T206 Wagner in Canada

[dealme]

I make no claims as to the accuracy of the source, but this is what I read after seeing it mentioned earlier in the thread:

https://crimeimmemorial.com/2022/12/...ntario-canada/

Mark


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[ajjohnsonsoxfan]

Oh man! Don't read this at 1:30am right before bed like I did. Some scary stuff!

[samosa4u]

Very disturbing. Most of these killers would've been caught today though since there are cameras everywhere now !!

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by dealme

I make no claims as to the accuracy of the source, but this is what I read after seeing it mentioned earlier in the thread:

https://crimeimmemorial.com/2022/12/...ntario-canada/

So further down the rabbit hole....

London is neither a small town nor a mega city. Here are the population figures since 1961:

1961 - 169,569
1966 - 194,416
1971 - 223,222
1976 - 240,392
1981 - 254,280
1986 - 269,140
1991 - 311,620
1996 - 325,699
2001 - 336,539
2006 - 352,395
2011 - 366,151
2016 - 383,822
2021 - 422,324
2024 - 447,255(E)



So London does on the surface appear to be an idyllic city of ideal size (although its population has surged in the past ten years as it's been attracting retirees who are cashing out of Toronto).

But London has certainly had its dark side from the massacre of the Black Donnellys in Lucan just north of London in 1880 to Donald Oag who became Canada's most notorious convict in the 1970's to the unsolved murders referenced in the article. I can comment on two of the cases.

I have only a vague recollection of Jacqueline Dunleavy's murder in January 1968 though her name is still very familiar. I'm not sure the fact that she had just finished her shift at the Stanley Variety ever came to my attention. I was all about international events (e.g. Vietnam War) and national politics at the time and devoured the Time magazine to which we subscribed but paid scant attention to "inconsequential" local events. But the fact that I was completely familiar with the variety store as well as the neighbourhood now causes me to wince anew almost 57 years later. I can clearly picture the exact location in front of the Bear Alignment garage of the bus stop from which Jacqueline was abducted. So bad/sad.

But it's the reminder of Jackie English's murder that's most unsettling. She was a little darling. The picture in the article doesn't do her justice. Here's a better one:



You see in 1966-68 Jackie lived basically right across Euclid Avenue from two of my very best buddies, Phil and my card collecting partner Tony. Euclid Ave. was kid central at the time and the neighbourhood kids all hung out together. As a thirteen year old in 1967 she was vivacious, pretty as a picture, friendly and absolutely charming in every way. Even as a fifteen year old I had a crush on her. And she gave every indication of being sweet on me as well.

But did I do anything about it? Did I suggest we go to the Whistle Stop Drive-In just three blocks away for a foot long and a milkshake or sundae? Or to the Ace Restaurant for a hamburger and french fries with gravy? Or to the Hobby Nook for fish & chips? Or even taken her to Harvey's? Or invited her to come see a movie with me? Her family was really poor and any of those things would have been a real treat for her. I mean I would have been her knight in shining armour.

No. I did none of those things despite having the money (my father spoiled me because I was a good student plus I worked on a tobacco farm in August 1967 and earned a pile of money for a kid). I was socially awkward and completely clueless and inviting her to accompany me to a neat place for a treat didn't even occur to me at the time. When it came to girls/women, I needed lessons.

Then her family moved away early in 1968 (I think) and the next I heard of her was reading in the London Free Press about her lifeless body being found in Big Otter Creek in early October 1969. So I couldn't even bring myself to ask her out two years earlier and then some depraved beast snuffs out her young life. I mean why, and why Jackie? She'd been so vital, so spunky, so full of life.

And ever since then there's been the "What ifs?" Had I asked her out, had I even asked her to "Go with me" in the terminology of the day, we probably would have kept in touch after she'd moved to a different part of town. Even if we'd then drifted apart, her life would have been somewhat changed and she might not have ended up working at the diner in the Metropolitan Store (like a Woolco or a Kmart) at the Treasure Island Plaza. I really can't imagine a much worse location for her to have been working. Treasure Island Plaza was in an otherwise desolate location nearly a mile south of London's city boundary. So she had to embark on a bleak fifteen minute walk on cold evenings just to get to a bus stop and wait for a bus that might come around every hour.

Here's her older sister Anne commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Jackie's death on the Wellington Street overpass in 2019:



Here's a good article on Anne's memories:

Quest to Find and Shame - Toronto Star

Anne was already an absolute knockout at the age of fourteen in 1967 and I thought she was completely out of my league at the time.

So why was Jackie working in that gods' forsaken location? There were a couple of Metropolitan stores right downtown. Like I say, Jackie was pretty, sprightly and charming. Anybody would have hired her for a waitressing or a sales clerk job.

So sad. And so many "What ifs".

Jackie's mother and younger brother Fred would move back into my immediate neighbourhood in 1970(?). Fred had joined the chess club at South Secondary School and would visit me regularly because I was the only one he knew outside his club that would give him a challenge. All of us "kids" also liked to play blackjack in our dining and living room because by then I had the house to myself most of the time. (Since this is a Baseball card forum I guess I should mention that Fred was was a big San Francisco Giants and Willie Mays fan.) By the late 1970's he'd grown up to be a strong, good looking young man.

The last time I ran into Anne was circa 1971-72 when she worked at a booth inside one of the buildings at the Western Fair selling tacos. That was the first time I ever tasted "Mexican" food and they were really good. Anne though was wearing a Hawaiian flower garland over a cleavage featuring bikini top and looked over-the-top gorgeous. She was a young goddess and could easily have worked as one of the bunny girl waitresses downtown at the Latin Quarter where Jackie had another job helping out in the kitchen. Yes, she recognized me from Euclid Ave and gave me a big smile. But did I do anything about it? No....

So many memories ranging from the fond to the tragic down that rabbit hole.

[Balticfox]

Here's a good video from Youtube on the Jackie English case: