December 31, 2002. Vancouver, British Columbia. The Vancouver Police Department receive an anonymous letter containing a remorseful confession from someone who claims to have been responsible for the death of a sex worker. While the victim’s name is not mentioned, investigators eventually suspect that she might be 24-year old Danielle LaRue, a sex worker from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood who seemed to vanish without explanation one month before the letter arrived. Even though the police ask the letter writer to come forward, this individual is not heard from again and no trace of Danielle is ever found. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we share the story of Danielle LaRue, an Indigenous woman who lived an incredibly tragic life before she went missing. We will also explore the stories of Ashley Machiskinic and Verna Simard, two other Indigenous women from the Downtown Eastside, who both died suspicious deaths after falling from a window at the Regent Hotel.

If you have information about any of the featured cases, please contact the Vancouver Police Department’s Cold Case Unit at (604) 717-2500.

Additional Reading:

https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/mmiw/profiles/danielle-larue

https://www.vpdcoldcases.ca/danielle-larue/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/496693347/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/497036908/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/497458017/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/497458058/

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2018/12/09/danielle-larue-vancouver-police-appeal-killer-16-year-old-cold-case/

https://globalnews.ca/news/1535797/bc-crimestoppers-the-case-of-murder-victim-danielle-larue/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/ashley-machiskinic-vancouver-death-1.3653676

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/angela-sterritt-ashley-machiskinic-mmiw-1.3896560