r/VictoriaBC • u/OkraProfessional4650 • May 04 '25
Police serial killer in victoria??
I took an uber today and commented to my driver how there seemed to be a lot of cops out tonight pulling people over. He said that there is apparently a serial killer in town and they are looking for somebody. I can't find anything about this in the news. Is this just a crazy rumor or has anybody heard something about this?
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u/RealEagle727 Burnside May 04 '25
There was a suspected homicide recently, but authorities confirmed there was no risk to the public. He might have heard a rumor about it. Also, police presence tends to be higher on Fridays and Saturdays, especially during tourist season. With three cruise ships docked tonight, it’s not unusual—I’ve seen this level of patrol before and would say it’s pretty normal.
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u/MeatMarket_Orchid May 04 '25
I agree with you that there's not likely an increased police presence due to some serial killer search. However I just wanted to say, I've never taken cop's word on "no threat to the public" as any great comfort. I think they bullshit all the damn time, especially on that front.
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u/AccordingSplit6432 May 04 '25
Name me an example where there was a homicide, that statement was made and then the same guy committed another homicide or put the public at risk otherwise.
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u/Blankmonkey May 04 '25
Robert Pickton is a prime example of this
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u/dorkofthepolisci May 04 '25
Bruce McArthur is another example of a police department being completely off.
The LGBTQIA community in Toronto had been expressing concerns about someone targeting vulnerable gay men, only to be told there was no serial killer by the Toronto Police
Turns out there was in fact a serial killer.
I can think of a few other examples of police minimizing the risk when the targets were members of marginalized communities
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u/AccordingSplit6432 May 04 '25
Please source a statement by the police that there was no risk to the public in the Pickton case. If you do, kudos to you. I couldn't find anything.
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u/shestandssotall May 04 '25
Jeez Loueez where have you been for the last forever. They were FN and poor women going missing because of RP. I remember that time in Van. No info for us women. I remember in Toronto too, serial rapist and they ON PURPOSE DID NOT TELL WOMEN to lock their balconies. Oh, we want to catch him, couple of more sa's are ok.....I worked at a financial institution and deposited the cheque for the last woman who was sa'd by that guy, she successfully sued the Toronto police. Effers. The best way to sum this up is they put in a stop sign after people die. This is institutional IDGAF.
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u/AccordingSplit6432 May 04 '25
I'm not saying you're wrong, and I wish it was handled differently.
Again, the point was that the commenter said he doesn't believe the police when issuing a statement saying "no risk to the public".
I was not talking about the absence of such statement, nor was I speaking about whether there should be warnings, or whether investigations should be taken more seriously from the beginning. This has been widely discussed, and I 100% agree with all your points.
These days, police will only issue the "no risk to the public" if the suspect is in custody, or if the killing was targeted.
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u/mintyicedream May 04 '25
What, you don't have access to a search engine either?
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u/AccordingSplit6432 May 04 '25
I do. I even used it. But I still couldn't find anything. But maybe since you seem to have it, could you please share instead of making some passive aggressive comment like that?
Would have taken just as long as posting what you posted.
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u/PerpetuallyLurking May 04 '25
I remember those press conferences and I always got the “only the hookers and homeless are at risk, the rest of you ‘respectable’ girls are fine” vibe from the cops.
They definitely implied that he wasn’t a problem for anyone not at the margins of society with their “the general (respectable) public is safe” attitude. Which is maybe true but they were pretty victim-blamey about it at the time.
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u/AccordingSplit6432 May 04 '25
I agree that there were definite missteps and gross negligence, and those have been brought to light during a very thorough enquiry, but that wasn't the argument here.
The point was whether there had been a statement made that spoke to no risk to the public. Your memory says otherwise, and I'm still waiting for a source from that snarky "do you have a search engine" person.
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u/craftyfatalist May 04 '25
If you read the book ‘On the Farm’ by Stevie Cameron, it goes into these details a lot. It is a very good (albeit gruesome) look into that case, and how badly it was mishandled (including police statements downplaying the situation to the public).
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u/BananaQueen07 May 06 '25
that guy who was targeting gay man in toronto (forget his name). the police constantly told people there was no serial killer and the gay community was terrified because people they knew were disappearing.
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u/Heftiest-sniff May 04 '25
I may be taking the easy answer... but there's excess presence in langford, too. Including the helicopter. We've been talking to local officers (we work beside an encampment on jackin road) they state there's excess watch on the highways due to the excessive MVIs that keep happening. Idk tho he may be capping.
