Unsolved Cases in Province of Alberta

BODY FOUND NEAR WATASKIWIN

File Number: 1040200039

Leanne Benwell, 27, was reported missing in April 2007 after her mother, Connie, hadn't spoken to her for over a month. The Salt River First Nation woman's body was found in a remote area in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, on June 21, 2007.

Edmonton RCMP closed the case five years later, after a medical examiner determined her death was not criminal in nature, according to her mother, who strongly rejects that conclusion. "My daughter wouldn't just go and lay down in some farmer's field and die like that. That's stupid" she said, adding that she believes her daughter met with foul play.

An RCMP task force that is looking into the disappearances or deaths of almost 80 people, many of them women in the sex trade, is helping with the investigation, Corporal Wayne Oakes said.

A cause of death for Ms. Benwell has not been released, although the case is being treated as a homicide.

Missing since April 24, 1980

File Number: 104200198

Slave Lake, Alberta - Shortly before 1PM on April 24, 1980, at just three years old, Dupres told his mother he was going with his five-year-old friend to play next-door at his house. She used the opportunity to skip inside to throw in a load of wash. His mother were both outside at the time in the small town, 251 km northwest of Edmonton.

The mother took the opportunity to go back inside her home to transfer a load of laundry from the washing machine to the dryer. About 20 minutes later, the friend showed up looking for Jeffrey

The only clue was a white woman leading the child into a pickup truck whose driver was a white male. It was a light blue 1979 or 1980 Chevy.

Jeffrey Dupres was determined, talkative and loved racing his bike up and down the street outside the family home on the outskirts of Slave Lake.

At just 3 years old, his mother, Denise, said he "already knew who he was." Jeffrey also had a kind heart. In newspaper reports from 1980, his mother told the story of how Jeffrey had seen a neighbour kill a moose.

At lunch, Jeffrey said he didn't want to eat meat anymore. When she asked why, he said he didn't want to "make animals dead."

Jeffrey's, above all, loved being with his mother and playing with the other kids in the neighbourhood.

One of Jeffrey's good friends was 5-year-old Rodney, who lived next door.

Jeffrey's case remains unsolved and foul play is suspected.

Join The Conversation!

Unsolved Case Files Facebook Group

The best place we all come together around a common cause, issue or activity to talk about Canada's unsolved cases, mysteries, cold files, disappearances, and more.

DISCOVERED IN ALBERTA IN 1979.

File Number: 104200060

Calgary, Alberta, Canada: Banff Jane Doe was estimated to be between the ages of 24 and 25 when she died approximately a year prior to being found by hikers on April 8th, 1979. She was found in Banff National Park about 300 meters off of the Trans-Canada highway. It's possible that Jane is another victim of the Highway of Tears.

Jane is thought to have been between 5'2 and 5'3 tall. She had prominent, high cheek bones and perfect teeth in her upper jaw (her lower jaw was never recovered). Her hair was thick, long, and either brown or black in color. She also is thought to be Indigenous.

There is little information available in her case and Jane remains unidentified.

If you have any information regarding the death or identity of the Banff Jane Doe, you are encouraged to contact the Medical Examiner in charge of her case at 780-427-4987.

HOMICIDE BY GUNSHOT

File Number: 104200061

Tofield, Alberta, Canada: In 1977, an unidentified murder victim was found in a septic tank thirteen kilometers west of Tofield, Alberta. Authorities suspect he was not from Alberta, but most likely worked as a migrant worker.

The victim was found wearing a blue Levi shirt with snap buttons, a gray t-shirt, blue jeans, and imitation Wallabee shoes. His decomposed body was wrapped in a yellow bed sheet and tied up with a nylon rope. He was found by a local couple scavenging their abandoned property for a septic tank pump.

After seeing his leg bobbing in their old septic tank, they alerted the Tofield Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) detachment. Two officers came to the scene to recover his body, where they spent an hour emptying the 1.8 meter deep septic tank with empty ice cream pails.

A medical examiner in Edmonton determined the victim to be of European Canadian descent. His bones and teeth suggested he suffered from an unspecified illness at five years old. Cause of death was two gunshots to the head and chest, although it was possible there could have been more if any of the bullets did not reach his skeleton.

