Talk show viewer’s tip leads cops to suspect 13 years later THE following is the second 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 murders is asked to contact the North Vancouver RCMP at 985-1311. Callers may be anonymous. BRUCE Young was worried about his Brenda on the afternoon of Jan. 7, 1976. The North Vancouver couple had been together that morn- ing doing errands. Bruce went te Vancouver on business for the couple’s Lower Lonsdale craft and clothing store called the Good Earth. Brenda went to work in the store. Bruce phoned the Good Earth in the afternoon to question Brenda, 38, about something she had asked him to buy. No one answered the phone. Bruce called home. There was no answer. He called the store again. Still no answer. An anxious Bruce Young called Harry O*Day, a weil- known Lower Lonsdale figure «who owned a book store next to the Good Earth at 238 Lonsdale Ave. O'Day, O’Day’s girlfriend and a man named Carl Paine were having coffee at the book store. It was not unusu- al for Brenda Young to join the group for cotfec, but she did not show up that day. On a second call from Bruce, Paine went over to the . Good Earth and found the front door locked. Nothing appeared amiss inside the store although it looked closed. The time was about 3:30 p.m. With an anxious Bruce Young holding on the phone line, Paine and O'Day pried back a piece of plywood at the back of the book store. The plywood blocked an entrance between O’Day Books and the Good Earth. Once in the Good Earth’s changing room, Paine took one more step into the store. There he saw Brenda Young lying face down. Her head was in a pool of blood. The woman had been strangled and her throat deeply slashed . Brenda Young had struggled with her attacker, who hit her on the side of the bead with a blunt object. The murderer stabbed Young four times in the face and neck. Young died on the floor of her Lower Lonsdale store, appar- - ently with no one hearing a sound. PHOTO North Vancouver RCMP THE storefront of the Good Earth store (right) was next to O'Day Books on the east side of Lonsdale. Insolved “MURDERS No one has ever been charged with the murder. Young’s murder is one of 17 unsolved cases still being investigated by the North Vancouver ROMP. “We don’t want to ever let these go unsolved. We want to solve them by any means and rotting help from the public. Yopefully we'll get a tip thar will lead us to enough evidence for a charge and con- viction,” said North Vancouver RCMP Const. Tom Seaman. Police say that robbery was not a motive for Young’s mur- der. An autopsy report con- cluded there was no sexual assault. Young had no known enemies. She was a friendly, hardworking, helpful and polite person. Young had a a young tecnager whe killed. Police had few clues tr go by in the puzzling case. They did know that 1 woman customer was in the store fora short time at about 1:20 p.m. Police believe Young was killed beowcen 1:20 and 1:50 jm. The customer said she left Young in the Good Earth alone with a man that scemed “well dressed and slightly out of place in this cype of store.” He was described as a Caucasian, 6° to 6°3”, of average build, neatly dressed and well groomed. The customer estimated that he was in his late 20s. He had vollar-length, neatly rimmed hair and trimmed side burns. The witness did not get a good look at the face of the con- servative-appearing man. Based on the witness’ recollection, the back haif of the head on a composite drawing of the murder sus- pect (shown above left) is more accurate than the facial tearures depicted. The Good Earth, in business for three years at the time of the murder, catered to a free-spirited crowd store specialized in crafts, leather work and mod-style clothing for men and women. Some called it a “hippie store.” Two weeks atter the murder, a group of men were drinking at the nearby Olympic Hotel. (The Olympic, colloquially called “The Big O,” and the St. Alice Hotel were nwo landmark 2nd Street bars that were reduced to rubble and replaced with high- rises in the early 1990s.) One of the men at the Olympic Hotel began to brag about committing the murder. A person within earshot in the bar later called police. The 27-year-old suspect from the bar was eventually tracked down to an Ashcroft police cell tour months later. He was cleared of any involvement in Young's death. A knife believed to have been used in the murder has never been recovered. A knife was found in the 100-block of East Ist Street three months after the murder, bur it was ruled out as a weapon . Despite ar $18,000 reward and a lot of work, police did not have any solid suspects or receive good tips in Young's murder tor 13 years. Then in 1989, the North Vancouver RCMP issued a press release appealing to anyone who had any information to call police about Young’s murder. In March of 1989 a person, who police do not wish to iden- tify, was watching the Sally Jessy Raphael television show, The show’s topic that day was unsolved murde he show focused on how people guilty of murders are walking around free as birds because other people don’t come forward with information that could convict them. The television viewer then picked up a copy of the North Shore News that contained the po for information about Young's deat For years, this person had had nagging thoughts about strange ¢ on Young's murder day. Police received a call from the Raphael viewer that led police “considered a strong si Police will only s : ing salesman around the ¢ Maza highrise was a new building PHOTO North Vancouver RCMP ‘oung’s body was discovered at the back of this store near the change then. He also lived at least one other North Van address while liv- ing in the Vancouver area.The suspect was also known ro “fre- quent a well-known Irish night club” in Vancouver, say police. This suspect does not live in B.C. now. He is a strong suspect in at least nwo other murders of women “of a similar nature,” according to police. As in all murder investigations, police declined to provide all details of Young’s murder. That includes information only the killer would know and information police believe would be too upsetting to the family if made public. Police also do not give out detailed information or the name of any suspect who is not charged with a crime. Murder tips received THE 1973 unsolved murder reported in the News in January resulted in two tips to the North Vancouver RCMP. Based on one of the tips, local Mounties obtained a licence plate number and were attempting to track a car owner. In 1973, the same information was given to an employee at the North Vancouver RCMP, but apparently was not passed on to police investigators. The car currently being traced belonged to a man who tried to abduct 2 young girl near the convent shortly before the murder day. The would-be abductor matched the description of the murder suspect. Meanwhile a family member of murdered woman Albina Christiana LeQuica phoned the News to clarity some information reported in the story. he family member, who did not wish to be named, said that: @ LeQuiea, 96, was not contined to her bed as reported, but was up daily for 7 a.m. mass; @ the sound of breaking glass heard carly in the morning of the murder at the convent was actually a small door pane breaking. It was the same sound as a glass of juice being dropped on the floor, which was not an anusual occur- rence at the North Vancouver convent; @ LeQuica had nine children (seven daughters and nv . The morning she was found dead was the same day tica planned to leave the convent to spend Christmas with her son in the Okanagan. LeQuiea’s son had just moved to the Okanagan after spending 32 years in Ortawa. He was looking forward to spending a special Christmas with his mother. LeQuiea was found dead in her bedroom in’ the Convent of the Child Jesus on Dec. 16, 1973. LeQuica was thought to have died from natural causes. But an autopsy revealed she had a omurdered and rally assaulted by an intruder. Police do nor have a susp: — Anna Marie Angelo