Karen Ewanciw - April 24, 1975 - Age 11 - Edmonton - KARE

[Desespere]

On April 24, 1975, 11 year old Karen Ewanciw's sexually assaulted and severely beaten body was found in a remote park in Forest Heights in Edmonton. A white man between 20-30 was seen, possible suspect.

I'm pretty sure KARE is involved in the investigation of Karen's murder since they talk about murders to 1975. Please correct me if anyone knows if this is the case or not. Thank you.

There are four unsolved cases in Alberta in 1976.
1 in 1977
0 between Februray 26, 1977 and April 22, 1981 when 15 year old Kelly Cook was abducted in Standard, AB and found in Taber, AB six weeks later at Chin Lake Reservoir.
The next is January  20, 1983 when 6 year old Tanya Murrell is abducted.
May 3, 1983, 16 year old Shelly Bascu is missing from Hinton, AB
1983 21 year old Gail Cardinal is murdered in Edmonton
December 12, 1983, Charlene Baas is murdered, badly burned in Edmonton. She was found at home.

These are the earliest cases in Alberta, or at least publicized.

[Chris]

Back in those days, the police was not trained nor funded to deal with serial murder cases. They had no way of connecting the dots. I went thru the Texas Dept Of Public Safety website and noticed there were more unidentified females found in Harris County(Houston) in 1986 then any other year by far.

Oh and just recently a man was busted for being a serial killer of women in houston in that year.

Des, thanks for opening my eyes here, I am beginning to see what you see. I am also noticing though that non gang related murders are being investigated better and there are less unidentified persons.

[Desespere]

Often times I've read that Edmonton has unsolved murders of sex workers to 1975 yet Karen is the only case I can find unsolved in 1975 in Edmonton. I hope Karen was not the sex worker refered to in 1975. Karen was 11 years old when her badly battered body was found near the North Saskatchewan River in a rugged park area. She was recovered on April 24, 1975 but I have no idea how long she was missing before found or anything about her.

I hope the police will try to solve this horrible murder of a child in Edmonton, as close as I can tell committed 33 years ago on Thursday. What happened to Karen and why is there no information about her? I hope it's because the family wished it so.

[Chris]

I find that some cases get a lot of attention when the police have no clues, but when the police already have a strong POI, there seems to be less available. I guess they figure the only way to solve those is by waiting for the crook to make a mistake.

[waabzy]

http://www.police.edmonton.ab.ca/EPS%20External/Home/CrimeFiles/Homicides/UnsolvedHomicides.aspx

Karen EWANCIW
Age: 11 yrs
EPS File #:75-032168
Karen was a 10 year old girl who went missing on April 23, 1975 in the river valley area near McNally High School (84 St/105 Ave). Her body was discovered on April 24th in the same area.

It appears Karen disappeared the day before her body was found. No indication that this young girl was working the streets.
NOTE EPS state she was 10 when she was murdered.

[Chris]

Probably some sick pedophile who knew the girl. If he was a stranger, he might have let her go free after he was done.

[Desespere]

Thank you for the information waabzy

I looked at the link and it's all new format.

The park she was found at is between a large public parking lot and the high school. Some mook parked in the lot and snatched her from the area, took her somewhere, maybe back to the parking lot, killed her and left her right there. This was a Wednesday she was last seen - was this after school? Easter was three weeks before, no other holiday at this time. What time of day? Too bad we don't know. After school, in April, would it be dark by 7pm?

[Desespere]

I have noticed there might be a link between Kelly Cook's murder April 22, 1981
http://www.unsolvedcanada.ca/index.php/board,53.0.html
and Karen's murder.

She was last seen near a school. Kelly's situation involved, in part, the killer phoning the school to look for the gymnast's phone number.
then the dates.

Kelly last seen April 22
Karen last seen April 23

Same time of year.

[Desespere]

This is a discussion on A&E's forums where there appears three or four childhood friends of Karen posted in 2003 and 2004. The first poster said the suspect is a white male who would be in his 50's or 60's in 2003.

who killed Karen Ewanciw
Dec 5, 2003 4:48 PM Report Abuse 
11 year old Karen Ewanciw was found beaten to death in the Forest Heights area of Edmonton Ab. Canada Apr. 24 1975. Police said she was the victim of a sexual assault and beating that led to massive and fatal head injuries . Police said that the suspect is a white man who may now be about 50 - 60 yrs. old . Someone knows something out there ; why protect a killer ?