Before his death, he had been tortured; he'd been beaten, tied up, burned with a small butane torch and cigarettes, and sexually mutilated with farm shears. The sexual mutilation was so severe that the medical examiner took several months to positively identify him as a male. Based on the burn marks on his shirt sleeves, he could have been tied to a bed while tortured. After his death, he had been covered in quicklime, most likely in an attempt to quicken decomposition.

Due to a lack of evidence in the septic tank, the victim was most likely murdered elsewhere and the septic tank was only a dumpsite. His murderers are believed to have known him, due to how viciously he had been killed. It is also suspected they were Tofield locals or were familiar with the area, due to the location of the victim's dumpsite being on a rural property.

The victim's body has been exhumed from his unmarked grave in an Edmonton cemetery twice. In 1979, his remains were flown out to Clyde Snow and Betty Gatliff, Forensic anthropologist and medical illustrator at the Federal Aviation Administration in Oklahoma who had been creating 3D facial composites from skulls since 1967.

Along with creating a facial composite for him, the two could tell by measuring his hands that he was right-handed. Snow believed the victim to be of Indigenous origin and around 35 years old, contradicting the RCMP's belief of him being a European Canadian and between 26 and 32.

The body was exhumed and reconstructed for the second time in 2000 by Cyril Chan, who was with the Edmonton medical examiner's office at the time.

The 1,200 residents of Tofield at the time were horrified to hear of his murder. Farmers checked their own septic tanks for bodies and business owners worried that the victim's murderers could have been regular customers. Many speculated he had been sexually mutilated due to committing a sex crime or being unfaithful in a relationship.

Ed Lammerts, one of the officers who helped recover the body, has since retired. He believes the victim will never be identified, despite sending X-rays of his teeth to 800 Albertan dentists coupled with publishing them in dental magazines, and spending $1,000,000 CAD on the case.

LAST SEEN AFTER GETTING INTO ARGUMENT

File Number: 104200071

February 25th 1977 was the last time Barbara Jean Maclean was seen after getting into an argument with her boyfriend at the Highlander bar after a night out. Witnesses say the two exchanged heated words and after some time Barbara returned to the bar and continued drinking until closing time. Meanwhile, her boyfriend waited for her in his dark green 1970, Volvo parked just outside.

When the bar closed at 2:30 a.m., Barbara returned to the vehicle where she and her boyfriend continued fighting. The altercation escalated and the couple split. Her boyfriend stormed off in his car, leaving Barbara behind in the parking lot. Witnesses stated that her boyfriend drove off at 2:30 AM leaving Barbara alone where she reportedly was planning to hitch hike to a different party but she never got here.

The following morning, a man walking his dog discovered Barbara's fully-clothed, strangled body beside a gravel road near 80th Avenue and 6th Street N.E. in Calgary.

Although she was fully clothed circumstances led detectives to believe that she was sexually assaulted. A thorough examination of the crime scene also led investigators to surmise that she'd been killed at another location then moved to the gravel road some time later. Whoever gave Barbara a ride that night is in all probability, the same person who murdered her.

After further speculation the police believed that her murder was connected to Melissa Rehorek's who had been murdered the previous year on September 16th. She had last been seen leaving the YMCA where she was planning to hitchhike to the city for the weekend.

Police traced her movements the night before to the Highlander Hotel tavern, where she and her boyfriend had argued after closing time.

The daughter of a retired physician, MacLean was originally from Nova Scotia and had moved to Calgary, where she worked at the Royal Bank, the Calgary Herald newspaper reported after the murder.

The only suspect was Gary McAstocker who was a known sex offender. He committed suicide after he found out that the police wanted to talk to him about the murder of another girl named Tina McPhee.

McAstocker had just been released from prison after serving his full 11-year sentence for a 1982 rape and a subsequent 1988 sexual assault committed while on parole.

RCMP investigators also suspected her killer might be the same man who killed Melissa Ann Rehorek, 20, who was found Sept. 16, 1976, in a ditch along a gravel road about 20 kilometres west of Calgary near the Trans-Canada Highway. She had been strangled.

