Uncovering Missing Persons Cases in British Columbia, Canada
Every year, thousands of individuals are reported as missing persons in Canada, with British Columbia (BC) being a focal point for active investigations. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) diligently maintains a comprehensive list of missing persons cases in BC, shedding light on individuals who have vanished under various circumstances.
These cases, ranging from recent disappearances to ongoing searches, highlight the urgency of public awareness in locating missing individuals in Canada. The BC RCMP Missing Persons page serves as a critical resource, providing detailed updates on active investigations to aid in recovery efforts.
The table below summarizes the latest missing persons in British Columbia, sourced directly from the BC RCMP Missing Persons page, last updated on August 14th, 2025. This official source often includes photographs and additional details to assist in identification. For families and communities, these cases underscore the importance of collective action in addressing Canada’s missing persons crisis. Explore the table for key details, and visit the RCMP website for more information, including images of the missing.
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)
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.
Missing person: Michael Wayne Dunahee Last-contact date: March 24th, 1991 at about 1230pm; reports surfaced in 2022 of a woman named Norma seeing him twice later that day. It's hard to know what to treat as accurate in situations like these, but the 1230pm time is not disputed.
Last seen: Victoria, British Columbia on Vancouver Island
It is not disputed that he was at the Blanshard Elementary School playground. The school is no longer there but was at 950 Kings Road and the now-gone playground is on the southwest side of the lot. I would say these Google Maps coordinates are close to the abduction point: 48.437708, -123.360528. Street views on Google Maps only go back to 2009.
The second sighting is taken much more lightly. But it would place him in the custody of a woman 18-25 at a back alley near Wark Street, a little later in the day. Wark Street is a very short road in Victoria extending just two blocks from north to south (Google Maps: Wark Street's northern tip). Wark Street forms a T-intersection at the school on Kings Road.
Sex: Male Age at time of disappearance: 4 years old Hair: Blonde, short Eye color: Blue Height and weight at the time of disappearance: 3'0" and 51 pounds Clothing: White Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt, colorful rugby pants, blue canvas sneakers, blue cloth jacket with red lining and red cuffs.
Not the actual clothes.Grok's response to my request for an image of the clothing as described above.
Michael Dunahee: One of Canada's Best Known Missing Person's Cases
Few missing person cases in Canada's history have generated as much lasting interest as the case of Michael Dunahee. If you, the reader, are among the contingent of people who will undoubtedly look back at the case in March, when the anniversary comes, remember to take a moment to look at the composite sketches and the drawing of the van that Michael was thought to have been lured into.
A young child (ten years old) said she saw Michael go into a vehicle. This is a witness whose insight into what happened that day can be debated. Children are frivolous and they never make great witnesses. However, there were multiple witnesses who claimed that they saw the brown van, according to a 2022 news article (Hana Nae Nassar/March 8th, 2022/CityNews).
In fact, the Wikipedia page for Michael's disappearance says that there were no witnesses. I think that shows that some discount the child-witness.
In mentioning it, I am not saying it should be taken as fact, but, for me, I think that the child-witness should still be mentioned as food for thought and awareness. So many years have passed since the disappearance that there can't be any harm in keeping an open mind.
Thu, Mar 24, 2011 – 1 · Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) · Newspapers.com
Child's Drawing of the Suspect Vehicle
The picture of the van that the young girl drew does not look like that common of a vehicle model. The drawing of the van looks like a small bus or a vehicle that would be used for services like airport transfers.
By my research (from 2021), the vehicle would resemble the Chevrolets in the "P30" and/or "step van" series. These vehicles were on the road in 1991 and seemed to go back several decades with new models hitting the market perhaps annually.
The following is an enlargement of the picture that the girl drew.
The full-length door on the side is the biggest clue as to the model in my opinion. While I couldn't find a great non-copyrighted photo, I recommend that the reader go to Google Images and search for "Chevrolet P30 step-van" and then look at the models from 1991 and prior. My top guess for the year, make, and model would be a 1981 Chevrolet P30 Grumman Step Van.
Grok 'Thinks' It IS a 1981 Chevy Step Van
In 2025, I ran the picture through Grok, which is X's artificial intelligence. When I asked what vehicle it was, Grok first stated that it was a 1991 Chrysler Town and Country Minivan. However, I think I had inadvertently limited it to 1991 when I said it was a 1991 drawing.
I decided to ask directly if the vehicle was a Chevrolet Step Van and got the following answer:
"Based on the analysis, the drawing is most likely of a Chevrolet Step Van, possibly from the mid-20th century, given its boxy shape, three-side-window configuration, and wood-like appearance, which may reflect artistic shading or custom features. While other vehicles like minivans or station wagons were considered, the utilitarian design and forward-control layout align most closely with a step van. This identification reflects the era's use of step vans for delivery and the possibility of custom modifications, fitting the drawing's 1991 creation date as a nostalgic or artistic representation."
