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m Nfox24 moved page Death of Maddy Scott to Death of Madison Scott: Perform requested move, see talk page: to be in keeping with original page name, Disappearance of Madison Scott. Maddy was just a nickname; her proper name was Madison.
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Revision as of 20:44, 1 June 2023

Maddy Scott
Photo of missing person Scott
Born(1991-04-29)29 April 1991
Disappeared28 May 2011 (aged 20)
Vanderhoof, British Columbia, Canada
Body discoveredVanderhoof, British Columbia, Canada
OccupationApprentice heavy duty mechanic
EmployerMBG Logging
Height5 ft 4 in (163 cm)

Madison Geraldine Scott was a Canadian missing person who disappeared on 28 May 2011, after a birthday party she attended at Hogsback Lake, 25 kilometers southeast of Vanderhoof, British Columbia. She planned to spend the night camping with a friend, but her friend left during the night without her.[1] Some of the last people to have left three hours later, between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m., reported speaking with Scott and asking if she wanted a ride home. This was the last time anyone reported talking to her.[citation needed]

On 29 May 2023, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) stated that the body of Madison Scott had been identified after being found at a rural property on the east side of Vanderhoof, 12 years and one day after her disappearance.[2]

Background

Maddy Scott was born to Eldon and Dawn Scott on April 29, 1991; she had one younger sibling, Ben, and one older sibling, Georgia. She enjoyed dirt biking, figure skating, horseback riding, team sports and hanging out with her friends.[3] Scott worked as an apprentice heavy duty mechanic with her father at MBG Logging. She was described by her brother as someone who was as comfortable in a dress as she was in work coveralls.[4][3]

Identifying characteristics

At the time of her disappearance, Scott was Caucasian, 20 years old, weighing 160–180 pounds (73–82 kg), with a height of 5 feet 4 inches (163 cm), green eyes, and natural ginger hair color. She had a nose piercing and numerous ear piercings. She had recently gotten a tattoo of a bird meant to represent a falcon on the inside of her left wrist.[5]

Character and personal life

Scott is described as having a vivacious, fun-loving, playful, social personality and would often do things on the spur of the moment.[3] She was also described as being caring, affectionate, and generous. Scott enjoyed performing with and for her friends in fun short amateur video productions. She was reported to have been mostly focused on social endeavours at school rather than academics, although she managed to meet the academic demands of her school.[3]

Scott was single at the time of her disappearance. She was on a couple of dating sites at the time. There was a man who she had been interested in for some time who was at the Friday night party for a bit; he had told her that "he just wanted to be friends". According to her father, she was a bit upset about that but not drastically. It is not known whether there was any further investigation into the man who Scott was interested in. There was another man who was interested in her, but according to her mother, "she wasn't interested in him". According to her, he got a bit "huffy" in private, according to a couple of people, not a public display, and had been investigated. According to Dawn, her daughter's cell phone records indicated that she had an incoming call at 12:30 a.m. on 28 May 2011, the night of the party, "from a young guy who we know".[6][1]

Disappearance

Tattoo Maddy Scott got on her inside left wrist the month before her disappearance.
Tattoo Maddy Scott got on her inside left wrist the month before her disappearance

Vehicle and personal items at time of disappearance

Re-enactment of Maddy's Campsite.
Re-enactment of Maddy Scott's campsite

Scott went to Hogsback Lake in her white 1990 Ford F-150 pickup truck with her friend Jordi Bolduc.[7] There were a number of items which Scott took with her to the lake that remained on, in or around the vehicle after her disappearance. Items found around the truck after her disappearance included a two-person dual-toned blue tent, sleeping bags, toiletries and costume jewelry.[1] Items in the open bed of the truck after her disappearance included a hatchet, a cooler with wine and beer, a gas can with some gasoline and motorbike boots. Items found within her truck, which was locked, included some clothes, her purse and an expensive camera.[1]

Numerous items were known to be missing at the time of her disappearance. These items include the clothes that she was wearing, an iPhone 4 with a robin's-egg blue case, and a large cluster of keys (with Ford key) on a Gothic-style lanyard.[8]

Hogsback Lake party

Hogsback Lake is a lake of about 128 acres in size. It is located 26 km southeast of Vanderhoof.[9] Soil type in the area is mainly glacial till composed of sand, gravel and clay, with a basalt bedrock.[10]

