Mary O'Donnell, a 53-year-old woman who was also known as Marie, was living alone in East Vancouver in the summer of 1988. She had previously used the names Patricia Marie Rafferty and Marie Patricia Janulus. Her husband of 14 years had died from a heart attack the previous year, leaving her widowed, and police have said that she struggled with mental illness.
Despite those difficulties, she was a familiar presence along East Hastings Street, particularly in the 2100 and 2200 blocks, where employees and residents knew her from places including A&W, Dairy Queen, and Church's Chicken.
Shortly after midnight on July 28, 1988, O'Donnell left the A&W restaurant near Lakewood Drive and East Hastings Street and began the trip home. Her usual route took her south along Templeton Street, through the grounds of Templeton High School, and toward her residence in the 2100 block of Adanac Street. It was a familiar walk through her neighborhood, but on this occasion she never reached her home.
At approximately 1:40 a.m., only a short time after she had left the restaurant, O'Donnell's body was discovered on the grounds of Templeton High School. Investigators determined that she had been robbed and beaten to death. The circumstances indicated that she had been attacked during the relatively brief period between leaving the restaurant and reaching the school grounds along the route she normally used to get home.
The killing remains unsolved. Vancouver police have continued to classify O'Donnell's death as an open homicide and have publicly appealed for information from anyone who may know what happened to her that night. No identified suspect has been publicly named in the case, and available police information does not report an arrest, criminal charge, trial, or conviction connected to her murder. Decades after she was robbed and beaten on her way home, investigators continue to seek the person responsible.