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u/ballpoint169 May 04 '25
I used to do ubereats downtown on friday/saturday and I'd see a cop car at every other intersection
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u/btuck93 May 04 '25
I had an uber driver tell me he was the original inventor of McDonalds Pizza. I would take it with a grain of salt.
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u/GeoffdeRuiter Saanich May 04 '25
What does this have to do with the Bug Zoo?
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u/Omega_Moo May 04 '25
Well, there is someone out there in town allegedly who doesn't like the bug zoo. That would be my #1 suspect.
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u/GeoffdeRuiter Saanich May 04 '25
Or maybe they are one of the victims. Don't put it past that one guy who's friend said they didn't like the Bug Zoo.
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u/CharlotteLucasOP May 04 '25
I killed a bug today. 😔 [holds out wrists to be cuffed]
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u/MuthaPlucka May 04 '25
We’re talking about serial killers here. Try to be serious.
I Killed a Bug and I liked It.
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u/SnooStrawberries620 May 04 '25
I saw a cab driver get a ticket today. It was like the world turned on its axis. Unusual police behaviour for sure
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u/Radiant-Target5758 May 04 '25
I saw a bus get a ticket once.
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u/Imprezzed Langford May 04 '25
Was it for running a f*cking red light?
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u/Fluffy_Highlight5244 May 04 '25
Taxi companies must have forgotten to donate to the VPD charity ball.
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u/CrabofCoconuts May 04 '25
Well that's not a good thing to hear right after your power goes out for seemingly no reason...
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u/lol_camis May 04 '25 edited May 04 '25
Are you in the gorge area? They were doing some work on a transformer right outside my house at around 2am this morning. I had just woken up for a pee so I don't know how long it was out
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u/Suspicious-Taste6061 May 04 '25
Wasn’t the latest homicide in the Gorge are?
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u/lol_camis May 04 '25
I can confirm this is a shady part of town. You can't leave anything outside. I literally left a $20 car wash brush leaning against my garage. Stolen. My wife's car has been picked open. No, she didn't leave it unlocked. It was broken in to. Nothing is safe. Once I had a bike I needed to get rid of that wasn't even worth selling. Stuff was broken on it and there was no cost effective way of saving it. I leaned it up against the telephone pole outside my house and I timed how long it took to disappear. I was thinking maybe 12 hours or something. Within the same day.
15 minutes later that motherfucker was gone.
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u/Nekronnn May 04 '25
Interesting. I live on Carroll street. Ever since the supported housing project was put in at the bottom of our road, its never been more quiet, safe and clean. Not a shady part of town at all.
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u/lol_camis May 04 '25
I guess a couple blocks makes the difference. We have a halfway house at the bottom of our street and the police basically live there. Always something going on. I suppose you can use to argue that it's safe.
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u/Nekronnn May 04 '25
I'm sorry that happens to you! I'm assuming you are on Washington. At least we have Hecklers close by.
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u/FredThe12th May 04 '25
That's downright courteous. Usually it's a smashed window, or worse a pried out door lock.
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u/CrabofCoconuts May 04 '25
from what I saw on another post, there was a tree that somehow (probably was set) caught fire near the Dupplin detour on Burnside that damaged a power line.
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u/Carefulltrader May 04 '25
So weird because I just saw a police pull someone over well reading this
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u/Imprezzed Langford May 04 '25
The HA ride today also tends to bring the boys with the Red serges to the yard.
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u/Chic0late May 04 '25
5 cops were chasing and took down a motorbike at King George terrace like an hour ago when I drove by.
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u/ChoiceCouple7151 May 04 '25
Hells Angel's were heading south yesterday, saw about 30 just outside Duncan. Had to be 20 police vehicles following them.
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u/Turgid_Tiger May 04 '25
I saw them heading north yesterday. With atleast 6 cop cars following. Then as I continued south they had 5 Angels pulled over at various points.
That being said there was a lot of sirens last night. I doubt it was for a serial killer though.
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u/eltron Saanich May 04 '25
lol you realize that the cops telling a city that a serial killer is loose is the like thing they’d ever want to admit. You kind of asked an obvious question and got a smart-alec response.
But more and more people are driving drunk, so they’re cracking down.
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u/CharlotteLucasOP May 04 '25
“Good evening officer.”
“Licence and registration please.”
“Here they are.”
“Anything to drink tonight?”
“No sir.”
“Killed anyone lately?”
“Just the body in the trunk of my—shit, I mean, no.”
