CANADA CANADA - BC - Whistler, WhtMale, 30-49, stolen revolver, South African Rand bill, Aug'87

[breachtones]

Yet another interesting one from British Columbia..

Whistler John Doe

Date of discovery: August 12, 1987
Location of discovery: 15 meters from Franz's Run, west face of Whistler Mountain, Whistler, B.C.
Estimated date of death: 1-3 years (August 1984-August 1986)
State of remains: Skeletal
Cause of death: Gunshot wound to the head (suicide)

Physical Description
Estimated age: 30-49
Race: White
Sex: Male
Height: 5'9-5'11
Weight: 150 lbs
Hair colour: Brown
Eye colour: Unknown
Distinguishing characteristics: False teeth, medium build, apparently had fillings as well. Long brown hair.

Identifiers
Dentals: Unknown
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown

Clothing
- White, nylon "Taymor" brand backpack.
- Synthetic, powder-blue "K-Way" brand windbreaker (Size 6).
- Grey, cotton sweatshirt.
- White, cotton "Daniel Hechter" shirt.
- Synthetic and leather, blue webbed belt.
- Leather, white Nike tennis shoes (Size 8).

Accessories
- South African Rand bill.
- World War I era .38 caliber revolver. Stolen from Las Vegas, NV in 1983.

Circumstances of discovery
On August 12, 1987, Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation planners Dave Williamson and Rod MacLeod are surveying a potential lift-line near mid-station, hanging flags, and doing fall-line analysis when they spot the skull of a man, 15 meters off of Franz's Run on the west face of Whistler Mountain, BC. Williamson claims to spot fillings in the skull's jaw.
No abandoned vehicles were found nearby, and making the two-hour uphill walk from Whistler village to where he was found was not an uncommon thing to do.

The gun that was recovered near the body was traced back to a 1983 theft that occurred in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The man was also found with a single South African Rand bill in his pocket.

Sources
- Unidentified Wikia
- British Columbia Unidentified Human Remains Interactive Viewer
- Pique News Magazine (April 10, 2020)
- NCMPUR

 

[breachtones]

Here's also an approximation I did of the UID's clothing. It may help to better visualize what clothes he was wearing whilst there are no pictures of them online. However, they probably aren't very accurate. I would've put it in the above message rather than just commenting... but I felt it's better to not clutter confirmed info with approximations and theories.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

It mentions a belt but not any pants. I would guess that's just an oversight since they describe a belt and shoes, along with cotton and synthetic clothing, so it seems like the remains were mostly intact. If the pants were in fact missing that would raise more questions.

 

[breachtones]

It mentions a belt but not any pants. I would guess that's just an oversight since they describe a belt and shoes, along with cotton and synthetic clothing, so it seems like the remains were mostly intact. If the pants were in fact missing that would raise more questions.

Probably an oversight. They tend to mention when something is missing, like someone's underwear is not always mentioned but is there. Whereas if someone wasn't wearing any it tends to be mentioned as it's kind of odd.

 

[Bit of hope]

An interesting case.

From this 'Every face tells a story' - Pique Newsmagazine article:
While there is no mystery surrounding the ultimate cause of death—a post-mortem confirmed the John Doe died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound believed to be a deliberate suicide—<I'm very curious how that works exactly with only a hole in a skull. It's not that I'm completely "blanco" on this, would like to hear an explanation> the few additional facts investigators managed to turn up have only added to the puzzle of the man's life.

First, the basics: We know the heavily decomposed remains had been there for at least two years, possibly three, <PMI estimated 1984/1985> and belonged to a Caucasian male between 30 and 49 years of age <Then born approx. between 1938 - 1959. How could they pinpoint the age to 49>He was estimated to be approximately 5-9 in height, weighing 151 pounds, with long brown hair and was wearing a white Daniel Hechter shirt, white Nike court shoes, and a powder-blue K-Way jacket when he was found.

An examination of the skull indicated the man had poor dental hygiene, and based on the dental work he had undergone, police surmised he had probably visited a North American dentist <Could also be somebody operating in Canada>. The gun recovered near the body—a .38 calibre revolver dating back to the First World War—was later traced to a 1983 theft in Las Vegas, Nevada <Interesting, but could have gone from hand to hand on the black market?>

Curiously, the man was also found with a single South African Rand bill <could be a red herring, already in the pocket (what pocket?) and what kind of rand....a more recent? an oldie? (first serie), could also have a special meaning, association with the Duchies, - Jan van Riebeeck - Wikipedia - A left over of a stolen bigger amount? Endless possibilities.....> in his pocket, adding more questions as to his possible origins.

With no vehicle found nearby, it's likely the man made the roughly two-hour walk uphill from the village—not uncommon in those days—before settling on the serene backdrop of where Franz's Run now sits to end his life.

