Police are asking for your help

[Sher]

Edmonton police announce hunt for serial killer
CTV.ca News Staff

Edmonton Police formally announced Friday that they are looking for a serial killer in the deaths of at least eight women involved in the sex trade.

"It is our belief that one person is responsible for more than one offence but not necessarily for all of these murders," the RCMP said in a statement.

Project KARE, an RCMP-led task force looking into the deaths, says it's offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the death.

RCMP Const. Tamara Bellamy, who is assigned to Project KARE, told a news conference she expects someone has information that will be helpful.

"The person responsible for these homicides is going to be somebody's neighbour. He may be somebody's brother. But he will likely not look like the monster that we see in the movies," Bellamy said.

The police said they believe:

the suspect drives a truck, van, or a sport utility vehicle, and is comfortable driving in rural areas. The vehicle will be suitably maintained and likely has a significant amount of mileage. The vehicle may be used for work and outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing, or farming.
the suspect may participate in outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing, camping, etc.
the suspect may have periodically cleaned the interior and exterior of his vehicle, perhaps at times that are unusual for this particular individual.
the suspect likely has a past or present connection to the areas south of Edmonton, perhaps Leduc, Camrose, New Sarepta, or the surrounding communities. He may have lived or worked in those areas, has family or friends in the area, or has used the area for recreational purposes.
Experts from the RCMP's Behavioural Sciences Branch in Ottawa helped the task force develop the profile of the suspect.

Police noted that the profile includes a cooling-off period between murders, but concede that the time between killings is getting shorter.

The task force says it typically would not release a profile in a serial killer investigation. However, they say they believe there are people in the Edmonton area who know the offender and may suspect his involvement.

"Someone out there holds the key information for the successful resolution of these homicides. The offender is someone's neighbour, friend, brother or son," the RCMP said.

Since 1983, the bodies of almost two dozen bodies of prostitutes have been found in and around the Alberta capital.

Police say they are linking the serial killer to just the deaths since 1998. Eight prostitutes have been murdered since then.

The most recent discovery was in early May, when a body of a murdered sex-trade worker was found in a field in Sherwood Park, east of Edmonton. Police would not reveal the cause of death of the 33-year-old woman, identified as Ellie May Meyer.

The body was found by a farmer who was tilling a field a few kilometres from the site where the bodies of two other sex-trade workers, Monique Pitre and Melissa Munch, were found in January 2003.

A month before, the burned remains of Charlene Marie Gauld were found down a dirt road near Camrose. She was just shy of her 21st birthday.

The bodies of at least four other prostitutes have been dumped south and east of Edmonton in the past two years, usually in fields.

RCMP have admitted there could be a link between some of killings but have always been reticent to admit that they suspected a serial killer. Yet police have not managed to generate any strong leads in any of the deaths.

On Thursday, Alberta Justice Minister Ron Stevens said he is pushing for a new law so that all convicted johns would be obligated to provide a DNA sample.

He said the idea could help generate a list of possible suspects linked to the deaths.

Anyone with information is asked to contact:

Project KARE, Toll Free: 1-877-412-KARE (5273)
or locally: 495-KARE (5273)

[Sher]

Ending years of speculation, the police task force investigating a series of murders and disappearances in Edmonton's sex-trade industry acknowledged yesterday that they're hunting a serial killer.

And they're offering a $100,000 reward for anyone with information that leads to an arrest - a first in Alberta, officials said.

"The person responsible for these homicides is going to be somebody's neighbour. He may be somebody's brother. But he will likely not look like the monster that we see in the movies," said RCMP Const. Tamara Bellamy, an investigator with Project KARE.

Project KARE is investigating the slayings of 12 prostitutes in and around Edmonton since 1988 and 72 cases of missing or murdered people, mostly women, involved in "high-risk lifestyles."

Police also released a profile of the killer, supplied by the RCMP behavioural sciences branch in Ottawa. Mounties cautioned that the killer may not necessarily fit every portion of the profile.


