CANADA CANADA - 83 Missing & Murdered women of Edmonton, Alberta

[mysteriew]

Police investigating the slayings of 12 prostitutes in and around Edmonton since 1988 announced Friday they are looking for a serial killer who someone in the city may be able to identify.

Police wouldn't say the exact number of cases or the time frame they were looking at.

In a news release, Project KARE said it believes:

The Edmonton suspect drives a truck, a van, or a sport utility vehicle as opposed to a car, and that he is comfortable driving in rural areas.
The vehicle is suitably maintained and likely has a significant amount of mileage.
The suspect cleans the inside and outside of the car at times that are perhaps unusual.
The vehicle may be used for work and outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing or farming.
He may live or work, or have friends or family in areas south of Edmonton such as Leduc, Camrose, New Sarepta or surrounding communities.

http://www.canada.com/fortstjohn/story.html?id=21ed9092-3ce7-404b-8d35-dd7f901ea9f6

 

[Norma]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/edmonton_murders/

Police in Edmonton are looking for someone whom many people are calling a serial killer, targeting women. They have released a profile of a man they believe has killed several prostitutes and have offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

The profile prepared by the RCMP's Behavioural Science Branch suggests he:

Drives a reliable, high-mileage truck, van or sport utility vehicle, and is comfortable driving in rural areas.
Likes to hunt, fish, camp or participate in other outdoor activities.
Has a past or present connection to the area south of Edmonton, including Leduc, Camrose and New Sarepta.
May clean his vehicle at odd times of the day.

Since 1983, the bodies of more than 20 Edmonton women have been found. All are described by police as being prostitutes or having high-risk lifestyles and only five of the cases have been solved.


http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/10/20/edmonton-missing051020.html

Members of Project Kare – the RCMP task force investigating 83 cases of missing and murdered women living high-risk lifestyles in Alberta

 

[concernedperson]

This is pretty shocking but I have noticed clusters of the same type of thing around the US. I don't know if police jurisdictions don't cross over when investigating or because of the lifestyle it isn't a priority. In the last 20 years in S. Louisiana, for instance, there are 60 missing and murdered women and not all were living the high risk lifestyle.

We have seen clusters in New Hampshire and the pacific northwest. Other places too. Florida and Ohio seemed to be rising.

 

[Dexter Mills]

Wow, I wasn't even aware of these murders. I wonder if the perpetrator could be responsible for some of the killing attributed to alleged Vancouver serial killer Robert Pickton. Given the fact that other clusters have been found in the US, perhaps, the killer is a long-haul trucker, who has regular stops in the Edmonton area. He wouldn't be the first.

 

[mysteriew]

Wow, I wasn't even aware of these murders. I wonder if the perpetrator could be responsible for some of the killing attributed to alleged Vancouver serial killer Robert Pickton. Given the fact that other clusters have been found in the US, perhaps, the killer is a long-haul trucker, who has regular stops in the Edmonton area. He wouldn't be the first.

Yes but with that many local ones, it is more likely a local SK. A long-haul trucker, would tend to leave strings all over. They are on the road so much, and they tend to do their thing on the road.
LE often doesn't put together SK crimes until several are killed. That is getting better with DNA, but still frequently don't connect them. If they kill in multiple counties, it further increases the chances they won't be connected. If they live in a high risk lifestyle, that also increases the chances they won't be noticed.
Then you also have the LE reluctance to alarm the public so even if they notice, they often won't admit that there is a SK. Often times the only way the public will become aware that there is an SK in the area, is if some reporter gets to connecting the dots and keeping track.
LE uses various reasons for not advising the public. They are protecting their investigation, they are trying to prevent public panic, they don't want to tip off the murderer that they are aware of him, and so forth. The truth is once the public becomes aware of a serial, they are put under pressure to solve the crime. Also, once the public becomes aware of an SK, many people will take more precautions, and the public will even sometimes respond with more tips than they will for an individual murder.

 

[Auggie21]

This is pretty shocking but I have noticed clusters of the same type of thing around the US. I don't know if police jurisdictions don't cross over when investigating or because of the lifestyle it isn't a priority. In the last 20 years in S. Louisiana, for instance, there are 60 missing and murdered women and not all were living the high risk lifestyle.

We have seen clusters in New Hampshire and the pacific northwest. Other places too. Florida and Ohio seemed to be rising.

