Missing, murdered women on province's agenda

Posted By Angela Brown, The Daily Graphic

Updated 24 days ago

As the Portage la Prairie community continues to look for answers concerning its missing and murdered women, the provincial government says it is stepping up its efforts to help bring more forces together to try to solve these cases.

In Portage, two women went missing in 2008, Jennifer Catcheway, 18, who disappeared on June 19 and Amber McFarland, 24, who has not been seen since Oct. 18.

In addition, two years ago Charlene Ward, 46, from Portage, was found murdered on Nov. 1, in 2007, and her case has still not been resolved.

Bernice Catcheway, the mother of Jennifer Catcheway, said she hopes to find closure and her family continues its ongoing search to find Jennifer. Bernice believes the government's efforts may help bring families closer to deal with their missing loved ones.

"I think it is about time," she said. "There are too many people out there missing, and a lot of unanswered questions. I think that these families deserve to have their questions answered and they need to bring their family home."

Manitoba RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Line Karpish said Manitoba's new integrated police task force, announced in August, consisting of Winnipeg Police Service and RCMP officers, to work on unsolved murders and cases involved missing women is close to being formed.

"The RCMP is committed to getting to the bottom of these cases. Sometimes, it takes time, but sometimes, it takes time because we need to gather more evidence," said Karpish.

abrown@cpheraldleader.com.

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