OTTAWA — On July 16, 1980, Dale Nancy Wyman left her Ottawa-area home with a suitcase full of her belongings, took a taxi to a Greyhound bus station and vanished. She didn’t say where she was going and her family had no idea where to look.
More than four decades later, a woman from Ohio contacted Wyman’s siblings, who had never stopped looking for her. She had seen a video of Wyman’s younger sister, Brenda Larche, asking for information to help the family find peace and closure, and realized the woman Larche was looking for was her mother.
Wyman built a life in Ohio, had a family, and had died only a couple of months earlier.
“When they sent me the pictures, I almost fell over. There was no doubt in my mind it was Dale Wyman,” said private investigator Linda Davidson.
Ottawa police published a news release on Wednesday saying Wyman’s case had been resolved after someone came forward to report she had been living outside Canada and recently died. Police declined to comment further.
Davidson got involved in the missing persons case around three years ago. The retired RCMP officer is now the director of MUCCI, which stands for Murdered Unidentified Cold Case Investigations. It’s a group of mostly retired police officers and investigators who dedicate their time to trying to solve cold cases.
“When I work a case like this and I talk with the families, I make it a point to say, ‘This may not be an upbeat, successful ending to this story,’” she said.
Davidson started by following up on a tip that someone in Wyman’s family got a call in the late 1980s from a hospital in Saskatoon, searching for relatives of a person in their care.
She contacted the coroner’s office, funeral homes and hospitals in the area but months of searching failed to turn up any unclaimed bodies or anonymous graves that fit.
“I remember saying to my team, ‘This is just too crazy. Where did she go? She didn’t just disappear. Somebody knows something, some way, somehow,’” she said.
Davidson also got in touch with Ottawa police investigators, and said she talked to them about ways to advance the case: making a public plea, releasing updated sketches of what Wyman may look like.
Police released age-progressed sketches in May 2021, and Larche released a video asking for information.
On Dec. 16, 2021, Larche joined a live chat on Facebook with Davidson’s investigators, who use social media and online genealogy tools to try and spread the word of their searches. They also began looking in the United States, particularly in New Hampshire.
“To see if anybody with her descriptors had passed away with the name Dale, Nancy, or Gail or Wyman — we were looking for anything,” Davidson said.
And then the call came from Ohio.
Through her interviews with the family Davidson said she learned Wyman’s father was abusive and she wanted to leave home.
“Back 25, 30 years ago for Dale Wyman, there was no place to go. There was nobody to talk to,” she said.
“It broke my heart, you know. But they’re a good family, they now have closure, plus they have her children and her family, which is amazing.”
Wyman was an extremely private person, Davidson said, and her family is asking for privacy.
“They’re struggling as it is to accept what happened and missing seeing her within two months.”
As for MUCCI, Davidson estimates her group is working on around 100 cold cases. They don’t always get the co-operation of local police, “And I don’t understand why,” she said. “Let people work with it, let us bring closure to the families.”
But the investigators are keen to share their training and expertise.
“It’s a real gift to share with people,” she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2022.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
