The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 88

Saturday Review SATURDAY REYIEW F2 The Weekend Sun. Saturday. February 8, 1997 HOMICIDES from page Fl VICTIMS OF CIDE HOMI daughter, Emily Christine Martin, who died in hospital Feb. 28, 1996. The Huang case was the first of two high-profile multiple murders in 1996.

In September, five people were found dead in a farm house in the 32000-block of Harris Road in Abbotsford. Police believe the killings are drug-related, and the case remains unsolved. A number of the Lower Mainland's homicides in 1996 also reflected national trends. Statistics Canada reported last year that prostitutes continued to be at high risk of meeting a violent death with nine known prostitutes murdered in Canada in 1995, 16 in 1994 and five in 1992. The case of 38-year-old Michelle Gloria Fiddick underscored that risk when her smoldering body was discovered on the banks of the Fraser River last summer.

A 23-year-old man will stand trial in September on a charge of second-degree murder. Statistics Canada also noted the high risk to taxi drivers with four cabbies killed in Canada in 1995, four in 1994, seven in 1993, and three in 1992. David Jon Malloy, 44, joined the list of dead taxi drivers last year. The Yellow Cab employee picked up a fare at Robson and Seymour, was robbed, stabbed 23 times, and dumped, barely alive, in a North Vancouver alley behind West 20th Street last March. He died later in hospital.

0 "In many cases, we find later that these people had never, ever seen one another before, they didn't know each other by name, but something has wrong with regard to the deal, one of them perhaps feels they're being ripped off for some reason, and a gun is pulled and somebody is killed." If bystanders or passers-by happened to observe the killing, they were frequently uncooperative or unwilling to help for fear of retaliation. "It's a very different game than dealing with the domestics," Drennan said. As a result, a number of Vancouver's cases from 1996, such as the murder of two men at the Hen-ton Chinese Seafood Restaurant or the deaths of three people in a fight at the Tulip Karaoke bar, have yet to be cleared, although they remain active investigations. In addition, two of the homicides on Vancouver's files involved police shootings. In both cases, homicide detectives handled the investigations, and their reports will be sent to Crown counsel for review.

Of the people killed last year on the Lower Mainland, five were children, including Huang's daughters, Rebecca, 15 and Amber, 9. In Langley, three-month-old baby Dennis Tran was stabbed twice in the abdomen, and the suspect in that killing goes to trial on a second-degree murder charge in March. The father of 11-month-old Harjot Singh Rai has been charged with manslaughter in that boy's death last year in Surrey. Meanwhile, Shelly Grace Martin, 28, of Langley, was charged recently with manslaughter in the death of her two-year-old The year began with four people slain in Surrey and ended with a double killing in Vancouver. In between, there was a steady stream of homicide victims.

In some cases, the deaths of these people received extensive coverage in newspapers and on television. In others, they got a couple of paragraphs or perhaps no mention at all. Statistics Canada may show the national homicide rate on the decline, but even one murder has a powerful impact on the people left behind. The Vancouver Sun interviewed some of those people to find the human stories behind the statistics. Compiled by LINDSAY K1NES, DAVID HOGBEN and DOUG WARD Vancouver Sun r-S -1' r- k3 i LIST from page Fl Jan.

27 The body of 38-year-old Ross Paxton Paterson of Surrey was found in a shallow grave near the junction of Mary Hill Road and the Mary Hill Bypass in Coquitlam. David Prince, 39, of Maple Ridge, was later charged with first-degree murder. The case is scheduled for trial May 20. u. April 24 Second generation commercial fisher Brent Owen Baltzer, 34, was in the wrong place at the wrong time, when he surprised a burglar in his Steveston home.

Baltzer had returned from a baseball game at 9:30 pm. on April 24. He told his sister he would call back shortly when he noticed signs of a break and enter. Minutes later he was back on the phone, probably believing the burglar had already left. But while he spoke with his pregnant sister he was shot dead.