Other than Jordi Bolduc, Scott was friends with few others at the party. Spending most of her life in Vanderhoof, Scott attended Nechako Valley Secondary School, where she met Bolduc in 2007. She was new to the school; she and Scott became friends soon after she arrived, though this friendship dwindled by the time they had graduated in 2009. It was reported that around 50 people attended.[11]

Scott attended the party with her friend Jordi Bolduc on the evening of May 27, 2011, but had retired to her tent and sleeping bag before a fight broke out around midnight and Bolduc, injured and drunk, left with her new boyfriend. According to Bolduc, even though she had tried to convince Scott to leave, Scott was already in her sleeping bag and didn't want to get up, so Bolduc left her there. Bolduc came back to the campsite with her boyfriend at about 8:30 a.m. the next morning to get Bolduc's clothes and sleeping bag before she went on her way to work. Bolduc found Scott's tent unzipped with her sleeping bags and stuff moved to the side. She said that she didn't see Scott and didn't report Scott's absence to anyone.[1][12]

Cell phone records

Scott and her father were texting at 11:30 pm Friday 27 May 2011. And the last activity on her phone was at about 12:30 am on Saturday 28 May 2011, when, according to Dawn, "there was an incoming call from a guy we know". Cell phone records were retrieved by the RCMP, including tower pings, and they "had everything they needed". There was no record of any incoming cell phone activity after this.[1]

Timeline

Approximate timeline following Maddy Scott's movement, from arrival at party to when she was reported missing
Note Start End
Went to Hogsback Lake with Jordi Bolduc. Gathered some firewood.[3] 20:00, 27 May 2011 20:30, 27 May 2011
Realizing that she got the wrong sized tent and no tent poles, Scott went back to her house to pick up a larger tent and poles. She talked briefly with Dawn.[3] 20:30, 27 May 2011 21:30, 27 May 2011
Scott arrives back at Hogsback. Sets up tent and settles in for night.[3] 21:30, 27 May 2011 22:00, 27 May 2011
Scott spends the night in her tent while people arrive to the party and the party continues outside.[1] 22:00, 27 May 2011 23:30, 27 May 2011
Scott has text conversation with her mother. According to witnesses, Scott still in tent.[1] 23:00, 27 May 2011 00:30, 28 May 2011
Scott receives incoming call. According to Dawn, the call was from "a young guy who we know".[1] 00:30, 28 May 2011 00:30, 28 May 2011
Scott still in tent when Bolduc asks Scott to leave with her and Bolduc's boyfriend. Scott refused to leave with them. Scott stayed in her tent.[3][11] 00:30, 28 May 2011 01:40, 28 May 2011
Scott still in tent when some people from the party asked if she wanted to leave with them. People left in groups. Scott stayed in her tent.[1][3] 01:40, 28 May 2011 03:00, 28 May 2011
Scott goes missing.[1] 03:00, 28 May 2011 08:30, 28 May 2011
Bolduc came back to Hogsback to pick up her sleeping bag and clothes, discovered Scott's tent unzipped and her sleeping bag pushed to the side. Bolduc didn't see Scott.[3] 08:30, 28 May 2011 08:30, 28 May 2011
The party host reported that he saw Scott's tent when he went to clean up after the party, as was his custom. He saw that her tent was zipped up but he didn't check it out as he thought that she was sleeping.[1] 10:30, 28 May 2011 10:30, 28 May 2011
A larger party happens on Saturday night. This party had approximately 150 people in attendance.[13] 28 May 2011 29 May 2011
Scott was reported missing to the RCMP shortly after noon on Sunday.

Her parents, understanding her independence but concerned that they hadn't heard from her in almost two days, went to go check on her and found her collapsed tent and locked pickup truck abandoned.

