CANADA Canada - Tania Murrell, 6, Edmonton, 20 Jan 1983

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PonderingThings

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http://doenetwork.org/cases/42dfab.html

TMurrell.jpg
TMurrell1.jpg

Left: Murrell in 1982; Right: Age-progressed image of Murrell at age 18 (circa 1994)

Tania Marie Murrell
Missing since January 20, 1983 from Edmonton, Alberta Canada
Classification: Non-Family Abduction

# Vital Statistics Date Of Birth: June 20, 1976
# Age at Time of Disappearance: 6 years old
# Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 3'5; 44 pounds
# Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Sandy hair; brown eyes.
# Marks, Scars: Murrell has pierced ears. She has a birthmark on her right temple.
# Clothing: She was last seen wearing a black Harley Davidson t-shirt, green cordaroy pants, a blue and white winter coat with fur trim, brown boots and white bikini panties.

Circumstances of Disappearance
Murrell was last seen leaving her first grade classroom at Grovner Elementary School in Edmonton, ALB around 11 AM on January 20, 1983.
She was heading for her family's home but she never arrived.
 
I am very familiar with Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Although its a bustling city there is a lot of "wilderness" terrain just outside the city limits. Also, its the "Gateway to the north". Many, many people come to Edmonton on holiday, shopping, to party, to do business, or to look for work. Its very far north.

Also, I know recently, the largest number of parolees in Alberta, for various crimes, chose Edmonton as a place to call home. I don't know if that was true back in 1983, but its something to ponder in this case of a little girl that vanished. NOTHING was ever found, not clothing, not books, NOTHING.

Her sister strongly feels she is alive. She thinks she was abducted, brainwashed, and moved elsewhere - possibly to the States.

Tania's parents tried EVERYTHING to find her. They were even the victims of an attempted extortion attempt (a man was convicted).

"A month after Tania disappeared, her parents, Vivian and Jack, along with others, set up the Tania Murrell Missing Children Society, the first Canadian agency to deal with the issue of missing children. Eight months later, Child Find Alberta was launched by a group of concerned Calgarians."

Please read about this case in this very informative news article that was just published. Its too long to post here, and I don't know if it will be archived. Its a good "snapshot" of the history surrounding the case. Her family is still searching for Tania!

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=08bbdbb2-db5b-41da-968a-820eb01a6d47&k=83403
 
Peals of childhood laughter and memories of doe-eyed innocence still haunt Vivian Murrell, whose beautiful and bubbly six-year-old daughter was snatched without a trace from an Edmonton street 23 1/2 years ago.

Now, nearly two months after what would have been Tania Murrell's 30th birthday, hers is one of the coldest on-file missing children's cases in Canadian history.

Because of that, Vivian, an intensely private woman who has recently fought back from the crippling effects of a massive brain aneurysm, is reasserting her vow to never give up until Tania is found.

"Somebody knows something. We don't just get picked up and thrown in the garbage," she told the Sun. "Are we supposed to just sweep Tania under the rug? Even though it's been years, they should be able to solve this case. As far as I'm concerned, this is overly cold.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2006/08/13/1752229-sun.html

I think when LE reinvestigates the case, they should start with the man that was stalking Tania's mother.
 
The link is no longer viewable. Anyone know anything more on Tanias mother being stalked?
 
Vivian Murrell says she'll never give up hope that her daughter Tania will turn up alive, even though she disappeared in 1983 when she was just six years old.

"No matter how many years later it is, I pray to God she's still alive," Murrell said.

Tania was last seen at 11:06 a.m. on Jan. 20, 1983, leaving her Grade 1 classroom at Grovenor Elementary School in the west end of Edmonton.

Murrell says that when she got a call from her sister, who told her that Tania hadn't come home, she felt what she describes as "pure hysteria."

"Nobody slept, nobody ate, and we just lived every frantic day after day hoping she'd show up again," Murrell recalled.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/05/27/4212180-sun.html
 
It's the little things Vivian Murrell remembers most about her daughter.

The way she didn't like to get dressed in the morning and would repeatedly change her outfit. How she lost her helium balloon one day as they walked down the street. The memories continue to flow for Murrell.

"There's not one day that goes by that I don't think of my daughter. Not one," she say.

It was 25 years ago today that her daughter, Tania Marie Murrell, disappeared without a trace on her way home from school.

Many longtime Edmontonians will remember the six-year-old girl whose photo was featured in newspapers and on TV for weeks in 1983. Tania disappeared on Jan. 20 of that year at about 11:10 a.m. when she walked out the doors of Grovenor Elementary School and headed home.