The killer drives a truck, van or SUV and feels comfortable driving through the countryside, according to the profile.

The vehicle likely has a lot of miles on it and is reliable. It may be used for work and outdoor activities like hunting, fishing or farming.

The killer likely has some connection to areas south of Edmonton, perhaps Leduc, Camrose or New Sarepta.

And the killer often cleans the inside and outside of his vehicle, occasionally at strange times.

Asked how they came up with the profile, Bellamy said KARE sent a collection of files to the behavioural sciences branch. "They assess it, of course looking at the victimology, the evidence, the scene, taking all of those factors into consideration ..."

Mounties wouldn't say just which of the 12 murders they pegged the serial killer for.

Contacted yesterday, a relative of a slain prostitute wondered if the reward isn't a sign Project KARE is running out of leads.

"They reassure us that they're doing everything that they can," said Charlotte Lajimodiere, sister-in-law of Rachel Quinney, whose remains were found in a clump of trees in Strathcona County on June 11, 2004.

"But if you're waiting a year just to find out that it looks like it's a really dry trail, then all of a sudden money's going to bring out an answer?"

Lajimodiere said she's thankful KARE is investigating, but said it reflects poorly on society as a whole when police have to pay for justice.

The RCMP's Bellamy said that's not the case at all.

"We've had plenty of other avenues that we've followed up on," Bellamy said. "Using a reward is a tool that many other investigations have used."

Anyone with information is asked to call KARE at 1-877-412-5273. Or visit their website at www.kare.ca.

[Sher]

Edmonton's serial killer is likely an expert with a knife who likes to get close to his victims, says a leading expert on serial killers.

"Most serial killers rarely use guns as they don't want any distance between them and their victims," said Prof. Jack Levin, director of the Brudnick Center on Conflict and Violence at Boston's Northeastern University.

Levin analysed the police advisory that their quarry is likely a fisher and hunter, and owns an SUV or truck that he likely cleans at odd hours of the night.

He suggested this means the killer knows how to use a knife and creates grisly crime scenes that involve his vehicle.

"One possibility is that this is someone who knows how to use a knife," said Levin. "A hunter and a fisher would know how to use a knife."


He said that a hunter would know how to dress an animal, and that suggests the killer may be mutilating the victims.

"A possibility is that the victims are being dismembered," he said.

Levin believes the reason police made the odd request to look out for someone who cleans a vehicle at strange hours suggests that they know the killer must need to clean blood and remains from a vehicle soon after he has slain his victims.

"He likely leaves behind a very messy crime scene," said Levin.

Levin said he is quite confident that the police know more than they have disclosed to the public.

"The (police description) is unusual because it is unusual in a statistical sense that they have chosen to focus on a behaviour (the late-night washing of the SUV or truck) that isn't a common behaviour for a lot of people."

Levin said far too many profiles are too general, the "middle-aged white male" type that describes a large portion of the population.

He said for a profile to be useful, it needs to pinpoint a trait that would make a suspect stand out from the crowd.

Keith Spencer, a criminology professor at the University of Alberta, warned that while a profile can be helpful, it should not be taken as gospel.

"The problem is that if a profile is too specific you might take the focus off of a potential suspect, while if it is too general it is a case of 'what are you saying?' " said Spencer.

"People have been led to believe by TV shows that profiling is an exact science. It is not."

Spencer said the fact that victims have been found in farmers' fields is why the profilers decided that an off-road-capable vehicle was needed to transport the bodies.

Levin said he is confident that the police want the serial killer to know that they have some leads.

"Serial killers read the paper," he said.

[Sher]

Yesterday's announcement that a profile has been developed for a suspected serial killer stalking city prostitutes failed to impress writers on Project KARE's Internet message board.

"Unfortunately, the profile fits too many people," wrote one person. "Drives a truck or SUV, likes to hunt or fish, cleans his car. Sounds like about half the rural male population of Alberta."

