Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - Highway of Tears Pt. 3: The Way Forward

Episode Date: July 22, 2022

In 2005, the disappearance of 22-year-old Tamara Chipman changed everything. Her case brought enough attention to the Highway of Tears that the Canadian government was forced to act. They launched a task force to reexamine cases, hoping to find links between crimes. But despite the momentum, their investigations have stalled out — leaving residents to live under the specter of the next murder.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, Parcast listeners. It's Vanessa with some incredible news. You can purchase your copy of our book, Cults, inside the world's most notorious groups, and understanding the people who joined them. Available now at parcast.com slash cults. Cults is an expanded look at the people who led and followed the most radical groups in history, with an unflinching exploration into what happens when the most vulnerable recesses of the mind are twisted into the lowest forms of malevolence. details not featured on our podcasts. We're so proud to bring you this fantastic compilation of stories, and we're forever grateful for your support. Without you, none of this would be possible, so thank you. Visit parkast.com slash cults to order your copy of cults, inside the world's most notorious groups and understanding the people who joined them.

That's parkast.com slash cults to order today. Due to the graphic nature of this episode, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. For more information about the Highway of Tears and ways to support the search for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in Canada, you can visit www.h highwayof tears.org.

By the time the police had found Jessica Patrick's body, the animals had already gotten to her. The 18-year-old was underneath a spruce tree on Hudson Bay, mountain in the town of Smithers, British Columbia. She'd been missing for a little over two weeks. In that time, her father, Mike Balzer, had helped lead the search for Jessica, putting up flyers, walking the streets, and then, in September of 2018, it was all over. She was dead, and no one knew who killed her. Frustratingly, Mike says the RCMP didn't tell him anything, so he decided that it was up to him to do something about it.

Shortly after bearing his daughter, Mike joined a group called The Crazy Indian Brotherhood. Dressed as a biker gang, Mike and his fellow brothers patrol the streets of Smithers with one goal, protect the women and girls of their community. It's a sentiment that has become more common across the Highway of Tears. If no one else will protect them, they will protect themselves. Mike Balzer is just like countless other people along the Highway of Tears. So why are we talking about his story here? The answer to that question is the subject of today's episode, the way that people have tried to combat the endless cycle of violence that has plagued this region.

Individual people, activist groups, even the RCMP, have tried to do that exact thing. But like everything else about this story, it's a complicated endeavor. After all, it isn't like just one issue is at play here. The highway of tears has been marred by structural problems, racism, neglect, poverty, the list goes on. And how in the world do you fight all of that at once? Hi, I'm Greg Poulson. And I'm Vanessa Richardson. And this is a special series on the Highway of Tears, presented by serial killers.

We're taking a closer look at this lonely collection of roads that crisscrossed the British Colombian landscape, a region that has been the site of countless missing persons and homicide cases. Last time, we took a deeper dive into the structural failures that plague Northern British Columbia and how these issues leave people more vulnerable to violence. Today, in our final episode, we're going to follow the story of the highway of tears into the present day. How did this place become the subject of a much larger conversation about indigenous women and girls?

And crucially, how did the country react? We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Whether you're hiring for a role or searching for a killer, the hunt can be exhausting. detectives looked and searched to find any kind of evidence to find the person they were looking for like Jack the Ripper, the Golden State Killer, the Unit Bomber.

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In some ways, it's hard to chart exactly how the highway of tears reached an international audience, because for so long, that place and its reputation existed almost as a myth to anyone who didn't live there. You might hear about it once or twice on the news, a grainy photo of a smiling girl, something about how she went missing out there in the wilderness. But then on to the next thing, the weather, sports, anything else. Of course, the people who lived these stories, whose lives ran parallel to the highway of tears, they simply couldn't look away.