Although he was divorced, Baltzer still considered his former wife his best friend. His life revolved around their sons, Fraser, now 11, and Braden, now 9. "On May 15, he was moving out to Langley to be closer to the boys," says his former wife, Cherith Johnson. The family still struggles to cope with the unsolved murder. The youngest boy now has trouble concentrating and dealing with school work.

He is haunted by nightmares in which his mother dies as well. Local One of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to criminal charges for the person or persons responsible for killing Baltzer. May 24 The family of James Arthur Ford, 22, still has not recovered from the loss they suffered when his badly beaten body was found in the backseat of his grey Chrysler in the 3700-block of Keith Street. Police believe Ford was killed by people he met through involvement in the illegal drug trade. It is an explanation Ford's mother Sheila doesn't believe.

"Jamie was wonderful. He was always good. He never gave me any trouble." Ford maintained close ties with mother, father and especially his older sister Shelly. Shelly's three-year-old son Jamie still looks at his Uncle Jamie's photograph and asks why he cannot come to visit. Sheila Ford doubts the people who beat her son to death really understand the enduring pain they have inflicted.

"I sit down every night and write and talk to him. They do not realize what they have done," she said. Burnaby RCMP have made no arrests, but say they have leads that are being May 25 Diamond Shivji, 48, of Burnaby, died of multiple stab wounds. I lis body was found under the Georgia Viaduct. Shivji was employed as a maintenance worker for a parking lot company.

His sister, Jasmine Shivji, declined to talk about the case. "My parents don't want anything in the paper. The detectives are still looking into it." MALLOY derer. His mother, Gloria Malloy, 79, wishes now she had been able to talk more to her son during his depression. "1 am just sorry that I had not kept in touch with him more than I did for the last year.

He didn't have a telephone; I couldn't call him, but I did write letters." She said her son would have come home more often, but he didn't have the money to travel to the San Francisco area. If any good has come from his killing, it is that other drivers with his former employer Yellow Cabs now enjoy the protection of a $300,000 satellite-operated global positioning system which can pinpoint the location of taxi cabs. "He probably would have lived if we would have had this system in place," then says Yellow Cab general manager Garrett Stout. she was paranoid and borderline hysterical. Lindsay's colleagues were shaken by her brutal death.

"They felt horrible that they hadn't listened," said Nicholas. Lindsay's mother, Marjorie Lindsay, called her daughter's death "shocking." "1 have a photograph of her on my bookcase and 1 look at her every morning and I can't believe it. "It's not ended. She was the loveliest girl and a private person and she did her job at the post office and was just going to move out of her place." She is angry that the police have yet to arrest a suspect. "She was threatened many times by two people in that crummy house that she lived in.

And the police let one of them go, a Mexican, and he threatened her." Marjorie Lindsay said her ex-husband, Eric Lindsay, is still "devastated." "My husband cries all the time. I've been so upset. But I haven't cried. My lawyer says everybody takes it differently." Feb. 28 Emily Christine Martin was taken to Langley Memorial 1 lospital after a caller to 911 said the two-year-old had been injured in a fall at her Aldergrove home.

Martin had suffered a serious head injury and was transferred to B.C. Children's Hospital for surgery. She died while doctors attempted to remove a blood clot from her brain. After her death, Langley RCMP received more telephone calls offering information about the nature and extent of her injuries. TWo other children in the home were apprehended and were placed in the cure of another family member.

Emils mother Shelly Grace Martin appeared in Surrey provincial court Jan. 31 to face a charge of manslaughter in connection with her daughter's death. Feb. 2 Michel Joseph Lafleche, 35, was stahbed in the back of the head and the arm. His body was discovered in a suite at 306-2250 Dundas Street.