Project KARE is an RCMP-led task force investigating 72 cases of missing or dead people with high-risk lifestyles, including the slayings of 12 prostitutes in and around Edmonton since 1988.

Another person writing on the Project KARE message board wanted more details about the killer. "I wish there were more details to this profile! Still, it's a positive move on the part of law enforcement," the person wrote.

Two other people writing on the message board shared tales of being approached by a man driving a blue mini van, an experience they described as "creepy."

[Sher]

A 25-year-old prostitute was brutalized in Sherwood Park this week by a john whose truck matches that of a suspected serial killer.

And yet, Rosie Cardinal is among the ranks of Edmonton sex-trade workers who remain doubtful a serial killer is out there.

Yesterday she was shown the profile developed by Project KARE, the RCMP-led task force that is investigating the deaths of 12 city prostitutes.

The profile suggests the killer drives an SUV or pickup truck and frequently cleans it.

The similarities of the vehicle in the profile and the one driven by her attacker left Cardinal rattled.


"It says it's a truck and the one that I was in - it's a truck," she said. "It's freaky."

Cardinal's brush with a man who threatened her life came earlier this week.

She suffered cracked ribs and a black eye, but managed to escape.

A Caucasian man, roughly 25 to 35 years old, driving a Dodge Dakota, took Cardinal to Sherwood Park.

At one point he held a knife to her throat, threatening that she "would end up like the other girls" if she didn't do what he wanted.

"I pepper-sprayed him and I left. I jumped out of the vehicle and I ran as fast as I could," she said.

"Whoever is doing this to these girls, they should really stop because we're human just as much as everybody else is."

Cardinal has another theory.

"I don't think it's a serial killer.

"Me and some of the girls have talked, maybe four or five of us, and we think it's somebody close to us because the last girl who passed away was street- smart," she said.

"Ellie May (Meyer) just wasn't the type to be dope-simple."

Meyer's body was found last month in a field north of Sherwood Park.

But women who work in the sex trade along 118 Avenue couldn't think of anyone who fit the profile.

Opinion is mixed on the existence of a serial killer.

Another woman wasn't surprised Project KARE is now pointing to a serial killer.

"I figured that right off the hop," said the woman, who declined to give her name.

But the description of the serial killer doesn't ring a bell.

Barbara Whitford, 29, also couldn't think of anyone matching the profile.

"I have no idea," she said of the possibility of an Edmonton serial killer.

"But it's pretty scary."

[Sher]

Police in B.C. and Alberta are looking for a link between the mysterious deaths of more than a dozen prostitutes in Edmonton and three slayings in Kamloops, B.C.

There may be similarities in the way the women were killed, said RCMP Cpl. Wayne Oakes.

"If we have sex-trade workers murdered in one community and sex-trade workers murdered in another community - even if they're provinces apart - it would be prudent for the investigators to share the information that they're obtaining to see if there are any links or ties between those homicides," said Oakes.

HUNTING FOR SERIAL KILLER

Police yesterday confirmed they are looking for a serial killer. They released a profile and are offering a $100,000 reward.


At least 12 sex-trade workers in and around the city have been murdered since 1988.

Mounties don't believe the same person is responsible for every homicide they're investigating.

"While we do believe now that a single person is responsible for more than one of the murders, this is not the only person," Oakes told the Sun.

So far, Kamloops investigators have not said their cases are linked. The three slayings date back to the summer of 2003, with the most recent in early April when the body of 44-year-old Sherry Lee Hiltz was found.

She was so badly beaten, pathologists had to use fingerprints to identify her.

City police and Mounties in Alberta are hunting for a man believed to enjoy hunting and fishing and who is thought to own a sport utility vehicle.

Police wouldn't say the exact number of cases to which they think he's tied.

Offering a reward for tips to catch the serial killer means investigators are getting closer, not more desperate, said Deputy Prime Minister and Edmonton MP Anne McLellan. "Progress has been made," McLellan said yesterday. "Rewards are one of the tools that they (RCMP) have in their tool kit."

