P.I. Hopes RCMP Search Yields Results
By 250 News
Friday, August 28, 2009 04:00 PM
Prince George, B.C. - The private investigator who has spent several years looking for clues in the disappearances and deaths of several women along Highway 16 says he hopes the RCMP can find the evidence they are looking for on the Pinewood Road acreage west of Prince George.
The RCMP historical homicide unit has been on the scene of the acreage since Thursday morning, and have confirmed their presence is part of their investigation into the disappearance of 25 year old Nicole Hoar. She was last seen June 21st, 2002, hitchhiking to Smithers.
Ray Michalko says his investigation lead him to Isle Pierre several times, “I wanted to do a door to door visit like I normally do, but when I got there and saw the community and pit bulls chained to the fence, (of properties in the area) I asked myself do I really want to do this?” He never did go door to door.
Michalko, who will be a guest on the Meisner program on 93.1 CFIS-FM on Monday, says if remains are found on the site, the RCMP may still face a challenge, “They will still have to prove who put them there.”
The private investigator had launched an extensive search of an area not far from the property which is now cordoned off by police tape. In May of 2007, Michalko and dozens of searchers, including members of the Hoar family, did a grid by grid search of the Norman Lake Transfer station which is on the opposite side of highway 16 a couple of kilometres west of the Isle Pierre turn off. That search failed to turn up any clues in the disappearance of the 25 year old tree planter, or any of the others who have disappeared over the years from highway 16.
The property where RCMP investigators have set up their forensics trailer and mobile command post was once owned by Leland Vincent Switzer. He is currently serving time for the second degree murder of his brother Irvin, a murder which took place just two days after Nicole disappeared. “I tried to talk to Switzer” says Michalko, “ I had heard the name before.” But Michalko was not successful in his attempts.
Michalko is hopeful this chapter in the investigation will prove fruitful “Maybe if they find remains, it will give one family closure. It is only one case, but maybe it will be the start of something good and lead to the resolution of other cases.”
Although there have been questions raised about the possibility of a serial killer travelling that stretch of highway between Prince George and Prince Rupert, Michalko says he never bought into that theory “I have always believed that in at least half of the cases of the nine disappearances I was originally investigating, there were different people involved. I have always said there was no, ‘one’, killer.”
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Posted by: interceptor on August 28 2009 9:18 PM