Christine Jack Missing Dec 17, 1988 Winnipeg, Manitoba

[Edsonmom]

The Doe Network:
Case File 2408DFMB
 

Christine Jack
Missing since December 17, 1988 from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Classification: Endangered Missing



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Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: February 4, 1955
Age at Time of Disappearance: 33 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'8" (173 cm); 125 lbs (57 kg)
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Blonde hair; hazel eyes.
Clothing: Long cloth green coat, blue sweater, dark blue turtle neck T-shirt, blue jeans and white "Reebok" runners.


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Circumstances of Disappearance
Christine Jack was last seen on Saturday, December 17th, 1988.
She is believed to be deceased however her body has never been located.
In 1989, former Winnipeg Blue Bomber Brian Jack stood accused of murdering his wife Christine. The prosecution team won a conviction against him, but after three trials, numerous appeals and two appearances before the Supreme Court of Canada, that court entered a judicial stay of proceedings. Brian Jack is a free man even though he was convicted of manslaughter at his third trial.



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Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Winnipeg Police Service’s
Long Term Missing Persons Unit
204-986-6245
Email
Or Crime Stoppers
1-800-222-TIPS (8477)

Agency Case Number: MB30038 88-249753

[C_REX]

for anyone who has followed this case will know that pretty extensive searches took place near Ste.Anne Mb and back in 88 there were about 50 police side by side that actually searched the bush off the #1hwy by lilac and paradise village, well this search started at my uncles yard. Now today May 13  22yrs later my uncle came home to find a human skull on his front lawn that his dog brought home, living in this area my whole life and knowing about Christine Jack brings me to instantly think its hers but that is just my first thought. The Steinbach RCMP have picked up the remains and hopefully for the family and others this may be the piece to bring some closure.

Just guessing that there will be something on this matter on Steinbach online in the next couple days

[Sleuth]

Wow C-Rex! Thanks for the update. Let us all hope that maybe Christine's family will have partial closure if it is Christine. If not Christine then maybe another family will have some closure.

[C_REX]

 
There's quite a bit of police activity today in the area around Lilac Resort, just east of Ste. Anne. RCMP tell us it's part of an ongoing investigation and will not be making any further information available at this time.

    People we have spoken to in the area say it may be linked to the discovery of some old human remains.
Tags:


From Steinbach online, more remains have been found

[Chris]

Wow!

I guess some family is going to finally get some closure. I'll follow this story and see what the police discover.

[D1]

Someone needs to go take that dog for a walk!

[C_REX]

Lucy is the dog that discovered the remains. She will be on cky and global.

[D1]

Atta girl Lucy, wonder if she could lead someone back to the location where she found the skull?

[Concerned]

I didn't realize there was a book written on this case. Ran across a book seller's comments on a book retailer site

Seller Comments:
2001 Trade Paperback FINE First Edition Trade Paperback, 6" by 9", 194 pages, illustrated, foreword by the Honourable Justice Alfred M. Monnin. ---Written by the retired Chief Prosecutor for Winnipeg who prosecuted Brian Jack's first trial, this book takes the reader through all three of Jack's trials, numerous appeals and two appearances before the Supreme Court. Although convicted by a jury of manslaughter in the death of his wife Christine at his third trial, the former Winnipeg Blue Bomber is a free man as the result of a judicial stay of proceedings entered by the Supreme Court. Christine Jack went missing under mysterious circumstances in 1989, and her body has never been found. The author takes several of Canada's senior jurists to task over what he calls this "colossal miscarriage of justice. "

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/used/results.aspx?PEAN=9781896239767&USEDPAGETYPE=usedisbn&SZE=10&SRT=PD

[Concerned]

It appears Lucy did good. The authorities were able to find more remains and an autopsy is to be performed on Monday, according to this news article.   Some of the neighbors are also surmising it may be Ms. Jack, as one said there isn't any others missing in the area.  22 years. To read more:

http://www.globalwinnipeg.com/story.html?id=3033688

[Concerned]

It is inspiring to hear the police and the prosecutors dedicated to those left behind. Perhaps, maybe, they will get some answers soon for all their hard work and dedication. Maybe the family will find peace.

Bleeding behind the badge
Police officers who fail in their quest to see killers arrested, tried and convicted live with the sadness and shame of having let the victims down
By: Robert Marshall

27/02/2010 1:00 AMLoren Schinkel's been around the block more than a few times. He may be best known as the no-nonsense head of the Winnipeg Police Association, a job he held for multiple terms before taking a position with the province.
He also spent more than a decade investigating big cases.

Years ago, Schinkel promised himself that he would never abandon his duty to be the voice of the victim and that he'd do all in his power to find the evidence needed for a jury to properly visualize a murder victim's last moments.

Schinkel missed Christmas in 1988. He and his partner, Ed Paulishyn, were working the Christine Jack file. A devoted mother, loving daughter and dear friend to so many had vanished from the face of the Earth. Schinkel failed like the rest of us who worked the case because we never found her.

Christine had been reported missing on Dec. 17 by her husband, former Winnipeg Blue Bomber Brian Jack, after she supposedly took off in the family's yellow Chevrolet Blazer. From the outset it seemed fairly clear that she was not missing at all, that she'd been murdered.

