Donald Staley

Background

Donald Staley was a Canadian army veteran. He was 29 years old and was of Bracebridge, Ont.

The offence

Donald Staley was convicted of the sex slaying of 6-year-old Donnie Goss on July 24, 1946, in Calgary, Alta.

Police said he confessed killing 11-year-old Garry Billings in Vancouver, B. C.

The case involved Bobby Sherman and Garry Billings, both described as boys, and also Bobby Sherman’s family context.

Bobby Sherman and Garry Billings had gone to Stanley Park Beach to cool off on a sunny Fourth of July in Vancouver. They were approached by a soldier who offered to buy them peanuts and popcorn. The soldier told an RCMP constable that his name was Donald Sherman Staley and that he had recently discharged from the Scottish regiment. Staley spent the better part of an afternoon with the two boys, indulging in salty snacks and ice cream and chatting amicably with an RCMP constable. Before they parted ways, Staley handed the boys money and promised to have more for them if they returned to see him at noon the following day. Bobby Sherman and Garry Billings told their parents about the generous man who had bought them treats and ridden partway home with them on the streetcar, and neither mentioned their plans to meet with him again.

The following day Bobby Sherman showed up late to Garry Billings’s house to find that Garry Billings had left for the beach without him. Weeks later there was still no sign of Garry Billings.

Nineteen days later, another child disappeared on Calgary’s St. George Island. Six-year-old Donnie Goss, the third of four brothers, had been playing with other children by the swings. Within twenty-four hours, police located Donnie Goss’s body. His body had been beaten about the head, throat, and chest, and stabbed nine times. It was abandoned behind some bushes.

At the same time, the decomposing corpse of Garry Billings was unearthed from a shallow grave in Stanley Park. Like Goss, Billings was described as having been savagely stabbed to death, with his body secreted beneath some logs in a nearby grove.

The case also stated that both boys had been sexually assaulted before and after death.

Investigation

Donald Staley was identified by both Bobby Sherman and an RCMP constable who had spoken with him on July 4. Authorities collected Staley’s photograph, fingerprints, and army record, and were waiting for him to resurface in order to make an arrest.

While building the case in Vancouver, authorities learned that Staley had been incarcerated in Lethbridge.

When detectives from Vancouver arrived at the jail on August 17, they began pressing him about the murder of Garry Billings. The detectives had expected to make an arrest, but Staley instead confessed to the Vancouver slaying and to the stabbing death of Donnie Goss.

Arrest

On August 8, Staley broke into the Diamond Cafe at 233 9th Avenue E. He made off with some cigarettes and other small items.

Staley escaped the wrath of Jung Tai, described as “the iron-bar wielding tenant” who lived downstairs. Four days later, on August 12, he was arrested for the theft by Calgary detectives.

Trial

A jury convicted Donald Staley.

The trial resulted in a sentence of hanging.

Staley’s attorney made a “passionate appearance” before Alberta’s Supreme Court seeking a reprieve. The basis presented was that if his client did not meet the definition of insanity, then nobody did.

Sentencing

Staley was sentenced to hang.

Appeals

Staley’s attorney sought a reprieve before Alberta’s Supreme Court.

Outcome

On December 18, 1946, Staley was executed by hanging at Provincial Gaol, Lethbridge. The execution was described as alongside four German prisoners of war and as the largest public hanging in Canadian history.

Other details

In the case of Billings, Staley had met the boy at 11:50 a.m. and walked with him around the park for an hour before enticing him into the bushes with the promise of a dollar.

Staley proceeded to sexually assault the eleven-year-old, choking him unconscious and stabbing him to death with a four-inch paring knife.

Staley placed the body in a hollow and engaged in post-mortem sex with the child’s corpse before concealing it under logs and bushes.

For the killing of Donnie Goss, the account described Staley using the same ruse to lure the six-year-old to a remote area of the island.

Staley struck Donnie with a blackjack, but failed to subdue him; the weapon was described as bursting and scattering buckshot about the area. The two continued the struggle before Staley drove his blade into Donnie’s body, rendering him helpless.

The account described that, with the child lying dead, Staley sexually assaulted the body before leaving it to rot in the summer heat.

On August 8, Staley also had a theft episode involving the Diamond Cafe, followed by an arrest and a guilty plea to shop-breaking. The account stated that he had a previous record of indecency, house-breaking, and mail theft. He was sentenced to one year in Lethbridge jail.

Staley’s execution was also described with reference to “Cold North Killers” by Lee Mellor.