On the night of December 17th, 1988, Christine Jack disappeared. It was a dark and stormy night. The temperature was hovering at -17 degrees Celsius with a wind gusting to 43 kilometers per hour. Visibility would have been limited with blowing snow.
As with the
majority of missing person cases, the spouse is the first person to eliminate
as a suspect on the list. In this case her spouse Brian. He was eventually charged
with her murder even though as of today her body has not been discovered.
Leading the prosecution team was John D. Montgomery who went on to write Trials and Errors - The People vs Brian
Gordon Jack. In his opinion it was all a huge miscarriage of justice. A
conviction was won but after three trials, numerous appeals and two appearances
before the Supreme Court of Canada, that court entered a judicial stay of
proceedings. Brian Jack is a free man even though he was convicted of
manslaughter.
This story is not about Brian Jack, even though his
testimony changed several times and the majority of people who know the facts
believe him guilty of murdering his wife and disposing of her body on that
cold, windy, wintery night in Manitoba.
December 17th happens to be my wedding
anniversary and the night in question would have been my 5th. For
that reason I remember the night. Just before bed I looked out the window,
shivered and said aloud to my husband “I wouldn’t want to be out on a night
like tonight.” Days later when the news broke of Christine’s disappearance I
vividly remembered my comment.
In 1991 we bought a cabin on Pickerel Lake in Ontario, which
is a two hour drive from our house. At
that time I wrote this in a notebook
“Right from our first trip to our
cabin I knew I had a connection with the area around Spruce Siding…a large
island of dense trees locked between two highways.”
Throughout that summer and every summer subsequently I would
get a ‘sense of panic, dread, a feeling of another presence trying to tell me
something’ when approaching Spruce Siding.
Let me make it clear – I am not superstitious. I do not
believe in ghosts but I do believe in spirit, energy or life force.
“Crazy, creepy and strange – I
knew it was Christine Jack.”
I eventually wrote a novel loosely based on the events of
that night. It was a long book and had a few re-writes. I let friends read it
then put it away but that sense of ‘something’ never left me.
We eventually sold the cabin and I didn’t think about
Christine for a few years.
2020 was a strange year for the entire world.
I have a brother who lives in Kenora, Ontario and going to
visit him means passing Spruce Siding. In my mind I give a nod to Christine
whenever we pass – it doesn’t freak me out anymore so I am not sure what has
changed but I get less of a sense of Christine now.
March of 2021 over dinner one night the subject of Christine
came up. My husband and I talked about how Brian Jack ‘got off’ charges for
murder and I once again reiterated my feelings for her and mentioned that it
had crossed my mind to go and look for her….or anything that remained of her or
belonged to her.
Brian Jack stated that she took her car keys, purse and coat
when she left the house the night she disappared. That night her car, with
Brian driving, was seen in Ste. Anne, which is a small town out on the highway
not far from Winnipeg. The car wasn’t working properly and witnesses stated
Brian had stopped at a mechanics for help. Brian said he was on his way to
Kenora and it was stated that he was acting strange. After having a hose
replaced he said he would take the car for a test drive and then come back and
pay, but the mechanic and a friend followed Brian who eventually pulled over
then paid up. Brian continued down the highway toward Kenora.
He didn’t go to Kenora as the timeline of that night proved.
He would have had to make a turn to go
back to the city. With the body of Christine in the car – as suspected – so where
did he leave her? The Spruce siding area is not far from Ste. Anne. He couldn’t
just pull over and dump her in the ditch at the risk of being seen so Spruce
Siding was the first left turn that offered some cover. Burying her wasn’t even an option as the ground
was frozen. By spring there shouldn’t be
too much left if he just left her out in the elements.
A client of ours told us he knew Brian Jack and one night,
while drinking with him, Brian had ‘hinted’ that he had disposed of Christine’s
body in one of the abandoned gold mine shafts around Bissett, Manitoba. Bissett is located two hours north of the city
of Winnipeg. The night of December 17th it was blowing snow and
Brian was driving a car with engine trouble. There is no way Christine’s body
would have been left at that location – unless he did this at a later time. Was
that even possible?
When Christine went missing there were search parties out
around the Ste. Anne area and nothing was discovered. This was winter and snow
would soon bury any signs of footprints, tire tracks or mounds of debris. In
April of the next year there was another search but nothing was found. To the
best of my knowledge the Spruce Siding area was never searched.
There are coyotes in Manitoba. Coyotes will, within hours or
days, eat carrion – or dead bodies. Next come the raccoons, birds and insects.
