Occasionally media catches a 'cold case' angle that is strangely interesting, like recently, when the mad trapper of Rat River made the news again. The case was revived this summer on CTV NEWS because it continues as an unknown identity case once was a major sensation. In Jan/Feb '32 an alleged US fugitive became a cop-killer tentatively identified as Albert Johnson.
Johnson exploded without much provocation on other Yukon trappers during the first winter he was there, and trappers were ranging near his cabin with complaints about Johnson stealing animals from the traps. A conflict began when the RCMP went to investigate and an amazing chase across a frozen winter landscape lasted five weeks, beginning when the police tried to dynamite him out of his bunker-style abode, and he escaped to wander into the wilderness and attempt his getaway.
Johnson's desperate bid to escape was futile for no other reason than Wilbert "Wop" May flew into the area to hunt for him. This was Wop May's terra familiara, and Wop May had already become a living legend as an aviation pioneer of bush pilot flying. Edmontonian and Canadian WWI aviator Wop May was the first and possibly most indefatigable search and rescue aviator in the history of northern Canadian criminal investigation.
The recent news angle this summer failed to mention there was no chase for the mad trapper without Wop May who knew the northeastern Yukon. And it is northern Canadians who realize the enormity of the task, given the season, for this was the depth of winter when there is no daylight up there.
These are Wop May's own words, ". . . everything is white (snow) and it was very hard to pick up anything, you couldn’t pick up his tracks, although we did see some of his tracks, very few of them. His tracks could be seen in one place tonight and then tomorrow morning they would be seen 20 or 30 miles away."
May added, the mad trapper, "travelled that distance in one night," and said, ". . . we looked and looked and we flew low over every inch of the country that he could be, we were hoping he would fire at us, he wouldn’t have hit us anyway, but we wanted him to disclose his position, but he was too wise for that, he wouldn’t do it. "
May said the fugitive finally tried ranging back and forth over the Yukon - NWT border, "Over there he had a hard time and he was slowing down, you could see where he was slowing down from his tracks, from the stops his made and from his tracks, he was not going straight."
Johnson was, "fooling us actually, I’ll tell you about this, he was using the Caribou trail, running along the centre of the river, the Caribou are by the hundreds of thousands there and when they start making a trail and going someplace it’s just like pigs, they have a regular sidewalk. He had taken his snowshoes off and was following this Caribou trail so that we couldn’t trace him, track him."
Wop May the intrepid airborne scout, finally having daylight to work with, said, "I did notice though that one place he had gone up to camp at the side of the river. He was then on the Eagle River."
The mad trapper was cornered by a large squad led by RCMP Inspector Alex Eames. May explained, "We were up on top and circling, watching the fight and taking pictures of it. I then saw, during the fight, that one man was hit, he was laying by his dog team and he had been hit so I came around the bend of the river and came up to him and picked him up and started back home. He was badly hit."
May saved the wounded Mr. Hersey by flying him to a doctor in Aklavik, "Well, that was it, we went back then and we picked up the some of the police and picked up Johnson and brought him back to Aklavik." May concluded, "They never found out who this chap Johnson was, whatever his name was," so, "they just buried him at Aklavik.”
Actual cold cases have a less whimsical side because people cherish members of families from generation to generation, and it all begins with thoughts of where we came and where we are going. When someone is deliberately exterminated, somebody else, and usually a few of them, want to know the details. Everybody does this. That's the non-whimsical side of cold case investigations.
These are a few examples of current RCMP Cold Case files:
Cold case: Sep 03 96 Jane JOHNSON and her daughter Cathryn were murdered in their home on the evening of and the culprit(s) set fire to the residence in an effort to conceal the crime.
Cold case: Oct 17 93, at approximately 9:30 a.m. the body of a 19 year old Jennifer CUSWORTH was discovered in a ditch off a private driveway on Swamp Road which is located in a rural area of Kelowna, BC.
Cold case: Jun 20 91, at approximately 8:30 AM, Shawna VANDERBASCH’s naked body was discovered beside a rural road approximately 4.5 kilometers from the Priddis turnoff north of Highway 22X. The location is south west of Calgary within the Turner Valley RCMP Detachment jurisdiction.
Cold case: Dec 30 90 both Dolores PALMER, and Alfred PALMER (related not married) were found at the rear entrance to the farmhouse, having been shot with a .410 shotgun. Dolores was pronounced dead at the scene while Alfred was airlifted to Calgary, Alberta. Alfred died at the hospital the following day
Cold case: Feb 26 77 the fully-clothed, strangled body of Barbara MACLEAN was discovered by a man walking his dog along a gravel road near 80th Avenue and 6th Street N.E, just north of the Calgary, Alberta City limits.
Cold case: Investigators believe the above case is connected to the unsolved homicide of Melissa Ann REHOREK which occurred near Calgary, Alberta on Sep 16 77
There are a number of others on the RCMP site. (It should be noted that even a random selection of cases produced this shocking imbalance of women cases. There are male victims in cold case files but far fewer than women.)
Cold case investigations of today work with a dramatic increase in forensic science capacity, and in recent years the news has been combined with availability of sagacious elder (often retired and volunteer) detectives who share time and expertise in reopening long-dormant investigations.
Investigators say their jobs depend on timing; the sooner a body is found after the murder the better a chance of solving the crime. In fact, police say "a case that is not solved or that lacks significant leads and witness participation within the first 72 hours has least likelihood of being solved," and they note this is, "regardless of the expertise and resources deployed."
Cases that go cold sooner are usually gang- and drug-related; immigrant, transient, and homeless or unidentified people; unclassified deaths; and others. Sometimes it is a matter of police resources spread too thin but communities suffer if cold cases start to add up to emboldened criminals.
Duties of cold case squads vary but almost all work in unsolved homicides or suspected homicides, sometimes where leadership in an investigation has departed. Squads are designed with various configurations of personnel, from single full-time investigator to complex interdepartmental task forces,
People in these squads usually have seniority, interviewing and interrogation skills, strong research ability, and other important traits, like patience, creativity, persistence, and strong motivation. Squads will be formed with a supervisor from homicide plus a supervisor of daily operations then investigators, and external resources.
Squads may facilitate training, and the cold case work itself offers motivating factors like day shifts, more salary, higher rank, and separate offices. Obviously the size of staff determines the scope of operations.
Cold cases are those of at least a year old and presently being unworked by original homicide squad. Cases are referred by homicide departments, and cold case supervisors decide which cases are put to task. Also, Crown prosecutors may reopen cold cases or initiate investigations from within solicitor generals offices.
The more evidence is available the higher the priority, for cold case squads work first on cases that appear to be solvable. Cases with lowest priority have no physical evidence or witnesses available to identify a suspect.
If the major suspect in a cold case, one with probable cause, dies or goes to prison for life, a cold case becomes a closed case. A case can be closed either through arrest of suspect or administrative decision.