They asked a friend who was camping nearby whether they saw Scott or not and they hadn't. Dawn called the RCMP soon after arriving at Hogsback and reported the disappearance.[3][1]

12:30 29 May 2011 12:30 29 May 2011

Second party

A second party occurred in the evening of Saturday 28 May 2011 that was over twice the size of the party where Scott disappeared. Scott's sister was at the second party but didn't see Scott there and didn't want to report that she was at the party because she was underage and didn't want to get in trouble. Scott's tent was flattened at the second party and the person who flattened it was identified and questioned by the RCMP, and nothing was reported to the public in regards to suspicious motives.[1]

Investigation

The investigation following the Maddy Scott disappearance had used more investigative tools than any other case in British Columbia history.[1] Police stated that they had interviewed all the party goers who were at the party the night of 27 May 2011, and reported that they had no reason to believe that anyone at the party was responsible for her disappearance. The police also reported that everyone was co-operative with taking polygraph tests.[3] Most of the people at the party with 150 people on Saturday night also took the polygraph tests.[citation needed] Jordi Bolduc reported that she took the test numerous times and that at least one of those times, she said that they told her "she aced it."[11] One thing of note about polygraph tests is that in Canada the results of polygraph tests are not actually admissible as evidence in criminal court, so it leaves the question as to what the RCMP actually used the polygraphs for. It is possible that the tests were used to put pressure on the subjects being questioned, so as to elicit a confession.[14]

The police collected and examined all of Scott's belongings from the campsite, including her truck, tent, sleeping bag and pillow. The police also collected Bolduc's sleeping bag, pillow and pillow case, though Bolduc had collected them on the Saturday morning after the party. Bolduc had washed her pillow case but not her sleeping bag. The police found blood in Bolduc's sleeping bag which was determined to be from Bolduc's ankle. She was questioned about this blood and she was cleared after reporting that it came from when she was on a school trip years before.[1]

The Scott family also hired a private investigator who did their own interview with Jordi Bolduc. They reported back to the Scotts that Bolduc kept asking to have her "favorite pillow" back.[1]

Sgt Floyd of the RCMP reported "we haven't identified anyone that would have a grudge or had any reason to harm or cause Madison's disappearance".[11] The RCMP reported that there was no sign of a struggle.[4] The RCMP believed that foul play is involved.[15]

Search effort

The area around Hogsback Lake has been searched extensively, including the lake, creeks, fields, swamps and forests surrounding the lake. Hogsback Lake is a lake of about 128 acres in size and 22 feet at its deepest, with clear water (10+ feet visibility). The area has been searched by foot, quad, horseback, helicopter using a forward-looking infrared camera, divers, cadaver-dogs, boat, car and truck. There was a particularly extensive search effort in the initial days of the disappearance, with search crews walking in extended lines, hand-in-hand, checking in at 10 pm, cadaver-dogs searching and dive teams scouring the lake.[1] The helicopter search included the use of forward-looking infrared in the early morning hours, as the ground was cool and body heat would stand out. The helicopter search covered an area east to west between Isle Pierre and Fraser Lake, and north to south between Fort St. James and south of Sinkut Mountain (Finger Lake/Paddock Lake), totaling an area of approximately 2788.16 km2 (50 km x 71 km ellipse). The boat search included the use of side-scanning sonar.[3]

Awareness effort

Bumper sticker, raising awareness for Maddy Scott disappearance.
Bumper sticker for raising awareness for Maddy Scott disappearance

An awareness effort was organized by Maddy Scott's family and friends. Involving the mass distribution of posters, bumper stickers, pens and signs, the awareness campaign sought to distribute information about who Scott was, the fact that she went missing, and whom to contact for those who could provide any information. A reward of $100,000 was advertised for anyone sharing information leading to the arrest of whoever was responsible.[citation needed] The family and friends of Scott had put on a yearly poker ride to raise awareness, which was a flagship event in the effort to keep awareness fresh in the public mind.[12] Case coverage in media including an episode of 48 Hours, a documentary film produced by Scottish director Steven F. Scouller, blogs, video blogs and a Crime Stoppers video about her disappearance.[1][3][4][11][8]

Theories

Numerous theories exist as to what happened to Scott. It is considered highly unlikely that she ran away.[3][1] There was no evidence of anything that would cause her to leave the campsite on her own, such as a flat tire.[4] An animal attack theory has been contested because of the lack of signs of a struggle.[1] Rick Beatty from Vanderhoof Search and Rescue said that, like the RCMP, many assisting the search came to the conclusion that she must have left via vehicle because there was no evidence to indicate that she left by foot.[16]