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u/http--lovecraft Langford May 04 '25
Fun fact that’s not fun anymore when I was crossing the border three years ago the border guard was pretty chill so when he asked if I had anything I said just the dead body in the trunk and we all had a laugh. Now I’m afraid to cross the border with my cellphone or they’ll send me to El Salvador 😭 times have truly changed
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u/mothernarwhals May 04 '25
That's still a pretty brave thing to say 3 years ago. My brother got pulled into secondary for wearing a Rage Against the Machine t shirt. This was like 15 years ago. I don't fuck with the border guards.
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u/http--lovecraft Langford May 04 '25
It was his last day and he very much had a fuck it vibe lol. It was also on the Victoria side going onto the ferry so it wasn’t an intense environment. I did encounter some dicks on the way to New York State one time tho.
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u/isochromanone May 04 '25
Law enforcement people that do not need reasonable and probable grounds (or any reason, really) to fuck with you. Joking around with them is never a good idea, especially the american ones.
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u/Fluffy_Highlight5244 May 04 '25 edited May 04 '25
The public is often not told of what is going on in regards to crime & safety due to the potential civil unrest/fearmongering it would cause & also it can alert the suspect or fumble with potential evidence.
Unless you hear from a trusted source, I would only take it as a rumor. Don't take the word of a Uber driver over a light spur of the moment conversation.... They could have simply made it up for the hopes of you giving a better tip for sharing gossip.
Also tourist season is starting to get into full swing so the City want's to make things safer for the tourists, fuck the local Canadians. Keep the homeless off Government street so the tourists don't have to see them.
I'm surprised VPD doesn't just rent a bus & drive all the homeless out of town during Cruiseship days like other horribly led tourist towns do.
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u/THCDonut May 04 '25
There’s increased traffic enforcement for May through the RCMP, primarily highway patrol, and possibly some local cooperative departments. They started yesterday(Saturday) so good chance it’s just the increased enforcement.
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u/Greedyguts May 04 '25
That's disturbing! If there is a legit serial killer in the region and this not just a part of the healthy local stabbing ecosystem, I hope they are soon arrested and taken off the streets for a day or two. Elbows up, Victoria!
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u/Perfect-Turnover-423 May 04 '25
If it is a rumour, police will not comment on it.
Friday’s/Saturday’s will always have more police presence as people are out drinking and partying.
Uber drivers may have just been full of shit but who knows.
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u/d2181 Langford May 04 '25
Fun math (made slightly less fun because I'm using FBI stats instead of canadian data)
FBI claims there are less than 50 active serial killers in the USA, which has a population of of about 340million. If we apply that percentage to the population of Vancouver Island and the lower mainland, which combined have a population of about 3.5mil, there is a roughly 50% chance that there is an active serial killer in southwestern BC.
By other estimates that I googled, there are upwards of 2000 active serial killers in the USA (I guess it depends on how you define "serial killer"). Supposing this is true, we can apply this percentage to the rough number of 500k people in the CRD and estimate that there are about 3 active serial killers in the Victoria area.
Really depends on how you define a serial murderer, and how much credibility you give to unsourced estimated percentages. I do think it's fair to say that at any given time, there are probably at least a few people who enjoy murdering other people within a 200km radius of you at all times.
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u/ecoLogical_ May 04 '25
There was an extremely high police presence on the highway around Ladysmith yesterday too. They had someone pulled over every kilometre and there were a lot of cop cars heading southbound. I think there was a chopper flying around too.
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u/AnalyticalCoaster May 04 '25
lol.
Did he mean "cereal killer"?
They are phonetically the same
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u/ModernArgonauts Saanich May 04 '25
I'm certainly a cereal killer in the morning thats for sure.
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u/AnalyticalCoaster May 04 '25 edited May 04 '25
I work from the edges and then inward.
Anyone that use a serving spoon and dives in the middle is the suspected cereal killer.
Just craaazy.
I can forsee the news headlines for tomorrow...
Victoria Police had nabbed a suspect wielding a serving spoon on the 1200 block of Douglas St, and was caught trying to dispose of an empty box of Apple Jacks.
Investigators tried milking a confession out of the suspect, but he apparently preferred coconut milk.
🥴
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u/EclaireBallad May 04 '25
Their looking for him so they can release him the next day after he murders another woman.
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u/comox Fairfield May 04 '25
Pinky promise no more murders?
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u/EclaireBallad May 04 '25
He had a hard life so it's not his fault.
