Four historic Calgary murders linked to dead serial killer

Alberta RCMP have released details of four historic 1970s Calgary murders of women linked to a serial killer who died in an Idaho prison in 2011.

Gary Allen Sreary was a US citizen who investigators believe entered Canada illegally in the early 1970s. It was linked to the 1976 deaths of 14-year-old high school students Eva Dvorak and Patricia McQueen and 20-year-old Melissa Rehorek, and the 1977 death of 19-year-old Barbara McLean.

Dvorak and McQueen were found dead under the Happy Valley underpass on Highway 1 west of Calgary, but their deaths were ruled sudden death by Calgary's medical examiner at the time, as the cause of death was undetermined. Rehorek was found dead on Township Road 252 west of Calgary, and McLean was found dead near 6th Street and 80th Avenue NE.

RCMP said similarities between the early investigations into the deaths of Rehorek and McLean — both manual strangulations — led them to believe there was a common perpetrator.

Advances in DNA technology have made it possible to identify Sreeri in all four murders.

“For more than 40 years, investigators have not given up on their quest to identify those responsible for these murders,” said Superintendent David Hall, Alberta RCMP Major Crimes Officer-in-Charge.

“Identifying the culprit will not bring back Eva, Patsy, Melissa or Barbara. However, we hope the families can get answers about what happened to their loved ones all those years ago.”

RCMP and Calgary Police Service investigators compiled a detailed account of Sreri's activities while in Canada.

RCMP said he left California in 1974 and entered Canada illegally after fleeing rape charges in that state. During the murders in 1976 and 1977, he used the aliases Willie Blackman and Rex Long.

Sreri lived transiently in both Alberta and BC until 2003, when he was deported to the US and, at the age of 67, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for raping a 45-year-old victim in Idaho.

International efforts to solve the crimes of murder

Interpol and the Idaho State Police Forensic Services provided DNA evidence to match Sreri to the Calgary murders.

Inspector Kevin Forsen of the Calgary Police Service's (CPS) Major Crimes Unit said the service has reviewed its confidential homicide files and does not believe Sreri was involved.

Sreri's time in Calgary, said Insp. Forsen was not noticed by the police.

The RCMP noted that Sreri was “adept at frequently changing his appearance, residence and means of transportation” during his time in Canada.

Insp. Forsen said historical affairs detectives learned of the possible connection in 2021 and were authorized by the service to work with RCMP investigators.

“The two detectives on the historic homicide file are probably two of the most motivated and driven police officers we have in the service and they failed to recognize that they may have the skills and knowledge to help solve these files. do something about it. So they are very confident, but it was very easy,” he said.

“Our investigators worked with their RCMP colleagues and identified DNA samples from the crime scenes and then worked together to deliver them to the lab to obtain usable DNA STRS.”

The service also used the work of analysts and genealogists to create family trees and determine whether voluntary DNA submissions could help identify evidence to solve murders.

Insp. Forsen said the evidence presented was voluntary and care was taken to ensure the privacy of the community.

“We want to stay within the community's expectations as we conduct these studies. I think once we had the reports and our genealogist started working on it – we had two detectives and two genealogists – within 11 weeks they identified Mr. Sreri and they cleared the other 300 suspects that the RCMP had built up over the last 50 or so years. years,” said Forsen.

“It was a great day.”

The RCMP is asking for the public's help in further determining Sreri's timeline in Canada and whether or not he may have played a role in other historical crimes.

Information can be submitted directly to the Alberta RCMP Historic Crime Unit at [email protected] or by calling 780-509-3306.