CANADA Canada - Sharin Morningstar Keenan, 9, Toronto, 23 Jan 1983

Homicide Squad
Most Wanted
Homicide: #1/1983
Occurrence #13851/83
Date: January 23, 1983

Victims
Sharin Morningstar Keenan

Sharin Morningstar Keenan was playing in a park at Brunswick Avenue & Wells Street on January 23rd, 1983. Her lifeless body was located on February 1st, 1983 in a refrigrator at 482 Brunswick Avenue.

Details of Investigation

On Sunday, January 23rd, 1983, at approximately 3:00 p.m., Sharin Morningstar Keenan, 9 years-of-age, parted company with her mother to play in Jan Sibelius Park, at Brunswick Avenue and Wells Street, Toronto.

Shortly before 4:00 p.m., Sharin was seen taking to a man in the park.

Sharin had been told to come home at 4 p.m.; when she did not show up, her mother became concerned. After Sharin’s father was unable to locate his daughter in the park, and inquiries in the neighborhood were unsuccessful, the police were called.

A comprehensive police search and investigation took place. A systematic investigation of houses in the area of the park, resulted in the discovery of Sharin’s lifeless body in a refrigerator in a rooming house at 482 Brunswick Avenue.

Further investigation revealed that Dennis Melvyn Howe, 42 years-of-age at the time of this crime, an occupant of that rooming house, had not been seen since Monday, January 24th, 1983.

Homicide investigators obtained a warrant for the arrest of Dennis Melvyn Howe, on a charge of 1st-degree murder.


Wanted

Dennis Melvyn HOWE
Male
Date of birth: 1940/09/26

Mr. Howe was living at 482 Brunswick Avenue in a rooming house. He has not been seen since January 24th, 1983

Dennis Melvin HOWE is wanted for the murder and sexual molestation of Sharin Morningstar Keenan.

His also known by the aliases of: Michael Burns; Wayne King; Ralph Ferguson; Jim Myers.



LINK:

http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/homicide/case/21
 
Here is a link to a Canadian website which discusses Howe:

... While most Canadian investigators think Howe would never have left the country of his birth, it is possible that he fled to the United States. (What better way to throw the hounds off your tracks than to go somewhere totally unexpected?) While Howe was estranged from most of his family, he had a brother who occasionally loaned him money. In the years following the murder of Sharin’, cops learned that his brother made a dozen trips to Montana and Washington. After being questioned about the reasons for those visits, they suddenly stopped. His brother died several years ago, taking any secret he may have had to his grave.

Is Dennis Melvyn Howe still alive? Is he hiding in plain sight, maybe in some small town, cared for by a wife and children? Is he languishing in a nursing facility, his identity unknown? ...

Source:

Kidnapping, Murder and Mayhem: Canada's Most Wanted Fugitive

LINK:

http://kidnappingmurderandmayhem.blogspot.com/2011/01/canadas-most-wanted-fugitive.html
 
I have watched the David Ridgen CBC doc, Hoshowsky, and today reviewed the Globe and Mail stories at the library.

In Hoshowsky and/or(?) W5 it says Sharin's body had to be thawed before an autopsy one description was "icy". If true then her body to be brought to Howe's room from somewhere else because the old fridge pictured wouldn't freeze a human being.

I don't blame the police for focusing on Howe as they said only his fingerprints and DNA was found at the crime scene. But why would only his fingerprints be in that room it is a rooming-house. One investigating officer noted how neat the room was in fact they thought he had been in the army because of the neatness and because of his bearing and way of snapping around as if on a march. The doc not too politely tries to case aspersion on another resident of the rooming O.H. In the Globe article it is said he draws suspicion by not approaching police and seeming reluctant to talk.

Toronto Globe: very first sightings of Sharin which later disappear from the narrative perhaps for some good reason: 1. a taxi driver said he picked up Howe and Sharin and drove them to an address the police wouldn't disclose they used his description when they initially went door to door. 2. two boys said they saw Sharin talking to a "young man". A couple of days later the central witness of Sharin in the park who is on the W5 shows comes forward though he does not immediately recognize Sharin. Early on police say they have 6 eyewitnesses of some kind for the person they then thought was "Burns" but many or all differed.

