48 Hours Highway of Tears review focused on Vanderhoof incidents

The much anticipated review of the Highway of Tears cases from the CBS program 48 Hours has come and gone, the Saturday night news magazine program focusing much of the hour on  a pair of incidents in the Vanderhoof area.

The one hour program offered up a fairly well documented review of the disappearance of Madison Scott, the murder of Loren Leslie and the  gruesome as yet unsolved death of Fribjon Bjornson.

While the focus of the 48 hours program was not quite the overall review of the case files of the Highway of Tears that many might have hoped for, there was a bit of background on the files that have marked the disappearances along Highway 16 over the last forty years.

Included in the review on the program was the disappearance of Tamara Chipman, who went missing  seven years ago from Prince Rupert while hitch hiking, 48 Hours interviewed her father Tom for background on her case and on the larger issue of the Highway of Tears victims.

The prospect of condensing such a large investigation into a sixty minute program was no doubt a daunting one for the 48 Hours team, in the end, they seem to have decided that the Vanderhoof incidents offered the best narrative to the overall scope of the Highway of Tears investigations.

The program did create a bit of controversy,  the first was in regard to the background into Madison Scott's disappearance and an acquaintance of hers (Bjornson) who subsequently was murdered, a parallel attachment that Ms. Scott's family has taken issue with.

As well, the description of Prince George as a crime riddled city was something that isn't particularly sitting well with some in that community, who suggest that 48 Hours was using old data to come to that conclusion.

While the case files of Ms. Scott and Ms. Leslie are not considered part of the overall scope of the Highway of Tears cases and were not part of the E-Pana investigations that are currently ongoing, the RCMP is hopeful that exposure to those cases in the United States, may assist in providing information into the larger investigation of the E-pana cases.

The leader of the RCMP task force,  Staff Sergeant Wayne Clary  says that a few tips have been generated from that exposure, though not quite as much interest as was generated in September, when the RCMP announced that an American man was believed to be responsible for a few of the older cases in the E-pana case load.

The Staff Sergeant intends to make contact with a counterpart in Oregon to compare notes on the feedback from the Saturday night program.

For the moment, the program can be viewed through the CBS portal, which also features some web extras for the program.

CBS News--- 48 Hours explores the mysteries and murders along the Highway of Tears

Some of the local background before and after the program, can be found below.



Opinion 250-- No Flood of Tips in wake of 48 Hours
PG Citizen-- 48 Hours show produces some tips for police
PG Citizen-- 48 Hours turns cameras on Highway of Tears
CBC-- Highway of Tears murders probed by CBS '48 Hours'
CBS-- CBC Producer's personal connection to Highway of Tears victims
Huffington Post-- Highway of Tears Featured on CBS '48 Hours'
Daybreak North--  Highway of Tears to be featured on CBS mega program 48 Hours
Global BC-- Highway of Tears update (video)