Carbon Jane Doe - Funeral Home Theory

Author: Shane Lambert
Original Time of Writing: August 23, 2025

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

Could Funeral Homes Dump Bodies to Cut Costs? A Carbon, Alberta Jane Doe Theory

In the unsettling case of the Carbon, Alberta Jane Doe, discovered roadside on April 20th or 21st, 1995, a peculiar detail stands out: the possibility that her remains were removed from a grave. When examining this case back in 2021, I raised the reasons why a dead person might be removed from a grave. They were:

(1) Exhumation for legal or scientific reasons;

(2) Necrophilia;

(3) Extreme mourning;

(4) Or to fake a death.

But while reading about some modern news in an unrelated case, I came across one where a woman who was dead and her remains were set to be cremated was instead found in a park. At the time of writing, the investigation in that particular case was still in progress. 

The case raised a chilling question to me—could funeral homes or morticians dispose of bodies improperly to save money? While this idea may seem far-fetched, the financial pressures of the funeral industry and historical precedents suggest it’s worth exploring as a potential explanation for the Carbon Jane Doe.

Carbon Jane Doe: A Mysterious Case

The Carbon Jane Doe was found near the small village of Carbon, Alberta, about an hour northeast of Calgary. Estimated to have died between 1980 and 1985, she was a female, likely aged 20–40, standing 5’0” to 5’4”, with a possible Indigenous or mixed background. Intriguingly, a 1995 Calgary Herald article suggested her remains may have been removed from a grave. For more details on her case, see the RCMP profile (Service Canada Reference #2016069642) or my previous article from January 4th, 2021.

Funeral Industry Pressures and Cost-Cutting

Funeral homes operate in a competitive, high-cost industry. Embalming, caskets, cremation, and burial services require significant resources—chemicals, labor, and facility space/maintenance all add up. For smaller or unscrupulous operations, cutting corners can be tempting.

Disposing of a body without proper burial or cremation could, in theory, save thousands of dollars per case, especially for unclaimed remains or clients with limited funds. While rare, there have been documented cases of funeral homes mishandling bodies to reduce costs.

For example, in the United States, cases like the Tri-State Crematory scandal in 2002 revealed hundreds of bodies dumped or improperly stored instead of cremated, as families were told. The matter made the news and the following snippet is from the November 2nd, 2003 edition of The Tennessean. There was a broader story with more details but the reader can see how financial burdens might affect the proper running of a company who is charged with properly disposing of human remains.

Why Dump a Body? A Cost-Control Hypothesis

Imagine this scenario: a funeral home in western Canada in the early 1980s takes on a low-budget client or an unclaimed body. Instead of incurring the costs of a proper burial—land for a grave, a casket, or even cremation—they do some work on the body for the funeral then quietly dispose of it in a remote location. To the police, it looks like it was in a grave because of the evidence of the mortician's work. This could explain the Jane Doe’s roadside discovery and the suggestion of prior burial.

Challenges in Proving the Theory

Proving that a funeral home dumped the Carbon Jane Doe is no easy task. First, there’s little public evidence of Alberta funeral homes engaging in such practices during the 1980s. Second, if she was an unclaimed body—perhaps someone without family to notice her absence—there’d be no one to report a mishandled burial. Finally, there is the passage of time (over 40 years since her estimated death) and as time passes it also makes records more scarce and it increases apathy toward a case.

Could This Solve the Carbon Jane Doe Case?

The Carbon Jane Doe’s case remains unsolved, and while this hypothesis is speculative, it highlights a grim reality: the funeral industry isn’t immune to unethical practices. I think the darker side of this industry should be considered in relation to this strange Jane Doe case.

A Captivating Short Story, Thematically Connected to Missing Persons, to Grip Your Imagination

Prologue

As the author of this blog, Shane Lambert, I typically focus on topics surrounding missing people, unsolved mysteries, forensics, and the societal issues that intersect with these topics. However, I’ve decided to share a short story of mine, "On Being Indistinguishable," on this platform, despite it being a departure from my usual nonfiction content.

I feel this story is thematically resonant with the blog’s core focus on missing persons and society, partly because it involves hitchhiking. Through the lens of a well-meaning driver who picks up a hitchhiker, the narrative explores the complexities of hitchhiking, particularly from the driver’s perspective.

It delves into the tension of being perceived as suspicious, simply for being a man offering a ride to a vulnerable woman, and the broader societal prejudices that shape such encounters. I hope this fictional piece sparks reflection on trust and safety, but mainly it's meant as social criticism of how philanthropy can crumble in a society that lacks both of those things.

