The youngest victim, 12-year-old Monica Jack, disappeared while riding her bicycle along Highway 5 from Merritt to her Nicola Lake home.
She had gone shopping that day, on May 6, 1978, with her 14-year-old cousin Debbie John, then left her and cycled home.
Monica's mother, Madeline Lanaro, drove by her daughter and offered to give her a lift for the last little stretch, but Monica said no.
"She didn't want to ride in the car. She wanted to ride her bike," Lanaro said quietly, wiping away tears, during a recent interview in her Spences Bridge home.
Monica never made it home.
Searchers found Monica's bike thrown down a bank off the highway, not far from her house.
For 18 long years, the family was left with intense grief and no answers about Monica's whereabouts.
Finally, in June 1995, forestry workers found skeletal human remains in a ravine off a logging road on Swakum Mountain, about 20 km from where Monica's bike had been located. Dental records and DNA testing confirmed that Monica had been found.
Police said in 1996 that they had a suspect, but not enough evidence to lay charges.