Editorially speaking...
In place of an editorial this week, here are some of the many comments I’ve received over the years in response to my writings about Molly Justice, the subject of today’s Chronicle. I’ve attached my answers where I think they bear repeating.
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Sept. 1, 2013: Thanks, Tom, I bet there is lot of people above saying, bless [you] to you both [me and Granny Green]—Ed.]
Thanks, Ken. This is a story that’s very dear to my heart, as it was to Granny Green. It would be adding insult to injury that Molly be allowed to be forgotten. —TW
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Jan. 19, 2014: Hi Tom. Do you happen to know where she is buried? I’d like to pay my respects to her and her memory. I was born 27 years later, but this crime saddens me. I remember my mom telling me as a youth to be careful over that way as a girl had something happen to her a very long time ago…
Thanks for keeping her memory alive. —Serena
Hi, Serena: Molly Justice is interred in the Royal Oak Burial Park, Saanich. You can also walk the CNR track (now the Lochside Regional Trail) to Darwin Road as I described in my post. I want Molly Justice to be remembered. Bless you.
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April 24, 2014: Thank you for what you did for Molly Justice. It is good to see that somebody still remembers. —Bruce Paterson, Devon AB
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July 31, 2014: Thanks for the reminder and your thoughts and kind words for Molly.
I was almost six-years-old when this happened and remember my father talking about it for years afterwards. Dad always thought it was shoddy police work and once joked that the same investigators found a man shot in the head twice and ruled it suicide.
Your explanation of the alleged cover-up makes things a lot clearer. Thanks for posting. —Bill Irvine
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June 10, 2015: Thank you so much for this story…. Molly Justice has always been a part of our family stories from the time I can remember which would be the late 50’s. My mother Lorraine is very familiar with the case and it has been something that has been ingrained in her mind since she was a young girl. All the players’ names in this murder are personally intertwined through our family and to this day it is still haunts our thoughts. Thanks again and may you RIP Molly. —Brian Holt
TW - As my post makes plain (I hope) Molly is special to me, too... Which is why I’ve done my best over the years to keep her story alive. –TWP
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July 12, 2016: I spoke to a 85 year old women who lives down beside the Saanich Police, and she claims she went to school and knew that 4 class mates killed her bull[y]ing. Two boys and two girls. I believe her, she seemed very aware of what happened yet was too young then and scared to get involved. I also believe this women volunteers at the police station and they at the time arrested the wrong man who killed himself in jail. The actual real killers may still be alive and I would find a year book and start researching old class mates and who is alive and who is not. —Joe
I’ve not heard anything like this before, it having always been accepted that Molly was accosted by a single assailant with a sexual motive. Certainly bullying has been in the news for several years now and there’s no reason to think that it’s a new phenomenon. Thanks. –TW
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May 21, 2017: This story has also been in my family too. My Mom, (still with us @ 95 now), was very traumatised by it, as she wasn’t much older than Molly herself. I grew up hearing all about it, and even collected news stories as they came along. Such a horrible thing. Is her Brother still alive? —Lisa Fry
Hi, Lisa. I’m sure Molly’s brutal death traumatized many others of her age. A teenager is immortal, or so they think. But something like this would have been a harsh reminder that no one is really safe or sure. It certainly affected my mother for the rest of her life… (She’d have had her 97th birthday this Monday.)
Molly’s brother Robin died years ago; not sure if his wife Marge is still alive. They had two daughters as I recall who’ll be getting on now. I revisited the neighbourhood four years ago, for the first time since I moved away in ’58. Just hadn’t wanted to go back till then. Virtually every house that was there when I was a kid is still there–except for my own, 866 Brett Ave.
What was CNR Railway track is now the [Lochside Regional] Trail and heavily used by hikers and cyclists–not one of whom, I’ll bet, have a clue when they pass where Molly was murdered or have even heard of her. Hence my efforts to memorialize her in print...
