In 1976 and 1977, the bodies of four girls and women were discovered outside Calgary, their murders remaining unsolved for nearly five decades. It wasn’t until May 17, when the RCMP identified Gary Allen Srery, an American sex offender, as the perpetrator, who had passed away in an Idaho prison in 2011.
Let’s take a closer look at the police investigation:
Feb. 12, 1976: Two 14-year-old girls, Eva Dvorak and Patsy McQueen, left Ian Bazalgette Junior High School together. After visiting various friends’ homes for a couple of days, McQueen was reported missing by her family.
Feb. 15, 1976: The bodies of the two girls were found beneath an overpass west of Calgary. Although fully clothed, authorities suspected they had been sexually assaulted.
Sept. 15, 1976: Melissa Rehorek, a 20-year-old hotel housekeeper, was last seen by her roommates at the YWCA in downtown Calgary. The following day, her body was discovered in a ditch off a gravel road outside the city. She was fully clothed, but signs of a struggle and strangulation were evident from the autopsy.
Feb. 25, 1977: Barbara MacLean, a 19-year-old bank employee, was last seen leaving a cabaret alone in the early hours of the morning. Her body was found outside Calgary’s city limits later that day, showing signs of strangulation and struggle. Her jacket was found inside-out.
1990s: The RCMP formed four teams to re-examine evidence, public tips, and any leads previously overlooked in the four homicide cases.
March 2003: Laboratory analysis confirmed that the DNA found in the killings of Rehorak and MacLean matched.
2023: A DNA profile matching the killer of Eva and Patsy was identified, linking back to the same profile in the Rehorak and MacLean cases. Subsequently, investigations pointed to Gary Allen Srery, a serial sex offender who had fled from the U.S. to Canada in the 1970s.
Sept. 13, 2023: Idaho police confirmed that Srery’s DNA matched the genetic profile in the Calgary killings.