The threat of violence was everywhere. Families asked for more action from the police, more resources for their communities, something to combat the ever-present threat of violence, but their calls often went ignored. As we've already covered, that's still an issue today. The highway of tears hasn't been tied up neatly in a bow, and its structural problems haven't been fixed with the wave of a magic wand. There is a lot still left to do, but now at least more people are watching. It's taken a long time to get there, to first.

force more people to pay attention to the problems along the Highway of Tears. It was like a wave, gaining momentum as the years passed. Each new victim added height to the swell. But by the 2000s, it was becoming very difficult for the rest of Canada to pretend that the Highway of Tears didn't exist. The frustration and anger of native communities was turning into a larger-scale discussion, especially around the subject of violent crime. In 2001, author Warren Golding, published,

a book that underlined the larger problems at play along the highway of tears, titled Just Another Indian, A Serial Killer and Canada's Indifference, the book offered a scathing critique of the racism that Native folks deal with every day. Golding put a voice to the feeling that many Native people shared, that their lives somehow mattered less than their white counterparts. He emphasized this, especially when it came to homicides, quoting a victim's sister who said, It seems that any time a native is murdered, it isn't a major case. The sentiment Golding discussed wasn't new, but that wasn't the point. His book was an important step toward a much larger conversation

about the topic of racism against native people in Canada. And the discussion didn't stop there. In 2004, the Highway of Tears became the subject of a report by Amnesty International Canada. It revealed horrifying statistics, that Native women between the ages of 25 and 44 were five times more likely to die by violence than other women in that age group. It also borrowed data from the Native Women's Association of Canada, which estimated that upwards of 500 indigenous women had gone missing in the last 20 years across the country. Along the highway of tears specifically, the report stated that over 30 women had been murdered

or gone missing, and overwhelmingly those victims were indigenous. For people living in that region, this data probably wasn't a revelation. It was something they'd known their entire lives. But for people outside of British Columbia, the Amnesty Report might have been a huge shock. That one document illuminated the real stakes of these issues along the highway of tears, and crucially, it helped bolster the subject to a larger audience. As Summer drew to a close in 2005, it looked like there was a new, large-scale sense of urgency about these issues. Finally, the rest of the country was starting to take notice.

But that didn't mean that the violence had subsided. On September 21st of that year, another woman disappeared, 22-year-old Tamara Chipman. Like we said, the highway of tears didn't become a subject of international concern overnight, but Tamara's case is worth a bit more attention, because in some ways she was the straw that broke the camel's back. Her disappearance and the response to it inspired activists. that echoed for years after the fact. And crucially, it finally got the Canadian government to act.

In 2005, Tamara Chipman was living in the small town of Terrace near the Pacific Coast. She had a reputation for being a firecracker, someone who wasn't afraid to give her opinion. Her aunt, Gladys Raddock, later commented that Tamara wasn't afraid of anything. She had her fair share of troubles, though. Her family speculated that Tamara struggled with drugs, and she seemed to spend time with a rough crowd. But by all accounts, she was trying to make it work. She had stayed close with her aunt, and she made a regular habit of visiting her mom, who lived in Prince Rupert. Normally that meant taking her Mustang about an hour and a half drive down Highway 16,

then back again. But at some point in September of 2005, her car broke down, and Tamara was forced to leave it parked until she could get it repaired. That left her with one option, hitchhiking. On September 22nd, Tamara was looking to catch a ride home after spending time with her mom and Prince Rupert. It was a cold and windy day, the sky a gray slate above the trees. A little after 4 p.m., a family friend spotted Tamara standing on the shoulder of Highway 16.

Hitchhiking was such a common thing. It's unlikely that this person thought anything of the sight of Tamara on the side of the road. But that was the last time anyone saw her alive. It took a while for anyone to realize that something was wrong. Her father, Tom, was out of town on a weeks-long fishing trip, and Tamara's friends knew she traveled a lot, so for a little while no one thought it was strange that she wasn't around. But when Tom Chippman returned home in November, he quickly realized that something was very, very wrong.

He phoned around asking friends and family if they'd heard from Tamara. By that stage, she'd been missing for over a month. so many other parents over the years, Tom was stuck in that terrible, familiar process. He talked to the police, told the rest of his family, and then the search began. Tom probably knew about the many other cases like this, the ones that were never solved, that seemed quickly forgotten by the RCMP. But Tom and his sister Gladys were determined. They wouldn't stop looking for Tamara, not until they found her.

