The Pauls family murdered on June 10th 1958: Vancouver’s first triple homicide

JusticeWillBeServed

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Information on this tragic and unsolved case taken from the VPD Cold Case File:

It’s been more than half a century since a family was brutally murdered in their own home in a quiet Vancouver neighbourhood, and today there are still far more questions than answers. Why was this family targeted? Who would savagely beat a young girl to death as she lay sleeping in her bed?

What investigators know for sure is that three people were murdered during the evening of June 10th to the early morning hours of June 11th.

It was about 11:30 p.m. on the 10th when 53-year-old David Pauls left his residence to pick up his wife at the bus stop after she finished work. He was surprised by an attacker just outside the rear basement door, who shot him in the head, and then used David’s keys to enter the house. Mr. Pauls was seriously injured, but not fatally wounded.

Little Dorothy Pauls was asleep in her upstairs bedroom when the suspect entered her room, bludgeoned her, and ended her young life.

Back downstairs, the killer dragged Mr. Pauls into the basement, beat him and shot him twice in the head, killing him.

Helen Pauls, aged 47, returned to the house after finishing work at 11:30 p.m. A witness reported seeing her running home from the bus stop, as it was raining and her husband clearly never made it to pick her up. She was shot and beaten to death in the front hallway. She still had her house keys in her pocket.

The specific weapons were never identified with any certainty. A heavy instrument of some kind was used to beat the victims. The bullets recovered from the bodies were sent to more than one lab, which concluded they came from a .22 calibre revolver – likely a Rohm RG-10, colt-style, six-shot.

This case has frustrated investigators for decades and the Pauls family deserves justice. It’s been almost 60 years, but someone out there knows something.



"Cold case: Vancouver police seeks tips on murder of family 57 years ago"

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Cold+case+Vancouver+police+seeks+tips+murder+family+years/11128915/story.html

Vancouver Police are looking for information to help solve the mysterious slaughter of a Vancouver family 57 years ago this week.

The Pauls: Vancouver’s first triple murder



11128921.jpg
 
gut feeling and just a gut feeling but this has something to do with whatever dad did payback for something /even thier pic he stands out ..just a thought thou however.
 
Did the killer know Mrs. Paul would be coming home at 1130pm ? Did he/he wait in the house for her ? wonder what she did for a living ?
 
Did the killer know Mrs. Paul would be coming home at 1130pm ? Did he/he wait in the house for her ? wonder what she did for a living ?

"The family owned a home in the 1000-block of E.53rd Avenue, and appeared to live a fairly ordinary life. David Pauls worked in the warehouse of the downtown Woodward's store. Helen worked evenings at the Home Fancy Sausage Shop on East Hastings Street. Dorothy was in Grade 6 at Walter Moberly School, where her fellow students described her as quiet."
rbbm
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Co...amily+years/11128915/story.html#ixzz3ctA5KdKG
 
http://vancouverpolicemuseum.ca/murder-mystery-intrigue-speaker-series-review-the-pauls-murder/

"Lazarus’s presentation finished with some very plausible cases for why the Pauls were murdered, including a theory involving mistaken identity and police ties. To learn about her discoveries in detail, you can read her book Sensational Vancouver "

VPD refused to turn over their case files on the Pauls' murder to Lazarus ? It sounds like Mr. Pauls' nightly routine was to drive to the bus stop to pick up his wife. I guess their daughter was alone in the house at that time, usually sleeping. Neither female was sexually assaulted the night of their murders ? Nothing was taken from the house. For some reason, I just don' think it was mistaken identity, but jmo.
 