On Being Indistinguishable

I lost my resort-town job in Jasper, Alberta, in early October 2010. But entering unemployment didn’t bother me that much, as I had some money in the bank and I knew I would qualify for employment insurance. As I prepared to leave town, my thoughts were only on the immediate future, and my hopes were high that I would enjoy a long and scenic drive between the Canadian Rockies and the West Coast, my home. It was only when I decided to stop for a hitchhiker that I opened the door for some unwanted drama in what otherwise could have been an enjoyable day.

I left Jasper on the Yellowhead Highway just after dawn on a Wednesday. The morning was crisp in the fall, and the air felt fresh. As I drove, I listened to the CBC radio for a short time before the signal cut out. I’m sure that was due to the remoteness of the area and maybe even the mountainous terrain.

When I was about 30 kilometers out of town, I spotted an anomaly in the distance on my side of the road. As I neared this blip, I realized that it was a young woman. She was standing a little over the yellow line with her neck stretched out as she stood still and faced the traffic in my lane. It was an odd scene, really, to see a young woman standing in a remote location with no other cars around so early in the morning. Her right thumb was pointed upwards, the universal request for help in the form of a free ride.

I couldn't help but wonder how she had arrived at such a desolate point on the highway, especially at such an early hour. She couldn't, I thought, have walked there from the nearest hotel, which was back in Jasper. In my mind, that meant that she must have exited a vehicle near where she stood.

With that assumed, I considered it relevant that there wasn't an intersection near this stretch of highway. It meant that the hitchhiker's former driver could not have executed a turn, one that could have terminated the two parties' shared route. Whoever her previous driver was seemed to carry on west while simply leaving this west-traveling passenger behind.

As I neared the roadside woman, I speculated that maybe the hitchhiker and her former driver had parted in an unfriendly manner. It even crossed my mind that perhaps she was a hitchhiker or ridesharer who had just fended off an attack of some sort, maybe from an overly amorous male. It was this exact thought that was heavy on my conscience when I asked myself: "Should I stop or should I drive on?"

When I answered that question, I felt annoyed with myself. I wanted an uneventful day as I drove and, to that end, ignoring a stranded traveler seemed like the right thing to do.

Yet, at the moment of truth, I found that I simply wasn't able to abdicate my conscience. Instead, I half-heartedly eased off of the gas pedal when I neared the lone woman. I glanced at her as I slowly passed her and then I came to a complete stop about ten meters down the road from where she stood. When I glanced at her, her head had been stooped down to stare back at me and the look on her face was one of grave concern.

The woman was slender, I thought that she appeared to be about 21 years old, and she carried a large red backpack. I felt that she could only be feeling vulnerable given her predicament. Despite some annoyance with the situation, I resolved that I would act extra nice to her given that I was a stocky man in my late twenties.

I leaned over to the passenger-side window to lower it. When I did so, I looked at her reflection in the side door mirror as she approached the vehicle. At this point, I saw her pause. Then, in a few fleeting seconds, the young woman took a picture of my vehicle's rear with her cell phone's camera. She then strode forward to my open window.

"So where ya headed?" I asked her with a forced smile when she reached the open window.

"Where you headed?" she countered with a slight scowl.

After a short pause, I replied, "Vancouver Island."

With her lips pressed together, she opened the car door as though to enter. However, instead of getting in immediately, she first inspected the interior of the passenger-side door. With it swung open, she pushed the lock down and then tugged on the inside handle. After the lock popped back up, she began to remove her large backpack.

"Wudder you doing?" she asked curtly, her eyes wide like an owl's, as I reached down and pulled the trunk-release lever.

I paused, a bit stunned by what I interpreted as suspicion.

"Well I thought ya might put yer bag in the trunk," I replied.

She then pointed to the leg space in front of the seat.

"I'll keep it up here," she asserted while scrutinizing me.

I expected that she'd change her mind given how squashed the inside of the car would be. Regardless, before I could carry on down the highway I had to exit my vehicle to close the trunk.

After lifting it up and then slamming it shut I caught a glare from the hitchhiker, a paralyzing look that lasered through the back window of my car. Whatever she was thinking, she definitely meant business as her wide eyes focused on me. As a matter of instinct, I flashed my bare hands at my new passenger to make sure she could see that I wasn't holding anything. She did not reciprocate, as I could see that she had her left hand deep in her backpack.

I'd only known the hitchhiker for a minute, but it was clear that she wasn't sure whether or not I was helping her out of the goodness of my heart. Firstly, she'd snapped my license plate, perhaps to identify me if I assaulted her. Secondly, she'd assured herself that the door handle worked from the inside, possibly protecting herself against a planned trap. Lastly, she had carefully watched me as I'd closed my trunk, maybe out of fear that I was getting a weapon. If I wasn't mistaken, then the hitchhiker was concerned that I might have been out to harm her.

