Episode 16 - The Abduction of Tania Murrell

THE ABDUCTION OF TANIA MURRELL - EDMONTON, ALBERTA

On Thursday, January 20, 1983 - 6 year old Tania Murrell left her grade 1 class at Governor elementary school in Edmonton, Alberta at 11:07 am to walk the short block and half to her home for lunch, yet sadly Tania never made it home that day and has was never been seen alive again.

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Written ,Narrated, and Produced by Nadine Bailey

Music by: Mediation By: ashot-danielyan-composer
Mountain Sound AudioJungle 

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References
https://edmontonsun.com/2013/01/18/30-years-later-tips-in-edmonton-case-of-missing-6-year-old-tania-murrell-becoming-very-rare

https://byronchristopher.org/2012/10/10/was-tania-murdered/

https://storiesoftheunsolved.com/2020/10/21/the-disappearance-of-tania-marie-murrell/

https://rcccmcc.com/2019/10/13/tania-marie-murrell/

https://edmontonsun.com/2015/01/25/brother-of-missing-edmonton-girl-tania-murrell-passes-away

https://edmontonsun.com/2015/02/06/redemption-cut-short-by-sad-death-of-john-murrell-brother-of-missing-edmonton-girl-tania-murrell

https://truecrimediva.com/tania-marie-murrell/

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to Haunted Canada. Hi everyone, this is Nadine and before we start I want to let you know that if you want to show your support for the creation of this podcast, please like, follow, tell a friend and leave a five-star written review. You can also follow us on our many social media profiles. Just visit hauntedcanadacom to connect. On episode 16, we're going to talk about the abduction of Tanya Murrell from Edmonton, Alberta, in 1983. This episode does deal with a sensitive topic involving a child. Listener discretion is advised. On Thursday January 20th 1983, six-year-old Tanya Murrell left her grade one class at Grosvenor Elementary School in Edmonton, alberta, at 11.07 am to walk the short block and a half home for lunch. Yet sadly, tanya never made it home that day and has never been seen alive again.

Speaker 1: 1:13

Tanya Marie Murrell was born on Sunday June 20th 1976 to her parents, vivian and Jack Murrell. She was a beautiful, bouncing baby girl with blonde hair and her parents adored her. She was a beautiful, bouncing baby girl with blonde hair and her parents adored her. She was the apple of both her parents' eyes and brought them so much happiness. And then, one year later, her younger brother, john, was born, a boy and a girl, the perfect family. In 1983, the family lived on the west side of Edmonton in a small and beautiful rented home located at 10426 145th Street, west of downtown Edmonton. This house was perfect for the Murrell family as it was close to the children's school Grosvenor Elementary, just a block and a half walk away. It was a quiet neighborhood with tree-lined streets, the family had good neighbors and a backyard for the kids to play in. Sadly, that house is no longer there today. As with most older neighborhoods, the house was torn down to make way for a more modern, skinny-style home built in its place.

Speaker 1: 2:18

Tanya's parents were young and very hard-working. They did everything that a dedicated parent does to provide for their family and very hardworking, they did everything that a dedicated parent does to provide for their family. Vivian was a manager at the local bakery and Jack worked in the trades as a carpenter, working for a company called Aldrit building homes on the south side of Edmonton. Tanya was described in many articles as a happy little girl who loved to sing and truly loved animals, especially her dog, a German shepherd named Harley. Tanya loved animals so much that it was her dream to be a veterinarian when she grew up. Tanya's brother, john, was one year younger than her, and while Tanya was in grade one, her brother, john, was in kindergarten. They were very close and always played together, slept in the same room in bunk beds and walked to and from school together. John said in a 2015 Edmonton Sun interview that quote I cried when she didn't come home that night. She was my best friend.

Speaker 1: 3:15

On that faithful morning of Thursday, january 20th 1983, it was a bitterly cold day in Edmonton, as the city was in a deep freeze, with the temperature that day reported at minus 21. And if you've never experienced an Alberta winter believe me, you don't want to it can get so bitterly cold that you can even feel your lungs so cold, in fact, that parts of your body, like fingers, that are not covered up with mittens or gloves can get frostbite within minutes. And while it was cold that day in Alberta, sometimes temperatures here can drop to minus 35 and even lower. That morning would have been like any other morning for the busy Murrell family. Tanya would have been woken up for school and climbed down from the top bunk, while her younger brother, five-year-old John, slept in the bottom bunk. Tanya's parents, vivian and Jack Murrell, would have been up early that morning getting ready to head off to work. As Tanya's parents work, they had Aunt Vera, vivian's sister, as a caretaker looking after the kids in the morning, getting them off to school, preparing their lunch when they came home at lunchtime, taking care of them after school, and during the summertime Vera had been doing this for the last three years.

Speaker 1: 4:32

Vivian arrived at her sister's home that cold winter morning at 7 30 am with her nine-month-old son, dustin. She had been driven to her sister's house by her husband, gary. When Vera arrived that morning, tanya and John were already awake and eating breakfast and the television was on in the background. Tanya's dad, jack, was on his way out the door that morning to his carpenter job, and with a minus 21 temperature that morning, I know from my own experience in Alberta's horribly cold winter weather that Jack would have warmed up his car, possibly scraped the windows of the frost to drive the icy roads to the work site. That morning would have been like any other household in Alberta, with parents trying to get out the door to work and the kids getting ready for school. In an interview article it was said that on that faithful morning Tanya had asked her mom what she thought about a shirt that she was wearing and wondered if the shirt was too tight. Tanya's mom, vivian, said that she could wear whatever she wanted, and Tanya settled on wearing a black Harley Davidson t-shirt and green corduroy pants. I'm sure this choice would have made Tanya very happy, as the t-shirt she was wearing had the same name as her beloved German Shepherd dog, harley.