Loeona Marie Parks, 29, was charged with manslaughter. The charge was later stayed by the Crown. Vancouver police declined to comment on a motive for the stabbing, except to say that the accused and the victim knew each other briefly. Feb. 9 The headless and handless body of Run Feng Mai, 21, was found in a ditch near the Simon Fraser monument on Southwest Marine Drive.

The identity of Mai, also known as Tony, was confirmed by DNA tests. Police believed Mai's head and hands were cut off to conceal his identity. RCMP have no suspects. Club member arrived on the scene and together the two men struggled, with the assailant. The suspect pulled out a knife and stabbed Paver who died a short while later in Vancouver Hospital.

Paver was past president of the Mount Pleasant LionsClub. His murder has had a dramatic; impact on the life of his 26-year-old, son, Ken Paver, who quit his found it too difficult." He also moved back to his parents' home to help his distraught mother who was devastated by her husband's murder. "She not doing too good. She's got Parkinson's Disease so that doesn't help too much. "When someone who has always been there suddenly is not there, it's hard to explain.

"She needs someone here." It is also difficult for Ken Paver be- cause the homicide remains unresolved in his mind. "The cops say the, guy who did it is dead but they can't tell us who it was or anything like that." 'x June 9 Police were called to a gravel lot at Edinburgh Street and Boundary Road after a citizen reported a foul' odor coming from an abandoned grey compact hatchback. Police opened the trunk and found a body so badly decomposed that they were unable to determine the dead person's race or gender. Eventually, a partial fingerprint identified the victim as Wing Hung Chan, 37. A refugee claimant from the People's Republic of China, he had a rfii-' nor criminal record, but was known to associate with gang members.

Police have announced a $10,000 re-' ward for information on the case. "We're getting minimal cooperation," Sergeant Bob Cooper said. "We, are sure that some of the people we've talked to know more than they're telling. But we've used every resource we can; we've received tremendous cooperation from the, Asian squad, but it does remain urf-solved." June 29 An auto-body mechanic and boat, builder, Larry Harold Taylor, was shot three times with a rifle at a property in the of 128th Street in Maple Ridge. Police arrested 67-year-old Lorence Norrie, a friend of Taylor's, at the scene.

He was charged with second-degree murder. The case is scheduled for trial May. -( Karen Parkinson, Taylor's sister-in-law, described the victim as friendly and well-liked. "He was always smiling, always happy," she said. "I le would compliment you and try to make you smile." She said he would do little things to make others happy, like hauling water for his disabled neighbor.

"He wasn't materialistic at all; lie lived simply and he liked it like that way," Parkinson said. "He would rather have just his basic stuff and no worries." Parkinson, who has served as a A i i 1 BALTZER MAI March IS Geoffrey Raymond Park, 35, was stabbed to death in Surrey. Park's girlfriend, Linda Marie Mixire, was charged with second-degree murder. Police had no information about next of kin. Police also declined to talk about the case, which is scheduled for trial in October.

May 26 A building manager checking a report of running water discovered the body of 56-year-old Donald Campbell in his room at Marie Gomez Place, 590 Alexander. Police withheld the cause of death. He had reportedly been seen in his room with a stranger the day before his death. Campbell, a former cook in logging camps, had been living at the apartment complex for about a year. Bill Blair, the building manager, remembered him as a drinker, but also friendly man with a raspy voice.

1 lis murder prompted a couple of tenants to move out of the building. "It caused some concern." June 4 Philip Patrick Barry, 33, was stabbed in the heart and liver with a butcher knife about 11:30 p.m. at 12155 Gee Street in Maple Ridge. Neighbors called police to report a fight between two men. Police arrived and found Barry, a window washer, in a pool of blood on the carport.

Barry's friend, Eli Joseph McGinty, 27, of North Vancouver, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. June 4 Allen William Sam, 46, died in hospital of stab wounds suffered in a fight four days earlier. The Vancouver man was slabbed repeatedly in the chest after a brief scuffle with another man at Pender and Betitty at about 6:20 a.m. June 4 Ronald Paver, a 58-year-old retired banker, was fatally stabbed after he left his Lions Club meeting at the Biltmnre Hotel and surprised a man breaking into his van. The North Delta resident tried to trap he man in his van by closing the driver's door.