I posted a thread on a cluster of missing women in Oregon around I-5 and I-84.
If I ever the get time, I'll follow it up for Washington and California, but I've avoiding it for now, since California is so big and Washington has so many suspected SK's that aren't related.

 

[Auggie21]

This is pretty shocking but I have noticed clusters of the same type of thing around the US. I don't know if police jurisdictions don't cross over when investigating or because of the lifestyle it isn't a priority. In the last 20 years in S. Louisiana, for instance, there are 60 missing and murdered women and not all were living the high risk lifestyle.

We have seen clusters in New Hampshire and the pacific northwest. Other places too. Florida and Ohio seemed to be rising.

I posted a thread on women in Oregon that are missing or unidentified around I-5 and I-84. If I ever get the time, I plan to expand the research to include Washington and California, but I'v avoiding that since California is so big and Washington has so many suspected SK's that aren't related.

 

[PrayersForMaura]

He could be the same man... I think it's highly likely.


B.C. pig farmer pleads not guilty on 27 counts of first-degree murder
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — Robert Pickton pleaded not guilty today to 27 counts of first-degree murder in the disappearances of women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

The pleas by the 56-year-old Pickton in British Columbia Supreme Court came at the formal start of his trial, which is to be followed by several months of hearings on the admissibility of evidence.

Pickton, a pig farmer in suburban Port Coquitlam, is charged with killing 27 women, mostly drug-addicted prostitutes from a slum area east of downtown Vancouver. More than 60 women have vanished from the area since the early 1980s.


More: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002771856_webpickton30.html?syndication=rss

 

[PonderingThings]

About the Edmonton killer. He targets "high risk" lifestyle women. Mostly prostitutes but is also responsible for the killing of "party girls". He's been doing it for a lot of years and hasn't got caught. Not all the "working girls" were street walkers. Some would market themselves at specific bars... yet few leads as to his identity has come forward.

Your post doesn't mention his age but I've heard he's thought to be in his late 40s.

The description of the serial killer fits about 80% of the male population of Edmonton. Most drive big trucks. Most cost a lot of money so they are kept sparkling clean. Most Edmonton males do their own thing. Its a "workaholic" round the clock lifestyle for many... so its not uncommon for someone to wash their truck at 2 am - in their garage or in the summer outside.

Edmonton has the highest number of parolees in the province. A large percentage of them were put in prison for sexual crimes. They choose Edmonton as its a place where there is a lot of "blue collar" work.

Its also the "gateway to the north". People come to shop in Edmonton. They also come to party after being out in the woods for 6-8 weeks on oil rigs. Many men working in the oil fields maintain a home in Edmonton (some with a wife and children). There is also a lot of "transient workers" - not homeless, instead people that come to Edmonton looking for contract work as a lot of businesses are based there for hiring. Welders, Machinists, Cooks, Drivers, etc..

This serial killer is not the same as the pig farmer (different method and very far apart geographically). The Edmonton serial killer dumps the bodies in fields off of secondary roads. Not too far from the city, but are considered rural. He takes a risk doing this as the areas are very flat and people could theoretically spot him... but so far nobody has.

There is a stretch of hiway, outside of Kamloops, B.C. (Between Edmonton and Vancouver) that some bodies have been found "in a similiar style" as the Edmonton killer. Some (not the authorities) have speculated that he is indeed a trucker and services the Alberta/B.C. Oil and Gas or forrest industry. LOTS of trucks, hot rush courriers, and food supply drivers make a good living doing this kind of work. Its all speculation though. By the time the bodies are found there is usually not much evidence left.

 

[strach304]

Judging from the recent news story on the pig farmer it looks like he's been locked up for 4 years right? Does anyone have any links or know of any websites where I can read about the Edmonton murders? I know I read something about these a while ago but I didn't get much info. Makes sense that it isn't the pig farmer dude if he's locked up and they are still happening but that's a lot of dead women if you ask me. The two serial killers in Louisiana come to mind and the green river killer and ted bundy also confused LE but they didn't have dna as a tool back then either.

 

[PonderingThings]

There is very little information out there on the Edmonton Serial Killer. When Authorities were challenged about that, by the media, they simply said it was because there isn't much. Here is an "indepth" article about the murders
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/edmonton_murders/

I believe they said he made a mistake with the body of Melissa Munch, but as far as I'm aware they never said what the mistake was. The assumption is that they found some trace evidence, or it was "planted" information to try to get him to panic?

