CANADA CANADA - BC - Cracroft Island, WhtMale, 18-30, pink nail polish, wet-suit pants, Nov'83

[breachtones]

This is one of those cases I've been interested in for a while, but there's next to no publicity on it. This poor man deserves a thread here at least.

Unidentified white male:
- Victim was discovered November 13, 1983 washed up on Cracroft Island, British Columbia.
- Estimated date of death: 6 months-2 years (approx. November 1981-May 1982)
- State of remains: Decomposed

Vitals
Sex: Male
Estimated age: 18-30 years old
Race: Caucasian
Estimated height: 5'9-6'1
Distinguishing characteristics: Pink nail polish on big toe, thin build, last joint on pinky finger may be amputated.

Clothing:
- Small, gold-coloured, cloth sweatpants with drawstring waist.
- Red, white, and black "Water Wear of Victoria" neoprene wet-suit pants with red patches on the knees.
- Brown, cloth socks.
- Black, rubber boots.
- A fishing rod.

Identifiers:
Dentals: None available. Head never recovered.
Fingerprints: None available.
DNA: Unknown.

Case history:
On 13 November 1983, a fisherman discovered the headless corpse of a male washed ashore at Cracroft Island in British Columbia, a remote island 40 km southeast of Alert Bay. Police theorize he was out fishing or scuba-diving when he went missing, and that he may have been reported missing in 1982 or 1983. Police believe his body was damaged by fish.
The man had pink nail polish on his big toe, may have had the last joint of his pinky finger amputated, and had a thin build. He stood 5'9 to 6'1 inches tall, however earlier reports in 1988 place him at around 5'2.

Sources:
- Unidentified Wikia
- British Columbia Unidentified Human Remains Interactive Viewer
- The Province newspaper, 21 October 1988
- NCMPUR

 

[branmuffin]

This is one of those cases I've been interested in for a while, but there's next to no publicity on it. This poor man deserves a thread here at least.

Unidentified white male:
- Victim was discovered November 13, 1983 washed up on Cracroft Island, British Columbia.
- Estimated date of death: 6 months-2 years (approx. November 1981-May 1982)
- State of remains: Decomposed

Vitals
Sex: Male
Estimated age: 18-30 years old
Race: Caucasian
Estimated height: 5'9-6'1
Distinguishing characteristics: Pink nail polish on big toe, thin build, last joint on pinky finger may be amputated.

Clothing:
- Small, gold-coloured, cloth sweatpants with drawstring waist.
- Red, white, and black "Water Wear of Victoria" neoprene wet-suit pants with red patches on the knees.
- Brown, cloth socks.
- Black, rubber boots.
- A fishing rod.

Identifiers:
Dentals: None available. Head never recovered.
Fingerprints: None available.
DNA: Unknown.

Case history:
On 13 November 1983, a fisherman discovered the headless corpse of a male washed ashore at Cracroft Island in British Columbia, a remote island 40 km southeast of Alert Bay. Police theorize he was out fishing or scuba-diving when he went missing, and that he may have been reported missing in 1982 or 1983. Police believe his body was damaged by fish.
The man had pink nail polish on his big toe, may have had the last joint of his pinky finger amputated, and had a thin build. He stood 5'9 to 6'1 inches tall, however earlier reports in 1988 place him at around 5'2.

Sources:
- Unidentified Wikia
- British Columbia Unidentified Human Remains Interactive Viewer
- The Province newspaper, 21 October 1988
- NCMPUR

Wow, so many assumptions in that newspaper article. Must have been diving alone? Really, with a fishing pole?

Should be identified by pink nail polish on big toe? I guess cops don't have 4 year old girls.

Diving wearing only the bottom of a wetsuit and sweatpants underneath? Really?

People who wear wetsuits wear them as comfortably close fitting as they can be without cutting off circulation. That's because a very thin layer of water is supposed to circulate within the bodysuit warming the wearer. If a suit is too baggy too much water gets in and has the opposite effect of cooling the water to the point the wearer could end up with hypothermia.