For the record, my opinion that it was a Chevy Step Van predated my entry into Grok by four years as the original publication date is February 13th, 2021 for this blog post. I also asked if it was a 1981 Chevrolet P30 Grumman Step Van, which has been my top guess for the last four years, and Grok answered in the affirmative.
"Based on the analysis, the drawing is most likely of a 1981 Chevrolet P30 Grumman Step Van, possibly with custom features like additional windows, given its boxy shape, three-side-window configuration, and wood-like appearance, which may reflect artistic shading or modifications. While other vehicles like minivans or station wagons were considered, the utilitarian design and forward-control layout align most closely with a step van. This identification reflects the era's use of step vans for delivery and the possibility of custom modifications, fitting the drawing's 1991 creation date as a nostalgic or artistic representation."
As a control, I asked if the drawing was of a Volkswagen Beetle, an airplane, or a school bus. Grok answered in the negative, an indicator that the software behind the AI is not just spitting out answers in a biased way. Instead, Grok suggested that it was a step van or minivan.
"Based on the analysis, the drawing is most likely not a Volkswagen Beetle, an airplane, or a school bus. It seems to depict a van or small truck, possibly a step van or minivan, with a boxy shape, two windows, and a wood-like appearance, which doesn't align with the typical features of the given options. An unexpected detail is that the drawing might represent a customized vehicle, not fitting standard categories, which wasn't among the choices but fits the description better."
I'm not sure what the wood-like appearance meant, except that the color is brown. AI is always just food for thought. File it under "take it or leave it" but I think the chance that the vehicle is of a Chevy Step Van should be noted by anyone interested in this case.
Real-life Footage or Photos of Chevy Step Vans
As far as usable photos go (ie. the photographer allows his/her photo to be used), I found the following. Firstly, I embedded a video below of a 1982 model from Youtube.
The picture below is of a 1997 Chevrolet P30. This is a model that came into the market several years after Dunahee's 1991 disappearance. It was hard to find a user-friendly picture of the models that I wanted to use, which is why I used the 1997 model.
But the earlier models had that long door that you see in the child's drawing. I think it's that feature that is most credible in the drawing, along with the color of the vehicle. The disappearance happened in the early afternoon, and color is easier for the human eye to detect at midday.
Furthermore, the front windows are viewable when taking a side-longed view of the vehicle. This is the kind of vehicle that you might expect to be camperized, used as a food truck, or used for roadside lodging. To me, it suggests that the person who abducted Dunahee was transient or lodged in campgrounds RV parks.
There was an alleged Dunahee sighting in New Jersey in the weeks after Michael disappeared. A shopper at a convenience store named Harry Krusch claimed he saw Michael on April 4th, 1991 in a place called Maple Shade, New Jersey.
An article with the composite sketch of the man who was allegedly in Michael's company is below. I will say that I never really thought much of this alleged sighting of Michael. However, it's also important to remain open-minded. Note, that the composite sketch involved with this alleged sighting is of a black man while the former sketch was of a white person.
Ethnicity/Race: White Sex: Male Age at time of disappearance: 33 years old
Birthdate: August 20th, 1962 Hair: Short, brown Eye color: Blue Height and weight at the time of disappearance: 5'6" and 161 pounds Clothing: Pink muscle shirt, brown moccasins, denim blue jeans
Scars: Right wrist and right foot
Description from Canada's Missing: "Ronald Desmeules was living in Red Lake, Ontario. While working through some personal issues, Mr. Desmeules traveled to Squamish, British Columbia in September of 1995. On September 14, 1995, while staying with family, he left their residence, and has not been seen or heard from since."
Commentary: The case of Ronald Orton Desmeules isn't one that I was able to find a lot of information on in the time that I had allotted for it. However, the description from Canada's Missing claims that his individual had some "personal issues" at the time of his disappearance. That might lead some to speculate that he may have committed suicide. Whether the scar on his right wrist is from a previous attempt or originated in a different way is a matter that could be looked at. Even if he was a danger to himself at the time of his disappearance, there's still the question of where he went.
One thing that could be thought about with this case is the clothing that Ronald was last seen in. What could it mean when someone goes out in public dressed in a pink muscle shirt, moccasins, and blue jeans and then never gets seen again? The footwear is certainly not someone heading out to the rugged trails that you find around Squamish. It would suggest only a short walk and that calls further into question how exactly he went missing. One question to look at would be his access to a vehicle.
In my opinion, the clothing, especially the moccasins, suggests someone that left the place where he was staying in an impulsive way. It reminds me of missing teenagers that were last seen after arguments with their parents. Under these conditions, teenagers often leave with whatever indoor footwear they had on at the time or whatever was easiest to put on quickly.
This is a case that may require a family member to open up about details before Websleuths or amateur investigators can research more. I found no Internet-based news articles or newspaper articles.
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