At first, my perception of what I considered to be overt suspicion was hard to accept: she was the one who had effectively asked for my help with the thumb-up signal on the side of the highway. Yet, I did realize that I had suspected, with basically no evidence, that her former driver had treated her poorly. It seemed that we, the hitchhiker and I, both had a prejudice against people who picked up hitchhikers.

I knew that many had associated the Yellowhead Highway in Western Canada with several cases of missing and/or murdered women, women who were last seen hitchhiking somewhere between the Rocky Mountains and Prince Rupert. Such were the numbers of these cases that writers, locals, and news agencies often referred to this stretch of the Yellowhead Highway as the "Highway of Tears." That I viewed myself as 'Mr. Nice Guy' while picking up a hitchhiker in this stretch of the highway without reflecting on how other people might see me was a mistake. In an attempt to appear friendly, I tried to initiate some small talk.

"Odd spot t' be at this time," I commented as I shoulder-checked, "with not much traffic."

"I had a ride earlier," the young woman quietly replied, confirming what I'd suspected.

I would have asked what ended her earlier ride but did not feel welcome to do so. In fact, the hitchhiker and I barely spoke on the road ahead, and I didn't even ask what her name was. Nor did I pester her about her destination as I assumed she would simply tell me when she wanted out of the car.

As I drove, I maintained a speed that was slower than the limit to avoid any chance of a fine. As a result, a few speeding vehicles passed us on the Yellowhead Highway before I turned south toward Valemount.

I noticed when these cars passed, that the hitchhiker paid close attention to each of them. It was only in these moments that the unpleasant vibe around her changed.

In one instance, the hitchhiker reached across the space between my chest and the steering wheel and gave the driver of a passing car a friendly peace sign. She behaved in a similar manner when two other vehicles passed us. The behavior would have seemed odd except that it lined up with my belief that she'd regarded me as a man who had questionable intentions.

"She wants to be seen," I thought to myself.

I decided that her hitchhiking method involved making sure her drivers knew that others had seen her in their cars. In this way, perhaps she probably thought that she could deter criminal acts by any so-inclined person who picked her up. Although her fears of me were unwarranted, I still felt that the young woman was being smart. Based on her knowledge of how dangerous hitchhiking could be, she'd evidently developed a method that, as far as I could see, would generally increase her survival chances as she took part in an often dangerous activity.

She might have been interesting to talk to if she hadn't been so quietly nervous. It was this palpable nervousness that started to bother me. As we drove toward Valemount, I secretly hoped that her journey in my vehicle would end in the short term.

But I had already resolved not to kick her out as I assumed her previous driver had. The same conscience that compelled me to stop for her would prevent me from sticking her roadside so long as I could tolerate the situation. Whether this was an admirable characteristic worthy of plaudits or merely me being the source of my own drama is debatable.

Maybe there’s no difference.

"I need a bathroom break real bad," she remarked when we were in the midst of Valemount's businesses.

I guessed from that admission that she would not be ending her trip with me in the small British Columbian town but would instead carry on. I further surmised that she was selling the urgency of her need for the bathroom so as to put the maximum pressure on me to cooperate.

I stopped at a gas station, one that had an adjoined restaurant, and parked in one of the outer-fueling stalls. Then I rolled down my window to take in some fresh air. On her way to the restroom, the hitchhiker, despite her claim that her need for the restroom pressed, ever-so-calmly interacted with three people.

As she spoke amidst the refueling vehicles, she again made her interpersonal interactions clear to me. For a few moments, she would face the person she was conversing with but, in the next few moments, she would turn her head a little and talk while looking at me.

With each of the three people she spoke to, the young woman communicated three points. To each, she stated that her name was Danielle; to each, she claimed that she was a hitchhiker heading to Vernon; and with each, she pointed at me, made judgmental eye contact with me, and stated that I was a driver who had picked her up.

The surface messages, I thought, were meant for the people she spoke to: her words contained clear information about her identity. While this information would help locate her if she went missing, I thought that there was a deeper message for me. After all, no one wants to end up on a missing person's website.

"I'm telling these people to remember your face," she seemed to be saying to me, "to remember your car. They know you might be the guy, that guy, and they know you were with me -- that you picked me up. If you dare harm me one of them will remember you."

When each person she spoke to glanced my way, I vouched for myself with a smile. But a feeling of horror grew in my throat when one bearded and middle-aged man in a blue cap returned both a grimace and rolled eyeballs that I felt reflected skeptical thought.

Moments later, with Danielle in the station, I observed this man's reflection in my mirrors. He walked around the rear of my car and casually glanced in the direction of my plate. He kept his back turned to me, but it looked like he entered some information into a cell phone.