"We were working but there wasn't a lot of activity on the mountain at that time," says Williamson, who is now the principal for environmental consulting firm Cascade Environmental. "It was before the bike park. There were no operations in the summer. I think he just hit the end of the road, basically, where the Pony Trail bypasses Franz's, thought it was a nice place and wandered off into the woods."

 

[Bit of hope]

This are the stats from the interactive map

Case Number: 1987-0317-0018

Sex Male
Race Unknown
Date Found Augustus 13, 1987
Police File Number 1987-2125
Police Detachment Whistler RCMP
Eye Colour
Hair Colour
Minimum Age 30
Maximum Age 40
Minimum Height 5 ft 9
Maximum Height 5 ft 11
Minimum PMI 1 year
Maximum PMI 3 years
Clothing Blue K-way brand rainjacket; white, medium size Daniel Hector brand sweatshirt; Size 8 Nike running shoes
Tattoos
Scars
Other Comments South African money, Taymor brand knapsack.

ArcGIS Web Application

 

[Curious_in_NC]

The Pique article also included a recon, from the NY Academy of Art, no less. Not sure if this reflects the "long brown hair" length or not.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

The Daniel Hechter shirt seems conspicuous as it's not hiking apparel, but not really unique. It seems they were sold in many international markets at that time.

"In many ways, he provided the inspiration for the 1980s' explosion of lifestyle concepts in retailing. Hechter identified his particular market as including the young, sometimes married with children, upwardly mobile 20-to 30-somethings, who may not have the income to finance the designer lifestyle and fashionable appearance to which they aspire."

Daniel Hechter - Fashion Designer Encyclopedia - clothing, suits, men, shoes, style, new, body, mens

 

[Bit of hope]

The Pique article also included a recon, from the NY Academy of Art, no less. Not sure if this reflects the "long brown hair" length or not.

The first thing I thought associating with long brown hair was indigenous Canadian...sorry for that.... obviously suffering from judgmental thoughts too. I don't know about the clay recon...I have absolutely no impression from that.

 

[Blurgle]

The Daniel Hechter shirt seems conspicuous as it's not hiking apparel, but not really unique. It seems they were sold in many international markets at that time.

"In many ways, he provided the inspiration for the 1980s' explosion of lifestyle concepts in retailing. Hechter identified his particular market as including the young, sometimes married with children, upwardly mobile 20-to 30-somethings, who may not have the income to finance the designer lifestyle and fashionable appearance to which they aspire."

Daniel Hechter - Fashion Designer Encyclopedia - clothing, suits, men, shoes, style, new, body, mens

Daniel Hechter was sold at Tip Top Tailors, a chain with stores in every mall in Canada back in the day. It would be like trying to source something from Zellers or Reitmans.

 

[breachtones]

Daniel Hechter was sold at Tip Top Tailors, a chain with stores in every mall in Canada back in the day. It would be like trying to source something from Zellers or Reitmans.

Did Whistler even have a mall back then tho? It was so tiny. I can't even say I remember a mall last time I went in 2019-ish.

 

[breachtones]

The first thing I thought associating with long brown hair was indigenous Canadian...sorry for that.... obviously suffering from judgmental thoughts too. I don't know about the clay recon...I have absolutely no impression from that.

Facial reconstructions: the intersection of art and forensic science
There's also this 3D reconstruction, which is cool but looks kind of weird and grotesque IMO.
I wish we had sketches for all these old Canadian cases. All these new reconstructions from NY are quite literally nameless grey faces to me. They all look so same-y.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

Facial reconstructions: the intersection of art and forensic science
There's also this 3D reconstruction, which is cool but looks kind of weird and grotesque IMO.
I wish we had sketches for all these old Canadian cases. All these new reconstructions from NY are quite literally nameless grey faces to me. They all look so same-y.

Yes, I agree. The main distinguishing feature I saw was a somewhat prominent nose. They both seem to portray him with an oddly troubled facial expression.

 

[Bit of hope]

Facial reconstructions: the intersection of art and forensic science
There's also this 3D reconstruction, which is cool but looks kind of weird and grotesque IMO.
I wish we had sketches for all these old Canadian cases. All these new reconstructions from NY are quite literally nameless grey faces to me. They all look so same-y.

Thanks. It's really cool. To me a little more expressive then the static clay recons. The eyes come "to life" more.

 

[breachtones]

Yes, I agree. The main distinguishing feature I saw was a somewhat prominent nose. They both seem to portray him with an oddly troubled facial expression.