My personal opinion is this man was not in the water diving; he was either on a boat fishing and fell overboard or was on the shore fishing and was knocked off his feet by a rogue wave or lost his footing on slimy rocks and the boots and wetsuit weighed him down.

It's interesting to note that Cracroft Island is actually named East Cracroft Island and West Cracroft Island. The two names signify how they become separate islands during low tide, whereas with high tide they appear as one. So it's not beyond the realm of possibility either this guy got caught fishing in the shoals during low tide, either because he was unaware of the anomaly or he was a local who thought he could get back to shore before it became too dangerous.

There are native reserves on Cracroft Island and smaller islands within that area. It would be interesting if DNA was available.

 

[branmuffin]

Wow, so many assumptions in that newspaper article. Must have been diving alone? Really, with a fishing pole?

Should be identified by pink nail polish on big toe? I guess cops don't have 4 year old girls.

Diving wearing only the bottom of a wetsuit and sweatpants underneath? Really?

People who wear wetsuits wear them as comfortably close fitting as they can be without cutting off circulation. That's because a very thin layer of water is supposed to circulate within the bodysuit warming the wearer. If a suit is too baggy too much water gets in and has the opposite effect of cooling the water to the point the wearer could end up with hypothermia.

My personal opinion is this man was not in the water diving; he was either on a boat fishing and fell overboard or was on the shore fishing and was knocked off his feet by a rogue wave or lost his footing on slimy rocks and the boots and wetsuit weighed him down.

It's interesting to note that Cracroft Island is actually named East Cracroft Island and West Cracroft Island. The two names signify how they become separate islands during low tide, whereas with high tide they appear as one. So it's not beyond the realm of possibility either this guy got caught fishing in the shoals during low tide, either because he was unaware of the anomaly or he was a local who thought he could get back to shore before it became too dangerous.

There are native reserves on Cracroft Island and smaller islands within that area. It would be interesting if DNA was available.

Just thought I'd clarify my comments regarding the tides affecting Cracroft Island. When the tides are low, Cracroft Island appears as one island. When the tides are high, the island appears as two separate islands. Sorry about that. duh.

 

[breachtones]

My personal opinion is this man was not in the water diving; he was either on a boat fishing and fell overboard or was on the shore fishing and was knocked off his feet by a rogue wave or lost his footing on slimy rocks and the boots and wetsuit weighed him down.

It's interesting to note that Cracroft Island is actually named East Cracroft Island and West Cracroft Island. The two names signify how they become separate islands during low tide, whereas with high tide they appear as one. So it's not beyond the realm of possibility either this guy got caught fishing in the shoals during low tide, either because he was unaware of the anomaly or he was a local who thought he could get back to shore before it became too dangerous.

There are native reserves on Cracroft Island and smaller islands within that area. It would be interesting if DNA was available.

I agree with the diving thing completely. In my mind, this is most certainly a fishing accident. Thanks for the details about Cracroft Island too, didn't know that.
Canadian cases are always a pain to look up, the missing persons' databases are never very good to search through. The two that immediately sprang to mind for me are the cases of Laurence Arthur Peterson and his friend Randolph Berle Johanson. This is despite the age not really fitting though.

I don't believe the thought that his finger was amputated. Like Barnacle Bill, I think it likely came off in the water, like his head did.
I also believe this doe spent some time in Victoria at one point, would like to know more about the brand of those wetsuit pants.

 

[dotr]

?
CANADA - Canada - Lance Kunderman, 23, Vancouver, 26 Dec 1982 | Page 2 (websleuths.com)
4826DMBC - Lance Emerson Kunderman (doenetwork.org)

 

[snowgoose]

I don't believe the thought that his finger was amputated. Like Barnacle Bill, I think it likely came off in the water, like his head did.

They must have some reason for thinking his pinky finger joint was amputated rather than coming off in the water, right? They mention other postmortem injuries ("damaged by fish") so for them to specifically mention his missing fingertip, surely it must have seemed different from the other injuries, eg showing signs of having healed before his death?

