CANADA Canada - Michael Dunahee, 4, Victoria, BC, 24 March 1991

VicPD reveals age-enhanced sketch of Michael Dunahee 30 years after disappearance
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A forensic sketch of Michael Dunahee, portraying what he may look like now, is shown: (Victoria Police / BC RCMP forensic sketch artist Cpl. Virginia Bernier)
Victoria police release age-enhanced sketch of Michael Dunahee | Vancouver Sun
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''Michael Dunahee, 4, disappeared from a Victoria playground on March 24, 1991. Victoria police released an age-enhanced sketch on the 30th anniversary of his disappearance. Photo by Victoria police

“It’s a drastic age difference from four to 34,” said Cpl. Virginia Bernier, a B.C. RCMP forensic sketch artist, in a video statement released by Victoria Police.

“My hope is by creating this image of Michael, this age progression rendering, that people will be able to view him as what he would look today, since it’s been 30 years since his disappearance.”

Mom Crystal Dunahee said the sketch encompasses her and husband Bruce and their daughter’s likenesses, and was more realistic than previous computer-generated sketches.

Victoria Police also launched a new online tip portal at vicpd.ca/michaeldunaheetips.''
 
I placed on a tip on Dunahee a few years ago. Found a John Doe in a database. It was nowhere near Dunahee's last-seen location but there was a partial clothing match with the same-colored shoes and a teenaged-mutant ninja turtles shirt. The height was six inches off too but I just couldn't ignore the clothing. They took it seriously but it wasn't a match, unfortunately.
I did as well, the skeletal remains of a boy were found in California in 2004 and he is still unidentified, but he's the only John Doe of that young age anywhere near British Columbia who could possibly match Michael's description, despite the fact that isotopes place the John Doe from elsewhere; those same isotopes could also be found in BC. Furthermore, even though the clothing that the John Doe was found with was different children's clothing, it's logical to assume that an abductor would have changed the boy's clothing to thwart identification. The remains, although found 13 years after Michael went missing, were dead for 'at least a year' before they were found, if not longer.
Have you seen this child? John Doe2004
 
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Just for the record, this is the other age-enhanced image of Michael that doesn't seem to be circulated anymore, for whatever reason. I guess the only real difference is the more up-to-date hairstyle.

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I too have seen a Michael look-alike in BC, so out of curiosity, are you in Canada or the US? I understand if you are uncomfortable answering.

It was late at night and I was coming out of a store in the Fraser Valley. I was about 3 feet from him and this young man was looking at me very strangely and intently, as if he was wanting me to notice him. He was with a much older man who seemed somewhat brusk/angry??. I got back to my car and sat there thinking "where do i know this kid from". Then it hit me like a ton of bricks that he looked like the age-enhanced pic of Michael. I snooped around a bit, saw some kind of unusual things, and got a plate # and vehicle description.

While it seems nothing every materialized as a result of my letter, Michael is never too far from my mind. I hope Crystal knows that, along with her, others always remember him and will always keep looking for her son.
 
i am curious to know the store you spotted the look-alike in the fraser valley and the type of veichle that you spotted also what year would this have been?
i think Michael could still be out there without a clue of his real identity alot of times trauma causes people to block out memories
its is possible that his captor/s may have kept the same name michael and he was brought into a family whom lost a child or was unable to have kids of thier own
is there anymore info on things like his favorite toys,colour,sayings,birthmarks and identifiable features,handwriting examples etc
 
Because Victoria PD never bothered to get back to me at any time, I've decided to share the info I sent them. I had phoned and left a message. They did not return my call, so in July 2007, I wrote a letter with basically the following info:

It was October 24th, 2006 at approx. 8:30 pm, I was coming out the exit door of Shopper’s Drug Mart <redacted> BC. Two males were coming into the store; the older man was approx. 50, maybe 5’10 to 5’11, slim, sinewy build, dark brown/black hair that looked dyed, and his face seemed maybe pock-marked. (Closest I can come is he was a “Tom Skerritt” look-alike but not with a mustache.) IMO, he looked miserable or nasty or impatient, and it was almost like he was mad that the young guy was stopped without going immediately through the door.

The younger man was a bit shorter, maybe 5’8 to 5’9, slight build, approx. 18 to 20. The younger man was entering the store ahead of the older man, but as he was going in the entrance door, he stopped and looked at me very directly with a very strange look … that I can only describe as “beseeching”. Odd for a young person to make that direct eye contact with a total stranger. I was only about 4 feet away from him. As I walked back to my car, I kept thinking “where have I seen that young guy before”. As I sat in my car for a few minutes, I realized I had seen an age-enhanced picture of Michael Dunahee recently, (the one with the more modern hairstyle) and this young man looked just like that picture. His cheeks were a bit thinner and the hair a bit darker (more brown than blondish), and a bit longer, and brushed up off the face. His eyes were a little bit bigger.

The parking lot was very empty and I was parked about 7 or 8 spots away from a camper van (the only vehicle parked in the direction they had walked from). Other than mine, there were no other vehicles in that part of the lot. I drove over to the van and drove around it, but the lighting in the parking lot was street lighting so will give you the best description I can.

