Rhona Duncan, 16 was murdered in the early hours of July 17, 1976 after walking home from a high school birthday party. She was in sight of her North Vancouver house, when she was intercepted, raped and strangled. Although 45 years has gone by, Rhona’s friends still get together to remember her and to try and solve her murder. Some believe they know who did it.
The Party:
I’m not sure when I first heard about the murder of 16-year-old Rhona Duncan, but I do remember that it was through my daughter and that she was quite young. We lived across the road from Shawn and Peggy Mapoles, our kids are around the same age and our daughters are still close friends. Shawn Mapoles was Rhona Duncan’s boyfriend and on July 16, 1976, he took her to a party on East Queens Road. It was meant to be a small celebration for his friend Margaret’s 16th birthday, but the party quickly got out of hand and teens poured in from all over North and West Vancouver. Around 1:00 am the family called police and broke up the party.
Shawn, Rhona and their friends Marion and Owen took their time walking in the direction of their homes. The teens, who were to enter Grade 12 at Carson Graham in the fall, stopped at the district hall on West Queens. Owen and Shawn lived up the hill, and Rhona and Marion lived in the Hamilton area. The girls wanted to be by themselves to talk about the night; it was an easy walk down Jones Avenue. They stopped at Marion’s home and Rhona disappeared into the darkness. She was at the intersection at West 15th, the quiet residential street where she lived, when someone stopped her.
In sight of home:
By 4:00 a.m. Rhona, the oldest of four girls, was dead. She had been raped and strangled in sight of the safety of her home.
Initially, the RCMP had Shawn Mapoles firmly in their sights. A polygraph and his DNA taken decades later cleared him completely, but 45 years later Rhona’s cold case—one of 17 unsolved murders in North Vancouver—remains a stain on this tight knit community. Every year her high school friends get together to remember her and try and solve her murder. Some believe they know who did it.
If you have any information about this murders please call North Vancouver RCMP at 604-985-1311, or if you wish to remain anonymous, call crime stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or visit the website solvecrime.ca
This episode is based on original research and interviews with Shawn Mapoles, Rhona’s friend Don Curl and North Vancouver RCMP Sgt. Gord Reid. The story first appeared in my book Cold Case Vancouver: the city’s most baffling unsolved murders.
Show Notes:
Sponsor: Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours
Intro & voiceovers: Mark Dunn
Theme music: Andreas Schuld – ‘Waiting for You’
Buy me a coffee promo: McBride Communications and Media
Podcast Promo: The Man in the Balaclava with Tara Moss, available on Audible.ca
© All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all blog content copyright Eve Lazarus.
9 comments on “Sweet Sixteen: The Murder of Rhona Duncan”
Wow, how awful. Great article !! Your writing if you close your eyes is like your were there.
Thanks so much Tracy!
Somebody knows something
Praying the family finds the answers
Why cant they find this person! Everybody is a good sixty year old or more now. If he was at the party, somebody alive today is still covering for him. Maybe he was a resident of another suburb and committed suicide the next day. We all want closure, this is so close to home for me. Thank you for bringing this crime back to light Eve.
Heartbreaking to the max. Luckily the storey ended as I did could/ did not want to read another word.
Yes. Speculation. School gossip can be a horrid thing but the halls have no hiding places. Someone is always watching.
First clue to me was ” in sight of her home” ! Must be a neighbour that is the killer. If a stranger why kill?
Doubtful anyone from that party followed them/ her home. Footsteps in a quite area esp in 76 would be noticeable. Why do some know? Did she spurn someone who took it to the ultimate revenge?
If they have the DNA, can’t they just run a search once a year until the person shows up? Did they get the DNA from the person that is suspect to verify if it was them or not?
I also thought “neighbour” when listening to this podcast. Predators are often hidden in plain sight in normal looking families or through friends with too-friendly fathers. I don’t believe in the sneak from the party theory or man in a car because it sounded like a quarrel between two people who knew each other.
I was shocked to learn of this case – Rhona was only 2 or 3 years younger than my older sibs (who both went to Delbrook) and 5 years older than me (I went to Balmoral and then Carson), and we lived on the east side of Lonsdale, not far from Queens Rd. I had never heard of this case before reading about it here.
I agree, the perpetrator probably is “hidden in plain sight” – reminds me of the killer of Christine Jessop and how it was definitively proven to not be Guy Paul Morin at all but instead a family friend named Calvin Hooper who the police didn’t even interview.
[…] a chapter of Cold Case Vancouver: The City’s Most Baffling Unsolved Murders.and is part of a Cold Case Canada podcast The murders of Albina Lequiea and Rhona Duncan are two of North Vancouver’s 17 unsolved cases […]