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

[len]

I am Karen's Niece, My Mom was Laurie. And it was tragic when it happened and it was hard to watch when it was brought up 30 years later. although I was not there. we talked about it alot. not just what happened, about who she was and how important she was to those who cared. We are both Ukrainian and Metis Heritage, not to mention a fair few others. Her My mother, and Aunt and her friend were supposed to do flyer's. My mom and Aunt ditched and were gonna meet up with the two younger ones, in an hour or so. Karen and her friend, went to burn flyer's in the ravine. and even though she has no headstone she is with my mother and Aunt and they are loved all the same.

[Desespere]

Welcome Len.

Thank you for posting and letting us know a little more about Karen.

It is the marker in your heart that matters, not the stone laid. Karen is in all our hearts too and we are all hoping her case will be solved soon.
Take good care.

[SAP]

My first thoughts on the downfill jacket and rubber gloves was DNA also. Does anyone know whether the Police kept that evidence for just in case, and if they did, why not extract samples for DNA testing? My impression of cold cases was that all material found near a murdered victim would be kept under lock and key until such time as needed for trial and especially now with the methods of testing available...many cases should be easier to solve.

[Desespere]

I certainly hope they kept all evidence, and maybe they will reopen the case and look at the gloves and jacket in a new way, if they bagged and tagged them that is. I hope, I hope and if a family member contacted police in Edmonton to ask about new testing of stored evidence, then maybe the police will do whatever they can to extract dna from stuff and see if it leads them to a suspect.

It may be hard to prove the jacket and gloves were from the crime, but if they hold Karen's dna and another dna, that's conviction.

[Maxwell]

Karen - I keep checking this site and know that as we go into a New Year you will not be forgotten as my friend. My blessings go out to your family and pray that someday we will find the answers to the questions we still have here on earth. Rest now and know that you will always be remembered.

[BCID]

Info for Karen I recently dug up.

11 year-old Karen Ewanciw's badly-beaten body was found Thursday, April 24, 1975.

Karen and a friend went for a walk late wednesday on the 23rd, just a few blocks from the Ewanciw home located in east-central Edmonton. Both girls had become aware that one, possibly, two men were following them. Karen's friend became frightened and ran home. Karen disappeared Wednesday at roughly 5pm. When Karen failed to come home Wednesday evening, the police were alerted.

Karen's body was found the next day by three boys playing on their lunch break. Karen was located only a few yards from a well-used footpath along the North Saskatchewan river. Karen was clad in only a blouse, one sock and a shoe.
Karen was virtually beaten beyond recognition and had been sexually assaulted. Her father positively identified her only because she was still wearing her older sister's ring. Karen's father, a foundry worker, described his daughter as a good student who liked art.

The police were looking to speak to a man who was seen in the area Wednesday night. He was described as a white male, roughly 25 years, 180 - 190 lbs., 6'0" with dark hair.

The City Police Comission at the time offered a $2,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder. Eventually a reward fund was established. The reward reached over $14,000 after a car dealership owner pledged $10,000.

A jacket found in the area where Karen's body was located was described as a green quilted ski jacket with a tear on the left sleeve. The right sleeve has a crest bearing the name "National Truck Drivers' Association" and the inscription "Courtesy and Safety". The crest has blue trim and red lettering on a white background.

Shortly after Karen's body was found, two girls reported a nude man in a ravine below 83rd Street and Jasper Avenue. It was in an area directly across the river from the body site. The two girls said the man called them over but they ran away. It was told to the police, the nude man had been spotted carrying an axe.

On May 1st, the media said the police found a make-shift lean-to in the riverbank area. The riverbank was a known stop-over for transients looking for a single night of rest.

In August of 1975, police were questioning David William Threinen (27 years old) of the murder. At the time he was a truck driver and a former resident of Lethbridge.

[Desespere]

I wonder if the EPS still have the jacket and if they tested it for DNA. I have in my database that a pair of rubber gloves were also found near the jacket but there's no mention of that in the jacket.

