Working separate sides of the Highway of Tears

There appears to be a bit of professional tension between the RCMP investigators and the private investigator into the Highway of Tears cases. Ray Michalko, the private investigator from the lower mainland, who is making plans to come north to follow up some leads on the infamous case, is described as bristling at the way the RCMP in the North are treating his methods and attempts at investigation.

The Interior News out of Smithers, has a lengthy piece posted on the web, suggesting Michalko’s efforts are perhaps rubbing the police investigators the wrong way. An RCMP communications officer, Sgt. John Ward is quoted in the article as stating that Ray Michalko has been warned not to reveal information and to share any leads he picks up.

“If this gentleman, Mr. Michalko, says he’s got five people of interest then we certainly want to know who they are and we’ll take it from there,” Ward said.

The nature of the file and the lack of success thus far in solving the murders, or learning more about the disappearances have many in the North on edge. It must truly be frustrating for law enforcement, which have a number of resources behind them, yet seem to not be any closer to an answer yet.

However, the appearance of a turf war over investigative methods and an obvious lack of communication between the two parities, is not going to help the families of those involved, nor the communities that continue to wonder if there is a killer living amongst them or traveling through their towns and cities.

It’s a very interesting article and gives a very good indication as to how frustrating the investigative process has become and how the Highway of Tears continues to haunt everyone from Prince Rupert through to Prince George.



Highway of Tears investigator miffed

Interior News
Smithers BC
Oct 05 2006

A private investigator looking into the cases of murdered and missing women along Hwy 16 is bristling at the suggestion he is not cooperating with police.

Staff Sgt. John Ward, an RCMP communications officer, said Ray Michalko has been warned not to reveal information and to share any leads he picks up.

“We have been in contact with the private investigator and he understands very clearly that should he have information that someone comes forward with... he should be giving us a call and we expect that to happen should he uncover something,” said Ward.

Michalko, who has been collecting leads along the highway, now dubbed the Highway of Tears, plans to come to Smithers this month to talk with tipsters and five people of interest who he believes may be able to lead him toward the solution to the decades-old mystery of who has been abducting and murdering women along the highway between Prince George and Prince Rupert.

“If this gentleman, Mr. Michalko, says he’s got five people of interest then we certainly want to know who they are and we’ll take it from there,” Ward said.

Ward believes the RCMP can investigate more easily than a private investigator.
“We are professional police officers, professional investigators and major crime investigators that have been working on this for some time,” he said.

“We’ve got behaviour experts, forensic experts and DNA experts. I don’t know if the investigator has that kind of support behind him.

“I would tend to think that’s probably not the case.

“If we can get information from someone who might give us something to move the investigations forward then we’ll take it.”

In a letter to The Interior News, Michalko said not giving information to police was never his intent, and questioned why the RCMP is focusing on him and not the case.

“As a private investigator I have no power of arrest, what else would I do with the leads I obtain, other than turn them over to the police?

“I’ve been trying to say since I first became involved that there is no question that the RCMP have the training, investigative skill and recourses necessary to solve these crimes and/or missing person cases, as Staff Sgt. Ward suggests.

“So with all of this in mind, it begs the question that is on everyone’s mind, why, with all of their expertise and recourses, have the RCMP been unable to solve any of these crimes and/or missing person cases?

Ward’s comments demanding Michalko’s cooperation also rubbed the Valley Pacific Investigations P.I. the wrong way.

“In fact, finding a police officer that was willing to establish a dialogue and/or working relationship with me has been an ongoing problem from the start and it’s taken the RCMP seven months for someone to finally contact me, to establish a line of communication,” he said.

“I think Staff Sgt. Ward should turn his soap box around and give the lecture to his own members.”

Ward understands that tipsters may not want to talk to police.

“Sometimes people feel more comfortable talking to someone who’s not a police officer,” he said, adding that if these people provide information to aid in the investigation, that’s a benefit.

While up north, Michalko intends to investigate a number of the cases.

“I’m getting a fair amount of information and it’s not really specific to anyone,” he said.
“I think I’ve got some pretty good information that needs to be verified.”

Michalko has altered his initial theory on the identity of those responsible for the missing and murdered women.

“I think one person is involved in a couple murders or disappearances, but I don’t think one person is responsible for all of them,” he said.

“I think it’s just sort of a random act in some cases: somebody at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Michalko will finance his return trip with money raised by a Lower Mainland women’s group who wants to help with his search.

“We’re not talking heaps of money but money that will help with the hard costs: travel, air and car rental that makes a big difference,” he said.

Michalko will ensure flyers he’s made up are delivered to the southwest end of Prince George prior to his visit.

The flyers ask that anyone with information about the disappearances of Leah Alishia Germaine or Nicole Hoar, who went missing near Smithers, to call the police or Michalko.

