Murderess on the Loose by R. Barri Flowers

Author:R. Barri Flowers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: nonfiction, california history, murder, true crime, historical, true story, criminology, violent crime, female criminal, los angeles history
Publisher: R. Barri Flowers

# # #

THE DREADFUL ACTS OF JACK THE RIPPER

And Other True Tales of Serial Murder and Prostitutes

Following is a bonus excerpt from this bestselling true crime book by R. Barri Flowers

The Edmonton Serial Killer

Similar to 1888 when a serial killer with the moniker “Jack the Ripper” stalked the dark streets of Whitechapel on London’s East End while targeting prostitutes, there has apparently been a serial murderer of prostitutes on the prowl in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, Canada, beginning nearly a century later. The “Edmonton Serial Killer” is believed by authorities to have honed in on sex workers starting in the mid-1970s, and continued to murder perhaps dozens of prostitutes into the early part of the 21st century and beyond. This as yet unidentified killer (or possibly killers) has evidently followed in the footsteps or alongside infamous Canadian serial killer Robert “Willie” Pickton. The former pig farmer confessed to murdering nearly fifty women, most of whom were prostitutes and drug addicts, who plied their trade in the squalid, crime-ridden Downtown Eastside area of Vancouver, British Columbia, between 1983 and 2002, before being brought to justice.1

There appears to be no such luck as yet for capturing the one or more killers who may be responsible for the bulk of the killings. The victims are mostly Indigenous streetwalkers, whose remains have been discovered over the years in Edmonton and nearby rural or wooded areas, trenches, or so-called “killing fields.”

However, ever since the Pickton case created a public uproar with concern over the lax efforts at protecting low class prostitutes, homeless, and others who are vulnerable to victimization, authorities have sought to be more proactive in helping them and investigating homicides and other criminality.

This led to the formation of Project KARE, which was introduced on Tuesday, November 18, 2003, as a joint task force involving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Edmonton Police Service, with Inspector Mike Sekela as the unit’s commander, and Staff Sergeant Kevin Simmill, a homicide detective, its lead investigator. The KARE unit’s purpose was to investigate the deaths and, in many cases, disappearances of women with high-risk lives and occupations, such as prostitution and drug addiction. As Corporal Wayne Oakes, the RCMP media relations officer stated, “It was decided that we had to take a look at what’s happening in our own backyard.”2

The unit also sought to collect as much data on sex trade workers as possible, including names, dates of birth, family information, and a DNA sample. In the event of foul play, it would be used for identifying and notifying next of kin.

Retired Edmonton vice cop JoAnn McCartney, who started a program aimed at helping those caught up in a high-risk lifestyle such as streetwalkers, emphasized that the collection of DNA was solely to make identifications of persons, if necessary, and not to assist law enforcement in making arrests. “It’s to identify you so your family has some closure,” McCartney pointed out. “And the faster we can do that, the quicker we can ask questions about your most recent activities and start the investigation.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.