Crime Immemorial

In the early 1990s, the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada was gripped by fear as a series of brutal murders targeted vulnerable women working in the sex trade. Between January 1990 and February 1993, at least seven—and possibly eight—women were killed under eerily similar circumstances, leading police and the public to suspect a single serial predator stalking the streets. Dubbed the “Calgary Prostitute Murders” or the work of the “Calgary Serial Killer,” these cases remain unsolved more than three decades later, haunting the city’s collective memory and highlighting the dangers faced by marginalized communities.

The killings unfolded over a three-year span, with victims often found in shallow graves or discarded in remote areas, their bodies showing signs of violence ranging from strangulation to stabbing. While not all details have been publicly released, the pattern—young women from the sex trade, lured away and dumped outside the city—fueled speculation of a methodical killer. Calgary Police Service (CPS) investigators reportedly believed the crimes were linked to one individual, though differing methods and the high-risk nature of the victims’ lives led some to question the serial killer theory. No arrests have ever been made, and the cases have faded into cold file status, occasionally resurfacing in true crime discussions and podcasts.

The murders began quietly in the winter of 1990 and escalated through the summer of 1991, a particularly deadly period that saw four women killed in quick succession.

The first victim, seventeen-year-old Joanne Shaver, was last seen on January 8th, 1990, in downtown Calgary. Joanne, who worked in the sex trade, was found sexually assaulted and strangled shortly after her disappearance. Her death marked the grim start to what would become a pattern of violence against young sex workers.

Twenty-nine-year-old Keely Louise Pincott was a mother of two who worked as a cocktail waitress and occasionally in the sex trade. Keely was last seen alive in May 1991. She was reported missing in November that year, and her skeletal remains were discovered on March 11th, 1992, buried in a shallow grave in a wooded area northeast of Cochrane, Alberta, off Highway 1A. Identification came via dental records and X-rays; the cause of death was never publicly disclosed.

Twenty-year-old Shawna Vanderbasch was described as a model and hairdresser who supplemented her income through sex work. She vanished in the early hours of June 20th, 1991. Her nude body was found later that day beside a rural road outside Calgary. Details of her cause of death remain limited, but the rapid discovery suggested she was killed soon after being taken.

Sixteen-year-old Jennifer Janz, one of the youngest victims, was last confirmed sighted on July 12th, 1991. The teenager, involved in the sex trade, was found on August 13th in a shallow grave south of the city. She had died from blunt force trauma, her body hidden in a manner eerily similar to Pincott’s.

Seventeen-year-old Jennifer Joyes disappeared on August 30th, 1991, just weeks after Jennifer Janz. Her body was recovered on October 6th from another shallow grave near 77th Street and 13th Street SW, a little over a mile from Jennifer Janz’s resting place. Like several others, the cause of death was not released to the public.

Thirty-seven-year-old Gene Frank McMaster was last seen sometime in 1992 (exact date unknown). He worked in Calgary’s sex trade and was known to dress as a woman. His body was discovered on August 8th, 1992. The cause of death has not been disclosed, but his inclusion in the series stems from the shared victim profile and timeline.

Twenty-six-year-old Tracy Maunder had been working the streets for about six months when she vanished on October 28th, 1992. Her beaten and stabbed body was found three days later in a field off Garden Road S.E. The violent nature of her death—blunt force combined with knife wounds—echoed the brutality seen in earlier cases.

Twenty-year-old Rebecca Boutilier was the final known victim in the series. She was last seen on February 12th, 1993, getting into a blue sedan downtown. Her stabbed body was found on March 11th in a rural area outside Calgary. After her murder, no similar killings of sex workers occurred in the city for six years, until 1999.

These women, many barely out of their teens, shared vulnerabilities: involvement in street-level sex work, limited resources, and exposure to predatory clients. Three victims—Pincott, Janz, and Joyes—were notably buried in shallow graves, a signature that intensified serial killer suspicions.

Calgary Police launched task forces as the body count rose, but the investigations stalled amid the era’s forensic limitations—no DNA databases, no widespread surveillance. Tips poured in, including sightings of suspicious vehicles like the blue sedan linked to Boutilier. Detectives noted common threads: victims last seen in high-traffic pickup areas downtown, bodies dumped in southeastern or rural spots.

One enduring theory points to a single perpetrator, possibly a local with knowledge of remote disposal sites. CPS reportedly zeroed in on a suspect—a German doctor named Stefan Schmitz, who was in nearby Edmonton during the killings and later convicted of murders in Germany. However, no concrete links were established, and Schmitz died in prison in 2012. Another name floated in online discussions is Luc Gregoire, a drifter with a violent history, but evidence remains anecdotal.

Skeptics argue the deaths could be unrelated, attributing them to the inherent dangers of sex work in a boomtown like 1990s Calgary, fueled by oil money and transient populations. Yet, the abrupt halt after 1993—coinciding perhaps with the killer’s death, incarceration, or relocation—bolsters the serial theory.

Today, these cases are archived as cold, but advocacy groups like Calgary Crime Stoppers continue to seek tips, offering rewards for information leading to arrests. Despite their efforts, all eight murders are still unsolved as of October 2025.