Three of the sketches included on the B.C. Coroners Service’s map of locations where unidentified human remains were found in the province. The woman at left was found near Mission on Feb. 15, 1995. The man in the centre was found near North Bend on Dec. 22, 1989. The woman on the right was found near Kamloops on Sept. 24, 1996. (B.C. Coroners Service)
The BC Coroners Service has launched an interactive map that shows where unidentified remains have been found since 1953 in an effort to get new tips.
The remains of close to 200 people have been found across B.C. over more than 60 years and have not been identified. The BC Coroners Service is hoping to find out who they belong to and how they died.
The locations are all around the province, including Highway 16 – also known as the Highway of Tears. Most of the remains belong to men and there is a cluster in the Lower Mainland. Others are near a highway or the shoreline, where tides wash remains up.
Five markers are for single feet washed up on B.C.’s shores between 1980 and 2018: three in Metro Vancouver and two off the west coast of Vancouver Island.
On or near Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, there are 21 unidentified remains. Each marker on the map lists the details of the person that could be determined, such as race, hair colour, approximate age, number of fillings in their teeth, surgeries they may have had, and clothes they were wearing.
Human remains can range from a single, delicate bone fragment to a fully intact body.
Anyone with information or questions about the cases can contact the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) at [email protected]. Title your email with the Case Number in question, and as much detail as you can regarding your query.
With files from Rhianna Schmunk, CBC
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