In the context of my accidentally suspicious behavior, I could only wonder if the guy was hell-bent on heroism. I feared that, with an anonymous tip to the police, he might allege that he knew of a creep who had lured a helpless woman into his car near The Highway of Tears. That 'tip' could make someone with power and egregious discretion think that I might have been the man who lurked invisible to all -- all, except for the women who had disappeared in the area while hitchhiking.

Next, a sturdy 40-something-year-old woman walked out of the gas station's restaurant and approached my car. Her stride had such a determination to it that I prepared to be treated like Ted Bundy himself.

"So is Danielle rude to you too?" the woman asked with a smile that surprised me.

After a moment of confusion, I conjectured that this was the person who had dropped Danielle off on the side of the highway before I'd arrived on the scene back near Jasper. She must have observed us from a restaurant window. That she was a middle-aged woman refuted my earlier assumption of an overly amorous male motorist.

"She behaves a bit oddly," I confirmed with a nod. "How d'ya know 'er?"

"Well," she huffed, "I picked 'er up coming out of Jasper this mornin.' Bu' she almost bear-sprayed me when I reached into the armrest compartment for a piece of a gum! After that, I kicked her out straight away!"

She gave a nod that validated her decision and then left me alone with a wave of her hand. A moment later, I glanced at Danielle's backpack and noticed a bulge near the top of it.

When I ran my hand over this bulge it felt like it could have been a can of mosquito repellent. But I also knew that it must have been this object that her left hand was near when I'd returned from the trunk -- and I wasn't a mosquito.

Five minutes later, my ever-so-favorite person returned.

"Sorry fer taking so long, but I'm getting such a great connection here that I decided to touch base with some friends," she said while holding up her cell phone. "Can we pose fer a pic?"

I knew that declining would be tantamount to an admission of intent to kill. I had to cooperate in order to avoid a false accusation.

"Sure," I said unenthusiastically.

She then held her camera aloft while we both faced it, me through the driver-side window and her just outside of it. A few moments later, she held the phone square to my face. This action revealed that the picture of us was online at a popular social media website.

I could have left things alone, however, I had petty revenge on my mind. All of her unwarranted suspicions, even as I tried to do her a favor that she'd effectively asked for, had affronted me. I thought that I would burst her bubble with a reference to the picture of the back of my car, a picture she probably thought that she took on the lowdown as she approached my vehicle.

"I'm sure you already posted the pic of my plate," I snipped.

I stared at Danielle with the left side of my mouth turned downward. With bewildered eyes and clenched teeth, her head nodded a few millimeters, a minuscule confirmation that she had posted my plate online.

I shrugged my shoulders and chuckled.

"Rats!" I said sarcastically as I snapped my fingers in the air in front of me.

If she thought that she was operating below my radar, she no longer thought that and maybe that offended her. But I thought that she would sense my sarcasm and just get back in the car. Instead, Danielle glared at me for a few moments more. Next, she took a quick look at the highway and strode a few paces from me. During the next several moments, she kept her back turned and her arms folded across the top of her abdomen.

I began to think that part of her wanted to try her hitchhiking skills with another driver. When she retrieved her bag from the front seat, I took it as confirmation that she would do that. But, before I switched gears from 'P' to 'D', she opened the back door and placed her bag on the passenger-side backseat. It was an action that could only mean that she wanted leg space more than she wanted to be near her can of bear spray.

"Hey thanks," I said sarcastically.

She had a slight smile and squinted eyes as she put her seatbelt on.

After we started traveling again, we were both silent for a long time. But it was more of a comfortable silence than an awkward or tense one. In fact, my hitchhiker was so relaxed that she actually fell asleep for a bit. It would have been the perfect time to kill her, if I was so inclined.

When she woke up, Danielle acted softly toward me for the first time. She spoke openly about some of her fears when it came to people -- men and women alike -- who picked up hitchhikers. After she addressed this topic, I felt a little less insulted: part of what had bothered me must have been an incorrect belief that she'd treated me with suspicion only because I was a male.

During the balance of our time together, I learned that Danielle lived off of the small earnings of a coffee-shop barista. Her romantic interest, a woman named Cara, worked in Jasper at a hotel that stayed open year-round. They both took turns hitchhiking the route between Jasper and Vernon on their days off in hopes of keeping their relationship alive.

"Thanks pal," Danielle said pleasantly when she exited my car at a major junction in Kamloops.

That ended my direct association with her.

But, unfortunately, even after Danielle left, the maladjusted invisible lurker remained where he'd been since shortly after Jasper. I realized this and sped away in hopes of making an evening ferry bound for Vancouver Island. I had to be fast just in case his visible form picked Danielle up next and mutilated her.

For those that don't watch the crime shows or operate missing persons websites...

