On Jan. 14, 1953, the bodies of two young boys (initially believed to be a boy and a girl) were found in a brush-filled area of Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia. They were covered by what looked like a woman's rain cape. They were laying in a straight line with their feet almost close together and heads in opposite directions. They could have been dead for up to the fall of 1947.
There was a hatchet found at the scene. Both boys had wounds to their heads. One of the victim's skull had a wound in the back of the head that the hatchet fit perfectly. The other skull was fractured by what may have been the hammer of the hatchet. It's believed that the killer was the mother.
It's believed that the body of Boy A was laid down first where they were found. He was faced down in a shallow depression. Boy B was then placed down where he was found and it's believed that the killer (a woman) lost her shoe underneath his left shoulder and between a log. Before she left she covered the boys in her coat and in a panic left her shoe where she lost it.
The boys weren't identified. It wasn't until a DNA test in 90's that Boy b was found to be a boy instead of a girl.
There was a possible lead to identifying the children. In 1949 or 1950 a man working in a logging camp, and his companion picked up a woman and two children. During the ride, she told them that she had been in trouble with Mission Police for vagrancy charges. They learned that one or both children at some time attended Cedar Valley School and she lived on Cherry St. in Mission B.C. It's possible that the men mistook "Vag C" instead of vagrancy which was the code for prostitution at the time.
The woman was described as having red hair. The two boys were around 6 or 7 years old with one of them wearing an aviator flying helmet. The lead managed the find the family name of Grant, but this lead was exhausted after speaking to family members.
There was a report a few years before the bodies being found of an adult male and female walking in the woods with two young boys. One of the boys was carrying a hatchet. Later that day the couple was seen again this time without the boys and the woman was without one of her shoes.
Police don't believe that they'll catch the person who murdered these young children. It's likely that the killer would be deceased by now anyway. They just want to give the children back their names.
Boy A is a white male between 7 and 10 years old. He was described as having a sturdy build. He had many cavities. Clothing deteriorated. He was wearing brown oxfords with white crepe rubber soles, a belt and a leather aviation helmet with goggles, and a zipper jacket or sweater (one article states it's a red Fraser Tartan Jacket).
Boy B is a white male and was between 7 and 10-years-old. He was described as having a slender build. He had more cavities than his brother. He was wearing identical brown oxfords with white crepe rubber soles, but 1/2 an inch longer, a belt, a zipper jacket or sweater, an aviator helmet with goggles, and the underwear he was wearing was deteriorated but believed to be too big as a safety pin was used in the elastic to keep them up.
The hatchet at the scene was typically used by shinglers and lathers. It was rusty and the handle was broken into two by the time it was found.
The coat was a cheap dark brown (dyed rabbit) with leg-of-mutton shoulders that were popular in 1943. The coat is a size 16 and is 40 inches long. The lining material of the coat indicated it had been worn for 2 or 3 years. The woman's show was a moccasin style size 5 1/2 with crepe soles with a light grey plastic quarter lining and a red plastic quarter binding.
There was a light blue with white trim children's lunch box by the bodies. It isn't stated if there was anything inside the lunchbox when the children died.
There is no mention of a bracelet that I could find, but one article has a picture of a piece of a child's bracelet with a button from the coat.
SOURCES:
Doe Network Boy A
Doe Network Boy B
The Vancouver Sun Jan 19, 1953
The Vancouver Sun April 15, 1953
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