It has been 25 years to the day since Michael Dunahee disappeared at age four from a playground next to Blanshard Elementary School — a case that shook Greater Victoria to its core.
His mother, Crystal, said it was a windy afternoon and she had just tied up the hood on Michael’s blue jacket.
She and husband, Bruce, then went about tending to six-month-old Caitlin, and hauling gear a short distance to the playing fields for a touch-football game.
In that brief span, Michael was allowed to go to a playground a few metres from their car and wait for dad.
“The police don’t think he made it to the playground,” Crystal said from the family’s Esquimalt home. “Somewhere between our car and the playground, something happened.”
The little boy was gone, a disappearance that led to one of the largest police investigations in Canadian history. Victoria police went at the case with everything they had. Missing-person posters of Michael were commonplace at businesses and in vehicle windows for years afterward.
Things started fast. He disappeared on March 24, 1991. By April 9, 1991, police had received more than 1,600 tips. The case was featured in an early-April TV broadcast of America’s Most Wanted, which resulted in a reported sighting of Michael in New Jersey.
On the home front, a composite sketch of a “witness-suspect” was released and reports of a brown van seen in the area persisted. Seven weeks after the disappearance, a special mass at Esquimalt’s Our Lady of Peace Church — where family and friends prayed for Michael’s safe return — marked not only his fifth birthday but also Mother’s Day. The Dunahees continue to attend the church regularly, and were at a mass Wednesday held for Michael.
Psychics weighed in from time to time, and numerous tips have come and gone. Some people in the B.C. town of Chase put forward a theory in 2006 that Michael was living there, but a DNA test said it wasn’t so. In 2013, a story surfaced that a Surrey man could be Michael, but that also went nowhere.
Looking back after 25 years is difficult, Crystal said, noting that Michael’s 30th birthday is May 12. The years pass but the situation stays the same, she said.
She said that taking up running has been a helpful release.
“It’s not the kind of anniversary we were thinking about celebrating at this point,” Bruce said. “We were mostly hoping for Michael having his wedding anniversaries now.”
Revisiting the case is a necessary part of keeping it in the public eye, he said.
“You’ve got to keep the story out there so people keep remembering he’s still missing.”
His memories include Michael being on his way to turning into a lacrosse player, just like his dad.
“I took a lacrosse coaching clinic and actually registered him in lacrosse in Esquimalt. I think we had two practices before he disappeared.”
Crystal said that hope is always there. “You see other cases of kids that have gone missing. Some take longer than others but you do find something.”
She said a room in the house still holds Michael’s things. “It’s all packed and kept,” Crystal said.
She said that Caitlin, now 25, has created a Facebook page called We Will Never Forget Michael Dunahee.
Now-retired Victoria deputy police chief John Ducker was a junior detective at the time of Michael’s disappearance, and the case has stayed with him since.
“I still believe on an emotional level that Michael is alive and that we are one tip or phone call away from solving this case,” Ducker said.
He said he has come to believe Michael was taken by a person or persons without criminal or police records and “totally unknown in this community.”
“They then disappeared from here forever — a one-in-a-million opportunity.”
Ducker said not a week goes by that he doesn’t think about what happened.
“It is my biggest professional regret that we couldn’t solve this case and bring a happy ending to this file, or at a minimum provide the Dunahees with closure,” he said. “It still aches.
“You always feel like we could have done more but we pulled out all the stops as a department and put every resource we had into it.”
Ducker pointed out that police at the time of the disappearance were still filling out written tip sheets that then went to an in-basket for hand sorting.
“I can’t help thinking that if we had some of the technology which we have today available to us then, we might have been able to locate Michael.”
That includes modern DNA science, computer databases and video, Ducker said.
“One clip of a suspicious person or vehicle in the area might have turned the case around.”
Crystal has turned her tragic circumstance into years of work with the Child Find organization, which helps to locate children like Michael. She was caught by surprise when her efforts earned her an Order of B.C. award in 2011.
A Child Find van in the driveway attests to the fact that she is still a supporter.
Crystal stressed that many of today’s predators have to be watched for on the Internet.
“You don’t know who your children are talking to because they have the technology where they can say, ‘I’m so-and-so, I’m only 10 years old’ and in reality it’s a 40-year-old.”
Victoria police Const. Matt Rutherford said the public is being reminded that information about the Michael Dunahee case can be passed along to the department’s tip line at 250-995-7444, or through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
“We’re hopeful that we’ll receive the tip we need to bring closure to the Dunahee family,” he said.
Child Find events
Events to support Child Find are coming up:
• Finding Hope, a talent showcase featuring high school students, will be held at 7 p.m. March 31 at Spectrum Community School, 957 Burnside Rd. West. Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for adults and $20 for a family or group up to a maximum of five.
• The Michael Dunahee Keep the Hope Alive Drive dance will be held April 1, followed by the 24th annual five-kilometre run and walk on April 3.
• The dance is at the Esquimalt Curling Rink, with tickets $20 each and available in advance at the Donair Shop at 1243 Esquimalt Rd. For more information, call 250-381-2429.
• The run starts at 10 a.m. at the curling rink, with registration available at the Esquimalt Recreation Centre, the Donair Shop and Frontrunners at 1200 Vancouver St. Cost is $20 for 13 and over, $15 for 12 and under and $15 for a family of up to five. For more information on the run, go to michaeldunahee.ca.