If the invisible lurker on the Yellowhead Highway did pick her up next, then she could start to decompose that Wednesday in a drainpipe. Eventually, someone would stop to take a leak there and spot her remains. After the public urinator’s interrogation, there would be pencil-behind-the-ear half-scientists later on who would try to determine the time of her death. The smarty-pants people would already have looked into who saw her last. One of these self-professed geniuses would raise his or her pointer finger into the air and say "Aha!" when he or she viewed Danielle's falsely incriminating social media posts.

"Why on Earth," he or she would say to another with quizzical eyebrows, "I say to you good fellow 'Why on Earth!' would the decedent -- as the last thing she ever did online -- have been so determined to post this man's license plate for all her friends and family to see?"

And then when the photos made the news the man from the gas station would re-enter my life...

"Oh yes! I saw her in Valemount with that creep! I'll say this about her for sure: she was behaving really oddly! I'll testify to that if you want!"

But -- and this was key -- if I got to the ferry quickly, then the time-stamped ferry receipt could prove exculpatory. There was a chance that the receipt could establish that I couldn't have been at the scene of the carrion feast at a time relevant to the investigation.

Some would hate me anyway but I knew there were some people with power that at least partly cared about justice. With such a person in mind, I contentedly risked a high fine to get that receipt stamped as quickly as possible.

"NO HITCH-HIKING PICKUP IS ILLEGAL," the roadside signs often said en route.

That seemed to give the police the authority to search the cars of Good Samaritans and serial killers alike. I left small pieces of my concern for the well-being of hitchhikers beside those signs until my concern for others was all gone.

"You shouldn't help anyone anymore," a very quiet and resigned voice said.

I figured that since it could be difficult, at times, to differentiate between someone who was trying to help another person and someone who was the scum of humanity, that I shouldn't be either. Whether this conclusion came from a voice of reason or from a whispering devil on my shoulder -- one that was placed" there by the man I invited into my life when I stopped to pick Danielle up -- remains a valid question.

Recommended Reading on the Topic of Ted Bundy

For a deeper dive into the real-life dangers of hitchhiking, check out this recommended book.

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule is a gripping true crime masterpiece. As a former colleague of Ted Bundy, Rule unveils his chilling double life as a serial killer. With insider insights, she recounts his crimes, trials, and the haunting realization of his true nature. A must-read!

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Abigail Patrice Andrews -- Missing From Fort St. John Since April 2010

Author: Shane Lambert
Original Time of Writing: January 10th, 2021
All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

Missing person: Abigail Patrice Andrews
Last-seen date: Evening-time on April 7th, 2010 (Wednesday)
Last-seen location: She was last seen in Fort St. John's walking from her apartment on 99th avenue toward a friend's house on 98th avenue; she used 94th street
Link to Government Source: Canada's Missing 2013000114
Ethnicity/Race: White looking but was Metis (mixed aboriginal and white)
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 28 years old (b. 1982)    
Hair: Brown/dark brown, shoulder-length/long
Eye color: Hazel
Height and weight at the time of disappearance: 6'0" and 201 lbs
Personal effects: Pink blackberry cellular, GUESS brand purse that was leather and purple/lavender/mauve

Other: she was about three months pregnant at the time of her disappearance but not yet showing

Tattoo: Lower Back, Tribal Art

Foreign Object: Chest, Surgical implants (serial numbers available)

Deformity: Right Index Finger, Previously broken and healed in a deformed position

Teeth: Good, used a dental-pallet retainer

Bank card: not used since the time of her disappearance

Facebook group: Abigail Andrews missing person's Facebook group

Abigail Patrice Andrews went missing on April 7th, 2010 in Fort St. John, a small city in central BC but closer to the Alberta side of the province. Her brother received text messages on the night of her disappearance but those that knew her did not think that the messages came from her. There's a suggestion in this case, that someone was in control of her telephone and sent out communications in order to befuddle the facts of her disappearance.

In journalism that is very early for this missing person's case, Abigail Patrice Andrews is considered dead. Her family reported her missing to the police on April 9th. In the snipping below, the "Andrews" that is cited is her father. Mr. Andrews also said that the people she associated with lead to her downfall. The two places she worked, according to her profile at Canada's Missing, were FSJ Fashions and The Frontier Bar and Grill. Mr. Andrews did not seem to think that the latter was a healthy environment.

Wed, Apr 14, 2010 – 11 · The Province (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) · Newspapers.com

The RCMP searched the landfill for her remains, according to an April 15th, 2010 article in The Province. They did not name a suspect at that time but the father, in particular, seemed to think there was only one. In news from 2013, I did find that the RCMP had a suspect but he was not named.

Thu, Apr 15, 2010 – 16 · The Province (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) · Newspapers.com

A re-enactment was performed in 2013. It doesn't show much except an actress walking on the street. However, it provides a backdrop for the discussion of the case with family members and RCMP making statements in the Youtube video.

