August 26, 2006. Hinton, Alberta. After failing to reach her on the radio or the telephone, the supervisor of 70-year old Stephanie Stewart travels to the Athabasca Lookout Tower in the province’s foothills, where Stephanie is posted as a seasonal fire spotter. When he arrives, the supervisor finds a smear of blood on the front steps of Stephanie’s cabin and a pot of water on the stove, but there is no sign of her anywhere. Since bed sheets and other items are also missing from the cabin, there is speculation that Stephanie was murdered by someone who transported her body from the scene and disposed of it, but she cannot be found and there are no solid suspects or a known motive for her disappearance. 

May 3, 1983. Hinton, Alberta. After spending the evening with her boyfriend at the Sunset Trailer Court, 16-year old Shelley-Anne Bacsu phones her mother to let her know that an unnamed friend will be picking her up and driving her home. Shelley-Anne never arrives, but a number of witnesses report having seen her walking down Alberta Highway 16 before she disappeared. Some of Shelley-Anne’s clothing and personal items are found scattered on a road next to the Athabasca River, but while her family suspects that she was harmed by someone who gave her a ride, no trace of Shelley-Anne is ever found.

On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we travel to the same region of Alberta to cover a pair of unsolved Canadian missing persons cases.

If you have any information about either fo these cases, please contact the Hinton branch of the RCMP at (780) 865-2455 or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Additional Reading:

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/a-pot-of-boiling-water-and-a-smear-of-blood-12-years-later-fresh-clues-sought-in-stephanie-stewarts-disappearance

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ten-years-later-disappearance-of-senior-at-alberta-fire-lookout-still-a-mystery-1.3735252

https://globalnews.ca/news/63106/fourth-anniversary-of-stephanie-stewarts-disappearance/

https://globalnews.ca/news/2902724/10-years-since-wildfire-spotter-stephanie-stewart-vanished-near-hinton-alta/

https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/article/police-renew-calls-for-information-to-help-locate-wildfire-tower-worker-missing-for-15-years/

https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/mysterious-stories-blog/stephanie-stewart

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/crime/rcmp-historical-homicide-unit-races-against-time-to-solve-alberta-cold-cases

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/28dfab.html

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/30-years-since-hinton-teen-disappearance-1.1412716

https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/mother-still-desperate-answers-37-years-after-teen-daughter-shelley-n1199006

https://www.newspapers.com/image/740158386/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/494480089/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/472635703/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/475905572/

https://poig57.wordpress.com/

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.