Whatever it took to get answers, they'd do it. Tamara wouldn't be forgotten. Coming up, the hunt for Tamara garners national attention and helps spark a larger movement. Hi, listeners, it's Vanessa. I'm so excited to tell you that our first book is on sale now. This is such a big moment for the whole PARCAST family, and we can't wait for you to read it. It's called Cults, inside the world's most notorious groups and understanding the people who join them. And you can purchase it today by visiting Parcast.com. This is a passion project years in the making and only made possible by you.

With your support, we've been able to get back to our storytelling roots. This time with a wealth of research and insights under our belt and intimate details not covered on our podcast before. Shame, exploitation, power. Cults unfolds the many motives behind groups like nexium, heaven's gate, the people's temple, and more, revealing eye-opening details which will surprise even the most devoted true crime fan. Visit parcast.com slash cults to order your copy of cults inside the world's most notorious groups and understanding the people who join them. That's parkast.com slash cults.

And on behalf of everyone here at Parcast, thank you for joining us on this journey. We hope you enjoy. Snoring, gasping during sleep, feeling fatigued, ask your job. doctor about Zepbound, terseptite. The first and only FDA-approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and adults with obesity. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and obesity to improve their OSA. Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection. Zetbound contained,

Tersepatite and should not be used with other Tersepitite containing products or any GLP1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Zepbound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pins or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia. If you're nursing, pregnant,

plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zepbound with a sulfonel urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsened kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-99 or visit zepbound.lily.com. Now back to the story. By the time Tom Chipman reported his daughter missing in November of 2005, it had been over a month since anyone had seen Tamara. That made it difficult to retrace her steps. As we've discussed before, the Canadian police don't have a great track record when it comes to looking into cases of native people going missing. But for whatever reason, the RCMP chose to take on Tamara's disappearance with gusto, at least at first.

Within a week, the police had assigned 10 investigators to her case. But Tamara's family wasn't going to sit back while the RCMP sorted things out. From the moment Tom reported his daughter missing, he started searching for her. He walked the 89 miles along Highway 16, tracing his daughter's possible steps. Along the way, he stopped to check ditches, the shoulder of the road, and the woods for any sign of Tamara. And once he got to Prince Rupert, he turned around and walked all the way back to Terrace. But Tamara could be anywhere, and the woods alongside Highway 16 were dense, dark, and massive. The RCMP were off doing their own closed investigation and weren't giving Tom much in the way of updates.

If he wanted help in his search, he had to find it himself. And luckily, the people of Terrace were more than willing to lend a hand. Within a month, Tom and his sister Gladys had been. been joined by dozens of others. At 7 a.m. every day, groups of volunteers met at the Kitsum Kalem Fire Hall in Terrace, ready to plan out that day's search. Each trek covered upwards of a dozen miles, through the brush and on the side of the road. The community response to Tamara's disappearance was truly incredible, and it reflected the way that local people reacted to this kind of tragedy. After all, the town of Terrace sat along the highway of tears. The folks

lived there were abundantly familiar with this kind of crime, and they knew that the RCMP weren't always the most reliable source when it came to investigation. It was a community effort more than anything else, so they got to work. The BC Forest Service donated maps, and local search and rescue teams joined regular folks on the ground as they wandered through the woods. Virtually every logging road or highway between Terrace and Prince Rupert was extensively searched. There was no stone left on There was real momentum building behind Tamara's case, and not just at the local level either. Within those first few months of the investigation, Tom Chipman gave a few interviews to local papers about his daughter's disappearance, and quickly that story spread to other papers

throughout the province. Suddenly, the search for Tamara was being covered in Victoria, in Vancouver, all over. It's worth noting here that this first flash of press isn't all that unusual for these cases. Many other Highway of Tears investigations saw a few articles at first, a splashy, dramatic headline paired with a grainy photo of the missing woman in question. But then the momentum falters. No one identifies a solid suspect. The case never gets solved. Suddenly, the story of the missing woman doesn't grab audiences anymore, so the story gets swept aside and is quickly forgotten. But Tamara's case was a little different. Maybe it was because of the growing activism. around the highway of tears, but the coverage around Tamara Chipman was more pointed.

