Shelly Anne Bacsu | May 3, 1983 | 16 | Missing | Hinton | HOT Probe

[Desespere]

Shelly Anne Bacsu - May 3, 1983 - Age 16 - Missing - was last seen at approximately 8:30 PM on as she walked down Highway 16 towards her home near Highway 40 in Hinton, Alberta. Following her disappearance, articles of her clothing were found near the Athabasca River, but she has never been recovered. At first, authorities suspected that she had run away, but after the articles of her clothing were found, they were sure that she had fallen prey to an "opportunity killer," with no connection to Bacsu. Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'0; 90 lbs
Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown hair; brown eyes.
Medical Conditions: Bacsu has rhumatoid arthritis and a hearing impairment.
Marks, Scars: Bacsu has freckles on her face and a small scar on her forehead.
Clothing: She was last seen wearing a gray jacket, a purple sweater, a red sweater, blue jeans and blue/gray cougar runners. She had a ring with a green stone, opal stone earings and a necklace with two red hearts.
Dentals: Her teeth were in perfect condition at the time of her disappearance
AKA: Shelly Anne Urban

Shelly appears to be the only Alberta victim on the Highway of Tears probe list. She was recently added.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=0e6cb020-92a7-4e86-8005-4c0ad7e09b5f

[Chris]

Wow, another one I have not heard of. I wonder how many more cases are out there that are simular to this?

Great job Des in getting these, it clearly, as far as I am concerned, demonstrates there must hvae been at least one SK operating in this era.

[kindheart]

Another child missing forever.

[MYSTIK]

I WENT TO SCHOOL WITH SHELLY AND I STILL TO THIS DAY THINK ABOUT HER I WISH SOME AWNSERS WERE FOUND    I STILL REMEMBER WALKIN ALL THE TIME AS THERE WAS NO BUS SERVICE IN HINTON AT ALL

[Chris]

I WENT TO SCHOOL WITH SHELLY AND I STILL TO THIS DAY THINK ABOUT HER I WISH SOME AWNSERS WERE FOUND    I STILL REMEMBER WALKIN ALL THE TIME AS THERE WAS NO BUS SERVICE IN HINTON AT ALL

Sorry about your friend. It is a very sad case. I hope this one gets solved too. So many young people missing, it is very sad.

[maggie]

Chris, this is the case that I'd been looking for.  Apparently, I was wrong about the remains found during the Hinton Mall construction belonging the Shelly. 

[Chris]

I guess no one has heard from her in over 25 years now. I don't suppose you know if most think she was a run away or was met with foul play do you?

[maggie]

I have family in the area and none have ever heard a hint of a rumour of her running away.

[Whitewolf]

I also knew Shelly quite well. We dated when we were kids for just a couple of weeks, while we were in school. Her brother (Tim) and a few of us used to hang around together. I was shocked to hear what happened to Shelly and so was the rest of us. I still hope there is some conclusion to as to what happened to her, even after all these years. 

[Red Fox]

I remember the whole town of Hinton being shocked by Shelly Anne's disappearance. Back then rumour had it that a local man saw Shelly Anne being pulled into a vehicle that night. Of course he wouldn't have known what he witnessed until later. I found it interesting that they added Shelly Anne's name to the Highway of Tears Investigations. I understand that they also contacted her parents for DNA samples in case they are ever needed. It makes me wonder if LE has someone in mind, but they need to gather more evidence to make the arrest. I sure hope this is the case, and with the advancements of DNA testing maybe this cold case will one day be solved.

[Chris]

It would not surprise me if there is a person of interest the police have in mind. There have been lots of cases solved after 25 years so it could still happen.

[Chris]

This was sent my a guest:

I remember that day.My older sister was the best of friends with shelly ann.All i can say is I wish the best to the Family.They have been through enough.I can honestly say this.I do think of Shelly ann. I would like to know. It would give some closeure on this situation. Besides one less Creep on the streets is a good thing

It would be nice to kow what happened. By chance, do you know if anyone was suspected or if there was a solid theory?

[jbebeau]

The missing person's report always seem to contain the essentials, as Sergeant Friday would say, "Just the facts, ma'am." There is always more to a disappearance than is reported, but a lot of it is conjecture or based on emotion. It often seems that these important details come out in news stories or interview, or on sites like this from people who were around at the time. Such is the case for me in relation to Shelly Anne Bacsu.

My family moved to Hinton right around the time of the disappearance. As someone already mentioned, she had an older brother named Tim, who worked with my dad. This connection provided more details in the case than were officially reported.

I do recall the rumor mentioned that he bones were found when they were clearing land west of Hinton to build the Parks West Mall. There were bones found, but apparently there were animal remains.

The finding of her clothes and textbooks by the river always mystified me. Was she taken there willingly? That would surprise me because she was supposed to meet her mom. She called her mom to get a ride home, and instead of waiting she decided to start walking and meet up with her. I can only imagine how her mom probably wished that she said at her friend's house and waited to be picked up.

I recall a detail that was reported in some places, and that Red Fox mentioned, that Shelly Anne got into gray van with BC license plates. I wonder if this is part of the basis for her being added to the Highway of Tears list.

I think the most eerie piece of information that I have heard was that the family was contacted by whoever kidnapped her. My dad told me the family was called late one might and told that they should stop looking for Shelly-Anne because they would never find her. Was it a crank call? From what I was told it was real, or at least the family saw it that way.

[Chris]

I hope that was a crank call. How cruel though.

So it does seem she got into van and was never heard of again. This was after Clifford Olson was already caught, but the same MO even leaving belongings so they would be found just to confuse police.

Perhaps this case in BC... a possible POI might lead to more people becoming aware of these cases and maybe another tip might come in? 25 years is a long time, someone might have heard something and never told anyone.

[Alder]

Hey Jbebeau, interesting to hear that someone remembers about this van.  I’d heard about it only because of a June 1983 article I came across recently.

By the way, in that article the van was described as "predominantly dark blue in color with a light blue roof", and with BC license plates.  Three occupants were seen in that van, which was stopped in the vicinity and at the time where Shelly Anne Bacsu was last seen, on May 3-1983.  This article has a RCMP composite sketch of the van driver (bearded man) and a second passenger was described as approximately six feet tall male, slim, with shoulder length blond hair.

The article added that "the RCMP were not channelling all their investigative resources on this information", but were hoping that this would lead to some other developments.

I find it strange that this van incident was not mentioned by the RCMP until over a month after Shelly’s disappearance.  Doesn’t look like this van was ever mentioned in this case afterward, and I wonder why.

Hope the answers are found in this case.