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9 months ago
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EARLY LIFE:
Roberta Marie Ferguson was calved connected November 19, 1968 arsenic the youngest of 9 children. Part of the Dunvegan Beaver band, she lived successful Grimshaw, Alberta, Canada, implicit 500 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
Growing up, Roberta had to woody with a spread successful her heart, which required her to instrumentality medicine until she was successful her teens. Despite this, she kept her spirits high. While a spot connected the quiescent side, she was known to beryllium a joker, and spent her escaped clip drawing, dancing and speechmaking Archie comics. She was besides incredibly strong-willed, a trait her parent passed down to each the children.
When Roberta was 14 years old, her parent died, and she spent a twelvemonth surviving with her older sisters, Carol and Marilyn, successful Edmonton. After this, she moved to Surrey, British Columbia to unrecorded with her different sister, Verl. According to the elder Ferguson, Roberta struggled to support focused successful schoolhouse pursuing their mother’s death.
DISAPPEARANCE:
In the last days of August 1988, Roberta, her niece and cousin, and a mates of friends decided to spell connected a camping travel to observe the extremity of a summertime work-study program. The radical were staying astatine Sunnyside Campground connected Cutlus Lake, astir an hr eastbound of Surrey.
Having developed a fever, Roberta decided she wanted to spell home. At 8:00PM, she told her friends she planned to instrumentality a autobus backmost and near the country connected foot.
Around this time, a witnesser reported seeing a miss matching Roberta’s statement walking on the broadside of the highway, adjacent the intersection of Vedder Mountain and Cutlus Lake roads. A man, described arsenic mean height, with blond oregon airy brownish hairsbreadth and a salient jaw, pulled implicit successful a reddish sports car. The witnesser reported it looked similar the miss backed distant from the vehicle, arsenic if she was scared.
That evening, Carol had embarked connected a 15-hour roadworthy travel from her location successful Fairview, Alberta to Surrey. About 2 hours in, she learned that Roberta hadn’t yet returned home. A fewer hours later, without immoderate connection from her younger sister, Carol told Verl to study Roberta missing to the RCMP. Since Roberta was an big and it hadn’t been 48 hours, the authorities refused to record a report.
Without the enactment of the RCMP, Roberta’s household launched their ain search, making posters and scouring the country successful and astir Cutlus Lake.
INVESTIGATION:
When the RCMP yet launched an probe into Roberta’s disappearance, the hunt yielded galore files, but thing that pointed them successful the absorption of what happened to the 19-year-old. According to Verl, a assemblage was recovered that matched her sister’s description, but investigators said the decedent, whose individuality remains unknown, was Asian.
Following the apprehension of Robert Pickton successful 2002, the Ferguson household was approached to taxable DNA to trial against quality remains recovered connected the serial killer’s pig farm. No lucifer was made.
Despite confessing to 49 murders and being charged with 26, Pickton was lone convicted connected six counts of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to beingness successful prison, with nary anticipation of parole for 25 years – the longest imaginable condemnation nether Canada’s transgression justness system.
In the aboriginal 2000s, convicted slayer Terry Arnold reportedly claimed to person been the past idiosyncratic with Roberta. He’d been recovered blameworthy of the rape of 4 girls successful Newfoundland and a execution successful British Columbia. He was besides suspected successful the 1981 decease of Barbara Stoppel successful Winnipeg, Manitoba, and was believed to person been liable for a execution that had taken spot successful Alberta conscionable a twelvemonth anterior to Roberta’s disappearance.
According to reports, Arnold took investigators to wherever he’d allegedly dumped Roberta’s body, but it had been moved and the hunt was called off. After being mistakenly released from constabulary custody, helium took his ain life. He’d near down a note, successful which helium recanted each his erstwhile confessions.
Officers with the RCMP Detachment successful Chilliwack proceed to interaction Verl each fewer years, to support her abreast of the investigation.
DETAILS:
19-year-old Roberta Marie Ferguson was past seen astatine Cutlus Lake, adjacent Chilliwack, British Columbia, connected August 24, 1988.
An Indigenous female, she stood astatine 5’5″ and weighed betwixt 111-120 pounds. She had long, curly black/dark brownish hairsbreadth and brown/black eyes. It’s been noted that she had each her teeth astatine the clip of her disappearance, and that determination was a scar connected her close knee.
The past clip anyone saw Roberta, she was wearing a achromatic garment with a navy bluish vessel apical implicit it, stretchy achromatic pants that had been rolled up to her knees, soiled achromatic moving shoes and octagon-shaped sunglasses. She was besides carrying an army-green backpack.
CASE CONTACT INFORMATION:
Roberta’s lawsuit is classified arsenic endangered missing, with foul play suspected.
Anyone with accusation astir the lawsuit is asked to interaction the Serious Crime Section of the RCMP’s Chilliwack Detachment astatine (604) 792-4611. Tips tin besides beryllium called successful anonymously via Crime Stoppers astatine +1 (800) 222-8477.
Image Credit: The Doe Network
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