 

[breachtones]

They must have some reason for thinking his pinky finger joint was amputated rather than coming off in the water, right? They mention other postmortem injuries ("damaged by fish") so for them to specifically mention his missing fingertip, surely it must have seemed different from the other injuries, eg showing signs of having healed before his death?

I suppose that's possible but stuff like this guy, Barnacle Bill, sort of the Salish Sea Feet even... how many amputees could there statistically be that are also coincidentally found in water?
I hope he is an amputee though, would make it 1000% easier to find because of how unique that is. But just saying.. I personally don't think he was.

 

[nao]

Port McNeill is closest town but i have no idea what it was like on 80's. Now it has ferry, water taxi etc. Moo

 

[breachtones]

3797UMBC

Now on the Doe Network.

 

[Ark]

I suppose that's possible but stuff like this guy, Barnacle Bill, sort of the Salish Sea Feet even... how many amputees could there statistically be that are also coincidentally found in water?
I hope he is an amputee though, would make it 1000% easier to find because of how unique that is. But just saying.. I personally don't think he was.

I believe pathologists can tell between an amputation and a natural disarticulation/being eaten by fish - An amputation is a medical procedure so you are typically able to tell if this has occurred post-mortem.

 

[Ark]

Also concerning the White's Waterwear of Victoria diving suit, I tried to do some digging on this and found this article from June 1982 from "Coast News" out of Gibsons.

Sunshine Coast News:

It mentions "White's Waterwear" in the bottom left advertisement.

So presuming this is the same brand, it shows that it was also sold along the Sunshine Coast area, not just from Victoria and on the island.

This maybe doesn't help much, but I thought it was interesting enough to share.

 

[BigKeyManatee]

I don’t mean to be crass or flippant but how does a fishing pole manage to stay with a body for 2 years when his head does not? (Yes, I am familiar with the process of disarticulation).

All the sources place the fishing rod as a “personal item,” so I guess they have reason to not assume that the rod was a piece of jetsam that washed up near the body.

Could the butt of the rod have been inserted down the leg of the wetsuit? This seems highly impractical and only something someone might improvise in desperation- say when they needed both hands to keep themselves from going into the water.

Fisherfolks:

• Is it common at all to secure your rod to your body when fishing?
• Anyone able to discern from the photo what type of fishing this rod is typically used for? Surf casting versus deep-sea?
• Pinning down the type of fishing he was doing might help determine if he likely came off a boat or a shoreline.

Thanks!

 

[Melt71]

@BigKeyManatee Im one of those kids who spent a lot of time fishing with my grandfather as a child. Back then it was pretty common to tether a rod loosely to one’s leg So a fish didn’t take your bait and drag your favourite rod into the sea while you were attending your grandchild (or baiting up another rod for those who fished with multiples). Nowadays there are fancy folding chairs with rod holders on them!

 

[Hochman]

Images of items found:

 

[Ark]

I don’t mean to be crass or flippant but how does a fishing pole manage to stay with a body for 2 years when his head does not? (Yes, I am familiar with the process of disarticulation).

All the sources place the fishing rod as a “personal item,” so I guess they have reason to not assume that the rod was a piece of jetsam that washed up near the body.

Could the butt of the rod have been inserted down the leg of the wetsuit? This seems highly impractical and only something someone might improvise in desperation- say when they needed both hands to keep themselves from going into the water.

Fisherfolks:

• Is it common at all to secure your rod to your body when fishing?
• Anyone able to discern from the photo what type of fishing this rod is typically used for? Surf casting versus deep-sea?
• Pinning down the type of fishing he was doing might help determine if he likely came off a boat or a shoreline.

Thanks!

It makes me wonder whether the fishing rod is even related to the person at this point, or just a mere coincidence it was within the vicinity of where the remains were found (which I'm presuming was the case rather than in a hand or a boot or something) and investigators just presumed it was related.

