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RCMP ties American serial killer Bobby Jack Fowler to 1974 ‘Highway of Tears’ murder in B.C.

RCMP have ruled out the possibility one serial killer was preying on women hitchhiking along the so-called Highway of Tears in British Columbia.

The Mounties' investigation into who is responsible for the murder or disappearance of at least 18 women in central and northern B.C. between 1969 and 2006 has not turned up evidence of a single killer, the RCMP told a news conference Tuesday.

The Vancouver Sun reported Staff Sgt. Wayne Clary said police have "strong suspects" in three or four of the cases but don't believe any of them are linked to the other missing girls and women.

One of those suspects is an American. Investigators were able to make a DNA link between one victim, Colleen MacMillen and suspected serial killer Bobby Jack Fowler, the Sun said.

MacMillen, 16, was killed in 1974 after last being seen hitchhiking along Highway 97 near Lac La Hache, south of Prince George. She was going six kilometres to a friends house. Her body was found later along a logging road.

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Fowler died in prison in Oregon in 2006 while serving a 16-year sentence after being convicted in 1996 of kidnapping, assaulting and trying to rape a woman. She managed to escape by jumping naked from a second-storey window.

Fowler was suspected in four unsolved murders of female teens in Lincoln County, Oregon, in the 1990s, CBC News reported.

Earlier this year, RCMP sent a sample of male DNA taken from MacMillen's body for testing and the results were given to Interpol. In May, police in Oregon indicated it matched Fowler, the Sun said.

"Fowler is responsible for 16-year-old Colleen MacMillen's murder," Insp. Gary Shinkaruk said.

The Mounties said Fowler worked for a Prince George roofing company in 1974 and travelled a lot. The Sun said he's been ruled out as the killer in eight of the Highway of Tears files but remains a person of interest in the rest, particularly Gale Weys and Pamela Darlington, who disappeared in 1973 in the Kamloops area.

CBC News said the RCMP is asking the public to help them reconstruct Fowler's movements in the 1970s. While in B.C., he apparently led a transient life, staying in hotels, driving beater cars and getting into fights in bars.

The evidence linking Fowler to as many as three victims stems from a long-term investigation dubbed E-PANA, set up in 2005 to probe the Highway of Tears killings and disappearances.

Though originally focused on a 700-kilometre stretch of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert, it now covers other B.C. Interior roads, including highways 5 and 97, CBC News said.

Clary, who headed the investigation into missing women who were suspected victims of Vancouver serial killer Robert Pickton, called the Highway of Tears probe one of the biggest and most complicated in B.C. history, the Sun said.

"This is huge. This is tough," he told the news conference. "We have people who are deceased. We have witnesses who are deceased. We have people who we believe may be responsible who are deceased."

Colleen McMillen's brother, Shawn, attended the news briefing and thanked police for their efforts.

"We are simply stunned and very grateful for their hard work," he said, according to the Sun.

He added that while the family is frustrated Fowler would never be tried for his sister's murder, they're comforted that he died in prison and "can't hurt anyone else."

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