton investigation in the Lower Mainland had been getting quite a bit of attention by then.

Native groups had called for a task force/inquiry on many occasions and were told nothing. Surely letting them know that this has been in place for four years would not have harmed the investigation in any way. Like the Pickton case, native groups have been an important voice for the missing, regardless of race. Without their persistence, what would have happened?
 
Summersolstice said:
I think it is a very interesting coincidence that a private investigator starting doing his own investigations and the police set up this particular investigative team right around the same time, in 2005. The Pickton investigation in the Lower Mainland had been getting quite a bit of attention by then.

Native groups had called for a task force/inquiry on many occasions and were told nothing. Surely letting them know that this has been in place for four years would not have harmed the investigation in any way. Like the Pickton case, native groups have been an important voice for the missing, regardless of race. Without their persistence, what would have happened?
Click to expand...

BBM

Would be interested in knowing why you find that an interesting coincidence. E-Panna was formed in 2005, and there are varying accounts of when RM started doing his own thing (January 2006 or May 2006, depending on which article you read).

I'm not good on the semantics re the buzzwords "task force" when the phrase basically means a team of investigators. From what I can see, these cases WERE being pursued by investigators through the years, just not within a structured, formally dedicated task force. Regardless of the term, there will always be a turnover in the experience/skill levels of the personnel involved in either formation, and the more recent personnel have the benefit of more financial resources and advanced technology ... so I'm not real clear on what the specific concerns are. Example: the first victim on E-Pana's list, Gloria Levina Moody, was killed in 1969. In 1998 a police officer visited the family to say the three main POIs in the case were now dead. I highly doubt that LE reached that conclusion 27 years later without having members actively pursuing an investigation into her death.

As for some previous discussion re Nicole Hoar's case being the one to bring new attention to the Highway of Tears victims .. not surprising given she disappeared in June 2002, just 4 months after the Pickton farm was uncovered in February 2002. Once the media attention was garnered as a result of the Pickton farm, the Highway of Tears cases could only benefit from the publicity that was already established, and fortunately, that is what happened.
 
sillybilly said:
BBM

Would be interested in knowing why you find that an interesting coincidence. E-Panna was formed in 2005, and there are varying accounts of when RM started doing his own thing (January 2006 or May 2006, depending on which article you read).

I'm not good on the semantics re the buzzwords "task force" when the phrase basically means a team of investigators. From what I can see, these cases WERE being pursued by investigators through the years, just not within a structured, formally dedicated task force. Regardless of the term, there will always be a turnover in the experience/skill levels of the personnel involved in either formation, and the more recent personnel have the benefit of more financial resources and advanced technology ... so I'm not real clear on what the specific concerns are. Example: the first victim on E-Pana's list, Gloria Levina Moody, was killed in 1969. In 1998 a police officer visited the family to say the three main POIs in the case were now dead. I highly doubt that LE reached that conclusion 27 years later without having members actively pursuing an investigation into her death.

As for some previous discussion re Nicole Hoar's case being the one to bring new attention to the Highway of Tears victims .. not surprising given she disappeared in June 2002, just 4 months after the Pickton farm was uncovered in February 2002. Once the media attention was garnered as a result of the Pickton farm, the Highway of Tears cases could only benefit from the publicity that was already established, and fortunately, that is what happened.
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It is my opinion that the involvement of the PI has been responsible for a great deal of the publicity this case has received recently.
 
Bumping this thread for Valentine's Day ... and thinking of all these women and girls as memorial gatherings are taking place throughout Canada today.

To those who are gone, may you rest in peace.

To those who are yet to be found, believe in the sun even though it is not shining.

Hearts are with you.
 
sillybilly said:
"A Five-Part Investigative series
A Vancouver Sun investigation tells the full story, for the first time, of the Highway of Tears victims and raises questions about other similar unsolved cases."

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/vanished/index2.html

I have searched for the additional "Parts" to "Canada's National Tragedy" that was started a few weeks ago, but can't find it. Maybe the above 5 part series is the continuation. Dunno :waitasec:
Click to expand...

All 5 parts of Vanishing Point are working now. Thank you SB.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/vanished/index2.html

A Five-Part Investigative series
A Vancouver Sun investigation tells the full story, for the first time, of the Highway of Tears victims and raises questions about other similar unsolved cases.
 
I hope this is posted in the correct thread.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2011/01/03/16746586.html
TORONTO - Gladys Radek doesn't know what happened to her niece, but she knows enough to refer to her in the past tense.

"I think about her every morning and the wonder does go in my mind - was she raped? Was she beaten?" the Vancouver woman said during a recent visit to Toronto where she was raising awareness about missing and murdered women in Canada.

"And I always ask why, why Tamara?"
 
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