The murder victim's sisters were horrified but relieved to find out who killed her

Content of the article

Eva Dvorak's family members breathed a sigh of relief this spring when they learned what happened to their sister after nearly 50 years.

In 1976, then 14-year-old Eva, along with her friend Patricia (Patsy) McQueen, became victims of serial killer Gary Sreri. Sreri, who died in a U.S. prison in 2011, was also linked to the 1977 murders of Melissa Rehorek and Barbara McLean and long-standing sex crimes on both sides of the border.

Content of the article

Content of the article

Eva's younger sister Suzanne, now with Zsazsa Radomske, was just 12 years old when her sister died and, like the rest of the family, was left with no full knowledge of what happened for more than 48 years.

Police told them at one point that the case would not be closed until it was solved, Radomske said.

“You gave up after so many years, you know what I mean? You didn't have an answer,” said Radomske. “They say 'be patient,' but 48 years is a long time to be patient.”

Another of Eva's sisters, Marta Dvorak, said she gave up for a while until she was called to look into the case, thinking no one cared anymore and that the case had been swept under the rug.

After all these years, it was a relief to know what really happened, said Martha, who was 16 at the time of the murder.

“I'm still sad because he's not with us today,” Martha said. “We loved him and miss him dearly every day. I always wonder what it would be like today.”

The Dvorak and McQueen families met with Alberta RCMP on April 23, when Martha said she heard the news.

Radomske said: “It was shocking and it was terrible to hear what he (Sreri) had done. But it was comforting to know that he was no longer with us, so we never had to face him.”

Content of the article

Content of the article

Martha: “I'm glad he's dead. He can't hurt anyone or kill anyone, and who knows if he's done it to other families.”

At the time of the murder, Sreri was living illegally in Canada, having been in Calgary from 1975 to 1979. According to the RCMP, he used several aliases over the years.

It is not yet known if any of Srery's other victims remain cold cases, but experts say more cases could be opened as his name and DNA are revealed.

Many things allowed Sreeri to fly under the radar, notably his lack of official records of entry into Canada and his transient lifestyle, which made it almost impossible to pick him out of the crowd, the criminologist said.

The family is “devastated” and brought closer by the loss

When Eva's family learned of her death early on February 15, 1976, Radomske described it as a complete shock.

“Hopefully they're wrong and it's not him. But as soon as I saw the picture, I knew it was him,” said Radomske.

According to Marta, the whole family was very accepting of him.

“We want our parents to be here to hear the news (about the killer) because it killed our parents,” Martha said. “My mother was devastated.”

Content of the article

According to Marta, their mother “went through hell”, losing her husband in 1972 and then Eva in 1976.

According to Marta, they said little about what happened to Eva. “My mother fell into such depression; when he wanted to talk about it, we did.

“There were times when we talked about it and other times we didn't. “I think it's because we don't want to hurt my mother even more,” Marta said.

In terms of family dynamics, Radomske said Eva's loss brought everyone closer.

“We paid more attention to each other than before. . . You lose faith in society,” Radomske said.

When this happened, Eva's younger sister Anita was two months old.

“Eva never knew her sister,” Martha said.

“The three of us used to fight over the baby (Anita) to see who would get to hold her, but when it came to the time change, we were all gone,” Marta laughed.

Radomske described Eva as fun-loving and close with her siblings.

“We were always doing something, we were always swimming, skating, visiting or hanging out — it was always with family,” Radomske said.

Marta: “I thought about him every day. Every day — not a day went by that I didn't think about him.''

Content of the article