Dec 15/2023 The Unsolved Murder of Lindsay Buziak & 5 other unsolved cases. Justice denied.
There are hundreds of unsolved murders in British Columbia dating back to the 1950’s, one of the most notorious of them all is the feb 2008 murder of Lindsay Buziak.
Some of the factors for Lindsay’s murder being unsolved may include the lack of witnesses, the complexity of the situation and the high standard of charge approval in B.C. B.C.’s charge approval policy aims to ensure consistent & principled decision-making as well as to avoid a weak prosecution. In all other provinces, except Quebec, police can lay charges without Crown approval if they believe there is a reasonable prospect of a guilty verdict.
Crown counsel are independent officers of the court and are protected from outside influence by the Crown counsel Act. Their role is a quasi-judicial function and matter OF public duty. While they may claim the system works, evidence clearly shows it doesn’t. We are told that vetting by Crown removes frivolous or weak cases at the front end rather than wasting court resources only to have them collapse at a later stage.
However, there are many victims of crime who would strongly disagree with this statement. There are countless families who have fallen victim to our flawed justice system and the heartbreaking stories are endless. A poorly functioning justice system has allowed crimes to go unpunished, alienating victims and their families & compromising the confidence of the public.
B.C., Quebec worst at solving murders: study | National Post
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/b-c-quebec-worst-at-solving-murders-study/wcm/d126f12f-9d3b-4be2-8261-977031d0ac44/amp/
THE PROVINCES’S CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IS IN A CRISIS. WHAT IS NOT CLEAR IS HOW WE GOT HERE AND WHO IS TO BLAME.
B.C.’s charge approval rate is about 60%, which means 40% of the cases submitted by police are not approved for prosecution. I question how many of that 60% that are approved ever actually go to trial and of those how many results in a conviction? Reasons for charges not being approved may include insufficient evidence, no substantial likelihood of conviction or no public interest in proceeding with the case. Our court system has slowed to a crawl as shortages of staff and judges have caused courtroom closures and an unmanageable backlog of criminal cases. An article written by Vancouver Sun’s Kim Bolan in 2014 strongly suggested that B.C. should abandon its higher standard for laying charges and fall in line with other provinces. That plea fell on deaf ears.
Politicians and experts call for change to B.C. charge approval standard | Vancouver Sun
WHERE DO WE PUT THE BLAME FOR THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM BEING IN SUCH A MESS?
Criminologists have said the failing rates are coming about, in part, due to underfunding and a redistribution of resources away from major crime.
Shall we blame the police for their poor investigation skills and reports so weak that 40% of their cases don’t get Crown approval? Let’s not forget the cases where the police never even get enough evidence to take their file to Crown, such as in the case of Lindsay Buziak. Let’s face it, the police aren’t perfect so let’s not make them the targets of everything that goes wrong. There is no conspiracy/corruption involved in Lindsay Buziak’s case, although there is no doubt that many mistakes were made throughout the investigation. That being said, mistakes are made in every homicide investigation, but the ones we need to pay attention to are the ones where the mistakes are covered up.
THE POLICE MUST BE RESPECTED
and regardless of a few bad apples we need to show them the respect they so rightfully deserve. Imagine having to deal with the criminal element on a daily basis, making arrests only to see the perpetrator go through the revolving court room door system, back and out on the street to commit the same crimes. Cops have to attend the scene of serious car accidents only to witness dead bodies lying in the streets, attend a murder scene where someone has been slaughtered. Imagine taking those scenes in your head home with you every night. Then we have the drug epidemic in our cities where cops are tripping over drug addicted people in the street. You want to be a cop? I don’t think so.
The court judges need to be held accountable, after all they are the ones giving a free past to drug dealers, thieves, and people charged with assault/sexual assaults, and murder. Cuts to court services have put cases at risk of being dismissed for undue delay, and this represents a grave threat to the administration of justice! The court system has slowed to a crawl as shortages of staff and judges have caused courtroom closures and an unmanageable backlog of criminal cases. Probably easier for a judge to let these people back on the streets, rather than trying to figure out where to put them. So much easier to give the rapist, drug dealers, and killers, a one-year probation than to deal with the real problem at hand. Crime is out of control!
