Memorial March for the Missing and Murdered Women of Edmonton

Contact:
Danielle Boudreau
March Organizer
Phone: (780) 919-5707
Email: memorialmarch@live.com

Memorial March for the Missing and Murdered Women of Edmonton
Press Release

For immediate release - Please announce the following event:

5th Annual Memorial March for the Missing and Murdered Women of Edmonton
Edmonton hits the streets to honor missing and murdered women
Edmonton, AB February 14, 2010:

On Valentine’s Day 2006, the first Annual Memorial March for the Missing and Murdered Women of Edmonton was born by organizer Danielle Boudreau.

In June 2004, her best friend sister in law Rachel Quinney was found dead and mutilated. A year later, Ellie May Meyer was found in the same way, murdered and left in a field not far from where Rachel and numerous others had been found.

Danielle Boudreau swore she’d bring attention to the plight of these women.
On February 14, 2010 men and women across Canada will be walking to raise awareness for the many mothers, sisters, and daughters who have been murdered or who are missing.

Edmontonians can show their solidarity and support to help raise awareness and honor these women afflicted by violence.

Please join us at 6:30pm on Saturday, February 14th at Sacred Heart Church (10821 – 96 Street) for this March.

Please wear red or purple.

For more information contact Danielle Boudreau by Phone: (780) 919-5707 or Email: memorialmarch@live.com

Thank you for your help in spreading the word for this most worthwhile event!

Year’s first homicide victim was mother of two young boys

By Ben Gelinas, edmontonjournal.com

January 8, 2010 8:29 AM

Leslie Ann Talley, 29, Edmonton's first homicide victim of 2010. Her body was found in the middle of a northeast Edmonton road on Jan. 6. The cause of death was blunt force trauma.

Photograph by: Global News, edmontonjournal.com

EDMONTON — Leslie Ann Talley, whose partially clothed body was found Wednesday morning in the middle of an Edmonton street, drank often and lived what police describe as a high-risk lifestyle.

But she was also the mother of two little boys and made sure to regularly call family in Meander River so they knew she was all right.

An autopsy found she died from injuries consistent with being hit by something, what the medical examiner describes as blunt force trauma.

Talley, 29, was a member of the Dene Tha First Nation.

She grew up in the Meander River community, about 800 kilometres north of Edmonton and not far from High Level.

From birth she was brought up primarily by her father Albert and her grandmother, Mary Nora Salopree.

"We took her in when she was about a month old," he aunt Vicki Salopree said.

"All the family pitched in."

Talley was a happy child who was keen to help her grandmother cook and clean, and she was a big help to other elders, too, Salopree said on Thursday.

"She moved to Edmonton and I don't know what happened over there ... but she kept in touch with the family."

In the big city, her life took a turn for the worst.

Salopree said Talley drank a lot. Another family member said she called them New Year's Eve, drunk, and told them she was doing drugs. Talley's two boys, ages nine and two, have been in the care of others for awhile.

She was on provincial government financial assistance after six pins were used to repair her arm following an accident.

Talley used to live in her own apartment with a man. But family recently heard she no longer had a place of her own, something police confirm.

The family is left with so many questions about what happened to her.

"I wonder if it was in an instant or if she had to suffer," Salopree said.

Talley's grandmother has been hit hard by the death.

"Whatever time she did phone, Mary always wanted her to come home, begged her to come home and she really loved her a lot," Salopree said.

Police had run into Talley a great deal.

"She had a lot of different issues going on in her life and any one of these issues could have been the reason for her demise," homicide detective Greg Murray said.

Police want to speak to anyone who may have been with her Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

Her body was discovered by two people between a condo complex and a row of half-finished and new homes in the Kirkness neighbourhood shortly before 4 a.m. Wednesday, on the extreme north end of the city, near 151st Avenue and 32nd Street.

She was the city's first homicide victim of the year.

Project Kare is aware of the Talley case but is not currently involved.

bgelinas@thejournal.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

Missing persons website adds new hope

Posted By Bobby Roy
Posted 1 hour ago

Every family’s worst nightmare is to hear that a loved one has gone missing, and going through every waking moment worrying about where they could be isn’t easy.

In the every missing persons case, closure is what the family and friends connected to them want and with a help of a new tool, giving the stricken family members and friends closure will be easier to do.

A new website designed to work with the public’s help is hoping to bring some much needed closure to the families of missing persons.

“We have started a website called albertamissingpersons.ca as a new tool for both the public and police to help close missing persons cases,” said Camille Fedoruk, research analyst for Project KARE.

According to kare.ca Project KARE is an investigational unit, created with the highest priority to examine the deaths of several “High Risk Missing Persons” who have been found in the surrounding rural areas of the City of Edmonton. One of the objectives of Project KARE is to investigate all leads, capture and prosecute the person(s) responsible for these crimes.

The new website has been launched with the help of Law Enforcement Agencies and Alberta Medical Examiners to profile the 300 plus missing persons that have been reported in Alberta so that either they will be found alive or their remains can be identified.

