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Rhona Margaret Duncan
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
File: Disappearance of Rhona Margaret Duncan
Status: UNSOLVED
Contributor: Jim C. A.
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File Number: 104200014
Vancouver, B.C. - Rhona Margaret Duncan had attended a party the night of July 16th, 1976 when she had last been seen.
After leaving her friends to walk home around 2:45 AM, her neighbours woke up to people arguing in the street. After the neighbour yelled back the voices stopped.
Rhona's body was found the next morning in a different neighbour's garage. Murdered.
After conducting DNA and polygraph tests as well as speaking with her friends, family and acquaintances, all of the high profile suspects had been eliminated and the murder remains unsolved in BC.
Thomas Grant Hadwin
Location: West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
File: Disappearance of Thomas Grant Hadwin
Status: UNSOLVED
Contributor: Gilbert H.
File Number: 104200063
Thomas Grant Hadwin (1948 - February 1997) was a Canadian forest engineer. In January 1997, he cut down the Golden Spruce, a landmark tree in British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands, as a protest against the logging industry. While facing criminal charges, he disappeared en route to his trial.
Hadwin was born in West Vancouver, British Columbia. His family was active in the logging industry. Hadwin himself became a logger and later became a logging engineer. However, he became increasingly upset with the logging industry's methods and exhibited signs of mental instability. In January 1997, Hadwin went to the Queen Charlotte Islands and purchased a chainsaw. Early on the morning of January 20, 1997, Hadwin made a series of deep cuts in the Golden Spruce. The tree fell two days later.
After cutting down the tree, Hadwin left the islands. He sent a fax to the media and the Haida nation claiming responsibility for the act, saying that he was motivated by "rage and hatred towards university trained professionals and their extremist supporters...." The act outraged people throughout Canada and received extensive media coverage. Hadwin was arrested, ordered to return to the islands to stand trial, and released on bail.
Hadwin's court appearance was scheduled for February 18, 1997, in Masset, British Columbia. Numerous people speculated that Hadwin would be killed before he could stand trial. Hadwin said that he feared for his safety if he were to travel by ferry or plane; he decided to make the trip across Hecate Strait by kayak. On February 11, Hadwin set out from Prince Rupert, British Columbia, but turned back a day later after being caught in a storm. On February 13, Hadwin set out again. The next day, he was spotted north of Prince Rupert, but he failed to appear in court as scheduled. There have been no confirmed sightings of Hadwin since then.
In June 1997, Hadwin's empty kayak and most of his gear were found on an uninhabited island northwest of Prince Rupert. Because Hadwin was known to be an expert in wilderness survival, many believe that he faked his own death and vanished into the wilderness. However, because the winter weather was rough and Hadwin had made many enemies, he may have drowned or been murdered. Hadwin's ultimate fate is unknown.
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Tammy Pipe, Tracy Olajide and Victoria Younker
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
File: The Hemlock Valley Murders
Status: UNSOLVED
Contributor: Sandra M.
File Number: 104200075
Vancouver, British Columbia: The Hemlock Valley Murders - Three murder victims were discovered in East Vancouver in 1995, Tammy Pipe, Tracy Olajide and Victoria Younker. The women were all prostitutes that had worked in the same area of Vancouver, BC. As well, they had all been murdered the same way and left in the same area. Quickly the police realized they were looking for one serial killer and believed it was Ronald Richard McCauley.
The suspect had a history of assaulting and attacking prostitutes and had previously served time in jail for rape and attempted murder. While he was indefinitely jailed, police still couldn't fully prove it was McCauley.
By 2001, police tested DNA samples that had been collected in 1995 and discovered that they did not match Ronald McCauley. Since then there have been no other suspects.
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Any update on this case, please contact us at fileupdate@unsolvedcasefiles.ca
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Babes In The Woods
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
File: Babes in the Woods Are Identified
Status: UNSOLVED
Contributor: Jonathan F.
File Number: 104200085
Vancouver, B.C. - Two victims in the "Babes in the Woods" murder investigation have finally been identified almost 70 years after their remains were found in Vancouver's Stanley Park. (Photo: Vancouver Police Department)
The skeletal remains of two children, now confirmed to be brothers David and Derek D'Alton, were found in the park in 1953 by a groundskeeper.
The man was clearing brush near Beaver Lake when he spotted the remains covered by a women's jacket. David and Derek were ages six and seven at the time of their death, investigators said in a press release.
"These murders have haunted generations of homicide investigators, and we are relieved to now give these children a name and to bring some closure to this horrific case," said Inspector Dale Weidman, commanding officer of the Vancouver Police Department's Major Crime Section.
"Although significant folklore has surrounded this case for years, we must not forget that these were real children who died a tragic and heartbreaking death."
New information came to light in this cold case as investigators gathered a DNA sample from each of the boys' skulls and contacted a specialist forensics company in the U.S.
This company, Redgrave Research, was able to identify the maternal grandparents of the boys and constructed a family tree by comparing the victims' DNA to others who had voluntarily submitted DNA for genetic testing.
Police believe that David and Derek, who lived in Vancouver, were descendants of Russian immigrants who came to Canada at the start of the 20th Century.
They had a family member who lived near the entrance to Stanley Park at the time of their death. Police said that the boys' killer, was likely a close relative of theirs who died 25 years ago.
Inspector Weidman said that, at this stage, it's important to focus on identifying the bodies rather than who murdered them, as it was likely that the killer had died in the seven decades since the crime.
Updates
No recent updates. Any update on this case, please contact us at fileupdate@unsolvedcasefiles.ca.
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Elisa Lam
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
File: Creepy and Mysterious Death of Elisa Lam
Status: UNSOLVED
Contributor: Cameron N. P.
File Number: 104200146
In 2013, a Canadian student, a Canadian student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, went missing while traveling in California. She was traveling alone and had scheduled to check out of her hotel on Jan. 31, but once the front desk didn't hear from her, they called the police.
After about a week of searching, the police released a disturbing video that showed Elisa's last known sighting. In the footage, Lam is seen exiting and re-entering the elevator, talking and gesturing in the hallway outside, and sometimes seeming to hide within the elevator, which itself appears to be malfunctioning. The elevator surveillance footage showed Elisa acting strangely, and as the video went viral, many people had several theories for her behavior, from mental illness to paranormal forces.
Maintenance workers at the hotel discovered the body from a water tank atop the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles on February 19, 2013 when investigating guest complaints of problems with the water supply. Guests at the hotel also started complaining about "black" and foul-smelling water. Investigators said the cause of death was drowning.
The circumstances of Lam's death, once she was found, also raised questions, especially in light of the Cecil Hotel's history in relation to other notable deaths and murders. Her body was naked with most of her clothes and personal effects floating in the water near her. It took the Los Angeles County Coroner's office four months, after repeated delays, to release the autopsy report, which reports no evidence of physical trauma and states that the manner of death was accidental.
Guests at the Cecil, now re-branded as Stay on Main, sued the hotel over the incident, and Lam's parents filed a separate suit later that year; the latter was dismissed in 2015.
As for why or how Elisa got into the water tank remains a mystery.
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Any update on this case, please contact us at fileupdate@unsolvedcasefiles.ca (File # 104200146).
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