SURVIVOR FAMILIES OF CRIME
For survivor family members or witnesses to a crime the psychological impact of losing a love one can be profound and long lasting. PTSD often plagues survivors as they relive the traumatic events repeated in their minds. Sleep disturbance, nightmares, flashbacks, it becomes an encompassing struggle to heal from senseless violence. But amidst the pain, there is also strength; a glimmer of resilience that emerges from the darkest shadows.
Survivors often work tirelessly to honor the memory of their lost loved ones, seeking justice and advocating for change. Their courage in sharing their stories helps shed light on the long-lasting emotional and psychological wounds inflicted by murder, elevating public awareness and inspiring empathy. Emotionally speaking, murder leaves an indelible mark on those connected to the victim.
Multiply that 10-fold for unsolved murders where the survivors are left at the mercy of a flawed justice system. Imagine having the suspect whom you know murdered your child walk free because of a mistake made by the Crown, or a judge who did not find a witness credible. Then after the judge acquits the accused – or stays the charges, the court slams a ban on publication so that the victim’s family is never allowed to talk about the case or use the accused name. Many of these victims who have had the door slammed on them by the justice system have spent thousands of dollars of their own money hiring lawyers to fight back in the hopes of getting justice for their loved one who the justice system failed. But as they quickly learned it was a futile effort.
WILL LINDSAY BUZIAK’S MURDER EVER BE SOLVED? THE PROGNOSIS IS NOT LOOKING GOOD!
In 2009, just one year after Lindsay was murdered, the Saanich Police cleared Jason Zailo of playing any part in his girlfriend’s murder, and in September 2010, just one week after Dateline aired, they cleared the entire Zailo family. Remember, the majority of the clues the police had to work with came from Jason Zailo himself. Jason, who told the police about Lindsay’s visit to Calgary in December 2007. Jason, the eyewitness who gave a description of the couple entering the home that night. Jason, who pointed them in the direction of the Delalcazar brothers. Jason who told the police about Lindsay’s friend who worked in the Re/Max office and who at one time dated a friend of the Delalcazar brothers. Jason, the guys who gave the police a lot of information that turned out not to be true. And the Saanich Police who took Jason’s word for everything he said.
Could the SPD had the identity of the true killers wrong?
and accordingly made a colossal and irreversible error in investigatory judgement in prematurely clearing the Zailo’s? This leaving them with a legal and investigatory disaster of not being able to further investigate the Zailos, a blunder so bad it would tempt any police department to try to sweep it under the rug. Incompetent police work, big egos and misdirection played a major part in this investigation, then years of stalling to cover up all the mistakes that had been made. If this is what happened, this means that the Saanich Police will never take serious steps to solve this crime and any hope that SPD is the route to justice on this matter is likely a waste of time.
In 2018, ten years after Lindsay’s murder a SP spokesperson told the press, “If we had the grounds to see charge approval from Crown counsel, we certainly would have done so at this time.” This statement just affirms that the Saanich Police had nothing, certainly not enough evidence to get charge approval. If this case is ever to be solved it will have to be solved through alternative means.
The crime scene produced no WEAPON, NO DNA, no hair fiber, and no forensics of any kinD.
Only a contaminated crime scene created when Jason Zailo & his friend stepped into the DeSousa home that night, and it’s very possible that was all part of the original plan. Then came 16 years of stalling, false promises, statements made to the press by police that didn’t co-inside with the truth, and collusion by certain individuals.
IN 2021 SAANICH POLICE MAKE A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT NEW DNA TECHNOLOGY
Police in Saanich, B.C., say advancements in technology, including DNA analysis, have helped create new leads in the unsolved murder case of a real estate agent killed during a showing more than 10 years ago. A new team of local investigators has been working with the FBI to re-examine the murder of Lindsay Buziak, who was stabbed to death while showing an empty home in a Saanich cul-de-sac on Feb. 2, 2008.