There are a couple of articles where Sharin's Dad expresses his anger at one of the officers for refusing to bring out dogs claiming the dogs were tired and couldn't operate in snowy conditions. (I know my dog operates, follows scent fine in snowy conditions so her Dad has a point I think). He thinks if they had brought out dogs Sharin would have been found so close to Jan Sibelius Park and it sounds like she was alive for hours at least. Can't really judge myself but that is what is said.

The autopsy was done by Hillsdon-Smith so that raises immediate red flags.
 
For some reason, I thought I read somewhere that Howe may have had some connection to boats, perhaps living on one ... wonder if winter water would be cold enough to freeze a body? I am going to see if I can find a link..

Might take awhile to find a link to a blog or wherever.... so will have to put that in rumour..if inappropriate, mods, please remove..thanks.
 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/coldcase/cases/morningstar-keenan.html

https://sites.google.com/site/chilr...t-Angels/9-year-old-sharin-morningstar-keenan

The second link (scroll down for a better version of the picture) shows the picture that went around when Sharin went missing.

The first link is a picture of Sharin that was used for the CBC Cold Case show and I am pretty sure I am certain I have never seen it before that show.

I would love to know where that photo was taken and when. To me she looks years and years older like a young adolescent which of course is impossible and she seems to be healthier, have glowing skin, and have much more musculature. But surely they wouldn't age progress the picture of a murdered child.

A big question is how sophisticated Howe is. In the Globe articles I read today years later the detective Wayne Oldham is quoted as saying he doesn't think Howe is that bright though maybe clever in a con man sort of way. In the David Ridgen film for CBC his shop boss at Prince Albert Pen says that he could put together a machine of over 1,000 pieces without a manual and his boss at the "factory" (in reality a wholesaler) on Spadina said her had an unusual ability to memorize numbers, stock numbers. His tastes seem very very basis country and western, export beer, Players cigs, As for the fact that he called things and people "turkeys" I actually remember a thankfully brief time in the late 70s when that was a common thing to do. But he would stand out if he didn't lose the habit.

I am interested in why he was posted on Jamaica's Most Wanted specifically.

I have lots to say on this case and I think lots of info but I have to think what can be posted.
 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/coldcase/cases/morningstar-keenan.html

https://sites.google.com/site/chilr...t-Angels/9-year-old-sharin-morningstar-keenan

The second link (scroll down for a better version of the picture) shows the picture that went around when Sharin went missing.

The first link is a picture of Sharin that was used for the CBC Cold Case show and I am pretty sure I am certain I have never seen it before that show.

I would love to know where that photo was taken and when. To me she looks years and years older like a young adolescent which of course is impossible and she seems to be healthier, have glowing skin, and have much more musculature. But surely they wouldn't age progress the picture of a murdered child.

A big question is how sophisticated Howe is. In the Globe articles I read today years later the detective Wayne Oldham is quoted as saying he doesn't think Howe is that bright though maybe clever in a con man sort of way. In the David Ridgen film for CBC his shop boss at Prince Albert Pen says that he could put together a machine of over 1,000 pieces without a manual and his boss at the "factory" (in reality a wholesaler) on Spadina said her had an unusual ability to memorize numbers, stock numbers. His tastes seem very very basis country and western, export beer, Players cigs, As for the fact that he called things and people "turkeys" I actually remember a thankfully brief time in the late 70s when that was a common thing to do. But he would stand out if he didn't lose the habit.

I am interested in why he was posted on Jamaica's Most Wanted specifically.

I have lots to say on this case and I think lots of info but I have to think what can be posted.

Just saw poster of him on Thai site too! Wondering if maybe he looks a little better than might be assumed. These days it would not be out of place for him to have hair coloured and new teeth might change face for the better..hey he could even go very dark with tan and appear to be of different race.
I doubt somehow that he lost his taste for Country music.Wonder what his siblings, whoever may still be alive- look like now?
 
Just saw poster of him on Thai site too! Wondering if maybe he looks a little better than might be assumed. These days it would not be out of place for him to have hair coloured and new teeth might change face for the better..hey he could even go very dark with tan and appear to be of different race.
I doubt somehow that he lost his taste for Country music.Wonder what his siblings, whoever may still be alive- look like now?

