An NS doctor predicted decades ago that his daughter's death would be revealed. Now it's over

Months after his 19-year-old daughter was murdered in Calgary in February 1977, Nova Scotian Dr. Jim McLean predicted the case would be solved.

“It may take two or three years, but I'm sure the killer will be behind bars,” he said in the July 27, 1977, issue of The Albertan.

“I know that a person will be found, it's all a matter of time.”

Dr. Jim McLean died in 2000. But his prediction finally came true.

RCMP announced on Friday that the 1976 deaths of Barbara Jean McLean and three other women in Calgary were at the hands of one man, an American named Gary Allen Srery. The violent and sex offender lived in Alberta and BC from the mid-1970s until 2003, when he was deported. He died in an Idaho prison in 2011.

Sreri was identified as the killer through DNA evidence and genealogy.

“Sreri's crimes spanned decades, across multiple jurisdictions, under multiple aliases, and Alberta RCMP believe there may be more victims,” ​​the RCMP said in a statement.

The families of the four victims asked not to be contacted, but the force released their statements, according to the statement.

“The pain of losing Barbara in such a tragic way has always been present in our lives, but recent events have answered the questions we have had to live with all these years,” McLean's family said in a statement.

She called McLean her “daughter, sister, aunt, cousin and niece.”

Newspaper accounts from 1977 say McLean was friendly, outgoing and confident.

McLean was “full of life and smart as hell,” his brother said

McLean had only been in Calgary for about six months before his death. He lived with his two brothers. He worked in a restaurant and later in a bank.

“He was … full of life, intelligent and happy to be away from home for the first time,” Jim McLean told the Calgary Herald on February 28, 1977.

His father said there were several reasons why he left his home community in Inverness

“Inverness is an old mining town and there aren't many opportunities for a young girl fresh out of high school,” she said in the February 28, 1977 edition of Edmonton Magazine.

“He also wanted to get away from mom and dad and get on his feet.”

She said her daughter was homesick and planned to go home for a two-week trip in early March.

A February 28, 1977, article in the Calgary Herald stated that he planned to return home and attend university the following year.

“There's no reason for this to happen,” brother Bobby McLean told the Edmonton Journal.

“He had no enemies. I can't put the pieces of the puzzle together.'

RCMP say Sreri was a predator who targeted his victims before throwing them behind the wheel and throwing them on the side of the road.

In a March 26, 1977 Calgary Herald article, the Calgary RCMP and city police believed McLean was also responsible for the deaths of the three women. Only one of those deaths – Melissa Ann Rehorek – has been confirmed to be caused by Sreri.

In a July 27, 1977 Albertan article, Dr. Jim McLean expressed his disappointment with the police handling of the case.

“We've called the RCMP in Calgary several times, but we don't know the date of his death at this time,” he said. “We haven't talked on the phone in a while because it's been too much of a stir. It's been a very difficult situation for my wife and I. I just want it to end.”

The family is thanking police for their “relentless pursuit” of justice

Dr. Jim McLean has died at the age of 79. As well as being a family doctor and surgeon, he served separately as a Tory MLA from 1963-1974 and 1984-1988.

In a statement, McLean's family thanked police for their “relentless pursuit” of justice.

“This breakthrough confirms our belief in the power of perseverance and the importance of adopting scientific advances in the field of law enforcement,” the statement said.