B.C. man convicted in 1978 murder of 12-year-old girl loses appeal

Warning: This story contains disturbing details. 

A B.C. man convicted of the 1978 murder of Monica Jack, a 12-year-old Indigenous girl, has lost his appeal.

Garry Taylor Handlen was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2019 – more than 40 years after Jack, who was a member of the Lower Nicola Indian Band, was last seen riding her bike toward her home on the Quilchena reserve near Merritt.

The B.C. Court of Appeal dismissed his attempt to have his conviction overturned on Friday and details of the decision were posted online. Handlen argued that some of the evidence presented during his trial, including his confession, should have been ruled inadmissible.

THE CASE

Jack was reported missing by her mother on May 7, 1978, and news of the girl's disappearance was broadcast by the local radio station. That day, Jack's brother found her bicycle on an embankment on Highway 5. The court heard that witnesses who lived nearby provided statements where they described seeing a truck and trailer in the area and hearing someone "cry out."

At trial, the jury heard that Handlen was first identified and interviewed one month after Jack was reported missing. A conviction for rape in 1975, his ownership of a truck and trailer, and his questioning in the murder of another young girl were all factors that made him a suspect.

"Despite some contact between the police and Mr. Handlen in the 1980s and 1990s, investigation into Monica’s murder appears to have largely gone cold," the appeal court wrote.

It would be another 17 years before Jack's remains were found by forestry crews doing a controlled burn "in a remote area off a logging road," the appeal court decision says.

"The investigation did not progress for many years."

THE CONFESSION

The investigation into Handlen was revived in November of 2013 when an undercover operation was launched. Handlen was 67 at the time. These so-called a "Mr. Big" stings are designed to produce confessions.

"For many years, Canadian police forces have conducted undercover operations designed to gain the trust of suspects and entice them into a fictitious criminal organization," the appeal court decision explained.

"Once so entrenched, the undercover police officers elicit a confession to the crime they are investigating."

Handlen's confession came in November of 2014 after undercover officers told him DNA evidence had been found to link him to Jack's killing.

"Among other things, he said that he remembered 'picking up a broad. Having sex and then I just lost it for some reason. I think I strangled her. I am not sure.' He said he knew that Monica was “Native” and agreed that she could have been 11 or 12 years old. He said he “left her someplace,'" a summary of the confession reads.

"He was positive he strangled her, burned her clothing, and threw her body behind a log."

Handlen also confessed to killing 11-year-old Kathryn Hebert during the course of this Mr. Big operation. Hebert went missing in 1975 near Abbotsford. While Handlen was charged in that murder alongside Jack's, the confession was not admitted into evidence and the prosecution did not proceed.

The appeal court noted that Handlen's argument on appeal about the confession was the same one that he made during his pre-trial motion to have it tossed, namely that he "he made it all up" based on media reports and details the police revealed when they questioned him.

THE DECISION

The court's decision to dismiss the appeal spans 112 pages, detailing the legal arguments Handlen's defence made about why four witness statements and the confession should not have been allowed into evidence by the trial judge. Ultimately, the appeal court found there was no legal error made.

When handing down a life sentence in 2019, Justice Austin Cullen addressed Handlen directly.

"This particular crime is among the worst of its kind, and you are among the worst of offenders," he said. "You ripped away the life of a young girl. You deprived her family of a daughter. Her disappearance and death brought only misery to those who knew her best and loved her most."

'SEEMINGLY ENDLESS DISAPPEARANCES'

The Union of BC Indian Chiefs posted a brief statement on social media saying the organization stands with the family and all families impacted by the ongoing "genocide" of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

When the appeal was heard in January of this year, UBCIC released a statement from Jack's mother Madeline Lanaro, who said she is haunted by similarities between her daughter's case and so many others.

"I see seemingly endless disappearances of females on the news who were innocently doing their own thing, but they don’t come home. What has happened to them? Some girls are found, and some are not, much like Monica who has been gone from us for over 40 years," she wrote.

"Today, we have too many of our young daughters gone because of someone like Handlen … For those of you whose loved ones are still missing or murdered, it’s true that there is no remedy for the loss, but I encourage you to dig deep in yourself and your community and draw on your courage to fight for the justice they deserve. It’s the least I could do for my Monica.”

The RCMP estimates that between 70,000 and 80,000 people are reported missing each year in Canada, and says that most are found within seven days. 

 

The most recent data available is from 2020. At that time, B.C. had the highest number of missing adult reports per capita at 239 per 100,000 people. 

 

Indigenous women and girls are disproportionately represented in these reports.

 

According to the Assembly of First Nations, 11 per cent of female missing people are Indigenous, despite Indigenous people only making up about 4.3 per cent of the population of Canada. The current data is believed to underrepresent the scale of the issue, the AFN says. 

 

The RCMP said Indigenous women represent 10 per cent of cases in which a woman has been missing for at least 30 days, a statistic based on a 2015 report. Of those women, many were identified as missing "due to 'unknown' circumstances or foul play was suspected." 

 

With files from CTV News' Kendra Mangione