Canada's Missing Child: Michael Dunahee

Michael Dunahee

Michael Dunahee was almost 5 years old when he disappeared from a playground in Victoria, BC March 24, 1991. His mother Crystal was participating in football practice and Michael and his father Bruce were watching with the other spectators.

The Dunahee family arrived at Blanchard Park Elementary School around 12:30 in the afternoon, and soon after arriving young Michael asked his mother if he could play in the school's playground. Crystal said that Michael could play in the playground while she was at practice because he would be easily visible to her and Bruce.

Crystal told him "OK, you can go to the park, wait there and don’t leave with anybody, just wait there and daddy will come and get you.". When they looked at the playground moments later, Michael was gone. Crystal later stated that "something wasn't quite right " and continues to carry the guilt for not trusting her instincts that day.

Blanchard Park Elementary School. The playground is in the lower left.

His disappearance sparked the largest investigation in Canada at the time and still remains one of the largest in Canada's history, and the largest investigation for the Victoria Police Department. All of the Victoria Police Department detectives were called in for this investigation. There were 15 detectives working this case, and at one point they received over 50 tips a day with reported sightings in New York, New Jersey, and Vancouver Island.

Police were quick to decide that due to how fast Michael went missing that this was most likely an abduction by a stranger. Michael didn't just walk off by himself. It took only an instant for him to disappear. Over the years there were over 11,000 tips and a $100,000 reward was raised, but little Michael Dunahee was never seen again.

Clues were slim in this case, other than the report that a man in his late 40s to early 50s was seen in the area and also a brown van. There really wasn't that much to go on. Police have interviewed known sex offenders and children at the playground.  They even staged a recreation of Michael's disappearance, hoping to get some more leads, but they didn't get any more information on what had happened to him.

There have been a few possible sightings of Michael over the years that the police have tracked down, including a young man in 2006 who looked like Michael, but it was determined through DNA testing that this young man was not Michael Dunahee.

In 2009 the police had found a missing person poster of Michael in a man's house in Milwaukee. It turns out that this man had confessed to killing a child in 1959 and claimed to know of another child killing. Unfortunately, he was found dead in his home of natural causes before he could be questioned.

Michael's mother Crystal has since become an activist for missing children and is also the president for Child Find BC. She also supported the RCMP in implementing an Amber Alert system in BC, that now has spread to most of Canada. Crystal thinks that if this same crime happened with today's technology and the Amber Alert system, Michael probably would have been found. Remember they did not have a database or anything to sort tips, they were all written and sorted by hand.

Crystal Dunahee still keeps a room for Michael in her home for when Michael finally comes home, even after all this time. Victoria police Insp. Keith Lindner, who was assigned to the case in 2011 said: “We hope Michael is an adult, you hope that as a parent, you hope that as a police officer, you hope that as a human being.”. “We still hold out hope that one day he’ll find his way home,” said his mother Crystal.

Michael's case took its toll on the investigators. Former deputy police chief John Ducker says he remembers 30 days of non-stop work. A roller coaster of emotions, hoping that the next tip would be the one to crack the case. The excitement of the investigators that was quickly dashed as lead after lead proved fruitless.

Michael's sister Caitlin was just 6 months old when Michael was abducted and recalls realizing that she had a brother but didn't understand why he wasn't there. She often wonders about the brother seen snuggling her in family photos that she would never know. When Caitlin went to school, people would often ask about her brother. Questions that she could not answer.

Michaels's sister Caitlin is now an adult and is an organizer of the "Keep the Hope Alive" 5k run that raises money for Child Find BC.

Michaels abduction forever changed the quiet community of Victoria, with many residents describing it as a loss of innocence for the community. "Things like this just don't happen here". Unfortunately for Michael, it looks like someone capitalized on this.

It has been 27 years since Michael disappeared, over a quarter of a century. Michael should have a job, maybe married, maybe have kids. All of the things that his family has been robbed of.

I remember seeing Michael's posters when I was little. His face was everywhere. There were posters and pictures on milk cartons. He was on the TV news and even today you can see his face on posters for Missing and Exploited Children in supermarkets. If you live in Western Canada I would be surprised if you haven't seen his picture.

It was hard to research this case and watch Michael's parents. As I watched interview after interview and read more articles, Michael's parents were aging before my eyes. And they still didn't know what happened to their little boy. For 27 years Michaels parents have wondered what happened to him. Is he alive? Is he dead? Did he suffer? Can you even imagine what that would feel like to live that reality every day? Someone somewhere has the information needed to close this case.

Michael Dunahee's case remains active to this day, and Victoria City Police investigate tips still come in, but Police have been hindered in this cold case because there has never been a clearly identified suspect.

If you have any information on the disappearance of Michael Dunahee please call the RCMP or you can provide an anonymous TIP by calling the Crime Stoppers 24/7 tip line at 1-800-222-8477.

Thank you for reading,
See you soon.