Shelly Dene -- Last Seen in Edmonton in August 2013

Author: Shane Lambert
Original Time of Writing: January 6th, 2021
All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

Shelly Dene. Appears to be a selfie of her last Facebook post from May 17th, 2013.

Missing person: Shelly Tanis (might be Tannis) Dene

Last-seen date: August 2013; one report said July 2013
Last-seen location: Edmonton, Alberta, I think at her grandmother's house near 114th street and 102nd avenue

Last-communication: I think it was August 28th, 2013 via text message to her sister.
Link to Government Source: Case 2014006306
Ethnicity/Race: Aboriginal (of the Fort McKay First Nation)

Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women: Click the tag "missing and murdered aboriginal women" to see all the relevant cases at this website
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 25 years old
Hair: Brown
Eye color: Brown
Height and weight at the time of disappearance: 5'7" and 110 pounds
Scar: right cheek according to Canada's Missing; however, in a Youtube video I watched the scar(s) may have been on the left side of her face; they are from a dog bite.

Shelly Dene was last seen in August of 2013. However, she was not reported missing until November 8th of that year. This is a case involving a lot of activism on the parts of some of those who knew her. In fact, I lived in Edmonton from 2014 to 2015 and I remember seeing her missing-person posters around the downtown area. 

She had only moved to Edmonton in January of 2013 (one source said June) with a previous residency in Kelowna. At other times in her life, she lived in Fort McMurray, Fort McKay, and Vernon.

In the months or weeks prior to her last communication, she had learned that she would not be getting custody of her child back. Reportedly, this wasn't good for her emotional well-being. In the following excerpt from an Edmonton Journal article, "Candice" refers to Shelly's sister and "Yvonne" refers to Shelly's mother. In what I believe is Shelly's last-known communication, she indicated that she was going to the Yukon.

Mon, May 11, 2015 – 4 · Edmonton Journal (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) · Newspapers.com

The balance of the picture I got when reading about this case was that Shelly may have been heading to the Yukon in a red truck with a man who was of First Nations descent.

Wed, Aug 27, 2014 – 2 · Whitehorse Daily Star (Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada) · Newspapers.com

          

Someone traveling from Edmonton to the Yukon using the highway would likely head west on the Yellowhead Highway. After that, there are two ways to go: one through White Court and Grand Prairie or one through Grand Cache and Grand Prairie. That she may have been traveling with a man with a vehicle seems to reduce the chances of her using hitchhiking. 

Yet, all leads, in this case, appear to be tenuous. If you read the journalism in an effort to get an inkling of what happened to Shelly, at some points you think suicide because she had a history of substance use. Furthermore, she seemed to be, at least, upset or disappointed at the time of her disappearance over not having custody of her child. Yet, that she may have been motivated to have custody of him or her speaks to a reason to live.

There is a text message that Shelly sent her sister before she disappeared (August 28th, 2013). This is one that answered in the negative when Candice asked if Shelly was okay. That negative response is really hard to ignore. I also read that Shelly's cell phone went out of service in November. I'm wondering what that means exactly in terms of her activity with the phone.

Another circumstance, in this case, is just who exactly was the man she was seen with -- the man with the red truck. I'm sure he is someone that the police would want to question. Shelly's case has received some news exposure. I've wondered if the man has confronted any coverage of her disappearance and, if so, why he hasn't come forward.

Did they go to the Yukon together? Is he missing too? The person that saw him says he was wearing beige clothes and she wondered if he might have been a Truck Driver by profession. Was the red truck actually a rig?

A break, in this case, would be if someone ever came across a missing person's report involving an aboriginal man in western Canada who was last known to be driving a red truck before he disappeared in 2013. Sometimes, when people use the highway they go off the highway. If Shelly disappeared with the man she was last seen with then his case file might generate a lead. Keep an aboriginal male with a red truck in mind if you are among those that peruse through missing people reports.

But, to be honest, there is not much to go on for Shelly. The search area is immense as the trip from Edmonton to Whitehorse is 22 hours or so. At present, I would have to say that the chances of an amateur or websleuth providing a useful lead in this case is low.

Carbon, Alberta Jane Doe: Unidentified Remains Mystery and a Bizarre Case (1995)

Author: Shane Lambert
Original Time of Writing: January 4th, 2021

Updated: August 23rd, 2025

January 10th, 2025: A websleuth (kara1218)  recently attempted to match this Jane Doe to a missing person named Julie Ann Derouin.

