sure about it will happenes some using different kind rules change of postion still its evil matter using
bridge is following down its amazing rules of condition using among them self life stage palace
people are going missing, kids are going missing, woman are going missing
it doesn't matter
who they are or what their race is or anything,
it shouldn't matter, especially in Canada but
there is a lot of people who tell you it does
We're going to fly to Prince George, then what's sort of on the agenda?
I guess we need to think about where
Um, where I'm going to go to try to find some of these people.
They're a little bit on the criminal side
So I don't anticipate them wanting them to be happy
that I'm in their face at their door.
So we'll just wing it and if things look bad, run like hell. (laughing)
Okay. (laughing)
(Music)
Growing up here I had no idea
that women were going missing and
being murdered.
to that the highway of tears started being talked about a lot more publicly
and started learning about other place in the province where again women were
going missing and be murdered most of the cases are unsolved
once again the most of those going for indigenous working as a journalist in
the city i've learned about this guy named Ray who is next cop and he's been
investigating some of these unsolved cases on his own time and he's agreed to
let us come with him to show us what he's all about and also really curious
where he fits into the bigger picture of the highway of tears and unfortunately
what's been going on there for a long time
we're here in Prince George which is the largest city in northern British
Columbia about 70,000 people live here and this is also the edge of what people
call the highway of tears have which is highway 16 724 kilometers between here
and Prince Rupert on the coast and if you go by the RCMP numbers nine women
have gone missing or been murdered along that specific stretch of highway if you
ask four stations groups or just the communities along this route they'll
tell you that number is much higher
raised in Prince George tracking a man he thinks may have been involved in one
of the highway of tears murders he won't give us details about which case
the person that you're hoping to speak to you tomorrow or the next couple days
yeah he's a low-level drug dealer in EM pimp and you've never spoken to this
person before
no I can't find him I'm getting closer though I mean his name came from what I
consider to be good at good short
so there are other people around that there are people that know there's
there's ppl Street workers in Prince George you know they know you know we've
been trying to track down this person for years are you do you have a lot of
anticipation about what that might look like
I think I'll be the first person to confront him sold
you know I don't know what that's gonna be like do you actually sit down like
and just look at somebody and I've and ask them straight out and did
did you kill this person yeah that's what I would do
I probably explain what why I'm there and and then see what happens
I can't imagine I mean we're supposed to ask people hard questions I don't think
about someone you know
did you kill from that
yeah
hey excuse me have you got a minute one minute
thank you
we've been following ray around since this morning now he wants to take us to
this old mill site that's apparently close to here
I guess this is the sort of situation that you really start to question whose
toes were stepping on or how far he's going to go
no there's a lock
it's locked yeah what have you heard about this place
well i have heard a rumor that some of the missing people may have been
disposed of in a beehive vibrator and what's a beehive burner a beehive burner
used to be used by meals to dispose of wood chips so they would blast them in
burn them up and then I guess hall the ashes away
I know that there was one here this whole area is kind of interest of
interest to me because of various things that I've heard so I thought it'd be a
good opportunity to go and have a look
do you have any reason to think that some body would be here specifically
maybe maybe I read you know that RCMP have sent you a cease-and-desist letter
at some point
yeah I had given them some information and I wanted to make sure that this was
all clarified and writing so I sent a letter and to the staff sergeant in
charge of Japan and said I'm coming up north to work in a week or two
and unless you object this is what I plan to do so he sent me a letter back
and more or less said not only will you not do that but you will not get
involved in any of the cases or you face the possibility of an obstruction of
justice charge
it's an interesting situation because at least in this province were legislation
outlines what we can do and can't do
right so there's nothing illegal going on
private investigators in British Columbia are governed by a statute that
gives the many of the same powers police have including investigating cases
without obstruction from the public and executing warrants
we're here at the RCMP detachment in Prince George one of the local
detachments that refused to speak to us
national headquarters also didn't want to talk to us for this piece
they didn't want to give us a statement they instead referred us to their report
released earlier this year into missing and murdered indigenous women British
Columbia has the highest number of unsolved cases 18 of those are the
responsibility of an RCMP investigative group called a panna it was created to
investigate the unsolved cases along the highway of tears in their area has since
expanded EP anna has had their funding cut multiple times over the last few
years we don't know what's left of the task force but they are meant to be
actively working on these cases
Claudia William sister alberta was murdered in Prince Rupert in 1989
police have not made any arrests and have no leads
Ray has been working on her case for five years
alberta and now we're working in a cannery to make some quick money and our
last pd we went two bogeys cabaret
there was a bunch of her friends kind of a different age groups i didn't really
want to sit down twice when I mingled around I walked back checked on the
table g-number laughing her head off
just there were having fun alberta so Claudia Claudia come on we're going to a
party
my boyfriend at the time he distracted me and I looked that way then I turned
around
Alberto was gone gone gone so was a group of people
it was like something just came and lifted them from the that corner
that's how fast it was my heart started pounding that's like I knew right away