Hah, yeah I see what you mean. I don't think I've seen one looking more petrified or troubled than this poor soul tho.
Both recreations also feel super different. The clay one looks like it could be anywhere from 20-35, the 3D one looks 45-60 to me.
Apart from false teeth there really isn't much in terms of distinguishing looks to me. And if they're wrong about the long hair I feel like he could look wildly different to the recreations to the point where we wouldn't even recognize his face. It's just so odd to look at a recreation and have nothing jump out... I guess that's why most of them are really uncanny, to exaggerate features.

 

[Bit of hope]

Hah, yeah I see what you mean. I don't think I've seen one looking more petrified or troubled than this poor soul tho.
Both recreations also feel super different. The clay one looks like it could be anywhere from 20-35, the 3D one looks 45-60 to me.
Apart from false teeth there really isn't much in terms of distinguishing looks to me. And if they're wrong about the long hair I feel like he could look wildly different to the recreations to the point where we wouldn't even recognize his face. It's just so odd to look at a recreation and have nothing jump out... I guess that's why most of them are really uncanny, to exaggerate features.

I agree on the "sobbing" part and the recons looking different age wise. I would love to know who LE checked and ruled out being this John Doe. It would be very helpful in terms of wasting time looking for possible matches.

 

[Blurgle]

Did Whistler even have a mall back then tho? It was so tiny. I can't even say I remember a mall last time I went in 2019-ish.

IIRC there were all kinds of private shuttle buses running from Vancouver, and lots of people hitchhiking in as well. There would be no need for him to buy his clothes there.

 

[Bit of hope]

It would be good to know more details about the false teeth....did he had a "flipper", partial dentures, implants. It's obvious he didn't have a full set of dentures.

 

[Ark]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

This guy interests me a lot for this case... Man on the run, probably capable of stealing a gun... Last known to be in Los Angles, CA in May 1983, but that's a stones throw away from Las Vegas, NV. Long brown hair, right enough height and age although slightly outside the estimate (However I would put size 8 shoes on a guy thats 5"8), arguably a reason to end his life if he was feeling guilty for the alleged crimes he committed/wanting to get out of the States if he could as the trail on him was probably quite hot.

 

[branmuffin]

Daniel Hechter was sold at Tip Top Tailors, a chain with stores in every mall in Canada back in the day. It would be like trying to source something from Zellers or Reitmans.

Tip Top Tailors was bought by Dylex Diversified back in the 1960s with several other high profile stores in Canada, those being Thrifty's which sold jeans and other denim wear, Fairweather's which was a mid price clothing store, BiWay a defunct discount store and Braemar another women's clothing store. Fairweather's and Thrifty's also sold Daniel Hechter products. Dylex no longer exists.

There are some elements of the discovery of the UID with a SA rand in his pocket that may suggest that the UID is in fact from SA. I'd love to know the denomination of the bill because today the rand is worth 84 cents CAD. So if a 10 rand note was the only money he had, he was flat broke.

The Taymor brand also has a connection to South Africa. It's even more confusing when France claims the name brand Taymor, started in Paris in the 1960s, makes outerwear. Also the name Taymor is the name for a company that manufactures hardware items for bathrooms and kitchens, etc. To confuse matters even more the BC-based Taymor, the company that manufactures hardware items, also made backpacks and tents under the brand name OutBound called Taymor Packmaster. Here's a link to the BC-based Taymor brand.

Influential Women in Business 2020: Vivian Zalkow

However, there is this Taymor brand that started out in SA as an army/navy store and moved into the production of all weather clothing. The K-Way name is from the original owner's way of doing business, Mr. Krawitz's Way. Here's the link to the story:

Here's where the name 'K-Way' comes from.

I wish we knew the make of the .38 revolver dating back to WW1. There's a pretty big list of weapons that were around during the WW1. One that interests me is a UK-made .38 revolver (model Mk IV) by Webley that was used during WW1 but also used during the Boer War in what is now South Africa. I have no idea why the model was not released by LE. I wonder if they still have the weapon to verify the make?

About his dental hygiene. Usually if a person is completely edentulous you'd say they wore false teeth or dentures. Yet, they talk of 'dental work'. To me that suggests he still had some of his own teeth but wore a bridge or partial denture. Do they not realize the vague language is confounding? Especially 35 years later. Grrr.

One thing I did learn from the Pique article is that they do have DNA and have dental records for comparison.

 

[Bit of hope]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

This guy interests me a lot for this case... Man on the run, probably capable of stealing a gun... Last known to be in Los Angles, CA in May 1983, but that's a stones throw away from Las Vegas, NV. Long brown hair, right enough height and age although slightly outside the estimate (However I would put size 8 shoes on a guy thats 5"8), arguably a reason to end his life if he was feeling guilty for the alleged crimes he committed/wanting to get out of the States if he could as the trail on him was probably quite hot.

Interesting find. Here is some more info on him.
Report: Mich. murder suspect on the lam since 1983 may be living as a woman in LA