Playing For Change: Song Around the World "Stand By Me"

http://playingforchange.com - From the award-winning documentary, "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music", comes the first of many "songs around the world" being released independently. Featured is a cover of the Ben E. King classic by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it travelled the globe. This video and "Don't Worry" will be available at iTunes 1.27.09 while other songs such as "One Love" will be released as digital downloads soon; followed by the film soundtrack and DVD in stores on 4.28.09.

Vanished, but not forgotten: The stories behind some of Saskatchewan's 95 missing people

By Barb Pacholik, Leader-Post
April 24, 2009 9:02 PM

For nearly a year, Blaine Nokahoot and his wife Harriet Kahnapace have been waiting — for a knock at the door, a phone call, some word, just about anything that might ease their minds, or at least put the questions to rest.

Chief among those questions: Where is Wilson Grant Nokahoot. May 30 will mark a year since anyone has seen the 43-year-old Regina man, one of the last people to be added to the list of this province's 95 long-term missing persons.

"He used to always phone or pop around," says Blaine, Wilson's cousin. "He kind of went off the face of the earth."

Wilson often stayed with the couple at their Regina home — located only three blocks from the house where five-year-old Tamra Keepness, perhaps the city's best-known missing person, disappeared in July 2004.

It's but one of the tragic coincidences; Wilson isn't the only one to have simply vanished from their lives. Danita Bigeagle, the daughter of Blaine's cousin, disappeared in February 2007 from the 800 block of Victoria Avenue and has yet to be found. "She'd always phone her mom . . . then just no more phone calls," says Kahnapace.

Moments later, she remembers her friend, Elaine Dumba, and wonders at her fate. Formerly of Regina, Dumba was last seen around 1989 in Vancouver's downtown eastside, although she wasn't officially listed among the missing until nearly a decade later. Her friends suspect she was among Robert Pickton's victims at his now infamous B.C. pig farm.

Today, the couple tries to make sense of the rumours they've heard about Wilson — how he is a victim of murder.

"You hear stories all over, and you don't know what to believe," says Kahnapace. "He's really friendly. Maybe he got friendly with the wrong people," she adds, hoping someone "with a conscience" might step forward.

The couple describes Wilson as a slightly built, quiet, harmless guy, who never bothered anyone. Originally from White Bear First Nation, he spent most of his life in Regina except for the time he was at Gordon's Indian Residential School, one of the more notorious boarding schools that sparked hundreds of residential school claims. Like so many residential school survivors, Wilson never liked to talk about his time he spent there. But it clearly took a toll; at times, he lost himself in substance abuse.

In recent years, he'd begun collecting cheques from a trust set up when he received compensation for his years at Gordon's. He used some of his money to buy an engagement ring for his girlfriend in the months before he went missing. His absence was noticed when he stopped turning up to collect his cheques.

Blaine has resigned himself to the possibility that he may never see his cousin again. "I know he's gone. It's not like him just to disappear."

Still in the absence of any evidence, it's hard not to cling to hope.

"It seems when you hear a knock at night, it might be him," says Kahnapace.

———

From the most recent — 52-year-old Gordon Harvey, last seen swimming in the Saskatchewan River near Saskatoon in July — to the oldest — 29-year-old farm hand Anker Ljungren, who left home to find work in the midst of the Depression and was never seen again — Saskatchewan police agencies have 95 open files of long-term missing persons.

That's seven decades of heartache for families left to ponder what-ifs. Usually those missing for more than six months are added to the list, although exceptions are occasionally made when it's clear the person has not vanished of their own accord.

For some, traces left behind hint at the person's fate: A snow machine found in a hole in the ice (William Kacuiba, 1933, on the North Saskatchewan River near Prince Albert), a swamped canoe (Garry Stuart Allen, 1978, Turtle Lake near Glaslyn), or an inoperable boat and abandoned fishing nets (Louis Haineault, 1987, Cree Lake).

But many others are all the more puzzling because the people have seemingly disappeared without leaving any trail: For example, Draper Lee Jim, a 27-year-old who was dropped off on the side of Highway 4, about 20 kilometres north of North Battleford, on Feb. 21, 2006, and never seen again; Grace Johnston, 26, who vanished on Oct. 20, 1953, after getting off a city transit bus in Saskatoon on her way to work at a downtown cafe; and Emily Osmond, a 78-year-old recluse who lived on a small acreage on the northern edge of Kawacatoose First Nation. Last seen by her hired helper in September 2007, Osmond uncharacteristically left behind her vehicle and personal belongings, including medication, and her dogs unattended.

Fifteen of the missing are adolescents and teens, aged 13 to 18, like 14-year-old Myrna Montgrand who never made it home from a party in La Loche in 1979, or 15-year-old Norman Louison who vanished walking to a house on the Cowessess First Nation in 1977, and 13-year-old Courtney Struble, last seen walking towards her residence in Estevan on July 9, 2004. That was only four days after Regina was grappling with the puzzling disappearance of Keepness. She is among the four children under aged 12 on the list of long-term missing, with the youngest three-year-old Jonathan Uriah Molina. He was last seen travelling with his mother Maria and two-year-old brother Benjamin, all of Winnipeg. Their burned-out Thunderbird was found Oct. 29, 1985, in a slough on the White Bear First Nation near Carlyle. Police believed the car had become stuck, overheated and caught fire. Personal belongings, including bags of clothing, a suitcase, and the car keys were found in the bush, about 100 yards from the vehicle nearly six months later. Then on Oct. 1, 1986, the skeletal remains of his mother and sibling were discovered nearby, but not Molina. It remains a mystery why the family was in the Carlyle area or ended up on a remote road, two kilometres off the highway.

At the other end of life's spectrum, are seniors, like Tersilla Catterina Bonthoux. From her black-and-white photo on a police website that profiles the province's long-term missing, the diminutive, bespectacled 79-year-old strikes a kindly smile, posing in a Sunday-best print dress, its white lace collar complemented by a broach at her neck. Born in 1875, she disappeared on Oct. 25, 1954, while walking from Duck Lake towards the farm homestead where she used to reside, about 13 kilometres away.

For years, whenever family gathered, the topic often turned to Bonthoux and what became of her, says RCMP Staff Sgt. Fran Stevenson, who retires this month as NCO in charge of the Saskatoon RCMP's major crime and historical case unit. The case was brought to the RCMP's attention in recent years by Bonthoux's grandson.

