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Sep 237 min read

Canadian Killers Series Finale: Isolated Incidents




 If you’ve been along for the ride with us, you know by now that the Southern portion of Ontario, Canada, once claimed the undesirable title of 'Serial Killer Capital of the World.' That’s because between 1959 and 1983 there were reportedly more active serial killers per capita than compared to anywhere else on earth. 


Over the past eight weeks, we have covered three convicted serial killers in that region: Gerald Thomas Archer- The Chambermaid Slayer, Christian Herbert Harold Magee- the Mad Slasher, and Russell Maurice Johnson- The Bedroom Strangler. And we’ve told you about some individuals, both known and unknown who are suspected serial killers, like The Sinister Sergeant, a roadside stalker, and the FNU LNU.


We covered no less than 17 heartbreaking murders of young women and young men across Ontario, Canada, throughout the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s.


It’s been one heck of a rollercoaster ride and today is the final chapter of our Canadian Killers series. We will dive into the final group of victims- those that might be isolated incidents or so-called ‘one-off’ murders. But we urge you to pay attention because some small threads weave between this case and the previous modus operandi we've seen in other murders throughout this series. 


The Victims:


  • Margaret Sheeler, 20, of London + her unborn child




Margaret Sheeler vanished after a fight with her husband on Friday, Dec. 27, 1963. She reportedly walked away from their London townhome and into a blizzard. Her body was found in a nearby field roughly a month later, on Thursday, Jan. 23, 1964, by two newspaper delivery boys. An autopsy revealed she died from blunt force trauma to the head. She was not sexually assaulted. Her case has never been solved.


Suspects:


The husband: Margaret's husband, an allegedly mean drunk, drew much speculation, but Phillip Sheerer was never charged.


The ex: At one point, detectives told the press that they wanted to talk to an old paramour of Margaret's who had allegedly followed her from her hometown of Wallaceburg. However, this ex-boyfriend's identity was ever publicly revealed and shortly after the declaration by police, they reversed course and said they had no reason to question the man.


A serial killer: The circumstances of her death have drawn parallels to the murders of Jacqueline Dunleavy and Sylvia Fink who were possibly killed by the Roadside stalker.



  • Priscilla Merle, 21, of London



It was late on the night of March 4, 1972, when Priscilla Merle told her sister she was going out for round two. Her boyfriend's brother was going to pick her up and they were to head to a party on the outskirts of town. Her sister reportedly watched as she climbed into a wood-paneled station wagon. It would be the last known time Priscilla was ever seen alive. Her body parts started showing up in a creek near the town of Port Stanley, located on the shores of Lake Eerie. Her arm with the hand still attached, and her torso, which had been severed at the waist and was found in two pieces, was recovered. Her other arm, her legs, and her head remain missing.


A pathologist could not determine a cause of death, but markings that had been left on the bones revealed that the killer had likely started with a handsaw, and then graduated to power tools, like a circular saw or chainsaw, to dismember the body. Priscilla was a mother, a sister, a daughter, an aunt, and a friend. Her case has never been solved.


Suspects:


The boyfriend's brother: The brother of Priscilla's boyfriend, 39-year-old David Pullin, quickly became a person of interest in the case. He drove a '61 Pontiac Station Wagon and allegedly remained elusive during questioning with police. The cab driver quit his job shortly after Priscilla’s remains had started to turn up. A search warrant for his car and his home found incriminating evidence. In the garage of his rented house, police found a hacksaw with the blade missing. A forensic search of the car reportedly found human blood that had been diluted with a cleaning solution. David was never arrested or charged. He reportedly moved to the U.S. and has since passed away. 


Someone else: In a 1992 news article, police described Priscilla's case as the last in a string of murders that were possibly linked, including 15-year-old Jacqueline English who disappeared walking to the bus after her shift at The Metropolitan Restaurant, and 15-year-old Soraya O'connell who vanished while walking home from a youth center.


  • Irene Frances Gibbons, 66, of Srathroy



Irene Frances Gibbons was an unmarried retiree who was found strangled in her kitchen with nylon stockings that had been fashioed as a garrote. More stockings were found shoved deep down into her throat. It is suspected she was murdered on Thursday, July 31, 1975, after she had returned from running errands. Her body was found several days later after a young newspaper delivery girl noticed the unclaimed groceries and newspapers had been left on the stoop for days.