McAstocker was also reportedly the prime suspect in the 1976 murder of an Edmonton teenager, Marie Judy Goudreau, 17, who disappeared Aug. 2, 1976 on the way home to her family's farm on the edge of Edmonton. Her body was found two days later near Devon, southwest of Edmonton.

McAstocker hanged himself in 1994 in his Edmonton home hours before he was to be questioned by police.

BODIES FOUND IN A BURNING HOUSE

File Number: 104200089

Turner Valley, Alberta: Jane Johnson, along with her daughter, Cathryn, were murdered in their home on the evening of September 3rd, 1996. The culprit(s) set fire to the residence in an effort to conceal the crime. According to the RCMP, these killings were likely committed by an individual(s) who had been acquainted with the victims and was aware of their routinely day-to-day patterns.

Most reports on the case narrow it down to two persons. Sam Johnson is Jane's ex-husband and Cathryn's father. Henry Reichert was Jane's boyfriend at the time Jane and Cathryn were murdered. Jane and Henry had been together for four years. Henry maintains that he was at his home the night that Jane and Cathryn died. Several other suspects were identified but there was insufficient evidence.

Firefighters found the remains of Jane Johnson and her daughter Cathryn inside a burning home in Turner Valley, AB, on Sept. 3, 1996. An autopsy revealed that Jane was five months pregnant and was stabbed to death. Cathryn's cause of death has never been released.

Before Jane and Cathryn's lives were tragically cut short, Jane worked with special needs children at Millarville Community School, and Cathryn was getting ready to start Grade 3 at Turner Valley School.

In 2011, Alberta RCMP announced that a 'person of interest' in a 15-year-old double-murder case may be living in B.C. Alberta RCMP Sgt. Patrick Webb said that the fire had been deliberately set. "Although the fire was initially thought to have caused their deaths, it was soon determined that they had been murdered and that the fire had been set to cover the evidence," Webb said in a written statement.

Investigators spent thousands of hours gathering physical evidence, interviewing and re-interviewing witnesses, checking and following up on hundreds of tips, but charges were never laid.

Jane and Cathryn's murder remains unsolved.

A reward of $50,000.00 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of person(s) responsible. If you have any information about this case, please contact "K" (AB) Division, Serious Crimes Branch South Airdrie at 403-420-4900 or Crime Stoppers 1-800-222-8477.

Join The Conversation!

Unsolved Case Files Facebook Group

The best place we all come together around a common cause, issue or activity to talk about Canada's unsolved cases, mysteries, cold files, disappearances, and more.

BODY FOUND WRAPPED IN A BLANKET

File Number: 104200094

Calgary, Alberta: Nine years after an Airdrie father's death, his family continues to search for the person or people responsible.

Someone on an ATV discovered 37-year-old Erick Joseph Danis' body wrapped in a blanket in a field northeast of Calgary on April 22, 2011.

"He was just fun to be around," said Erick's sister, Manon Danis to Global News. "He had a great sense of humour, he was the joker of the family.

Manon said her brother became addicted to opioids and there would be long periods when she wouldn't hear from him.

"The doctors gave him medication and he got addicted fast, really fast," she said. "He went from doctor to doctor until he got flagged." Manon said she last spoke with her brother in November 2010.

"He called me and he was not making any sense at all. And I said to him, 'Erick, something's wrong with you.'"

Manon wouldn't learn about her brother's death until several months later when his body was discovered.

Investigators said that since Danis' death, they have interviewed several people of interest but have not yet zeroed in on a suspect.

"The RCMP feel that it's a very small circle of people who know exactly what happened to Erick," said Sgt. Jason Zazulak with the RCMP K-Division's serious crimes branch. The cause of death has not been released to the public in order to protect the integrity of the investigation.

"The very specifics of what the cause of death were would possibly be only known to a small number of people, and that could be significant evidence in the case," Zazulak said.

Erick left behind a daughter who was only two years old when he died.