Description of the killer:
Age 25
6'0"
180-190lbs
Dark hair

Assuming the description came from Karen's friend, a child, it is possible the age could vary, say 25-35 years old. No mention of mustache, or beard so clean shaven, might be a bit older than 25.

David Threinen was questioned after he was arrested for the four murders of children in Saskatchewan in August 1975. He was never charged and since he admits to his guilt and has said he should stay in jail, I have to assume he would have admitted to killing Karen, but one never really knows. My thoughts are he is not Karen's killer, even though he was a truck driver at the time. If Threinen wanted parole i can understand him keeping this to himself but he has asked not to be paroled, so I think he's not the killer.

The description of Karen's killer seems similar to other descriptions of killers in that time and before. I'll make a list of links to others where the description appears, 6'0", 180-190lbs, age 25-35 or so, dark hair.

[Desespere]

I was looking through my database at suspect descriptions and I don't have very many listed prior to 1975.

But one thing caught my eye.
Sharron Prior's family member has a website for her with articles posted about Sharron's murder. From the time of her abduction when she was last seen at 7:15pm on her way to a pizzeria, a woman was attacked in the same area. She was attacked in the middle of Wellington Street, which is the street the pizzeria Sharron was going was located about 7:00pm. This is 15 minutes before Sharron left her home five blocks away. She describes her attacker as about 29 years of age, 6'0" tall and about 200lbs. He had dark hair, blue eyes and a squared-off mustache. He was wearing blue jeans with rolled up cuffs, a blue ski jacket and black pointy toed shoes. He was run off by a 12 year-old boy who heard the woman's screams and ran toward the attacker yelling. The man jumped high and ran off. The woman was cut and thrown and went to a local home to phone police.

I gather this is included on Sharron's website because of the proximity in location and time to Sharron's abduction and her family feels it is related. Beside Sharron's body, police found a size 17 neck, 34" arms white shirt which indicates the suspect is about 6' tall the same height as the woman's attacker.

The reason I post this here is because of the similarities between Sharron and Karen's murder. This tentative/possible suspect appears to match the description of Karen's killer.

Dark hair - Karen and woman attacked
Blue eyes - woman attacked
6'0" tall - All three (+/- 2")
190lbs - Karen and woman attacked (+/- 10lbs)
Ski jacket - Karen and woman attacked (Karen - green ski jacket - woman attacked - blue ski jacket)
Jeans - woman attacked
25 years-old - Karen and woman attacked - (Karen 25 - woman attacked - 29)
Item of clothing found near body - Karen and woman attacked (Karen - green ski jacket - Sharron - white shirt)

Another very interesting similarity is both Karen and Sharron were found with no pants or panties on. They were both wearing tops and socks and shoes (Karen only one shoe and sock) Sharron's bottoms were found about 6 feet from her body and I do not know if police found Karen's other sock and shoe, bottoms or jacket.
Both Karen and Sharron were traumatically beaten, they both died from head trauma/skull fractures. They were both sexually assaulted, both had an item of clothing not theirs found near their bodies, they were both found with the same clothes missing, they were both found in relative easy access areas, they were both abducted from walking.

The other similarity is the murders happened within three weeks of each other. But 3,000 miles apart. They were abducted during dinner hours - between 5-7:15pm. Sharron was abducted the day before Easter, on a Saturday. Karen, a Thursday three weeks later. Both were within 2 days of a full moon, both were on significant occult dates. Many similarities.
There are differences too, like it is likely Sharron's killer drove a car, police have a tire track mark as well as a shoe print. The tire tread is a new Goodyear tire which might point to the type of car. What is a bit troublesome is the shoe print indicates a size 8-1/2 shoe. The police said in the article that the shirt indicates a 6'0" tall guy due to size of shirt, but then a year later the article says the killer was probably a "heavy" person. Large shirt (neck size) but smaller shoe. A 5'8" person maybe, 200lbs, size 8-1/2 shoe, does that make sense?

The shoe size is a discrepancy to the original possible description of 6'0" based on shirt size.
Here's the link to Sharron's record on Unsolved
http://www.unsolvedcanada.ca/index.php/topic,262.0.html
and the website her family member put up
http://www.sharronprior.com/