Unsolved murder investigation in 1963 in Saskatoon

Article content

Article content

Article content

Every Thursday, we feature an image from the StarPhoenix archives, curated by the City of Saskatoon Archives. Today, we see Const. G.H. Chartier sifting through the ground where an eight-year-old boy and his cousins found four bones at the demolished Bedford Road Annex at Avenue F and 21st Street, from April 3, 1963. The skeleton police uncovered was eventually identified as 53-year-old Jessie Randall, who had been missing since 1953. (City of Saskatoon Archives StarPhoenix Collection S-SP-B5576-2)

Article content

From the StarPhoenix archives, April 3, 1963:

Detectives today were sifting the earth of a shallow grave here in search of clues that could help them identify an adult skeleton discovered by three boys Sunday night. Police said it was too early to tell if murder was involved.

The boys found the skeleton beside the north wall of what was formerly the Bedford Road Collegiate annex, Ave. F and 21st St., originally a Jewish school.

Police found earrings in the grave along with a ring, bits of bone, hair and teeth.

Dr. Sydney Fogel, coroner, today identified the skeleton as that of a female, but at noon had not determined the age.

Police also said this morning that in 1953 a Mrs. Jessie Randall (and a) Grace Johnson had disappeared.

Neither woman has been heard of since. …

The (three boys, Lyle Schmidt, eight, and cousins Dale, eight, and Terry, six,) found four long bones and immediately thought they had stumbled upon the grave of a dinosaur.

Article content

Article content

Police were called in Tuesday evening and unearthed the rest of the skeleton. It was buried under 18 to 24 inches of earth.

Police could not determine how long the remains had been there. The annex, now demolished, was built in 1920. ...

The boys discovered the grave while playing in the dirt beside the demolished building. One of them was digging with a stick and turned up the bones. Lyle put the bones in a sack and took them home to show his mother, Mrs. Velma Schmidt.

Thinking the bones might be from human legs, Mrs. Schmidt notified Kenneth Cronk of the Saskatoon Archeological Society.

Mr. Cronk went to the scene and found the rest of the skeleton. He notified the police.

From the StarPhoenix archives, June 7, 1963:

A coroner’s jury ruled Thursday night a skeleton found in the city two months ago was that of Mrs. Jessie Randall and, in effect, said she was murdered.

Article content

The jury deliberated 40 minutes before bringing in a verdict that Mrs. Randall met her death as a result of injuries caused by a severe beating by a person or persons unknown.

The ruling was handed in at the conclusion of the second evening of a two-night hearing.

Leonard Stevens, 70 … was extensively questioned Thursday night by T.D.R. Caldwell, agent for the attorney-general, with respect to articles earlier introduced in evidence as belonging to Mrs. Randall.

Stevens’ counsel asked for the protection of the Canada and Saskatchewan Evidence Acts on his client’s behalf.

Eyeglasses, a tube of lipstick and a rhinestone brooch were found by police in a suitcase to which he admitted possession.

He said he could not definitely remember how these items came into his possession, but said that he had bought a cardboard box, which he later found to contain “broken glasses and stuff,” at an auction on Ave. A. The box, he said had cost him $3. …

Article content

The jury was told by Stevens and two other witnesses that Stevens had for a time been employed as a janitor at the Hebrew school beside which the body was found. He had worked there from 1951 to August, 1953.

In the summer of 1953, Stevens said he had hired Mrs. Randall to help him with the dishwashing when there were teas or banquets in the school. He told the jury, however, that he had not known her as Jessie Randall, but that she had told him to call her Irene or Betty. He identified a photograph of Mrs. Randall as the woman he knew as Irene.

The last time she worked for him was Aug. 7, 1953 when she was helping him get ready for a banquet. When she left on that date, she went out with a man, Stevens said.

He was asked how she happened to turn up buried beside the school, and said, “I don’t know anything about that at all.”

Throwback Thursday is a weekly StarPhoenix series where we revisit photos from Saskatoon’s past.

Article content

Check out our entire collection here.

What moment in Saskatoon’s history from April would you like us to revisit next? Send suggestions to [email protected].

The Saskatoon Star Phoenix has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.

With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark thestarphoenix.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.

Article content