I did some reading. Read that the clothing covering Dorothy from the waist down had been pulled down. Don't recall reading that she had been sexually assaulted. There were many rumors going around at the time : I read that drugs were sold at the store where Mrs. Paul worked ( in 1958 Vancouver ?? ), and also that Dorothy had an older boyfriend. IDK, the family was part of the local Mennonite community, does not seem to be anything shady about them.jmo I kind of think someone knew their nightly routine, and knew that Dorothy was usually alone when her father went to meet her mother. That and the fact that she was partly undressed made me think she was the target. Have not linked because this info is on blogs, so fwiw...jmo
 
This was probably nothing more than a hate crime. They were Russian..........I knew they were immigrants before watching the video above. At first I thought they were Hungarian immigrants until I read about there parents immigrating to Canada. Heres a link to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada–Soviet_Union_relations..........Quote. After the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Canada hoped tensions would ease, and then Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester Pearson traveled to the Soviet Union for talks with Nikita Khrushchev in 1955, the first NATO foreign minister to do so. However, tension arose again over the Hungarian Revolution and Suez Crisis in 1956. In 1962 the Tory Prime Minister John Diefenbaker caused a crisis of his own by refusing to put Canadian forces on alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and by agreeing to acquire nuclear-equipped interceptor aircraft and Bomarc missiles from the US to use against Soviet bombers...End of quote.

They may had been perceived as spies at the time. But more than likely they were killed because they were Russian. Looking at the houses at the time they were close together and yet I have not found any reports of neighbors reporting hearing any gunshots.

Someone knew the husband would be leaving around 1130 to go get his wife. A routine. They waited for him to come out attacked him, left him where he fell for the time being, Went upstairs to where the daughter slept. They knew she was up there. Went upstairs and beat her to death came back down took him to the basement and shot him twice more. All in all knowing the wife would be on her way home, waited for her and she stepped inside and was shot. Looking at the crime scene photo she was attacked a few feet inside the residence............Someone seen her running home from the bus stop because it was raining, yet no one reported hearing any gunshots??................

What were the Canadian gun laws in around 1958? Where citizens allowed to own guns at the time? Did they check with the neighbors to see whom owned any 22s? Did they even investigate the neighbors at the time to see if any held any anti Russian views?

The above is nothing more than speculation and assumptions. Nothing posted as being fact unless otherwise known to be.

 
The husband was surprised by the killer, but the killer was not surprised by him. Since it is at about 11:30, everything has to be done FAST because the wife will be home shortly after her husband doesn't arrive to pick her up. The killer shoots the husband. He is near-death and the killer can come back to kill him after he takes care of the daughter.

The daughter is bludgeoned to death. She is young and doesn't need a bullet to die quickly. However, time to drag the husband downstairs and beat him before shooting him again. He is finally dead. Now it is just time to wait for the wife to come home. In the meantime, why not get the daughter's PJ pants and take them off. Leave them beside the bed. After all, it is important to make this crime look like something OTHER than what it is!

When the wife comes home, she is beaten and shot dead. When you take the time to BEAT a victim, you are doing it because you have a GRUDGE. You want them to "get what they deserve." This is a paid hit. Someone wanted this done to look like a sexual assault gone wrong, when in reality it wasn't. If that didn't hold up, taking Mr. Pauls wallet, keys and vehicle made out for a good robbery claim. The keys are clearly taken because they have prints. The wallet would have had money and if you are a paid to kill someone, you have no problem getting a few more dollars out of it if you can. The vehicle allowed for the killer to get away as quickly as possible, which means he arrived to the residence probably by bus!

Mr Pauls knew who hired the killer. Maybe he owed a debt? Maybe someone in the community didn't appreciate a Mennonite taking a job away from a hard working Canadian? The list could go on....

Even after all these years, more than one person knows how this went down. Someone ALWAYS knows ....
 
Thinking that if a large stone had been kicked in the garden, the perp must have been really angry and strong, but maybe he was also young, due to the immaturity of that act.
Any reason to think that the murders were committed by 2 perps?
Jun 11, 2015 imo,rbbm.
UNSOLVED MYSTERIES: The Pauls family triple homicide
"Vancouver Police Constable Brian Montague says over the years, there has been a lot of speculation on a motive. He adds there had been a string of sexual assaults in the neighbourhood around the same time the Pauls were killed, but that theory never led to anything concrete.

“Investigators in general will look at a number of things and one of those things would be what kind of crimes are taking place in the area. They’ll look at individuals that have been caught or checked in the neighbourhood in recent times. They’ll look at suspects with similar MOs. If it’s a string of sexual assaults in the neighbourhood, then they’ll look at offenders who are living nearby that have recently been arrested. They’re basically trying to build a suspect profile,” explains Montague.