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

Unidentified Jane Doe in Carbon, Alberta

Who: Jane Doe found roadside near Carbon, Alberta, Canada

When: Discovered on April 20th, 1995 or April 21st, 1995

Post-mortem period: Thought to be dead for 10 to 15 years, meaning missing people last seen in April 1980 to April 1985 are all in play. However, missing people outside of this range cannot be ruled out based only on the post-mortem period's estimation.

Case Profile: Service Canada Reference #2016069642

Ethnicity/Race: Uncertain. Appears aboriginal by the construction; could be other ethnicities for sure but does not look Caucasian. One source says she may have been of north African descent but that dark skin color does not come through in the bust above. Mixed background possible.

Sex: Female

Age at time of death: 22 to 35 years old, estimated. Broadened range 20 to 40.
Height: 5'0" to 5'4" (combined range from Service Canada and the Youtube video below which is of a press conference that was held, in part, for this Jane Doe)

Other: she had suffered from a disease called brucellosis

Case Details and Indigenous Connection

This is a case that doesn't have a lengthy profile with Canada's National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains. However, the Youtube video posted above will help deliver some case details.

I thought, at first glance, that this individual was one of the missing aboriginal women of Canada, a group that some think doesn't get a lot of police attention. However, I'm not sure this Jane Doe is actually in any missing person's database. Part of me wonders if no one at all is looking for her.

Be warned, this isn't an article for the weak-stomached. I don't apologize. If you are seeking out articles on missing people or Jane Does then you have to be ready for some topics that aren't exactly those for the pleasure reader.

I think she is aboriginal but my basis for designating her as such is tenuous. Firstly, she was found in the Albertan plains and that area has plenty of aboriginals. Secondly, she looks aboriginal to me in the police recreation but she could be of other groups. I've wondered if Indian reserves of Alberta might be alerted to this case. However, I really have low confidence that this person will be identified. I don't think there's a soul out there that is looking for her.

Websleuths or amateurs looking at this case should know that Carbon, Alberta is tiny. It's a village northeast of Calgary by about an hour. If she was from Carbon then she would have been identified, I think. Her roadside location sounds like a body dump to me and a person doing that would be looking for somewhere far away from where people knew her, I think.

Media Coverage and Grave Site Mystery

It was hard to find news that covered this Jane Doe. However, I believe that the following article from the April 25th, 1995 Calgary Herald might pertain to her. There is a statement in this news article that brings bizarreness into play.

Tue, Apr 25, 1995 – 25 · Calgary Herald (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) · Newspapers.com

Note, that the "last Thursday" that is referenced in the article would actually be April 20th, 1995 as opposed to April 21st, 1995 (the date that Service Canada reports as the date that the Jane Doe was found). Furthermore, the age range in the news article is different.

Both inconsistencies can be explained: dates are often a tad off in reporting and age ranges that are based on estimates can change over time. The reason I think that the reporting pertains to the Jane Doe pictured at the start of this article is just that Carbon, Alberta is puny. I don't think two Jane Does pop up in consecutive days but it's possible.

The news article says something that's very unique when it comes to Jane Does. According to the news article, this Jane Doe "may have been removed from a grave site."

What does that make you think? The RCMP might have been able to study the body and conjectured that it had been serviced by a mortician? That's what I think when I read that. Maybe there was a presence of embalming fluid. However, maybe they had different reasons for believing that she was previously buried. A lot more information is needed about the grave site that this person came from. 

Was it a marked grave?

Was it a clandestine grave?

If it was the latter, then it's hard to think of a way to generate leads. It's also perplexing: why would someone unearth an individual in a clandestine grave and leave her on the side of the highway? If her grave was of a clandestine nature, then one would conjecture that the grave site was a better hiding spot than on the side of the road. However, the article also said that foul play was ruled out. That suggests that her original resting place was not clandestine in nature.

Timeline and Identification Challenges

If it was the former (ie. she was in a marked grave), then leads are possible. The timeline with this Jane Doe could be as follows: 

• a death between April 1980 and April 1985
• a burial in a gravesite assumingly near her time of death
• removal from the gravesite at some point
• then she ends up roadside near Carbon, Alberta
• discovered there on April 20th or April 21st, 1995 after laying dead outdoors for maybe 10 to 15 years

If all that is true then this Jane Doe case isn't going to be solved through any conventional means. Conventionally, when an amateur or websleuth is working on a Jane Doe's case, that person would cross reference the Jane Doe against missing person's reports.

That's worked in the past for many cases but if this particular Jane Doe died and was buried in a marked grave, then maybe she wasn't missing at the time of her death. Maybe the family and friends had a funeral for her and had a sense of closure. If that's true then it brings the following into consideration: maybe nobody that encounters this Jane Doe's profile, that actually knew her in life, will ever think to connect her to the person that she/he knew. This truly is a problematic Jane Doe when one considers that she was unearthed from a grave.