At the time of the Ridgen film a brother and sister were alive and interviewed for the film. Both claim not to have seen him for years. Ridgen makes much of the fact that a second brother might have made trips to the U.S. the implication is to give Howe money there. It seems that Ridgen used hidden cameras to interview them as well as O.H. please contradict me if I seem wrong about this. I absolutely agree that 1. DMH has far more arrows in his quiver that are being allowed for and 2. yes could have changed his appearance in many directions. There was a mysterious post on another site that said "he is probably a millionaire" not impossible that it was a hint.

I have trouble understanding the evidence of the witness that appears in the Ridgen film who saw Sharin in the park. Yes he seems earnest . He sees her and Howe across the park standing a bit too far apart that part sounds good, plausible. The Globe says quoting the witness he then walked by them looking at them more closely- but on Ridgen Sharin and Howe went right toward and by the witness and up the street HOWEVER what is slightly hidden by his placement in the film that he lived just two doors away from Howe. He claims to have noticed that Howe smoked with his left hand I am skeptical. But it fits the portrait of Burns/Howe. Why didn't he report Howe going to the house two doors down with Sharin till days later?

No matter how hard I try I can still not align the photo of Howe that was on the bus shelters, the photo Dotr linked to, and the Toronto Sun Composite that they are of the same person.

A couple of facts I eeked out by freezing the frames on the documents that are briefly shown in the film is that both Howe's parents were immigrants mother from Austria maiden name Lewsien if I read it right and the father from Britain.
 
The world was deprived of a beloved, lovely and talented human being - this is the impression that I have from watching this doc.
Actually, this "armchair sleuth" is shaking a bit
with repulsion? at the sight and sound of some of the latter persons interviewed.
Not sure if my amateur observations are appropriate, but ......
who in the world could actually smile (on camera or not) when asked questions concerning a cold-hearted sicko f. member, or former drinking buddy (baddie)?
Who could affect casualness, big door smiles- but with hand firmly on frame, seated with clasping hands behind head and 'trying to think" when the last time you saw killer , uh 60's.
As for the talking head bob and smile,@ 24.52 and reality/truth dodge, eye blink@ 25.01 ..

imo, ramblings.
 
More imo's..
Concerning the dollar found in S's pocket.
No way did that clever girl go off with some man for money,I think he put it in her pocket as an insult "to injury"(as in tipping a stripper), or to make it look like that was her motivation for going with him ,(or whatever ruse he used)- insisted she take it. ..or perversely, as a cultural ritual of placing money with deceased, or as "new-born good luck" money put in bassinet.OR.. Howe was forced in early life to perform a deed for a dollar and was re enacting that memory.
Wondering if Howe happened to see, or hear of S's cameo in doc. about freezing techniques and approached her with inside knowledge about procedure or as someone who worked on the doc?
 
More imo's..
Concerning the dollar found in S's pocket.
No way did that clever girl go off with some man for money,I think he put it in her pocket as an insult "to injury"(as in tipping a stripper), or to make it look like that was her motivation for going with him ,(or whatever ruse he used)- insisted she take it. ..or perversely, as a cultural ritual of placing money with deceased, or as "new-born good luck" money put in bassinet.OR.. Howe was forced in early life to perform a deed for a dollar and was re enacting that memory.
Wondering if Howe happened to see, or hear of S's cameo in doc. about freezing techniques and approached her with inside knowledge about procedure or as someone who worked on the doc?

"The world was deprived of a beloved, lovely and talented human being - this is the impression that I have from watching this doc".

Absolutely the truth they did do a lovely job of putting focus on Sharin in that film. And superb observations and conjectures in both posts Dotr- it would be great to get renewed activity on this important thread.

One more tidbit from the Globe: the two officers who found Sharin were actually admonished by superiors for going in Howe's room without a warrant. That might explain something that always puzzled me the fact that OH's remarked on not seeing his housemate for 8 days and in the account of the officers that leads immediately to Howe's room and the discover - yet the date of discovery is given as 9 days and LK says 10 on the film. I doubt that would screw up the case though a drug case probably but a murdered child I seriously doubt it.

Also there is a Globe story about the time and place where one of the officers who found Sharin tragically committed suicide and it took away from my mind the possibility they were murdered - it was a very public time and place.
 
If there's a reasonable resemblance, you should pass this info on to the authorities. I saw a link for "tips" on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp) Cold Case website -- let me look it up and post it here. It would be very easy for them to determine if this individual is *not* Dennis Howe -- if he was verifiably elsewhere in the years Howe was incarcerated, that does it. Also, Howe's fingerprints are on file and that would be easy to confirm or disconfirm.

