Teenage girl's murder in Quesnel unsolved after 20 years

Twenty years after a B.C. teenager was murdered in Quesnel, her father said he has no idea where the RCMP investigation stands. 

Jim Braem said he hasn't heard from RCMP investigators in a decade, despite visiting the Quesnel detachment several times last year to ask for an update on the murder of his 16-year-old daughter, Deena.

He said he was told officers were busy and would get back to him, but no one ever did.

"I don't know if they're even working on the case anymore," said Braem.

Deena Braem vanished in September, 1999, on the eve of her 17th birthday, as she headed home from a celebration. An exhaustive search turned up nothing. Then, several months later, a rabbit hunter discovered Braem's body in a shallow grave near Pinnacles Park, about 15 kilometres away.

At the teen's funeral, 700 people packed the bleachers and gym floor of the Grade 12 student's high school. Mourners sang Amazing Grace and a local pastor spoke of evil in the community.

Braem​​​​​​'s father said that in the year following Deena's death, RCMP told him they had a likely suspect "but absolutely no proof."

700 packed teen's funeral

Then, Braem said, the investigating officers working the case either transferred or left the area before any arrests were made.

Five years after Deena's death, the RCMP major crimes unit solicited new public tips, saying the case remained unsolved "in spite of a lengthy and extensive investigation." 

But 20 years later, there's no resolution.

"You need something," Braem said. "I think a lot of people would like to know why." 

Braem was murdered just 120 kilometres from the Highway of Tears. But her case was never included in the official investigation of cold case deaths and disappearances of at least 18 young women along Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert.

'Never goes away'

RCMP haven't yet responded to a request for comment. 

This week, on the anniversary of the day his daughter disappeared, Braem said he went to work as usual. "There's no sense sitting home alone," he said.

"I stayed working, just to take my mind off things."

The passage of two decades hasn't lessened his grief. "This never goes away," said Braem. "She's no longer here."