Hooker murder arrest

[canoilers]

Hooker murder arrest



By AJAY BHARDWAJ, EDMONTON SUN




RCMP Cpl. Wayne Oakes refused to speculate during a press conference at K Division yesterday on whether Thomas George Svekla may be linked to other cases involving local sex-trade workers. (BRENDON DLOUHY, Sun)
Mounties have charged a High Level man with murder after a sex-trade worker was found dead in a Fort Saskatchewan home.

But neither cops nor observers believe they've caught up with a serial killer thought to be preying on city prostitutes.

Thomas George Svekla, 38, was charged with second-degree murder after the body of a woman was found in a Fort home on Sunday.

"We are very mindful of the fact that we have a number of outstanding deaths," said RCMP spokesman Cpl. Wayne Oakes. "The investigational process ... will take time.... At this point we have one person charged with one death.

"It would be very unfair and potentially wrong to jump to a conclusion before investigators have had a chance to go over the information, to examine all the details and to complete the investigational approach."



HIGH-RISK LIFESTYLES

Since 1975 the bodies of 25 people who police say led high-risk lifestyles - including sex-trade workers - have been found in the greater Edmonton area.

Project KARE, a joint RCMP-city police task force, is investigating and officers believe a serial killer is responsible for some, but not all, of the deaths.

The murder charge shouldn't lead to complacency in the wider investigation, said JoAnn McCartney, a former vice cop now with the Prostitution Awareness and Action Foundation of Edmonton (PAAFE).

"I don't believe that one person is responsible for all 25 of those murders," she said. "So I don't want people to think, 'Okay, they've caught a guy ... and everybody can rest easy and we can go about our business.'

"I think there are still some very dangerous men out there who are preying on these women."

PAAFE executive director Kate Quinn noted the victim - who was reported missing earlier this year to Edmonton city police and hadn't registered her DNA with Project KARE - was found in a home instead of a field like other bodies.

"I would tend to think perhaps that bodies found in fields would be victims of the serial killer," said Quinn. She figured the latest case could have been a date gone "very, very bad."

NOT FROM COMMUNITY

Svekla - who was known to police - was arrested in Fort Saskatchewan without incident but didn't have a home there, Oakes said.

He recently lived in Peace River and High Level.

The woman was found in a home in Fort Saskatchewan on Sunday, after cops received a tip, said Oakes.

The 36-year-old victim has been identified but her name wasn't released pending notification of her family.

Oakes wouldn't say from where the woman vanished.

Svekla is to appear in Fort Saskatchewan provincial court tomorrow.

Oakes said police are asking for anyone who knew or dealt with Svekla to call Fort Saskatchewan RCMP at 992-6104, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or Project KARE at 1-800-412-5273.


Edmonton Sun (http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2006/05/10/1572546-sun.html)

Finally something positive in this case, he may not have been the serial killer but its something. Its a start at finding the guy who killed my sister. That in itself gives me hope.

[canoilers]

Murders unsolved

Here is a list of murdered women whose bodies have been found in the Edmonton area in recent years. All of these cases remain unsolved.

- May 6, 2005: Ellie-May Meyer, 33, found in a farmer's field near Highway 21, north of Township Road 534.

- April 16, 2005: Charlene Marie Gauld, 20, found burned around 9 a.m. by an oilfield worker checking a site near the intersection of Highway 617 and Highway 623.

- January 25, 2005: Samantha Tayleen Berg, 19, found frozen to the ground under a mound of snow by employees of the Stross Management Ltd. trucking company at 7829 127 Ave. Berg and Gauld were friends.

- June 11, 2004: Rachel Liz Quinney, 19, found in a small clump of trees near Township Road 540 and Range Road 224.



- July 7, 2003: The badly decomposed body of prostitute Katie Sylvia Ballantyne, 40, found in a field 14 km east of Leduc.

- April 12, 2003: The skull of Debbie Darlene Lake, 28, found by a man walking in a treed area on farmland near the junction of Secondary Highway 617 and Secondary Highway 623. Human bone fragments and hair also uncovered at the scene are identified as Lake's.

- Jan. 12, 2003: Melissa Munch, 20, found dead south of Highway 16 on Range Road 220. Munch was a sex-trade worker.

- Jan. 8, 2003: Prostitute Monique Pitre, 30, found near the junction of Township Road 540 and Range Road 222.

- Sept. 23, 2002: Twenty-eight-year-old prostitute Edna Bernard's charred remains found near Range Road 245 just north of Highway 623 near Leduc.

- Jan. 27, 2001: Kelly Dawn Reilly, a 23-year-old prostitute, discovered in a gravel pit near Villeneuve, 25 km northwest of Edmonton.

- Oct. 19, 1997: The body of student Joyce Anne Hewitt, 22, from Kamloops, B.C., found in underbrush near 17 Street and 91 Avenue.

- Sept. 1, 1997: The remains of prostitute Caralyn Aubrey King, 23, discovered in a canola field near Strathmoor Way in Sherwood Park.

- Oct. 24, 1989: Prostitute Bernadette Lynda Ahenakew, 22, is found dead in a ditch two kilometres north of Highway 16 on North Clover Bar Road.

