258 on B.C.’s missing children list
CASES NEVER CLOSED: Public urged to be more proactive and assist the search when an alert goes out
While four-year-old Michael Dunahee’s disappearance from a Victoria school playground 25 years ago gripped the city, province and country as one of Canada’s most recognized missing child cases, his story is, tragically, one of hundreds.
According to RCMP data, there are 258 cases of missing persons under the age of 17 across B.C. Some have been missing 30 days, while others have been missing for months, years, even decades. The cases date as far back as 1949 and are as recent as February of this year. All 258 cases remain active.
Nine of those missing, including Michael, were likely abducted by strangers. The others fall into different categories, such as “runaway,” “accidental,” or “parental abduction.”
“I don’t know that you can imagine anything worse to have than a missing child,” said Christy Dzikowicz, of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, which works closely with the families of missing children, including the Dunahees. “There isn’t a grieving process ... very often you don’t see families stay together.
“It creates an enormous amount of stress. How do you tell a parent that it’s time to move on with their life? It’s just a completely different type of trauma.”
Dzikowicz has yet to meet a parent who has given up hope.
“It’s the rest of us that need to keep that hope alive,” she said. “We all need to have the expectation that we’re going to find these kids — it doesn’t matter how long it takes.”
While social media has made it easier with shareable alerts on Facebook and mobile devices, the public needs to be more proactive, she said. If an alert goes out, Dzikowicz suggests to “check your area,” and search your backyard, or hop in your car to take a look around the neighbourhood.
For more information, and to view a database of Canada’s missing children, visit missingkids.ca.
Still missing
Joanne Marie Pederson It’s been 33 years since Joanne Marie Pederson vanished after getting locked out of her parents’ Chilliwack home.
She was last seen using a pay phone at the Penny Pincher Store near the corner of Vedder Road and Watson Road on Feb. 19, 1983. At the time of her disappearance she was 10 years old, had shoulder-length light brown hair and brown eyes. Today she would be 43. Casey Bohun Delta toddler Casey Rose Bohun disappeared from her North Delta home 26 years ago.
According to past news reports, the three-year-old’s mother, Barbara Bohun, claimed Casey was sleeping in her bed around 6 a.m. Aug. 5, 1989, but vanished later that morning.
Police failed to determine what happened, but authorities believed it was possible she was abducted and living somewhere else in Canada or the U.S.
Her mother and stepfather separated and Barbara Bohun later committed suicide in 2001. Lindsey Nicholls Comox Valley’s Lindsey Nicholls vanished nearly 23 years ago.
The 14-year-old was last seen walking down a country road on Aug. 2, 1993. She left her temporary foster home and was headed to Courtenay to visit friends.
At the time, she was described as 5-foot-3, 113 pounds, with long blond hair and green eyes. She would be 37 today.
While investigators have received hundreds of tips over the years, including some possible sightings, none have been substantiated.
In a 2003 article, Nicholls’ mother, Judy Peterson, said not knowing her daughter’s fate is like an “open wound.”
Anyone with information can call the Missing Children Society of Canada at 1-800-661-6160 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.