'Highway of tears' crime cases double

Thenumber of unsolved cases involving women reported missing or found deadalong northern B.C.'s Highway 16 — the so-called highway of tears— has doubled to 18, and no arrests have been made since the firstcase 38 years ago, RCMP in the province said.

Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre made the announcementat the RCMP's northern headquarters in Prince George on Friday.

A year ago, an RCMP special task force was focusing on nine women, but 18 cases are now being investigated, he said.

Lemaitre said that despite the fact more information has been gathered, police don't knowwho may bebehind the murders and disappearances.

"We're open to any possibility. We're not saying it's a person. The question [that] has been asked before is, 'Is it a serial killer?' We don't know at this time. We have to remain open-minded in these kinds of cases," he said.

The nine new names come from a list of 200 files using a new computer system — the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System — to cross-reference geographic and criminal profilers,Lemaitre said.

The highway runs about 800 kilometres betweenPrince Georgeand Prince Rupert on the north coast.

Police have expanded their search to Kamloops, B.C.,and to Hinton in Alberta.

"You can rest assured that they (investigators) know a lot more than they did when this started out," he said.

No arrests have been made.

NDPwants to see $200K reward

New Democrat MLA Mike Farnworth is calling for the solicitor general to offer a $200,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

"I thinks it's shocking in terms of what we're hearing," said Farnworth, the opposition critic for public safety.

"I think there[are] obviously people out there with information and I think it would be appropriate for a significant reward to be offered," he said.

Despite the increase in the number of cases being investigated, police said the evidence neither discounts nor supports the theory that a serial killer was responsible for the murders and disappearances of the 18 women.