"There was always a rumour that she was buried on a particular piece of property (in a cellar) close to where she used to walk."

Stevenson, who was a member of the Provincial Partnership Committee on Missing Persons, uses the case to illustrate two points: Firstly, the importance of documenting old cases, so that if remains are ever found, a link can possibly be made; and secondly, how investigative work can still be done on even the coldest of cases. Last year, investigators and Saskatoon archaeologist Dr. Ernie Walker, who has assisted police on a number of historic cases, used ground-penetrating radar on what is today a farm field to find that suspect cellar and dig it up.

"They didn't find her, but at least it satisfies the family, that 55 years later, the police will still look for her and eliminate that misinformation," says Stevenson.

Det.-Sgt. Brent Shannon, whose business card for the Regina Police Service reads simply "cold case," echoes that sentiment. In the past, cold cases were revisited by major crimes officers as time permitted. Today, there are 13 officers (eight RCMP and five with municipal forces) around the province dedicated to historic or cold cases, delving into unsolved homicides, long-term missing person files and cases of unidentified human remains. The officers meet regularly to compare notes and suggest possible avenues for further investigation.

"By going to cold case, it does not go in some cold, dark room and sit endlessly forever and ever," says Shannon. But he adds that unlike television, there isn't a team of people who jump into a vehicle and go off to solve a case in an hour.

"Unfortunately, they're not easy files to solve or they would have been. It requires long-term persistence."

A file falls into his domain when "it's really been exhausted at that point and there are no more current or hot leads."

However, both he and Stevenson say there is still plenty of work that can be done, even when the trail has grown cold.

The file gets a new set of eyes, removing any potential for so-called "tunnel vision," by officers who get entrenched in one theory. And the passage of time can actually work to an investigator's advantage.

"Sometimes a little time off really does help . . . because motivations and reluctances and relationships change," says Shannon. "Maybe they're in a close relationship with a husband or a wife and years later, after separation or divorce or years of unhappiness, you have different motivations now. You're more willing to talk about perhaps what that person did, said, saw."

Stevenson says the officers of old worked with the tools of the day. "Today we have new things. And technology is number one."

From DNA analysis, which can positively identify remains, to tools like ground-penetrating radar, and additional resources, such as criminal or geographic profilers (particularly useful with serial killers) and trained search teams, cold case units are simply better equipped.

Cold case investigators were the impetus behind a comprehensive database as well as a publicly accessible website (www.sacp.ca/missing/) that profiles every long-term missing person in the province as well as unidentified human remains, like those of a young drifter who killed himself on the train tracks near Regina in July 1995 and now lies in a grave marked "John Doe."

"He's missing from somewhere, we just unfortunately can't tell you from where," says Shannon.

Launched on the Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police site three years ago, today the missing persons website attracts as many as 4,000 hits per month from countries around the world.

"It shows the families that there is a record, there is a police report, there is a department or agency responsible for investigating their loved one's case," says Stevenson, who is also optimistic the site will one day generate a tip that might unlock some of those mysteries. He notes Saskatchewan was a leader in creating the site, and other provinces have since followed suit. Long-term plans are for police forces across the country to create a common, national, missing persons database and website. Cold case officers hope one day for a missing persons DNA databank, that could be checked when remains are discovered.

Nine cases have been marked "located" since the website's creation. Unfortunately, only one person was found alive, a Regina man who chose to cut off ties with his family. The remainder are all deceased, including Mary Catherine Shanahan, a Moose Jaw woman who was found buried in a Toronto cemetery under a name she had assumed after leaving Saskatchewan 23 years earlier.

As a result of the found remains, five of those cases turned into homicide investigations, with murder charges laid in three — Daleen Kay Bosse, Victoria Jane Nashacappo, and Amber Tara-Lynn Redman. Two of the homicides remain unsolved: 19-year-old high school student and mother Marie Lynn Lasas, whose remains were found under a pile of lumber behind a vacant Saskatoon house in June 2007, nearly a year after she was last seen; and Melanie Dawn Geddes, a 24-year-old Regina mother of three found in the Qu'Appelle Valley near Southey in December 2005, four months after she disappeared while walking home.

Asked what proportion of the outstanding cases might involve foul play, Stevenson replies, "Through discussions with investigators . . . there's a high probability of foul play being involved in approximately 32 of those cases."

But he's quick to add that it's an educated estimate and not a firm figure. "Until the person is actually found or some very accurate or verifiable information is located, we can never really say for sure." He uses the example of a Saskatoon woman, Jacqueline Late, who mysteriously disappeared in January two years ago. She was subsequently found three months later in a garage, where she had apparently gone to seek shelter from the cold and died of hypothermia, no foul play involved. At other times, "the more the case is investigated, the more suspicious it can get."

Resolution of any sort is remote in some instances. Shannon mentions the case of Jaroslav Joseph Heindl. The 72-year-old Regina house painter disappeared in 2002 from a grocery store parking lot, where his vehicle was found. He was known to collect reusable cast-offs from dumpsters. Police later searched the Regina landfill — to no avail.

"I think there's a very good chance that unfortunately he fell into that dumpster or climbed into that dumpster, and whatever happened at that point, and I'm not suggesting foul play — how are we ever going to find him if that was the scenario? And without finding him, how are we ever going to truly know (what happened)?"

Even if they can't resolve all the cases, officers like Shannon and Stevenson hope families can find some comfort in knowing the lost loved hasn't been forgotten by authorities. "Someone is still working on the file, albeit maybe not every single day. But somebody still keeps that file and works on it and follows up and when information comes in, they know somebody's addressing it . . . It would be nice to solve several of them," says Shannon.

After her daughter's killer was sentenced earlier this year, Amber Redman's mother Gwenda Yuzicappi spoke of the draining, emotional toll of simply not knowing. Three long years passed before the remains of the murdered 19-year-old, who disappeared after leaving a bar in Fort Qu'Appelle in July 2005, were found.

"It's unbearable pain. Your mind is racing. You're thinking is my daughter being hurt? Is she being harmed? Is she being fed? Is she being tortured? Is she being raped? The nightmare. A mother's nightmare. It's living that every second of the day. Sleeping. You're constantly thinking, 'Maybe I should go looking again,' because I constantly searched. The whole family, we all did our own searches."

The pain didn't end when Yuzicappi finally got her answers, but she found solace in being able to lay her daughter to rest.