The RCMP believe that foul play is involved in the disappearance of Maddy Scott.[15] The RCMP said that there was no sign of a struggle.[4] Apart from the clothes which she was wearing, the only two items known to be missing with her were her iPhone 4 and a large bundle of keys, including a Ford key, on a Gothic style lanyard.[8]

Friends or associates

Dawn Scott said that there was a man whom Scott was interested in romantically for some time, who was at the party for a while. Dawn said that Scott told her that he wasn't interested and he told Scott that he "just wanted to be friends". Another person investigated was a man interested in Scott but upset in private because she was not interested in him.[1]

Another rumor suggested that Fribjon Bjornson may have been somehow involved in Scott's disappearance. The rumor started after Jordi Bolduc was interviewed on 48 Hours having said that Scott and Bjornson were involved and that he was "bad news." Scott and Bjornson played on the same recreational softball team for a while; however, some effort was made by the police to investigate Bjornson and his potential relation to Scott's disappearance, and police and the victim's families don't believe there are any significant links between the two cases.[17][1][3] Bjornson was murdered in 2012, in Nak'azdli.[18]

Strangers

It has been proposed that someone who did not attend the party may have abducted Scott. Jordi Bolduc reported that some people unknown to her arrived later.[3] Some have theorized that Scott's disappearance is related to the "Highway of Tears" phenomenon of missing and murdered indigenous women along the Highway 16 corridor, but Scott's case is not classed as such by the RCMP because the case does not fit the criteria.[1][19][11]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Lordan, John, Madison Scott's Mother Comments on BrainScratch Searchlight, archived from the original on 2020-02-29, retrieved 2019-01-02
  2. ^ "Remains of Madison Scott found 12 years after mysterious disappearance from party near Vanderhoof, B.C." CBC News. 29 May 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q The Vanishing of Madison Scott, archived from the original on 2019-04-29, retrieved 2018-12-30
  4. ^ a b c d e Friel, Bob (2012-06-13). "The Wilderness Highway Where People Vanish". Outside Online. Archived from the original on 2019-01-05. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  5. ^ Colville, Genieve (6 December 2011). "Posters". Help Find Madison Scott. Archived from the original on 2019-02-19. Retrieved 2019-02-18.
  6. ^ Lordan, John, Madison Scott on BrainScratch Searchlight, archived from the original on 2021-02-02, retrieved 2018-12-30
  7. ^ "Madison Scott disappearance remains unsolved". Prince George Citizen. Archived from the original on 2019-01-05. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  8. ^ a b c "Crime Stoppers: Mysterious disappearance of Madison Scott". Global News. 2017-04-12. Archived from the original on 2019-01-05. Retrieved 2019-01-04.
  9. ^ "Hogsback Lake". Angler's Atlas. Archived from the original on 2019-01-05. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  10. ^ "Government of Canada Publications" (PDF). Government of Canada. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-08-13. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  11. ^ a b c d e f "'48 Hours' explores the mysteries and murders along the Highway of Tears". CBS News. Archived from the original on 2019-01-05. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  12. ^ a b "Help Find Madison Scott". Help Find Madison Scott. Archived from the original on 2019-07-31. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
  13. ^ "Time Line". Help Find Madison Scott. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  14. ^ "What happens when police ask a suspect to participate in a polygraph ("lie detector") test". Robichaud's Criminal Lawyers. 2014-03-19. Archived from the original on 2019-01-05. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  15. ^ a b Brend, Yvette (May 28, 2016). "Still no trace of Madison Scott who vanished near Vanderhoof 5 years ago; RCMP re-ignite case". CBC. Archived from the original on 2018-08-29. Retrieved 2019-01-04.
  16. ^ "Vanderhoof woman still missing". Vanderhoof Omineca Express. 2011-06-06. Archived from the original on 2019-02-07. Retrieved 2019-02-04.
  17. ^ "Northern B.C. homicide witnesses silenced by gang fears". CBC. October 17, 2012. Archived from the original on 2018-07-03. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
  18. ^ Nielsen, Mark (2016-11-18). "Murder victim suffered gruesome death, court hears". Prince George Citizen. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  19. ^ Wearmouth, Dione (2021-01-09). "Nearly decade long case of missing Vanderhoof woman showcased on international podcast". My Prince George Now. Retrieved 2023-06-01.


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