“Investigators are reviewing and retesting evidence, including items from the crime scene as well as digital evidence. Technology not available at the time of the crime has allowed us to develop new investigative leads,” Const. Markus Anastasiades said in a video posted on YouTube on Sunday. “As many of you have likely seen in the media lately, advancements in fields such as genealogy and DNA analysis has led to resolution in many other cases,” he continued.
Tech advancements create new leads in cold-case murder of B.C. real estate agent | CBC News
Well, that 2021 promise turned out to be a washout – didn’t it.
What ever happened to the main informant who in late November 2007 contacted the Calgary Police to report the 8-million-dollar cocaine shipment headed their way?
Going with conjecture, If the Saanich Police believe that Lindsay was killed because she was the scapegoat who someone targeted, why weren’t they questioning who the informant was who made that critical call to the Calgary Police and what their motive was for making that call? The reason is, the SP didn’t have a clue who the informant was until years later. It is most interesting that the planners chose Saanich as the place to murder Lindsay, keeping it out of the RCMP’s jurisdiction. Just what if the main informant feared for their own life and chose to throw Lindsay under the bus to save themself? Because that sure is the way it is looking.
An informant would expect complete confidentiality.
Prosecutors would be unable to use, in court, the identity of the main informant as a possible witness for falsely framing someone as the informant. A sophisticated informant would know this and have the wherewithal to obtain legal advice. If the main informant, fearing for their own life, engineered a misdirection of the cartel in Lindsay’s direction, they would only have taken the risk knowing that they had complete legal protection from being divulged as the informant.
The Supreme Court of Canada has found that “the identify of police informers is protected by a near-absolute privilege that overrides the Crown’s general duty of disclosure to the defense. That’s because, in a worst-case scenario, a confidential informant could be threatened or even killed by a defendant who discovers who may have ratted him out.
LET’S DELVE INTO A FEW OTHER UNSOLVED MURDERS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA WHERE POLICE INTERFERENCE/INCOMPETENCE WAS A REASON FOR A SUSPECT NEVER BEING CHARGE
THE MURDER OF TRINA HUNT (Suspect arrested – charge approval rejected- justice denied)
In January 2021 Trina Hunt disappeared from her home in Port Moody. In May, police announced that remains found near Hope had been identified as Trina’s.
In February 2022 Trina Hunt’s husband Iain Hunt was arrested in the couple’s driveway. Finally, family and friends believed they were going to see justice. But hope was shattered as Iain Hunt was released only hours after his arrest. There have been no further arrests and no suspects have been publicly named. Homicide investigators won’t discuss the case or take questions from the media.
Criminologist Rob Gordon, a professor at Simon Fraser University and a former police officer said, “They’ve got their prime suspect, all they need is a piece of the puzzle that is currently being held by the B.C. Prosecution Service. The police thought they had enough to charge Hunt’s husband when he was arrested, but the Crown counsel disagreed and did not approve the charge. Like most homicide cases, Sgt. David Lee called the case a complex investigation and would not say much as it would jeopardize the integrity of the case. IHIT remains tight-lipped about the evidence they have and what the next steps might be.
Search warrants were executed at Iain Hunt’s home in Port Moody and the home of Iain Hunt’s parents in Mission. Iain Hunt told the family that he and Trina went to Hope two days before she was reported missing to visit a campground they visited in their 20’s. Iain Hunt has been uncooperative in every way and as have his parents. His family has circled the wagons to protect their son while doing nothing to support Trina’s family through their nightmare of grief. All the evidence, though much of it circumstantial, leads to Iain Hunt as the only suspect, yet here we are three years later, with no charges laid.
THE MURDER OF ARLENE WESTERVELT Charges were laid, trial set/cancelled. Justice denied.