Speaker 1: 5:38

That morning, as Tanya and her brother were getting ready for school, tanya noticed that she could not find a book bag after looking all around the house. So when she couldn't find it, she mentioned it to her mom and after a little bit of searching, the book bag still was missing. So Vivian put some of Tanya's items in a plastic Safeway bag, put a bit of tape around it and then created an impromptu book bag for Tanya to take to school that day. This may sound a bit weird to listeners, but I remember when I was a kid and days when I couldn't find my book bag. I remember using a plastic bag from a grocery store to put my school supplies in lunch or shoes. This was a common practice back in the day.

Speaker 1: 6:18

After helping her daughter put together a makeshift book bag, vivian would have given Tanya and John a kiss goodbye and then told them to have a great day at school. Vivian headed out the door at 8 am to her job as a manager at a local bakery. Vivian would have done the same thing that her husband had done in the extremely cold weather she would have headed out to start the car and to scrape the ice off the windows. As Tanya and her brother John got ready to walk the block and a half to Grosvenor Elementary, they would have put on their winter clothing that morning. We do know that Tanya was wearing a blue winter coat with a white fur collar, green corduroy pants, a black Harley Davidson t-shirt and high brown boots. The kids would have been bundled up wearing their jackets, hats and mittens due to the cold Edmonton weather. Before the kids left for school that morning, aunt Vera asked both of them what they wanted for lunch as they would both be returning around 11.15 am. The kids asked their Aunt Vera for macaroni and cheese, gave her a hug and then they headed out the door for their short five-minute walk to the elementary school just a block and a half away. As the neighborhood was filled with children also walking to school, I'm sure that at that moment when Tanya and John were walking, there would have been other kids walking on those sidewalks as well towards the elementary school.

Speaker 1: 7:34

Both kids arrived at school that morning and headed to their classrooms John to kindergarten and Tanya to grade one. Their morning classes would have been filled with learning numbers, practicing writing and reading. As lunchtime approached, tanya would have been dismissed from her grade one class at 11.07, and she would have put her winter jacket, boots, hat and mittens on, and then the normal process was for Tanya to wait by the door for her younger brother, john, to be dismissed from his kindergarten class. Then they would both walk home together, as that was a normal routine. Yet on that day normal didn't happen. Tanya's best friend, brandy Jo, was supposed to go to Tanya's house for lunch that day. Brandy Jo and her mother spoke about this in an Eminence Sun article in 1983. But at the last minute Brandy Jo changed her mind and decided to stay in school that day and eat lunch with her older brother. Brandy Jo was quoted in the news article saying I waved to Tanya and I told her we would play after school, but she never came back to school. So Tanya left her grade one classroom that day and the last person believed to have seen Tanya was a teacher who saw her leave the school and walk away at 11.10 am towards her home, and then she vanished.

Speaker 1: 8:50

When John left his kindergarten classroom that day, he walked out expecting to see his older sister, tanya, waiting for him by the door, as she normally would be, so they both could walk home for lunch together, as was the usual procedure. However, this time it was different. When John walked out, tanya was nowhere to be seen. So John walked the block and a half to his home alone. When he walked into the family home, he was greeted by his Aunt, vera, who was surprised that his sister, tanya, was not with him.

Speaker 1: 9:20

Vera asked John where his sister was and John replied that the other students told him that Tanya had gone to a friend's house for lunch. This immediately struck Vera as out of character for her niece, who was a very diligent and responsible child and would not deviate from the norm. Tanya knew that she was coming home for lunch that day, even telling her aunt that morning that she wanted macaroni and cheese for lunch, even telling her aunt that morning that she wanted macaroni and cheese for lunch. So for Tanya to go to a friend's house for lunch that day or to do anything else, that was completely out of character. It just wasn't something that she would have done. Vera immediately became concerned. She put on her winter jacket and went outside searching the surrounding streets, looking for her beloved niece, tanya. She spent the next 10 to 15 minutes frantically calling out Tanya's name, but never found any trace of her. After not being able to find her niece, vera phoned her sister and her brother-in-law at work. I can only imagine the fear that must have been going through the minds of both Vera and Jack Morrell when they got the phone call from Vera that she could not find Tanya. They must have been terrified, as any parent would have been in the same situation. Both parents left work immediately that day, headed home and began to search the streets and the back alleys of the Grosvenor neighborhood for their beautiful six-year-old blonde-haired daughter.

Speaker 1: 10:39

On that cold winter afternoon, vivian went to Tanya's school, grosvenor Elementary, to see if Tanya had returned after lunch. Yet when she went to Tanya's school, grosvenor Elementary, to see if Tanya had returned after lunch, yet when she went to Tanya's grade one classroom, her desk was empty and the only item remaining was a Safeway bag that Vivian had helped her daughter with that morning before school. Tanya had not returned with teachers and classmates, telling Vivian that no one had seen Tanya since she left at lunchtime. At this point I can only imagine what Vivian, a mother, was going through. She did not know where her daughter was and the fear that she had been feeling would have been absolutely paralyzing the feeling that no parent ever wants to go through. Even though people tried to comfort Vivian, telling her that Tanya would return home, vivian knew in her gut that something was terribly wrong and she immediately called the police. When the Edmonton police arrived, they asked Vivian and Jack for a picture of Tanya, and then the police began to canvass the neighborhood, going door to door, showing people the picture of Tanya and asking if anyone had seen her. Yet, sadly, for all the doors that were knocked on and all the searching that was done that very first night and in the days and weeks and months following, there was no sign of Tanya. Vivian and Jack Murrell tried to think of any reason why Tanya had just vanished and tried to think that maybe she had had a sleepover at a friend's house and forgot to tell them. While we know that this did not happen, it just contributes to the stress and the fear that these parents would have been going through, and I'm sure that they were trying to grasp at anything to help them believe that their daughter would return home.