It was an older Dodge (?) camperized van (I’m not good on dates, but wild guess would be maybe late 1980s to mid 1990s); white or cream with a large (about 12” wide) orange stripe (not bright orange) around the bottom half of the van, starting maybe about a foot or so up from the bottom . The roof canopy was white or cream, and was a deep one that extended way out over the front windshield. It had heavy curtains on all side windows (other than the front windows of course) and all the curtains were closed. I can’t remember if it had a back window. It had a worn off decal(s) on the front of the roof canopy over the windshield. There was no front plate, and the back plate number was <redacted> (I was nervous and didn’t think to check if it was a BC plate). It had 2 doors that I think opened outward (so not a slider door) behind the front passenger door. I’m pretty sure the driver’s side of the van had 2 back windows behind the driver’s window

I went and parked again. I looked in my rearview and saw them at the cash register. I must have looked away for a minute, because I did not see them come out, but the next thing I saw was the older man at the passenger side of the van, with the side doors of the cargo compartment opened, but I did not see the younger man at all. The older man was bent down as if checking something on the floor of the van behind the passenger seat. There was no interior light on in the van, so I couldn’t see what he was doing. I now recall that at one point he turned around a looked toward me. I was basically the only other car near him in that part of the parking lot.

I never saw the younger fellow again. When the van drove off, there was nobody in the passenger seat. (I guess that's what left me with the impression that the young guy must have been in the cargo part). The right tail-light was out and the van drove east on <redacted>.

For all I know, it could have been a totally innocent father and son. It was almost 15 years ago but I have never forgotten the look that young man gave me.
 

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BTW, my letter was addressed to the detective in charge of the investigation, the same individual who I left a voice mail message with earlier.
 
Because Victoria PD never bothered to get back to me at any time, I've decided to share the info I sent them. I had phoned and left a message. They did not return my call, so in July 2007, I wrote a letter with basically the following info:

It was October 24th, 2006 at approx. 8:30 pm, I was coming out the exit door of Shopper’s Drug Mart <redacted> BC. Two males were coming into the store; the older man was approx. 50, maybe 5’10 to 5’11, slim, sinewy build, dark brown/black hair that looked dyed, and his face seemed maybe pock-marked. (Closest I can come is he was a “Tom Skerritt” look-alike but not with a mustache.) IMO, he looked miserable or nasty or impatient, and it was almost like he was mad that the young guy was stopped without going immediately through the door.

The younger man was a bit shorter, maybe 5’8 to 5’9, slight build, approx. 18 to 20. The younger man was entering the store ahead of the older man, but as he was going in the entrance door, he stopped and looked at me very directly with a very strange look … that I can only describe as “beseeching”. Odd for a young person to make that direct eye contact with a total stranger. I was only about 4 feet away from him. As I walked back to my car, I kept thinking “where have I seen that young guy before”. As I sat in my car for a few minutes, I realized I had seen an age-enhanced picture of Michael Dunahee recently, (the one with the more modern hairstyle) and this young man looked just like that picture. His cheeks were a bit thinner and the hair a bit darker (more brown than blondish), and a bit longer, and brushed up off the face. His eyes were a little bit bigger.

The parking lot was very empty and I was parked about 7 or 8 spots away from a camper van (the only vehicle parked in the direction they had walked from). Other than mine, there were no other vehicles in that part of the lot. I drove over to the van and drove around it, but the lighting in the parking lot was street lighting so will give you the best description I can.

It was an older Dodge (?) camperized van (I’m not good on dates, but wild guess would be maybe late 1980s to mid 1990s); white or cream with a large (about 12” wide) orange stripe (not bright orange) around the bottom half of the van, starting maybe about a foot or so up from the bottom . The roof canopy was white or cream, and was a deep one that extended way out over the front windshield. It had heavy curtains on all side windows (other than the front windows of course) and all the curtains were closed. I can’t remember if it had a back window. It had a worn off decal(s) on the front of the roof canopy over the windshield. There was no front plate, and the back plate number was <redacted> (I was nervous and didn’t think to check if it was a BC plate). It had 2 doors that I think opened outward (so not a slider door) behind the front passenger door. I’m pretty sure the driver’s side of the van had 2 back windows behind the driver’s window

I went and parked again. I looked in my rearview and saw them at the cash register. I must have looked away for a minute, because I did not see them come out, but the next thing I saw was the older man at the passenger side of the van, with the side doors of the cargo compartment opened, but I did not see the younger man at all. The older man was bent down as if checking something on the floor of the van behind the passenger seat. There was no interior light on in the van, so I couldn’t see what he was doing. I now recall that at one point he turned around a looked toward me. I was basically the only other car near him in that part of the parking lot.

I never saw the younger fellow again. When the van drove off, there was nobody in the passenger seat. (I guess that's what left me with the impression that the young guy must have been in the cargo part). The right tail-light was out and the van drove east on <redacted>.

For all I know, it could have been a totally innocent father and son. It was almost 15 years ago but I have never forgotten the look that young man gave me.

Woah! That is haunting! Is there any chance you could contact the Victoria, BC police again or re-submit the tip? I hope that was Michael Dunahee (he would have been 20 in 2006) because it means he might still be alive!
 

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