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This article was published 23/2/2015 (2035 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police and RCMP are hoping the public can help shed some new light on a murder investigation dating back 17 years.

Investigators with Project Devote, a joint task force involving the Winnipeg Police Service and the RCMP that focuses on missing and murdered people in Manitoba, told reporters today that they’ve made some headway in the case of Evelyn Stewart, a 25-year-old whose body was found badly beaten in a Point Douglas parking lot on Mar. 20, 1998.

That morning, employees at Gateway Industries, located on Point Douglas Avenue, found her when they arrived at work. Stewart was still alive, but the severity of her injuries was too much for her to overcome, and she died in hospital a short time later.

Police believe that due to the violent nature of the attack, a person (or people) familiar to Stewart may have been involved in the murder. Police believe this wasn’t a random attack, that she was targeted by her killers.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Project Devote’s Winnipeg Police Detective Sergeant Randy Levasseur, left, and RCMP Inspector Dennis McGuffin ask the public to come forward with information on circumstances pertaining to the 1998 murder of Evelyn Stewart.

Stewart was last seen alive at 3 a.m. around the Mount Royal Hotel, a Higgins Avenue hotel just over a kilometre away from where her body was found.

Detective Sergeant Randy Levasseur, the lead investigator, said police decided to take Stewart’s murder to the public after a series of interviews brought forward new information in the case. Levasseur would not elaborate on what the new information entails or how it pertains to a possible arrest down the road.

"We have conducted in excess of well over 130 interviews, as a re-investigation, however we believe there are more people out there that we possibly haven’t spoken to or that we’ve spoken to and are simply showing a reluctance or think they have nothing to add," Levasseur said.

"We ask those people to contact us."

Stewart came to Winnipeg from Vancouver in the early 1990s, looking for an escape from her drug addictions back home. She quickly fell into old patterns, police said, and began to feed her addition by getting involved in the sex trade.

RCMP MANITOBA PROJECT DEVOTE Evelyn Stewart

Stewart was known to frequent Main Street hotels in the Point Douglas area, including the Northern, Sutherland and Mount Royal establishments.

To further inspire people to come forward, members of Project Devote are putting up posters and billboards in the Point Douglas and North End areas of the city. The hope is that the image of Stewart will spark a memory in an individual (or individuals) who may have new information in the 17-year-old case. Winnipeg police have also uploaded a video outlining the investigation on the WPS YouTube channel.

"Our ultimate goal is to bring justice to Evelyn and her family," RCMP Inspector Dennis McGuffin added in a statement.

While police continue to look for suspects, Levasseur feels like the Stewart case is close to finding a resolution, adding that police are "very encouraged" by the latest round of interviews and where the investigation is headed.

Project Devote was formed in 2012 on the recommendation of the Manitoba integrated task force of missing and murdered women to help look into unsolved historical homicides and missing person cases where foul play is suspected against exploited and at-risk persons.

The task force originally examined 84 cases involving women and 112 cases involving men, eventually narrowing the focus down to 27 female cases and one male case.