Here is a site that lists the victims, with photos (when they were alive), and a little blurb about them http://www.primetimecrime.com/Recent/murder_Edmonton_Serial.htm


***Please note: The dates listed are the dates the bodies were found, not the dates the women are thought to have died. It gives a false picture of escalation if you go by the dates found.

There was very little interest in the murder of these women until Robert Pickton was arrested and the Authorities in that province were severely critized for not doing anything because the missing women were prostitutes.

They have since done a lot. Project Kare, http://www.kare.ca/ was started and the deaths were linked.

You also have to understand the "climate" in Edmonton regarding prostitutes. It has the highest number of pages, in the city Yellow Pages, for Escorts in all of Canada (or it did have a few years back), yet the then Mayor went on camera and stated he opposed the use of the term "Sex Trade Workers" as it denigrated the term "trade" the skilled blue color workers proudly used.

He was voted out in the next Mayoral elections.....

 

[strach304]

Thanks for the info Ponderingthings. Canada's media is hush hush in comparison to the US so that probably explains why it rang a bell but I haven't seen much on it, I even checked ctv's crime library yesterday after seeing this to see if they have info and they don't. The people's attitude about the prostitutes are exactly that of a case on ctv's crime library detailing a serial killer in England some time ago where there was no public outrage as long as he stuck to prostitutes and then to avoid detection he moved into other areas and killed quite a few college girls. Then it was an entirely different attitude. It may start with prostitutes because they are easy prey but once LE is on their trail and they know it they become predators of opportunity and you'd think in today's world people would know that. No matter because their no lives are no less worthy imo.

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Your post doesn't mention his age but I've heard he's thought to be in his late 40s.

Are you talking about Pickton? Yeah it does, the one right above yours has his age in it. 56.

 

[PonderingThings]

PrayersforMaura, the age, of late 40s, was referring to the Edmonton Serial Killer, not Pickton.

strach304 - To be fair to the task force, they are NOT lumping in all crimes against prostitutes and saying its the serial killer. He apparently has a "signature" that hasn't been publicized, as they are very careful which cases they attribute to him and which cases they don't.

There was an "Asian guy" in his 20s (I don't know if they ever caught him), that would pick up prostitutes in his souped up car. He'd head out on the hiway and when he was going at top speed would push these women out of the car! One survived... had extensive injuries... but survived. Her description put the police on his trail. There was another woman that police thought may be his victim too... she didn't survive.

Or the guy... I think he was in his late 20s, who felt a prostitute was laughing at his sexual abilities. He beat her bad, took her outside of the city (in the same area as some of the serial killers victims were found). Bound her to an oil rig's piping, beat her some more and left because he thought she was dead.

She survived a night of freezing weather, stark naked. An oil rig worker found her the next morning. This guy was prosecuted and sent to prison.

These tales are "just another day" for the police force in "Deadmonton". Kudos to them for keeping all their wackos catagorised... they don't have an easy job figuring out which wacko is which... but somehow they do!

 

[strach304]

I didn't take it that you meant LE was lumping all the prostitute killings together, I was giving an example of one case of a serial killer in which the public's view didn't help LE in catching the killer until they (public) felt threatened. The LE in that case very much wanted public help.

I think there are many more tools that LE can use nowadays to track serial killers and know which victims are in the series than say in Ted Bundy's era.

 

[PonderingThings]

This has NOTHING to do with the serial killer... its just the everyday kind of things that do happen in Edmonton.

The locations mentioned are just outside of Edmonton.
http://www.redwatertribune.com/story.php?id=212936

Woman who fell out of car trunk identified

Wednesday February 15, 2006

Redwater Tribune — A woman that was seen falling out of the trunk of a car near Bon Accord has contacted Fort Saskatchewan RCMP to explain the incident.

On January 28, a passerby noticed a woman falling out of the trunk of a moving vehicle.

When the vehicle stopped, the woman got into the front of the vehicle with the male driver.

After the incident, composite drawings of both the victim and the male were released to media. The woman saw the drawings and went to the Fort Saskatchewan detachment on February 2.

The woman told RCMP that the man is her common-law husband, Garnet Charles Stephen.

The day before the incident, the man became very angry with the victim, assaulted her and confined her in their home for several hours.
The next day, her husband forced her into the trunk of his car and drove away.

The victim said she tried talking with him, asking him to let her go. At the same time, she tried to unlock the trunk from the inside.