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Jan. 1, 2018: I stop at the [CNR] grade at the end of every workday and imagine she is peering at me with a smile from beyond some nearby trees. I ride the Galloping Goose at night in that area and like to think she is watching over me… —Serena
Hi, Serena: ...Bless you for thinking of her. –TW
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I wish more people were aware of this case today as the Goose is notorious for women being sexually assaulted today. More than 75 years later and it is still a scary place for women to walk alone once the sun starts setting. —Ashley
Sadly, the [Lochside Trail] has had several cases of sexual assault on women in recent years. And it’s nowhere near as dark and lonely as when Molly tried to walk home… We live in a less than perfect world. –TW
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Aug. 17, 2019: I have only learned of Molly Justice, and her death, today, after hearing about it through Eve [Lazarus], and then reading your blog which helped flesh out the tale more. With non fiction crime articles like these being published, I feel it honours the victims of cold cases by ensuring the victim’s name is always remembered. Once someone is implicated as the killer, fine. But no need to throw out that name while remembering Molly’s short life. We only need to honour Molly’s name. Great writing.
Thank you. It is my purpose to keep Molly’s memory alive. For her to be brutally murdered then totally forgotten would be the ultimate cruelty in my mind.
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Sept. 13, 2020: Mr. Paterson, hello. Would there be a photo of William Mitchell? I’m Algonquin from the Kitigan Zibi reserve near Maniwaki, QC. One of our late Veterans who served in the Great War was William Mitchell, born January 12, 1895. Died November 8, 1961, buried at God’s Acre Cemetery, Esquimalt, BC.
William joined the RCMP after returning from the war. William was a member of the Van Doos and was wounded twice in combat, at the Somme and Vimy Ridge. He was a lumberjack before enlisting in 1915. It almost feels like it’s the same William Mitchell. Looking forward to hearing from you. Cheers. —Stephen McGregor
Hi, Stephen: I’ve never seen a photo of Mr. Mitchell. (Or of Hulbert, for that matter.) And, other than that he was charged with Molly Justice’s murder, it never went to trial so the Victoria newspapers don’t tell us anything about him, I’m sorry to say.
Your William Mitchell is in good company–in God’s Acre, Esquimalt, one of the most beautiful cemeteries on Vancouver Island.
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Jan. 22, 2021: Great article and great reminder how justice can easily be mishandled, manipulated and mis-managed by authorities who want to disguise the truth. We are experiencing the same scenario in Saanich for the last 13 years with the unsolved murder of Saanich realtor Lindsay Buziak. Who are Saanich police covering up for this time?
Mr. Buziak, I have followed your daughter’s case from the beginning and I am so sorry for all the pain you have been through. It has always struck me that violent death has so many more victims than the deceased–those who loved them, family and friends, who suffer forever after. I can’t even begin to imagine your torment and that of other victims’ families.
Which is why I’ve tried to keep Molly Justice’s memory alive.
Years ago, the Times Colonist was considering doing a follow-up story but because they’d already covered it several times they hesitated to do so again. The reporter asked me what I thought. My answer was (and is), “I’d rather that Molly Justice be remembered as a murder victim than she be a murder victim and forgotten.” I stand by that today and hope that in some small way my writing about her serves a purpose by keeping her memory alive.
I’ve followed your campaign to keep Lindsay’s case open. I’ve no idea why Saanich Police won’t confide in you or be more open with the public. Surely it can’t be anything like Molly’s case of the suspect having ‘connections’? Sometimes, it strikes me, some murder victims are ‘murdered’ over and over again by the inexcusable actions of the authorities and individuals.
I join you in hoping to see justice in your daughter’s death. As has been said before, Justice delayed is justice denied. All the best to you. –TW
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May 3, 2022: Thanks, TW. Marjorie and Robin [Justice] were my grandparents. Robin passed away in 1976, and Marjorie in 2007. They had 2 sons and 4 daughters. All the siblings live in the Victoria area, with the exception of one – she lives in New Zealand. Molly certainly isn’t forgotten within the family, especially when the snow begins to fall in Victoria. Thank you for sharing. —John C.
Hi, John: Thanks so much for commenting. Molly has always been special to me. Eve Lazarus, a Vancouver crime writer of several books, recently asked me for a copy of the photo of Molly and my Aunt Ada on the front steps of 870 Brett Ave., which I was pleased to provide her with. She, too, has remembered Molly in her writings. This coming January, as you know, will be the 80th anniversary of Molly’s murder. All the best–TW
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The emails and Facebook comments continue to come in but that’s enough for today.