Speaker 1: 12:12

Police quickly came to the realization that Tanya had been abducted by a non-family member, and a citywide search began, with hundreds of police officers and thousands of citizens helping in the search of police officers and thousands of citizens helping in the search. While researching for this story, I actually found dozens of posts online from people who remembered the day that Tanya went missing and remembered helping in the search for the little girl, as this could have been anybody's daughter. Vivian and Jack were quickly ruled out of suspects as they had both been at work that day, witnessed by many. As Edmonton police began to investigate, they discovered that Tanya left school around 11 10 am wearing a blue winter coat with a white fur collar. She was headed towards home as the teacher watched her until she walked in the direction of her home and until she was out of sight.

Speaker 1: 13:01

Police were under the belief that Tanya exited the school through the east doors. However, brandy Jo, tanya's best friend, told the Sun in a 2013 article that Tanya went out the north doors and that Tanya walked alone carrying some money and was going to stop at the nearby 7-Eleven convenience store. Police also received two reports from people who said that they saw a woman dragging a little girl similar to Tanya's age and description around the same time of her disappearance at the intersection of 144th Street Northwest and 104th Avenue, just a half a block from the school and towards Tanya's home. One of those witnesses was a local realtor who said that it looked as if the child fell and the woman either dragged or helped her. The real estate agent described the woman as between 40 and 60 years old, 5'8", with brown hair and wearing a blue and brown quilted coat with a hood. The Edmonton police spoke to the parents and the staff at Grover Elementary but they could not confirm the sighting of the woman or if anybody had seen her, and no woman fitting that description ever came forward as a witness. The Edmondon Journal stated in a February 1983 article that people at the search headquarters also reported a mysterious phone call that Wednesday night from a young girl who asked for her mommy and identified herself as Tanya. Then the line went dead. This, sadly, was probably a sick prank that someone was playing on the family and the investigators. You'll also hear about two other similar instances in this podcast when, for some strange reason, people use the tragic moment of a child's abduction or disappearance as a reason to harass and place false hope on the parents of a missing child at the worst possible moment in their lives.

Speaker 1: 14:49

In the days after Tanya's abduction, parents began to criticize Grosvenor Elementary School for how they handled the students arriving at and leaving school. In 1983, grosvenor Elementary had a staggered timetable. First grade students like Tanya had a staggered or split entry timetable, resulting in students arriving at and leaving school at different times. This system makes students easy targets for abduction or attacks because they're walking to and from school when there's no other students on the street. At the time, wrote the Edmonton Journal. I'm sure at this point that all the parents and the school realized every parent's worst nightmare that if one of the students could have been abducted, then this could have happened to anybody's child. Obviously, because of Tanya's abduction and everyone's concern after her disappearance, the school policy was changed to have all students arriving and leaving at the same time. They also had parent volunteers at the door monitoring the children when they arrived and left school and also had parent volunteers before the start of school and at the end of the school day as well. These were all great precautions that were implemented by the school system, but unfortunately they were implemented too late for Tanya. Over the next coming days and weeks, police and thousands of volunteers searched and combed thousands of city blocks in Edmonton looking for Tanya, knocking on doors, searching ravines, walking back alleys, looking in dumpsters, empty cars and putting up posters in windows, bus stops, store windows in an effort to try to locate the missing girl. Store windows in an effort to try to locate the missing girl.

Speaker 1: 16:25

Just days after Tanya was abducted, her best friend, brandy Jo, was quoted in an article saying that I miss her. She's very fun. We played Frozen Tag and House and everything together. I want her back. The story of missing Tanya Merle was on the front page of every local newspaper in Alberta and it was making national news across Canada as well as the United States. It was all anybody could talk about, as it was striking a lot to the abductor that perhaps whoever took her would hear it and set her free. What the parents recorded was heartbreaking and had everybody in tears who heard it.

Speaker 1: 17:25

Vivian said in the recording Hi, tanya, we miss you. Babe. Mom is waiting for you to come home right now. I know you want to come home and who's got you? You gotta tell him that you want to come home. Just tell him he knows you're a good girl and you gotta come home. We gotta do ballet and John wants you to come home. Mom doesn't know what to do anymore. She misses you so much. But whoever has you, just drop her off at a place somewhere warm. We don't want to see who you are. We don't want to see who you are. Just bring my baby home. She does want to come home. She loves her mom, she loves her dad, her kittens, her puppies, and she's got to come home. She wants to come home. You know she wants to come home. Please make Tanya come home.

Speaker 1: 18:59

Jack Muriel then said Whoever you are, if you got my Tanya and you're keeping her warm and safe, that means that you must care about her. If you care about her, let her come home, please, please, just let my little girl come home. Just take her somewhere where someone can find her. Vivian then said okay, this is for whoever you are. If you need money, we don't have any money, but we can get money for you. If you need that, just phone us. We will help you out For money, it doesn't matter. You've got to bring Tanya home. We'll get you some money if you want money. We got a lot of friends. We really miss her. We've been trying so hard to find her. We just don't want her out in the cold. We just can't have our little girl out in the cold. You just have to take Tanya back to us. We need her more than you need her. All I know is she wants to come home.

Speaker 1: 20:03

The recording of Jack and Vivian Murrell begging and pleading for the safe return of their daughter was played on a local Edmonton radio station, and I'm sure that it broke the hearts of everyone who heard it. A $25,000 private donation was initially made for information leading to the safe return of Tanya. However, what most people didn't realize was that at the time, that first big amount of money that was donated was donated by Peter Pocklington, the owner of the Edmonton Oilers, the city's NHL hockey team. Peter also invited Vivian and Jack to an Oilers game and afterwards they were brought down to the dressing room to meet the players. The Oilers players included Captain Wayne Gretzky, marc Messier and Kevin Lowe, who were all so kind to shake the parents' hands and let them know that their thoughts and their prayers were with them, as they all knew that their six-year-old daughter was missing. Yet sadly, for all the door-to-door searches and all the news coverage, there was no trace of Tanya ever found. It was as if she had just vanished into thin air.