Once she popped the trunk, the car slowed down and she rolled out of the trunk and onto the side of the road.

She hit her head on the road but wasn’t injured otherwise.

A warrant was issued for Stephen on February 2, and he turned himself in on February 7.

“He was remanded in custody and was in court of February 9,” said Constable Helen Meinzinger of the Fort Saskatchewan RCMP. “We don’t know if she knew where he was (from the second to the seventh) but we didn’t know where he was.”

Stephen was wanted for assault and two counts of unlawful confinement.

 

[PonderingThings]

The article below details the "other" area that some people believe the Edmonton Serial Killer *might* be operating in. Not all the cases, but a couple of them.

The police do not think they are linked

http://www.opinion250.com/blogs/news/archive/2006/02/15/7070.aspx

Highway of Tears Facts Point Away From Serial Killer

An RCMP insider says it is simplification to suggest that all the murders and missing women along Highway 16 from Prince Rupert to Edmonton are the work of a serial killer. "We definitely have suspects in a number of those missing women cases" he said, "but police work isn’t like the movies where we find out who did it in a half hour. We may have a good idea of who did it, but trying to get sufficient evidence to bring that person to trial is another matter."

Most people, who commit murder he said, don’t want to be caught.

There have been two missing persons reported in this area over the past few weeks. 14 year old Aielah Saric-Auger hasn't been seen since Thursday February 2nd near the First Litre Pub, and 24 year old Crystal Lee Okimaw of Prince George who was last seen at a local women’s shelter.

Nine women have gone missing along Highway 16 since 1990. The two most famous disappearances are that of the entire Jack family, and the June 2002 disappearance of Nicole Hoar of Red Deer. In spite of a large reward offered by her family and other groups, no one has been charged in her disappearance, nor have her remains been found .

Our insider says "We are 75% sure of the identity of the body we found east of Tabor on Highway 16" he said , "now would you release the name based on that information or would you want to make an absolute identification before saying who it is?"

Police officials from two groups have been looking at the case of the missing women from here to Edmonton he said, there are two different groups of police investigators, a special task force in Edmonton and another here in BC, but to suggest the missing persons are all as the result of one, or one group of people, is not true, "In some of the missing people cases we have a good idea who did it, we just need more evidence."

 

[PonderingThings]

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=737a2d49-e2e5-429f-8464-ea0018c0951c&k=15070

Excerpts

If Project KARE investigators happen to catch the city's serial killer tomorrow, the case is ready to go to court.Crown prosecutor Clifton Purvis has been working full-time for more than a year with the joint police task force, advising officers about search warrants and other investigation issues, as well as studying a mountain of evidence so the case can quickly go to trial -- hopefully without running into any hurdles along the way.

It may seem odd: building a criminal case before the killer is even captured. But Purvis says the case is so big, it would take a prosecutor new to the file more than six months just to go through it all.

Investigators believe the unknown serial killer is responsible for the deaths of some of the 12 prostitutes whose bodies have been found on the outskirts of Edmonton since 1988. There could even be more than one killer at work.

"I can't underscore how big the case is. It's huge," Purvis says. "It would be almost impossible for a new prosecutor to get up to speed in the investigation if someone was arrested tomorrow morning."

Much more at link

 

[Rle7]

A $100,000 bounty remains on the head of a serial killer preying on city prostitutes.

Project KARE, the RCMP-led task force investigating the deaths and disappearances of more than 80 people who led "high-risk lifestyles" - including prostitutes - confirmed yesterday it had renewed the reward indefinitely.

"We're getting closer every day," said KARE spokesman Tamara Bellamy. The cash is put up by the Criminal Intelligence Service of Alberta and the Solicitor General's office and will go to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for crimes Project KARE is investigating.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2006/02/22/1456022-sun.html

 

[Rle7]

It's been 10 months since the body of Ellie-May Meyer was found in a Strathcona County farmer's field.

The grisly discovery was the third time in 2005 that the body of someone connected to the city's sex trade was found.

It was also the last.

An expert on serial killers, who's followed the case, suspects it's because whoever was stalking local prostitutes has moved on to greener pastures. Steven Egger, a University of Houston-Clear Lake criminologist, says the killer has likely "moved on and is killing where the ground is more fertile."

http://edmsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2006/03/10/1481405-sun.html

This certainly begs the question of where the possible SK has moved to?