The remains of a person discovered in a gravel pit near Prince George, B.C., are not those of a young Red Deer woman who disappeared seven years ago, a police official said Wednesday.
Const. Gary Godwin of Prince George RCMP said the remains were identified as a woman but they are not releasing the identity at this time.
“They were definitely that of a human,” he added.
He said the remains were not those of hitchhiker Nicole Hoar, 25, of Red Deer who was last seen outside of Prince George in June 2002.
RCMP conducted an intensive search of a rural property located about 50 km northwest of Prince George in late August.
Hoar was a tree-planter who vanished while hitching a lift to Smithers, B.C., to visit her sister.
She was last seen standing in front of a gas station west of Prince George, about a 25-minute drive from the property which was searched.
Cold-case investigators and forensic experts descended on the acreage to look for the remains of Hoar.
The property searched was a two-hectare lot in a small lumber town.
Hoar is one of at least nine young women who have disappeared while hitchhiking along Hwy 16 linking Prince George and Prince Rupert.
The stretch of road has been dubbed the Highway of Tears and some communities along the road have erected signs warning people of the dangers of hitchhiking.