Just then another Lions April 6 Three men were stabbed to death during a fight in an east Vancouver karaoke bar. The three victims at the Tulip Karaoke bar were Andy Se Hwang Park, 24, of Richmond; Suk Jae Rang. 20, of Burnaby; and Jason Ming Fay Chu, 25, of Vancouver. Police said the men seem to have been bystanders who got caught up in a gang brawl. Police said gang members started the fight but it soon spread to almost all of the 75 to 150 club patrons.

Police say the investigation is active. "We're not too far off the mark right now," said Sergeant Bob Cooper of the Vancouver city police homicide squad. "We need other people who were there to come forward and help us put the final pieces in the puzzle. We feel we're fairly close to laying charges on that one, if we could just get some more information." April 10 Roderick Earl Graham, 41, was found lying dead in a pool of blood in his bed in a rooming house in Vancouver's downtown east side. Dolores Rivet was also stabbed but survived.

Kenneth Allan Mundy, 50, was charged with second degree murder and attempted murder, Detectives found a 25-centimetre kitchen knife with a wooden handle they believe was used to kill Graham. The case is slated for trial in April. April 23 A long time resident of Mission, Dennis Leigh Jones, 27, died ftom gunshot wounds suffered about 2 a.m. at his residence on Rodman Ave. RCMP have said they believe the murder was drug related, Feb.

IS Former Quebec resident Nathalie Bourget, 26, was found in bushes along Highway 99 near 1 lorseshoe Bay. She had boon shot in the head and her body was dumped only hours before it was discovered. Arthur Maurice Allen, 45, of Vancouver has been charged with first-degree murder. A trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 17 in B.C.

Supreme Court. May 16 The blended family that Geral-dine Eva Macrae, 44, worked so hard to keep together has drifted apart since she was strangled in her Abbotsford home on Curlew Drive. Her stepdaughter Holly Macrae tried to keep the family together, but it was too much for a single mother on welfare. "it was a close knit family; now they are all spread out," Holly Macrae says of the events that followed her mother's murder. Before her death, Macrae helped raise eight children, five of her own and three step children.

Five years ago she began a career selling real estate. Now, the two oldest of Geraldinc Macrae's children, aged 16 and 18, have moved out on their own. The three youngest aged 11, 14 and 15 have had to move in with friends. I ler stepchildren are all adults. "it was a close knit family, now they are all spread out," said Holly Macrae.

Geraldine's former husband, William Norman Macrae, 47, has been charged with second-degree murder. I le Is to appear in B.C. Supreme Court in Chilliwaek on Feb. 10 to set auialdato. March 17 David Jon Malloy, 44, was an educated man who died driving his cab.

His inability to find work as a librarian contributed to the depression he suffered the last year of his life. I lis financial problems were so acute that he couldn't afford a telephone, so calls to his mother in Pittsburg, California were rare the year before he was murdered. On the day of his deal he picked up the fare at Robson and Seymour at 9:30 p.m. I lis cab was found later that evening at Cordova and Dun-levy. Malloy had been robbed and stabbed 23 times and dumped, barely alive In a North Vancouver alley behind West 20th Street.

He lived long enough to tell police his assailant was a black man, in his late 20s. The West Coast Taxi Association has a $10,000 reward offered for information lending to Malloy's mur- Feb. 17 Muriel Lindsay, a 40-year-old postal worker, was found dead in her West End apartment. She died from blows to her head and was discovered by her mother and a friend. No charges have been laid.

Lindsay had told co-workers at Canada Post's Vancouver plant that she feared she was being stalked. "She mentioned it to me and several others," recalled Linda Nicholas. "It got to the point where shortly before she was killed some people were avoiding her because they felt SAM.