Vivian Murrell, 52, is sad to say the 25th anniversary is marked by one feeling.

"Disgust," she says from her home near Kelowna. "She should have been found a long time ago."

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=d7949a83-8470-4ced-ae10-b2ac73eab397
 
I was in Junior High school in Edmonton when this occurred.

Maybe I am rembering this wrong, but didn't she go missing in or near Elk Island Park? I remember hearing this is on the news.

The park is northeast of Edmonton, and at the time it was well out of the City.
 
geojeffrey said:
I was in Junior High school in Edmonton when this occurred.

Maybe I am rembering this wrong, but didn't she go missing in or near Elk Island Park? I remember hearing this is on the news.

The park is northeast of Edmonton, and at the time it was well out of the City.
Click to expand...

Here is Elk Island Park http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/elkisland/index_E.asp


Here it says that Tania Marie Murrell went missing from "Grovenor elementary school on a cold winter day."

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjourn...=08bbdbb2-db5b-41da-968a-820eb01a6d47&k=83403

Grovenor Elementary school is in Edmonton.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton

hope this helps.

I would also like to find out who was stalking Tania's mother. How would we look into this? Anyone know?
 
thanks for the information.

I am not sure where my memory about her going missing at Elk Island Park is coming from. It must be errorneous, or maybe at least searches were held there when this happenned.

Does anyone else remember anything about this?

I also remember a theory that some contacts of her father may have took Tania as retribution for something. It was all so long ago...
 
I wish they would have been able to find something solid for her before she passed away.

Elysia is now the one who will be hoping to find closure.

Vivian died on Jan 1 2011
 
This is the first time that I have heard of this case, it is a tragedy that her loving Mother died waiting to see her little girl again or at least find out what happened to her. Maybe now some answers will be found.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2011/01/22/16990811.html
Today;s news.

There were a number of leads from witnesses that may have seen her. A realtor told police that a child and an unidentified woman were seen at 144 Street near 104 Avenue and the child had fallen and was being helped up by the women or was being dragged.

According to the over 20,000 pages in Tania's file, there were also children who reported a girl being chased by a German Shepherd. Another pair of Grade 1 students said Tania waved before she stated walking in the direction of her home on 10426 145 St.

In the summer of 2008, a basement was excavated about 20 blocks from where the Murrell family lived in 1983. The lead detective on Tania's case, Howie Antoniuk, received a tip from a woman who says she was a playmate of Tanya and was suspicious about a hole in her basement during the time of Tania's disappearance. The $18 000 dig turned up nothing.

"My mom always told me if my sister wasn't found before she dies, she would give me a sign," said Elysia.

"Now I'm starting to get people who have seen her and people who have information are contacting me."

Within the past few weeks, a woman named Maria has contacted Elysia saying she knows information about Tania but was scared to come forward earlier.

"I know she's alive and out there," said Elysia, who is in constant contact with Det. Antoniuk through the years .

"We just need to find her."
 
PonderingThings said:
I am very familiar with Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Although its a bustling city there is a lot of "wilderness" terrain just outside the city limits. Also, its the "Gateway to the north". Many, many people come to Edmonton on holiday, shopping, to party, to do business, or to look for work. Its very far north.

Also, I know recently, the largest number of parolees in Alberta, for various crimes, chose Edmonton as a place to call home. I don't know if that was true back in 1983, but its something to ponder in this case of a little girl that vanished. NOTHING was ever found, not clothing, not books, NOTHING.

Her sister strongly feels she is alive. She thinks she was abducted, brainwashed, and moved elsewhere - possibly to the States.

Tania's parents tried EVERYTHING to find her. They were even the victims of an attempted extortion attempt (a man was convicted).

"A month after Tania disappeared, her parents, Vivian and Jack, along with others, set up the Tania Murrell Missing Children Society, the first Canadian agency to deal with the issue of missing children. Eight months later, Child Find Alberta was launched by a group of concerned Calgarians."

Please read about this case in this very informative news article that was just published. Its too long to post here, and I don't know if it will be archived. Its a good "snapshot" of the history surrounding the case. Her family is still searching for Tania!

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=08bbdbb2-db5b-41da-968a-820eb01a6d47&k=83403
Click to expand...

This jumped out at me from above link,does anyone have any idea who the man,allegedly once involved with the Mother might be, and if he was from
Toronto?
"
She believes her sister was snatched by a man known to the family; a man who was obsessed with her mother and who may now reside in Toronto."
 
If the little girl was taken to Toronto, what might make her stand out a little, is the fact that she had pierced ears (at such a young age).Perhaps someone might remember that detail about her that may have set her a little apart from the other girls at that time...
 