Too many others, like the family of Wilson Nokahoot, are still waiting.

bpacholik@leaderpost.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post

Proposed memorial would be place for reflection and healing

By Barb Pacholik, Leader-Post
April 24, 2009 8:48 PM

REGINA — When someone dies, there is often a gravesite, a place to gather and remember; when someone vanishes, there is a void.

Lori Whiteman would like to fill that emptiness with a special place for reflection, healing and hope. The "Place of Reflection," as it's proposed, would be dedicated to those missing, but not forgotten — people like her mother, Delores "Lolly" Whiteman.

"There is a very real possibility that I may never find my mom, and never, therefore, have a place to go visit a gravesite. And there are other family members who are like me, who may never have that place to go. And the family members who have found their loved ones still need that healing," explains Whiteman. Her mother, originally from the Standing Buffalo Dakota First Nation near Fort Qu'Appelle, was last seen in the Edmonton area in 1987. Today she would be almost 64.

Inspired by a sculpture owned by Whiteman, the proposed memorial, which organizers hope to locate on the RCMP Depot grounds in Regina, is for a stone sculpture of a grandmother by Cree sculptor Lyndon Tootoosis. It's based on a legend about an elderly woman who becomes separated from her family and is expected to die. When they later reconnect, the family remembers her words: "I'll wait here."

"The foundation of (the memorial) comes from the idea of missing women, but it is intended for all of those people who are waiting or who require that strength or who have experienced loss and need a place to go to draw that strength and healing," says Whiteman.

Just as aboriginal women have been the catalyst for the memorial, they have been the impetus for putting all missing persons on the public agenda.

Whiteman is part of Saskatchewan Sisters in Spirit, a grassroots organization formed after Amnesty International raised the alarm about Canada's missing and murdered aboriginal women in a report. Stolen Sisters stated "the (Native Women's Association of Canada) has estimated that over the past twenty years, more than five hundred indigenous women may have been murdered or gone missing in circumstances suggesting violence." Women who largely carried on their lives unnoticed — until they were gone — became a rallying point for public awareness walks, conferences, studies, and monuments like the one envisioned by Whiteman.

With the spotlight focused on missing aboriginal women, the fact more men go missing in this province has been relegated to the shadows. Among the 95 people in Saskatchewan identified by police as long-term missing, 67 are men and 28 women. Overall the split between aboriginal versus non-aboriginal missing is nearly 50-50. Specifically for men, 36 are caucasian and 29 of aboriginal descent (two are unknown), and among the 28 women, the breakdown is 16 of aboriginal descent to 12 caucasian.

But those working in the area say the raw numbers tell half the story.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Fran Stevenson, who was a member of the Provincial Partnership Committee on Missing Persons, notes a larger proportion of the men reflected in those figures are more likely to be victims of misadventure. For example, 14 of the missing are suspected drownings, and only one of those 14 are women.

"(The men) are out in the bush, they're out hunting — those kinds of things . . . In the north with the terrain and men are more likely to be out in those conditions — hunters and fishermen, which are predominantly male," he adds.

According to the final report of the Provincial Partnership Committee on Missing Persons, released in 2007, foul play is suspected in 70 per cent of the missing women's cases, but in only 21 per cent of the men's disappearances. Five missing women found in the last three years turned into homicide investigations.

What's more, while aboriginal people make up 48 per cent of the missing — they form only 14 per cent of the population. So they are disappearing at a disproportionate rate.

"It is an alarming number of indigenous women that have been missing and those who are missing have been discovered murdered, statistically," says Brenda Anderson, a Luther College professor, who created what's believed to be the first-of-its-kind university class focused on missing indigenous women.

"If we draw attention to one thing, does that mean that we're paying less attention or that that other group is less valuable? Of course, the answer would be no. But statistically, are the men showing up murdered and raped and brutalized in that fashion?" she adds.

"You can't look at it as just a race issue. You can't look at it as just a sexist issue. It's a combination. And violence against women gets played out when people are disempowered, when they're frustrated, when they want to strike out. They're going to look for the weakest one. They're going to look for the one that people won't notice. They're going to have bought into those stereotypes that this really isn't a human being."

The slayings by Robert Pickton in B.C. or the Project KARE task force examining the deaths and disappearances of numerous Alberta women have fuelled fears that a serial killer targeting women may also lurk in the land of the Living Skies.

Stevenson, from Saskatoon RCMP's major crime and historical case unit, said cold case investigators regularly ponder that possibility. "If we see two people going missing from a similar area, or two people who have a lot of similar characteristics going missing from an area — of course, we look at those to see if there's any commonalities.

"We do keep looking at it. And we hope to prevent any serial offenders from operating."

Det.-Sgt. Brent Shannon, in charge of cold cases for the Regina Police Service, says there are "unique circumstances" in each of the city's 11 outstanding long-term missing persons cases. In recent years, they include Danita Faith Bigeagle, a 22-year-old last seen in February 2007 on the 800 block of Victoria Avenue. Two years earlier, Melanie Geddes, 24, never came home after going to a party Aug. 13, 2005, in the 900 block of Robinson St. Her remains were found four months later in the Qu'Appelle Valley near Southey. Her death is now an unsolved homicide.

In the wake of those disappearances, plus five-year-old Tamra Keepness vanishing from Regina in 2004, the provincial government created a province-wide strategy in 2005 for missing persons, including money for officers who focus on those cases.

"You can always compare and draw some similarities, but to say there's a pattern, we don't feel that at all, not in Regina, not even on a provincial level," says Shannon.

The disappearance of another young woman, Amber Redman, in that same time frame provided the impetus for Anderson's class. A month after Geddes vanished, 19-year-old Redman disappeared after leaving a Fort Qu'Appelle bar. Three years passed before she was found when her killer unwittingly led undercover RCMP officers to her remains on a nearby First Nation.

Spotting a missing persons poster for Redman in 2005 and thinking "not another one," Anderson decided to develop her class providing a global perspective on missing indigenous women, showing Canada's experience is not unique, and helped organize an international conference in Regina last year that focused on the issue.

"If you're going to recognize that brown-skinned women go missing more often than those who are not brown-skinned, then you have to ask the question of how does race play into this," she says. "Why are they targeted? What are the messages that we hear from our media, from our government, from our police. What are the stereotypes and biases?

