Taxcut on Project E-Pana

Project E-PANA began in the fall of 2005. The Task Force was created as a result of the BC RCMP Criminal Operations ordering the review and investigation of a series of unsolved murders with links to Highway 16. The goal of the Task Force is to determine if a serial killer, or killers, is responsible for murdering young women traveling along major highways in BC.

Project E-PANA is comprised of 18 cases involving 13 homicides and 5 missing women investigations. The cases range in date from 1969 to 2006 and involve women and girls who were involved in activity like hitch hiking and were last seen or were found within a mile from three BC Highways – Hwy 16, Hwy 97 and Hwy 5. Over the years investigators have re-examined past investigative findings, re-interviewed witnesses, followed up on new leads or tips, and re-examined or submitted exhibits. It is those efforts that have led us here today to announce a significant break in at least one and possibly more E-PANA files. The break has to deal with 1974 disappearance and murder of sixteen year old Colleen MacMillen. Colleen lived with her family in Lac La Hache, BC. She was shy but friendly, level headed and dependable. On August 9, 1974 Colleen left home with the plan to hitchhike to a friend’s house nearby. She walked up to Highway 97 and disappeared. She was found murdered off a logging road 46 kilometres south of where she was last seen. Investigative efforts began the moment she was reported missing and have continued over the years. Colleen is part of the E-PANA investigation.