McLellan, also Ottawa's public safety minister, added there are disturbing similarities between killings around Edmonton and the case of Robert Pickton, the Port Coquitlam, B.C., man accused of murdering 27 people, most of them prostitutes.

'REMINDED OF THE HORROR OF B.C.'

"The possibility of a serial killer targeting sex-trade workers is disturbing," McLellan said. "We are reminded of the horror of B.C."

It took years for investigators in Vancouver to admit they were looking for a serial killer after the disappearance of 68 women, mostly from the slummy Downtown Eastside.

Now accused of Canada's worst serial killing, Pickton has been in custody since his arrest in 2002, when police descended on the property he and his family owned in agricultural Port Coquitlam, a suburb of Vancouver.

[Sher]

Speculation of links between prostitute slayings in Edmonton and Kamloops, B.C., has existed for months on the street, the Sun has learned.

Kamloops River of Life church pastor Lydia Gilbert, who works with prostitutes and street people, said yesterday she had already heard talk that the Edmonton murders and three unsolved cases in her city might be related.

"I've heard some say these are linked," she said.

The Canadian Press reported from B.C. on the weekend that RCMP were investigating possible links between the slayings of Edmonton prostitutes linked to a "serial offender" and the Kamloops killings.

Kate Quinn of Edmonton's Prostitution Awareness and Action Foundation visited Kamloops in April with other members of her organization.


They were there to talk with Kamloops city council and discuss funding concerns with their B.C. counterparts.

"One thing we discussed was that the Yellowhead is a link between Edmonton and Kamloops," said Quinn.

"Just as women can be transported via the Yellowhead across the Prairies, so could a killer."

Alida Irving, the mother of one of the three slain Kamloops prostitutes, said she asked local RCMP months ago about the possibility of a link but got no clear answer.

"I sure want to see this come to an end," said Irving.

"I just want him caught. I don't want him to get away with what he did."

The body of Irving's daughter, Shana Labatte, was found the morning of March 23, 2004, by a couple walking their dog in Kamloops' Mission Flats Municipal Park. Labatte's slaying, along with those of Kamloops women Denise Heather Hamill and Sherri Lee Hiltz, are under investigation.

Irving said she is "hopeful" an expanded police probe means a killer will be collared.

"We have been pretty desperate. It has been really hard."

Labatte was last seen getting into a brown Ford Explorer. Her track pants, shoes and purse were missing.

The body of Hiltz, 44, was found behind a Kamloops home last April. She had been severely beaten.

Hiltz had been attending the River of Life, and Gilbert brought food to her street corner the night she was murdered.

"She told me she thought there were a couple of people chasing her," said Gilbert. "I didn't see anyone, so I didn't know what she had in mind."

The body of Hamill, 31, was found Aug. 1, 2003, in the North Thompson River.

Gloria Manuel, Hamill's aunt, said the family will welcome any new leads in the investigation.

"There has been so much tragedy in our family, I can't even begin to talk about it," said Manuel.

Her niece was a veteran of the street.

"She was a drug addict and prostitute," Manuel said. "She did it just to support herself."

Kamloops RCMP said all public information on their investigations is being released by a single officer, who was not available yesterday.

[Sher]

RCMP were swamped with hundreds of phone calls after announcing a $100,000 bounty for tips leading to the conviction of a serial killer preying on prostitutes.

In fact, they may have missed a few in the shuffle.

"Unfortunately, (the response was) so positive that at some peak calling periods, people may have experienced difficulty getting through," said RCMP spokesman Cpl. Wayne Oakes.

"So if anyone did experience any difficulty, we strongly encourage them to phone back because their information is very important.

"The initial response was the calls were well into the hundreds.


"That's what we were hoping for."

Since 1975 the bodies of 25 people, including prostitutes, have been found in the greater Edmonton area, said Oakes.