I think the thread implies that Karen lived in the neighbourhood she was found in, Forest Heights, south side of Edmonton but central. She was last seen near the high school but she was only 10 or 11 at the time, so not her school.

Karen Ewanciw's name appears on the Missing/Murdered First Nations Women's site, does this mean Karen was First Nations? This site shows the date Karen's death as April 24, 1976. The Edmonton police site shows April 23, 1975. .
http://www.missingnativewomen.org/alberta.htm
No photo there of Karen either.

In this EPS report on Homicide issued in 2007, they also show Karen's death as 1976.
http://www.edmontonpolice.ca/sitecore/media%20library/~/media/EPS%20External/Files/Reports/2007HomicideWorkloadAnalysis.ashx

I don't know which date is right and I think it makes a difference. For one, Easter was on April 18 in 1976 - whereas it was on March 30 in 1975.

This would bring the similarity count to Kelly Cook's murder way up.
Kelly was last seen April 22, three days after Easter, and on a Wednesday.
Karen was last seen on April 23, four days after Easter and on a Wednesday. Does the Wednesday after Easter Sunday have any significance in any religion?

The age range appears the same too for the suspect.
I wish we could get more details because these two might be related, same killer.

[Desespere]

I'm realizing that my assumption that Karen's murder is being investigated by Kare might be wrong. I can't remember now if they said they were investigating or if I heard Edmonton's STWs unsolved deaths go back to 1975. I'm wondering if there is another unsolved case from 1975 in Edmonton but we don't have information about her. I keep seeing all the reports in the paper starting with Gail Cardinal in 1983 but hearing 1975.

[Chris]

There must be more that they have not mentioned thus far. It would not surprise me either.

[oilers_4ever]

...Karen Ewanciw's name appears on the Missing/Murdered First Nations Women's site, does this mean Karen was First Nations? This site shows the date Karen's death as April 24, 1976. The Edmonton police site shows April 23, 1975. .
http://www.missingnativewomen.org/alberta.htm
No photo there of Karen either.

In this EPS report on Homicide issued in 2007, they also show Karen's death as 1976.
http://www.edmontonpolice.ca/sitecore/media%20library/~/media/EPS%20External/Files/Reports/2007HomicideWorkloadAnalysis.ashx

I don't know which date is right and I think it makes a difference. For one, Easter was on April 18 in 1976 - whereas it was on March 30 in 1975.

I recall this case very well. I moved to the Strathearn area of Edmonton in the summer of 1975 and went to school that fall with Karen Ewanciw's sister in Grade 9 at Strathearn Junior High School. So the date in April 1975 is correct, the Ewanciw family is of Ukrainian heritage so I don't know why her case is listed in the missingnativewomen.org site. She certainly was not a sex trade worker, I think she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I recall my friend taking me for a walk near McNally High School and showing me the location where they found her. Although McNally High was not the school she went to obviously, it was walking distance from the Strathearn area. Question is if she was walking in that area, there isn't anywhere to go at the end of the school yard grounds. You can only go into the river valley (golf course), or head into Forest Heights district. There were no pedestrian paths and developed parkland back then, like there is now, it was all foot paths through the wooded areas.

I always felt so sorry for her family and thought someday they might find her killer, I can't believe it has been 33 years. Then again, the case of my brother who was severely beaten in 1973 and although he lives he suffered permanent brain damage and the case has never been solved.

[waabzy]

So the date in April 1975 is correct, the Ewanciw family is of Ukrainian heritage so I don't know why her case is listed in the missingnativewomen.org site.

We received confirmation from family that her mother was of Cree Metis ancestry which is why Karen is on the website.

[Desespere]

Hi Waabzy,

Have you access to a picture of Karen at all?

[waabzy]

No I had asked the aunt who contacted me for one and never heard back. Her email address is now disconnected. Sorry.