Speaker 1: 21:05

The days following Tanya's disappearance, the mural home became a hub where people would gather, police officers would come by to get information, news reporters would just show up at the door unannounced, trying to get an interview or a quote from the parents. As this was 1983, there was no cell phones yet, so every house had a home phone, a landline, and the murals' number was listed in the local phone book that anybody could look up. The murals had a wall-mounted phone that rang constantly in the days and weeks following Tanya's disappearance. Yet while some people would phone to be kind and helpful, there were those who called to be mean and hurtful, causing the parents even more distress and heartbreak. There were two particular phone calls that ended up in criminal charges. One of the worst was when a 23-year-old man by the name of Richard Mackenzie Matthews from Harrow, ontario, phoned the mural home and spoke to Jack directly, trying to extort money out of the parents. Richard said that he would return Tanya if the Muriel family paid him $40,000. This cruelty not only caused heartache to the family, but it also took away resources and precious time from the police who were actually searching for Tanya. The police ended up catching Richard McKenzie Matthews at a downtown phone booth after city police had secretly taped a series of calls he made to the murals. While it was determined that Matthews was not involved in Tanya's disappearance, he was charged with attempted extortion and was sentenced to three years in prison for the crime. Even crueler was when another man called the mural home, stating that Tanya's body could be found at the bottom of a sewer. Of course, when police checked, nothing was found. The police did trace the phone call and found out who placed it, and this man was charged with mischief. While there are plenty of articles that talk about the second person being charged, I was not able to find out the name of that person.

Speaker 1: 23:04

To compound with the heartache and devastation that Vivian and Jack were going through, they also had to deal with the countless false suspicion, misinformation, rumors and innuendo that the community, and especially newspapers, were spreading about them. These hurtful comments and rumors did nothing but take away the focus from their missing daughter and tried to create a false narrative about the two hardworking parents who were devastated and were just trying to get through the day and find their missing daughter. I've read a lot of these articles in the comments and all I can say is that it's shameful that this is how the family were treated during the worst possible time in their lives. And if being two young, hardworking parents who loved their kids, had a motorcycle and enjoyed a drink made them cause for suspicion, then I guess suspicion should be on everybody. The family's choices and lifestyle had nothing to do with their daughter's disappearance, and that people tried to make it an issue was just wrong. For this reason, I certainly will not be delving into any of the hurtful comments, gossip or innuendos that were spread about Vivian and Jack during this podcast, and the only thing that I can say is that Vivian and Jack were hard-working and devoted parents who loved their children and were devastated when they lost their six-year-old daughter, which tore them apart every day. And for anybody who has anything negative to say about the parents, all I would suggest is that you put yourself in their shoes. How would you handle going through what they did if it was your child that was missing.

Speaker 1: 24:33

Over the coming days, weeks and months, the stress that the family was under must have been unimaginable, not to mention the hurt that John must have been going through as a little boy. He must have been going through so much confusion, not understanding where his sister was or when she would be home. John's Aunt Veris said in a 1983 interview that five months after Tanya went missing, five-year-old John was still too frightened to sleep in the bunk bed that he once shared with his big sister and that he still's disappearance was extremely hard on John and that he did not get any help and that he and his sister were very close and that her disappearance really messed him up. This is something that I'm sure would have stayed with John and affected him for the rest of his life. While today we know that at such an event would cause trauma and in today's society there will be therapy available to help anybody, however, back in 1983, sadly, there was none of that.

Speaker 1: 25:42

The family eventually did move to a new rental home about a 15-minute drive from their previous home by Grosvenor Elementary. The Muriel family had decided that they were going to move to a bigger home weeks before Tanya was abducted. I can only assume that this is what the family needed, as the previous home would have had too many memories of Tanya in the area where they lived. This would have been very difficult on the parents and on John, and moving to a new home, I'm sure, was a way to help the family move forward. Yet no matter what neighborhood you moved to in Edmonton, it was known that there were criminals and sexual predators everywhere. This is something that had been told to Vivian by police officers during the initial investigation. When Tanya had disappeared, the police told Vivian that there were over a dozen sexual predators living in a one-mile radius of her home. This would have come as shocking and disturbing news to a mother whose daughter had been abducted.

Speaker 1: 26:40

Throughout the investigation, many psychics and mediums began to contact the police, newspapers and the Muriel family with their own visions of where Tanya might be found. Vivian had to deal with numerous of these mediums and psychics calling her at home with their visions, but at some times she actually took comfort in some of the phone calls, as they would help her sleep through the night. While taking any direction from a psychic or medium might give a person false hope or potentially not help, there were many times when the Eminence Sun newspaper published psychic premonitions about who had taken Tanya and where she might be. There was one story that Byron Christopher wrote about in his book that I find very intriguing. Vivian spoke about a psychic from the United States who had told her that quote the man who grabbed Tanya had driven by the house. Of course, if this was true, then the abductor would have had to have known where Tanya lived.

Speaker 1: 27:36

A different psychic medium, a former RCMP officer, came to Edmonton from British Columbia. This medium identified a house close to the mural home, just off Grote Road north of 107th Ave. When it was investigated, it was actually a friend of Tanya's and she had been at the house before, yet unfortunately Tanya was not found there. The same medium, a former RCMP officer, then went on to point out a house that was close to where the murals lived, and he said that human blood would be found in the basement of the house. The medium described a one-story house having a steep arch over the front door. When the house was actually checked out, there was blood on the concrete floor in the basement. However, it was later discovered that the former tenant had cut himself with a circular saw and did not clean up the mess and sadly there was no trace of Tanya found Yet.

