deadmonton 2006 - bonnie lynn jack
Bonnie Lynn Jack, 37, was found dead May 16th, 2006.
Case status is open and active.
Ongoing developments | latest update | Jack's background.
Just eight days after the first arrest made by the police task force looking into the deaths and disappearances of Edmonton-area women came news of another body found in a field.
The woman found was Bonnie Lynn Jack, a worker in the sex trade and another name added to a very long list.
Just after noon on May 16th, 2006 a young couple walking in a farmer's field just two kilometers south of Fort Saskatchewan came across the dead body of a woman in a wooded area.
The farm is located near Range Road 225 and Township Road 542, an area where numerous bodies of Edmonton sex-trade workers have been found over the last two decades.
Strathcona County RCMP confirmed the Project KARE task force was involved in the investigation.
However, the RCMP pointed out they were not linking the death to any ongoing investigation.
At first, RCMP spokesman Wayne Oakes said the preliminary investigation hadn't determined whether the case involved a sex-trade worker or even whether it was in fact a homicide.
The area where the body was found "is the same general area where the bodies of several Edmonton-area sex-trade workers have been discovered in recent years," Oakes added.
The body of Rachel Quinney was found June 11th, 2004 seven kilometers southeast of the current site. Thomas Svekla, charged with the murder of Theresa Merrie Innes, told an Edmonton Sun reporter he had found Quinney's body.
The body of Ellie-May Meyer was found May 6th, 2005 twenty-one kilometers south of the latest discovery.
The farm where the body was found belongs to Peter Galloway, owner of Galloway Seeds.
Galloway said three or four bodies have been found in recent years within eight kilometers of the current investigation scene.
Police used search dogs and a helicopter to scour 164 acres in the surrounding area.
Forensic investigators remained on the scene overnight and finally moved the body 24 hours after it was first discovered.
The body was transported to the medical examiner's office and an autopsy was conducted on May 17th.
The next day police made few details of the autopsy available, citing their need to locate and notify next of kin and to continue their investigative process.
RCMP confirmed the body was that of a female and that she was aged 38. She was not known to be a sex trade worker, was not reported missing and had not registered with Project KARE.
She was also not identified as being Delores Dawn Brower, Maggie Lee Burke or Corrie Ottenbreit, three prostitutes actively being sought by police after they went missing in the latter half of 2004.
Details regarding cause of death, how long the body has been at the location and other factors were held back by police as part of their investigation.
RCMP were treating the death as a homicide and kept Project KARE involved unless developments dictated otherwise.
After the autopsy announcement, police allowed the media to attend the crime scene -- a small wooded area just 35 meters from a road and within sight of several houses.
Police indicated the body was found in waist-high brush just off a natural trail.
On May 19th, 2006 RCMP identified the woman found as 37-year-old Bonnie Lynn Jack of Edmonton. She was described as a part-time sex trade worker.
Jack was also known as Bonnie Lynn Loyie, and Bunny or Heather. Jack stood five feet six inches tall and weighed 130 pounds with brown eyes, shoulder-length hair and often wore a ball cap.
Police said that Jack was a mother, but would not say how many children she had.
Jack was living with a boyfriend in central Edmonton, but had ties to the Vancouver area where she also worked as a prostitute. Police said her family lost contact with her in March 2006.
RCMP were investigating the case as a homicide. While a cause of death was determined during the autopsy, police didn't release how Jack was killed.
Ongoing Developments
- May 23, 2006
Memorial service held; adoptive mother provides new information. - May 24, 2006
Project KARE team expands; Ralph Klein expresses concern. - June 25th, 2006
Sex assault near 'Dumping Ground.'
May 23rd, 2006
Marilynn Jack Colley gives one of Bonnie Lynn Jack’s daughters, Mindy, a hug after a memorial service outside Sacred Heart First Nations Church.
Jack's adoptive mother, Marilynn Jack Colley, told the service at a downtown Edmonton church that although her daughter was a street person and a drug addict, she had a family who loved her and was good human being.
One of Bonnie's daughters missed the service because she was in hospital about to give birth to Jack's grandchild.
After the service, Colley told media that the RCMP had told her Jack was found fully clothed and may have overdosed on drugs.
Colley said because the RCMP did not have the results from toxicology tests they could not provide a cause of death.
Colley assumes Jack had overdosed with friends who then panicked and dumped her body in the field where she was found.
May 24th, 2006
RCMP spokesman Cpl. Wayne Oakes announced the force added sixteen extra Mounties to help Project KARE investigate the cases of the two latest Edmonton prostitutes found dead.
The extra officers are from general investigations sections, Edmonton Major Crimes and general policing units.
Oakes said the lead investigator asked for the extra staff as Project KARE handles each of the "large number" of tips from the public on the Jack and Innes cases.
