The Highway of Tears is a corridor of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert in British Columbia, Canada, which has been the location of crimes against many women, beginning in 1969 when the highway was completed. The phrase was coined during a vigil held in Terrace, British Columbia in 1998, by Florence Naziel, who was thinking of the victims' families crying over the loss of their loved ones.
There is a disproportionately high number of Indigenous women on the list of victims, hence the association with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement.
Proposed explanations for the years-long toleration of the crimes and the limited progress in identifying culprits include poverty, drug abuse, widespread domestic violence, disconnection with traditional culture and disruption of the family unit through the foster care system and Canadian Indian residential school system."Highway of Vanishing Women", Daily Beast, 10 July 2011 Poverty in particular leads to low rates of vehicle ownership and mobility; thus, hitchhiking is often the only way for many to travel vast distances to see family or go to work, school, or seek medical treatment.
The lack of public transportation between communities was at one time a major factor. Another factor leading to unsolved disappearances is that the area is largely isolated and remote. Soft soil in many areas makes burial easier and carnivorous scavengers often carry away human remains. Additionally, before December 2024, much of the highway had no cellular telephone service.
Victims There is a large proportion of indigenous women among the victims, hence the association with the missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) movement. Accounts vary as to the exact number of victims. According to the RCMP Project E-Pana, the number of victims is fewer than 18, while Indigenous organizations estimate that the number of missing and murdered women is higher than 40.Human Rights Watch, 2013, Those Who Take Us Away: Abusive Policing and Failures in Protection of Indigenous Women and Girls in Northern British Columbia, Canada https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/canada0213webwcover_0.pdf The table below lists all the known women who went missing, were murdered, or died of unknown causes in the Highway of Tears. E-Pana cases are categorized in the table.
Name Age Fate Last location Year CircumstancesDevelopmentsCategory (E-Pana or not)Tracey CliftonMissingPrince Rupert1970–1979The exact date of Clifton's disappearance is unknown. She was last seen leaving her home and walking down Highway 16 after an argument with her mother.Helen Claire Frost17MissingPrince George1970 (October)Frost left her home in downtown Prince George on the evening of 13 October 1970 and was never seen again. She was living with her sister, Sandy, at the time. Sandy did not report her sister missing until 15 October, thinking at first she might have stayed at a friend's house. Police took a missing persons report, but Sandy said she got the impression that "nothing was done."Jean Virginia "Ginny" Sampare18MissingGitsegukla1971 (October)Ginny Sampare went missing on 14 October 1971. Her cousin Alvin was the last person to see her near a bridge on Highway 16 in Gitsegukla. Alvin went home to get a jacket, and returned to find Ginny gone. He reported hearing a pickup door slam as he approached, but did not see the car. Monica Ignas14HomicideThornhill1974 (December)Ignas was last seen at 11 PM on 13 December 1974 in Thornhill, walking home in a snowstorm. Two witnesses stated that on that night, they saw a man and girl inside a car parked at the side of the road.Ignas's body was found in a gravel pit of a densely forested area on 6 April 1975, east of Terrace, near Celgar Forest Service Road. E-PanaCoreen Thomas21HomicideVanderhoof1976 (July)Thomas, an Indigenous woman, was struck and killed by a car driven by Richard Redekop, a Canadian man, on 3 July 1976. Thomas and her nine-month-old fetus died. Both Thomas and Redekop were intoxicated during the nighttime collision. According to the police, two underage witnesses told them she was playing chicken with Redekop's car. The witnesses, aged 14 and 16 at the time, claimed they had been coerced into giving those statements. Coroner Eric Turner was removed from the inquest when it was revealed that Redekop was let off with a lesser charge after killing an Indigenous man in a hit and run ten years earlier. Turner also presided over an inquest two years before in the death of Thomas's cousin, who was killed by a vehicle operated by Redekop's younger brother on the same road where she was killed.Despite the inquiry, the Crown did not proceed with charges. In June 1977, Thomas's father proceeded with criminal negligence charges (which may be laid by private citizens) against Richard Redekop. The charges were dismissed due to insufficient