"We didn't even have a celebration of life for Erick, we didn't have a funeral," Manon said. "This little girl is not going to know her father."

Manon is now working to help other families who are battling addiction and hopes that one day soon, Erick's killer will be brought to justice.

"No one deserves to die like that, his family [members] are now the victims, over and over and over."

Anyone with information that might assist police in investigating the circumstances of Erick Danis' death is asked to call the Airdrie RCMP at 403-945-7200 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Last Seen On November 17, 2019

File Number: 104200225

Lethbridge, AB - Marshal Iwaasa, 27, was last seen by his family in Lethbridge on November 17, 2019, and planned to go to a storage locker. He told his family he was returning to Calgary but hasn't been seen or heard from since.

Iwaasa's burnt out GMC pickup truck was found by hikers on a remote forest service road near D'Arcy, B.C., on November 23, 2019. The location was close to the trailhead to the Brian Waddington Hut near Pemberton.

When he was last seen, Iwaasa told the family he was going to visit his storage locker and the storage locker key and logs show his code was used to enter the facility and then, about two hours later, leave the compound.

Lethbridge police said that from the onset of their investigation, Iwaasa's disappearance has been considered suspicious, but there is no "credible, corroborated or compelling information to suggest foul play or that the occurrence is criminal in nature." Police said their investigation had determined that before he went missing, Iwaasa had "hidden the fact that he had stopped attending post-secondary classes."

"In examining Iwaasa's personal affairs in the months leading up to his disappearance - including interviews with close friends as well as his financial, medical and social media activity - there is evidence to suggest he was experiencing stress in his life and had become withdrawn," Lethbridge police said.

Join The Conversation!

Unsolved Case Files Facebook Group

The best place we all come together around a common cause, issue or activity to talk about Canada's unsolved cases, mysteries, cold files, disappearances, and more.

KILLED IN THE PARKADE

File Number: 104200134

Calgary, Alberta - On January 9, 2008, Allan Richard Teather was shot and killed in the parkade of a southwest condo complex in the 100 block of Village Heights SW. The Calgary Police Service Homicide Unit is currently investigating the file and believe the murder may have been financially motivated.

Investigators are seeking information from anyone who may have known TEATHER or who were in contact with him during the days leading up to his murder. Police are particularly interested in information with respect to his close friends from this time period.

Anonymous tips can be sent to Crime Stoppers by calling toll-free 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

PICKED UP BY AN UNIDENTIFIED MALE

File Number: 104200137

Standard, Alberta - Kelly Jane Evelyn Cook, a 15 year-old female, lived with her parents in the village of Standard, Alberta, which is located 70 kilometers north east of Calgary, Alberta.

On April 22, 1981, at 8:20 A.M., Kelly received a phone call from a man identifying himself as Bill CHRISTENSEN. The caller asked if she would babysit that evening. Kelly agreed and arrangements were made for the caller to pick up Kelly at her residence.

At 8:30 P.M., a hehicle pulled up in front of the Cook's residence. The unidentified male and Kelly were last seen departing the residence. Kelly was not seen alive again. Her body was discovered in the Chin Lake Reservoir (east of Lethbridge, Alberta) on June 28, 1981. The body was bound by ropes and anchored by two concrete blocks.

It is believed that the perpetrator of this crime had planned the abduction over a one or two-month period.

While Kelly's body was at a funeral home in Calgary, an unknown man demanded to see her body. Even though he claimed to be a family friend, he was denied and eventually left. This man has never been identified but authorities believe it may have been her killer.

A one hundred thousand dollar reward ($100,000.00) from the Village of Standard is offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator of this crime.

This case caught the public's attention like few other murder cases because it was so unusual, with the killer actually picking up his victim at her house while her mother watched through the window.

Despite the publicity generated by this murder case, and a $100,000 reward is still offered by the Village of Standard for information leading to the arrest of Kelly's killer, the case currently remains unsolved.

If you have any information about this case, please contact "K" (AB) Division, Serious Crimes Branch South Airdrie at 403-420-4900 or Crime Stoppers 1-800-222-8477.

Join The Conversation!

