And the Killer is....

The detectives investigating the murder of George William Dickinson were notified that a set of fingerprints had been identified. They belonged to 15-year-old Alex Novak (not his real name), a known juvenile house burglar and ward of the Minister of Human Resources.

On July 1, 1978, police went to an address on West 23rd Avenue. There, they found Novak, another 15-year-old named Fred Ramsay and 22-year-old Jim Yablonski (both those names have been changed) sleeping in the basement. The police arrested all three and took the young men to police headquarters in separate vehicles.

The detectives questioned Ramsay and Yablonski, who both made detailed statements. Novak's father was sent for and, after he arrived, the young Novak was questioned in his presence.

Novak had spent most the day of June 18 drinking beer in Stanley Park. He got drunk and fell asleep. When he woke he left the park, hitched a ride to Kitsilano then walked around. He had no money and wondered where to get some. He had heard of the old man on 5th who was rumoured to keep a lot of money in the house.

So the young man picked up a piece of wood, banged on the door and, when it was opened, threatened the old man if he didn't give him money.

Candy Bill ran into the front room, headed towards the phone. Novak grabbed the phone and ripped it off the wall while pushing his victim onto a chesterfield. When he once again demanded money, the old man went into the bedroom and gave him fifty dollars in small bills, which he had taken from his pants pocket. Novak was counting the bills when Dickinson came at him with a straight razor the older man had taken from the dresser. The two men struggled and Novak got the razor away from the old man. Then he grabbed Dickinson by the throat and demanded more money. The old man gave him the money under the mattress before Novak forced him into a chair and tied him up with a piece of electrical cord.

Novak left the house, walked to a group home on Cypress Street where he called for a taxi. He took the cab to his friend Ramsay's house and the two then rode the taxi to the Travelodge Hotel in Surrey Place. There, they stayed for two days. They lived well on the $600 and when it was gone, the two returned to Vancouver.

Novak saw nothing on the robbery in the papers or on the television and wondered why. He, Ramsay and Yablonski went to the house on West 5th and, when they found the door locked, broke the glass to get in. They found the dead body so the trio left. A few days later, he heard the police had discovered the victim.

Alex Novak was charged in Juvenile Court with being a delinquent for killing Dickinson. Although the Crown attempted to have the case raised to adult court, they were unsuccessful. Novak was kept in a detention camp until he reached adulthood three years later.

It was the fingerprints from an earlier crime that led the police to Novak. The fingerprinting of juveniles had been a contentious issue and, just a few weeks before this murder, a test-case had been placed before the courts so that the legality of the matter could be decided. The courts ruled the police had a right to fingerprint juveniles when they were charged with an offence which, had they been adults, would be classed as 'indictable offences'. If the court had ruled the other way, the fingerprints would have been destroyed and Novak would have gotten away with his crime.

Here's the weird part. The test-case that was placed before the court involved Alex Novak's prints taken at the time of his earlier arrest.

Thanks goes to Policebeat by Joe Swan for the information in this entry.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Kitsilano, History, murder,burglary, 1978, constables, cottage, On The Right Side, Multiple Sclerosis

Mattress Money

If you remember from my last entry, enumerator Irene Lenard had walked up to 1817 West 5th Avenue and found a body lying on the floor in the neat, sparsely furnished house. Wisely, she left and called the police.

The police also found a piece of wood on the bed by the body. It was three feet long and two inches thick. The two constables, realizing it was a homicide, left the scene and called for homicide detectives and crime scene experts.

Photographs were taken of the scene and the slow search for physical evidence on the premises began. You've seen those crime shows where the techs explore every nook and cranny of the crime scene haven't you? It is a tedious process.

Surfaces were dusted for fingerprints, which would later be compared with the fingerprints of the victim and known visitors. The remaining unidentified prints would be compared to the prints of known criminals in the hopes of finding a suspect.

Now it was time for the detectives to take over. The scene led them to believe the murder was committed during a robbery or a burglary. Living-room dresser drawers were pulled open and appeared to have been ransacked; the handset of a wall-mounted telephone was ripped off and lying on an armchair and there was an empty plastic identification wallet on top of the television set. Signs of a struggle were evident in the living-room and the bedroom.

Once the scene was thoroughly investigated, the victim's body was taken to the City Morgue for an autopsy.

The pathologist discovered the cause of death to be the result of both lungs being punctured by broken ribs - probably caused by a fall. After the detectives described the scene of the murder, they theorized that the victim had been tied to a chair and left there by his attacker. While trying to free himself, he had fallen to the floor and broken his ribs.

The victim was identified as George William Dickinson. Almost blind and deaf, he would have turned 90 years old in a few weeks.

Dickinson kept a candy shop on Granville Street and generations of children had named him 'Candy Bill'.

A close friend of Bill's, an 82-year-old woman who lived on the block, informed the police she last saw the victim about three weeks ago. He had asked the lady to count some money for him since his eyesight was too bad for him to do it himself.

He had over six hundred dollars at the time, which he was saving to go on a trip to California. His niece, and only relative, lived there.

The woman advised Bill he shouldn't keep so much money in the house but he laughed and said he kept it under the mattress where it was safe. The police searched the house but the money wasn't found.

So now there is a motive for the murder but is there a suspect? Will more evidence be found on the scene? Did someone see something? What about the fingerprints? So many questions! I will have more answers on Friday. Answers, which I will get from the book PoliceBeat by Joe Swan.

And don't forget. If you are on Facebook, at 4pm PST today, I am having a book launch for my latest release, On The Right Side, My Story of Survival and Success. Come join the event.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Kitsilano, History, murder,Burrard, 1978, constables, cottage, On The Right Side, Multiple Sclerosis