Into Thin Air – Bette-Jean Masters | Red Lake toddler missing for 65 years

Theresa and Phyllis are two of six siblings, and both were born after Bette’s Jean’s disappearance. Bette-Jean was the second oldest, and was just 21 months old when she went missing. The Masters family was living in Red Lake, west of Kamloops, at the time. On July 3 of 1960, Bette-Jean and her two brothers went with their mother to visit family friends who lived a little more than a kilometre away. The kids played outside in the yard for a little while and eventually came inside.

“My mom asked where Bette was. And they said ‘Oh she should be just behind them’. But she wasn’t,” says Makarewicz, “So when they went out looking for her, they couldn’t find her.

“And not a trace, like nothing,” reiterates Stafford, “She had her doll and a bottle. She always had a doll with her, but they couldn’t find nothing. Like no trace, at all.”

Police were contacted and a full search was launched that night.

“A lot of men looking, from the mills, looking for her. Like they shut the mills down. There were two mills. They said they went systematically and couldn’t find anything,” says Stafford, “Like not even a trace.”

At first, it was thought a cougar or bear had gotten the toddler, or she’d wandered off. But the family says there was no sign of an attack, search dogs turned up nothing, and wildlife in the area that had been caught didn’t show anything that would indicate they’d gotten ahold of the little girl.

“There’s just not enough evidence up there to prove that something took her or ate her or whatever,” notes Makarewicz, “It wasn’t like she was totally outside by herself. They were all out there, they’d just come in and then she was gone. So someone could have been watching and waiting for their moment. And you would have never seen them, because like I say if you’ve gone up there, there’s places you could easily not be seen and be close to where it could happen.”

Other community members had reported seeing a well-dressed, younger couple driving around the area several days prior, and that day, in a Chevrolet car with cat-eye or bat-wing tail lights, and Alberta plates. On July 3, Maurice Masters, their dad, was driving back to Red Lake from Savona, and said he had been nearly run off the road by a car coming down the hill with cat-eye tail lights.

“So he would have gotten back and if that was her in that vehicle, she would have been gone,” says Makarewicz. “And easy to go into the States at that time because there were really no borders and crossings and stuff. So you could definitely just drive into the states with a baby and you know, who would ask you any questions?”

Police haven’t found the car or the couple described by Red Lake residents. For decades, nothing changed in the case. No new credible tips or evidence, and searches had dried up. But in 2013, Bette’s file was revamped by Kamloops RCMP. The Masters siblings say Mounties felt that without evidence to suggest otherwise, there was a possibility Bette-Jean could be alive.

“I think in my heart that somebody took her. That’s why I’ve always thought. That’s what all of us have kind of thought,” reiterates Stafford. “Because there was just no physical evidence of a bear or anything. And then you know, the car up there. That was actual fact. Why was it up there?”

The siblings submitted DNA samples to the police, completed kits with online genealogy companies, and photos of the family were taken to form a rendering of what Bette-Jean might look like as an adult.

“But it was interesting to see from a baby right?” says Makarewicz.

“Because we’d only ever seen these pictures.” adds Stafford, “So to see somebody so much older now. It was kind of a little bit of a surprise. It was kind of a little bit of comfort too you know, to see. But it’s hard, you know. We’ve got a sister out somewhere and we never really got to know her.”

The Masters siblings, and their parents, remain adamant in their belief Bette-Jean was kidnapped. That deep-seeded theory had an impact on their family in the decades to come. It also shaped how the rest of Bette-Jean’s siblings were raised.

“I never really, we didn’t talk about it lots,” says Stafford, “Like I didn’t tell all my friends. So they didn’t really know why my mum and dad were so protective of us.”

For 65 years, the family has lived with the not-knowing, suspicion, and hope that one day they’ll know where Bette-Jean wound up.

“I mean, our ultimate goal is to at least know what happened if the outcome isn’t what we want,” explains Stafford, “It would be nice to have closure. My dad died without closure. And my mom, it would be nice for her to know.”

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To anonymously report a crime or submit a tip in Kamloops, Crime Stoppers can be reached at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the BC Crime Stoppers website.

by Dylana Kneeshaw

Into Thin Air – Bette-Jean Masters | Red Lake toddler missing for 65 years

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