Prince George, B.C. – RCMP Staff Sergeant Wayne Clary, who is  with the  team  investigating the so called Highway  of Tears  cases (named E-PANA) says they are looking into the activities of Israel Keyes,  a confessed serial killer who committed suicide in a Alaskan Jail .

 

The FBI says Keyes is believed to have killed 11 people over an 11 year span. Keyes stayed at the Bonaparte Motel in Cache Creek in March of 2007. He also stayed in Victoria at the Travellers Inn on Douglas St in April of 2006.

 

It is not known whether he made any other stops in Canada on his way to Alaska where he  was accused of  killing an Alaskan  woman .  He was  in  jail, awaiting  trial for that case when he committed suicide.

 

Staff Sergeant Clary says up until 9-11 it was much easier to get through Canada on the way to Alaska, but the borders have tightened up considerably since then.

FBI investigator Jeff Bell, who conducted the interview of Keyes says he doesn’t know if there were any Canadian victims.  He told  the Associated Press  "He made a joke to me when I was talking to him that ‘Canadians don’t count’, but with him anything is possible."

 

Keyes has been described as a loner who travelled across the USA, Canada, Mexico and Belize. The Associated Press story on  Keyes quotes Kevin Feldis, an Assistant District Attorney in Alaska as saying "the best hope we have is that the public will come forward with more information."

 

Keyes was a 34 year old Carpenter and army veteran . He killed his first victim in 2001 and his last in 2012 when he kidnapped an 18 year old in Anchorage, strangled her and then dumped her body in an icy lake. He was arrested in Lufkin Texas in connection with her death. He did confess to killing a Vermont couple, Bill and Lorraine Currier, in 2011. He also admitted to dumping one body into Crescent Lake in Washington state south of the B.C. border.

 

But  could he be linked to  any of the Highway of Tears cases? He was living in Neah Bay in Washington State for a time and  could have crossed the border any number of times.

 

E-PANA’s Wayne Clary says "We have far better records now than we did back in the 70’s and with DNA we are able to make positive matches."  It was a DNA  that  matched Bobby Jack Fowler (another US serial killer) to the murder of  Colleen MacMillen.  She disappeared on highway 97 while hitchhiking to a friend’s house near 100 mile house. His DNA was also found on the remains of Gale Weys who disappeared while hitch hiking from Clearwater to Kamloops in 1973 . Fowler is also believed to have killed Pamela Darlington whose body was found near Kamloops in 1973 after she had hitch hiked to a local bar.

 

Clary says there are still several suspects in mind in the Highway of Tears investigation,’"There is no shortage of suspects" he says. "We will be obtaining a copy of Keyes DNA and we will take it from  there."