MAJOR MILESTONES IN THE RCMP’S KARE UNIT:

2003: Project KARE, an RCMP task force, is established in response to the discovery of the remains of nine women in rural areas in the previous 15 years, including five since September 2002. The task force was an expansion of the High-Risk Missing Persons Project formed 11 months earlier.

2004: The task force collects hair samples from sex workers in the Edmonton area to grow the DNA database. The team continues to investigate 79 cases of missing and murdered people. The project includes 32 officers and 11 support staff members.

2005: Project KARE launches a website to provide people with resources and offer a tip line. The team adds several additional investigators to probe cases.

2006: Alberta Justice dedicates a second Crown prosecutor to Project KARE. Prosecutor Clifton Purvis, who was assigned fulltime to the task force more than a year earlier, focuses on the criminal case of Thomas Svekla, charged with murder in the death of Theresa Merrie Innes. Investigators shut down the bulletin board on their website where members of the public were posting information. Officers felt they were too bogged down mediating posts rather than investigating homicides and missing persons.

2007: Project KARE hires a victims services co-ordinator who is expected to set up a family support program.

2008: The team launches a new website as an extension of Project KARE. It includes the last known whereabouts and detailed descriptions of missing people as well as facts about unidentified remains. The registry, which includes information and DNA for about 500 sex workers, aims to expand across northern Alberta to include more high-risk individuals.

2011: Mounties announce they paid out money from the reward fund offered by Project KARE. Police had announced a $100,000 reward in June 2005 for information leading to an arrest before Thomas Svekla was convicted.

2015: The Project KARE database expands to more than 1,400 names.

2017: The KARE Proactive team aims to expand its mandate to help at-risk individuals across the province. If you have information about someone who is missing, the RCMP asks you to contact your local police or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).