Unsolved Cases in town/city of Victoria

VANISHED METERS FROM HIS PARENTS

File Number: 104200056

Victoria, British Columbia - 31 years ago, on March 24, 1991 Michael Wayne Dunahee, 4, disappeared from a school playground at Blanshard Park Elementary School. His parents were just metres away from him, but no witnesses to his presumed abduction have been identified and no subsequent confirmed sightings of him have been made.

The family arrived at the school around 12:30 pm, and when they got there, Michael asked his mom if he could visit the playground, which was near the field where the football practice was taking place.

Despite having a gut feeling that "something wasn't quite right", his mother allowed him to walk over to the playground by himself, but told him that once he got there, he had to "stay there and wait for Daddy to come". However, when Michael's dad Bruce came to the playground, Michael was not there. Around fifty people began to look for Michael, and his parents immediately notified the police.

Michael's disappearance became one of the largest police investigations in Canadian history, and to this day, over 11,000 tips have been received by the police. The case was a major story for many years, and was reported across Canada and the United States. However, despite a large number of tips and a CAD$100,000 reward, the police still do not have any solid leads in the case.

DEVELOPMENTS

In 2006, reports of a young man who physically resembled Michael and had been living in the Interior of British Columbia since 1991 breathed new life into the case. However, this young man was confirmed by DNA testing not to be Michael.

In early 2009, police in Milwaukee, Wisconsin found a missing person poster of Michael at the home of Vernon Seitz, 62, who had confessed to his psychiatrist that he had murdered a child in 1959 when he was 12 and knew of another child killing. Seitz was later found dead by Milwaukee police, apparently from natural causes.

In 2011, with the 20th anniversary of Michael's disappearance approaching, the police were notified of a man living in Chase, British Columbia who looked like Michael, but DNA testing later confirmed that he was not Michael.

In 2013, a man with the username Canuckels posted on the message boards of the Vancouver Canucks' official website claiming that the police were coming for a DNA test. They had requested a blood sample from a man in Surrey, British Columbia who they believed could possibly be Michael. However, on September 9, the Victoria Police Department stated that the Surrey man was not Michael after DNA testing was done.

In 2020, a Tiktoker by the name of "shanger danger" reportedly found the shirt Michael was said to be wearing at the time of his disappearance. The rare Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shirt was found submerged underwater, but after Michael's family reached out to the Tiktoker, they saw the shirt and realized it was not the exact same shirt he was wearing during his disappearance.

This case remains open.

REAL ESTATE AGENT MURDERED

File Number: 104200064

Victoria, British Columbia - Born on November 2, 1983 to Jeff Buziak and Evelyn Buziak, Lindsay Elizabeth Buziak, a Canadian real estate agent was mysteriously murdered on a property viewing in Saanich, a suburb of Victoria, on February 2, 2008.

She had one sister, Sara. In 2008, Lindsay, 24, was an ambitious Victoria estate agent who had made a promising start to her career and was described by her family, friends and colleagues as being popular and caring. Her boyfriend, Jason Zailo, is part of a prominent and wealthy family that owns a successful real estate business.

In late January 2008, Lindsay Buziak received a mysterious call from a woman who told her that she and her husband were looking urgently for a home to buy, with a budget of $1 million. According to Lindsay, the caller had a foreign accent that sounded "a bit Spanish but not really." Lindsay believed that the caller could have been faking an accent in order to conceal her identity. Unnerved by the nature of the call, Lindsay asked the caller how she had got her personal cell phone number, as she was a relatively junior employee. The caller said that a previous client of Lindsay's had passed it on to her.

Lindsay told her boyfriend, Jason Zailo, and her father, Jeff Buziak, about the call and revealed her concerns. Jason encouraged Lindsay to take on the client because of the high commission she would get from the sale, and to reassure her, Jason offered to be outside the property in his car in case anything went wrong. Lindsay found a suitable property and made an appointment with the client to view it at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 2, 2008.

That day, Lindsay and Jason ate a late lunch at a restaurant, paying the bill at 4:24 p.m. They left separately in their own vehicles. It is believed that Lindsay went home to change clothes first before the viewing.

