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RCMP Historical Homicide Unit investigating deaths of three women

Published

6 years ago

12 minute read

January 22, 2018

 Edmonton, AB – Investigators from the RCMP’s “K” Division Historical Homicide Unit (HHU) are continuing to push forward with three separate investigations, each involving a woman who initially had been reported missing in Alberta but believed by police to have been victims of homicide.

The three cases, although not believed to be related, span a period of approximately 30 years; from 1983 to 2013. The victims in each case are women who vary in age from 16-years-old to 70 years-old and none of them have been found to date. All three cases remain unsolved, but it is the belief of S/Sgt. Jason Zazulak, who heads up the “K” Division HHU, as well as of the investigators who comprise the unit, that each case can and will be solved.

The first case is that of Shelly Ann Bacsu who was 16 years of age when she was reported missing to Hinton RCMP on May 3, 1983 after she failed to return home from a friend’s residence in Hinton; a walk of seven kilometres which she had done many times before. Family members became concerned when Shelly Ann did not arrive home by 9:30 that evening and when their own search failed to locate the teen by 11:30 p.m., they reported her missing to the RCMP detachment in Hinton.  Extensive searches by the RCMP of the Town of Hinton and the surrounding rural area did not locate Shelly Ann but police did find several of her belongings alongside the Athabasca River near the Town of Hinton.  Investigators believe that Shelly Ann was killed and continue to seek her remains. 

Stephanie Stewart (70) was working at the Athabasca Fire Lookout Tower near Hinton as an employee of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development in the summer of 2006. Colleagues became concerned about her well-being when she failed to call in on the morning of August 26, 2006.  A visit to Stephanie’s cabin revealed that all was not well and the RCMP was called in to investigate.  Evidence at the scene led investigators to believe that Stewart had been murdered.  Searches throughout the surrounding area and elsewhere failed to locate her.

It was on November 30, 2013 when 44-year-old Deanna MacNeil was reported missing to the Vegreville RCMP detachment by a friend after she had not been heard from within preceding 48 hours; something which the friend though very unusual as Deanna was in the habit of contacting her several times a day.  The police investigation confirmed that Deanna had been seen in Mundare at the Servus Credit Union ATM, the Mundare Liquor Store and lastly at a friend’s place around 12:30 p.m. on the morning of November 28, 2013.  Police conduct several searches including two extensive ones of the Mundare townsite, but Deanna was not located.  Friends and family have not had any contact from Deanna since she was reported missing.  The RCMP believes that she was the victim of homicide. 

S/Sgt. Jason Zazulak, NCO i/c “K” Division HHU believes that these investigations will be solved and that the key pieces of information which will allow HHU investigators to identify the persons responsible for the deaths of these women are known by members of the public.  “In each of these three cases, we know that there are people out there who have knowledge of what happened to Shelly Ann, Deanna and Stephanie.  We want to hear from those people, whether it be through Crime Stoppers, through their local detachment or through our own social media channels.”

The rapid expansion and adoption of social media in many facets of the lives of Canadians has opened up the opportunity for the RCMP to receive new information about cases through the use of social media accounts held directly by the homicide investigators themselves. Cpl. Kerry Shima of HHU is the lead investigator for Stephanie Stewart’s case.  He has a Twitter account and will be tweeting about Stephanie’s case as well as topics related to unsolved homicides.  The Twitter account is @KerryShima_RCMP.

The RCMP encourages anyone with information about any of these cases to contact their local detachment or police agency.  Individuals may guarantee their anonymity by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or submitting their information at www.crimestoppers.ab.ca. Also, details can be submitted to the Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains at www.canadasmissing.ca.

 The families of these three women deserve to know what happened, to bring their loved ones home, and see a resolution through an arrest of the person or persons responsible.

Case Summaries:

Shelly Ann BACSU – Hinton RCMP Detachment – Occurrence Date: May 3, 1983

On May 3, 1983, Shelly Ann BACSU was reported missing from Hinton, Alberta.  At approximately 8:15pm, on that date, Shelly Ann left a friend’s house in the Sunset Trailer Park in Hinton and began to walk home, a distance of about 7 km. Witnesses saw her cut through the trailer park and then walk westbound along the shoulder of Highway 16 carrying her school books.  At approximately 9:30pm, friends and family members became concerned that she had not arrived home.  Despite their efforts to locate Shelly Ann, there was no trace of her and at approximately 11:30pm Shelly Ann’s mother notified the RCMP that her daughter was missing.  A dark colored van had been observed stopped on the side of Highway 16 in the same area where Shelly Ann was last seen, on the western outskirts of the Town of Hinton. A western Canada search for the van and/or its occupants was not successful. Several days after Shelly Ann was last seen, some of her belongings were found alongside the Athabasca River near the Town of Hinton.  Extensive ground, air and river searches in the area have yielded no further clues and Shelly Ann BACSU has never been located.  The investigation to date strongly suggests that BACSU was a victim of homicide. 

