Forty-one-year-old Lisa Ann Zielke, sometimes referred to in records as Lisa Ann Zielke Elick, lived in Surrey, British Columbia, and was a fixture in the city’s sex trade, working primarily in the streets and known to local police through her criminal history. Though details of her past convictions are sparse, investigators noted she was scheduled to appear in Surrey Provincial Court around the time of her death. Lisa had two children, but they were not in her care.
Lisa’s lifestyle placed her in constant peril. She was described by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) as drug-dependent, navigating the dangers of addiction and survival sex work in an area plagued by violence. In 2013 alone, Surrey saw a record twenty-four homicides, with at least three involving sex workers.
The sequence of events leading to Lisa’s death remains shrouded in uncertainty, pieced together from witness accounts and police timelines. On the evening of October 30th, 2013, around six fifteen p.m., she was last seen alive in the 9100 block of King George Boulevard, a busy stretch in central Surrey.
Surveillance footage and tips captured her climbing into an unidentified vehicle, a routine encounter for someone in her line of work that would prove fatal.
Seventeen hours later, early on October 31st, a passerby stumbled upon her body in the remote parking lot of Hi-Knoll Park, located in the 19500 block of Colebrook Road, a little more than twelve miles southwest of her last known location. The park, a wooded green space popular for hiking, offered little foot traffic at that hour, making it an ideal site for disposal.
The crime scene was as puzzling as it was macabre. Lisa’s body was positioned near several pieces of furniture that had not been present in the park the previous day. The items—a worn brown sofa-bed and a matching grey table with two chairs—appeared hastily dumped, their presence suggesting the perpetrator had lingered or returned to the spot. An autopsy confirmed foul play, though the exact cause of death was not publicly disclosed at the time, pending toxicology results.
IHIT, led by Sgt. Jennifer Pound, quickly pivoted to public appeals. On November 4th, 2013, they released photographs of the furniture, hoping to identify anyone who had transported or discarded it. “We believe the timeline of the furniture being dumped is very close to when Ms. Zielke was in the park,” Pound stated, urging witnesses who might have seen a vehicle hauling the items to come forward.
Investigators also canvassed other sex workers in the area, and in a broader safety measure, police issued warnings to Surrey’s sex trade community, advising them to exercise extreme caution amid a spate of similar attacks. Lisa’s death, in fact, was the third involving a sex worker that year.
Despite exhaustive efforts—tip lines, media blitzes, and community outreach—the case stalled. No arrests were made, and leads dried up as the months turned to years.
As of 2025, the murder of Lisa Ann Zielke remains unsolved.
Crime Immemorial 