Verna Susan BJERKY Missing Person Case

Verna Susan

BJERKY

61

16

61 inches

61 inches

110 lbs

110 lbs

White / Caucasian

Female

On May 2, 1981, a 16-year-old Indigenous girl named Verna Susan Bjerky was at a friend's house in Hope, British Columbia. She was looking forward to visiting her boyfriend in Kamloops, a couple of hours away. However, a bus strike thwarted her travel plans, and Verna, described as a daring and fearless individual, decided to hitchhike to her destination. With her roller skates slung over her shoulder, she set out from her friend's home and was never seen again. Her friend had a sense of unease and had given Verna a knife before she left, a final memory of their friendship before Verna's promising call the following Tuesday never came. Verna, who was just ten days shy of her seventeenth birthday, was a vibrant and artistic young woman who wrote poetry and loved to draw. She had left school to work as a waitress and had aspirations of one day joining the circus or becoming a firefighter. Initially, the police considered the possibility that Verna was a teenage runaway, but her family, who knew her well, insisted that she would not have left without a word. Their fears were tragically validated five months later when some of Verna’s personal belongings, including her purse and roller skates, were discovered in a river off Highway 7. The items had been deliberately weighted down with rocks, a grim indication of foul play. This discovery dispelled any notion of her having run away and confirmed the family's deepest anxieties. For years, Verna’s mother, Clara Chrane, and her siblings held onto hope, conducting numerous searches, both large-scale public efforts with canine units and dive teams, and smaller, more personal searches through the bush, always looking for a sign of Verna. The shadow of one of Canada's most notorious serial killers, Clifford Olson, has long loomed over Verna's case. It is strongly believed that Verna was one of his victims, a theory supported by a chilling account from her best friend, Cathy Lamberton. Lamberton recalled that she and Verna had been picked up by Olson while hitchhiking just a few days before Verna disappeared. He had unnervingly tried to get them to drink beer and eat peanuts, which Lamberton now suspects were laced with drugs. Although Crown prosecutors identified Verna as a likely victim of Olson, charges were never laid in her case. Olson, who was convicted of murdering 11 children and young adults, hinted at his involvement in other disappearances, including Verna's, but he took any definitive answers to his grave when he died in prison in 2011. Verna's family, in a poignant effort to find some measure of peace, held a memorial service for her on what would have been her 47th birthday in 2011, thirty years after she vanished. Despite the passage of time, the case remains an open investigation, a painful and unresolved chapter for her loved ones who continue to seek answers and justice for Verna.

Coat Leather, Other Pants Denim, Blue Purse Shirt Red, White, Red with white flowers Shirt Cotton, Grey, Sweatshirt Shoes Roller skates Shoes Canvas, Brown, "North Star" Brand, running shoes Vest Cotton, Blue, Red Scar Chest, left rib cage

May 02, 1981

Hope

British Columbia

Fraser Valley RCMP

Fraser Valley

British Columbia

604-792-4611

604-792-4611

Law Enforcement

81-2720

Fraser Valley RCMP

Blonde

Hazel

Hazel

Build: Medium; Complexion: Light/Fair; Hair details: Long, Long blonde hair with short bangs

No