CIRCUMSTANCES

Melissa Rehorek planned to travel when she reached Calgary, Alberta from her hometown of Windsor, Ontario, in the spring of 1976.

She had been staying at the Calgary YMCA and working as a chambermaid for the International Hotel, but was ready to hit the road and do some sightseeing when she left around 9:30 p.m. on September 15, 1976.

She took a transit bus to McMahon Stadium in Calgary and then planned to hitchhike west out of town along Hwy #1. She was known to take rides from truck drivers.

Her fully-clothed body was found on September 16, 1976 in a ditch along a rural road west of Calgary city limits; 2 km. north of Hwy #1.

She was found with all of her possession, including her money.

Melissa’s murder is part of a series called The Highway Murders, and authorities believe her murder is linked those of other young women who were raped, strangled and left in remote areas along the Trans-Canada Highway.

• A grey coloured half-ton vehicle was noted to have been seen in the area on September 15th.
• Gary McAstocker, 34, was a person of interest in Barbara’s murder. He was a sex offender who killed himself in 1994. He had just been released on parole after serving an 11 year sentence for a 1982 rape, and sexual assault in 1988. He killed himself hours before he was going to meet police for questioning in the murder of 14-year-old Tina McPhee.
• Authorities think this case is could be connected to the unsolved homicides of:
  • Barbara Maclean
  • Marie Goudreau
  • Oanh Ngoc Ha
  • Pauline Brazeau
  • Tara Jane White