Journalists were more willing to give the context around this one case to show her story as part of a long, terrible legacy, one that needed to be resolved now. In December of 2005, the Canwest News Service published a story about Tamara, linking her disappearance to many others that had taken place along the highway of tears for the last decade. It included a harrowing detail that Tamara's disappearance, appearance brings to 33, the number of missing and murdered women along the highway. All but one of those victims was native. We have to pause here to really appreciate that last detail.

Think back to Gloria Moody, how easily her story faded to the background. It's very possible that her race was the reason why her murder got so little coverage compared to white victims from the same region. But at the time, there was little to no conversation about that possibility, at least not in the mainstream press. Tamara Chitman's coverage was a mirror opposite to that of Gloria Moody. Now the issue of racism was front and center, and rather than fading away, her story started to balloon out in a much bigger conversation about the Highway of Tears in general. And to better understand Tamara's place in this conversation, we need to spend some time

looking at the more recent cases that remained unsolved along the Highway of Tears, because Tamara fit all too well into that pattern. Tamara was just the latest death in a long line of similar cases. By the time she disappeared, the Highway of Tears had already claimed six other women and girls within the last decade. These were Delphine Nicol, Ramona Wilson, Roxanne Theara, Alicia Germain, Lana Derek, and Nicole Horr. Every one of them except Nicole was indigenous.

The coverage of Tamara's case tried to grapple with this idea. The issue wasn't just that a woman had disappeared or that her case was so similar to the others in northern BC, the question was why this was happening, and crucially, who was doing it? We've already talked about the massive structural issues that made the highway of tears the perfect breeding ground for violence. But that second thing, the question of who, started to bubble up to the surface. As articles explored the pattern of violence in the region, writers started to wonder, was this

the work of a single person? Did the region have a serial killer on the loose? It certainly wouldn't be the first time. We've already covered the stories of two separate killers that frequented the highway of tears, and it's not hard to find similarities across many of the cases alongside Tamras. Hitchhiking, the race of the victims, even the age of many of these girls was the same. All of them were teenagers or in the early 20s. There was clearly a pattern here, one that was impossible to ignore,

and that was made all the more obvious when, in February of 2006, 14-year-old Alia Seric Auger went missing in Prince George. About a week later, a passing driver found her body on an embankment on the side of Highway 16. Yet again, the cycle of disbelief, grief, and hopelessness began anew. Tamara Chitman's family knew it too well. Even now, five months after the fact, they were still searching for her. walking along Highway 16 with a slowly dwindling group of volunteers. There were still no developments in her case, no updates from the RCMP.

The newest death was just another cruel reminder, how the region seems to breed violence and death at an unstoppable rate. But mingled with those feelings was also a growing sense of urgency. This had gone on for too long, and it was about time that communities banded together to put a stop to it. A few weeks after Aaliyah Seric Auger was found, the Lately Teney Ban Council put out a press release. They called upon First Nations, the RCMP, the government, and even the public to ban together against the violence that was threatening the lives of Native women and girls. In their statement, members cited the most recent deaths as proof of larger structural issues, namely race, poverty, women's rights, along with the isolation of indigenous youth and the strained relationship between them and the justice system.

At the end of the press release, the council offered $1,500 to put together a symposium on the subject, hoping to bring together the communities that have been affected by these tragedies. And the response was astounding. Pledge donations came in from the BC government, from First Nations, from the RCMP, from all over. So a date was set, March 30th and 31st, 2006 for the Highway of Tears symposium. This was also the moment where the Highway of Tears' Awareness Walk was first created. It was originally billed as its own event, a demonstration to raise awareness for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. But once the news of the symposium spread across the province, the conceit of the walk changed.

