CANADA CANADA - 83 Missing & Murdered women of Edmonton, Alberta

[Sillybilly]

Thinking of the above gang-related killing/decapitation of Robert Roth still takes me back to murders of women in Alberta.

While Project KARE is seeking a serial killer that they believe is connected in some of the Edmonton killings, there are many other missing and murdered women in Alberta who, while they may not be victims of that one crazed individual, I strongly believe may be victims due to a combination of lifestyle and gang activity or affiliation.

The one thing so many of the victims have in common is drug addiction and prostitution. From my files, just 2 examples of murders that I believe could very possibly be gang-related:

Shannon Maureen Collins

pic:
http://www.obitsforlife.com/obituary/39323/Collins-Shannon-Maureen.php

29 y.o, Caucasian, blonde, last seen December 2007, body found June 5 2008 on rural acreage (Belvedere Heights) at Twp Rd 514 and RR 231 outside Edmonton, after a farmer’s dog came home with a human skull. Additional remains were found, believed to have been there at least 9 months. It is believed she was killed in Calgary and returned to Edmonton. Shannon was a mother of an 11 year old boy.

Shannon led a high-risk lifestyle; when her sister last spoke with her in May 2007, Shannon had “three legitimate, good-working jobs; September 9, 2008 (3 mos after the unidentified remains were found), her sister reported Shannon missing after hearing she had been going to Calgary to become a prostitute for the Hells Angels.

Rachel Elizabeth Quinney

pic:
http://studentservices.upei.ca/rachel-quinney-1

19 years old, disappeared June 4 2004 from Edmonton. Her mutiliated body was found June 11 2004 in a small grove of trees north of Sherwood Park, on a property owned by a John Brown, at Twp Rd 540 and Range Rd 224. She was found naked, her breasts and genitalia had been removed, and she had marks consistent with bruising on her legs, right forearm, neck and lower back, and a potentially lethal level of cocaine.

Rachel was a crack addicted street worker, street name Candace. She worked the area of “the stroll”, 118 Avenue between 92 and 97 Streets and was known for ripping off johns whenever she could get away with it. Her boyfriend (?) was Alex Tran. She was mom to a little boy who was placed in foster care 6 months before she was killed. Her 4 y.o. daughter was adopted by relatives. She was also a friend of other missing/murdered women Charlene Gauld, Samantha Tayleen Berg, and Monique Pitre.

Without any further clarification from him, Rachel’s brother, Keith Lajimodiere says he blames his "gang lifestyle that he led"

Tom Svekla, who “stumbled” onto Rachel’s mutilated body, was charged with her murder but was acquitted. When he was being investigated for the murder of Theresa Innes, (for which he was convicted), and having transported her body 700km in a hockey bag, Svekla claimed he was “just doing his job” and that (iirc) “others were involved”.

 

[Sillybilly]

Shot in the dark, again, but...any chance at all this guy has anything to do with it?
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14192&highlight=melvin+canada+Howe

Funny thing is, when I look at pics of Howe, his physical appearance matches the visual I get in my head when I hear the audio clip of Amber's phone call.

I wonder if anyone who knew Howe would still recognize his voice after all these years.

 

[dotr]

Funny thing is, when I look at pics of Howe, his physical appearance matches the visual I get in my head when I hear the audio clip of Amber's phone call.

I wonder if anyone who knew Howe would still recognize his voice after all these years.

Ditto! Wondered if by any chance one of the prisons had a recording of an interrogation perhaps, of Dennis Melvin Howe's voice.

 

[dotr]

Video
http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2012/11/02/missing-and-murdered-women-not-the-only-issue-at-summit/

 

[dotr]

Bbm.
This link,( thanks to PC site), tells of TS, arrested for similar serial killings and I wondered if the perp. in these other unsolved cases might look/ act/ think like this guy.
http://www.lastlinkontheleft.com/e2006sveklahanon.html

When police announced second-degree murder charges this week against Thomas George Svekla in the death of prostitute Theresa Innes, I nearly retched.


Late in 2004 , Svekla sat across the desk from me, looked me in the eye and asked me to help clear his name in the death of Rachel Quinney, a teen prostitute whose body had been found in a clump of trees in Strathcona County in June the same year.


Svekla told me he was a “person of interest” in the Quinny case, which meant that he was not considered a suspect, but was still under the police microscope.


He claimed that he was under scrutiny merely because he had discovered Quinney's body but had waited a couple of days before reporting it.


He hesitated, Svekla explained, only because he had been too frightened and ashamed to come forward at first, but eventually he screwed up his courage and did the right thing.


The mild-mannered, soft-spoken Svekla – whom if you passed on the street you'd probably think was an accountant or insurance adjuster – sat with his hands folded as he spoke of the indignities inflicted upon him and his family at the hands of the Fort Saskatchewan Mounties.