Speaker 1: 28:30

I think it was the personal interaction that the writer Byron had with the medium Ralph Hurst was one that really stood out for me. Byron said in his book that he of course, was skeptical when he asked the medium if he had any information about a six-year-old girl who vanished in January of 1983. The medium said that her name began with a T and then he said that the Murrells have two children. This is where the reporter got skeptical, because the Murrells only had one child at that point, john. But the medium was adamant and kept saying that quote I'm picking up that there's a second child. Byron actually spoke to Vivian Muriel a few weeks later and she immediately told him that she was pregnant. It seems that the medium may have felt something all along.

Speaker 1: 29:18

In discussions with Byron, the medium also claimed that the prime suspect had killed another child, a boy whose first name started with a K, and he thought that the name might be Kevin, but he wasn't too sure. This would have brought up the story of Kevin Reimer, a nine-year-old boy who vanished from Elk Island Park on Friday June 29, 1979. Kevin Reimer was at the National Park camping with his family. The family had arrived at the campsite that Friday morning and all the kids in the family began to hang out and play games when between 11 am and 12 noon, they noticed that Kevin was missing. When the family searched they did talk to one female camper who said that she had seen Kevin and they had asked for directions back to the family's campsite and she had sent him in that direction. But after that Kevin was never seen again. The police were called and numerous searches were done in the coming days, weeks and months, but to this day no trace of Kevin Reimer has ever been found and nobody knows if little Kevin was abducted or if he just got lost in the park.

Speaker 1: 30:25

But somehow that medium, a former RCMP officer, had made the connection between Tanya and possibly Kevin Reimer. The medium also went on to say that Tanya was not a silly girl and wasn't prone to going off with strangers. And this was one thing that everyone agreed upon, as Vivian had drilled stranger danger into her children to never go with a stranger and that if a stranger approached them, to run home. Even Brenda, tanya's babysitter, confirmed this, as she recounted that at one point she was driving to the mural home. It was raining and she saw Tanya and John walking on the sidewalk. She offered them a ride, but the kids refused to get in. So on the day that Tanya was abducted, did she get into the vehicle with somebody that she knew, somebody that she considered family, like an uncle, or was she grabbed?

Speaker 1: 31:17

Byron went on to say in his book that he met again with the medium, ralph Hurst, and showed him the poem that Lauren Thomas had written. The medium never looked at the poem, just put his hand on top of it and said quote whoever wrote this has great remorse. It's a man and he's crying. He keeps saying I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Byron said that he asked the medium if he had any insight into how Tanya died. His response was that he could feel squeezing on his throat, some pain and pressure on the back of his neck, as if someone was being strangled. The medium felt that Tanya's body had not been dismembered and that it was fully clothed when she was buried, with her initially being stored in a cold area such as a freezer, for weeks.

Speaker 1: 32:05

The medium went on to say that the child's fate was sealed. After telling the abductor that she would tell her dad about something that happened. The medium said that the driver of the vehicle was intoxicated and had circled the school several times looking for Tanya. The medium went on to say that Tanya's body was stuffed in three plastic garbage bags and buried two feet down in a soggy area and provided three signs that would be nearby A broken fence, a large A and a small body of water.

Speaker 1: 32:37

The medium and Brian drove in the area of where Tanya was abducted and then drove about a mile away at Summit Drive, a quiet area in an older residential area that winds around the southern edge of McKinnon Ravine Park. Byron said that as they drove close to 143rd Street, the medium shouted stop and there in front of them was a broken fence. When they both got out of the vehicle and climbed down into the ravine, at a 140-second overpass, at the very top of one of the pillars on the southwest corner was sprayed the letter A and it was more than three feet tall, with a big circle around it and surrounding that pillar beneath the bridge, the area was filled with water. Whether anybody chooses to believe what the medium said is, of course, up to them and like most people, I'm a skeptic at heart. But it seems that Byron. The author, believed the medium, as on several different occasions, byron with private detectives and on other occasions, some veteran reporters, went to that very area under the bridge and dug in different spots trying to see if they could locate the body of Tanya Murrell. While this is what the medium presented, the Edmonton police detectives had a different theory. Detectives thought that Tanya's body would be buried in Strathcona County, just east of Edmonton, as that is where the prime suspect, lauren Thomas, had worked and knew the area. A Tanya's body has never been discovered and the detectives felt that quote this is another indication that the child was not killed by a stranger. A stranger would not have feelings for his victims and would have just dumped her body anywhere, and that didn't happen to Tanya.

Speaker 1: 34:21

In 1984, just a year after her daughter was abducted, vivian decided to focus her grief into something to help others and founded a non-profit organization called the Tanya Murrell Missing Children Society, starting Canada's first agency to help find missing children, to create awareness and to bring the children home. This non-profit was registered using the new home address that Vivian, jack and John had moved into. Having this non-profit organization really helped give Vivian focus and direction, as she worked tirelessly to bring attention to missing children, especially her own missing daughter. Most of the work within the organization was done by volunteers and they accepted donations to help cover expenses. When people joined the society, vivian would mail them a letter welcoming them to the organization. It was meant to encourage people to get involved and to let them know the importance of awareness, and a portion of the letter said, quote there are many people who are shocked by the problems of missing children, many who are horrified but just shake their heads and turn away.

Speaker 1: 35:25

The Tanya Muriel Missing Children Society thanks you for not turning away from this problem. Thank you for caring enough to take action and become a member of our society. With your continued support, we will be able to study the problem, analyze it and understand the reason it plagues our nation. Through love and determination, we hope to aid the families and the children afflicted and ultimately stop child abduction. We thank you for helping us bring our work to bring the children home. Yours sincerely, vivian Murrell.