On June 26/2016, 56-year-old Kelowna’s Lake Country nurse Arlene Westervelt drowns while out in the lake canoeing with her husband Bert. Bert claimed that his wife reached for a bottle of water and tipped the canoe, but Arlene’s family does not believe the husband’s story. Arlene was fit & healthy, a marathon runner, cyclist, swimmer, and a member of the rowing team. Arlene was in the process of separating from Bert and about to divorce him, and the family believes that he killed her so he could inherit her assets. The family requested the autopsy report, but were denied, told only the next of kin was entitled to the report and that was Bert Westervelt.
After a lengthy flawed police investigation, in 2019, Bert Westervelt was finally charged with 2nd degree murder and was to stand trial. But as circumstances would have it the Crown stayed the charges in 2020 citing flaws in the pathology report, where they felt there was no longer a likelihood of conviction. Earlier the murder trial had gone off the tracks, and police interference in the case is one sure reason for the stay. It turns out one high-ranking officer and the accused were good friends. RCMP Sgt. Brian Gateley of the B.C Combined Forces and his wife were good friends with the Westervelt and would socialize during the year.
Bert Westervelt had contacted TELUS in the hopes of getting Arlene’s password so he could open her phone. When denied by TELUS, Bert went to his RCMP friend Brian Gateley who agreed to use RCMP resources to crack open the phone which he did. Bert was then able to remove whatever he wanted from his wife’s phone. In an internal RCMP conduct investigation it was found that Gateley engaged in a potential conflict of interest and misuse of RCMP IT equipment.
The family learned that Bert had been untruthful in his initial interview with the RCMP, that and the fact that they knew their sister had filed for divorce, has them convinced that Bert murdered his wife. ARLENE WESTERVELT deserves justice and perhaps that will happen when the case is heard in the civil courts.
THE MURDER OF SHEILA HENRY One suspect, no arrests, no charges, and a failed investigation.
Sheila Henry was a young pregnant 26-year-old woman working as a nurse and Vancouver General Hospital.
On February 5/1993 her husband called police after finding her body in their home at 3356 West 7th Ave in Vancouver. She had been beaten and strangled to death. There was nothing to suggest that an intruder was responsible for the brutal slaying, and there was no evidence of forced entry. The Vancouver Police investigated this case for decades, but the killer is still at large. From the word go, the police only had one suspect, and that was the husband, David Henry. Though there were lots of holes in Henry’s alibi and several lies the police caught him in this man has avoided justice for years because of the lack of evidence. After Sheila’s murder David headed to the island to live with his parents, and that is where he has been ever since.
In 1998, 5 years after Sheila Henry’s death police from Vancouver RCMP and Vancouver City Police paid a visit to their one and only suspect who was still living on the island. They were stepping up their game, putting the pressure on Henry in the hopes of getting him to crack. They even took the opportunity to speak to his “new wife” telling her that her husband was a suspect in his wife’s murder. Not believing a word of what the police had to say, she stood by her man.
The pathologist’s rep shows that bruises were found on Sheila’s arms and hands, evidence that she put up a heck of a fight. Lack of evidence?
If there was a severe beating surely there had to be marks on David Henry’s fists, traces of blood, something to show he was at the scene of the crime? She was strangled, what about the fingerprints on her neck? No intruder lies told by the only suspect the police ever had, yet no arrests. Was this just another bungled investigation or is this just another cover-up in a police investigation gone wrong.
David Henry was a witness at the coroner’s hearing and parts of his testimony contradicted statements given by some earlier witnesses. One of those witnesses was his sister, and that testimony is now protected under the Canada Evidence Act and the B.C. Evidence Act and could not be used against him in a court of law. Why is this evidence being protected? Why is the suspect being protected from prosecution?
Sheila’s parents, Gary & Linnea McIndoe have been living a nightmare since their daughter’s death.
and like so many other families in British Columbia their lives have been shattered, and they continue to be victimized by a failed justice system. Yet that has not stopped the McIndoe’s from being relentless in bringing their daughter’s killer to justice. Not only did this man take their daughter’s life, but he also took the life of their unborn grandchild, and they will stop at nothing until justice is served.
THE MURDER OF WENDY LADNER BEAUDRY – one suspect – no charges ever laid.
