Police have received few tips on David Malloy’s 1936 stabbing ABBIE David Malloy lived long enough to tell police about his murderer. Despite that, no one has been charged with the killing. Malloy, 44, had been driving cabs for cight years until the night of March 17, 1996. Maifoy’s last fare stabbed him 23 times, mostly in the back. The Vancouver resident was found in a lane in the 700-block of West 20th Street near Fell Avenue. Malloy died nwo days later in the intensive care unit of Lions Gate Hospital. Malloy is one of the 17 unsolved murder cases that occurred in North Vancouver since 1964. The cases are referred to as “his- torical murders” to reflect that they are older cases. “A frustrating element in this case, of course in hindsight, is that this offender narrowly missed being apprehended a couple of times,” said Cpl. Greg Bishop, a North Vancouver Mountie in charge of Malloy’s murder investigation. “This was one of those things where fuck was not on our side that day.” On the day he was stabbed, Malloy started his shift as usual at 2 p.m. He drove Yellow Cab number 73. Yellow Cab is based in Vancouver. At 7:30 p.m., Mailoy dropped off his last recorded customer at Abbott and Cordova in the downtown cast side. Ar 8:30 p.m., he briefly chatted with a fellow cab driver in the area of Davis and Thurlow. Malloy told the cabbie chat he was supposed to meet someone at an ethnic restaurant on Robson Street. An hour later, a person called 9-1-1 ta report. a commotion in the lane in the 700-block of West 20th Street in North Vancouver. Witnesses were actually in the headlights of Sialloy’s cab as the assailant backed out and drove off. North Vancouver Mounties found a bleeding, but censcious Malloy on the ground, Police iramediately tried to find Malloy’s missing cab. A bulletin was broadcast on radio frequencies of the Lower Mainland police and taxi companies. Ten minutes later, another cabbie spotted Mailoy's cab in Vancouver heading east on Hastings near Carrall. The cabbie followed Malloy’s taxi right past a Vancouver City Police officer in a car. Malloy’s assailant made an illegal left-hand turn. Incredibly, the pursuing cabbie did not want to do the same illegal turn in the presence of a Vancouver police officer. “He didn’: want to do thac in spite of the bulletin that said this cab was stolen,” said Bishop. The trailing cabbie lost sight of Malloy’s bright yellow cab on Hastings at Gore. The cabbie did get a look at the driver of Mallay’s taxi a dark skinned man with a goatee. The man wore a white ballcap. Another cab driver found Malloy’s parked cab fess than [5 minutes later. It was parked on Dunlevy at Cordova. The key was in the ignition of the blood-soaked interior. No knife or weapon used to stab Malloy was found. Vancouver City Police promptly responded to the tind. Bishop said officers did thorough checks of the area. No one was apprehended. Police did not wish to say how much moncy was in Malloy’s missing wallet, The missing wallet suggests a possible stabbing explanation of a robbery “gone bad.” Malloy’s assailant likely got in the cab near Seymour and Robson strects. Police are not sure if Malloy was in North Vancouver when he was stabbed or if he was even in his cab when he was stabbed. They do know that a bleeding Malloy was “transported” in the back of his taxi. “The thing that is intriguing is this meeting at the restaurant he refers to at 8:30,” said Bishop. A little more than an hour after that meeting, Malloy was dumped in the lane. Police don’t know who Malley was supposed to meet at the restaurant. Murder investigators believe that information is extremely important in solving this case. “We have appealed to the media and Crime Stoppers to sce if someone can come forward and fill in that blank. No one has,” said Bishop. The police corporal said this case also has been frustrating because of the low number of tips from the public. The tips received have not helped in advancing the investigation. Police expected more tips given the media coverage, a Crime Stoppers reenactment and a $10,000 reward from West Coast Taxi Association (no longer available). Why no tips? Bishop said there are ewe “broad theories” in this slaying. The murder was: : MURDER sus- pect drawing north shore news GUNDAY FOCUS a “personal thing” where the knowledge is kept in a tight