Part 3: The Calgary Serial Killer

By S.M.

Published 07/07/20

Last Updated: 07/08/20

Read Part 1: The Unsolved Murder of Jennifer Janz

Read Part 2: The Unsolved Murder of Rebecca Boutilier

Part 3: The Calgary Serial Killer

The murders of Joanne Shaver, Jennifer Joyes, Jennifer Janz, Shawna Vanderbasch, Keely Pincott, Tracy Maunder, Rebecca Boutilier


1990 - 1993

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

The rumours of a serial killer began in the winter of 1987 in Edmonton, Alberta, when the bodies of three women were discovered within a span of a few days. In Calgary, the serial killer theory began with the 1991 murder of 16-year-old Jennifer Janz – but hers was not the first.

1990-1991: Joanne Shaver, Jennifer Joyes and Shawna Vanderbasch:

In August 1991, 17-year-old Jennifer Joyes vanished from her group home.

In 1986, when she was 12 years old, Jennifer’s mother died in a car accident and Jennifer became a ward of the province of Alberta. She was well-liked at school; her teachers told the local papers that she had “tremendous potential.” Jennifer had recently moved to an independent living facility, but like Jennifer Janz, she was drawn to life on the street. On October 6, 1991, her body was found in a shallow grave near 77 St and 13 St SW, approximately 2 km south of where Jennifer Janz was found.

Her cause of death has never been released.

`Joanne Shaver (17) was murdered in January of 1990.`

`Shawna Vanderbasch, 20, was murdered in the early hours of June 20, 1991.`

`Jennifer Joyes was 17 years old when she disappeared in August of 1991.`

1992: Keely Pincott & Tracy Maunder

Keely Pincott was the next to disappear.

Keely was a 29-year-old mother and cocktail waitress who adored her kids. She was looking forward to changing careers. She loved makeup and modelling. In May of 1991, Keely spoke to her mother for the last time. Six months later, in November 1991, her mother reported her missing.

On March 10, 1992, Keely’s skeletal remains were found in a wooded area 2 km northeast of Cochrane, Alberta, off Highway 1A. She was identified through dental records and X-rays. Her cause of death was never published.

Keely Pincott, Jennifer Joyes and Jennifer Janz were all found buried in shallow graves west of downtown Calgary.

Tracy Maunder

Tracy Maunder had her first son at 14 years old. At 26 years old, she was diagnosed with cancer and had only been working on the streets for six months. Tracy was trying to raise enough money to buy a plane ticket for her son so he could go stay with his grandmother while Tracy was in treatment.

Tracy Maunder disappeared on October 28, 1992. Three days later, she was found beaten and stabbed to death in a field off Garden Rd. S.E. Like Rebecca Boutilier, her body was found in a grassy field east of the city.

1993 Investigation

In a span of 19 months, five women were murdered. Four of them had confirmed links to the sex trade. According to a May 1999 Calgary Sun article, after the murder of Rebecca Boutilier, six years passed without a murder of a sex worker in Calgary.

In 1993, the Calgary task force travelled to Edmonton for a “serial killer” psychological profile meeting with top FBI profilers. They examined possible links between 15 murders, including those of Jennifer Janz, Jennifer Joyes and Keely Pincott. It’s unclear if they examined the murders of Rebecca Boutilier and Tracy Maunder. The details of their findings were not released.

Throughout the 90s, across Western Canada, violent attacks against women from all walks of life continued. Not all victims were sex workers. The murder of Shawna Vanderbasch, in June of 1991 - before Jennifer Janz - is just one of those cases.

The Pattern

Between 1991 and 1995, at least 56 sex trade workers were killed while working on the streets in Canada. Eight of these women were from Alberta. By 2000, the pattern was impossible to ignore.

In 2003, after examining 82 seemingly similar unsolved cases in Western Canada, the RCMP developed Project KARE to investigate the serial murders and disappearances of “vulnerable persons,” focusing on the cases in the Edmonton/Calgary area. A grossly disproportionate number of these cases involved Indigenous women.

Far too many of these murders, including the cases in Calgary, remain unsolved.

The Suspect

One possible suspect investigated in the Calgary murders was a Lethbridge pimp named Barry Thomas Niedermier. In 1990, Niedermier was convicted of trafficking a 14-year-old girl in B.C., who he had met in Calgary. When investigators rescued the girl and finally interviewed her, she was so terrified that she requested the stuffed animal she’d kept for comfort during her captivity. Investigators returned to the hotel room where she’d been kept to get it for her. For this heinous crime, Niedermeier served just 14 months in jail. In 2000, he was charged with 14 offences against seven Vancouver sex trade workers, but no evidence was found to link him to the murders in Calgary.

Sex Workers and Serial Violence

According to the 2011 report by the Sisterwatch Project of the Vancouver Police Department and the Women’s Memorial March Committee on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women in Canada, the murder risk for sex trade workers is approximately 60 to 120 times that of the general female population. Some research suggests that sex workers are the most likely victims of a serial killer. The report also states the “most highly addicted and desperate sex trade workers are more likely than other sex trade workers to be the victims of a serial killer.”

Still No Justice

Jennifer Janz and Rebecca Boutilier never knew each other, but their brief lives collided on the streets of Calgary. Whatever lifestyle they and the other victims may have led is ultimately irrelevant. The value of a life never changes. The murder of someone who works as a sex worker is as heinous and heartbreaking as any. They were loved, and deserved to live.

Suspects have been questioned and various leads pursued, yet there has been no justice for these women. Thirty years have passed since the murders began. Investigators believe the same individual is responsible for the murder of Jennifer Janz and Rebecca Boutilier, as well as the other women in Calgary who were doing their best to survive.