Because yes, otherwise you'd have to presume that he didn't go overboard on a boat or drift up from somewhere else, he pretty much would have to have been fishing in that spot, and maybe what? Slipped on a rock perhaps? Which is entirely plausible but at that point you would think that he might well have been at least somewhat local to the area with someone knowing where he was going. That's my 5:30am thoughts anyhow!

 

[breachtones]

It makes me wonder whether the fishing rod is even related to the person at this point, or just a mere coincidence it was within the vicinity of where the remains were found (which I'm presuming was the case rather than in a hand or a boot or something) and investigators just presumed it was related.

Because yes, otherwise you'd have to presume that he didn't go overboard on a boat or drift up from somewhere else, he pretty much would have to have been fishing in that spot, and maybe what? Slipped on a rock perhaps? Which is entirely plausible but at that point you would think that he might well have been at least somewhat local to the area with someone knowing where he was going. That's my 5:30am thoughts anyhow!

All the surrounding areas, and Cracroft itself seem like very small, tightly knit communities. You’d surely think someone would have reported him missing if he was a local, and that the police would’ve checked it.
But then again, the police also think he was scuba diving for some reason. Maybe not the best investigation. And again, Canada doesn’t really have a vast amount of missing people to look for online like the US does with NAMUS. It’s hard to look for possible matches they might’ve overlooked.

 

[annpats]

If he was scuba diving in Canada, I doubt just a wetsuit would be enough.
A drysuit would be needed due to low water temperatures.

Also, why was he wearing gold cloth pants over the neoprene westsuit pants? That makes no sense at all.

And where was the top half of the wetsuit? Maybe he wasn't wearing one, but he must have been wearing something on the top of his body. What happened to that?

Also, if he was in the water for 6 months to 2 years, wouldn't the pink nail varnish on found on one of his toes have disappeared by then?
In fact, would he still have any toenails in at all after being decomposing in the ocean for so long?

Food for thought.

 

[nao]

Moo... telegraph bay would be probable way to access Cracroft island...which is east and west Cracroft island when tide is high but one island when tide out. Telegraph bay used to be a fish processing canning community in the past. He might of been living off the grid..and in the 80's you could hitch hike around easy. He could of been from any where, i moved here because west coast warmest place to be.....many many people do. ...moo

 

[breachtones]

If he was scuba diving in Canada, I doubt just a wetsuit would be enough.
A drysuit would be needed due to low water temperatures.

Also, why was he wearing gold cloth pants over the neoprene westsuit pants? That makes no sense at all.

And where was the top half of the wetsuit? Maybe he wasn't wearing one, but he must have been wearing something on the top of his body. What happened to that?

Also, if he was in the water for 6 months to 2 years, wouldn't the pink nail varnish on found on one of his toes have disappeared by then?
In fact, would he still have any toenails in at all after being decomposing in the ocean for so long?

Food for thought.

To be fair, the newspaper that probably erroneously listed him as a "scuba diver" did say that "The head was missing as were other body parts". Could have been his entire upper half that was never recovered.
I agree though, gold sweatpants underneath wetsuit pants kinda defeat the purpose.

Unrelated note for anyone who might know: is it more likely that he floated down from like Port Hardy or up from Campbell River etc.

 

[branmuffin]

I think he was a shore fisherman using the bottom half of a wet suit as make-do chest waders to keep dry while fishing. That's probably why he had sweatpants on underneath.

If he wasn't from Cracroft Island I think he must have drifted from the south northward. Looking at Pacific Ocean current maps none look like he could have come from somewhere west of North Vancouver Island but when you drill down to the currents surrounding Vancouver Island including the Johnstone Strait it appears he could have drifted north. Here's a link.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure...hern-British-Columbia-coast-in_fig5_237175734

ETA: Although this map relates to the movement of larval dispersal, it does note that the many fjords, archipelagos, and high tidal activity actually limits the dispersal movement. If the topography reduces activity of larval dispersal I would think those factors would also greatly reduce the movement of a body. To me it suggests this poor fellow was local to the general area.