"Obviously the First Nations and Metis populations have suffered from the past of residential schools, so there's a higher percentage that are in poverty. But the idea that they're all taken because they're involved in a high-risk lifestyle is not accurate at all. And there's often that assumption or inference," says Anderson.

"If they are in a high-risk lifestyle, why are they in it? That points to our abysmal treatment and conditioning, and so a higher percentage of people in those high-risk (activities) means there's going to be more taken. My other question would be, 'Well so what if they're in a high-risk lifestyle, what kind of statement is that that we think that makes it OK then for it to happen, and that a sex trade worker's life is of less value than anyone else's life?' That's a pretty sad look at the world. It's kind of a way to dismiss it, and to distance ourselves from it: 'Well they were asking for it. It's not going to hurt me, so why should I be concerned about it?' It's kind of a way to disconnect from the sadness, the horror of it."

Anderson doesn't want students leaving her class thinking the blame lies with any one group or thing.

"It is the structure of how we think and we have to challenge that at every level and understand that if you hear a story and you flip the channel because it doesn't affect you, then maybe we need to think about how do we see community?"

In the words of Stevenson, "One missing person is too many."

bpacholik@leaderpost.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post

Body found, linked online to missing teen Poorman

By ANNE KYLE and JOE COUTURE, Leader-Post; with files from Barb Pacholik
April 20, 2009 8:2

REGINA — Police have not yet publicly identified the remains of a body found on Friday about half a block from where Tara-Lyn Poorman disappeared from a birthday party more than four months ago.

But on pages of social networking sites set up to promote the search for the missing 17-year-old, family and friends left posts over the weekend making a connection between the teen and the grisly discovery, and expressing hopes she will "rest in peace."

The creator of a Facebook group called "Finding Tara-Lyn Poorman," who identified himself as her brother Vance Kay, wrote "itz true she iz gone," along with an "RIP" for his "baby sis."

Similar posts were also available publicly on Twitter and Bebo pages.

Reached late on Sunday, Poorman's mother Shellyn Kay told the Leader-Post she had not received any official news and did not want to comment further.

Kay said she "didn't know what was going on" with the social website posts, adding she had not spoken to Vance.

Calls to others in Poorman's family and those who have spoken publicly about her disappearance in the past were not returned over the weekend.

Poorman was last seen at a residence in the 400 block of Halifax Street in December.

Police and her family have both offered rewards for her return.

The decomposing body of a woman was found Friday in the 300 block of Osler Street.

The body is believed to have been at a location in a yard in that area, hidden under a pile of snow, for some time, according to the Regina Police Service.

"We are continuing our investigation into a suspicious death in conjunction with the Office of the Chief Coroner,'' police spokeswoman Elizabeth Popowich told the Leader-Post Saturday.

Popowich said police were dispatched to the rear of the backyard of an Osler Street house just before 7:45 p.m. on Friday after receiving information of a person injured or deceased.

Police and emergency medical services attended the area and confirmed that an unidentified woman found in the backyard was deceased.

"Patrol members secured the area and requested members of the forensic identifications and major crimes units to attend,'' Popowich said, explaining investigators were at the scene for most of Saturday and will continue to secure the area as a crime scene until police have more information as to the cause and manner of the woman's death.

"We are continuing that investigation," she said. "It is being considered a suspicious death and the coroner will order any post-mortem procedures requested. We are also in the process of confirming the identity of the deceased, and once that is confirmed, we will then will notify the woman's family.''

Investigators have said it appears the deceased body was at that location for some time and for that reason identifying the deceased will take some time, Popowich said, noting that won't likely happen until after the weekend.

"In the province of Saskatchewan, we know there are many families who have a missing person in their family," Popowich said on Saturday. "So the discovery of a deceased person before an identity is confirmed must start an agonizing period of waiting for all of those families and it is very, very difficult.

"We can't speculate on the identify of the deceased," continued Popowich, who refused to comment Sunday on the social website postings about Poorman.

"We have to know it through fact and we have to confirm it. As difficult as it is for people to wait for those answers, it is our duty to deal in fact," she said.

akyle@leaderpost.canwest.com

jcouture@leaderpost.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post

An Inspirational Video 1 - The Law Of Attraction

A great inspirational video. If you know someone who is going through a difficult time, make sure you forward this video to them. It will brighten their day.

By the way, due to the many requests to purchase this video, it is available for purchase for immediate download at www.leadoutloud.ca.

Woman prepares for trek to commemorate slain daughter

By ALYSSA NOEL, Sun Media

April 10, 2009

Audrey Auger is preparing to hit the road again on the second leg of her four-year healing walk to honour her slain daughter, Aielah Saric-Auger.

In 2007, Auger and her other daughter, Kyla, made the gruelling trek from Tabor Mountain, near Prince George, B.C. – where Aielah’s body was found on the so-called Highway of Tears in February 2006 – to the Gift Lake Metis Settlement. They trekked 750 km over two months, relying largely on the kindness of strangers to help them out.

On April 17, they plan to set out again from Gift Lake and walk 415 km along Highway 16 to Edmonton, where they will celebrate with a round dance at the Boyle Street Co-Op.

“I wanted to (continue) the walk last year so much, but it didn’t work out,” Auger said before heading out to plaster the city with posters promoting the walk. “I didn’t have a home. I hadn’t had a home since my baby girl passed away. I just couldn’t live in my home.”

In the last month, Auger has found a place to live. She says slowly she is healing, thanks, in part, to the strength she’s gleaned from the walk – and the motivation to see it through back to Prince George in 2011.

“This is how I’m finding my way of coping with my loss,” she said. “The walk means a lot of things. It’s a hope for justice, hope for a new life, hope for a new beginning.”

Auger and her daughter will be camping alongside the highway for the journey, taking part in several traditional native rituals along the way. They’re hoping to collect monetary donations – dropped off at the Boyle Street – to purchase gear like foam mats, boots, toiletries and first aid material. Auger says the reason they aren’t asking for donated items is because they don’t want to end up with too many of one item and not enough of another.

“We were pretty well prepared (last time),” she said. “It was a miracle that everything fell into place. The beginning was a little rough, but we had everything to survive on the highway. Whenever we ran out of supplies, we would take a break and pray and strangers would come along (with donations).”

Saric-Auger is the youngest of the eight women who have been found along the stretch of highway from Prince Rupert to Prince George since 1990.

alyssa.noel@sunmedia.ca

Copyright © 2009, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.

