Karen Michelle Ewanciw was born on January 10, 1964, to Walter and Mary Ewanciw, one of four daughters. Karen and her family resided at 10326 83 Street NW in the Forest Heights neighborhood of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
On April 23, 1975, Karen, 11, attended school, returning home around 4 p.m. Karen then left home to meet up with her best friend, Shelley Campbell, who also lived in Forest Heights, to deliver flyers in their neighborhood.
Around 5 p.m., the girls decided to ditch the flyers in a nearby ravine that bordered their neighborhood. Located just west of McNally High School and along the North Saskatchewan River, the ravine was not where the girls typically would have gone, but they had no interest in delivering the flyers.
They entered the ravine from the top of the hill by the high school and followed the path deep into the woods.
Shelley immediately noticed an adult magazine and blood-soaked cotton balls adjacent to the path. A giant spruce tree with an upside-down cross was sitting at its base. The weird vibe gave Shelley the chills, and she told Karen not to touch the cross. But the ever-so-curious Karen did not listen, picked it up to look at it, then sat it back on the ground.
The girls continued through the ravine and came to a steep embankment that they had to slide down. Karen slid down first, holding her flyers, landing successfully at the bottom. But when it was Shelley’s turn, she fell over and spilled her flyers all over the ground. Shelley started picking them up while Karen walked off, rounded a bend, and disappeared.
Shelley finished picking up her flyers and headed to look for Karen along the main path toward what is now Riverside Golf Course. (Roth, 2012) Shelley saw a classmate at the top of the ravine and asked him if he had seen Karen, but he had not.
Shelley then went home, figuring Karen would contact her soon or she would see her the next day at school. However, she never saw Karen alive again.
Around noon the following day, a jogger ran through the ravine and found Karen’s body. She was lying on her face, and the killer had brutally ripped her clothes from her body and viciously assaulted her. The killer hung Karen’s clothes on low-lying branches, which indicated to the police that he had chased Karen down and dragged her into the shelter of the trees (Roth).
Chief Coroner Dr. John Butt performed the autopsy and determined Karen suffered a massive skull fracture during the attack. The fierce blow imprinted Karen’s face into the ground.
Karen’s father, Walter Ewanciw, identified his daughter by the ring she wore, which belonged to one of his other daughters. Karen’s face was so severely beaten she could only officially be identified through dental records.
Investigation
The search for Karen’s killer was intense and lasted several weeks. In early May 1975, police announced they had discovered a lean-to at the site of Karen’s murder, along with reports of a naked man seen in the same area.
Numerous witnesses saw the man. They described him as between 35 and 40 years old, approximately 6 feet tall, with red or blond hair. He wore a black shirt, light-colored pants, and a green jacket, later found by the police. He was first reported to be seen in an area directly across the river from the crime scene. Along with the green jacket, police also found a three-foot-long blue ax in the same general area.
“The lean-to contained various items, including two pairs of old brown shoes, a sleeping bag, and a white cardboard shoe box, which contained several pieces of sex literature, and scraps of paper with notations on them.” (Red Deer Advocate, May 1, 1975)
The lean-to was in the same area where witnesses saw the naked man. They also said he had called out to two young girls who became frightened and ran off.
Investigators never found the naked man or any clues as to who had built the lean-to.
In August of 1976, then-Attorney General Jim Foster said he would look into Karen’s murder after reading the story in an article in the Edmonton Journal. But he commented no further on that, and the Journal never mentioned it again. Police tried unsuccessfully to have an inquest into Karen’s murder around this time, hoping to receive fresh information.
It was not long, however, before Karen’s case turned cold. Other than a few leads in May 1985, police failed to find the person who brutally killed this little girl.
Her case remains unsolved almost 50 years later.
Aftermath
Karen’s parents divorced sometime before her murder, and her father was raising her and her sisters alone. It’s unclear why, but her mother remarried and had at least one more child, a son, Sean.
Karen’s sister, Laurie Mae Melan, died at age 46 on May 30, 2008. Five months later, their sister, Catherine (Cathy) Alexander, 47, unexpectedly died. Walter Ewanciw passed away in 2020 at age 89. It is unclear what happened to their mother, Mary Curran. Their sister, Wendy Lesburg, is still alive, as far as I can tell. She was married to George Lesburg, but they divorced, and he later remarried.
Sources
“1975 Murder Still Not Solved.” Edmonton Journal. June 20, 1998.
“Catherine Marie Alexander.” Obituary. Edmonton Journal. October 26, 2008.
“City Girl Missing.” Edmonton Journal. April 24, 1975.
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/208349672/walter-ewanciw: accessed February 6, 2025), memorial page for Walter Ewanciw (17 Jan 1931–14 Mar 2020), Find a Grave Memorial ID 208349672, citing Shevchenko (North Kotzman), Smoky Lake, Cold Lake Census Division, Alberta, Canada; Maintained by Christine (contributor 48440728).
Gunion, Judy. “Foster to Look Into Slaying of City Girl.” Edmonton Journal. August 17, 1976.
“Karen Ewanciw.” Obituary. Edmonton Journal. April 26, 1975.
“Laurie Melan.” Obituary. Legacy.com. Accessed February 3, 2025. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/laurie-melan-obituary?id=45902297
Roth, Pamela. “Frozen in Fear: Friend of Edmonton Victim Fears Killer Four Decades Later.” Edmonton Sun. November 3, 2012.
“Walter Ewanciw.” Obituary. Edmonton Journal. March 19, 2020.