Wendy Ladner Beaudry was brutally murdered on st. george’s trail in Pacific Spirit Parak on April 3/2009. her body was found just steps from the entrance.
K9 units, air surveillance and the Lower Mainland Integrated Tactical Troup conducted a detailed grid search of the park. The police pulled out all the stops and everything that could be done that day was done.
Wendy Ladner was one of Vancouver’s most prominent establishment families, whose love of sport and fitness – and belief in community service always came first.
Wendy’s friends and family describe her as one of the most generous, outgoing people you’d ever want to meet. A woman who had a positive influence on so many people. She had spirit, curiosity, good will, grace and a smile that always lit up a room. She was a tireless advocate for getting children into sports. Wendy was co-chair of the B.C. Games Society, past board member of Sport B.C. and chair of the Kid Sport Fund, a national charity set up to help low-income families participate in sport.
At first the police said they were not sure whether her murder was random or if she was targeted. At one point though Ladner Beaudry’s husband Michel Beaudry was considered a prime suspect. but in 2011 at a press conference in the hopes of getting new leads. Michel Beaudry did not attend. At that press conference investigator ruled out the husband as a suspect, saying they didn’t have any evidence to link him to the crime. Michel claimed that police investigating the crime were playing games by questioning his integrity and trying to isolate him from family and supporters. They tell me one thing, they tell the press another, and they tell my in-laws another thing. He was adamant he had no motive and no opportunity to kill his wife, and he was frustrated by the lack of progress with the investigation.
A list of more than 270 persons of interest had been compiled by investigators, crime analysists, and a criminal profiler.
80 of those individuals have been identified as having a last known address within a 10-kilometer radius of the murder scene. Simon Fraser Criminologist Neil Boyd said, “the case is exceptionally odd when you factor in the location, victim and whether it was targeted and possible motives.” He said a 10-kilometer radius is a wide net to cast, suggesting it could mean the suspect is capable of planning and organizing the killing. After 5 years of exhaustive efforts and coming up empty handed IHIT turned the case over to the RCMP’s Major Crimes Special Project unit.
Wendy’s brother Peter Ladner, a former city councilor was and still is one of Wendy’s strongest advocates and after 10 years of her murder still being unsolved, he still feels her presence “haunting” the air when he walks through the woods. Peter says his family will never stop looking for justice for his sister and by his presence in the media every year he is clearing standing by his word.
The fact that the police at one time had a suspect means that they must have had some evidence to take them in that direction. You can have a suspect but if you don’t have the evidence to make an arrest you really have nothing. This case has all the hallmarks of being a targeted hit, and like Wendy’s brother said, someone knows something, and it will take that one person who has that missing piece of the puzzle to come forward. Wendy’s family needs answers, and Wendy Ladner Beaudry needs justice.
THE MURDER OF EDGAR (IGGY) LEONARD0 VANCOUVER
Edgar “Iggy” Leonardo, 36, was murdered on August 23, 2003. He worked for Air Canada and lived in Vancouver’s West End. Edgar was gay, had an active social life, and his murder is thought to be a “crime of passion.” In 2017, Vancouver police have for the first time used an innovative technology that allowed them to create a composite sketch based on DNA found at the crime scene of an unsolved murder. They hope the picture will lead to fresh tips in the 2003 case.
Vancouver police provided Parabon with DNA seized from the West End apartment where Edgar (Iggy) Leonardo, 36, was killed 14 years ago this month. Investigators released the resulting Snapshot sketch exclusively to Postmedia News, hoping it will generate some clues about a person of interest they believe had been with the victim.
The statistics clearly show that if someone wanTS to commit a murder, and they plan it carefully, there is a 40% chance they will get away with it. Even if that murder falls within the 60% that makes it past charge approval, the chances are high that mistakes will be made, and the case will never get to trial.
Disclaimer: All parties mentioned in this blog are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The opinions expressed are solely my own. This blog is created in the public interest with the sole aim of seeking justice for Lindsay and bringing the conspirators and her killer(s) to account.
EMAIL ADDRESS: murderondesousa@gmail.com