Pickton Appeal April 10 2009 Final Day

In Honor of the following and many many more...
Marie Laliberte
Morenda Isaac
Helen Lessard
Sarah De Vries
Lillian Jean O'Dare - September 1978.
Wendy Louise Allen - March 1979.
Rebecca Guno - June 1983
Sherry Rail - January 1984.
Yvonne Marlene Abigosis - January 1984.
Linda Louise Grant - October 1984.
Sheryl Donahue - May 1985
Leigh Miner - December 1993.
Laura Mah - August 1985.
Teressa Williams - July 1988.
Ingrid Soet - August 1989.
Nancy Clark - August 1991.
Mary Lands - 1991.
Kathleen Wattley - June 1992.
Elsie Sebastien - October 1992.
Gloria Fedyshyn - January 1993.
Sherry Baker - 1993
Teresa Louis Triff - April 1993.
Angela Arseneault - August 1994.
Catherine Gonzalez - March 1995.
Catherine Knight - April 1995.
Dorothy Spence - August 1995.
Diana Melnick - December 1995.
Tanya Holyk - October 1996. ( Pickton charged with 1st-degree murder)
Olivia Williams - December 1996.
Frances Young - April 1996.
Stephanie Lane - January 1997.
Sharon Ward - February 1997.
Cara Ellis - 1997.
Maria Laura Laliberte - January 1997.
"Kellie" (Richard) Little - April 1997.
Helen Hallmark - August 1997. (Robert Pickton charged with first-degree murder)
Janet Henry - June 1997.
Marnie Frey - August 1997.
Jacqueline Murdock - August 1997.
Cindy Beck - September 1997.
Andrea Borhaven - sometime in 1997.
Sherry Irving - April 1997. (Robert Pickton charged with first-degree murder)
Cindy Feliks - November 1997.
Kerry Koski - January 1998.
Inga Hall - February 1998. (Robert Pickton charged with first-degree murder)
Sarah deVries - April 1998.
Elaine Dumba - Apri 1998.
Sheila Egan - July 1998.
Julie Young - October 1998.
Angela Jardine - November 1998.
Marcella Creison - December 1998.
Michelle Gurney - December 1998.
Ruby Anne Hardy - 1998.
Tania Petersen - 1998.
Tammy Fairbairn - 1998.
Jacqueline McDonell - January 1999. (Robert Pickton charged with first-degree murder)
Georgina Papin - March 1999. (Robert Pickton charged with first-degree murder)
Brenda Wolfe - February 1999. (Robert Pickton charged with first-degree murder)
Wendy Crawford - November 1999.
Jennifer Furminger - December 1999. (Robert Pickton charged with first-degree murder)
Tiffany Louise Drew - December 1999.
Dawn Crey - November 2000.
Debra Jones - December 2000.
Sharon Abraham - 2000.
Patricia Johnson - March 2001. (Robert Pickton charged with first-degree murder)
Yvonne Marie Boen - March 2001.
Heather Bottomley - April 2001. (Robert Pickton charged with first-degree murder)
Heather Chinnock - April 2001. (Robert Pickton charged with first-degree murder)
Angela Josebury - June 2001. (Robert Pickton charged with first-degree murder)
Sereena Abotsway - August 2001. (Robert Pickton charged with first-degree murder)
Diane Rock - October 2001. (Robert Pickton charged with first-degree murder)
Mona Wilson - November 2001. (Robert Pickton charged with first-degree murder).

Crown says new trial for Pickton wouldn't be in 'interests of justice'

Last Updated: Wednesday, April 8, 2009 | 6:57 PM PT
THE CANADIAN PRESS

Ordering a new trial for convicted serial killer Robert Pickton would not be "in the interests of justice" and British Columbia's top court must guard against inadvertently triggering one, prosecutors argued Wednesday in the B.C. Court of Appeal.

There are currently two appeals before the court: the defence is challenging Pickton's six second-degree murder convictions, while the Crown is appealing his six acquittals on first-degree murder.

If a new trial is ordered, the Crown wants Pickton tried on all 26 first-degree murder charges that were laid against him.

But prosecutor Gregory Fitch made it clear the Crown would ultimately prefer the second-degree convictions stand and Pickton simply stay in prison, his legal saga over.

"It would not be in the interests of justice to simply order a new trial for first-degree murder … if a new trial is not otherwise required," Fitch told the three judges hearing the appeal.

Fitch is concerned that the Appeal Court could deny Pickton's appeal while granting the Crown's, which could have the unintended effect of ordering a new trial that the Crown doesn't want.

In that event, Fitch wants the court to stay the order for a new trial on first-degree murder, allowing the Crown to simply leave Pickton in prison and not pursue the remaining charges.

"It merely suspends, for a limited time or permanently, the underlying order" for a new trial on first-degree murder, Fitch said.

One of the judges questioned whether such an order was even in the Appeal Court's jurisdiction.

"The problem I see is that Mr. Pickton could lose his appeal and the Crown could ultimately win its appeal," said Justice Richard Low. "Logically, in these events, there would have to be a new trial."

Fitch cited case law that he said gave the court such power.

He also said that if the Appeal Court concludes it has no other option than to order the trial, even if the original convictions stand, he wants another hearing to further argue his point.
Pickton convicted in 2007

Pickton was arrested in February 2002, setting off a massive search of his farm in Port Coquitlam, B.C., where investigators found evidence including blood samples, bone fragments and the belongings of women who had disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

The pig farmer was convicted in December 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years — the automatic sentence for first-degree murder and the maximum sentence available.

The Crown's appeal focuses on the trial judge's decision to split 26 first-degree murder charges into two separate trials, dealing with six counts first and leaving the 20 remaining charges for a later trial.

Prosecutors have argued that severing the charges limited their ability to use similar-fact evidence — similarities between the different murders — to show Pickton had a scheme to kill prostitutes from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Fitch earlier argued that such evidence would have helped demonstrate the killings were planned and deliberate, essential elements needed to prove first-degree murder.

But Pickton's lawyers said the Crown is attempting to make new arguments that weren't brought up in trial.

"The Crown paid little attention to planning and deliberation, since their theory was that Pickton acted alone," said defence lawyer Gil McKinnon.

Arguments at the appeal are expected to wrap up on Thursday.

