Lila Anderson, 38 was murdered on Christmas Day 1959. She had been beaten with a tire iron and her head smashed against a rock after she was taken from a bus stop. Her naked body was dumped in a ravine at Knight street and 45th Avenue and discovered by two young boys the following day.
This podcast is based on a chapter from Cold Case Vancouver: The City’s Most Baffling Unsolved Murders and includes an interview with Lila Anderson’s son Ross Dewar.
Rock Creek:
Lila came from small town Rock Creek, joined the Royal Canadian Air Force as a sergeant cook, and moved to Vancouver after her discharge. She was a strong, capable, single woman who lived alone, and the media of the ‘50s didn’t know how to deal with her. Relatives and friends painted a picture of a quiet woman who liked her own company and preferred to live alone. She laughed at funny things, they said, was friendly to small children, and had a nice smile.
LIVED ON EAST 15TH:
In 1950 she bought a property at 30 East 15th (it’s long gone) and drew up her own blueprints for a boarding house. She hired a construction crew, and supervised the work. When it was finished, she moved into the bottom suite and rented out the upstairs. Lila made it clear that her private life was her own business, and she expected her neighbours and friends to respect that. What they did know was that she loved to garden; she love Mikie, her eight-year-old cat, and she was happy to stay at home listening to the radio or watching television.
Lila told her sister and a neighbour that she had plans for Christmas dinner, but she didn’t say who with. No one saw her after she left home Christmas day. An autopsy determined that Lila had eaten about an hour before she was murdered.
She also had two children that she had adopted out. Her daughter was born around 1944, and her son Ross was born in 1947. Ross has now found his half brother in BC, and he thinks his half-sister may live in Ontario.
Show Notes
Sponsor: Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours
If you have any information about Lila’s murder please call Vancouver Police at 604-717-3321, or if you wish to remain anonymous, call crime stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or visit the website solvecrime.ca
Intro: Mark Dunn
Music: Don’t Die on Me by DarkPiano.com
PSA: Vancouver Police Museum and Archives
Promo: Blood, Sweat, and Fear: The Story of Inspector Vance
Source:
Cold Case Vancouver: The City’s Most Baffling Unsolved Murders
Interview:
Ross Dewar, son of Lila Anderson, September 2020
© All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus.
4 comments on “Lila Anderson: The Christmas Day Murder”
Ross Dewar might have success locating his biological father’s name by submitting his DNA to Ancestry DNA. In 2012 my siblings and I were contacted by our half brother, who located us through Ancestry DNA (my sister had at some time sent in her DNA for testing). We shared the same mother – and that’s an interesting story. However, there were no clues for our half brother (D) as to who his father was and our mother had died at age 33. Through the DNA testing, contact was made that verified D’s siblings on the paternal side, and eventually he learned who his father was.
Sounds like there was a serial killer on the loose at the time. Hopefully, he died a very long time ago and painfully. There always is a motive, and it never appeared to be a robbery or an accident. Very good work Eve!
Saw you on tv the other night. You are bringing up murder that most of us do not recall. If DNA does not bring up this fellow;s Father, it might being up other relatives in his family which could lead to his Father, Perhaps even Half siblings or cousins?
This story has fascinated me since I was a child. My Grandmother and Aunt knew Lila Anderson when she worked at the Safeway mentioned. You’ve provided so much information about this poor woman. If only someone would come forward.