Unsolved Case Files Facebook Group

The best place we all come together around a common cause, issue or activity to talk about Canada's unsolved cases, mysteries, cold files, disappearances, and more.

BODY FOUND IN A POND

File Number: 104200153

On January 18, 1992, the body of Anita GILAVISH was located in a pond at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary. GILAVISH's death was determined to be a homicide.

New technological advances developed after the case can be used on the surviving evidence to identify suspects. Your tips can help solve this case.

Tips and information, please call Crime Stoppers at 1 -800-222-8477.

Burned To Death

File Number: 104200160

On the evening of March 19, 2006, Brenda Meyers was closing Madison's Cafe which was located at 3802 Brentwood Road NW.

At approximately 11:35 PM, the Calgary Fire Department received a call of a fire alarm at Madison's Cafe. During the incident, Emergency Services located the body of MEYERS and determined her death to be a homicide.

On the snowy evening of Sunday, March 19th, Meyer's was working the late shift at Madison's. She was closing up the restaurant, as she had done countless times before, but it would not be a normal night for Brenda Meyers. It would never be known as a normal night for anyone who knew her, ever again.

Fire fighters received an alarm around 11:35 pm after a smoke detector trigged an an automated call to the station. Responders raced to Madison's Cafe and Bar to find a small fire had broken out in lower level of the building near the office and storage area. Luckily, the installed sprinkler system had managed to quell the flames and had limited their spread, but as responders continued their search they discovered Brenda's charred body on the basement floor.

What had happened to Brenda? Was it possible this was a horrible accident? The fire team immediately notified Calgary Police so arson and homicide detectives were brought to the scene.

Although investigators initially suspected foul play, it wasn't until ten days later on March 26, that the autopsy confirmed it was murder. Someone had brutally attacked Meyers and left her to die in the same place she had spent so much of her life.

Submit a Tip

Stabbed to Death

File Number: 104200166

Jacqueline Crazybull, a 43-year-old mother, died in a stabbing rampage in Calgary on July 11, 2007. She was one of five people attacked that night, and a single stab wound ended her life.

The Calgary Police Service has not made any arrests in her death to date. In October 2017, police announced Jacqueline's death is still actively being investigated.

Jacqueline "Jackie" Crazybull was born into a big Blackfoot family on Oct. 8, 1963. She was a middle child, a young girl who grew up mentoring those around her. Her sister describes her as a doer -- the kind of person who initiated family and community gatherings.

Sandra Manyfeathers says Jackie was a lot like their mother.

"My mother really showed us by example how to live a good life," she said.

Jackie's "take action" approach to life left an impact on her younger sister. A member of the Blood Tribe, Jackie was close to her culture and her family.

Manyfeathers recalls a day walking with Jackie through a wooded area looking for branches, which she needed for a particular Blackfoot game. When Manyfeathers tore a branch from a tree, her sister turned and looked at her.

"She didn't say anything, but I could tell she wasn't pleased. And I asked her 'What, why are you looking at me like that?'"

Manyfeathers recalled Jackie responding with, "Because [the tree is] living and you should respect all living things; all living beings are to be respected."

She said it was a profound realization.

"I always remember that, and to this day I have a lot of respect for living things and living beings," Manyfeathers said.

"And for her to be killed the way she was, it's just, she didn't deserve to be killed that way - for someone that had such value and such respect for life."

It was a summer day in July 2007 when Jackie's life was ended unexpectedly. It's perhaps not surprising to hear that when strangers pulled up in a vehicle asking for help, she responded.

It was Stampede time in Calgary. Jackie was living in the northeast part of the city and was working for her home community at the time. Manyfeathers said on that particular day, she had just gotten something to eat with her cousin."She got up and just went, and she was going to help them, and then they quickly stabbed her and then drove off," she said.

Crazybull was approached by 3 unknown black suspects and was attacked by them. She was rushed to hospital where she later died of her injuries. A single stab wound killed Jackie. She was 43.

"She was discarded on the street," said Manyfeathers.

It was described as a random stabbing rampage in the news. Four other people were attacked that day, but Jackie was the only person who died.