Svekla didn't go into much detail about the so-called indignities, saying only that the shame of being linked to prostitute killings was humiliating for everyone close to him"

 

[Sillybilly]

http://www.lastlinkontheleft.com/e2006sveklahanon.html

Svekla didn't go into much detail about the so-called indignities, saying only that the shame of being linked to prostitute killings was humiliating for everyone close to him

Hey you !! ... and how flippin' HUMILIATING was it for Theresa Merrie Innes, a human being, whose dead body you carted around in a hockey bag for 700kms, telling people it was a bag of worms??

May you rot in Hell forever Svekla

 

[Sillybilly]

Looking at KARE'S body recovery map from my earlier post:

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8368516&postcount=78"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - CANADA 83 Missing & Murdered women of Edmonton[/ame]


the first 4 victims are placed outside Edmonton in order of northwest, southwest, southeast, northeast. This could give some insight into the kind of mind we are dealing with.

ETA: I used date of disappearance (rather than victim # and body recovery dates on the map) because the date last seen, IMO, is much more representative of when the body was placed in its location. So, from the 8 victims on the map, the first 4 to disappear, in chronological order, were:


19890927 Bernadette Ahenakew (northwest)
20020922 Edna Bernard (southwest)
20021104 Debbie Lake (southeast)
20021124 Monique Pitre (northeast)

Apologies to folks who read this post earlier ... I've since deleted my statement wrt the "perimeter of Edmonton" because it was obviously incorrect.

 

[Sillybilly]

When you consider the victims connected by KARE, it is interesting that there are 13 years between the first and second victim. I would hazard a guess that there are others that just can't be connected right now, for whatever reasons.

Could be nothing, but this is weird ... the first victim is BERNadette who was with her friend Crystal BERNard before she disappeared, then the second victim is Edna BERNard .. and two victims of the eight on the list were burned (Edna Bernard and the last victim, Charlene Gauld).

I suspect it could be the old "look at me, look at me" factor.

 

[dotr]

When you consider the victims connected by KARE, it is interesting that there are 13 years between the first and second victim. I would hazard a guess that there are others that just can't be connected right now, for whatever reasons.

Could be nothing, but this is weird ... the first victim is BERNadette who was with her friend Crystal BERNard before she disappeared, then the second victim is Edna BERNard .. and two victims of the eight on the list were burned (Edna Bernard and the last victim, Charlene Gauld).

I suspect it could be the old "look at me, look at me" factor.

Could it be a sick immature mind to purposely cause that end for E.Bernard and Charlene G?, or the mind of someone with a (misguided) "method to the madness"?
Is the suspect presumed to be white?

 

[dotr]

Another one down, how many more to go?
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2012/11/03/20328026.html

"EDMONTON - An Edmonton serial rapist who called his attacks “barbaric” and even re-offended while undergoing sex offender treatment has been designated a dangerous offender.

As a result, Anthony Clark, 35, was handed an indefinite prison sentence on Friday".

Snip.

"The judge also noted that all of Clark’s sexual attacks involved “complete strangers” and they were accompanied by “considerable” anger and violence.

“These are the kind of attacks that have a terrifying aspect to them,” Sanderman said.

The Crown sought to have Clark declared a dangerous offender and handed an indefinite prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to raping a woman in the river valley".

Snip.


"Court has also heard Clark was sent to prison for a brutal Ontario rape in 1996 and he was also handed a six-year sentence for an attempted sex assault in Edmonton in 1999 while he was on parole for the earlier attack"

 

[Sillybilly]

Could it be a sick immature mind to purposely cause that end for E.Bernard and Charlene G?, or the mind of someone with a (misguided) "method to the madness"?
Is the suspect presumed to be white?

Definitely a sick mind, whether young or old, but race has never been specified, perhaps because they want to avoid tunnel vision in that regard.

FWIW, the BSU folks (profilers) out of Ottawa were involved in developing the profile, and I've been under the impression that they brought in other behavioural and geographic profilers (iirc, Steven Egger was part of the process; not sure if Jack Levin was but he has commented on the case. Actually, I seem to recall scuttlebutt back in the early days of KARE that they were upset that Levin spoke to some things they didn't want publicized ... i could be wrong on that though or it could have been misinformation).

No link provided for the following becuz i'm not sure of the site, but:

Levin said far too many profiles are too general, the "middle-aged white male" type that describes a large portion of the population.

He said for a profile to be useful, it needs to pinpoint a trait that would make a suspect stand out from the crowd.

Keith Spencer, a criminology professor at the University of Alberta, warned that while a profile can be helpful, it should not be taken as gospel.

"The problem is that if a profile is too specific you might take the focus off of a potential suspect, while if it is too general it is a case of 'what are you saying?' " said Spencer.

What the public got was a "partial profile". It was stated very early on that LE very rarely releases profiling details, so I guess we're lucky to even get what we did from them.

 

[dotr]

3/4 down page, Levin.
http://www.crimezzz.net/serialkiller_news/E/EDMONTON_PROSTITUTE_killer.php

 

[Sillybilly]

Just reading a site where some Albertans are discussing some of the cases. A poster by the name of Theresa (a counsellor with a PCHIP(?) program, and attended the funerals of both Samantha Berg and Charlene Gauld .. the girls were best friends) seems to have some inside knowledge in Charlene's case. I gleaned a couple of small details that I haven't heard before:

from Theresa's post, 04/22/05 @ 10:55 am
http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=37659&start=15

For instance Charlene’s body was burned, and apparently there were puncture wounds on the body, leading investigators to think it may be gang related.

from Theresa's post, 04/22/05 @ 11:35 pm
http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=37659&start=30

Let's just say I am not just speculating that she may have been tortured and burned alive.