cir- cle e* offenders. Most people are murdered by someone they know; @ committed by -omeone who was transient; a person who “floated in and out” of Vancouver and left town before ke dis- cussed the stabbing with anyone. Bishop said if Malloy’s murder was 2 “robbery gone bad” or a spontaneous assault Jeading to murder, police would likely have gotten a good tip through word of mouth. Another theory presumes that the actual attack took place in Vancouver. As Malloy’s assailant escaped the West End (near the restaurant) with the injured Malloy in the back of the cab, the killer may have been trying to go to Stanley Park and ended up on the Lions Gate Bridge, unable to turn back. “The area he chose to dump David off is a residential neigh- bourhood with lots of people around,” said Bishop. Bishop said that if the assailant planned to dump Malloy in North Vancouver, there were a lot of isolated places where the killer would not likely be seen. “I! think once the person got over here, he might of panicked a bit and got a fittle mixed up and finally just kicked David out of the cab,” said Bishop. ‘The assailant knew the arca well enough to quickly get back to Vancouver and ditch the taxi. Bishop said a large number of Mounties “extensively” can- vassed the downtown eastside during the initial part of the inves- tigation. Vancouver City Police beat cops, detectives and foren- NEWS photo Grad Ledwidge AN impressive, iengthy procession of cabs went from Vancouver to West Vancouver to be part of David Jon Matioy’s funeral service. Sunday, August 8, 1999 - North Shore News — 3 DAVID Jon Malloy, 44, of Vancouver was found dead in a North Vancouver lane in 1996. Taxi driver was a loner DAVID Jon Malloy was described as an intellectual who liked to debate and was interested in politics. He was born in New Jersey and had a master’s degree in library sci- ence. Malloy was divorced. He kept to himself and was considered by some to be a loner. Malley had a couple of close triends, also described as being intel- Iectuals, He used to meet his friends for coffe or restaurant meals, Cpl. Greg Bishop, a North Vancouver Mountic in charge of Malloy’s murder investigation, said Malloy’s: close friends have tried in every way to help police solve this case. Malloy’s mother, three sisters and a brother live in California and Oregon. Malloy liked to spend time on his computer or read books. Fellow cab- bies said: Malloy was a bit of sisk taker because he used to accept customers that other cabbies refused. Malloy was assaulted nwo times by cab passengers, once in 1984 and ancther time in 1985. His glasses were broken and face bruised after a fare hit him during one of the assaults, Malloy enjoyed working in’ the skids of Vancouver. He “associated” with street people including some prosti- tutes. Malloy never kept his crip list up to date and) often waited several hours before making an entry. sic identification section helped. Bishop said that he has investigated some violent crimes where every “second lead or tip” resulted in “significant evi- dence.” In the early stages of this murder investigation, a number of officers would got out and follow up information everyday. “We'd come back for our debricfings hoping that someone would have something and we'd get nothing. It is unusual to come up as dry as we have from the beginning,” said Bishop. A “number” of suspects have been eliminated “for the most part.” Some suspects have not been ruled out as the possible murderer or murderers, Bishop transferred out of the serious crime section chat inves- tigates murders in March. He is currently head of the burglary squad. But Bishop retained Malloy’s murder file to keep conti- nuity of the challenging investigation . As in all unsolved murder cases, police “held back” informa- tion from the public that only the killer would know, including the name of the ethnic restaurant, details of the stabbing and what Malloy told police before he died. This is the sixth in a series of stories by reporter Anna Marie D’Angelo relating to 17 unsolved murders in North Vancouver that date back to the 1960s. Anyone with information about the preceding murder is asked to contact North Vancouver RCMP Col. Greg Bishop at 983-7420 or Crime Stoppers at 669-8477, The RCMP file number of this case is 96-9391. Callers may be anonymons.