Killers among us

by BRIAN LOCKHART

In April of 1973,  a teen taking a shortcut to school came across the bodies of Wendy Tedford and Donna Stearne.

They were two teenage girls who were shot to death in an alleyway in Toronto.

Fifty-one years later, their murder is unsolved, and after this amount of time, it is unlikely this case will ever be solved and no one will be brought to justice.

The Toronto Police Service website lists over 600 cold case murders in their files. That's over 600 unsolved murders.

The majority of unsolved Toronto murders, judging by the number of mugshots showing the victims, and available information, were gang-related. Your chances of being on this list are much higher if you are a minority. The vast majority died from gunshot wounds.

Given the way these gangs operate, probably a third of the guys on the website were responsible for another third of the murders on the pages, and those guys were responsible for the other third of unsolved murders on the pages. I doubt the police are working very hard on these cases.

However, there are still a staggering number of unsolved murders of innocent people across the province.

Sonia Varaschin, a 42-year-old nurse, was murdered in her Orangeville home by a person or persons unknown in 2010. The case remains unsolved.

In 1984, a 38-year-old mother of two young children, named Barbara Chapman, was murdered in her home in the village of Frankford – a small rural town on the shores of the Trent River. No one has been arrested in her murder.

In July 1988, a young woman named Lois Hannah disappeared from her home in Kincardine after attending a dance in the Town of Lucknow. She hasn't been seen since and foul play is suspected.

Leah Salina Sousa was a 13-year-old girl living in Cumberland Beach with her mother and infant brother. On Sept. 1, 1990, someone broke into their house, beat her mother into unconsciousness, then sexually assaulted Leah and bludgeoned her to death in the backyard. No one has been arrested.

Julian ‘Julie' Wolanski, was a 16-year-old girl who was found beaten and shot to death in a ditch by the Humber River in northwest Toronto in 1962. No one was ever charged for her murder.

In June 1991, a couple, 62 and 59, were travelling across the country in their RV. They stopped at a rest stop near River Bend. A man knocked on the door of the camper saying he was a police officer. He shot both the woman and the man, as well as a passerby who stopped to see what was going on.

The woman and passerby died, however, the man survived his wounds. No arrest has been made in the case.

In December 1996, a Moffat, Ont. resident, Wayne Greavett, received what appeared to be an early Christmas present. It was a bomb disguised as a flashlight. The bomb exploded in the family home, killing him instantly.

The murder remains unsolved.

London, Ont., for some reason has more than its fair share of murders. Several serial killers terrorized the region in the 60s and 70s, and there are still unsolved murders in the area.

A 22-year-old single mother named Patricia Bovin was murdered in her home by an unknown assailant in 1989.

In 1968, 31-year-old Helga Beer was strangled to death in the back of her car. No arrest has been made in that case.

That same year, 16-year-old high school student Jacqueline Dunleavy left her job at a convenience store and was murdered shortly after. No arrest was ever made.

In January of 1956, a 5-year-old girl named Susan Cadieux was lured from a playground by a man. The next morning she was found dead. The killer was never identified.

When you do a nationwide search, it is astounding the number of murders that are unsolved. That means there are plenty of murders living among us.

Some cases will never be solved. Other times a simple piece of evidence years later, will lead to the killer.

In the U.S., the BTK killer terrorized Wichita, Kansas, murdering at least 10 people, including an entire family of four. He taunted the police and media through letters. He suddenly disappeared.

Over a decade later, he wanted to be back in the spotlight and started sending letters again.

This time, he made the mistake of sending his message on a floppy disk, which police were able to trace back to his church. The BTK killer will spend the rest of his life in prison.

It's scary to think all these murderers are walking around, and one of them could be your neighbour.