KAMLOOPS, B.C. – A police sketch artist has dipped a pen into the murky inkwell of the past in hopes of generating leads on a toddler who went missing 55 years ago.
Kamloops RCMP have released an age progression sketch of Edna Bette-Jean Masters, who disappeared in July 1960 while playing at a friend’s house in the Red Lake area north of the city.
She was 21 months old and her family called her Bette-Jean. She would be 57 years old now.
Police reopened the case two years ago during a historic case review and have applied forensic art technology to create a picture of what Masters might look like as an adult.
It was completed using photos of her siblings, parents and snapshots taken of her as a child, said Cpl. Cheryl Bush.
“The artists look at facial bone structures and they complete the sketch,” she said, adding new techniques and processes that may not have existed back then were used, she said.
“That’s why these cases are never closed.”
Bush said it’s “absolutely possible” the woman might be living somewhere without knowing about her past.
She said anyone who may have information or a memory that may be jarred by the photo should call police.
“Don’t write anything off as seeming insignificant.”
Police did not recover any evidence about what might have happened to the little girl. An extensive search by volunteers, officers, an airplane and a police dog was not fruitful.
Masters was wearing a green bonnet with white frill, pink short-sleeved T-shirt, faded pink overalls and sandals. She weighed about 11 kilograms and had curly blond hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion.
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