There was also the idea of a peeping Tom caught by the father, but that was ruled out. It was a possible robbery, but nothing was taken.

Others theories even went as far to link the murders to communism, as the family’s background originated in Russia.

There were never any solid leads and the only evidence left behind was a smeared bloody handprint on a wall and a large stone in the garden that had been kicked out of place."
 
Thinking that if a large stone had been kicked in the garden, the perp must have been really angry and strong, but maybe he was also young, due to the immaturity of that act.... and a large stone in the garden that had been kicked out of place."

Matthew 4:6
... "He will command his angels concerning you... On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone."
 
1680663901655.png
''It’s been more than half a century since a family was brutally murdered in their own home in a quiet Vancouver neighbourhood, and today there are still far more questions than answers. Why was this family targeted? Who would savagely beat a young girl to death as she lay sleeping in her bed?

David and Helen Pauls were both in their teens when their families emigrated from Russia to Canada. During their 16 years of marriage, they lived in Saskatchewan and Aldergrove, before buying a home in Vancouver in September of 1956. The couple and their 11-year-old daughter lived in a house in the 1000 block of E. 53rd Avenue.

The family seemed to live a fairly ordinary life. David worked in the warehouse of the downtown Woodward’s store and Helen worked evenings at the Home Fancy Sausage Shop on East Hastings Street. Little Dorothy was in Grade 6 at Walter Moberly School, where her fellow students described her as quiet.

In today’s world of crime scene investigation, with modern tools like DNA testing, this crime might well have been easily solved. But in 1958, it was a very different situation.

What investigators know for sure is that three people were murdered during the evening of June 10th to the early morning hours of June 11th.

It was about 11:30 p.m. on the 10th when 53-year-old David Pauls left his residence to pick up his wife at the bus stop after she finished work. He was surprised by an attacker just outside the rear basement door, who shot him in the head, and then used David’s keys to enter the house. Mr. Pauls was seriously injured, but not fatally wounded.

Little Dorothy Pauls was asleep in her upstairs bedroom when the suspect entered her room, bludgeoned her, and ended her young life.

Back downstairs, the killer dragged Mr. Pauls into the basement, beat him and shot him twice in the head, killing him.

The suspect went back upstairs again, removed Dorothy’s pyjama bottoms and left them on the floor beside the bed.

Helen Pauls, aged 47, returned to the house after finishing work at 11:30 p.m. A witness reported seeing her running home from the bus stop, as it was raining and her husband clearly never made it to pick her up. She was shot and beaten to death in the front hallway. She still had her house keys in her pocket.

The specific weapons were never identified with any certainty. A heavy instrument of some kind was used to beat the victims. The bullets recovered from the bodies were sent to more than one lab, which concluded they came from a .22 calibre revolver – likely a Rohm RG-10, colt-style, six-shot.

Many theories have been discussed and pursued. Detectives considered that Dorothy may have been the target and that the crime was sexually motivated, but there was no evidence that the girl was sexually assaulted.

Robbery was a possibility – David’s wallet, and keys for the house and his vehicle, were taken. Helen’s purse was opened, but it’s not known if anything was missing.

There was even discussion that the murders may have been related to political unrest from their home country of Russia. The Pauls were Mennonite and rumours circulated when the church community would not cooperate with the investigation.

This case has frustrated investigators for decades and the Pauls family deserves justice. It’s been almost 60 years, but someone out there knows something.''
 
Still unsolved, still devastating families: A look at B.C.'s many missing and murdered persons cases

The Pauls family, murdered in 1958 in their Vancouver home, are also in the database: David, a Woodword’s warehouse employee, and his wife Helen, who worked in a sausage shop, were both beaten and shot, while their daughter Dorothy, in Grade 6 at Walter Moberly Elementary, was bludgeoned to death.

“It’s been more than half a century since a family was brutally murdered in their own home in a quiet Vancouver neighbourhood, and today there are still far more questions than answers. Why was this family targeted? Who would savagely beat a young girl to death as she lay sleeping in her bed,” the Vancouver police asks on its cold cases website.
 

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