For the best part of a decade, between 1973 and '81, Canadian authorities were baffled by a series of unsolved sex-murders along the Trans-Canada Highway, spanning the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. Victims ranged in age from 12 years old to 35, and while published sources could never agree on a body-count -- citing various totals from 11 to 33 victims -- the most frequent tally lists 28 slayings spread over eight years. Many of the victims were apparently hitchhikers, sexually assaulted before they were beaten, strangled, or stabbed to death, with some of the bodies revealing post-mortem mutilations .

Generally acknowledged as the first "Highway" victim, 19-year-old Gale Weys was thumbing her way home to Kamloops, from a job in Clearwater, when she met her killer on October 19, 1973. Her naked, decomposing corpse was found a few miles south of Clearwater, on April 6, 1974.

By that time, the killer had claimed another victim, picking off 19-year-old Pamela Darlington, at Kamloops, on November 6. Her ravaged body was fished out of the Thompson River next day, and a train crew reported sighting a man with "messy blond hair" near the scene of the crime, but the vague description led detectives nowhere.

Colleen McMillan, 16, was last seen alive on August 9, 1974, thumbing rides near Lac La Hache. A month later, on September 4, her nude, decomposing remains were found some 35 miles away. Police suspected a drug addict, who confessed the murder and then recanted before committing suicide. The case remains officially unsolved.

On January 9, 1976, 16-year-old Pauline Brazeau was found stabbed to death, outside Calgary. Six months later, on July 1, 19-year-old Tera White disappeared from Banff, her skeletal remains discovered near Calgary in March 1981. Marie Goudreau, 17, was murdered near Devon on August 2, 1976, and 20-year-old Melissa Rehorek was murdered near Calgary on September 15, her body discarded 12 miles from the spot where Pauline Brazeau was discovered.

Barbara McLean, age 26, traveled all the way from Nova Scotia to meet her death near Calgary, by strangulation, on February 26, 1977. Monica Jack, 14, disappeared while bicycling near Merritt, on May 6, 1978, and she has not been seen since, though her bike was recovered at the bottom of a highway embankment. On September 26, 1979, 12-year-old Susan Duff went biking near Penticton, her body recovered from the outskirts of town on October 21. Mary Jamieson, 17, disappeared while hitchhiking near Davis Bay, on August 7, 1980; nine days later, when her body was discovered in the nearby woods, the cause of death was listed as asphyxiation.

On February 28, 1981, victim Oanh Ha -- a 19-year-old Vietnamese refugee -- was raped and strangled near Golden, her body mutilated after death. Two months later, on April 22, 15-year-old Kelly Cook was reported missing, her body recovered near Taber, Alberta, on June 29. The only male victim in the series, transvestite Frederick Savoy, was parading in drag when the killer mistook him for a woman, knifing him to death in a Vancouver parking lot. Maureen Mosie, generally described as the last "Highway" victim, was beaten to death at Kamloops on May 8, 1981.

Six months later, Canadian authorities convened a special summit meeting to discuss 33 of western Canada's 200 unsolved murders, and while they generally agreed that they were seeking several killers -- possibly as many as 18 -- in the "Highway" series, no solid suspects were identified. A ray of hope broke through in 1983, with the marathon confessions of serial slayers Henry Lucas and Ottis Toole including references to "several" Canadian victims, but no charges have been filed to date, and the slayings remain unsolved. (See also: Lucas, Henry; Toole, Ottis )