The area I suspect where we will find
her is heavily treed but isolated with no signs of civilization so
decomposition could have been fast and not detectable unless someone
specifically stopped there at the right time.
Over that dinner my husband looked across the table at me and said “Why
don’t we? Why don’t we go look this year and see what we can find?”
I have to admit I was excited. Life is short so why put this
off any longer? What would we find – a bone, a scrap of clothing or jewelry?
Did Brian leave her out there for the wild animals to dispose of evidence? Did
he strip her naked. Where was her purse? Her clothes? Did he go back and move
the body? So many questions……
I am thinking he was in a panic state and it had been a
crime of passion - he would not be thinking clearly, or not clearly enough to
cover all his tracks. It was mid-winter, the ground was frozen so he couldn’t
even dig a shallow grave but just cover her with snow or branches. Did he even
have the presence of mind to think that far ahead? Did he use a flashlight? A
passing car would see a light in the bare trees at night on a highway siding.
What did we have to lose? Nothing but our time….
Chapter two
Once the initial excitement – yes that is the correct word –
wore off I got into research mode.
What did we need to go searching – boots, a spade – small
and large – tape or string for making a grid pattern (my husband’s brilliant
idea), a metal detector (we had an old one in the garage), batteries, an ax, a
starter pistol in case of bears and our phones for GPS markings (again my
husband’s idea), food, water, gloves and
a nice day.
Of course it snowed within a few days and we had to wait.
Putting my time to good use I got on The Google. I read
every news article I could on Christine and Brian Jack, his trials and what the
police had done to find her. I once again perused Trials and Errors and I checked the old weather reports – what was
that night like? I was thinking more and more that the spot I suspected was THE
spot. BUT- How easy would it be to find someone after 33 years?
Google questions:
“How long does it take a dead body to decompose out in the
open?”
“How to find a dead body in the woods after 30 years?”
“Stages of decomposition.”
“Ground cover over a dead body.”
“What animals are active in the winter?”
“How to find jewelry with a metal detector.”
“What is the best metal detector for finding jewelry?”
If my husband disappears and the police do a search on my computer
I will definitely be the prime suspect!!!
After some trial and error on my part, and experimenting
with our circa 1978 RadioShack metal detector we decided that it would only
find ferrous metal if it was sitting on top of the ground. So far in our own yard I have discovered a
bolt, a washer and a piece of corroded metal with this detector. It was time to
rent one.
Back to Google…..
“Where can I find a metal detector to rent in Winnipeg?”
We found two places, both on the other end of the city, and
decided to call them, reserve a detector then pick it up and go to a beach and
try it out. From what I had read it
wasn’t just a matter of picking one up and twiddling a few knobs and bob’s your
uncle. The experts actually said you should experiment.
Next we looked at the weather report. It was still
winter/spring and I didn’t want to be freezing as I walked slowly back and
forth over a grid. I also didn’t want it warm enough for the ticks to come out
(note to self – tuck in pant legs and cuffs so ticks can’t crawl in.) Now it
looked like there could be a deadline for searching…..rent for a week, weather
and ticks!
April 7th. We ended up renting a mid range metal
detector and had a bit of fun searching for things around our property. Two
crushed cellar lids, a clamp. Two pull tabs, a 1973 penny and something painted bright red that we
haven’t figured out yet. My daughter and I found a large piece of metal from a
tractor in the plowed field across the road. It was buried at least ten inches
deep. But at least we know the detector will go to a depth of 8 inches or more.
It has a jewelry setting so that is what we will put it on. It is about a half
hour drive from our house to where I think she is. We never did make it to the
beach.
I have to admit that I didn’t sleep that much the night
before our departure. Part of me is thinking this is foolish and the other part
is wondering what to do if we find something.
Google – ‘What to do if you find human remains?”
If we did find something of interest, we had considered
contacting the prosecutor from Brian Jack’s trials, John D. Montgomery, but
discovered he had passed away in 2004. When and IF we find bones, jewelry or
clothing we will make a decision. Spidey Senses?
Based on facts and some supposition on my part I reviewed in
my head. Brian Jack was seen in Ste.
Anne, Manitoba on the night Christine disappeared. Witnesses testified that he
had been in a bar looking for a mechanic as his car was in need of repair –
this was Christine’s car; the one Brian told police she had driven away in. The
two mechanics followed Brian east as he had stated he was heading to Kenora and
was taking it for a ‘test drive.’ Suspecting Brian would just keep going they
went in pursuit and eventually Brian pulled over and paid them. They turned
back toward Ste. Anne.
