Posted on 10/01/2025 6:29:48 AM PDT by lowbridge
Saskatoon police say they have solved a mystery that goes back more than a century.
The remains of an unknown female were discovered in a well shaft in Saskatoon's Sutherland neighbourhood in 2006. Now, almost 20 years later, she has been identified as Alice Spence (nee Burke), a woman of Irish ancestry who was about 35 years old at the time of her death.
Investigators believe Alice, who lived in what was the town of Sutherland at the time, died of foul play sometime from 1916 to 1918.
-snip
The case sat for nearly 20 years without a lead until genetic science offered another avenue.
Saskatoon police worked with members of Toronto police's investigative genetic genealogy team to track down possible relatives and develop a family tree. Othram, a forensic genetic genealogy company, found five genetic relatives living in Alberta, the U.S., and Ireland.
Alice lived a few blocks from the well. She moved to Sutherland in 1913 from St. Louis, Minnesota, with her husband Charles and young daughter Idella.
Police say injuries on the body show Alice was assaulted prior to the murder.
"We know she was murdered and put in the barrel, but we don't know by whom," Camp said.
Alice's remains were found by workers excavating underground fuel tanks at a gas station site at Central Avenue and 108th Street in 2006. The site was once occupied by the Shore Hotel.
The body had been placed in a burlap sack, stuffed in a barrel and dumped about two metres down in a water well that was once used by the hotel.
Forensic anthropologist Ernie Walker was called to the scene. He said the body was "well-preserved" due to the mixture of water and gasoline in the ground. He gathered DNA from two teeth and hair.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbc.ca ...
The spouse is always the first suspect.
Who else knows them well enough to want them dead?
I think they are implying the gas station fuel tanks were leaking into the ground water
The Walking Dead, Herschell’s Farm
They almost pull the obese growling zombie out of the well, but he’s so waterlogged he splits in two and his lower half, guts and all fall back down into the well.
“I tol’ you we shoulda jus’ busted a cap inna him.” T Dawg
Well, all’s well that ends well...............
Just a little bit south of Saskatoon
Pick my guitar for board and room
Met a little girl, her name was June
A little bit south of Saskatoon
Me and Junny-Mae we got on fine
Till I had to move further down the line
Promised that girl I’d be back soon
A little bit south of Saskatoon
Went up to Nome to see the sights
Had a yen to watch the northern lights
But I had my mind on my sweet June
A little bit south of Saskatoon
So I caught a freight and headed back
Following down that railroad track
Kept a thinkin’ of my honeymoon
A little bit south of Saskatoon
Me and Junny-Mae got a little house
Got a piece of ground and a few milk cows
We’re gonna get a youngin’ soon
A little bit south of Saskatoon
In the winter time when we can’t farm
Me and Junny-Mae sit arm in arm
By a big ole fire and honeymoon
A little bit south of Saskatoon
If anyone in Saskatoon *drank* water, the murder would have been discovered long ago. /rimshot
The barrel never actually made it to the bottom of the well.
It got hung up on a piece of wood protruding from the wall of the well..........
See? The killer was a lazy bum. Should have just taken the time to dig a hole.
Ground may have been frozen...................
Hey, he could have waited until spring. Obviously lacked deferment of gratification.
He died of a heart attack in 1923. He was banging the babysitter............
See? Deferment of gratification. I wonder if he was related to Slick?
LEAKING TANKS
WATCH “BONES”
ABSOLUTELY CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE
So...
How many people, in and around this little town, have their \\completely unrelated DNA\\ registered in the Canadian DNA database?
_____________________________________________
I’m sure they’ve been collecting it from all of us surreptitiously for decades. With their mandatory swabs for people who refused to just stay home in 2021 and 2022, they collected millions of DNA samples from our noses. I knew what they might be doing, but it came down to (a) obey their “stay home and get used to your future 15 minute city” exhortation, or (b) disobey and travel the world but let them have your DNA in order to come back home. I decided the lesser of two evils was to give them my DNA.
Thanks.
You have my sympathies.
So many good Canoogians being oppressed by a handful tyrants.
Hmmm. I had a thought this morning after posting but had a busy day. I just looked it up: Saskatoon got its first municipal water treatment plant 10 years prior.
It’s likely that the well was unused/abandoned by that time, particularly due to the fact that the Shore Hotel was erected in 1912 on the site. I wonder how accurate their dating method is to reach 1916-1918, especially due to the bias of preservation from the gasoline contamination. Because it would be logical that someone with knowledge of the hotel construction would choose an old well to deposit a barrel containing a body that would be buried seemingly forever under a hotel.
Ya know? Otherwise, the body would have been discovered DECADES ago.
If a sleuthing investigator dug deeply, it’s likely they could discover a serial murderer of the region.
Where there’s one...
“Runnin’ Back To Saskatoon”
There’s a province up in Canada that’s right next door to ours.
It’s called Saskatchewan.
And, uh, in that province there’s a small town, uh, where nothing much ever happens, called Saskatoon.
This is a tune about that town.
This is called “Runnin’ Back To Saskatoon”.
I been hangin’ around gas stations
I been learnin’ ‘bout tires
I been talkin’ to grease monkeys
I been workin’ on cars
Moose Jaw saw a few, Moosomin too
Runnin’ back to Saskatoon
Red Deer, Terrace and a Medicine Hat
Sing another prairie tune
Sing another prairie tune
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