Not sure why LE thinks the puncture wounds mean it's gang-related, but ...

 

[otto]

Why does this thread say 83? I need a link before I believe that. Isn't it more like 17 or 20 over a period of about 40 years?

 

[Sillybilly]

Why does this thread say 83? I need a link before I believe that. Isn't it more like 17 or 20 over a period of about 40 years?

Hi otto

You asked this before and I replied before:

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8373005&postcount=92"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - CANADA 83 Missing & Murdered women of Edmonton[/ame]


HTH

 

[kmclaren]

Why does this thread say 83? I need a link before I believe that. Isn't it more like 17 or 20 over a period of about 40 years?

From post #100 in this thread

Here's reference to the 83 cases:

At the time of KARE's formation, there were 83 cases of women who had gone missing under suspicious circumstances, six of whom had met with foul play.

And as of March 2012:

MacNeil can't say how many investigations KARE is involved with now, but said it's less than 50.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/20.../19457556.html

 

[Sillybilly]

Thanks for finding that km

@otto ... the first post in this thread has a link to the article where it lists the 25 victims that were Project KARE cases at that time. (Of those, I believe the Theresa Merrie Innes case is the only one that has been solved todate). KARE doesn't investigate ALL the missing/murdered cases in all of Edmonton or all of Alberta. Just a real quick look at my database shows 120 records/cases for Alberta alone, and I know it is still incomplete. Out of that 120, some of them will be solved cases, a couple of them are just records of women who escaped (and i've kept the details just in case the info might relate somehow to other cases).

Sorry, but I don't have time right now to go through them all to provide you a breakdown.

 

[dotr]

Very good and very long, lots of info.

"REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
On
Issues Related to the High Number
of
Murdered and Missing Women in Canada
January 2012"
http://www.scics.gc.ca/cmfiles/831-016005-we11hop-1262012-7454.pdf


"In its 2009 report, Amnesty International reported on research conducted by the Native Women’s Association
of Canada and noted that as of November 2008, 510 Aboriginal women and girls were entered into the NWAC
database as missing or murdered. Of the 510 women and girls, 127 (25%) have been identified as missing and
340 (67%) have been identified as murdered. There are 43 cases where the nature of the case remains
unconfirmed, or where a situation of ‘wrongful death’ has been identified. (Amnesty International, 2009)"



Big snip.


" The relationship between the perceived race of a potential victim and that of the killer has
been discussed in the research literature as a factor in determining desirability. Studies in
the United States tend to suggest that most sexualized serial killings are intra-racial,50 which,
when linked with the fact that white males appear to be over-represented as the killers,51
would mean that most victims would also be white. A second study indicates that where all
the victims involved in a serial murder case are of the same race, the offender is most likely
to be of that same race.52 This may not hold true in Canada. While the MWWG is not aware
of any research tracking the characteristics of victims of serial sexual killers in Canada, it
should be noted that a large proportion of the missing and murdered women in the
Vancouver area were Aboriginal and that the convicted killer of at least some of these
women is Caucasian.53
It is the view of the MWWG that the intra-racial nature of many of these killings does not
necessarily support the assumption that the victims are targeted because of their race. An
alternative and possibly simpler explanation, which would be consistent with the Canadian
experiences, is that the predator seeks victims in an area where he believes he will not
attract notice. For example, a non-Aboriginal man with business that regularly takes him
into a neighbourhood of Aboriginal women may not be seen as suspicious, in spite of his
distinctive physical appearance. In other words, availability of the victim and anonymity of
the predator may be key factors".

 

[otto]

Hi otto

You asked this before and I replied before:

Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - CANADA 83 Missing & Murdered women of Edmonton


HTH

The link you provided doesn't connect to any information. There are 20 women missing since 1983, yet this thread title claims that 83 women are missing. Is there a link to the claim that 83 women are missing? If not, I think this important detail should be corrected.

"Project Kare, a joint task force between the RCMP and Edmonton police formed in 2003, is investigating the cases of more than 20 Edmonton women who have been killed or are missing since 1983.

All were either prostitutes, or involved with drugs and living what police call "high-risk lifestyles.""

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/svekla-thomas/

 

[otto]

From post #100 in this thread

Here's reference to the 83 cases:

At the time of KARE's formation, there were 83 cases of women who had gone missing under suspicious circumstances, six of whom had met with foul play.

And as of March 2012:

MacNeil can't say how many investigations KARE is involved with now, but said it's less than 50.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/20.../19457556.html

The link says: "The requested document could not be found"

The number is in fact 20 missing or murdered women since 1983. In reading the title of the thread, one gets the impression that there are 83 missing and murdered women from Edmonton, but that is completely misleading and untrue.