At the time of her disappearance Shelly Ann BACSU was 16 years old, was about 5’ tall and weighed approximately 90 lbs.  She had shoulder-length dark brown hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a grey and burgundy jacket, a burgundy shirt, “Fancy Ass” jeans with a burgundy stripes and grey running shoes when she was last seen.

Stephanie STEWART- Hinton RCMP Detachment – Occurrence Date: August 26, 2006

On August 26, 2006, Stephanie STEWART was reported missing from the Athabasca Fire Lookout Tower near Hinton, Alberta, where she lived and worked as an Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD) employee. Stephanie had worked at the tower for 13 years during the fire season of April to October, and was a very physically fit and experienced outdoors enthusiast.  On August 26, 2006, Stephanie failed to call in the morning weather report, which was highly unusual.  After several unsuccessful attempts to contact her, Stephanie was reported missing by her ESRD supervisor.  Another employee was sent to check on Stephanie and found her cabin empty with obvious signs of a disturbance; blood was found on the steps and a boiling pot of water was on the stove.  A large scale Search and Rescue operation was launched, but Stephanie STEWART has never been located.  Based on the totality of the investigation to date, RCMP believe STEWART was also the victim of homicide. 

 Stephanie STEWART was 70 years old when she went missing. She was about 5’2’ tall and weighed approximately 105 lbs.  Stephanie had chin-length grey hair and blue eyes.

There is no clothing description associated to the last time she was seen.

Deanna MACNEIL – Vegreville RCMP Detachment – Occurrence Date:  November 28, 2013

On November 30, 2013, Deanna MacNEIL was reported missing from Mundare, Alberta.  Deanna was last seen two days earlier, on November 28, 2013. Video surveillance footage showed Deanna at the Mundare Servus Credit Union ATM at 9:03am and at the Mundare Liquor Store at 10:37am.  She was last seen by friends at her residence in Mundare at approximately 12:30pm on the same day. A female friend reported Deanna missing to the Vegreville RCMP on November 30, 2013.  Deanna was in the habit of calling her friend several times a day and it was very unusual that she had not checked in and had not been seen anywhere in a 48-hour period. Two extensive ground searches of the Mundare townsite were conducted with negative results.   Deanna has had no contact with her family or friends since she was reported missing and her body has never been recovered.  Here too, investigators believe that Deanna MacNEIL was the victim of homicide. 

Deanna MacNEIL was 44 years old when she went missing. She was about 5’5” tall and weighed approximately 125 lbs.  She had shoulder-length brown hair and hazel eyes.

There is no clothing description associated to the last time she was seen.  However, she was wearing a brown winter parka in the November 28th video surveillance recordings, and this jacket was not found amongst the clothing recovered at her residence.

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Canadian receives one-year jail sentence, lifetime firearms ban for setting church on fire

Published on April 21, 2024

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Jordan Willet was convicted of starting a blaze in February at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Regina, Saskatchewan.

A man who was charged with arson after trying to burn down a historic Catholic church earlier this year was handed only a one-year jail sentence for his crime but has also been banned from being able to possess firearms for life.

On April 9, a court sentenced Jordan Willet, 31, to 278 days in jail for intentionally or recklessly causing damage by fire or explosion to property and for not complying with a probation order. In February, LifeSiteNews reported that Willet had been arrested and charged with starting a fire at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Regina, Saskatchewan, on February 9.

He pleaded guilty to both charges and also received an 18-month probation sentence along with a lifetime firearm prohibition.

Over the weekend, Fr. James Hentges, the parish pastor, said he was “relieved he is in custody and is not a threat.”

The parish had posted footage of the February 9 attack on social media and put out a plea for anyone who had information on the event to report it to police.

The video footage of the attack, taken from a doorbell camera, shows Willet, in a mask, pouring fuel on the church before setting it on fire.

Fire investigators determined that the blaze was caused by a direct act of arson.

Since the spring of 2021, more than 100 churches, most of them Catholic, have been burned or vandalized across Canada. The attacks on the churches came shortly after the unconfirmed discovery of “unmarked graves” at now-closed residential schools once run by the Church in parts of the country.