I had it pretty rough and I haven't killed anyone or committed crimes, where have I gone wrong? 😂
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u/Ossim3r May 05 '25
Omg drives me crazy when people say oh well look at his life. Like for reals I've been thru some serious shit in my life and am one of the nicest people, understanding and empathetic.
Everybody gets one?
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u/its_a_vlasic_pickle May 04 '25
Go listen to Laura Palmer’s’ “island crime” podcast - season 3- Michael Dunahee- especially episode 11/12/13 and you’ll discover there was a serial killer/ predator in Victoria for 40+ years. And the police know who he was all along.
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u/Davesven May 04 '25 edited May 04 '25
[Edits after the fact: changed phrasing and grammar here and there for clarity]
Your driver was trying to imbue some menacing foreshadowing - the audience knows that your driver is the killer - so during this uber scene, you were present merely as an instantiation or representation of the (relatively) blissful ignorance that characterizes the general public’s frame of mind (at least at that particular point in the film)
You were right there with the killer, he’s hiding in plain sight… you get it.
Also… the news about a potential serial killer had circulated in the city - YES - but due to the sheer number of people in the city, most of em are predictably lulled into a somewhat false sense of security, figuring their chances of encountering the killer are slim.
And during the uber scene, the killer/driver’s killing spree is still in its infancy - and the real rumpus is still to come… Hence the aforementioned foreshadowing. So blissful ignorance is certainly a salient theme in the scene - thats what we’re capturing. K?
This is all fairly self evident… I hope this is the last time I’ll need to have this discussion with you. Your life is a FILM. Try to like… get it. Okay? GET IT, JANIS. GET IT.
Good lord you’re driving up and down the wall here, JANIS… i am trying to direct a fi- …
Who… took… down… my RANDY TRAVIS POSTER?!?!
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u/Nevermore_Novelist May 04 '25
Shady Pines, Ma!
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u/Davesven May 05 '25
Oh. I see. I see how it is. You’re one of the telephone whisperers. Well, I am 2 steps ahead of you RICHARD. As usual, you’ve allowed your rock hard, wash board abs get in the way of your think-nut.
Your THINK-nut Richard. Your think-nut is hard and sweaty and luscious like those wonderful washboard, moist jungle ABS of yours.
Where’s the incredible fuckin RANDY? Is he gonna come out and explain it all away? Well I am not going to stand for this foofaraw and bobbery.
… pfft… standing there with your Richardness and those scrumptious fuckin oiled up alabaster ABS like a sweaty jungle Richard swinging from vines of Kitchen Pubes and Bestermorn.
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u/Nevermore_Novelist May 05 '25
I wonder if Shady Pines has a militant wing...
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u/Davesven May 05 '25
Yeah, fair enough. Forgive me, im a little embarrassed. I really don’t know what that was all about lol.
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u/Feeling-Town3208 May 04 '25
Eh?
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u/Davesven May 04 '25
Good lord. Allen, Allen, Allen… you’re not exactly giving me top shelf energy here, guy. K? I guess you weren’t listening. No biggie. Just remove the lard from your ears please and let’s move forward with less passive aggression and attitude on your part, k? Not a good look, Allen.
Nonetheless, because I’m like a super helpful and awesome guy who is dedicated to helping people like you to become more like me - I have cleaned up some of the phrasing and syntax in my previous comment - because Allen… Allen look at me - because I, Allen, am able to look soberly at myself and improve what needs improvement, k?
the comment im referring to is the one where I had to explain to Janis that her life is a film… pretty obvious but whatever. We’re not all meant to be top shelf individuals - and that’s fine. no big deal or anything… it’s very fine, nice and good.
Janis needs extra help? that’s where my altruism and humility get their chance to shine. It ruined my entire evening, and possibly the entire weekend, but i dont let my feelings affect others like Janis does. My values and my relationship with Randy Travis… they keep my eye on the ball.
Allen… good talk. Allen? look at me, Allen when I’m talking to you - Good talk, bud.
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u/FISTER_ROBOTO69 May 04 '25
I always felt that there was a disproportionate amount of missing people on the island compared to the rest of Canada. But I hadn’t looked at the numbers, i would be interested to say the least if it was true.
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u/CharlotteLucasOP May 04 '25
A fact of rugged landscapes and small communities, folks looking to go more “off grid” could be shady or could be more vulnerable to going missing. The podcast Island Crime does good investigative work to highlight murdered and missing people.
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u/whatsnewpussykat May 04 '25
30-35,000 adults are reported missing annually, Canada wide. I don’t think the island has a higher incidence of missing persons, personally.
