Lethbridge, Alta., city councillor Dar Heatherington made national headlines in 2003 after she claimed she was abducted and sexually assaulted during a business meeting in Montana. Police in Montana and Alberta said Heatherington made up the story and told them she had, in fact, run off to Las Vegas with a married man.
Here is how the story unfolded:
Jan. 26, 2004: Lawyers for Dar Heatherington ask for a two-day adjournment on a charge of public mischief. Heatherington had claimed that she was being stalked while in Lethbridge, Alta., claims police contend were false.
Sept. 8, 2003: Heatherington pleads not guilty to mischief charges.
June 16, 2003: Heatherington holds a news conference in which she claims she was drugged in Great Falls, Mont., taken to Las Vegas and sexually assaulted several times. She says police in Montana tricked her into going back to Great Falls, and a 2½-hour interrogation by police there led her to say that she had made up her story and had had an affair in Las Vegas.
June 10, 2003: Lethbridge police charge Heatherington with mischief, following an eight-month investigation into claims she was being stalked, claims police contend were false.
May 20, 2003: Heatherington pleads not guilty to a charge of lying to police in a deal with the Great Falls, Mont., county attorney. The deal requires Heatherington to pay $100 US in court costs and to seek counselling. Cascade County attorney Brant Light says Heatherington changed her story, first saying she had been abducted, then saying she had travelled to Las Vegas with an Alberta man she met in Great Falls.
May 14, 2003: Heatherington's lawyer asks for the case to be delayed a week. The county attorney in Great Falls, Mont., offers Heatherington a deal that would allow her to plead not guilty.
May 9, 2003: The deputy mayor of Lethbridge, Tom Wickersham, says he's getting calls from citizens who want Heatherington to resign.
May 8, 2003: The county attorney in Great Falls releases information about Heatherington's statements to the police. Lethbridge police Sgt. Jamie Fisher says, "Great Falls police are confident that her information is not credible."
Heatherington's husband, David, speaks to reporters in support of Dar. "She suffered from an untoward event while in Great Falls," he says.
May 7, 2003: David Heatherington charters a plane to Las Vegas to pick up his wife. Las Vegas police say Heatherington said she might have been sexually assaulted and she was too tired to speak to them, but she wanted to press charges.
The Heatheringtons fly to Great Falls, where they are taken to police headquarters. Police interview Dar Heatherington for four hours and later charge her with making a false statement.
May 6, 2003 - 10:39 p.m.: Heatherington is found, distraught and shaken, in the valet area of the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. She tells police she was abducted from Great Falls and possibly drugged and sexually assaulted. Police take her to the hospital. She refuses to be examined by a male doctor, but later allows a female to do the examination.
May 6, 2003: Police use a helicopter to search along the Missouri River in Great Falls, Mont., where Heatherington is believed to have gone cycling.
Police in Great Falls say Heatherington has a history with the Lethbridge police. "They are aware of this individual," says police Lieut. Ron Steffans, adding that police are focusing on whether Heatherington had an accident or deliberately disappeared.
May 5, 2003: Police in Great Falls, Mont., retrace Heatherington's steps, and find her keys and purse outside her rental car, but no blood or other obvious
May 3, 2003: The day Heatherington disappeared.
9 a.m.: Heatherington phones her husband in Lethbridge, telling him she will not be back for their daughter's piano recital that night because of meetings with officials in Great Falls.
10 a.m.: Heatherington phones Great Falls councillor and cancels her meetings.
10 a.m. - noon: Heatherington shops in Great Falls and buys a bicycle for $10 at a pawn shop, telling the shopkeeper she wants to ride along the river paths.
About 2 p.m.: Heatherington's rental car is found in a downtown parking lot.
Heatherington's husband reports her missing that night.
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