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Jean Virginia (Ginny) Sampare went missing on Thursday October 14, 1971, outside of Gitsegukla, BC. She was last seen by her cousin near the train rail overpass on Highway 16, outside of Gitsegukla. Ginny's cousin went to go get a jacket or a bike from his home and came back and Ginny was gone. This was the last time confirmed publicly that Ginny was in contact with friends or family.

Background
Ginny was born in September of 1953. Ginny's birth location and parent's names are not public knowledge. Ginny was described as a healthy, normal 18-year-old girl. Ginny has five siblings, Anne, Winnie, Sandra, Virginia and Rod. Sandra was younger than Ginny. Two of her older siblings, Rod and Winnie, have talked with the media and have given details surrounding Ginny's background, relationships, employment and circumstances leading up to her disappearance. Ginny was the second youngest of six children. She attended high school in Hazelton, British Columbia. When she was older, Ginny worked in a cannery, and as a caretaker for her siblings. Ginny lived with her parents in Gitsegukla. Rod described their parents as very strict. Ginny and her siblings weren't allowed to go and play after 9 and their parents made them do a lot of work. Ginny's parents always taught their children that suicide was never the answer to any problems that may arise. Ginny's parents also were known to keep a close eye on their children. Ginny was planning to move to Terrace with her brother Rod, later in the month that she went missing. Ginny worked at the Royal Packing Company salmon canning plant in Claxton.

Birthdate/location

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Personality
Growing up, Ginny was described as a shy quiet child who sang teasing songs to her siblings. Ginny loved to play "nurse" with her siblings and would take turns with Winnie being the nurse. Ginny would often let someone know of her plans, and it is out of character for her to leave unannounced. Ginny volunteered as a caretaker for her siblings, protecting them when their father drank too much. Rod described Ginny as quiet and "strong, very strong." And that she had a promising future as a "fair-headed" girl. Rod explained in an inquiry that Ginny was careful and didn't partake in any high-risk activities.

MBTI

INTJ

Relationship status
Ginny was single at the time of her disappearance. Ginny's boyfriend had gone missing recently before she disappeared. Both she and her boyfriend worked at the Royal Packing Company salmon canning plant in Claxton. This was the same place where her boyfriend had disappeared. His remains were found after Ginny disappeared. He drowned in the Skeena River.

Identifying characteristics
Ginny was an 18-year-old First Nations woman of Gitxsan descent. She had dark hair and eyes.

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Personal items at time of disappearance
There is no public record regarding the items which Ginny had taken with her when she went missing.

Disappearance
The night of the disappearance, Rod's wife, Violet, testified that she saw Ginny at Ginny's mother's house. Violet said that Ginny's mother came home and went into the kitchen and soon after Ginny came out of the kitchen and it looked like she was crying. Ginny was avoiding eye contact with Violet. Asking what was wrong, Violet said that Ginny just went straight to the door, opened the door and walked out. Violet tried to call Ginny and ask where she was going. Violet tried to get Ginny, but her mother-in-law stopped Violet from going to get Ginny, saying that "She'll come back". Violet said that this was between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm.

Alvin "Hyrams" (Hyzims?), Ginny's cousin, was reported to be the last person publicly known to have seen Ginny. He was walking with Ginny along side Highway 16 when he either wanted to go get a jacket or a bike and come back to join Ginny in walking the highway. Alvin believed at the time that Ginny was going to the store which was close to the railroad overpass outside of town. Alvin's house was close by where he parted from Ginny, just south of the highway. Violet reported that Alvin came back to the highway, heard a vehicle door close but Ginny was nowhere to be seen.

After Ginny didn't return home the night of October 14, 1971, Ginny's mother reported her missing on the next morning. Ginny's mother reported the disappearance to the band office in Gitsegukla. Someone at the band office mistakenly said that they had to wait a certain amount of time before reporting the disappearance to the RCMP. Even after waiting and rather than reporting it, the band office sent someone to South Hazelton and Kitimaat to see if she was with her sisters, Winnie or Anna, respectively; she wasn't with her sisters. After talking with Ginny's friends, some of them in Kispiox, they went to the RCMP.

Investigation
Two days after, on October 16, the RCMP took a missing person's report from Ginny's mom. The RCMP checked with with Anna, Winnie, Ginny's friends and family and confirmed that no one had made contact with her since she was last seen by Alvin. The police never found any leads or further information that was ever released to the public.

The RCMP reported to Rod that the case was closed in 1985, citing a report from the Gitsegukla band Chief Councillor in 1971 that Ginny had drowned; an assertion for which there was no conclusive evidence. The case was subsequently re-opened after the family complained.

The RCMP also took DNA from Ginny's siblings around 2006. The family believed that this was in response to the Robert Pickton investigation. Nothing was reported publicly as to whether this produced any further leads in the case.

Although at one point Rod claimed that he got to see part of the RCMP file on Ginny, the part indicating that a man named Kenny Russell saw her footprints next to the river and the presumption was that she went in. Rod asked for a copy of the complete file but was refused.

Search effort
For eight days after she went missing, police and community members searched for her. The village initiated the search and the RCMP joined in later with a police dog from Peace River and officers from other towns. A base of operations for the search was setup, where searchers were coordinated and fed by volunteers. The search stopped when an early snow fell. Ginny's parents started up the search again soon after the snow; the police followed suit.

Both bush and bank along the Skeena and its tributaries in the area were searched from Kitselas Canyon, downstream of Gitsegukla, to points upstream of Gitsegukla.

The family also did some spot-searches around major cities such as Vancouver and Toronto, usually after receiving a tip.

Nothing worth noting publicly was found in these searches.

Awareness effort
Both Winnie and Rod Sampare have talked to the media in regards to their sister's disappearance and spoke at in inquiry to Missing and murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in September, 2017. There were also a few newspaper articles referencing her disappearance and search effort in 1971. Other than this, there is no public record of missing posters or any other media that went out surrounding Ginny's disappearance.

Theories
It is not publicly known what happened to Virginia "Ginny" Sampare. Her band at one time had tried to list her as being deceased, however, after some push back from Ginny's mom, changed her status back to missing.

Accident or suicide
Rod said that a man named Kenny Russell had found some footprints found near Gitsegukla river, with the implication being that Ginny fell into the river. This theory has been dispelled by Ginny's family because there was no evidence that the footprints were Ginny's or that they have ever been confirmed as footprints, considering the shoreline where they were found is mainly stone. Although Ginny may have been under stress from the disappearance of her boyfriend and the altercation with her mother, there is no public knowledge of a suicide note or any indication that Ginny was suicidal.

Runaway
There is no public record of Ginny ever running away before her disappearance. In fact, her sister Winnie stated publicly that Ginny didn't partake in high risk activities. Although she may have been under stress, it was not in her nature to break contact with her relations so abruptly and for such a prolonged period of time.

Foul play
Neither Ginny's family nor the RCMP have ruled out foul play in her disappearance; they haven't proven foul play either. With no strong evidence that she ran away or had a misadventure, foul play is the most likely conclusion.

Friends or associates
There is no public record that either Ginny's friends or associates had any reason to harm her.

Stranger
There is no public record that Ginny met a stranger who caused her disappearance.

Highway of Tears
Ginny Sampare went missing just one year, almost to the day, after Helen Claire Frost, who disappeared on Tuesday, October 13, 1970. And three years before Monica Ignas, on Friday, December 13, 1974. Frost disappeared from Prince George, British Columbia and Ignas from Thornhill, British Columbia. All three cases would form some of the first in a series of murders and disappearances upon what would later be called the Highway of Tears.