Evelyn Roche got off the East Broadway bus and was stabbed to death two blocks from her house on April 3, 1958. This podcast is from a chapter in Cold Case Vancouver: The City’s Most Baffling Unsolved Murders and includes an interview with Evelyn’s daughter Sharon.
Evelyn’s murder terrorized the city. VPD Chief George Archer warned that a “sex fiend” was on the loose, that he believed that he would murder again, and that women should travel in pairs or be met by a male escort if they were coming home after dark.
Mother of two:
Evelyn married Richard in 1955 and they moved into their house just days before she was murdered. And in what has happened way too many times, Evelyn was vilified in the press. Reporters said she left her two children alone in the house. The implication was that she went off to party, that some how she had invited her own murder.
In 2014, I tracked down Evelyn’s two children, Sharon who was 16 and Frank, 14 at the time of their mother’s murder. I wanted to know what happened to them, how they had coped with this senseless loss.
Sharon has sadly passed away, but back then we talked at length, and with the permission of her brother Frank, her interview is included in the podcast.
Went to the post office:
On the night she was murdered, Evelyn had asked her kids if they wanted to come downtown to the post office with her, but they said no, they wanted to watch a show on television. The last words that Sharon remembers saying to her mother was “Mum, please don’t forget the grapes.”
Evelyn was stabbed in the neck, chest and back, each wound delivered with such force that the blade had entered her body to the hilt. She had been sexually assaulted. Two brown paper bags were found near her body. One contained Sharon’s grapes.
Show notes:
If you have any information about these murders please call Vancouver Police at 604-717-3321.
Intro & voiceovers: Mark Dunn
Music: Lament by DarkPiano.com
Sound effects: High school ambience by SoundEffectsfactory
Interview: Sharon Harder, Evelyn Roche’s daughter
© All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus.
A very sad and tragic story especially since the murderer was never caught. At the very least raging murderers could be caught and put away.
Who knew it was so dangerous here at that time? My mother was a teen then and lived on the East Side too.l
So sad that a number of people heard or saw something and yet did nothing to check out the screams or what they saw. I can understand not wanting to get involved but I cannot for the life of me understand why none of those people had the where with all to call police. Really pathetic!
Very interesting unsolved mystery Eve. For those who think Vancouver was a safer place for many in the 1950s, you are wrong. Take off your rose-colored glasses people.
Interesting story, and sad.
Excellent, yet sad story, Eve. Thanks for including intriguing hints!
My mom and dad both went to Tech School then! My dad on 14th & Victoria & 6rh at the time! They were in school and told me the story years ago! They were afraid and my dad made sure to walk my mom back and forth to school everyday!
my aunt Beverly (Leon) Grant died from a gunshot wound to her chest 26March 1957. She was 18 years old and had just gotten married to a Vancouver Police officer.The autopsy verdict was that she shot herself with the revolver. Our family doesnt believe that verdict. Nothing innocent about Vanc even back then
I have 2 ‘VANCOUVER’ books of yours … the one with cold cases and the other one is about haunted houses. I came to Vancouver in 1949 so many stories are familiar. Thank you for your excellent work
I think there were more than a few unsolved murders from the ’50s and early ’60s. We lived near the Paul family who were murdered, I think, in 1958. Eve has written about them. Killer never caught. I was 8 and although I don’t think I was traumatized by it, it’s stayed with me since. There were a few other murders/manslaughters in the neighbourhood, actually.
Do you remember the Rees family? They lived close to the Pauls also.
Joan was a school friend of mine & told me how terrified she was at the time.
No, we lived on the eastern side of Knight Road (Knight Street to most now), on Lanark near 49th so that was, for us kids, another part of Vancouver. My brother, 2 yrs older than me, though, rode his bike down and watched them take the bodies away. I never asked how it affected him.