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Monica Andrea Cathy Ignas was a fourteen-year-old girl who was reported last seen alive on Friday, December 13, 1974, attempting to get from Terrace, British Columbia to her home in Thornhill, British Columbia. Her remains were discovered over four months later on Sunday, April 6, 1975, near Celgar Forest Service Road. Her case remains unsolved to this day.

Background
Monica was born to Steve Ignas and Catharina Wasylyshyn on February 19, 1960 in Burns Lake, British Columbia. Monica's father passed away at the age of 58 on Saturday, 18 March 1972 in Houston, British Columbia, before the remaining family moved to Thornhill, British Columbia in 1973. A newspaper article from around the time of her death indicated that she came from a family of 13. Monica went to Thornhill Junior High School, but was attending Calendonia Secondary School at the time of her disappearance. One of Monica's sisters, a 25-year-old named Cecilia, died shortly before her father on 24 July 1971, in Vancouver.

Personal items at time of disappearance
At the time of her disappearance, Ignas was wearing silver octagonal wire-rimmed glasses, a black wool sweater, a navy duffel coat with blue wooden buttons, blue jeans and brown wallaby-style boots with wooden soles. Monica's was also wearing blue socks but only one sock was found at the crime scene.

Friends and witnesses
Monica's parents reported that they last saw Monica at 7 am on her way to school in Terrace. It is not public knowledge whether she attended school that day; it's presumed that she did. Monica attended Caledonia Secondary School. What happened after school is not public knowledge, however Monica went out with friends later on that evening. Witnesses reported that Monica visited the Pizza Parlour and Red's Billiard Room in downtown Terrace. Monica was reported last seen by friends at the Terrace Hotel, around the time that the bars were closing, trying to get a ride home. Police believe that she was trying to hitch a ride home when she disappeared. Two witnesses, whose names aren't known publicly, reported seeing a man driving a car with a passenger that looked like a girl the night that Ignas disappeared.

Thornhill geography at the time of Monica's disappearance
It was snowing the night of Monica's disappearance.

Thornhill is about an hour's walking distance, or a 10 minute drive, from where the Terrace Hotel was located in downtown Terrace. Visibility was limited the night that Monica went missing, with a snow storm dropping nearly 5 inches in four hours. Mostly developed on a plane, Thornhill is a community hemmed in by Copper/Thornhill/Layton Mountains on the southeast side and the Skeena river on the north/northwest side. Celgar forest service road, where Monica's body was found, is at the base of Copper Mountain, southeast of Thornhill. British Columbia Highway 16 goes through the north end of Thornhill, and British Columbia Highway 37 through the southwest side of Thornhill. Although it is technically an unincorporated city, separate from Terrace, many consider Thornhill to be a de facto amalgamation of Terrace, due to their proximity. Soil on the Thornhill delta is mainly sand, gravel, clay and alluvium; the mountain bedrock is composed of largely exposed granadiorite, diorite, quartz diarite, granite, quartz monzonite, adamelite, granite and gabbro. Wildlife in Thornhill includes brown bears, black bears, kermodei bears, grizzly, salmon, trout, coyote, wolf, moose, deer, cougars, beavers, mountain goats, bald eagles, raven, robin, osprey, trumpeter swan, canada geese and squirrels. Trees and plants include, spruce, cedar, birch, fruit, cottonwood, alder, pine trees, devil's club, skunk cabbage, moss and lichen.

Copper mountain has an elevation of 3000 feet and rises 2500 feet in less than a kilometer, much of it and the Thornhill delta is undeveloped and covered in heavy forest and Devil's club, making travel along it difficult for search parties. Numerous scavengers and predatory animals live in the area as well, which were known to have scattered Monica's remains.

Disappearance and discovery
Monica was last seen by witnesses near the Terrace Hotel on the night of Friday, 13 December 1974, trying to get a ride home at the time that the bars were closing. She was unable to secure a ride home with friends. Two witnesses, whose names are not publicly known, saw a man driving a car that night with what appeared to be a girl as a passenger.

Discovery
Monica's nude strangled remains were located Sunday April 6, 1975. Her remains were located shortly after a local resident discovered a severed hand alongside Celgar forest service road, near Thornhill, British Columbia. The hand was believed to have been severed by an animal. Monica's remains were located shortly after, near Celgar forest service road.

Investigation
Investigations surrounding Monica's disappearance and death included interviews with over 1500 people and the collection of a considerable amount of evidence including