Speaker 1: 36:02

Vivian put her heart and soul into operating the Tanya Murrell Missing Children Society and did a lot of good to help children and families become aware of abductions and, as a parent, I am grateful for everything that she did. Because of her hard work and determination, I am sure that she helped save other children. The Tanya Murrell Missing Children's Society only operated for three years when, in May of 1987, vivian decided to pass everything over to the Missing Children's Society of Canada, based in Calgary. The Calgary organization is still operating to this day, with many different programs centered around bringing awareness to missing children, most importantly, doing their best to prevent it and protect children. I can only imagine the heartbreak and the devastation that the family went through every day living in Edmonton. Even if they had moved to a different home in the area, they would still be constantly reminded that their daughter had been abducted and that they didn't know what happened.

Speaker 1: 37:09

I can also imagine how hard and difficult it was for Tanya's little brother, john, to be completely devastated, not knowing what happened to his sister in 1983. And even back in the 1980s, people were cruel and insensitive to what a person and a child might be going through. And this insensitivity to what John was going through was seen when the little six-year-old John attended his first day of grade one. One of John's childhood classmates, celine, had met John when they both started elementary school and described John as a sturdy-looking boy with shaggy blonde hair, a slight lisp, a husky voice and a sadness in his eyes. Apparently, on John's first day of grade one, the grade one teacher made six-year-old John stand up in front of the class and had him tell the entire class about his abducted sister, reliving that traumatic moment when he lost his sister and how his life had changed forever. I could not believe that the teacher would do this to the young boy who had been traumatized by his sister's abduction. The trauma that this must have caused John to have to relive the memory of the day that his sister was abducted was absolutely horrifying and a very cruel thing for that teacher to do, and I'm sure it's moments like this that would have added to the psychological injury and trauma that John must have suffered.

Speaker 1: 38:32

John's friend, céline, lived close by and they would often spend time at each other's houses. Céline was quoted in the book as saying John's parents were kind. They tried to maintain a positive and happy home atmosphere. However, I was aware of their sadness and I could see that their daughter's disappearance had broken them. Celine went on to say that anytime he was at John's house playing and left to go home that Vivian and Jack always made sure to make him promise to phone the second he arrived and on occasions, john would insist on walking him home.

Speaker 1: 39:05

I can only imagine that this was the fear that the family and John were still carrying with them that the loss of their daughter and sister, who disappeared, walking just a block and a half home for lunch, the fear that this potentially could happen again, would have been on their minds night and day. Living in Edmonton, living so close to where the abduction had happened, would have caused tremendous pain for the family. So in 1985, just two years after the abduction of their daughter, the family moved to Kelowna, british Columbia. Hopefully, the move was good for the family and while leaving Edmonton didn't mean that they had forgotten about their daughter. It just meant that they were doing their best to move forward and to try to heal as a family. Moving to Kelowna did bring some joy, and they did have another baby, a little girl named Alicia, who to this day still keeps her sister's memory alive.

Speaker 1: 39:59

Alicia was quoted in a 2013 article as saying that Tanya is often in my thoughts. I know too well what happened to her. That Tanya is often in my thoughts. I know too well what happened to her, while Alicia never got the chance to meet her big sister. Tanya is often in her thoughts and she spoke in the interview that she often talked to her own kids about stranger danger. Alicia studied nursing as a tribute to her big sister. As she said, tanya was a caregiver, and so am I.

Speaker 1: 40:26

As for the investigation of missing six-year-old Tanya Murrell, the Edmonton police continued to search, looking at local sex offenders, searching the area and questioning many people, but soon the police focused on one possible subject a family friend who spent a lot of time inside the Murrell home. He had slept over and he had even taken Tanya and John camping, a man by the name of Lauren Thomas or, as the kids referred to him, as Uncle Lauren. Lauren's name and connection to this case has been mentioned in many news articles and books, so that is why I mention it in this podcast. Right from the day that Tanya disappeared, lauren's behavior was just odd, weird and had caught the attention of police and investigators. On the day of Tanya's abduction, lauren had been working outside, but did not have a solid alibi. For when Tanya disappeared, the police did eventually locate Lauren's vehicle, a sedan that he would have been driving on the day that Tanya disappeared. Lauren's vehicle was located in a junkyard, yet sadly the police couldn't get any evidence from the vehicle because too much time had passed. I'm wondering if that vehicle is still with the Lebanon Police Cold Case Division still to this day, since, as technology has changed and evolved, who knows what evidence could still potentially be in that vehicle still to this day? In the days and weeks after Tanya's abduction, it seems that Lauren was a permanent fixture at the mural home and that seemed to cause more chaos and upheaval.

Speaker 1: 41:57

Reporter Byron Christopher said in his book that just a few days after Tanya was abducted, he had gone to the family home to get some information for an article. He was abducted. He had gone to the family home to get some information for an article. Lauren Thomas blocked him from entering the kitchen, poking his finger in his chest and announcing to everybody that he was not a reporter but a fucking cop. Apparently it was Vivian who had to calm Lauren down so that the reporter could enter the home and do his job to get the information needed to write the article about the missing girl, to make people aware and bring attention to the abduction. Yet this is where it gets really strange. Byron wrote in his book that Lauren eventually did calm down after about an hour.

