In 2019, I was asked to put a post up about Brenda Byman, a 12-year-old girl who went missing from outside Invermere, BC on May 7, 1961. Despite one of the biggest searches in the province’s history, no trace of her has ever been found. I read a few newspaper articles, talked to Brenda’s sisters, and wrote up a short post on the anniversary of her disappearance with a photo provided by her family.
Brenda was staying overnight with a friend in Wilmer and had gone hiking the next day with four teenagers—a 15-year-old girl and three boys.
The subtext of the stories was that these teens were somehow responsible for Brenda’s disappearance. What took me completely by surprise was the animosity generated by my post about an event that had occurred over six decades ago.
One person told me to stop spreading “fake news”—I had quoted from stories in the Globe and Mail and the National Post. My short social media post stirred up old arguments, rumours, and even hatred.
As I dug deeper into the story, I realized my critics were right—a lot of misinformation came out when the story first broke, and continued uncorrected over the decades. Brenda and the Byman family weren’t the only victims from that day.
Five kids left for a hike and only four returned. Brenda, they say, headed back by herself, and the last thing they heard were voices and a car door slamming up along the road where she was walking.
There are four theories behind Brenda’s disappearance. The first is that she died from exposure or was eaten by an animal. Brenda’s family are convinced that her friends killed her and their parents hid the body. Brenda’s friends and their families believe that Brenda’s father killed her and then buried her body in a well on his property. The fourth possibility is that Brenda got into a vehicle driven by someone she knew or a stranger. It would explain why not a single trace of her—not a hair or a thread of clothing—was ever found.
Only one of the teens from that day is still alive. I’ve talked to him and to family members of the others. They were all put under intense scrutiny, given polygraph lie detector tests, questioned many times and forced out of the Columbia Valley.
Brenda’s case is filed as “missing, believed dead” and the tragedy of her disappearance continues to divide the town.
If you have any information about Brenda Byman’s disappearance, call the Columbia Valley RCMP 250-342-9292 or Crime Stoppers 1-800-222-8477.
Show Notes:
Sponsors: Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours and Erin Hakin Jewellery
Music: Andreas Schuld ‘Waiting for You’
Intro: Mark Dunn
Buy me a coffee promo: McBride Communications and Media
Podcast promo: Blood, Sweat and Fear: The Story of Inspector Vance
Source: Cold Case BC: The Stories Behind the Province’s Most Intriguing Murder and Missing Persons Cases
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8 comments on “The Search for Brenda Byman”
I’m really bothered by the assertion that a shy, 12 year old girl (in 1961 no less) would have ‘consensual’ sex with an older boy. I really think that has to be related to her disappearance, either a) the boy(s) sexually assaulted her and she was accidently killed in the process, b) the boy(s) sexually assaulted her, and she felt so much shame that she ran into the woods and died accidently somehow or c) her father or uncle came looking for her, found the act going on and overreacted.
Besides the obvious issue of being under the age of consent, I’m just not buying that there was an ongoing sexual relationship between her and this boy, no matter how he may try to frame it now.
It would be hard to believe that the other 4 people never said a word to another soul about what they knew. You would think at least one would have felt guilty enough to confess or at least mention it. I think the story of the car door slamming etc is very plausible.
I absolutely agree with you!
I agree completely, I’m no psychic, but that does not ring true at all. If he had never said that, his whole story may have been more believable. The fact that he said it, tells me that he was concerned her body would be found and they would know she had been raped. Her body may have been taken by animals, but in my opinion, John is the guilty one.
I cannot help but think there are so many other missing young and not-so-young that disappeared in the vastness of B.C. and really, all over Canada. Parents and others lied because they didn’t want to get caught or blamed and/or knew nothing. I am quite certain, without obvious evidence and the primitive nature of Crime Scene forensics of the time, missing persons remained missing! Skeletal bodies might have turned up but due to how long they were exposed, unlikely to be identified.
Can you write something about the murder of three teens murdered by their camping mate – I knew one, Rodney Wiren, whom I knew as a delightful younger brother of a friend at Fleetwood School.
POLICE SEEK MASS MURDERER
north of Mission, B.C., on July 12, 1964. The bodies of Donald Kchler, 19,. Redney Wiren, 19, and Tony Webster, 18, all of Surrey, B.C., were found.
1st. Page right hand side small article about murders in BC published in 1977
Eve, thank you for posting this. This is every parent’s nightmare. I live in another East Kootenay community, my own daughter is 12-1/2 now, starting high school in the fall, and I can see how easily a girl that age could go off with some slightly older kids and the worst happen – and how any of the three possible scenarios could easily apply (I think the thought of a child’s own father killing her is a bit farfetched, but who knows?). My heart goes out to her family, and especially to young Brenda herself.
I grew up in Wilmer, right across from Henry cooper and right beside west side road. This has always been a heart break in our community and I will never forget this case and never stop wondering. We all have our own ideas on what happened. And this story doesn’t add up.