Justifiable Homicide

When I left off on Wednesday, Clayton Stratton and his girlfriend, Nancy Morrison, were travelling to Vancouver. They spent the night the Doric Howe Hotel and the next day Stratton drove his girlfriend to the SIU office on Main Street - almost directly opposite the Vancouver Police Headquarters.

Stratton and Nancy were shown into the President's office. Stratton introduced to a man he called "Mr. Rod". Once a second man Clayton called Walter entered the room, the three men had a private conversation. Then the couple left and returned to their hotel.

The next day, they drove back to Port Angeles. During the journey, Stratton and Morrison got into an argument. The dispute continued after their arrival so Stratton left her at her apartment, where he was staying. Clayton took the dynamite he was storing there and informed Nancy he was going back to Vancouver.

15 minutes before Stratton and his accomplice showed up on Gustav Strathie's doorstep, Stratton was seen in a Seymour Street parking lot. He parked his car then walked over to another car with a male driver. The two talked a moment then drove off together.

We know what happened after that but if you forgot, refer to this entry.

When police searched the room Stratton was staying in, they found the dynamite in a paper bag. It was primed and rigged to be used as a bomb on a car's ignition system.

Two weeks after Stratton's death, Ed Lawson, the President of the Joint Teamster's Council received a threatening phone call. According to the anonymous caller, a bomb would be set off under Lawson's car.

There was a lengthy investigation but police found no evidence Stratton was paid by anyone in the union movement to act as a strong arm man. Nor could anyone find a reason the labour movement would want to to harm Gustav Strathie.

So why did Clayton Stratton and his unknown accomplice - who was never identified - assault Strathie?

There are two theories. One is that Stratton and the other man were committing a robbery because they felt Strathie had money hidden in the house. The second possibility is that there was a contract put out on someone and the two men had gone to the wrong house.

After an inquest was held concerning Stratton's death, it was ruled a justifiable homicide.

Thanks to the book Policebeat, 24 Vancouver Murders by Joe Swan for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Finding Pat Lowther

Detectives Hale and Chapman followed up on the lead that Roy Lowther had given them. They checked airlines, railroads and bus companies to see if his wife, Pat, had travelled. Nothing was found, They managed to contact the poet in Ontario - the one Roy thought his wife was having an affair with - but he had not seen the missing woman in almost a year. The two were good friends and had collaborated on a a book in the past.

On October 13, 1975, Mr. Robert Kourvoisier and his family were going out to spend the day hiking and fishing. They drove their car along the Squamish Highway and pulled off the road at Furry Creek, two and half miles from Britannia Beach. Leaving the car, the family hiked through the woods for the next hour or so.

It was a beautiful fall day, nature was showing off her autumn colours. The Kourvoisier family got back to their car and Robert decided he wanted to explore a small creek. He followed the creek to a train bridge. Crossing the bridge, he happened to look down and saw a body lying face down in the water. The head and shoulders were jammed under a log.

After telling his children to stay back, Robert hurried up the road to a nearby service station where he called the police. Constable Dennis Culic of the R.C. M. P. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) met Kourvoisier on the side of the road and the two men climbed down to where the body was located.

Once Culic was satisfied the remains were that of a body and not a store mannequin, he returned to his vehicle and radioed his detachment office in Squamish, informing them of the situation. In twenty minutes, an ambulance and a photographer arrived.

Photographs were taken, a plan of the area drawn and the body was removed from the water. The badly decomposed remains were determined to be those of a female who had been in the water for two or three weeks. She was taken to the Lions Gate Hospital.

News of the find spread quickly. Only the bare essentials were broadcast over the local radio stations but one person who head the broadcast was Detective Ken Hale of the Vancouver Police Homicide squad.

Hale arrived at the hospital at 9 pm to view the body. The condition of the victim made identification difficult but the body matched the general physical similarity to the description of the missing woman. Detective Hale notified his office and was joined by Detective Sergeant Sam Andrews and Detective Chapman.

Chapman and Andrews brought the missing person's report filed by Kathy Domphousse. She stated in the report that her mother had a scar on her knee. So did the unidentified corpse. Now, the detectives were even more sure this was the missing Pat Lowther.

Thanks to Joe Swan and the book Policebeat for the information above.

I hope you find the beauty around you.