Mounties now say that, based on information gathered during the investigations, one person is responsible for more than one death - but not all of them.

Investigators sent that information to behavioural scientists in Ottawa, who concluded there are links between some of the murders.

Project KARE, the RCMP-led task force investigating the murders, announced Friday a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the deaths of victims under the team's mandate.

Mounties say the reward applies to any one of the 41 homicides they're investigating in Alberta over the past 70 years - and not just the deaths of prostitutes found in fields around Edmonton.

"This amount of money might be what it takes for somebody really close to an offender to be empowered to call in, because they're going to need a fair bit of money to distance themselves from that person," said Oakes.

Oakes implored the public to continue calling with any information they might have about the killings, even though a number of tips have already come in.

And it doesn't matter what kind of information they pass along to officers, he said.

"We will take whatever break comes our way," Oakes said.

"It does not matter the shape, size or form of the break, we will be happy to receive it."

"It doesn't matter how you spell it out - it's a tragic situation and it's a situation that investigators are working diligently to try and bring about a resolution."

Anyone with information is urged to call 495-5273 or 1-877-412-5273.

[Sher]

INDEPTH: EDMONTON MURDERS
Edmonton's murdered women

CBC News Online | Updated June 20, 2005


EDMONTON MURDERS:
Interactive map & timeline [Flash presentation]
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Police in Edmonton are looking for someone whom many people are calling a serial killer, targeting women. They have released a profile of a man they believe has killed several prostitutes and have offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

The profile prepared by the RCMP's Behavioural Science Branch suggests he:

Drives a reliable, high-mileage truck, van or sport utility vehicle, and is comfortable driving in rural areas.
Likes to hunt, fish, camp or participate in other outdoor activities.
Has a past or present connection to the area south of Edmonton, including Leduc, Camrose and New Sarepta.
May clean his vehicle at odd times of the day.

Since 1983, the bodies of more than 20 Edmonton women have been found. All are described by police as being prostitutes or having high-risk lifestyles and only five of the cases have been solved.


The site where remains of 22-year-old Cara King were found in 1997.
The situation has stoked the growing fear in the city's estimated yearly population of 400 sex trade workers.

Kourch Chan is a social worker with Crossroads, an outreach program for Edmonton sex trade workers. In an interview with CBC News Online in 2003, he said many of his clients had been "nervous and quite scared," since the bodies of Melissa Munch and Monique Pitre were discovered that month. "People are a little more hesitant to get out," he said. "There's a lot of speculation that there's one person who could have (committed the murders)."

While RCMP investigators say they have no information to prove any of the deaths are related, they have joined forces with Edmonton city police to explore the possibility. City police are reopening all old case files involving missing women to see if there is any link to the most recent crimes.

Here is a list of women who have been found under similar circumstances since 1983:

May 6, 2005:
The body of sex-trade worker Ellie May Meyer, 33, is found near Sherwood Park.


April 18, 2005:
RCMP in Alberta identify the body of Charlene Gauld, 20, who burned remains were found near Camrose.


Jan. 25, 2005:
The body of 19-year-old Samantha Tayleen Berg is discovered under snow in a parking lot on Edmonton's North Side. The teenager worked in the sex trade.


June 11, 2004
The body of 19-year-old Rachel Quinney is found in a wooded area near Sherwood Park, an Edmonton suburb.


July 7, 2003
The body of 40-year-old Katie Sylvia Ballentyne, who worked in the sex trade, is found in Leduc County, about 20 km south of Edmonton. She is the fourth female found outside Edmonton in 2003, the fifth in 10 months. Her body was located in a field near Range Road 235, just north of Township Road 500.


April 12, 2003
The skull and remains of 29-year-old Debbie Lake, a former prostitute, are found near Highway 623 near Miquelon Lake Provincial Park, approximately 70 km southeast of Edmonton.