Despite the client telling Lindsay that she would come alone, a couple turned up for the viewing. At 5:30 p.m., two witnesses saw a Caucasian man with dark hair and a blonde-haired woman aged between 35 and 45 wearing a distinctively patterned dress. The witnesses then saw Lindsay shake hands with the couple, and from the body language of their greeting it appeared that she had never met them before. The three of them then entered the house.

Jason parked outside the property for about 10 minutes. He then decided to drive back out to Torquay Drive and park there, as he did not want to be "a nosey, interfering boyfriend". After waiting another 10 minutes parked on Torquay Drive, the street on which the house is located, De Sousa Place, is a small cul-de-sac (No Exit) road containing four houses. Number 1702 is at the outer end of the cul-de-sac on the intersection of De Sousa Place and a main thoroughfare, Torquay Drive., he texted Lindsay to ask if she was OK. She never replied.

Lindsay was found lying in a pool of blood in the master bedroom. She was pronounced dead when the paramedics arrived. She had been stabbed multiple times. There were no defensive wounds, indicating that she had probably been initially stabbed from behind and had no inkling of what was about to happen. None of Lindsay's possessions had been stolen and she had not been sexually assaulted.

The identities of the purported clients to whom she was showing the property and who are the prime suspects in her murder remain unknown. As of 2020, her murder remains unsolved.

More details on this case, Watch Video (opens in new window) via Global News.

VANISHED IN FRONT OF THE EMPRESS HOTEL

File Number: 104200080

Victoria, British Columbia: Emma Fillipoff (born January 6, 1986) is a Canadian woman who has been missing since November 28, 2012, vanishing from in front of the Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia, at the age of 26.

Emma Fillipoff was last seen in the immediate vicinity of the Empress Hotel in Victoria between 7:15 pm and 8:00 pm on November 28, 2012. She was observed being interviewed by Victoria police. Her red 1993 Mazda MPV was found in the Chateau Victoria parking lot with almost all her belongings in it, including her passport, library card, digital camera, clothes, a pillow, assorted ornaments, laptop, and recently borrowed library books. It is believed she used the van as storage. She spoke with Chateau Victoria staff at 7:00 am on the morning of her disappearance.

In the days preceding her disappearance, Fillipoff had phoned her mother in Ontario, asking if she could come home. Each time her tone would quickly change and Emma would then ask her mother not to come. On the final call, her mother became aware that Emma had been staying at the Sandy Merriman House, and even though Emma had asked her not to come, she made plans to fly out immediately. Emma's last words to her mom were, "I don't know how I can face you." Emma's mother arrived at Sandy Merriman House at about 11:00 pm on the 28th, three hours after Emma had been last seen by police at the Empress Hotel.

Early on the day of November 28, Fillipoff had been captured on a 7-Eleven store video on Government Street purchasing a pre-paid cell phone. The video showed her hesitating in departing the store, seemingly checking the street outside. She returned to the 7-Eleven to buy a pre-paid credit card for $200. Reportedly, she left the Sandy Merriman House at about 6:00 p.m. that day. Soon after, she hailed a taxi and asked to be taken to the Victoria International Airport; however, she soon exited the taxi for lack of adequate fare, even though she had the $200 prepaid card.

Minutes later, Fillipoff was seen walking barefoot in front of the Empress Hotel. An acquaintance of hers, Dennis Quay, called 9-1-1 to say a woman was in severe distress outside the hotel. Victoria police arrived, took Fillipoff's name, and spent 45 minutes speaking with her. Deciding that she was not a threat to herself or anyone else, they released her. Until a report surfaced in June 2018, no one reported seeing Emma since 8:00 pm that night. Later that evening, police met Fillipoff's mother at Sandy Merriman House; by midnight Emma was classified as a missing person.

Post-disappearance:

Initially the police stated that Fillipoff had last been seen "with friends several blocks away on Burdett Avenue between Blanshard and Quadra streets." Investigators explored more than 200 leads, turning up minimal information. Most evidence indicates she was planning to return home to Ottawa, but there was no proof that she ever left Victoria. The cell phone she bought had never been activated.