In this peculiar case, identifying the Jane Doe might involve looking for an empty grave in the region, one that belongs to a woman who died between the ages of 20 and 40, one who matched the height range, and someone who died between 1980 and 1985. I'm not sure how a Websleuth or amateur investigator goes about checking graves for empty coffins without stepping on a whole bunch of toes. But I do have ideas as to why someone would dig up human remains from a grave.

One understandable reason is exhumation for a legal reason, a historical one, or a scientific one. However, exhumation is not a good explanation in this case so long as you accept the following. Someone in charge of exhuming a body would be someone responsible enough to put it where it belonged afterward. The authorities, if they exhumed this person, wouldn't discard her remains on the side of a highway.

Another reason someone would dig up human remains borders on the bizarre and the grotesque: necrophilia. If you find it difficult to accept that someone would dig up a body for that purpose, then the definitive answer is that such acts are known to have happened before.

Wed, Sep 6, 2006 – 1 · Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wisconsin) · Newspapers.com

Furthermore, another reason why someone would take a body from a grave for clandestine purposes is to fake a death. That's believed to have happened before as well.

Wed, Sep 30, 1981 – 69 · Red Deer Advocate (Red Deer, Alberta, Canada) · Newspapers.com

I think another reason someone might dig up a body from a marked grave is one that's less sinister in nature: extreme mourning. Somebody who is psychologically changed due to someone's death might have an insane episode and seek out the remains. I didn't find any historical news article about that but, I think, it can happen. Read the poem "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allen Poe. It tells a tale of a man who sought out his wife's tomb for comfort.

I really don't see this case as probable to be solved due to a lead from a missing relative. Firstly, there's hardly any news coverage that I could find. Secondly, there is barely anything in her profile. Lastly, I don't think there is anyone looking for her. If her grave was a marked one then the people that knew this Jane Doe might have buried her according to their customs and they might already have closure -- for decades. They might not know at all that she was removed.

The only point to take away is that if you ever come across any news from Alberta about an empty grave then think of this Jane Doe and cross-reference her particulars with that of the relevant grave marker or obituary.

Brucellosis Outbreak in Alberta

In the YouTube video, Staff Sergeant Jason Zazulak of the RCMP made the following statement: 

"She may be or appeared to have been of north African ancestry or possibly of indigenous or mixed ancestry. She was approximately 5-foot to 5-foot-three inches in height...She had suffered from a disease called brucellosis and repetitive fever. Brucellosis is not a disease commonly found in Canada and may suggest that this person was born abroad."

I do not think that this person was born abroad.

Alberta’s 1980s Brucellosis Context

It's important to note that brucellosis might not be a common disease in Canada in modern times. However, the Jane Doe in question is believed to have died in the early 1980s and her remains were found in Alberta. It's important to note, I think, that there was a brucellosis outbreak in Alberta in the 1980s. The balance of my research on this outbreak makes me think that this individual was an Albertan and that she had some kind of exposure to a farm or farm products.

Lethbridge Outbreak and Potential Leads

The second snipped article below is interesting. It says that there was an outbreak that affected people in Lethbridge in 1980. Note, that you didn't have to work on a farm to get brucellosis. It seems like any work related to cattle could expose you to the disease. It's also interesting that this outbreak is within the range of the Jane Doe's estimated death.

Wed, May 14, 1980 – 54 · Calgary Herald (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) · Newspapers.com

Sat, Jan 12, 1980 – 42 · Calgary Herald (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) · Newspapers.com

The second snipped article above is interesting. It says that there was an outbreak that affected people in Lethbridge in 1980. Lethbridge is not particularly close to where the Jane Doe was found, however, nor can it be considered out of range for someone who owned a vehicle. According to Google Maps, a drive from Lethbridge to where the body was dumped in Carbon would be just under three hours.

The six employees in the news article might know something about who this person is. They had the disease she had and they may have transmitted it to people they knew. Furthermore, it's not impossible that the Jane Doe was one of the six employees, yet, that would seem like a fluke if it was so.

Note, that you didn't have to work on a farm to get brucellosis. It seems like any work related to cattle could expose you to the disease. It's also interesting that this outbreak is within the range of the Jane Doe's estimated death.

Alberta’s Agricultural Link to Brucellosis

Farms in Alberta are very common. You will find them across a huge range of the province and the province itself is enormous. The only place in Alberta where you won't find many farms would be in the mountain parks on the province's western border.

Accordingly, that she might have worked or lived near cattle or their products isn't necessarily going to be a case-breaker. However, I would reject the opinion that she was of foreign originations based on her exposure to a disease that's not common in Canada. At the time when she lived and in the province where her remains were found, brucellosis was part of life.

Cemeteries Near Carbon, Alberta

• Carbon Cemetery