Verna Susan Bjerky was 16 when she vanished from Hope, British Columbia, on May 2, 1981. She had planned to visit her boyfriend in Kamloops but, after a bus strike, decided to hitchhike with roller skates slung over her shoulder. A friend who saw her off later gave her a knife because she felt uneasy; Verna never made the call home she’d promised the following Tuesday.

Five months later some of Verna’s personal effects, including her purse and roller skates, were found in a river off Highway 7, weighted down with rocks. That discovery ended the possibility that she had simply run away and indicated foul play. Her family conducted repeated searches with volunteers, canine units and dive teams but never located her.

Investigators and Crown prosecutors have long viewed Clifford Olson as a likely suspect; Verna’s best friend, Cathy Lamberton, recalled being picked up by Olson with Verna just days before the disappearance and believes he may have drugged them. Olson hinted at other victims but died in prison in 2011, and no charges were ever laid in Verna’s case. The investigation remains open.

Did anyone in the Hope or Kamloops area know Verna, travel that stretch of Highway 7 in 1981, or have information about hitchhiking at the time?