11 Official Unsolved Murders from the Highway of Tears

Project E-PANA was created in 2005 to review and investigate numerous unsolved murders on Highway 16, which became known as the Highway of Tears. The investigators chose the name of PANA as it is an Inuit word describing the spirit goddess who looks after souls before they go to heaven.

The task force was set up by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) with the exclusive purpose of solving cases of missing and murdered people along the Highway. Highway 16 runs between Prince Rupert and Prince George, two cities in British Columbia that are 446 miles (718 km) apart. After just one year from the formation of the project, the investigation expanded to include Highways 5, 24 and 97.

In the Project E-PANA list, there were officially 13 unsolved murders in and around the Highway of Tears and five missing persons cases. Two of the murders were solved. In 2012 with advancements in DNA technology, the case of 16-year-old Colleen MacMillen was solved, when Project E-PANA investigators positively linked serial killer Bobby Jack Fowler as the suspect.

In December 2014, Garry Taylor Handlen was arrested for the murder of Monica Jack who went missing in 1978 with her remains being found in 1995. Handlen was found guilty in 2019 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The cases E-PANA investigated were cold cases from 1969 to 2006 and because more murders were diluting the investigation, they created a specific set of three rules. These rules allowed them to focus on specific cases in the region and meant they could be added to the project E-PANA list.

1. Victims had to be female.
2. Involved in hitchhiking or sex work, or other high-risk behaviours.
3. Last known location to be within a mile of the four major British Columbia highways; 5, 16, 24 and 97.

It could have been the last time the victim was seen alive or where her body had been found and had to be cases where evidence pointed to a stranger having committed the crime rather than someone known to the victim or an accident.

Here are the remaining 11 unsolved murders on the official Project E-PANA Highway of Tears list. From the oldest case to the most recent

1. Gloria Moody

From October 1969, 26-year-old Gloria Moody was last seen leaving a bar in Williams Lake. Her body was found in the woods at a cattle ranch six miles away. Unsolved murder.

2. Micheline Pare

July 1973, 18-year-old Micheline Pare disappeared after last being seen beside the gates of Tompkins Ranch near Hudson’s Hope, after having been dropped off by two other women. Her body was found in the area two months later.

3. Gale Weys

October 1973, 19-year-old Gale Weys vanished while hitchhiking from Clearwater to Kamloops. Her body was found in a ditch on Highway 5 just south of Clearwater. She has recently been linked to deceased serial killer Bobby Jack Fowler (affiliate link) but there is no hard evidence to prove he was behind her murder.

4. Pamela Darlington

November 1973, 19-year-old Pamela Darlington, vanished from Kamloops while hitchhiking to a local bar. Her body was found the next day. She too has recently been linked to Bobby Jack Fowler but there is no hard evidence to prove he was behind the murder.

5. Monica Ignas

14-year-old Monica Ignas went missing on 13th December 1974, and last seen walking home alone at around 11pm. Her remains were found half a year later in April 1975, hidden in a dense forest. She had been strangled to death. Witnesses claimed they saw her talking to a man and a woman in a car but it has remained unsolved ever since.

6. Maureen Mosie

33-year-old Maureen Mosie was last seen alive on 8th May 1981 while hitchhiking from Salmon Arm to Kamloops when she disappeared. Her badly beaten body was found the next day by a woman walking her dog.

7. Alberta Gail Williams

24-year-old Alberta Williams went missing on 25th August 1989. Her body was discovered a month later on 25th Sep, just over 20 miles east of Prince Rupert. She had been raped and strangled to death. Alberta was one of the victims located on the Highway of Tears.

8. Ramona Wilson

16-year-old Ramona Wilson vanished on 1st June 1994 and was last seen hitchhiking from Smithers to stay with friends in Hazelton. Her remains were discovered almost a year later in April 1995 near Smithers Airport within the Highway of Tears. Several items were found near her including a section of rope, three interlocking ties and a small pink water pistol but there was no DNA evidence on the items that led to a suspect.

9. Roxanne Thiara

15-year-old sex worker Roxanne Thiara went missing in July 1994 in Prince George after telling a friend she was going off with a customer but never returned. Her body was found a month later in a bush along Highway 16.

10. Alishia Germaine

15-year-old sex worker Alishia Germaine was friends with Roxanne Thiara. She was found stabbed to death in December 1994 and her body was found behind an elementary school outside of Prince George, just off Highway 16. She and Roxanne had been seen working together multiple times before their deaths but no link to a suspect has ever been made.

11. Aielah Saric Auger

14-year-old Aielah Saric Auger disappeared on 2nd February 2006. Her body was discovered in a ditch by a motorist on Highway 16 on 10th February, just 12 miles east of Prince George.

The five official missing persons cases were 17-year-old Shelley-Anne Bascu who vanished in 1983. 16-year-old Delphine Nikal who disappeared after last being seen hitchhiking in June 1990. 19-year-old Lana Derrick who was last seen getting into a car with two unidentified men in October 1995.

24-year-old Nicole Hoar who was last seen hitchhiking in June 2002. And 22-year-old Tamara Chipman who was last seen hitchhiking on Highway 16 in September 2005.

The five official missing persons cases and remaining 11 official murder cases are known as official because not everyone agrees with the list. Indigenous groups have long claimed there are at least 40 missing people who have gone missing on or near the Highway of Tears.

This had led to an ongoing argument relating to systemic racism and a lack of knowledge of indigenous issues, which some claim have prevented investigations into additional cases.

The E-PANA investigation team have long believed there is no such thing as a cold case and that one day, the murders and disappearances will be solved once and for all. They also state they don’t believe a single serial killer is responsible for all the murders.