“So far I’ve put about 180 of the missing person cases on the website along with seven or eight unidentified human remains cases,” said Fedoruk.

The website contains brief but important verification information about each missing person in hopes that someone out there looking at the site can identify a missing person or unidentified human remains. Each case can contain a photo of the missing person, how long they have been missing for, physical descriptions, where they were last seen, a recent photo, and who to call. Fedoruk along with Cst. Kay Vera and Cst. Roland Mislk were out at the Leduc Scale on June 3 for the Driver Appreciation barbeque to help spread information about the website.

The scale is located on the QEII highway, south of Leduc.

“It takes just one phone call and the trucking industry has such an exposure on the highways.

“A lot of these individuals who go missing lead a high risk lifestyle and that’s why we’re here. Hopefully it might jog someone’s memory,” said Fedoruk.

The website has already had success in British Columbia where a man who had been missing since 2000 was identified through some human remains that someone had seen on the website.

“Just by using one word, like a tattoo, a certain piercing, birthmark or a fracture it makes it easier to identify a person,” said Fedoruk.

“These missing people all have a dad, a mom, a brother and all they want is some sort of closure even if it the worst possible scenario and by launching this website it definitely gives the public and police another tool to help solve these cases,” said Fedoruk.

Anyone who has any information in regards to a missing person is asked to

call the investigating agency for each

missing person that can be found on the newly launched website albertamissingpersons.ca or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

© 2009 , Sun Media

March honours murdered women

By KATIE SCHNEIDER, SUN MEDIA
February 15, 2009

Carrying photos and wearing the names of loved ones on paper hearts, dozens of people marched together yesterday in remembrance of murdered and missing women.

Joining Canadians in six other cities, 50 to 60 people, many wiping tears, walked through Kensington during Calgary's inaugural Valentine's Day Memorial March.

Cassandra Winiewski, 26, walked for her friend Melissa Munch, slain in Edmonton in 2003, as well as for other murdered women she never knew like Wendy Hewko and Tara Landgraf, both killed in Calgary in the summer of 2007.

"They should not be forgotten and the violence against them should not be forgotten," she said.

"This is so amazing, it's so powerful -- you can feel them all here."

Munch, who she described as "a little pixie" with a cute laugh, had been involved with prostitution at the time of her murder.

"She was my first best friend and she went down the wrong path -- the minute I heard about this I felt in my heart to speak for her," she said.

Scott Fiddler, 42, marched in memory of Landgraf, his friend whose cries for help were unanswered when she was violently sexually assaulted and slain in Ramsay.

"I'm here because I'm angry she asked for help and no one called the police and her killer is still at large -- I'm here because Tara is not," he said.

Organizer Suzanne Dzus said the march, which brought out members of Native communities and representatives from women's shelters, was a chance to raise awareness about the nationwide problem of violence and show love for its victims.

"They were mothers, grandmothers, sisters -- every one of them was someone's daughter," she said.

"Valentine's Day is about love and that's one thing that hasn't been shown to these women."

Alberta Liberal leader David Swann, who also marched, agreed the whole community needs to address violence against women.

"We need to be leaders in the community to the most violated and vulnerable because ultimately they are all our family," he said.

Because 1,700 women couldn't find space at the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter due to staffing shortages last year, more provincial funding is needed, Swann said.

Copyright © 2008, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved

Where have my sisters gone?
http://hazel8500.wordpress.com/fight-the-fading-of-the-light/

MISSING PERSON, Maggie Burke vanished without a trace.

MAGGIE LEE BURKE

New contact phone number: 780.634.4511 or email: aprilpride@hotmail.com

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Project KARE and the Edmonton Police Service are seeking public assistance in locating Maggie Lee BURKE.

BURKE, a missing person, is described as a 21 year old Aboriginal female,170 cm or 5' 7" tall, weighing approximately 55 kg or 120 lbs. She had brown eyes and
naturally brown hair with red streaks at the time she was last seen, December 09, 2004. She was reported missing to the Edmonton Police Service on December 18, 2004.

At the time of her disappearance BURKE was engaged in the sex trade industry, a high risk lifestyle, in the area of 118th Avenue in Edmonton. The Project KARE Proactive Insurgence Team in cooperation with Edmonton Police Service and community organizations in the Edmonton area have been following up on investigational leads, all of which have been met with negative results. Project KARE and the Edmonton Police Service are treating this case as a missing person where foul play is suspected and as such are issuing an appeal to the public for any information that
might assist in locating BURKE.

Police are requesting anyone that has any information on the location of Maggie BURKE or may have seen her after December 09, 2004 to call Project KARE, toll free at 1-877-412-KARE(5273) or the Edmonton Police Service at 423-4567 or Crime Stoppers, toll free.

If Ms. BURKE becomes aware of our interest she is encouraged make contact with investigators.

New contact phone number: 780.634.4511 or email: aprilpride@hotmail.com

Maggie Lee Burke

http://www.missingpeople.net/maggie_lee_burke.htm