Verna Susan Bjerky -- Missing Since May 2nd, 1982

Missing Person: Verna Susan Bjerky

Details from a government source (might be paraphrased): On May 2nd, 1981, Verna Bjerky was seen for the last time hitchhiking from Hope to Kamloops, British Columbia. She carried roller skates over her shoulder and was seen getting into a vehicle with a lone occupant. Verna has not been seen or heard from since.

Last contact: A local boy saw her on May 2nd, 1981 (Saturday) at about 4 PM. Presumably, this was the person who saw her enter a vehicle. A friend of Verna's had seen her at about 1 PM in nearby Hope, BC.

Last location: Yale, BC is often listed as her last-known location, however, most of the early journalism suggested she was seen closer to Hope, BC, on the edge of town near the Trans Canada Highway.

Age when Verna Susan Bjerky disappeared: 16 (near her 17th birthday but she was 16 when last seen)

DOB: May 10th, 1981

Sex: Female

Height in Inches: 61-62

Weight in pounds (lbs): 110 - 115

Ethnicity: White/Caucasian

Hair color: Long blonde hair with short bangs

Eye Color: Hazel

Scar or distinctive characteristic: Gap between front teeth, scar on her left rib cage

Mother: Clare Chrane

Clothing and articles: $7 (there were no loonies or twoonies at that time in Canadian history), a handbag, a leather coat, blue denim pants, a red shirt with white flowers, a grey cotton sweatshirt, canvas brown "North Star" shoes, a blue and red cotton vest, and she carried rollerskates (these skates had her name on them "Verna Bjerky"). She may have had a knife as a friend claimed she gave her one the day she disappeared.

August 14th, 1997. The Vancouver Sun.

Her rollerskates and purse appear to have been found in or near the Freaser River near Highway 7. I think that the date they were found was October 19th, 1981.

Link to Government Source (Canada's Missing): 2014001314 (right click to open)

Websleuths discussion page: Verna Susan Bjerky (right click to open)

BMI means body mass index. It is meant to describe someone's healthy body weight relative to their height. It is only food for thought because it does not account for all body types.

Verna Susan Bjerky had a BMI of 20.78. She was at a healthy weight by BMI standards at the time of her disappearance.

Commentary and Research

By: Shane Lambert 

Original time of writing: February 5th, 2025

Has Verna Susan Bjerky been found?

Verna Susan Bjerky has been missing since Saturday, May 2nd, 1981. She's among the missing people in North America who were last seen hitchhiking. Verna's missing person case had a lot of journalism, both back in the 1980s and even journalism coverage from 2024. I will review the details of her case as per the journalism that covered it.

The first newspaper clipping that I found that pertained to this case was a classified advertisement. Someone placed an ad in the Vancouver Sun on May 20th, 1981. This would have been eighteen days after Verna was last seen. If I am not mistaken, someone who cared about her wanted to find a clue to what happened to her by locating the roller skates that she had with her. The classified ad below appeared in the "Lost" column.

 

The first instance of journalism I found appeared on May 27th, 1981 in The Hope Standard. The town of Hope is located a couple of hours east of Vancouver. According to this article, the last person to see her was a local boy who saw her leaving Hope and walking toward the Trans Canada Highway. Based on this, you would think she would have been last seen within a couple kilometers of these coordinates: 49.39163243453994, -121.46069332795696. 

There was a bus strike wtih Greyhound that made the young woman reliant on hitchhiking for transportation. She was planning on going to Kamloops for one day to visit her boyfriend.

Her chosen route might strike some as strange. Most people who travel from Hope to Kamloops might take the No. 5 highway, known as the Coquihalla Highway. However, this highway was not completed until later in the 1980s. If you are looking at modern maps, then picture the highways without the No. 5 route.

In the journalism from 1981, Verna's case was often mentioned in conjunction with numerous other missing children (whether younger or teenagers).

In journalism after 1981, the name "Clifford Olson" is often mentioned in conjunction with Verna Susan Bjerky. Olson, who died in 2011, was a Canadian serial killer who focused on killing children. Verna disappeared during a small time frame when Olson was on a rampage in the region.

A friend of Verna's claimed that she and Verna had hitched a ride together in late April 1981 and that Clifford Olson was the driver. There was the suggestion that Olson tried to poison or drug each of them but failed (the friend, Cathy Lamberton, felt like peanuts they were gifted might have been tampered with). They were dropped off in Kamloops, BC safe and sound. Based on this, if Verna's path crossed with Olson's on May 2nd, she might have accepted a ride from him, with some comfort, based on her safe passage in an earlier trip.

Commentary and Opinion

That Verna's friend claimed that they had survived an encounter with Clifford Olson in the days before the disappearance probably is not a coincidence. I think she likely did meet up with him again while hitchhiking and that it cost her her life.

As for finding her, I think it might be futile if her body was dumped into the Fraser River. Her belongings were found near this river and it is the longest river in British Columbia. With the force of the river and flooding, something as small as a human body can end up anywhere in the region. Furthermore, the shifting of sediment could bury a body such that only a change geological event would reveal it.

If she ended up somewhere else, then the gap in her teeth is a clue. This can be cross-referenced to any Jane Doe descriptions.

The last thing I wanted to mention with this case is just how the strike involving Greyhound bus lines played a role. It's enough to suggest that bus line transportation in Canada should be considered an essential service as it's infinitely safer to be a bus than hitchhiking.

The Province. February 26th, 1981.