Now, the plan was to walk over 400 miles from Prince Rupert all the way to Prince George, where the symposium was going to take place. It was an extremely intense emotional experience for the people involved. Many of the participants had lost someone along the highway of tears. The walk itself passed by many harrowing markers, the spot where Tamara Chippen was last seen, various places where bodies had been found. Passing these landmarks, it was impossible to ignore the legacy of violence

that had stained this place. The trip took a little over two weeks, with many participants only choosing to walk for sections of the over, overall journey. But finally, a small group arrived at Prince George in time for the symposium. After the walk, the symposium promised its own kind of intensity. It was built as an opportunity for local communities, the RCMP, and the provincial government of British Columbia to sit down and create an action plan for the highway of tears. But it was also a moment for grieving families to share their stories with an audience that was actually willing to listen to them.

On the first day of the event, people were encouraged to get up on stage and talk about their lost loved ones. After they were done, another person would go up and join them. Soon there were hundreds of people standing together. Each story was unique, but the pain, the frustration, the lack of closure, that was always the same. Some cried, others sang. One woman recited a poem in Cree, tears running down her face as she clutched a photograph

of her daughter who had disappeared two months early. It was almost like a massive funeral for people who hadn't had the space to commiserate, and that first day set an important tone for the whole weekend, that it was time to make up for the decades, even centuries, of neglect, and a huge part of that was creating an action plan. Over the course of the weekend, that's exactly what the participants of the symposium said about doing. It was a tall order, after all there wasn't just one issue to be dealt with. the task was finding a way to grapple with the systemic failures that made the Highway of Tears a dangerous place.

But by the end of the event, a plan had been set. The Highway of Tears recommendations report was a joint effort of the Lableton A First Nation, the Carrier-Sacconi Tribal Council, and Native advocacy groups. The document listed 33 recommendations, changes that the Canadian government could enact in order to make Northern B.C. a safe place to live. These were things like added police patrols, better cell service, and more available transportation. When the group officially published the document in June 2006, it received a surprisingly optimistic reception. Even the RCMP publicly endorsed the report, stating that the recommendations were realistic and completely achievable.

This was a huge moment. The RCMP had been such a source of frustration and distrust throughout the years, and now suddenly it seemed like the cops were stepping up to the plate. There was a long road ahead, but in June of 2006, it looked like change was on the horizon. Maybe now, after all this time, the tide was finally going to turn. But that's not what happened. Not by a long shot. Coming up, we'll see exactly how the wheels came off. This episode is brought to you by Prime.

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Like everything else, the problem here is a complicated one. But to still down to its most essential parts, the issue is one of oversimplification. In other words, well-meaning projects take on one specific problem. without recognizing that it's just part of a larger, much more convoluted system. There's one group in particular that exemplifies this conundrum, that good intentions don't necessarily make good results. So we're going to look at Project E. Pana. It seems like for the authorities, the solution for the highway of tears was a simple one.

Figure out who was killing all these people and stop him. Serial killers had plagued the region in the past. It stood to reason that it could happen again. It was this idea that led to the formation of Project E. Pana at the end of 2005, so named for Panna, the Inuit goddess who watches over the souls of the dead. The task force originally started with a very small group of RCMP officers. But as these detectives started digging into old case files, they knew they'd have to get more help. The small team soon grew to a multi-precinct effort, spanning the entire province. Their plan was straightforward enough, exactly.

An old case files, look for similarities, and see if this really was the work of a serial killer. The sentiment behind E. Panna was an admirable one. After all, so many murders or missing persons cases had fallen by the wayside over the years. EPana hoped to find some much-needed answers and finally put these cases to rest. However, the reality of this process proved to be much more complicated than anyone seemed to anticipate. One of the first major hurdles was simply deciding who got to be included in this list of victims and why. In an attempt to deal with the issue, Epanah established some criteria to help them choose cases that already had some similarities. These parameters included elements that we've come to recognize as standard for Highway of Tears cases.

