Stephanie Stewart’s was working alone at a fire lookout tower near Hinton when she vanished 12 years ago, a pot of water still boiling on the stove and her truck still parked outside.
RCMP have long believed the healthy and adventurous 70-year-old was the victim of a homicide.
This week, search crews led by the RCMP’s historical homicide unit will be out in force in the Hinton area, searching for clues to her disappearance, RCMP said in a news release Thursday.
“The general public may see an increased police presence in these areas,” the news release said. “There is no public safety risk and there are no restrictions to public activities in the area.”
Searchers will include members of the RCMP, staff with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, and civilian search and rescue teams.
In January, the RCMP historical homicide unit announced it will treat the disappearances of three women – Shelly Ann Bacsu, Stephanie Stewart and Deanna MacNeil – as homicides. (Josee St-Onge)
The areas to be searched will be near Jarvis Lake, Highway 40 and the Athabasca Fire Tower, located in William Switzer Provincial Park near the end of the Athabasca Lookout road, the release said.
Stewart was last heard from by her family on Aug. 25, 2006. The next day, when she failed to make her scheduled radio check-in for work, another fire spotter was sent to her lookout tower to see if she was OK.
In January, Stewart was among three unsolved missing-woman cases in Alberta that RCMP announced would be investigated as homicides.
The cases included the disappearances of Shelly Ann Bacsu in 1983, and Deanna MacNeil in 2013.
Police say they do not believe the three cases are related. The victims’ remains have not been found.