Christine's marriage was in trouble, but she had decided to hold off separating until after Christmas. Perhaps for the sake of her husband, but more likely for her two small children, Adam and Kairsten.

While Jack stuck to his story that Christine had left in the vehicle never returned, an intense investigation offered something quite different.

Witnesses were found in Ste. Anne, where the bush begins and goes on forever and where finding anything would require a Herculean effort and a ton of luck. They identified a nervous Jack and the Blazer (with mechanical difficulties and in need of a tow) in the late evening at the small town's bar at the very time Christine and the Blazer had supposedly left for parts unknown.

The investigation heated up, but with no sign of Christine or the Blazer. Not until Jack himself -- using a phony name -- called the police, at 5:13 p.m. on Dec. 23, reporting the vehicle's whereabouts, at the Salisbury House at Fermor and St. Anne's Road.

Forensic officers found blood on the family couch and more hiding deep in the stuffing, some of which had been pulled out and thrown away. More blood was found in the cargo area of the recovered Blazer that Crown attorney Jack Montgomery later labelled a "canary-yellow hearse" used to deliver Christine "to her final resting place."

Forensics, documents and evidence from an extensive list of witnesses led to Jack being charged with Christine's murder.

Schinkel lived up to his pledge and spoke for Christine throughout the investigation and trial. And he gave his unending support to her parents, Stephan and Veletei Reiter, who didn't deserve what justice would ultimately serve up.

The Reiters are lovely people from Westfield, N.J. They leaned on Schinkel's half-mile-wide shoulders while he shepherded them through the unexplainable for nine years. Three trials and three appeals were heard before a final word from the Supreme Court of Canada in 1997.

The sterile outcome can still stun anyone with an ounce of common sense.

Judicial errors had led to the appeals, including the last one. The high court's final word was that a new trial was in order, but in a split decision, it agreed with Jack, who argued that he'd been through enough and he just wanted the whole thing to end.

And that was it. The O.J.-like case ended, and Jack walked away. The Reiters were devastated. Prosecutor Montgomery later wrote that he "wanted to vomit."

And Schinkel's family took stock of the toll the process had taken on him.

Anyone who knows Schinkel knows he's all business. His investment in this case was great, his dedication to the Reiters unquestioned. His pursuit of a just outcome was strong and sure. He had very good reason to be confident in his investigation.
His family was witness to the price he paid -- the anguish and disappointment -- after nine years of work and what many see as a gross wrong that can never be fixed.

He worked many other cases before, during and after the Jack case, but it's clear that after more than 20 years, this case still gnaws at his insides. He talks about it like it was yesterday and is frustrated that he's never been able to deliver some semblance of closure to a still-grieving family who sorely miss their mother, daughter and friend.

He continues his valued relationship with the Reiters despite the vast distance that separate them. They even visit at his cottage.
In spite of it all, Schinkel's enthusiasm for life is as strong as ever.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/bleeding-behind-the-badge-85647247.html
 

[Chris]

So if this turns out to be her, can the try him again?

I sure hope so. It must suck badly to think you got away with a murder and then 22 years later you're screwed.

[C_REX]

Thats what I wonder also, he was charged with manslaughter and did no jail time and cant be tried again, so what I wonder is if he cant be tried for manslaughter could he be tried for murder if these are Christine's remains? What a bad dog jumping the fence and leaving the yard

[bjgroupie]

   This is some news. I am familiar with the Jack case and have read the book written by the prosecuting attorney.  I intend to follow this one.

[Concerned]

Whose bones?
Speculation over remains include Christine Jack; cops don’t know
By CHRIS KITCHING, WINNIPEG SUN
Last Updated: May 17, 2010 9:28pm

Speculation is rampant about the identity of human remains found in the Ste. Anne area last week but RCMP are cautioning people not to jump to conclusions.

The grisly discovery has some wondering whether the bones are those of Christine Jack, a Winnipeg woman who famously disappeared almost 22 years ago, but police say the person’s identity isn’t known and might not be known for some time.

The speculation and assumption the remains belong to one person in particular are just that, said RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Line Karpish. Karpish said investigators might confirm the person’s identity in days or weeks.

“The identification step can be a long process,” she said.

The pace of the investigation is largely dependent on whether a DNA sample or dental records — two common means to identifying remains — are readily available for the person. The sex might be known sooner, Karpish said.

An autopsy was scheduled Monday and police are hoping it will shed light on several things, including the cause of death and the age of the remains.

The bones were found in a wooded area along a gravel road off the Trans-Canada Highway in the Rural Municipality of Ste. Anne on Thursday. The location is about 35 km east of Winnipeg.

“My understanding is the bones were found above the ground,” Karpish said.

The property owner’s dog discovered a human skull, so he contacted RCMP. A search and rescue team conducted a comprehensive search and located additional remains, RCMP said.

Karpish wouldn’t say if identification was found with or near the remains.

Jack went missing in December 1988 and is believed to be dead, although her body has never been found.

Police searched an area around Ste. Anne after the 33-year-old mother of two was reported missing because someone reported seeing the vehicle she shared with her husband, former Winnipeg Blue Bombers player Brian Jack.

Brian Jack was charged with her slaying and tried three times. After appeals and appearances before the Supreme Court of Canada he walked away a free man despite being convicted of manslaughter at his third trial.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/manitoba/2010/05/17/13985546.html