Two years pass and no word on woman missing from Hinton

There are more questions than answers when it comes to the story of Stephanie Stewart.

The 70-year-old fire tower lookout disappeared from her Hinton-area post nearly two years ago. She was reported missing the morning of Aug. 26, 2006, when she failed to check in as part of her duties. 

Stewart had been an observer for 18 years. She disappeared from the Athabasca Lookout Tower, 25 km northwest of Hinton, where she had been posted for more than a decade.

Based on evidence in Stewart’s home at the tower, the case is being investigated as a homicide, said Cst. Craig Albers for Alberta RCMP media relations. Police reported that bedding was missing from Stewart’s residence, including two pillows, a bedsheet and a duvet cover, as well as a gold watch.

The reports were added to later, to include the information that a pot of water was found boiling on the stove. “It sounds like a big mystery in a sense, that she just went missing,” Albers said. “It was out of character, it wasn’t like her, from what I heard.”

Missing person posters went up around Jasper over the summer. “The posters are just an effort to remind people now that camping season’s here that people out and about in the park, this is where she was living,” Albers said. “Anything that maybe sparks somebody’s mind... somebody out there knows something.”

The question of who this woman was is almost as interesting as what happened to her.

According to the RCMP, family and friends remember Stewart as vibrant and dedicated to her work, though these people refuse to identify themselves or speak out regarding Stewart or the case.

At the end of the search, which lasted several days, Stewart’s daughter attended a press conference at the RCMP K Division headquarters in Edmonton. The woman, who only called herself Lorie, made a plea for public assistance and described her mother as a “strong individual.”

The RCMP asked the media not to contact the family.

A Canmore woman who garnered some attention by raising funds to support the search, told the Fitzhugh she didn’t want to talk about Stewart without contacting the family, which she said she would do. 

“I would want to check with them first because they are very particular and they have all their own particular reasons about whether they want attention drawn and they may or may not,” she said. “They like to have their privacy respected.”

She said she could understand why the family wouldn’t want to come forward because she has been contacted repeatedly and she’s merely a friend.

“It’s not a secrecy thing, it’s not wanting to be confronted with it all the time and having people call them because that’s exactly what happens,” she said. “I personally have had people contact me, every newspaper, asking for information.”

Further calls to the woman went unanswered.

Stewart’s employer is equally as tight-lipped. Duncan MacDonnell, public affairs officer for Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, the department in charge of the fire towers, refused to answer any questions about Stephanie or the case. 

“We don’t want to get in the way of whatever the police are doing, so we’re being very careful about the whole thing,” MacDonnell said.

Albers said the family has regularly been in touch with the investigator, despite the fact they’ve chosen to stay out of the public eye. “I think it’s a very sensitive subject for one and they’re pretty distraught,” he said.

He added the case is still being “actively” investigated. “Nothing new has arisen,” Albers said. “And they’re getting tips, I wouldn’t say regularly but they are getting tips.”

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.