"Every tip is investigated," said Oakes.
Alberta Premier Ralph Klein called the slayings tragic and hoped police would soon catch the killer or killers responsible for the slayings.
"It's terrible. I only hope that they find the culprit who is committing these awful murders."
"I know (prostitutes) live a high-risk lifestyle, but still it's no excuse for anyone to conduct violence whether they're prostitutes or not," Klein told the Edmonton Sun.
June 25th, 2006
Early on the 25th a 50-year-old woman accepted a ride home from a stranger on Jasper Avenue. The pair ended up near a farmer's field at Township Road 540 and Range Road 220 where the woman was assaulted.
The area is near where numerous bodies of sex trade workers have been found.
Project KARE was notified but is not leading the investigation. Strathcona County RCMP have not determined whether the woman was involved in the sex trade. Police said the woman and the man did not know each other and it wasn't known why she got into his vehicle.
RCMP were first notified by a farmer who reported a woman came to his house at about 5:00 a.m. stating she had been forced to perform sexual intercourse.
The man she accepted the ride from made a request for sex, but after she bolted from his vehicle the man followed, grabbed her, threw her to the ground and assaulted her.
In the heat of the moment the man discovered he'd locked himself out of his truck. He smashed the driver's side window and drove off.
Police were looking for a dark green, newer model pickup truck with an extended cab. They asked glass-repair shops to alert them regarding window repairs for such a vehicle.
The suspect was described as a white man, heavy set, in his late 30s or early 40s with medium-length hair. He was wearing a light pink button-up shirt and blue jeans [full details].
Jack's background
Bonnie Lynn Jack usually answered the phone with a cheery "Bunny Love."
"She was always joking and laughing. She was a beautiful person. Kind and soft-spoken," Emiline Lagimodiere told the Edmonton Journal.
Lagimodiere said Jack had a bad crack addiction, and worked the streets to support her habit.
"She was a lesbian. The only reason she went with the men was because she had a crack addition," Lagimodiere said.
"She didn't like men because of what happened to her when she was little -- she told me she was raped."
Jack's area was along 118th Avenue between 95th Street and 94th Street but was known to frequent the corner of 84th Street and 118th Avenue as well.
"She figured it would never happen to her. She said if you played it smart, you'd be all right."
Lagimodiere said the last time she saw Jack was in April when she had to tell her to leave her apartment because she was doing crack cocaine and getting out of hand.
"She was really a good person who treated everybody fairly. But if someone treated her wrong while she was high, she could get aggressive," Lagimodiere said.
Lagimodiere said Jack never talked much about her family, or mentioned she had children.
"I know she had stretch marks, but I didn't pry. She was always kind to everyone. She would give you the shirt off her back. How could someone do this to her?"
It was later reported by the Journal that Jack had six children, five daughters and one son, who range in age from 22 to eight. While she didn't have custody of her children, she did keep in contact with them.
Jack fulfilled a dream of meeting her birth parents when she was 16.
A native child, Bonnie was raised in an all-white household. She was adopted when she was three years old.
A man who knew her from the streets told the Edmonton Sun that Jack was a savvy, streetwise woman who knew how to fend for herself.
"She knew what she was doing when she dealt with people," said the man whose name wasn't published.
"She knew how to read her johns and tricks. I guess some people aren't as prepared as they think they are."
The man said that Jack, known by him and many others as Bunny, had "been around the streets a long time."
He said he hadn't seen her in a few months. "I guess this is why."
While police said her family last spoke to Jack about two months ago, radio station 630 CHED spoke to women saying they saw her more recently than that.
In 2003 Bonnie Jack was interviewed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Jack told the CBC that after living on the streets for nearly two decades, she moved to Edmonton several years ago to get away from the dangers of life on Vancouver's downtown east side.
Jack said she had grown up in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia near the pig farm where police say the remains of a number of women were later found.
"I know probably about six of those girls that they found on that pig farm, and I grew up in that town, so I was just lucky," Jack said.
Jack said she left B.C. because so many of her friends had died, largely from drug abuse.
At the time of the interview, Jack claimed to have beaten her addictions and said she was only working the street part-time to make up for her welfare cheque shortfall.
The CBC reported that by February 2006, Jack was back using drugs but still determined to get off the street.
Kate Quinn of Edmonton's Prostitution Awareness and Action Foundation of Edmonton (PAAFE) gave Jack the name of a counselling service and a referral to a job placement agency.
Quinn says that was the last time she saw her before she heard Jack had been killed.
Anyone with information about Bonnie Lynn Jack is asked to contact Project KARE at 495-KARE (5273) or 1-877-412-KARE (5273), or online at www.tipsubmit.com - a secure tip submission web site.