Jan. 12, 2003
20-year-old Melissa Munch is found dead in a stand of trees on a farmer's field west of Range Road 220 and south of Highway 16 in Strathcona County. The discovery is made four days after the body of Monique Pitre was found less than 10 kilometres away.


There were an estimated 400 sex trade workers in Edmonton in 2003.
Jan. 8, 2003
The frozen body of Monique Pitre, 30, is found in a field south of Fort Saskatchewan (Range Road 222 and Township Rd). There is trauma to her entire body.


Sept. 23, 2002
The burned body of 28-year-old Edna Bernard is found in a field east of Leduc, near Range Road 245, north of Highway 623.


Jan. 27, 2001
24-year-old Kelly Dawn Reilly is found dead behind a gravel operation in the area of Range Road 264 and secondary highway 633, near Villeneuve.


Sept. 1, 1997
22-year-old Cara King is found in a canola field in Sherwood Park (Highway 214 and Hwy. 16), east of Edmonton.


June 14, 1997
The body of 24-year-old Jessica Cardinal is found in an alley behind a commercial building at 9325-111th Avenue. Her body is discovered behind a discarded shelving unit. Edmonton police have no suspect in her death.


Oct. 19, 1997
The body of Joyce Hewitt is found in Sherwood Park, near 17th Street and 89th Avenue. RCMP spokesperson Roxanne Beaubien says Hewitt had a "high-risk lifestyle." The circumstances of her death were not available.


Dec. 25, 1996
24-year-old Joanne Ghostkeeper is found strangled in her Edmonton apartment at 11925-34th Street East. Police have no suspect in her death.


Feb. 11, 1993
The partially decomposed body of 25-year-old Elaine Ross is found stuffed under a bed in a motel room on 183rd Street near Stony Plain Road, Edmonton. Autopsy results were inconclusive and a cause of death is unknown, but police are treating it as a homicide.


Dec. 21, 1990
Lorraine Wray, a 46-year-old masseuse and mother of one, is found strangled in the bathroom of her Edmonton business, West End Studio, at 15526 Stony Plain Road. According to Edmonton police spokesperson Dean Parthenis, several autopsies were performed, leading investigators to determine "manual strangulation" as the cause of death.


Oct. 25, 1990
29-year-old Mavis Mason is found stabbed to death on a rural road west of Edmonton.


Oct. 25, 1989
Bernadette Ahenakew, a 22-year-old mother of three, is found dead in a ditch alongside a rural road near Sherwood Park.


Sept. 13, 1988
The body of 20-year-old Georgette Flint is found in Elk Island National Park. An exact cause of death is not determined.


Sept. 21, 1986
The body of 21-year-old Melodie Joy Riegel is found on a hotel-room bed. She was last seen entering the hotel with a client.


1983
The skeletal remains of 21-year-old Gail Cardinal are found 10 kilometres south of Fort Saskatchewan. RCMP spokesperson Roxanne Beaubien says Cardinal had a "high-risk lifestyle." No cause was determined in her death.
Solved Murders


1993: Linda Giles (circumstances unavailable)


1996: Charmaine Pidlesny (circumstances unavailable)


1999: Sherry Ann Upright (circumstances unavailable)


1999: Catherine Ann Burrell (circumstances unavailable)


April 26, 2001: Ginger Lee Bellerose is found in the courtyard area of Edmonton's International Hotel (since razed). The 26-year-old mother had been beaten to death. The murder was solved March 14, 2003 and 52-year-old Medicine Hat resident Richard David Douglas was charged with second-degree murder. Edmonton police do not suspect this murder was connected with the others.

www.cbc.ca/news/background/edmonton_murders/

[Sher]

Tips that could lead to the capture of a serial killer are pouring in to police, thanks in part to a handsome reward.

Project KARE is the task force investigating the deaths of 41 people - including 25 in the Edmonton area since 1975, many of whom lived "high-risk lifestyles." Two weeks ago KARE announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person behind the deaths.