The victim was female and involved in high-risk activity such as sex work or hitchhiking. The victim, if found, was located around high-risk. Highway 16, 5, 97, or 24. All of a sudden, murders that hadn't been discussed in decades were back in the news. In total, the group originally chose nine homicides or missing persons cases that had remained unsolved, including both Gloria Moody and Tamara Chipman. Things were looking promising, sending a strong message to the native community that their grief was being taken seriously.

But for whatever reason, the scope of the project started to shift, and as it did that original aim got lost in the shuffle. In 2007, E. Panna doubled their list of cases from 9 to 18. But these were different. They took place all over British Columbia. One even came from Alberta. And overwhelmingly, the new victims were white. According to author Jessica McDermid, First Nations groups and indigenous activists

immediately criticized this decision. To them, it was another example of white victims being prioritized. over everyone else. E. Pana's leaders were quick to defend their decision, saying that a serial killer wouldn't necessarily stay within the confines of the highway of tears. That by expanding their scope, they had a better chance of noticing a pattern of behavior. But for many people, it was a dilution of a very real regional problem, and one that disproportionately affected native women and girls.

At the very least, it wasn't a good start for the task force. Things didn't get better from there. As part of their work, E-PANA officers had to gather information about the cases they had chosen to re-examine. But doing so wasn't easy. Many of the victims were originally listed as runaways, and their cases disregarded by the officers who originally handled the missing person's reports. E-Pana officers regularly discovered that evidence from the original investigation had been thrown out. So the E-Pana team was often left with nothing at all,

working on cases that had already been so mishandled that it was hard to move. forward. For decades, native communities along the highway of tiers have been complaining about this very problem, that the death of an indigenous person does not often inspire the RMCP to act. That kind of neglect comes with real ramifications. As well-intentioned as the E-Pana task force was, they couldn't create evidence when there wasn't any.

They couldn't find old evidence that had already been destroyed. In some ways, the cards were stacked against them from the start. The problems that plagued E. PANNA weren't just external issues. Within the task force itself, biases and ambivalence continued to get in the way of the actual investigation. One of the early goals for EPana was to build a team of investigators out of seasoned, well-respected RCMP officers. And to a degree that did happen. Lots of retired homicide and missing persons detectives joined the task force early on, eager to help. But as it turned out, they weren't the majority of the investigators who were brought in.

Former team members claimed that over the years, E-Pana became a hotspot for young, inexperienced officers who had just joined the RCMP. When asked about this seemingly bizarre choice, senior members of the task force reportedly said that E-Pana offered a good place for in-field training so that new officers could gain experience that would help them later on in their work. It's hard to look at that decision without feeling frustrated. E. Panna knew how the RCMP had disregarded Highway of Tears cases in the past,

especially those involving indigenous victims. To see inexperienced officers taking charge of E. Panna's own efforts could seem like another form of neglect, as if even now the cases aren't being offered the kind of care they deserve. Regardless of the reasoning behind their decisions, E Panna has had mixed success in its original promise, to find similarities among these cases and identify a serial killer as a the sole perpetrator. The closest they got was in 2012.

That year, E. Panna examined DNA evidence from the case file of 16-year-old Colleen Macmillan. It had been 38 years since her naked body was found near Highway 97, with very few leads to help investigators pinpoint her killer. But modern technology opened a new door, allowing detectives to take another, harder look at her case. Nearly four decades after her death, the RCMP struck gold. DNA founded the scene was a match for Bobby Jack Fowler, a convicted criminal who had died in prison back in 2006. This was an incredible victory for Colleen's family and for Project E. Panna,

but it was also an exception. Unlike many of the other E. Pana cases, Colleen's had well-preserved DNA evidence on file, and importantly, Colleen was white. Those two details likely have to do with each other. After all, evidence from other murders was not treated with the same care as it was in Colleen's case, and that had direct consequences. For example, police allegedly found a bloody shirt near the spot where Delphine Nikol had gone missing in 1990.

