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

Kitsilano Killing

This Four square builder's house at 1748 East 5th, is unusual due to the cut-in porch, symmetrical full-height second storey, and hipped roof. A building permit was issued to owner/builder A.C. Fraser on April 22, 1910. The value was $2,200 and Fraser built 1722 East 5th the year before.

It was June 28, 1978. The weather was warm and sunny, a fact for which Irene Lenard was grateful since it made her job so much easier.

Lenard worked as an enumerator, gathering information on the residents of Vancouver's Kitsilano district to bring the electoral rolls up to date for the upcoming provincial election.

When it rained, people didn't want to speak to someone on their doorstep or invite them in and have the visitor drip rain water over their hallways. So, with the good weather, Irene made steady progress and had just about finished her daily quota of calls.

The time was nine o'clock when the woman approached 1817 West 5th Avenue, just west of Burrard Street.  Dwarfed by the concrete walls of commercial premises, this house was not much more than a small summer cottage. These types of homes had covered the area between Kitsilano Point and West Broadway during the 1920s.

Irene opened the gate in the picket fence and walked towards the cottage. There were no flowers in the garden but the lawn was neatly trimmed and the house looked well cared for. The wooden walls were painted a dark green with white trim around the windows and door.

She went up to the front door, which was on the east side of the house and not visible from the street. Lenard noticed the glass window in the door was broken and the door itself was ajar.

Irene knocked and when she received no reply, she called out. Still, the house was silent so Irene took a further step into the room, and glanced around. A door on the south side of the room was open and Irene saw the body of a man lying on the floor.

Wisely, the enumerator fled the scene and called the police.

Constables 514 Chinn and 726 Czech arrived at the house a few minutes later and, as was standard operating procedure at the time, they were accompanied by an inhalator. It was quickly determined that there was nothing the inhalator crew could do for the man. So they left and the police began to work.

The body was that of an elderly man and it seemed he had been dead for about a week. It lay face down on the floor, half under the bed. Beside the man in the small, neat, sparsely furnished room was an upturned chair. It was as if the man had fallen from it when died.

The man was dressed only in a pyjama jacket and was naked from the waist down. Areas of bruising on the legs and lowered abdomen were noticed and his arms were tied behind his back with electrical cord. The cord had been pulled so tightly the elbows were touching.

So what happened to this elderly man? And why? I will tell you more about this murder on Wednesday. Thanks goes to Joe Swan and his book, Policebeat, for the information on this case.

Don't forget, if you are on Facebook then you want to attend the book launch event I am having on Wednesday, March 5. This is in support of my latest, and first nonfiction, book - On The Right Side, My Story of Survival and Success. I hope to see you all there.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

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