© The Canadian Press, 2009

Story comments (22)

wolf320 wrote:Posted 2009/04/09

at 8:57 AM ET"Not in the interest of justice" ??????? Canada doesn't have a justice system, we have a legal system since there is never any justice for the victims.
If Pickton was arrested in Feb. of 2002 and convicted in Dec. of 2007, does that mean he was serving remand time that counts double? Deduct 118 months from the 25 years "Life" sentence plus the time served since Dec. of 2007 he has already served 133 months in total, he will be out on parole in under 14 years from now.
Who can call that justice?

1 Agree
1 Disagree

julaflamme wrote:Posted 2009/04/09

at 8:02 AM ETPicton has had enough publicity - at the expense of the public.
I would rather see any money that would be spent on a trial & associated costs directed towards doing something constructive for the people in similar situations to the victims - even if there were just places for them to get a good hot meal & a shower every so often - not on lawyers posturing for attention, judges with their overinflated salaries, or investigators who have probably seen enough of the gore to last them a lifetime & could be focusing their energy better on other cases. He is where he should be, & as long as he is there for life - what is the point of any further court action? The victims' families need to grieve & move on - not have more details & stupid defense arguements to lessen or justify the horror of this animal's actions

4 agree
0 disagree

WC. Kelowna wrote:Posted 2009/04/09

at 7:09 AM ETSometimes, people in authority use words that have a different meaning
than what was intended.. " Justice would not be served.."
Justice to me means that he should be tried for every woman that he
killed, dismembered, and disposed of ! The families of the victims deserve
at least that !
Justice means society electing governments to make laws and enforce
them so that society may live a crime - free and peaceful life !
Not the Law Society which includes; Judges, lawyers (including prosecution) making unilateral decisions... The real Society or Public want to ensure that Pickton never ever sees the outside of a maiximum security jail for the rest of his natural life ! So that no glitch, or proceedural hiccup, ever lets this man out of jail...
By cancelling further proceedings lends a message to those involved in Crime, the courts will never finish the total job that the public (who pays their wages) wishes. So, want to control British Columbia or Canada ? Become a lawyer as no matter what the people want, you'll have the final say !

2 agree
6 disagree

Tax Me...I'm Canadian wrote:Posted 2009/04/09

at 6:47 AM ETHow many trials do you need when he's already incarcerated for life? This would be a huge waste of time and money.

9 agree
0 disagree

Rock1971 wrote:Posted 2009/04/09

at 6:08 AM ETI heard he made one helluva bacon sandwich though?

1 agree
17 disagree

carlbailey wrote:Posted 2009/04/09

at 3:21 AM ETyeah, it wouldn't be at all in the interests of justice to question a verdict against an imbecile, not if it means asking why the cops did so little over that decade of disappearances, or why would cocaine dealers call 9/11 if a hooker OD's on the same premises they're storing their product on.

1 agree
4 disagree

covecay wrote:Posted 2009/04/09

at 1:20 AM ETthese notorious killers get all the lime light. we've heard from this guy for too long. put him away, lock up the key and lets never hear from him again.

34 agree
0 disagree

Mel Content wrote:Posted 2009/04/09

at 1:11 AM ETI,m sure there is a big line up of low brow lawyers who will be pissed at the loss of this potential "appeal" revenue , if the crown doesnt try again!

22 agree
2 disagree

Kim Jung ill the Lesser Evil wrote:Posted 2009/04/09

at 12:37 AM ETLots of possiblities hard to say what the lesser evil is.

He tortured this women and chopped them up, a sick man obessed by Blood and torture.

15 agree
1 disagree

BooHooHoo wrote:Posted 2009/04/09

at 12:23 AM ETWilly for Mayor!

4 agree
21 disagree

Don at Calgary wrote:Posted 2009/04/08

at 11:55 PM ETLeonWalskey says,

" SECOND trial so his victims can at least have their day in court. "

I wouldn't be surprised if no one wanted their day in court at this point. There has been too much hurt. Time to move on. He can't be punished anymore anyway, no matter what happens. I think this would be what the dead would say, if they could. They wouldnt want their families to suffer any more trials.

37 agree
0 disagree

Meggsy wrote:Posted 2009/04/08

at 11:52 PM ETLet him rot, and open a case on the rest of the family.

26 agree
3 disagree

roberticus wrote:Posted 2009/04/08

at 11:46 PM ET"...But prosecutor Gregory Fitch made it clear the Crown would ultimately prefer the second-degree convictions stand and Pickton simply stay in prison, his legal saga over..."

Amen to that. He was convicted 16 months ago. Most people have had enough and it's cost plenty too. Just make sure he's incarcerated until death so no one has to ever encounter him again. I could live with that judgement.

46 agree
0 disagree

noiseworthy wrote:Posted 2009/04/08

at 11:23 PM ETThere were suspicions that others were involved or at least knew but prefered to ignore the signs. I can say with some personal knowlage that the Picton family was a tad unusual. Brother Dave has limited abilities. The sister got out and avoided the brothers. Robert Willy does not operate in the fashion of a normal human being. He is more like a Nazi who functions in his own world. His ideas of right and wrong are not like most people.

He does however, like the attention and enjoys the fuss that is made over him and his crimes. Leave him alone and accept that he is a killer and a nasty creation. You should have known his dad, ech!

24 agree
1 disagree

LeonWalsky wrote:Posted 2009/04/08

at 11:08 PM ETAnother example of how those running the province are incompetent and greedy. You want to get him on some first degree charges? Well then, start the SECOND trial so his victims can at least have their day in court. AND continue the chase for the others involved.

I swear law enforcement and the legal system in this province is only good for using tazers and bilking the public legal funds.

3 agree
28 disagree

Sarah77 wrote:Posted 2009/04/08

at 11:05 PM ETA very interesting play of Law... And I am glad that the Crown is saying they don't want another trial for 1st degree, he is serving the same sentance...

27 agree
1 disagree

Golanbiais wrote:Posted 2009/04/08

at 10:46 PM ETWhat if getting a new trial is in the interest of Pickton ?

4 agree
22 disagree

patrickscallen wrote:Posted 2009/04/08

at 10:37 PM ETThank you , you answered my question

1 agree
7 disagree

patrickscallen wrote:Posted 2009/04/08

at 10:29 PM ET" why torment ,why , let's go on ?