He hasn’t spoken to any of the families of the missing or murdered women since his trip here this spring.

He forwarded some tips to the Prince George RCMP during his previous visit and hasn’t heard back, adding a response from police wasn’t something he expected.

Nearly six months after announcing a major review of the Highway of Tears, RCMP continue to enter data into a sophisticated computer program.

RCMP said it will allow investigators to look for connections and cross reference details of the various cases in a faster and more comprehensive manner than has previously been possible.

Eight investigators and data entry people are doing the work, which Ward describes as massive and detailed and necessary before the program can be activated.

“You can imagine that with the age of some of the files, the amount of data is huge and doing it is time consuming,” said Ward.

Previous reviews of missing persons files involved cross referencing information by hand.
There have been two major reviews, one in 1995 and another in 2004, plus at least one mini review over the years.

Seven of the nine women on the official RCMP list were missing as of 1995 and the number has now grown to nine.

The first person on the list is Monica Ignas of Terrace who was 15 when she was last seen Dec. 13, 1974 in Thornhill and the most recent one is Tamara Chipman, who was 22 when last seen Sept. 21, 2005 hitchhiking just outside of Prince Rupert.

The 1995 review followed four women disappearing in 1994 and in 1995. Two were from Prince George, one from Smithers and the fourth was Lana Derrick, who was 19 when she disappeared from the Terrace area on Oct. 7, 1995.

Ward said that when all the data is entered, investigators will have the capability to look for connections or other items of interest that may not be possible by a manual cross-referencing effort.

He isn’t sure if the program has been used for other investigations but did say its level of sophistication and ability to track information will help investigators.

“What I can tell you is that while we may not have charged anyone, we may have closed off on a number of suspects. I want to choose my words carefully here but we may have been able to eliminate people to ensure we don’t start working and write a report to Crown counsel about the wrong person,” said Ward.

Based on those earlier reviews, RCMP are not convinced there is a serial killer at work along Hwy16.


“But the guys have to keep an open mind so they don’t exclude anything,” said Ward.

One factor to consider when thinking about the possibility of a serial killer is the time span in the RCMP list. It’s been nearly 32 years since Ignas - the first person on that list - disappeared.

RCMP aren’t disclosing the criteria of why some people are on their official list and why others are not.

Ten days ago, thanks to news reports from Prince Rupert, a name surfaced that isn’t on the list - Mary Jane Hill from Kincolith.

She was 31 when her body was found in 1978 20 miles east of Prince Rupert on Hwy16.

“At this time, police suspect foul play but the incident is still under investigation,” a newspaper story at the time stated.

Hill’s daughter, Vicki Hill, now 29, was six months old when her mom was found. She wants police to go back and look at the case in light of the other disappearances and deaths.

“We’re aware of that and we’re going to wait until the review is completed to see if it fits in,” said Ward of the Hill death.

Three of the nine women on the list have since been found dead and police aren’t releasing details as to the circumstances of those deaths.

“There’s a reason those names are on the list. If the deaths were for some other reason, they would not be there,” said Ward.

The number of people - nine - on the list has also been open to debate and conjecture.

Aielah Saric-Auger isn’t on the list. She was 14 and a student at D.P. Todd Secondary School in Prince George when she went missing Feb. 2 of this year.

Her body was found east of Prince George on Feb. 10 but the nine on the list went missing on the stretch of Hwy16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert.

While not on the RCMP list, the teen is on a list released in June as part of a report prepared by organizers of a symposium into the missing women held in March in Prince George.

“The circumstances are different and we’re not disclosing them. It’s still under investigation,” said Ward of the Saric-Auger death.

Also on the symposium list but not on the RCMP one is Cecilia Anne Nikal from the Smithers area.

She disappeared in 1989 with the symposium report indicating she was last seen in Smithers. RCMP say she was reported missing in Vancouver.

Some reports have pegged the number of missing at more than 30, but there has never been a roster of names and circumstances attached to that figure.

Ward said people should not get the impression RCMP investigators are focusing all of their resources on their missing list.

All of those on the list are from the area between Prince Rupert and Prince George, the stretch of Hwy16 that connects them. That also creates the impression the RCMP is limiting the scope of their investigation, said Ward.

“We’re not excluding a whole bunch of other things,” said Ward of work done by investigators.

Other people who also have missing relatives elsewhere need to know police continue to work on their cases, he said.

“Sometimes, we have a real problem with the Highway of Tears and the context of it being between Prince Rupert and Prince George,” the staff sergeant continued.

And even though data from the RCMP’s missing list is still being entered into that sophisticated computer program, Ward said that doesn’t prevent investigators from working on the files.

“The major crime investigators do meet and they meet regularly to discuss cases,” he said.

© Copyright 2006 Smithers Interior News