A close friend of mine recently made a comment to me about a mutual close friend that I haven't been able to shake for weeks.
We were talking about the two most recent women to have gone missing in Prince George - Cynthia Maas and Natasha Montgomery. This was before a body was found in L.C. Gunn park, and before it was identified as the 35-year-old Maas.
My friend she told me to expect the worst, as this is what usually happens to women living a life surrounding drug addiction and the sex trade.
It's shocking to me that the number of missing women and their lives could be dismissed so easily. Then again, perhaps it's easy to forget a person you've never met, never shared a laugh with, never called a friend.
Even though my friend grew up with Natasha, as did I, she was quick to disregard the severity of the situation.
My worry is that once the public starts to dismiss the value of these women's lives, then what will become the next societal norm?
We grew up in Quesnel together, Natasha being only a year old than I. We played on the same fastpitch team more times than I can count.
I was learning to pitch windmill - something I never became skilled at - when Natasha was my catcher. As my pitching became wild, the balls hitting the backstop allowed more than a couple runs to come flying in from third base.
Natasha called for time, and came to give me a little chat. She had an idea.
The next time a runner landed on third base, she gave me the sign. Purposely, I threw the ball high, but Natasha was at the backstop before the ball even crossed the plate and I was already on my way in to tag the runner coming home.
We got five girls out before the other team caught on to what we were doing.
That's the girl I remember. Not the haggard girl in the picture printed with her missing person's report.
Though we lost touch in high school, I'll never forget her contagious, wide smile that forced you to laugh along with her.
People need to know Natasha was a normal kid growing up, said Natasha's mother, Louanne Montgomery, in an email. Along with playing fastpitch, Natasha spent nine years figure skating, achieving a Junior Bronze medal.
"She came from a good home, and she has lots of people who truly miss and love her. The drugs available in our communities are highly addictive and readily available; it can happen to your loved one," Montgomery said.
"It is a serious problem, you just have to open your eyes. These are our children."
Natasha is from a big family - two younger brothers and a younger sister. She is also a mother of a four-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl.
Her children still don't know she's missing.
Louanne remembers a vacation the whole family went on three years ago to Vancouver Island. On their way home, they stayed at Sasquatch Provincial Park.
"Everyone went swimming while we were there, but the kids were wondering why nobody else was swimming in the lake," said Montgomery.
"Later on while walking around, checking things out, we noticed there was an area that was for swimming that was separated from the lake by sand. So we continued to walk about, and then came across some pictures of sturgeons with like five or six people holding them. The kids were freaking out when they saw that," she said.
"This was the last trip we did as a family. I pray there will be more."
There are 18 missing women associated with the Highway of Tears. This number doesn't include missing women such as Natasha, or unsolved murder cases, such as Deena Braem, a teenage hitch hiker who's body was found near a park in Quesnel a couple months after she went missing.
Each and every victim is somebody's daughter, somebody's sister, somebody's friend - including my friend. These women need to be found, and those responsible for their disappearance brought to justice. A major component of this is public cooperation and support.
If anyone has information in regards to a missing person report, or a murder investigation, contact local RCMP or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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