In 2021 and 2022, the mainstream media ran with inflammatory and dubious claims that hundreds of children were buried and disregarded by Catholic priests and nuns who ran some of the schools.

The claims, which were promoted by Trudeau among others, lack any physical evidence and were based solely on soil disturbances found via ground-penetrating radar.

In fact, in August 2023, one such site underwent a four-week excavation and yielded no remains.

Despite the lack of evidence, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and others have continued to push the narrative, even running a report recently that appeared to justify the dozens of attacks against Catholic churches.

In January, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre not only condemned the rash of church burnings in Canada but called out Trudeau for being silent on the matter.

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Addictions

Liberal MP blasts Trudeau-backed ‘safe supply’ drug programs, linking them to ‘chaos’ in cities

Published on April 21, 2024

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First responders in Ottawa dealing with a crisis                                           Fridayman 0102 / YouTube
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By Clare Marie Merkowsky

‘There is certainly the perception by a lot of Canadians that a lot of downtown cores are basically out of control,’ Liberal MP Dr. Marcus Powlowski said, before pointing specifically to ‘safe supply’ drugs and injection sites.

A Liberal MP has seemingly taken issue with “safe supply” drug policies for increasing public disorder in Canada, policies his own party, under the leadership of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has endorsed.

During an April 15 health committee meeting in the House of Commons, Liberal MP Dr. Marcus Powlowski, while pressing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), stated that “safe supply” drug policies have caused Canadians to feel unsafe in downtown Ottawa and in other major cities across the country.

“There is certainly the perception by a lot of Canadians that a lot of downtown cores are basically out of control,” Powlowski said.  

“Certainly there is also the perception that around places like safe supply, safe injection sites, that things are worse, that there are people openly stoned in the street,” he continued.   

“People are getting cardio-pulmonary resuscitation performed on them in the street. There are needles around on the street. There is excrement on the street,” Powlowski added.  

“Safe supply“ is the term used to refer to government-prescribed drugs that are given to addicts under the assumption that a more controlled batch of narcotics reduces the risk of overdose – critics of the policy argue that giving addicts drugs only enables their behavior, puts the public at risk, disincentivizes recovery from addiction and has not reduced, and sometimes even increased, overdose deaths where implemented.

Powlowski, who has worked as an emergency room physician, also stated that violence from drug users has become a problem in Ottawa, especially in areas near so-called “safe supply” drug sites which operate within blocks of Parliament Hill.   

“A few months ago I was downtown in a bar here in Ottawa, not that I do that very often, but a couple of colleagues I met up with, one was assaulted as he was going to the bar, another one was threatened,” said Powlowski. 

“Within a month of that I was returning down Wellington Street from downtown, the Rideau Centre, and my son who is 15 was coming after me,” he continued. “It was nighttime and there was someone out in the middle of the street, yelling and screaming, accosting cars.” 

Liberal MP Dr. Brendan Hanley, the Yukon’s former chief medical officer, testified in support of Powlowski, saying, “My colleague Dr. Powlowski described what it’s like to walk around downtown Ottawa here, and certainly when I walk home every day, I encounter similar circumstances.” 

“Do you agree this is a problem?” Powlowski pressed RCMP deputy commissioner Dwayne McDonald. “Do you agree for a lot of Canadians who are not involved with drugs, that they are increasingly unhappy with society in downtown cores which are this way? Do you want to do more about this, and if you do want to do more about this, what do you need?”  

McDonald acknowledged the issue but failed to offer a solution, responding, “One of the success factors required for decriminalization is public support.” 

“I think when you are faced with situations where, as we have experienced in our communities and we hear from our communities, where public consumption in some places may lead to other members of the public feeling at risk or threatened or vulnerable to street level crime, it does present a challenge,” he continued.   

Deaths from drug overdoses in Canada have gone through the roof in recent years, particularly in British Columbia after Trudeau’s federal government effectively decriminalized hard drugs in the province.

Under the policy, which launched in early 2023, the federal government began allowing people within the province to possess up to 2.5 grams of hard drugs without criminal penalty, but selling drugs remained a crime.  

The policy has been widely criticized, especially after it was found that the province broke three different drug-related overdose records in the first month the new law was in effect.  

The effects of decriminalizing hard drugs in various parts of Canada has been exposed in Aaron Gunn’s recent documentary, Canada is Dying, and in U.K. Telegraph journalist Steven Edginton’s mini-documentary, Canada’s Woke Nightmare: A Warning to the West.  

Gunn says he documents the “general societal chaos and explosion of drug use in every major Canadian city.”  

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