Speaker 1: 42:42

The reporter and Lauren Thomas then left the house and went for a walk. Reporter and Lauren Thomas then left the house and went for a walk. Byron wrote that they left the noisy house to walk together in the cold, walking up and down the back alleys, lifting up lids off garbage cans. They would have been doing this, of course, to look for Tanya. As it was wintertime and it was minus 25 in the evening, there was no way that anybody could bury a body at that point because the ground was frozen. So the reporter was doing what he thought he could to help with the investigation by looking in dumpsters and garbage bins to see if he could find the little girl. This certainly would have been a gruesome and terrifying thing for anybody to do, opening the lids of garbage bins, not knowing what you could potentially find, but the goal, of course, was to find the missing girl potentially find. But the goal of course was to find the missing girl, which I think is what any of us would do to help. And this is where it gets really strange. While the reporter was searching for the missing girl, it seems that Lauren Thomas was disinterested in what he was doing, and this struck the reporter as odd, as he had mentioned that. For someone who was very close to the Muriel family, that struck me as odd. I appeared in garbage cans while Lauren was holding the flashlight, looking up at the stars in the sky. The man seemed to be in another world.

Speaker 1: 44:02

Suspicion around Lauren continued to grow when Tanya's babysitter, a woman by the name of Brenda, revealed some very shocking evidence. Apparently, lauren Thomas had written a poem after Tanya vanished and had given the poem to Brenda, as he wanted it typed out, so that he could enter it in a contest. This struck Brenda, the babysitter, as extremely odd. Why would Lauren write a poem that was about a secret love called Could Never Be? I would imagine that Brenda got that gut feeling that something was just not right and she did the right thing by bringing it to attention. And yes, the poem Could Never Be is very odd and airy. I am going to read the poem to you and again, you can interpret it as you wish Could Never Be written by Lauren Thomas just after Tanya Murrell's disappearance.

Speaker 1: 44:58

Though the day far away or the night just closing, in remembering the fun that they had and the feeling possessed within Gazing into the stars, the plans they had, so bright as they walked along the desert beach. All their problems were so few, the time alone, just themselves. Warm new feelings, so tender and strange, nervous thoughts of love, of making love passionately. Their lives would change. The summer ended much too soon. And forately, their lives would change. The summer ended much too soon and for them, their final day, precious new feelings that they shared, knowing soon, would have to end. The tears flowed with their final kiss. It was their first love. They couldn't pretend. Often they wished to turn back time. Oh for time to have stood still. Ah, to turn back time. But time goes on. It's nature's will To return someday. They said they would, but I knew we never could. To be honest, just reading that poem gives me the creeps.

Speaker 1: 46:09

Lauren was questioned by the Edmonton police just a few days after Tanya was abducted and was given a lie detector test, but apparently the results were inconclusive because Lauren had been drinking prior to the test. From everything that I've researched about Lauren, it seems that he was not given a second polygraph by the Edmonton police. After Lauren was questioned by the police regarding Tanya's disappearance, it seems that his behavior became even more strange and erratic. Brenda, the babysitter, described Lauren in the book as quote, very intelligent and someone who read a lot. He liked to write poetry, putting his thoughts down on paper, but he drank and when he drank he couldn't remember a thing. He became polarized and passed out, while another friend of the family, terry, had her own suspicions about Lorne. Terry was quoted as saying that Lorne was often intoxicated and occasionally passed out either on the couch or on the floor, that sometimes he would just sit at the table, drink quietly and then fly into a rage and then the next day he was fine. Vivian and Jack and many friends noticed things, also Two strange things that happened with Lorne that were reported by the murals and documented in the book.

Speaker 1: 47:22

What Happened to Tanya was one time when Lorne Thomas was in the same vehicle with the murals. He just reached over and turned off the ignition of the station wagon as the vehicle was being driven, while at a different time Lauren drove the family vehicle into a ditch. Other strange instances regarding Lauren Thomas that happened after Tanya's abduction were also reported by family and acquaintances. One individual by the name of Malice recalled an incident that happened when he was sharing an apartment with Lauren in Edmonton. He said that one day they were both sitting at the kitchen table drinking beer, playing cards and everything was normal when all of a sudden, out of the blue, lauren grabbed an empty beer bottle and hit him in the face. This was a completely unprovoked attack, as Lauren had been completely normal and calm just seconds earlier when, all of a sudden, he attacked Malice out of the blue. The interviewer asked Malice who he thought might have taken Tanya, and Malice quickly replied Lauren. I always suspected him. The interviewer did ask Malise if he ever mentioned the attack or the strange behavior to the police and sadly, his response was that he just didn't want to get involved.

Speaker 1: 48:36

Another person who spoke up about Lauren's strange behavior was Heather, a friend of Vivian's, who said in the interview that Lauren gave me the creeps and that he would out-manipulate a manipulator. Even Tanya's brother had his own suspicions about Lauren Thomas later in life and spoke about this in a 2015 Eminence Sun interview. John said that quote. I would like to talk to him and ask him if he knows what happened to Tanya. Lauren was close to us. He was good to Tanya and missing.

Speaker 1: 49:22

Initially, it was hard for the Murrells to believe that Lauren had anything to do with Tanya's abduction because they viewed Lauren as a family friend, someone that they had invited into their home and that they trusted with their children. Yet, as people began to come forward with their own suspicions of Lauren's strange behavior, and especially when the police told Vivian and Jack that Lauren Thomas was their prime suspect into their daughter's abduction, told Vivian and Jack that Lauren Thomas was their prime suspect into their daughter's abduction. It seems that that's when they began to realize that it could have been Lauren, the person that they had invited into their home and trusted around their children, that he could have been the monster that took their beautiful daughter away. Yet while Lauren was the police's prime suspect, it is important to note that he was never arrested and he was never charged in Tanya's abduction. A few months after Tanya was abducted, lauren Thomas moved with his family to Courtright, ontario.

