Delores Brower's remains identified - Action News
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Edmonton

Delores Brower's remains identified

Alberta RCMP say human remains found near Leduc, south of Edmonton, are those of 33-year-old Delores Brower, who was reported missing by family in June 2005.

Brower last seen hitchhiking on Edmonton street corner in May 2004

Delores Brower, an Alberta Mtis woman, worked in the sex trade in Edmonton and went missing more than a decade ago. Alberta police said Tuesday they have identified her remains. (Edmonton Police Service)

Alberta RCMP say human remains found near Leduc, south of Edmonton, are those of 33-year-old Delores Brower, who was reported missing by family in June 2005.

The Mtis woman, known by the nickname Spider,worked in the sex trade in Edmonton and was last seen by police on the corner of 118th Avenue and 70th Street on May 13, 2004, at 5:40 a.m. Police said she was trying to get a ride westbound.

Her remainswerefound on April 19, 2015, on a rural property near Rolleyview, east of Leduc and south of Edmonton.

Brower's family knows her remains havebeen found and, in a statement distributed by the RCMP, they asked for privacy.

"While we are saddened to have confirmation that Delores' remains have been found,there is a sense of thankfulness as well. We lovedDeloresand are grateful to havesome closure.

"While we are grieving with some sense of relief, we know there are many families whohave yet to find the answers they are seeking," the statement read.

JoAnn McCartney, a former police officer who at one time worked to help sex-trade workers leave the streets, remembers Browerwas a tiny, quiet woman.

"She was somebody who was approachable, you could talk to her," she said adding "she was always sad and she had really low self-esteem."

McCartney said she's hopeful that a crime scene will help solve who is responsible for Brower's death.

"Whenever you have a crime scene, even if it's old, there may still be something there that they can solve it. It makes you hopeful," she said.

Other human remains were found in 2003 and 2012 within an eight-kilometre radius of where Brower's remains were located.

Other women found near the site that Brower was discovered (locations are approximate)

Click here to see the map

Thomas Svekla, who was convicted in 2008 of killing sex-trade worker Theresa Innes, was a suspect in Brower's disappearance.

During a police interrogation in November 2006, RCMPtold Svekla he was a suspect in the murder of seven other women and two morewomen missing at the time.

Sveklawas the first person charged by ProjectKare, a joint task force between Edmonton city police andRCMPthat investigates the deaths and disappearances of sex-trade workers and othersdescribed asliving"high-risk lifestyles."

Police haven't determined how Brower died and are appealing to the public for any information in her death.

"We are asking you today;we need the public's assistance in finding out what happened to Delores," said Insp. Stacey Talbot.

Anyone with any information about her death is asked to contact RCMP.