Every other week I receive a heartbreaking message from someone asking about a missing friend, or a missing or murdered relative that no one has heard from or about in decades. Mostly, they want to know if that person was ever found or if their murder was eventually solved. I start by looking up the case on newspapers.com, and when I have more information, I write up a post and put it up on my Facebook page on the last day that person was seen or found murdered.
Former Vancouver Sun crime reporter, Neal Hall, guest blogs about one of Vancouver’s most controversial cases. Thirty five years after 44-year-old Cindy James was found dead, people still wonder – was it suicide or murder?
By Neal Hall
The most bizarre case I ever encountered in my 30-plus years as a reporter, was the case of Cindy James.
I am thrilled to tell you that Cold Case Canada is up for a Webby Award – the only Canadian nominee in the Crime and Justice podcast category. This is a really big deal. The New York Times called the Webby’s “the Internet’s highest honor.”
There are two parts to the award.
In 1976, when Heather Ede was 14 years old and living in Powell River, BC, the body of her friend Elizabeth (Lizzie) Gardner was found under the Lois River Bridge. For over 45 years Heather wondered what had happened to her friend and if the police were still investigating her death. In January 2022 she filed a Freedom of Information request with the RCMP.
Transcript for The Alley Murder episode trailer
I just want to know what happened. I want the whole story. I want people to know that she was more than a prostitute, she was more than a dancer, she was our little sister and we loved her with our whole heart.
Francis Rattenbury moved to Victoria in 1892. The 25-year-old had beat out 60 other architects to win the design competition for BC’s Parliament Buildings. Although massively over budget, the commission propelled the young architect’s career, and before long he had a slew of buildings after his name including the Empress Hotel, The Crystal Gardens, the CPR Steamship Building, the Bank of Montreal on Government (Irish Times Pub), and the Law Courts (Vancouver Art Gallery), as well as his own Oak Bay Mansion–Iechinihl, now a private school.
On September 10, 1969, 26-year-old nurse Myrna Louise Inglis finished her shift at St. Paul’s Hospital. It was shortly after midnight, the end of a long day, and she was tired. She changed out of her nurse’s uniform and into her street clothes. Because it was chilly, she draped her nurse’s cape around her shoulders.
On November 6, 1967 sometime before 6:00 pm, seven-year-old Nancy Johnsen went missing from her Cloverdale, BC farmhouse. Nancy, one of 10 children ranging in age from six months to 16 years, was found on the property the next morning. She had been strangled. No one reported seeing a stranger around the house that night and Nancy was not known to wander outside alone.