ANALYSIS: 25 years later, veteran Trenton reporter Barry Ellsworth revisits the unsolved Kathleen MacVicar murder

Editor’s note: In light of a renewed OPP appeal for information in the 25-year-old unsolved killing of Kathleen MacVicar at CFB Trenton, veteran journalist Barry Ellsworth looks back on covering the investigation in 2001 and the questions that have persisted ever since.

Kathleen MacVicar was 19 years old and starting a new life in Trenton when, on a dark June night in 2001, someone took it from her.

Earlier this week, OPP launched new appeal for information on information leading to her killer in this still unsolved case, and presented how they are using today’s new technology as tools to help find answers.

MacVicar had moved to Trenton from Glace Bay, N.S., and was temporarily staying with a relative at CFB Trenton.

On the night of June 13, 2001, she was walking toward the relative’s home when she was attacked.

Her body was discovered two days later near a wooded area along Curtis Road, which links the eastern end of the city with the entrance to Middleton Park, where military families live. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed multiple times.

“MacVicar was the victim of murder,” states an OPP poster telling of a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the murder of the teen. $25,000 of this reward would come from the City of Quinte West, and the other half from the Province of Ontario.

Was the 19-year-old a victim of the infamous Col. Russell Williams, a serial killer and former commander of the air base? Was her death connected to an assault and attempted murder in London, as thought by police? Was it a botched robbery-turned killing? Or did a rape turn deadly?

Questions remain to this day.

Quinte West Police – when the city took the name, and the Trenton force before them – both investigated, but to no avail.

Months after the murder, no progress was reported.

The latter police force eventually held a news conference under a canopy at the site of the murder. Perhaps two dozen of us reporters attended as the OPP announced it was taking over the investigation.

It was well known that the local Trenton police had limited experience investigating murders. I remember as the Quinte West chief of police sat stone-faced as I asked whether the OPP should have taken over the investigation earlier in view of the local police lacking experience in cases of murder. The OPP spokesperson conducting the news conference, whose name I don’t recall, side-stepped the question, only saying that she could not speak for what happened previously.

At one point, authorities thought perhaps there was a breakthrough. They fed the particulars of the MacVicar case into an unsolved murders computer program, called the ViCLAS (Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System) database, which identifies identical attack methods and behavioural patterns.

They found another woman, Emilie Paraskevas, who was attacked in London, ON, in a similar manner in October of 2001, also on a lonely path at night. Paraskevas was threatened, stabbed with a knife and sexually assaulted. She lived thanks to a neighbour who came across the assault and ran home to call police.

But, investigators hit a brick wall, unable to link a knife handle found at the scene to the MacVicar killing because there was no DNA.

Police did build a profile of the attacker, which suggested his age was 20s to 30s; they believed he had a significantly low boiling point, and was a lower-income wage earner. Profilers thought he was probably Caucasian, with a history of violence toward women.

But both investigations (MacVicar and Paraskevas) continued to stymie police.

Quinte West and London share a military connection, though London’s was primarily a military reserve facility, while CFB Trenton in Quinte West was Canada’s largest air base.

And as it turned out, CFB Trenton already housed a killer. Base commander Col. Russell Williams murdered two local women before he was caught and arrested in February 2010.

Police later re-examined the London and Trenton attacks in light of the Williams’ crimes. Officers combed the wooded area where MacVicar was killed, but an extensive search did not unearth any clues, and they were still not able to link the two crimes.

Nevertheless, years later, Quinte West police veteran Harry Barry later decided to investigate, on his own, in the the wood/brush area at the murder scene.

Unfortunately, his diligence did not result in anything new. Barry has since passed away.

And so justice is still sought for MacVicar, the young Nova Scotia woman who came to Trenton to start a new life but found tragedy instead.

Barry Ellsworth is a freelance reporter and columnist for Quinteist. Throughout his career, he’s worked for many publications in the region, including The Trentonian, Community Press and County Weekly News. Barry covers topics important to residents of the area, including Quinte West council, and will also share his insights via columns based on years of experience living and working in the Quinte region.