- Sept. 13, 1988: The half-naked body of prostitute Georgette Flint, 20, is found just west of Elk Island Park.

Meanwhile, Project KARE continues to investigate the cases of these missing women:

Corrie Ottenbreit, last seen May 9, 2004, in Edmonton. She is described as a 27 year old Caucasian female, 165 cm tall and weighing 120 pounds. She has blue eyes and naturally red hair, dyed blond at the time she was last seen.

Maggie Burke, last seen on Dec. 9, 2004. She is described as a 21-year-old Aboriginal female, five-foot-seven and weighing approximately 120 pounds. She had brown eyes and naturally brown hair with red streaks when last seen.

Delores Dawn Brower, last seen on 118 Avenue and 70 Street by Project KARE members on the 13th of May, 2004, at 05:40 in the morning. At that time, she was hitch-hiking, attempting to get a ride westbound on the avenue.

She is a 33-year-old Metis with long brown hair and brown eyes. She is five-foot-three and weighs about 110 pounds.

Delores was last seen wearing a black sweater and black jeans and her hair was down and long. She has scarring on both her left and right forearms. Delores also goes by the nickname "Spider."

Edmonton Sun (http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2006/05/10/1572549-sun.html)

[nds76]

The hooker profession is risky business.

[Troll]

The hooker profession is risky business.

Yes it is David.

[canoilers]

I found out what this guys rap sheet was. This guy shouldn't be in public at all. Numerous sexual assualts one was a fourteen year old girl. He's been arrested for a hit and run and uttering death threats. After hearing that I wouldn't doubt that this guy is the serial killer.

[canoilers]

In 2004, accused killer asked for help after claiming to have found a prostitute's body

It felt like a kick in the stomach.

When police announced second-degree murder charges this week against Thomas George Svekla in the death of prostitute Theresa Innes, I nearly retched.

Late in 2004, Svekla sat across the desk from me, looked me in the eye and asked me to help clear his name in the death of Rachel Quinney, a teen prostitute whose body had been found in a clump of trees in Strathcona County in June the same year.

Svekla told me he was a "person of interest" in the Quinney case, which meant that he was not considered a suspect, but was still under the police microscope.

He claimed that he was under scrutiny merely because he had discovered Quinney's body but had waited a couple of days before reporting it.



He hesitated, Svekla explained, only because he had been too frightened and ashamed to come forward at first, but eventually he screwed up his courage and did the right thing.

The mild-mannered, soft-spoken Svekla - whom if you passed on the street you'd probably think was an accountant or insurance adjuster - sat with his hands folded as he spoke of the indignities inflicted upon him and his family at the hands of the Fort Saskatchewan Mounties.

Svekla didn't go into much detail about the so-called indignities, saying only that the shame of being linked to prostitute killings was humiliating for everyone close to him.

Svekla admitted that he had a crack problem, and when in the throes of his addiction he was capable of ugly, nasty, regrettable things.

He said he hated himself when he was using, and was tired of causing his loved ones pain and shame. He vowed to conquer his demons.

In fact, he had Rachel to thank for his change of heart. If there was any good to come from the unspeakable horror of her murder, Svekla wanted it to be his sobriety.

He promised that he would live a drug-free life, in honour of Rachel Quinney's memory.

Svekla told me about the night Rachel's body was literally stumbled upon.

He had been partying in the city and had picked up a prostitute in his pickup truck. He wanted to take her out to the country, where they could do crack together in private.

They headed east of the city and drove around until they found a grove of trees in a secluded area.

Something went wrong, though, he said, but didn't provide many details. The prostitute, who Svekla didn't name, suddenly panicked.

He claimed a struggle ensued and that she bolted from the vehicle and ran into the trees. Svekla said he followed, hoping to calm her down so he could take her back to the city.

Svekla said as she fled, the prostitute tripped over something. When he caught up to her, Svekla said, he discovered that it was a corpse.

They raced back to the city together, Svekla said, and he went home, haunted by the grim discovery.

He said he was afraid to report it at first because he'd have to explain what he was doing there in the first place, but eventually his conscience got the better of him and he came forward.

However, Svekla said bitterly, instead of thanking him, cops treated him with suspicion.

It was the only time we met. I never heard from him again.

Yesterday, Project KARE spokesman RCMP Cpl. Wayne Oakes refused to confirm or deny any of what Svekla had told me.

When cops announced the charge against Svekla in the Innes case on Tuesday, Oakes said it would be "unfair and potentially wrong" to assume a serial killer had been caught.

"At this point, we have one person charged with one death," he said.

Since 1975 the bodies of 25 people leading "high-risk lifestyles" have been found in and around Edmonton.

Innes is the fourth prostitute found slain since Quinney's body was discovered on June 11, 2004. The others are:

- On January 25, 2005, the frozen corpse of Samantha Tayleen Berg, 19, was found in a city trucking company's parking lot;

- On April 16, 2005, the partially burned body of Charlene Marie Gauld, 20, was found by an oilfield worker checking a site near the intersection of Highway 617 and Highway 623;

- On May 6, 2005, the body of Ellie-May Meyer, 33, was found in a farmer's field near Highway 21, north of Township Road 534.

Edmonton Sun (http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2006/05/11/1574394-sun.html)