For 13 years, the mystery of what happened to Madison Scott haunted the community of Vanderhoof, B.C., which is about 80 kilometres west of Prince George and 530 kilometres north of Vancouver.
Described as a vibrant and kind 20-year-old, Scott vanished from a remote campsite in May 2011.
A dozen years later, in May 2023, her remains were discovered at a rural property about 16 kilometres from where she went missing.
Now, one year after the tragic discovery, there are still no answers about her disappearance and death.
Scott disappeared after celebrating a friend’s birthday at Hogsback Lake, a group campsite popular with locals, that’s roughly 25 kilometres southeast of Vanderhoof.
Scott had been texting with her parents during the party, but they could not reach her the next day. She was reported missing on May 29, when her tent and truck were found abandoned at the campsite.
There were extensive searches by air, ground, and water, using helicopters, horses and all-terrain vehicles.
The exhaustive campaign to find Scott continued for 12 years. Missing posters with Scott’s face featured on billboards across northern B.C. Her family offered a $100,000 reward and there were annual searches and international media coverage.
But answers about how Scott disappeared — and why she died — remained elusive.
Then, one year ago this week — there was the first break in the case: RCMP said Scott’s remains had been found on a rural property, about 18 kilometres from the campsite where she was last seen.
FULL STORY: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/madison-scott-rcmp-family-1.7217242
