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Just two months ago — 38 years after Colleen MacMillen disappeared — the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced a stunning break:

“The break has to do with the 1974 disappearance and murder of 16-year-old Colleen MacMillen,” RCMP inspector Gary Shinkaruk told reporters.

Using new, enhanced DNA technology, the Highway of Tears task force matched male DNA recovered from Colleen’s clothing to Bobby Jack Fowler — a Texas native who worked as roofer in Prince George. Continue reading »

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Cody Legebokoff was under arrest, but that did not solve the Maddy Scott disappearance. He’d been in custody months before Maddy had gone missing. And his arrest also brought little peace to the families of the women killed along the Highway of Tears — the cases that Sgt. Wayne Clary is determined to solve.

More than 750 boxes filled with thousands of documents — every report since the first murder in 1969 — are stored at RCMP headquarters. Continue reading »

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Six months before Maddy Scott disappeared, Doug Leslie, who also lives in this remote region of Canada, received an ominous late night phone call. It was Nov. 27, 2010.

“At midnight I get a call from the cops … asking if Loren was there and I said, ‘What’s going on?’ And he said, ‘Well, if Loren’s home, somebody’s using her ID. So I thought that was kind of strange,” said Leslie. Continue reading »

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For Dawn and Eldon Scott, the disappearance of their 20-year-old daughter, Maddy, is almost incomprehensible.

“I think it was just so surreal to everyone,” Dawn told Peter Van Sant.

“It was just like, ‘This can’t be happening.’ … you just keep expecting her to show up.”

Finding Maddy in the vast Canadian wilderness that surrounds the Highway of Tears, where so many women have gone missing, feels nearly impossible. Continue reading »

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Produced by Paul LaRosa, Clare Friedland and Alec Sirken

“It’s just an awful feeling … to know that she disappeared from just a few feet away. It’s just devastating,” said Dawn Scott.

Devastating, and yet, Dawn and Eldon Scott keep coming back to the place where their 20-year-old daughter, Maddy, was last seen alive. Continue reading »

CBS forty eight hours: Highway of Tears

A series of disappearances and murders of women and girls dating back four decades

. Now, a break in the case. Peter Van Sant reports

Aired on Saturday Nov. 17 at 10 p.m

Click on image to view at CBS website

Complete article at CBC

Excerpt from article on Fribjon Bjornson:

The community of Fort St. James is also trying to find ways to solve Bjornson’s death, along with other disappearances that have shaken the community

.

Madison Scott went missing on May 28, 2011, after attending a bush party near Vanderhoof. Her truck and tent were later found at a campsite at Hogsback Lake, south of Vanderhoof.

Even though Scott and Bjornson knew each other, police and their families say they don’t believe there are any links between the two cases.

The area is also linked to the surrounding communities by Highway 16, the so-called Highway of Tears, where at least 18 young women have disappeared or been killed, often while hitchhiking, over the last 40 years.

Bjornson’s parents are now asking hunters and others in the woods to keep an eye out for anything of interest, including clothing, personal effects, even human remains, before winter snows cover what could be key evidence in the case.

“Please. Help me. Help me find my baby. Bring my son home,” said Eileen Bjornson.

Complete article at CBC

Frank Peebles
Citizen Staff
fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
Original article in the citizen

The Vanderhoof community was “all in for Madison” on Saturday – hoofing, hiking and motoring around the Hogsback Lake trail system.

This was the area where Madison Scott, 20 at the time, was last seen. She attended a lakeside party with many of her friends. She was never seen again

. It was one year ago today.

Her family and friends organized a commemorative poker ride for the one-year anniversary, to raise awareness, show support, and get hundreds of new sets of eyes out on the terrain.

An estimated 600 people signed up at the Mapes Community Hall then rode quads, saddled up on horses, or set off on foot. Many paid into a poker contest, with cards drawn at various stations around the route, but that was just for fun. There were prizes for the best hands, and door prizes also, but people were there with the “All In For Madison” mantra at the top of mind.

“I’m just here to show support for Maddy’s family. I work with her cousin,” said one pedestrian pushing a baby jogger on the foot path.

“It’s a great day for a ride. I didn’t know Maddy but I know have awful it must be for her family to not know what happened,” said a dirty-faced participant. The ones with the dirtiest faces were the quad riders.

A lunch was provided, as was sunscreen and bug repellant, and a large team of volunteers in high-visibility shirts were visible all around the wooded course. There were numerous directional signs and forestry tape marking the routes, so even the off-road portions were easy to follow.

Although Scott’s family refused interviews and there was no visible police presence, several media outlets and a documentary film crew were on-site to record the event. A Facebook group exists for ongoing updates about the case of the missing girl, and a dedicated website (www.findmaddy.ca) is available for information.

“This investigation remains a priority for North District Major Crime,” said RCMP Const. Lesley Smith, North District Media Relations Officer. We believe that there is information out there and it is our hope that someone will come forward to help us determine what happened. The police need information and Maddy’s family needs answers.

If you have any information at all please call the Vanderhoof RCMP at 250-567-2222 or to remain anonymous call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

From CBC News Original CBC article

Madison Scott disappeared after attending bush party

Madison Scott, a 20-year-old B.C. woman, was last seen May 28, 2011, at a campsite 25 kilometres south of Vanderhoof. (CBC)

Police re-enactment 2:46

Police are no closer to finding a missing 20-year-old central B.C. woman one year after her disappearance.

Madison Scott went missing on May 28, 2011, after attending a bush party near Vanderhoof. Her truck and tent were later found at a campsite at Hogsback Lake, south of Vanderhoof.

“We’re looking at foul play here. There is no reason for her to leave,” said RCMP Const. Lesley Smith. “No connection at all to any gang affiliations. But it is unknown who was at that party at the time.”

Smith believes there are people who know where Scott is or what happened her.

“What we’re finding is that we’re hearing a lot of rumours,” she said.

“So we want to hear from that person — not the third person, not from the postman’s daughter’s boyfriend’s butcher

. We want to hear from that individual. If they saw something that they thought is not going to be important for RCMP, we want to hear from that individual.”

The Scott family has declined most media interviews, but Dawn and Eldon Scott posted a public plea for witnesses to come forward in a re-enactment video.

“Somebody out there has information. We need them to come forward,” Dawn Scott said.

“And soon,” Eldon Scott added. “Like now would be a good time.”

The Scott family is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in Scott’s disappearance.

With files from the CBC’s Wil Fundal