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. WEDNESDAY
“November 22, 1995

Business
G Classifieds..............46
8 Christmas calendar..49
BE COMMS.
B Crossword.................4B
S Fashion... seen OL
‘a Inside stories. ee 9
“8 Insights... ee:
a Mailbox
a N. Shore Alert.........8

; i Sports... ween TS

@ Table Hopping........24 —

WaTV Listings... ‘
) Wright.

© Sampling Istay’s . -

“Water of Life: °° 24
Beaujolais — the

- ultimate pop ‘wine: 25

arts:

i Panych’'s Vigil sets
season standard:

‘e ‘Around town
‘fisting of events:

shai eget se YR gach)

Weather

Thursday: Periods of rain
High 12°C, low 6°C.

NEWS photo B Brad Ledwidge

HIGH WINDS blew out the power. to the hoinies of thousands of North Shore residents Friday night, and nearly turned off
a bedroom’s lights permanently in this Lynn Valley home, When the 100-year-old fir tree. succumbed to the strong gusts
at 9:30 p.m., its limbs pierced the home's roof and stopped just short of hitting a bunk bed.

Abbotsford murder, Linden attack link

NORTH VANCOUVER RCMP came
under fire Monday for the mishandling
of a letter linked to the Abbotsford
murderer and the recent harassment of
the wife of Canucks hockey player
Trevor Linden.

By Michael Becker
and Anna Marie D'Angelo

' ;

According to North Vancouver RCMP Insp.
Jamie Graham, an anonymous letter arrived on
his desk Nov. 6. ‘The only thing | can suggest to
you is that it didn‘t'make much sense,” he said.

The fetter contained handwriting on both
sides of a single piece of paper. It was addressed
to the North Vancouver RCMP in general. “We
get a lot of letters and you can see our problem.

Sure hindsight is 20-20... [ couldn’t read it.
‘The rambling. oblique fetter is writen in an

almost illegible scrawl, characterized by farge,
shaky, le iteriny:

“When these things irrive, You sayto your-
self “well E cam read this’ and you see the word
‘killer’ so 1 sent it f my assistant,” Graham
said. :

She transcribed ite letter, The fetier was then

placed in a sealed plastic sleeve and sent for
forensic examination. Police checked the letter
for fingerprints and other clucs. It was then
delivered to another section of the detachment
for follow-up. “What happened there, we can
make a million excuses, but the bottom line is
the letter satin someone's in-basket, wasn't
given a high priority. It was decmed not to be
terribly relevant. It didn’t make sense,” Grahain
said.

He said the Ietter mentioned Mrs. Trevor
Linden, a police officer. and a third person.
Graham would not be specific about the content
of the letter, but said certain portions of the let-
ter linked it to the Abbotsford investigation of
the killing of Tanya Smith on Oct. 14.

Earlier this month, Wwo members of the
North Vancouver RCMP homicide section were
among the team assisting the Abbotsford police
investigation.

On the day following receipt of the letter it
was decided that the wo members assisting in
Abbotsford would get the Icaer. Said Gratiam,
“They looked for it and didn’t see it and they
didnt think i€ was that big of a_ priority.
Eventualiy it fell-in. their hands on the Priday
(Nov. 10). jo

See Delayed page 9

' ABBOTSFORD POLIC

E released *
Monday this new composite of a mur.
der suspect.