Speaker 1: 50:17

Like all open cases, the abduction of Tanya Murill was continuously being investigated as police tried to find Tanya and the person or persons who abducted her. As the years passed, the Edmonton police continued to find Tanya and the person or persons who abducted her. As the years passed, the Eminem police continued to investigate. That's why, in January of 1988, on the fifth anniversary of Tanya's abduction, eminem detectives flew to Ontario to interview their prime suspect, lauren Thomas. As documented in the book what Happened to Tanya, the police originally interviewed Lauren just days after Tanya's abduction and now, five years later, this would be their second interview with him. As it was known that Lorne was a drinker, police officers knocked on the door at 6 am in the morning to surprise him. Yet when the police knocked on the door, lorne opened it as if he was expecting them.

Speaker 1: 51:05

The Edmonton police detectives interviewed Lauren Thomas at a nearby hotel room in Sarnia, ontario, with non-stop questions for 11 straight hours. It's important to note that Lauren did meet with the Edmonton police detectives voluntarily and that he could have walked out of the interview at any time or asked for a lawyer. Yet he didn't and he stayed for the 11 hours. This marathon interview session was videotaped as per police procedure and still remains with Tanya's files in the cold case division in Edmonton, alberta, but has never been released to the public. It was revealed that when Lorne was asked about the mysterious poem that he had written in 1983, called Could Never Be, just after Tanya was abducted, lorne initially denied writing the poem to the police, but then eventually he admitted that he did write it. Even more strange about the interview is that Lorne downplayed his relationship with the Muriel family, claiming that he barely knew them, and also said that he had forgotten Tanya's name.

Speaker 1: 52:09

For me, this is where things got even stranger. Lauren was really good friends with Vivian and Jack Murrell. He had stayed at their home numerous times and slept at their house. They had all hung out dozens and dozens of times together and Lauren had stayed at the family's home after Tanya was abducted. Lauren at one point yelled at a reporter and had also been interviewed by the police shortly after Tanya's abduction and took a lie detector test. How could any person not remember such a traumatic and life-changing event in a friend's life when their child was abducted? How could Lauren not remember Tanya's name and then downplay the relationship that he had with Vivian and Jack, people that he knew and were good friends with, especially when he had taken Tanya and John camping and the kids referred to him as Uncle Lorne. How could he forget the name of the little girl that was abducted, especially when he was brought in and questioned about it and even took a lie detector test? This just doesn't add up for me. So why would Lawrence say that he barely knew the Muriel family and then, to add insult to injury, say that he had forgotten Tanya's name, a little girl that he had taken camping, had stayed at her house and had been questioned about her disappearance, yet he had forgotten her name. This just did not add up.

Speaker 1: 53:31

This next part of the interview is disturbing. So listener discretion is advised. When Edmonton police detectives asked Lauren Thomas if he had any knowledge about who took Tanya, lauren's response was quote the only two people who know are me and God. When I read this quote in the book I got a sick feeling in my stomach. Who would say that If you didn't have any knowledge about the disappearance of a child? Your answer would be I don't know. Answer would be I don't know. Yet Lauren's response was to say the only two people who knew were me and God. Any logical person would think that this was implicating him in Tanya's abduction.

Speaker 1: 54:18

After Lauren had made these revelations that only he and God knew who took Tanya, the Edmonton police detectives offered Lauren second-degree murder plus therapy. The Edmonton Police Detectives offered Lauren second-degree murder plus therapy. While second-degree murder would mean less jail time for Lauren, it would hopefully bring some closure for the family. This would mean that Lauren would have to reveal where Tanya's body was located so that everybody, especially the family, could receive closure and so that Tanya could receive a proper burial. Yet Lauren's response to this offer was cold and cruel. When the Edmond and Police detectives offered Lauren second-degree murder plus therapy, lauren said quote Lauren Thomas had said that only he and God were the only two people who knew.

Speaker 1: 55:03

When asked if he had any knowledge about who took Tanya, and now he's being offered secondary murder, his response isn't no. His response isn't I want to speak to a lawyer. His response is fuck you, you ain't got a body. While Lauren's answers were cruel, heartbreaking and seemed to draw even more suspicion towards his involvement, at the end of the day, lauren Thomas was right. It was true, tanya's body had never been found and, without a body and any real physical evidence, it was very hard for the police to charge Lauren Thomas with Tanya Murrell's abduction and believed murder.

Speaker 1: 55:51

Tanya Murrell's abduction and believed murder. On Wednesday, august 10, 2016,. Lorne Douglas Thomas died from cancer surrounded by his family at his home in Courtright, ontario, and with his death, many people believe went the only true knowledge of what happened to six-year-old Tanya Murrell on that cold winter day on Thursday, january 20, 1983, in Edmonton, alberta. My heart goes out to the entire Murrell family. Jack and Vivian Murrell sadly passed away in 2005 and 2011, respectively. They were loving and kind parents who were working hard to provide a good life for their family when this horrible tragedy happened to them with the abduction of their six-year-old daughter, tanya. My heart also breaks for John, who lost his sister that day and had to deal with the trauma for the rest of his life, and my thoughts also goes towards Tanya's sister, alicia. She never got to meet her big sister, but she kept her sister's memory alive.

Speaker 1: 56:43

I wanted to write this episode specifically to bring awareness to the Tanya Murrell abduction and that, as of the airing of this podcast, tanya is still missing. If you have any information about the abduction of Tanya Murrell, please call the Edmonton Police at 780-423-4567, or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS. That's 1-800-222-TIPS. That's 1-800-222-8477. Well, everyone, that is the end of episode 16 of Haunted Canada, and again I'd like to thank every person for taking the time to listen to this podcast. I truly do appreciate it. If you are enjoying the podcast, please take the time to give it a like, a follow, tell a friend and leave a review, as that always does help To link to any of our social media, or if you have any stories that you'd like for us to cover on this podcast either true crime, missing persons or ghost stories please email us through our website hauntedcanadacom. Have a good night, everyone, and stay safe.