that be the last time I saw you know if she ever made it to that party
while the police are not giving me any answers about that
like I sit there and I go well you know Alberto was sitting there
are you know and so and so we're sitting there so and so we're sitting there and
I try to think i'm going on my missing anybody constantly investigating in my
own mind
so this goes through your mind every day a lot of it is guilt I didn't turn away
for a second i probably would have went with my sister to that party and she
would be alive
do you think you know who did this
I'm pretty positive if I know who did it still an open investigation
that's what makes it so hard you feel helpless
I keep in touch with rain more than I do
the police any leads that I have I can really them to Ray
I didn't have Ray there I don't know I really don't know but its Ray's got a
passion for this type of thing really my room for the work that he does a few
days after our interview with her
Claudia calls and tells us the RCMP updated her on her sisters case for the
first time in nine years and so they are you are you surprised that that she just
heard from police after we went there interview went very well
because I know
we've both been trying to get the police to talk her in particular because her
and I are both convinced that we have a really viable suspect for sister's
murder
I'm curious why all the sudden yeah i mean one would like to hope that it's
not because someone like a journalist is looking around mean it's a good thing
and I i guess the you know
really we shouldn't be questioning it but
you have to ask why
Ramona Wilson's body was found along Highway 16 just outside Smithers in 1995
her family now lives in Prince George are you still in touch with with the
Wilson family often or I could I know obviously we talk to Claudia and have a
sense of their relationship with her but how
I'm I'm talk to them you know fairly often
I was up here a few months ago and that was Brenda
have you had any good leads on that her case i have i have actually gave
information to the police but i don't know what what happened with it
ray says he has as little contact as possible with the families he's working
for to avoid giving them false hope
our family has been receptive two to Rea like he's you know he gives us insight
on things that we have been able to look into ourselves and you know just to give
our ourselves
peace of mind he has a deep interest in trying to solve
you know the cases just because he understands what we're going through
so the circumstances in which to sort of went missing initially was that she was
going to some sort of graduation parties yeah she was going to meet up with her
friends she possibly go the ride right on our main street by somebody and could
have been somebody she knew
do you feel like your family's been let down by I mean even just generally the
system in
Ramona's case and what happened to her oh definitely
it was really difficult to
to get a full view of the rules of the RCMP at the time the rules of victim
services
the rules of crime stoppers any of those women were a part of our friendship
centre family and I knew them in that way as part of our family and so you
know the highway of tears i think that that's a really good definition in terms
of bringing attention to the issues but i don't think that we can ever forget
that those were women always working individual people that meant a lot to a
lot of people so that's that's really important i think we knew ayla auger
really well as well she was only 14
she was a baby yeah Ella's death seemed to really Rock people
yeah was it something about her messages that she was so young
many of the murdered and missing women and girls their bodies don't get found
right and hers was found relatively quickly after it happened so I think you
know just the combination of things you haven't seen this
no I haven't seen this before
this doesn't seem like a hidden place
he's not that far from the highway no and that's what surprises me if you're
going to come down the side of the road there with the body
that's not an easy thing to do for anybody and so why are you stopping
there when you can come
50 feet more that's bizarre in 2006 one element missing that was when i just
have a class as enough is enough
this is this is ridiculous I think we then that's when I really started to say
okay we know we've got to do something it's no longer couldn't just to have a
rally because people are listening anyways right so what do we need to do
when we are asking for the national inquiry
the question that begs to be answered is why hasn't anything been them we we
understand that this is an issue
Stephen Harper said it's not on his radar right now and that is an
Aboriginal issue for heaven's sakes
that's the leader of Canada that systemic racism right there to say it
was an Aboriginal issue doesn't affect us
well if it did affect women and other why do you think that would be having a
discussion if there should be a national enquirer of course that would be an
inquiry
it's not an Aboriginal issue it's a Canadian issue
yeah and every Canadian citizen should be up in arms
I think the habit of Tears also represents the relationship that we have
with the RCMP and then the lack of trust
it is absolutely different if you imagine
Oh what if it was my sister
what if it was my daughter grab that went missing
what would you do and what would you expect the government to do and what
would you expect the RCMP to do how active do you think these investigations
are I mean obviously you're not with the panna but if they were actively
investigating someone would say oh I just talked to the RCMP like so you have
a sense of how active these investigators I don't think they're
active now at all i think you know while the panel was standing there 25 million
some of these investigations r active but also think there's a difference in
focusing an investigation on catching a serial killer vs solving a case by case
10 years do you feel connected to these girls
well you do because you you know you learn a lot about their personal life
you are a lot of things that that you know
so you get connected but that's not the goal
it on and the fact of the matter is you can look at be high burners and and
roads into the bush and study victims and study
you don't do whatever research it still comes back to there are people who know
what's happened to these women and if they're still alive
it's a matter of how do you find them and when you find them
how do you get them to talk to you and after they talk to you
how do you use that information