evidence.Mary Jane Hill31HomicidePrince Rupert1978 (March)Mary Jane Hill was found nude along Highway 16, on 26 March 1978, from Prince Rupert. Cause of death was determined to be bronchitis and bronchopneumonia as a result of manslaughter.Jean Mary Kovacs36HomicidePrince George1981 (October)Kovacs' nude body was found in a watery ditch, 40 km east of Prince George on 11 October 1981. Police said she died from a .22 caliber bullet wound to her head. Autopsy reports show she had 4 gunshot wounds to the head. Kovacs was last seen alive at about 1:30 AM on 10 October 1981, at the intersection of the Old Cariboo Highway and Highway 16 East. The first nations woman was found by a man gathering firewood near Purden Lake.Serial killer Edward Dennis Isaac was charged with the murder of Kovacs in February 1988.Roswitha Fuchsbichler13HomicidePrince George1981 (November)Fuchsbichler was reported missing at 6:45 PM on 14 November 1981; she last talked to a friend at 2 AM that morning. Fuchsbichler's body was found in a wooded area north of Prince George on 21 November 1981. Edward Dennis Isaac had picked her up hitchhiking and claimed he killed her "to see what it felt like." Her body had been mangled and mutilated but she died from a single stab wound to the heart. Her body had been stripped naked, stabbed and slashed before being dumped.Serial killer Edward Dennis Isaac was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced on 11 May 1987 to life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years.Nina Marie Joseph15HomicidePrince George1982 (August)Nina Joseph's nude body was found on 16 August 1982 in Freeman Park with a cord from her jacket around her neck. Her body had been stripped naked, stabbed and slashed before being dumped.Serial killer Edward Dennis Isaac was convicted of manslaughter in connection to Nina Joseph's death in June 1986. He was arrested on 7 February 1986 in Fort St. James. Case may have remained unsolved if it wasn't for the testimony of Isaac's ex-girlfriend who helped him dispose of the body.Jack family26MissingPrince George1989 (August)The Jack family left their home on Strathcona Avenue in Prince George, heading to a logging camp, where they had been offered jobs and daycare for the children. Ronald and Doreen Jack and their two children Russell, 9, and Ryan, 4, were last heard from during the early hours of 2 August 1989, when Ronald called his mother in the Burns Lake area.Alberta Gail Williams24HomicidePrince Rupert1989 (August)Alberta Williams went missing in the early morning hours of 26 August 1989. She was last seen at Popeye's, a since closed pub in Prince Rupert, by her sister Claudia. Williams had said she was going to a house party. Her naked body was found on 16 September 1989, about east of Prince Rupert, near the Tyee Overpass. She had been strangled and sexually assaulted. According to the field notes of a RCMP officer, shortly before Williams' body was found, bloody clothes resembling the ones Williams wore the night she went missing were found near the ferry terminal in Prince Rupert. The clothes were seized but likely destroyed. The possibility has been raised that the RCMP didn't take the evidence seriously because her body had not yet been found. A 2006 article indicated that the family wanted Williams to remain off the RCMP Highway of Tears list. E-PanaMarnie Blanchard18HomicidePrince George1989 (November)Last seen at 2 AM, 22 November 1989, leaving the Rock Pit Cabaret in Prince George. She was last seen entering a grey Toyota pickup truck with a white canopy outside the Rock Pit Cabaret. The driver had black shoulder-length hair. The truck headed west on Second Avenue. Her remains were discovered by cross-country skiers Wilf and Mae Peckham at about 3 PM on 11 December 1989, on an unmarked road west of Foothills Blvd. The remains had been disturbed by animals and were identified by dental and X-ray records.30 year old serial killer Brian Peter Arp was arrested on 26 July 1990 in relation to Blanchard's murder. Although evidence was obtained, it didn't conclusively prove Arp's guilt and Arp was released. He provided DNA evidence but DNA technology wasn't adequate to determine a match. He was re-arrested for the murder of Marnie Blanchard after being arrested for the murder of Therese Umphrey over two years later. He was convicted of both murders using improved DNA technology.Delphine Anne Camelia Nikal15MissingSmithers1990 (June)Delphine Nikal vanished on 13 June 1990. She was last seen hitchhiking along Highway 16 and King Street on her way home to Telkwa, BC At approximately 10:00 PM, Nikal called her uncle to tell him that she was on her way home from Smithers. She was last seen by her two friends hitchhiking in the east bound lane of Highway 16. Nikal's cousin, Roberta Nikal, was murdered a few years after Delphine disappeared.E-PanaDonna Mae Charlie22HomicidePrince George1990