While there's good reason to think Howe went to Montana originally, and that he may have stayed there while his brother was alive, now that that connection is gone he could be anywhere in the U.S. Over time, killers who aren't caught become less cautious. He could easily have reverted to using his real given name, figuring no one would be looking for him down there, and a shaved head would remove the hairstyle/hair color clues. Chain smoking is harder to change. I've never tried it but I have heard fake ID is reasonably easy to get.

Let me look up that tip line link.

OK, here it is:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/coldcase/cases/morningstar-keenan.html

There's a "Submit a tip" link at the top. It probably goes first to someone at the CBC. I have found them to be very professional and courteous. You can summarize your info and let them know how to contact you (by email or phone) if needed. While it may be a dead end, it may not be. Don't forget that many of the successful resolutions on AMW and "Unsolved Mysteries" came through people just like you, people who thought, "I'm probably wrong, but..." and contacted authorities.

Not sure if this is helpful or not, but from this link where H's handwriting is shown, he does not seem to dot his i's and the c's have unusual curl at top, also noticed his sept. 26th birthday is forthcoming- maybe he will head out for some drinking and country music.
 
Hey dotr ... thanks for the link to this thread. Hadn't heard of the case in years, so will hang out and try to refresh my memory on these old and new details. Actually I know a guy who looks like him, but isn't any 5'10 (maybe 5'7 max, and heavyset .. mind you, i'm really bad on height/weight). Has a CIL wife and a young adult daughter, purports to be a preacher (the devil's horn stories, etc). They supposedly lived in Tennessee, then Surrey and Hope, BC, then Camano Island, WA. Last I heard they were in Dawson Creek BC, but i've seen info that says they were in Lower Mainland BC when they were supposed to be in Dawson.

Wife came to me for help one time and told me that everything he says is BS (about being preacher, etc). I let her talk but didn't ask questions ... next i heard she was back with him. I shoulda run her through the wringer, huh?

Daughter (approx. 22 y.o. now) once told me "we move around a lot because of my dad's work".

I just can't put the height to him, but ya never know. I'll see if i can dig up anything new on the dude.
 
Hey dotr ... thanks for the link to this thread. Hadn't heard of the case in years, so will hang out and try to refresh my memory on these old and new details. Actually I know a guy who looks like him, but isn't any 5'10 (maybe 5'7 max, and heavyset .. mind you, i'm really bad on height/weight). Has a CIL wife and a young adult daughter, purports to be a preacher (the devil's horn stories, etc). They supposedly lived in Tennessee, then Surrey and Hope, BC, then Camano Island, WA. Last I heard they were in Dawson Creek BC, but i've seen info that says they were in Lower Mainland BC when they were supposed to be in Dawson.

Wife came to me for help one time and told me that everything he says is BS (about being preacher, etc). I let her talk but didn't ask questions ... next i heard she was back with him. I shoulda run her through the wringer, huh?

Daughter (approx. 22 y.o. now) once told me "we move around a lot because of my dad's work".

I just can't put the height to him, but ya never know. I'll see if i can dig up anything new on the dude.

Nice to have you here SillyBilly!! This case seemed to be on the backburner when WSer Richard posted a link about H, as a possible contender in the Sharron Prior case Sharron Prior Murdered/1975 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
and well, the wheels started turning, with possible connections to lots of cases.
As for height, think I have seen him also listed at 5 9'' and of course age can make one appear to, (or actually) shrink.
 
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/wanted-recherches/sexu/howe-eng.htm
•White male
•Date of birth: 1940-09-26
•Height: 5'10" (175 cm)
•Weight: 170 lbs (75 kg)
•Hair : Brown
•Eyes: Brown
• Identifying Marks:
- scar under left side of chin
- short crooked fingers
- weathered complexion
- small gap between front teeth
- hairy chest and arms, square shoulders, left handed
- known to wear a moustache, walks quickly and smokes heavily
•Aliases:
- Michael Burns
- Wayne King
- Ralph Ferguson
- Jim Meyers

CONSIDERED VIOLENT AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. TAKE NO ACTION TO APPREHEND THIS PERSON YOURSELF
 

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