Marlene Yvonne Abigosis was 25 and living in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside when she disappeared. During that final conversation Marlene expressed despair about her life and said she planned to leave Vancouver and start over in Calgary, with an expected stop at her sister Valerie’s home in Revelstoke; she never arrived.

Originally from the Pine Creek First Nation in Manitoba, Marlene was one of fourteen children and, like her siblings, a survivor of the residential school system. Her family says she struggled with addiction and periods of homelessness, and that she worked near the docks and sometimes traveled on clients’ boats to Washington State and Vancouver Island. A brief period of happiness is remembered when she fell in love with a Norwegian man whose ship called at port.

Valerie reports painful delays and indifference when first seeking help in 1984; an RCMP missing persons report was not filed until 2002 during DNA collection connected to the Robert Pickton investigation, and no DNA match was made. The RCMP later told the family the case was being closed for lack of leads. If anyone knew Marlene, saw her in late 1983 or early 1984, or has information about her movements, please share what is known.