Dale Merle Nelson

Case record: Dale Merle Nelson

Background

Dale Merle Nelson was a Canadian logger in Creston, British Columbia. He was married and had three children.

He became aggressive and unpredictable when he drank to excess. He was known as a “good husband and a kind, caring father” but was also described as having become “wild” when he drank.

Nelson fell into a depressed state in early 1970 and unsuccessfully attempted suicide. He subsequently spent two months at Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam.

The offence

In September 1970, Nelson murdered eight people in a crime spree. The victims included one man, two women, and five children.

Bizarre acts of mutilation, necrophilia, and cannibalism were inflicted upon the bodies of two female victims before Nelson was captured.

In one case, Nelson opened a child victim’s stomach with a knife, thrust his face inside, and devoured recently-ingested food.

Shirley Wasyk and children (Wasyk household)

Just after midnight, Nelson went to the home of his distant relative, Shirley Wasyk, knowing her husband Alex was not home. Nelson beat Shirley with a home fire extinguisher. Shirley cried out, “No, Dale, don't!”

Nelson tied Shirley’s hands behind her back and left her on her bed. He then gathered two of his three young relatives—Charlene (age eight) and Tracey (age seven)—into the youngest girl’s bedroom.

Debbie, who was 12 years old, awakened by her mother’s cry, saw Nelson taking Charlene into Tracey’s room. Debbie crept to her mother, untied her hands, then took the fire extinguisher and returned to her own room. When Debbie heard Tracey scream and the sounds of Nelson at her door, she threw the fire extinguisher through her bedroom window and escaped, running to the McKay household.

When law enforcement officers arrived at the Wasyk home, they found that Shirley had been beaten to death with the fire extinguisher and Tracey had died from multiple stab wounds. Charlene had been set free in the woods nearby.

Maureen McKay household warning and police call

Maureen McKay quickly telephoned the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Investigation and manhunt

When police officers arrived, Nelson’s truck was still parked outside the Wasyk home. The police drove across the road to warn others about Nelson. By the time the police returned to the Wasyk home 15 minutes later, they were “stunned” to realise that Nelson had still been at the scene of the crime and driven away with Tracey’s body as soon as they had left.

Shortly afterward, Isabelle St. Amand, who lived a few kilometres down the road from the Wasyks, phoned the police to report, “There's a man here with a gun.”

By the time police arrived, St. Amand, her common-law husband Ray Phipps, and their three sons (Paul, age 10; Brian, age seven; and Roy, age 18 months) had all been shot in the head. Their eight-year-old daughter Cathy was missing.

The police launched a manhunt employing bush pilots to scour the countryside for Nelson’s truck.

The vehicle was found on the afternoon of September 5 stuck in a ditch. When police searched it, they found a bloody hammer and dismembered remains of Tracey Wasyk scattered around the area.

The 150 residents of West Creston were moved into Creston for their own safety as police continued their search for Nelson.

Arrest and custody

Nelson was located late in the afternoon on September 6 in a shack in the woods near his home, and he surrendered to police without incident.

He told the police that Cathy was dead, pointed out the location of her body on a map, and admitted committing all eight murders.

Trial

Nelson was put on trial for the murders of eight-year-old Cathy Rose St. Amand (who he had also sodomised) and seven-year-old Tracey Wasyk (whose organs he tore out and attempted to eat).

Represented by attorney M. E. Moran, Nelson was found guilty in March 1971 despite a plea of criminal insanity brought about by his heavy drinking and addiction to LSD.

Sentencing

Nelson was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Nelson was sentenced to life on April 1, 1971.

Outcome

Nelson died of throat cancer while in prison.

Other details

Nelson had driven into Creston on September 4, 1970, purchased six beers and a bottle of vodka at the liquor store, and drove to the Kootenay Hotel, where he drank eight beers with friends.

He left the tavern and picked up from Maureen McKay a 7 mm caliber bolt action rifle he had loaned to her. He then drove back to Creston to purchase ammunition for the gun and more alcohol. At the King George Hotel, another bar, he drank six more beers before joining his friends in a hotel room at 10:30 p.m. for more drinks.

On September 5, police searched Nelson’s truck and found evidence including a bloody hammer and dismembered remains of Tracey Wasyk scattered around the area.

Within 40 meters of the car searchers found a human arm, then a head, then a leg, then eventually the torso, with the remaining arm and leg still attached. The dismembered remains were identified as Tracey Wasyk.

About 200 meters down the road from the car, police found a rope tied to a tree; Cathy had been tied up.

When Cathy was found, she had been stabbed in the back and then gutted, and next to her was a bloody wine bottle.

Police found Nelson asleep later in the day, after which he was arrested and showed police where the final body was.

During the offence spree, police said Nelson drove to a house occupied by a family Nelson didn’t know and shot the entire family dead. Ray Phipps, his wife Isabelle, and three of their four children were killed in a few minutes.

Ray Phipps was killed as he opened the door. Nelson shot Isabelle as she tried to run.

Roy, the eighteen-month-old son, had his head blown completely off. Next Nelson killed 10-year-old Paul and then 7-year-old Brian; the deaths were described as from head-shots.

Police realized that Nelson had taken Phipps’s eight-year-old daughter, Cathy, with him.

In the course of events, a hammer with human hair stuck to it was left in Nelson’s car.

Nelson had a plea of criminal insanity based on heavy drinking and addiction to LSD, which was not accepted at trial.