Kate Quinn, executive director of the Prostitution Action Awareness Foundation of Edmonton, said the flurry of tips shows that the reward is helping.

Anyone thinking of topping it up with a donation should consider giving to groups dedicated to getting prostitutes off the streets, she added.

"I say the work of the police is to solve current murders. The work of the community is to prevent future murders and we can do that by helping women get off the street."


RCMP Cpl. Wayne Oakes said police continue to get tips at a "very pleasing rate."

[Sher]

Edmonton sex-trade workers have a hunch our city's serial killer is lurking in online chat rooms, possibly stalking future victims or posting messages to get attention.

A sex-trade worker e-mailed the Sun after reading postings on the RCMP's Project KARE website.

The site includes a bulletin board where visitors can chat about unsolved murders and high-risk missing persons.

A user with the nickname of 'icare2' posted seven rambling messages between July 2 and 3. All give the impression of someone very interested in serial killers.

"His posts are really detailed and speculate about the killer's psychology," said Monica, a sex-trade worker in Edmonton. "I couldn't help but think it could be the guy."


Barbie, another sex-trade worker, suspects the killer is posting on another website, sextradeworkersofcanada.com.

The site includes dozens of posts from handles like 'killer,' 'mangler' and 'butcher.'

"He's posting there," Barbie said. "Girls get weird e-mails all the time, but it's a risk that comes with the job."

She said women share a list of johns known to be violent. It is only available to the site's registered sex-trade workers and is forwarded to police.

The RCMP and serial-killer experts doubt Edmonton's streetwalker stalker is a member of either website.

"It isn't likely at all, unless he's trying to mislead police," said Jack Levin, a serial murder researcher in Boston.

"It's more likely he's a true-crime fanatic or a serial-killer groupie, trying to live vicariously through these killings."

RCMP say the KARE website is monitored and that no posts point to someone with inside knowledge of the murders.

"Anything's possible," said RCMP Cpl. Al Fraser. "(But) there's nothing there that hasn't been discussed or told in a previous release."

[Sher]

Alberta's roster of sorrow is about to add another name.

The RCMP is set to announce today they're investigating the case of another missing woman in the Edmonton area.

Project KARE, the Mountie task force investigating missing and murdered women in the region, wouldn't release the name of their latest missing woman yesterday.

But an RCMP spokesman confirmed she is Metis, she is a sex-trade worker in her 30s and she's been missing for roughly a year.

JoAnn McCartney, a former city vice cop who runs a court diversion program for the Prostitution Action and Awareness Foundation of Edmonton, said she thinks she knows the woman being sought by RCMP.

"If it's who I think it is, it's someone I knew when I was with the police," she said. She declined to give the name.

"I don't want to say too much, because I don't want to interfere with the investigation.

"KARE people were asking over the summer whether anyone had seen her. She's been missing for some time."

Project KARE passed its second birthday this month.

Launched with a caseload of 83 missing persons files - 25 in Edmonton, the vast majority of them women and all of them in so-called "high risk" lifestyles - the task force has been building contacts in the sex trade and generating tips from the public.

The slaying of Charlotte Lajimodiere's 19-year-old sister-in-law, Rachel Quinney, is among the the files KARE is investigating.

Yesterday Lajimodiere said her heart goes out to the family of the woman whose name will be released today.

"It's the fact that here's another young woman, somebody's daughter, somebody's sister, possibly a mother.

"Whoever this is, whoever this perpetrator is out there, is laughing at everybody, obviously."

Mounties said in June they believe a serial killer is at work in the Edmonton area, killing women who live high-risk lifestyles.

Lajimodiere fears this is yet another victim of his work.

Mounties have never said just how many murders they peg the killer for.

Lajimodiere urged the family of the missing woman to seek whatever support they can find, especially the Mounties' victim services unit, if it's available to them.

"The support systems that are out there, take them for what they're worth because they are great."

[toni]

It is almost December 2007, are police still searching