LOST, LUCKLESS GIRLS.

The article mentions the suspicious deaths of 13 Edmonton prostitutes since 1988, and efforts to help prostitutes get out of the trade. The latest victim, Ellie May Meyer, 33, was the second Edmonton prostitute to turn up dead in less than three weeks. On April 16, an oil field worker stumbled upon the burned body of Charlene Gauld, 20. Both women were well-known to police and had, in fact, registered with Project Kare, an Alberta-wide, RCMP-led task force which is currently investigating 41 deaths and 31 disappearances of people engaged in "high risk" lifestyles such as prostitution and drug use. In the wake of the latest grisly discoveries, Alberta Solicitor General Harvey Cenaiko said, "I'm not going to speculate on whether it's a serial killer, but I would think there's one individual responsible for a number of the murders." Dawn Hodgins, 35, is a special projects coordinator and research assistant for the Prostitution Awareness and Action Foundation of Edmonton (PAAFE), a financially challenged non-profit organization, which runs programs aimed at dealing with the root causes of the sex trade and getting women off the street. JoAnn McCartney looks very much the tough vice-cop she once was. But for the past three years, the retired 27-year veteran of the Edmonton police force has been more of a social worker, running a court diversion program for PAAFE, which tries to help women charged with solicitation to change their lives. McCartney is a one-person referral service, steering her clients toward drug treatment facilities, housing options and employment opportunities.