But when Epanah looked for that piece of evidence, they couldn't find it. It's easy to start with the maybes here. Maybe there was a miscommunication during that first investigation. Maybe the stain wasn't blood after all, and the cops decided to scrap. the evidence, but it's hard to look at details like that, compare them to cases involving white victims, and come away feeling satisfied. The break in Colleen's case was an important moment, but it's one of Epan's only real successes to date. The task force is still in operation, and its website still asks for information about the 18 case files on their list, but most of

those deaths seem no closer to being solved than they were all those years ago. As we've seen, the RCMP have not had the best track record when it comes to solving murders along the highway of tears. So for many people who lived in northern B.C., E. Pana was just more of the same. But E.P. shows a common problem that comes up when people, including the RCMP, try to fix the highway of tears. Solving cold cases, seeking out similarities and looking for a serial killer, all of that is a worthy cause. but it's only one symptom of a much larger, much more complicated issue. And treating the symptom is not the same thing as treating the cause. That's why it's not surprising to hear about the many roadblocks that E. Pana faced in their investigations.

We've said it before, but it's worth repeating. None of these cases happened in a vacuum. There are reasons why so many murders have gone unsolved and why so many young women and girls were never found. It has everything to do with race, with lack of infrastructure, with poverty, with the many issues we've covered during this series. Even if E. Panna identifies a suspected serial killer and solves multiple cold cases in one fell swoop, that still wouldn't fix everything. That wouldn't address the ongoing issue of racism and biases within the RCMP, and it wouldn't keep these kinds of crimes from happening in the future. Because the problem here isn't just that there might be a serial.

killer. The bigger issue at play is that whatever killer or killers are out there, they're taking advantage of an already broken system. And until that system is repaired, it's hard to imagine anything getting fixed in a meaningful way. The Highway of Tears isn't a place that offers us much satisfaction. It isn't a story with a happy ending because it's still being told. And it wouldn't be realistic to finish our series as if everything could be neatly tied up in a bow. So, where do we go from? here. That's the question that people who actually live in northern BC have been asking themselves. The RCMP seems stuck in the mud and the Canadian government hasn't offered much relief to the region.

But that's not exactly new. People in this region are pretty used to having to take care of themselves. So that's exactly what they've been doing. Folks have continued to advocate for better resources and put pressure on the government to take action. Many groups have been founded with the express intention of providing help to native communities. The sentiment across the board is always the same. If no one else will protect the locals, they will protect themselves. If it's left to indigenous communities

to keep the momentum going, so be it. They'll take up that mantle just as they keep the memory of their lost loved ones alive. In 2020, Gladys Raddock helped commission a totem pole to be built as a memorial to her niece and the countless other women and girls who have been lost. The monument was placed on the side of Highway 16 outside of Terrace, where Tamara once lived. The pole is over 23 feet tall, colored with striking red and black paint that sets it apart from the trees.

The face of a matriarch peaks out at the top, surrounded by children's faces. An orca makes up the base, nodding to the fact that the totem pole stands on Kitsum-Kalem-Orcahlan territory. The main figure in the middle depicts a woman in a red dress with her face painted. She could be any of the people who have been lost along the highway of tears. Chamara Shipman, Ramona Wilson, Gloria Moody, the list goes on. Surrounded by symbols of protection, this figure stares out toward the highway. She greets the passing drivers with unblinking eyes, her gaze fixed and unflinching. She looks even beyond the road, into the trees, to the mountains.

She's a memorial, yes, but she's also a symbol, a silent, constant reminder that, one way or another, things are going to change. They have to. Thanks again for tuning into this final episode in our Highway of Tears special. We'll be back next time with a brand new story. You can find all episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. For more information on the Highway of Tears, Amongst the many sources we used, we found the book Highway of Tears by Jessica McDermid, extremely helpful to our research.

And for more information about activism around the highway, check out highwayoftears.org. See you next time. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cuddler, sound designed by Michael Motion, with production assistants by Ron Shapiro, Nick Johnson, Trent Williamson, and Carly Madden. This episode of serial killers was written by Georgia Hampton, edited by Joel Callan, fact-checked by Anya Bayerley, researched by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood, and produced by Joshua Kern. Serial Killers stars Greg Poulson and Vanessa Richardson.

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