18 agree
2 disagree

Release the hounds wrote:Posted 2009/04/08

at 10:23 PM ETI'm not a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon but I have enough common sense to figure out that the greedy lawyers and judges must be feeling the effects of the recession and have to seek more trials to fill their pig troughs with taxpayer money. I would say what I reall think about these low-lifes but it wouldn't get printed. They all belong in jail with Pickton in my opinion!

29 agree
42 disagree

Meggsy wrote:Posted 2009/04/08

at 10:15 PM ETwhy don't they go after his accomplice? There were indications that he did not work alone, no?

24 agree
9 disagree

Catchnpitch wrote:Posted 2009/04/08

at 10:11 PM ETLeave him to rot, slowly.

58 agree
2 disagree

Crown says new trial for Pickton wouldn't be in 'interests of justice'

Crown says new trial for Pickton wouldn't be in 'interest of justice'

The Canadian Press

April 8, 2009

VANCOUVER, B.C. — Ordering a new trial for convicted serial killer Robert Pickton would not be "in the interests of justice" and British Columbia's top court must guard against inadvertently triggering one, prosecutors argued Wednesday in B.C. Court of Appeal.

There are currently two appeals before the court: the defence is challenging Pickton's six second-degree murder convictions, while the Crown is appealing his six acquittals on first-degree murder.

The Crown wants to ensure that if a new trial is ordered, that Pickton is instead tried on the 26 counts of first-degree murder he was initially charged with.

But prosecutor Gregory Fitch made it clear the Crown would ultimately prefer the second-degree convictions to stand and Pickton simply stay in prison, his legal saga over.

"It would not be in the interests of justice to simply order a new trial for first-degree murder ... if a new trial is not otherwise required," Fitch told the three judges hearing the appeal.

Fitch is concerned about what would happen if the Appeal Court denied Pickton's appeal while at the same time granting the Crown's, which could have the unintended effect of ordering a new trial that the Crown doesn't want.

In that event, Fitch wants the court to stay the order for a new trial on first-degree murder, allowing the Crown to simply leave Pickton in prison and not pursue the remaining charges.

"It merely suspends - for a limited time or permanently - the underlying order" for a new trial on first-degree murder, said Fitch.

One of the judges questioned whether such an order was even in the Appeal Court's jurisdiction.

"The problem I see is that Mr. Pickton could lose his appeal and the Crown could ultimately win its appeal," said Justice Richard Low. "Logically, in these events, there would have to be a new trial."

Fitch cited case law that he said gave the court such power.

He also said that if the Appeal Court concludes it has no other option than to order the trial, even if the original convictions stand, he wants another hearing to further argue his point.

Pickton was arrested in February 2002, setting off a massive search of his farm in Port Coquitlam, B.C., where investigators found evidence including blood samples, bone fragments and victims' belongings.

The pig farmer was convicted in 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years - the automatic sentence for first-degree murder and the maximum sentence available.

The Crown's appeal focuses on the trial judge's decision to split the 26 charges into two separate trials - dealing with six counts first and leaving the 20 remaining charges for a later trial.

Prosecutors have argued that severing the charges limited their ability to use similar-fact evidence - similarities between the different murders - to show Pickton had a scheme to kill prostitutes from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Fitch earlier argued that such evidence would have helped demonstrate the killings were planned and deliberate, essential elements needed to prove first-degree murder.

But Pickton's lawyers said the Crown is attempting to make new arguments that weren't brought up in trial.

"The Crown paid little attention to planning and deliberation, since their theory was that Pickton acted alone," said defence lawyer Gil McKinnon.

Arguments at the appeal are expected to wrap up on Thursday.

Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Crown had powerful evidence against Pickton but judge errors muted it

THE CANADIAN PRESS
April 6, 2009.

VANCOUVER, B.C. — Prosecutors had powerful evidence to prove Robert Pickton was a methodical serial murderer who killed 26 women but a judge's ruling at his trial cut the case off at the knees, the Crown argued Monday in the B.C. Court of Appeal.

Prosecutor Gregory Fitch wants the Appeal Court to overturn a ruling by B.C. Supreme Court Justice James Williams, the trial judge, that allowed only six counts against Pickton to proceed, instead of the 26 Pickton is charged with.

That decision, said Fitch, hampered the Crown's ability to use similar-fact evidence to show the Port Coquitlam, B.C., pig farmer had a continuing scheme to kill drug-addicted prostitutes from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Pickton's methods were planned and deliberate, said Fitch, essential elements needed to prove first-degree murder.

But Williams agreed to a defence application to sever 20 of the murder counts, ordering that they be tried later.

Fitch said that diminished the evidence available to the jury aimed at showing similarities among the type of victims, method of killing and disposal of the bodies.

The ruling left gaps in the Crown's case and allowed Pickton's lawyers to undermine the evidence in ways they otherwise would not have been able to do under the original undivided indictment, Fitch told the three-judge Appeal Court panel.

"It left the jury with a highly distorted picture of Mr. Pickton's conduct," he said.

"An efficient trial was achieved but in our submission it was achieved at the expense of a just one."

A jury convicted Pickton of the lesser charge of second-degree murder on all six counts at the end of a lengthy trial in December 2007.

Williams sentenced Pickton to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 25 years, the maximum allowable for second-degree murder but a sentence imposed automatically in first-degree convictions.

Pickton is appealing his convictions.

His lawyers argue, among other things, that he should get a new trial because Williams erred in his instructions to the jury and compounded those mistakes when jurors came back with a question suggesting they thought others might be involved.

The Crown filed a cross appeal, saying if the defence succeeds in getting the verdicts set aside and a new trial ordered, the Crown wants the new trial to hear evidence on all 26 first-degree murder charges.

Fitch said if Pickton loses his appeal and the Crown wins its application, it would ask that the order for a new trial be stayed since Pickton is already serving the maximum prison term.

Some of the evidence in the Crown's appeal includes material still subject to publication bans imposed before and during Pickton's trial.

But Fitch said the Crown's case on the 26 charges added up to a compelling body of evidence that would have demonstrated to a jury Pickton was guilty of first-degree murder on all of them.

"All of the victims fit a common and distinct profile," he said.

Pickton was arrested in February 2002. Police recovered thousands of bits of evidence - from blood samples to bone fragments and victims' belongings - from his ramshackle acreage in the Vancouver suburb of Port Coquitlam.

