Angela Williams

Angela Hazel Williams was a woman of contradictions, a loving mother who fought to build a life for her daughters while battling personal demons that ultimately pulled her into a dangerous world. A 31-year-old First Nations woman, Angela was remembered by her sister, Eliza Willier, as a kind and comforting presence who mirrored their own mother’s nurturing spirit. Growing up was not easy; separated from her mother and siblings at a young age, she was raised by relatives on the coast between Campbell River and Gilford Island, British Columbia. As an adult, she was a mother to three girls and, for a time, seemed to be creating stability. She lived in a small Vancouver apartment, worked three jobs, and attended hairdressing school, all with the goal of providing for her children.

Despite her efforts, Angela struggled with addiction and the consequences of a difficult past. Her daughters eventually went to live with a relative, Margaret Green, with the understanding that Angela would focus on getting well so they could be reunited. By 2001, she was trying to get back on her feet, but she fell into debt and the sex trade on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. In early December of that year, she confided in a worker at a drop-in centre that she was afraid something bad was going to happen to her. She was given a bus ticket to get to her aunt's house, but she never arrived. The family's concern grew when Angela missed a planned visit with her children on December 16 and failed to contact them for her daughter's birthday or for Christmas, something they knew she would never do willingly.

On December 13, 2001, the body of an unidentified woman was found face down in a patch of weeds and gravel on the shoulder of Colebrook Road, a rural stretch in Surrey. Police initially noted a distinctive rose tattoo on her back and suspected she had died of a drug overdose. Meanwhile, Angela's family began a desperate search, handing out flyers in her neighborhood. It was a homeless man who saw one of their posters and told them about the Jane Doe found in Surrey. On Boxing Day, December 26, Margaret Green filed a missing persons report with the Vancouver police. Within an hour of sending Angela’s medical and dental records to the Surrey RCMP, the family’s fears were confirmed: the woman was Angela Williams.

An autopsy soon disproved the overdose theory, finding only a week-old trace of cocaine in her system. A second examination revealed bruising on her neck, leading investigators to conclude that Angela had been strangled. Her death was ruled a homicide. The family was devastated not only by the loss but by what they perceived as a dismissive and inadequate police investigation. They felt that because Angela was a First Nations woman involved in drugs and sex work, her case was not treated with the urgency and care it deserved. Margaret Green later testified that police reports seemed to have "tunnel vision," repeatedly emphasizing Angela's lifestyle.

The handling of Angela Williams' case was one of several examined during British Columbia's Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, which investigated failures by police in the cases of many vulnerable women. At the inquiry in October 2011, nearly a decade after the murder, Angela’s daughter, Ashley Smith, gave emotional testimony. "It's been almost 10 years and I don't know why my mother died," she said. "I want to know why no one cared enough to treat this case properly from the beginning. Was it because she was native? Was it because she did drugs?" Margaret Green also spoke, describing the nightmares and unanswered questions that haunted Angela’s daughters.

More than two decades later, no one has ever been charged with the murder of Angela Williams. Her sister, Eliza, expressed the family's enduring pain and frustration, feeling it was unlikely they would ever get answers. "My sister was a human being," she said. "She had a big heart, she was a loving person and she didn't deserve this." As of October 2024, Angela's murder remains an open and unsolved cold case. Her file is one of 56 homicide cases that were transferred from the Surrey RCMP to the newly formed Surrey Police Service, where it awaits a fresh look that might finally bring justice and peace to her family.