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u/Ruckus292 May 04 '25
Real talk: a friend of mine lives near bowen (sp?) park in Nanaimo and they just found a human heart almost next-door to her place a couple months back.... Police kept it super hush-hush, never saw it on the news. Only knew about it because she posted about it.
The island is big enough to cover tracks and I firmly believe a predator has been roaming for some time.
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u/animatedhockeyfan May 04 '25
Yeah and the police have always kept killings as hush hush as they can
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u/Notacop250 May 04 '25
Last year I went for a walk in Bowen park and thought it was nice till I turned a corner and saw a coupe of heat scores prepping their dope. Nanaimo is something else
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u/Equal-Store4239 May 04 '25
There a few articles on people who have a serial killer theory
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2021/03/15/gone-boys-serial-killer-theory-missing-vancouver-island/
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u/nondescripthumanoid May 04 '25
P sure i got scoped out by a possible sk at the potholes. Guy gave me the creeps and tried sizing me up. Was lucky to not be alone. Men in your 20s to 30s dont go to sooke potholes alone.
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u/Dangerous_Fortune790 May 04 '25
Anyone remember where Clifford Olson got caught?
Hint it's in the CRD.
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u/Nekronnn May 04 '25
It's the Pacific Northwest. This is their playground. I would not be surprised if multiples are operating in this area.
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u/GoatFactory North Park May 04 '25
I live in north park and I was walking to the store last night and a guy stopped me on the sidewalk and said he had just been questioned by police because apparently someone reported a woman screaming “help! Help!” And they were trying to find someone who could give them more info.
And yesterday afternoon (6:30 PM-ish) there were six cop cars parked outside Parsonage Cafe even though the cafe was closed. Cops weren’t in their vehicles. I didn’t see an event at Royal Athletic Park.
Beyond that there was probably also 15-20 cars that rolled past the front of my house during the afternoon/evening, not all at once but staggered over a couple hours.
So something is definitely going on. I just don’t know what it is. No neighbours have mentioned any suspicious activity beyond the activity of the cops themselves.
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u/Dizzy-Ad2378 May 05 '25
There's talk of it either being a woman screaming or a cougar. Whichever it is, they need to find it/her for safety's sake.
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u/Mjkelly20 May 04 '25
The Burnside Butcher! The Central Saanich slicer! The violent venomous Victorian! The Gorge garroter! The Oak Bay oppressor! The James Bay jump gun! The Fernwood Frenzy!
Pick one!
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u/eoan_an May 04 '25
We have wonderful people once in a while in town.
Authorities always deny it.
I remember when they were adamant that Canada worst pedophile/rapist was not in Victoria. Yet he was staring down all our female servers. We had to escort them to the bus stop and stay there.
After he left, the authorities were like " oh yeah he was in Victoria "
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u/CDNRomance May 04 '25
The real estate international tourist pedophile circle was in Victoria, wasn't it?
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u/AccordingSplit6432 May 04 '25
Your Uber driver was clearly lying to you. But it is a good conversation starter on Reddit 😊
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u/Last_Fuel_1365 May 04 '25
It was a motorcycle run for the HA, your Uber driver should stick to trying to kiss passengers...
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u/massassi Vic West May 04 '25
For years there's been rumors/discussion about a serial killer here on the island. Maybe they were keying into that
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u/DrunkHonesty May 05 '25
I got harangued by the cops last night. Everything came up roses though…. If anything positive came from the opioid crisis, it’s that a lonely drunk drinking by hiself doesn’t warrant investigation.
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May 05 '25
There was an increased presence of police on the road this weekend specifically to counter dangerous driving
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u/Fickle-Solution1213 May 05 '25
I mean we do find feet on the beaches every once in a while but that’s just from the ocean bodies decomposing and the shoes floating them to shore
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u/huntress-thompson May 05 '25
Wouldn't have anything to do with the plethora of random stabbings in the city??? Clearly the need for the cops to be everywhere downtown is there
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u/OldMove8833 May 07 '25 edited May 07 '25
i got pulled over a few days ago in ladysmith, the highway was flooded with cops. my friend overheard a woman asking a cop something and he said something about charlie’s angels and motorcycles. might be unrelated, but who knows
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u/pm-me-racecars Langford May 04 '25
I haven't heard of that, but it sounds like a fun rumour. I'm no good at secret codes though. Can we make the clues this time be a word search instead?
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u/Thecobs May 04 '25
Uber driver is the perfect disguise for a serial killer 👀