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Winnipeg Police Say Cold Case of Slain Teen Could Have Be Solved Sooner

Posted on: Thursday, 17 May 2007, 18:00 CDT

By TAMARA KING

WINNIPEG (CP) - Police say they could have cracked the decades-old cold case of a slain Manitoba teenager more than five years ago if the national RCMP lab had been better equipped.

The evidence that was re-examined by a private lab in Thunder Bay, Ont., and led to the arrest of convicted sex offender Mark Edward Grant had been sent to the RCMP's facility in 2001, said Winnipeg city police Insp. Tom Legge.

"The exhibits were returned to us. There was either an inability or an incapability to proceed further in examining the exhibits," he said Thursday, a day after Grant was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Candace Derksen.

The 13-year-old disappeared while walking home from school Nov. 30, 1984. Her bound and frozen body was found weeks later in an industrial storage shed less than 500 metres from the family's home.

An intense investigation both before and after her body was found came up empty. It wasn't until a new cold case unit delved into her death again that forensics and DNA evidence were re-examined.

Legge said there are several North American labs that do work the national RCMP lab isn't capable of - but going the private route takes more time.

"That's the reason we go to other labs. We've done so in the past, and we will continue to do so, particularly on important cases," he said.

"Obviously it delays if there's an incapability at the national lab to get the results we need."

Officials with the RCMP were not available for comment.

Legge wouldn't specify any of the lab's perceived shortcomings, but admitted the police department plans to send other investigations to private facilties too.

"There are cases in the recent past, and there are cases that we are currently looking at, that we will have to send our results to a private lab."

Calling DNA a fantastic and necessary tool in modern policing, Legge suggested the RCMP lab needs to be up-to-date.

"I would hopefully think the public and the politicians ... would ensure that our national lab in Canada has full capabilities," he said "Whether that's a question of funding, we'd hope they'd have the proper tools at their disposal to ensure they can help the police services out across Canada."

Police wouldn't specify what evidence was sent to the Thunder Bay lab, but at the time the victim's body was found, officers recovered chewing gum, food wrappers and hair near the shed.

Grant has a history of violent sexual offences. He spent nearly 13 years in prison from 1991 to 2004, save for a nine-day stretch of parole during which he raped a 22-year-old woman.

Source: Canadian Press

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