His method of operation was "singular in its brutality and utterly unique," said Fitch.

The women were shot, then butchered, their remains disposed of on the property or delivered to a rendering plant. It runs like a thread through all 26 counts and amounts to a signature or calling card, he said.

The defence has argued the Crown is only now bringing up the similar-fact issue because it wants to take a different tack in any new trial. But Fitch and his colleagues argued the prosecution raised it several times during Pickton's trial.

"The Crown had an overwhelming case these murders were planned and deliberate," said Fitch. "The jury never heard that case."

Both sides are expected to wrap up their submissions by the end of this week, though rulings on the complex duelling appeals are not expected soon.

Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Crown tells Appeal Court splitting Pickton charges into two trials was wrong

THE CANADIAN PRESS
April 6, 2009

VANCOUVER, B.C. - The Crown says a judge's decision to split the Robert Pickton case into two trials was wrong and helped undermined its case for first-degree murder.

Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder in 2007 and his lawyers are appealing, saying a new trial should be ordered based on several errors made by the trial judge.

But the Crown began its cross-argument today at the B.C. Court of Appeal saying if there is a retrial, it should be on 26 counts of first-degree murder - not only the six that the lower court heard.

Prosecutor Gregory Fitch says the judge's decision to split the case prevented the Crown from introducing similar fact evidence backing up its theory that the murders were planned.

He says that decision distorted the Crown's case and allowed Pickton's lawyers to undermine the evidence in ways they otherwise would not have been able to do.

If the defence fails in its attempt to have the case retried, the Crown will not challenge the six second-degree murder convictions and will not proceed with the outstanding 20 charges.

© Copyright 2008 Metroland Media Group Ltd.

Making A Difference - Patty Beeken

Making A Difference
By: Kristy Brannen
OMAHA FAMILY

Patty Beeken

A little more than 10 years ago, Patty Beeken, LPN, president and co-founder of 4thekids Missing Kid Services, experienced something that changed her life. Her then 17-year-old daughter went missing.

I was frantic, Beeken said. “You are terrified when you realize that your child is not where they are supposed to be and you don’t know when or if you will ever see them again,” she said. Since her daughter, Jessica, had been staying with her father in Lyman, Nebr., Beeken went to the local
authorities there for help.

She explained that the law enforcement officers in Lyman were very helpful until they learned that Jessica was likely in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Then Beeken encountered a frustrating obstacle. The Cheyenne authorities were not nearly as helpful as Beeken expected. “They kept telling me that because Jessica was 17 they were basically not very interested in going out of their way to find her,” she said. “I heard. ‘She’s going to be 18’, more times than I care to say.”

At a standstill, Beeken wasn’t sure of her next step. By doing a little digging herself, Beeken was able to identify the general location of where Jessica was staying. After three months of turmoil, Jessica decided to return home. “I was elated that she was safe, but also very angry that she would do that to us,” Beeken said. “Kids do stuff and don’t think about the impact or the pain and worry they cause.”

Using her experience to help others While searching for her daughter, Beeken turned to her late friend, Dean Powers for comfort and help. Powers developed a web site with Jessica’s picture and information that could be printed out in a flier format. Beeken sent the link to anyone she could, who in turn could forward the information to others or send her pertinent information.

“By the time the web site had been up for three weeks, we had over 10,000 hits,” she said. “I had tons of emails from people. Some of them from people who just wanted to tell me what had happened when their child ran way or just to say they were sorry she was missing.”

Through the web site and e-mails, she also began to realize how caring people are to others in need. “One woman from Indiana wrote to me to tell me she had been driving to Denver and that every rest area, truck stop, or gas station that she had stopped at along the way now had Jessica’s flier hanging in there,” Beeken said.

After seeing how powerful this web site had been, Beeken and Powers decided to expand their efforts. Beeken credits Powers, who died in 2002, with making 4thekids a reality. “He was the driving force to help us get started,” she said. “After Jessica was found, we talked a lot about what could happen if we organized the power and interest that was taken in her case.”

In the last decade, the organization has changed dramatically. It started as a small e-mail list that was used to simply pass along missing child information and eventually became a national organization.

“We went from being a small information e-mail list to a full-blown organization with a board of directors, web site, and a team of investigators who work for free,” Beeken said. “We have worked close to 200 missing child cases.”

Providing parents with alternatives Beeken remembers the helpless feeling she had when her own daughter was missing. It is that feeling that she hopes to help families in similar situations overcome by providing local resources. They are not alone, Beeken said. “When my child was missing in 1998 there were very few resources for me to turn to,” she said. “I did contact the National Center For Missing and
Exploited Children, but having someone right here to talk to and tell me what to do would have been a God-send.”

When parents contact 4thekids, they give the organization permission to give and receive information to local officials. The director of investigations reviews each case and determines if the organization can help. If 4thekids can help, it assigns an investigator to work closely with the parents and appropriate law enforcement agency to follow up on leads and get media coverage. When the child is located, the
investigator notifies the law enforcement agency, which in turn, picks the child up and contacts the parents.

“My wish is that nobody feels as alone as I did when my child was missing,” Beeken said. She also hopes that more families utilize 4thekids’ free services. “I know there are many missing children from this area. I need to find a way to make sure there are more families out there that know we are here and will help.”

A different purpose 4thekids has provided Beeken with a sense of purpose that she hadn’t experienced before. “I am happy when we are able to help parents,” she said. “I honestly wish we could make more of an impact.”

Leading the organization has provided her with an opportunity to work on projects she would not have otherwise known about and make friends with people she would have otherwise never met. Through the years, I’ve never stopped learning, she said.

Beeken is a mother of four and grandmother of five. She has been involved with beta testing the Missing Person database at the new NaMus site for the Department of Justice and also is a volunteer and area director for Nebraska and Colorado for the Doenetwork, an international organization for unidentified and missing people.

APRIL 2009 • OMAHA FAMILY MAGAZINE
WWW.OMAHAFAMILY.COM
4thekids – 4thekids Missing Kid Alert System
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/4thekids/
NamUs National Missing and Unidentified Persons System
http://www.namus.gov/
The Doe Network “International Center for Unidentified & Missing Person”
http://www.doenetwork.org/

MISSING PIECES INTERVIEW WITH PATTY BEEKEN
http://missingpieces.mypodcast.com/2007/01/Missing_Pieces_Episode_21_Guest_Patty_Beeken-24699.html