Monica Ignas was 14 years old when she disappeared. Originally from Houston, British Columbia, her family moved to the Terrace area in 1973. They lived in an incorporated community off Highway 16 called Thornhill.
Monica Ignas (findagrave.com)
Monica was last seen on the night of December 13, 1974, at around 11 p.m. She was walking alone along Highway 16, heading toward her home. She wore a blue wool duffle coat, blue socks, and brown Wallabee-style shoes. However, she never made it home that night.
On April 6—approximately four months later—her body was found 6 km northeast of Terrace, off a densely wooded service road known as Celgar. Her body was decomposed and partially clothed, and police determined she had been strangled with her own clothing. Two witnesses reported seeing a car containing a man and what appeared to be a small girl pull over to the side of the road on the night of her disappearance. To date, no arrests have been made.
Following Monica’s death, the RCMP created a task force called E-PANA to investigate a series of unsolved murders along this highway, including Monica’s case. The purpose of the task force was “to determine if a serial killer, or killers, is responsible for murdering young women traveling along major highways in BC” (E-PANA website). To date, however, this case remains unsolved, as do all the cases along the highway included in E-PANA.