The house had not been robbed, no money was missing from her bank account, and she did not appear to be sexually assaulted. Irene Gibbons’ death remains unsolved, and according to the author of the book ‘Murder City,’- inactive. Her case remains unsolved.


The suspects:


The Mad Slasher: Police speculate that Irene Frances Gibbons could have fallen victim to the Mad Slasher who was also responsible for the deaths of 19-year-old Judy Barksey, who was slain while walking home with her pizza on a foggy night, and Louise Jenner, the young mother who was found murdered in her home while her daughter was in a crib in the next room. All three women were murdered in the Strathroy area within 19 months of each other.


  • Victoria Irene Mayo, 32, of London



Victoria Irene Mayo was a divorced housewife and babysitter who was found face-down on her bed in her nightgown. She had been stabbed in the back multiple times and drowned to death on blood that had pooled in her lungs. A pathologist found she had been sexually assaulted. Blood and semen were collected from the scene. Investigators also took an empty beer bottle, two drinking glasses and a leather jacket and entered them into evidence. Years later, an unemployed Hungarian immigrant and former dishwasher was confirmed to be her killer.





The suspect:


Sandor Fulep had confessed to Victoria's murder years earlier, but he was not officially



connected to the case until after he had passed away in 1996. In 2000, his body was exhumed and his DNA was matched to evidence that had been left behind at the scene.






  • Patricia Bovin, 22 of London




Patricia Bovin was a single mother on welfare, who lived in a one-bedroom second-floor duplex with her two young sons- who were only one and three years old. On Thursday, April 24, 1969, a friend entered her apartment after the could not get a hold of her. Patricia was found stabbed to death near the couch in her living room. It is believed she was attacked while she was sleeping. Her front door was unlocked, but so was a large sliding glass window in her living room.


It is unknown how the killer ws able to access her apartment, but is believed he left out the front door.


The suspects:


The Bedroom Strangler: Patricia's case has many markings that match the MO of Russell Johnson, aka The Bedroom Strangler, who we covered in our third episode in this series. Johnson was a meticulous body-building obsessive-compulsive psychopath who would frequently climb the outside balconies of an apartment building to gain access to his victims through unlocked doors. If Patricia was one of Johnsons victims, she would have been one of his first-known victims. While his most common method was manual strangulation, we know that he veered from this with his final-known victim, who was stabbed.


Sandor Felup: The author of the book Murder City, criminologist Dr. Michael Arntfield says he believes the mentally-ill Hungarian Immigrant Sandor Fulep is responsible.


  • Helga Beer, 31, of London



31-year-old divorcee Helga Beer was a popular, free-spirited department store hairdresser who had a vibrant social life and loved to go out on the town spending her nights at restaurants and bars. The night of August 5, 1968, she had been out bar hopping in downtown London with friends when she ran into a man she seemed to know. Helga and this man eventually left together. Her body was found the next morning jammed into the ackseat of her Volkswagon Bug, which had been parked half-a-mile from where she was last seen.  



It was clear by the marks on her neck that she had been strangled… this was confirmed by an autopsy which also found she was beaten and had had sex shortly before she died. However, it is unknown if the sex had been consensual. Investigators said it was likely she had been killed somewhere else, and then her body was moved to where it was found. The killer had reportedly removed her shoes, shorts and underwear to purposely leave her exposed after he posed the body. 


Suspects:


The friend: Eyewitnesses described Helga's friend as being in his late 20s , and of average hight with dark hair and thick eyebrows and a broad nose. This unidentified man reportedly left the country for Europe within days of her murder.


Helga was murdered roughly eight months after Patricia Bovin and they both were last seen on Kings Street just a few city blocks apart. Helga was murdered four years exactly from the day when Victoria was found slain in a bloody scene on the bed inside her basement apartment.


This is the eighth and final episode in our Canadian Killers series, which is now exploring a rash of unsolved homicides that occurred during the period when multiple serial killers were active. Perhaps, through your sleuthing, you can help to solve some of these crimes and bring resolution to the victims' families.



If you have any information on the unsolved cases covered in this episode, the tip line for The Ontario Association of Crime Stoppers is 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). 


To read more about unsolved homicides and missing people from Ontario, Canada, you can peruse the following websites or visit the links in our sources tab:



 

Sources:


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