Brian would have had to continue down the Trans-Canada
Highway east until he could make a north/left turn onto the two-lane highway
coming back to Winnipeg. He had no
intention of going to Kenora, Ontario and the mechanics said they didn’t think
his car would have made it that far. Brian drove until he came across the tree
covered connecting road north which would lead him to the highway heading back west.
At this point Christine was in the back of the car. He would
have to dispose of her body. Pulling over on the highway was taking a chance but disposing of
her body between the highways in thick bush was the only option. He couldn’t
return to the city with her in the car. It was the middle of the night, blowing
snow and a partial full moon….where to leave her?
If this was a ‘crime of passion’ Brian was thinking on his feet. Where do you leave a body? Get it out of the city. Make it look as though she had been hijacked and then dumped? Did you want it found or not? What do you leave with it – her purse? So many questions must have been racing through his mind.
Chapter Three
The day started out cool but by the time we had driven east
for 45 minutes the sun had come out and by the time we turned onto Spruce
Siding it was getting quite warm with a bit of a breeze.
“Get any feelings?” my husband asked.
Quite honestly I felt nothing, other than a bit of
apprehension. Sort of a mix of this is stupid and ya never know!
“What side of the road do you want to start on?” he asked.
In my head I had always thought left, across the road. While
we sat in the car we discussed the possibility that he could have gone to
either side of the road that night. There was snow, blowing snow, and the deep
ditches would have been filled with a foot or two of the white stuff. He could
have pulled to either side depending on the road itself and the traffic that
had gone previously or the lack of traffic. We decided to go to the left first.
In my mind I had envisioned spaced out birch or poplar trees
and long yellow grass. What I saw ahead was a lot of deadfall, thick new waist
high shrubs, four or five foot deciduous trees and numerous wild rose bush like branches that caught on
every inch of clothing. HHHMM a lot harder than I had anticipated. I soldiered or,
in some cases, stumbled on.
Stepping into the overgrown terrain with my metal detector
catching on every limb and my pant legs being pulled by thorns I tried to do a
sweep. A grid pattern was out of the question as there was no open area at all.
It was dense and a hard slog and HOT! I had on boots, jeans, a long coat, a
hoodie with the hood up so my hair wouldn’t get caught and a cotton scarf…..I
didn’t want to strip down too much.
We decided that even thirty years ago the bush would have
been much the same and therefore Brian wouldn’t have been able to go far
carrying dead weight. My husband went deeper into the bush looking
for…anything….and I tried to do a sweep along the road approximately twenty
feet in.
We had parked about the middle of the stretch between the
two highways thinking that is what Brian would do – as if we had any clue!
I undid my scarf, which got caught on every twig in sight,
took off my gloves and shoved them into my pockets, unzipped my coat and stood
to look around. My heart leapt when I spotted a blue/green piece of cloth stuck
to a stump not ten feet from where I stood. I called my husband.
Christine was apparently wearing a ‘green’ coat. Colours are
subjective – was it a dark colour, light, a combination of both – aqua? We
studied the cloth which was quite a large piece and had been chewed by animals
large and small. 
Not far from this spot was a blue piece of clothing by the
base of a tree on which was tied a red piece of what looked like tenting. The
two finds could have been connected to someone who had been camping out as
there was a small patch of flat open ground.
We took pictures of the stump with the cloth.
Not long after we decided to try the other side of the road.
Much the same terrain and a lot of deadfall under which Christine could have
been left years before when it was somewhat clearer. Without moving the deadfall you couldn’t get
in there with a detector – that up until this point had not beeped once
indicating metal of any sort. I had even changed the setting from ‘jewelry’ to
‘all metals’ just in case.
Along the side of the road were several piles of clothing
from a young woman that had been spread and torn by a grader at some point.
Denim shorts and jeans, a patterned cotton top, a t shirt……as if a backpack or
bag had been tossed or had fallen off a vehicle then run over. I took the metal detector over and ran it by
the jeans. The metal zipper beeped like crazy.
We put up the back of the car and sat on the bumper while
having a well deserved beer and a bag of chips. I felt satisfied that I gave it
my best shot with the objects at hand. Without flat land with no obstructions
even a ground scanning machine wouldn’t be able to find anything. What chance
did I have with my metal detector? I could have been within inches….or even
miles…of finding a pair of jeans, a coat or runners that belonged to Christine.
We came home, stopped at A & W along the way and enjoyed
our teen burgers, root beer and onion rings while congratulating ourselves on
at least trying. My itch had been scratched and I silently said good bye to
Christine hoping someday she will be found.
Seeing as we rented the metal detector for a week, we are
going out to search around an old homestead not far from our house….because you
never know.