Without a trace

[snip]

For most long-time Edmontonians, Tania Marie Murrell will be permanently ingrained in their memory as a grinning little girl with braided pigtails and strands of flyaway hair, whose picture was featured in newspapers and on TV for weeks in 1983.

She vanished without a trace on Jan. 20 of that year, shortly after 11:10 a.m., when she walked out the school doors for the quick trip home for lunch.

A teacher watched as the three-foot-two, blond-haired youngster with hazel eyes walked out of sight. She was never seen again.

Tania's disappearance made national headlines, and was the subject of several television programs in the U.S.

One of the chief investigators at the time, Det. John McLeod, said it was the uniqueness of the case that had caught people's attention. "She went missing without a trace -- no clothing, no school books, nothing."

http://www.globaltvbc.com/Without+trace/4492017/story.html
 
geojeffrey said:
I was in Junior High school in Edmonton when this occurred.

Maybe I am rembering this wrong, but didn't she go missing in or near Elk Island Park? I remember hearing this is on the news.

The park is northeast of Edmonton, and at the time it was well out of the City.
Click to expand...

I believe you are thinking of the Kevin Reimer case. He went missing in Elk Island Park in the early 80's. His remains were found by a hiker a few years ago.

I'm wondering if Tania's mother's stalker was ever questioned? Does anyone know who he was??
 
http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/01/...x-year-old-tania-murrell-still-has-nightmares
"The best friend of Tania Murrell still copes with vivid nightmares three decades after the disappearance of the six-year-old city girl.

Brandy-Jo Ewashko, now 36, was also a Grade 1 student at Grovenor School, 10345 144 St., on Jan. 20, 1983, the day Tania was abducted.

“She keeps coming to me in my dreams, telling me she was killed, cut up and her body parts scattered.” said Brandy-Jo.

“I also have had a dream where I walk into a basement and see a dead Tania hanging from a shower in my bathroom.”

NIGHTMARES

The nightmares began surfacing just a month after Tania disappeared. Although she has received counselling, the city woman said she still has the dreams, with the most recent occurring about six months ago.

“It is a terrible terrible feeling,” said Brandy-Jo, who wishes her childhood playmate was alive but fears the worst.

No trace of Tania has ever been found. The case is considered the biggest missing child case in city history."
 
One thing that leaped out at me immediately is the description of Tania's clothing -- a t-shirt, for a January day in northern Canada. I know she also had a coat, but it still seems rather flimsy. The Byron Christopher blog tells me that it was not just cold, but bitterly so that day -- minus 22F/minus 30C. So if someone had taken Tania somewhere, unless she were indoors, she would not have been able to survive the elements too long.

Another thing -- if Tania only had a block and a half to walk from school to home, and it was lunchtime, surely other children were also walking in that area? Did any of her classmates report seeing anything? When was she last seen by them? Were there any stay-at-home moms or elderly folks who typically saw her as she passed? A block and a half seems like an awfully short distance to just disappear in.
 
http://www.edmontonsun.com/2013/01/...ell-still-hopes-she-comes-home-30-years-later
"Tania Murrell was a little girl with a big smile and an even bigger voice.

“What I remember most about her is how loud she sang,” says her aunt, Vera Stortz. “I do remember being at school and the kids were singing O Canada and Tania was louder than anyone else. She just loved to sing.”

Tania, who had a German shepherd dog named Harley, loved animals and wanted to be a veterinarian when she grew up.

She also enjoyed the water at a very tender age.

“I often took her and (brother) John to Fred Broadstock Pool during the summers. Tania was a good swimmer,” says Vera.

“She was just a happy little girl and I really miss her.”

gary.poignant@sunmedia.ca
 
CastlesBurning said:
One thing that leaped out at me immediately is the description of Tania's clothing -- a t-shirt, for a January day in northern Canada. I know she also had a coat, but it still seems rather flimsy. The Byron Christopher blog tells me that it was not just cold, but bitterly so that day -- minus 22F/minus 30C. So if someone had taken Tania somewhere, unless she were indoors, she would not have been able to survive the elements too long.

Another thing -- if Tania only had a block and a half to walk from school to home, and it was lunchtime, surely other children were also walking in that area? Did any of her classmates report seeing anything? When was she last seen by them? Were there any stay-at-home moms or elderly folks who typically saw her as she passed? A block and a half seems like an awfully short distance to just disappear in.
Click to expand...

Funny, the HD shirt leaped out at me too..
wondering if anyone living near the school enticed her with a dog, one she may have encountered whilst out with her own dogs?
 
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