One year later, sex worker's death remains a mystery

Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of when the badly decomposed body of an Edmonton woman was found near Wetaskiwin, Alta., andRCMP say they still dont have any leads into Leanne Benwells death.

Her mother, Connie,said shes having a hard time accepting that her daughter is really dead.

"I never did see her body; it was a closed casket. So whenever I see somebody that looks like her from behind ... my heart just races. I think, 'Oh my god, maybe its her.' "

Benwell, 27, was last seen by her mother on March 12, 2007,and was reported missing five weeks later, on April 15. At the time, she was working as a prostitute in the area of 118 and 95 Avenues to support a drug addiction.

Her body was found on June 21, 2007,in a rural area outside of Wetaskiwin, about 70 kilometres south of Edmonton. It was too badly decomposed for police to say how she was killed.

"Because of circumstances of the way she was found, do I really want to know what happened to her? Like, it scares me. I just don't want to feel that hurt all over again,"Connie Benwell said.

'Nothing has been concrete enough'

Investigators are trying to track Leanne Benwell's last movements. They believe her body had been in the remote location for at least six weeks.

"I think we're still in a grey area. Certainly there's been tips that may have been helpful, but nothing that has been concrete enough for us to really take action about who's responsible for this," said Const. Laurel Kadin of the RCMP detachment in Morinville.

Benwell grew up in the Northwest Territories and moved to Edmonton when she was in her 20s.

Her death is being investigated by Project KARE, a joint task force between Edmonton city police and the RCMP that is investigating the deaths and disappearances of more than 20 women. All of them weresex workersor led what police call "high-risk lifestyles."

To date only one person investigated by Project KARE has been charged. Thomas Svekla was convicted of second-degree murder earlier this month in the death of Theresa Innes, 36.

Her remains were found in May 2006 stuffed in a hockey bag discovered in a home in Fort Saskatchewan, just northeast of Edmonton.