July Miscellany

Here we are in late July and, as is usually the case, there are dribs and drabs of info hanging out in my inbox. Some of them are no doubt worthy of fuller explication. For now, though, I’ll tease through the high-level miscellany.

Texas Killer in Canada?

Days into the murder investigation of Chynna Deese and Lucas Fowler, Canadian authorities received tips about Derek Whisenand, a Texas man wanted for murder in Texas. Whisenand was believed to have crossed into Haskett, Manitoba around June 24th.

Listed at 6’0″, 230 lbs, with brown eyes and brown hair, Whisenand was last seen with a black goatee, and may have a large dog, possibly a German shepherd/boxer or pit bull mix. At the time of the report, he was thought to have travelled east, toward Winnipeg or eastern Canada. Maybe July found him turning west instead?

july

Third Victim Identified

The man found dead near Dease Lake, B.C. in mid-July has been identified. His name is Leonard Dyck. Dyck, who taught botany at the University of British Columbia and worked as a research associate in the school’s DeWreede Lab, was identified by police on Wednesday, July 24th, two days after they released a composite sketch in hopes someone would recognize him.

I’m still guessing that the Port Alberni teens were in Dyck’s RAV4 as they travelled east. Still convinced that they killed him so they could steal his vehicle. Still thinking that police knew as much — knew both Dyck’s, and his vehicle’s, identity. The fact that the composite looked almost exactly like Len Dyck was no doubt a major factor in his ID.

july
Leonard Dyck, RCMP composite sketch and photo

Teens Not Off the Hook

The murder of Len Dyck complicates the theory that Derek Whisenand is somehow responsible for the Deese / Fowler murders. The proximity of Dyck’s body to the burned out truck belonging to the teen suspects points a strong presumption in their direction. Which means that McCleod and Schmegelsky are the top candidates in Leonard Dyck’s death.

I’ll take it another step or two. Ballistics analysis may very well connect all three murders to a single weapon. And yes, teenagers have all sorts of reasons to make a July run across Canada, only to end up in in the wilds of Manitoba.

UPDATE:

Simon Fraser University criminology professor Neil Boyd, who is an expert in the field of criminal law and homicide, told The Vancouver Sun Thursday that in serious cases like this authorities would likely use every resource, including infrared technology, helicopters, dogs, and drones.

He speculated that if the teens are on foot they wouldn’t get far and would likely be found by the end of day, or they could have broken into a house.

Or, what he says is more likely, they are not even in Manitoba.

“It seems strange to me that they would torch a car without having another one ready to go,” said Boyd. “But nothing they are doing is rational.”

july
Lucas Fowler’s blue van, showing blown out rear window (right image, at crime scene)

My Wild Theory (Since Abandoned)

The persistent truth about homicide is that it often involves people who know each other. Second to that is the notion that, because homicide requires proximity, it is best to look for locals during a mysterious homicide. Locals as in people who live near the crime scene. Here I was influenced (perhaps overly so) by the 1982 Bentley-Johnson homicides in southern B.C. Police spent months chasing a couple of French-Canadians across Canada, only to find out that their killer was a local, who remained near the crime scene the entire time.

Here’s a location map of the recent northern B.C. crime scenes:

july

The physical link between the two crimes scenes is the spot where Provincial 37 intersects with Provincial 97 (the Alaska Highway). Is there anything there?

intersection 37 & 97
Detail: Intersection 97 & 37

Watson Lake. Population 790. The only “major” town in the vicinity.

Watson Lake, Yukon, at Alaska Hwy

It is a major junction on the Alaska Highway. People have a tendency to stop there. Lots of people stop there. As proof, Watson Lake is justifiably famed for its Sign Post Forest. But not, at the moment, for murder.

Sign Post Forest, Watson Lake, Yukon. At last count, 80,000 individual signs are represented.

Craig

Order “What Happened In Craig,” HERE and HERE. True crime from Epicenter Press about Alaska’s Worst Unsolved Mass Murder.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *