Her name was Willene Chong.
She was 76.
She had five children.
On Sept. 11, 2008, someone set fire to her home at 2781 East 55th Ave. and she died in what police have so far determined was a random act.
Now the Vancouver Police Department hopes adding Chong’s name to a new website devoted to so-called cold cases will lead to an arrest.
“From what I’ve heard, [the police] are at wit’s end trying to find anything, so hopefully this will get them some leads,” said Jerry Chong, who joined his siblings in 2009 to make a public plea for the person responsible for his mother’s death to contact police.
The Chong homicide is one of eight cases police profiled on the new website, which was launched Tuesday. The site has information about the case, Chong’s photograph and details about a reward.
“It brings backs all the memories,” Chong told the Courier by telephone from his office in Richmond after viewing the website. “It’s been a long healing process and I guess you’ll never be completely healed until they do apprehend the person. Obviously you want it solved but it’s not like TV.”
Dating back to 1974, the VPD investigated 952 murders. A total of 549 were considered solved after charges were laid and another 78 were solved without charges.
That leaves 313 unsolved cases.
“After reviewing the website, we’re hoping that people may recognize a cold case, then contact us to tell us what they know, whether it’s from first-hand experience or something they’ve heard through the grapevine over the years,” said Deputy Chief Adam Palmer at a press conference Tuesday at the VPD’s Cambie Street headquarters. “I can tell you that often a small lead is all that is required, something that may seem insignificant. However, that tip may open a lot of doors.”
Police chose to begin with Chong’s case and seven others because of cooperation from victim’s families and the nature of the homicides, said Sgt. Dale Weidman of the homicide unit, who joined Palmer at the press conference.
“I’ve personally investigated or reviewed a number of them and they’re interesting,” Weidman said. “But that’s not to say that by any stretch of the imagination that we’re not going to profile so-called gangster cases.”
The eight homicides occurred in 1981 through to Chong’s murder in 2008. In many cases, the victims were going about their regular business, said Palmer, who is in charge of the VPD’s investigations division.
In the case of Evan Garber, who died during a robbery in 2006, and Richard Chacon, who attempted to break up a bar fight in 1999, they were trying to help others when they were shot to death, Palmer said.
The deputy chief said he also wanted to remind people of 61-year-old Cathy Berard, who was brutally assaulted and left for dead on the grounds of David Thompson high school in 1996.
“Other cases are a true mystery, such as the case of Danielle Larue, when in 2002, the VPD received an anonymous letter from her killer,” Palmer said. “To this date, Danielle’s body has never been found.”
Chong’s homicide occurred after a series of fires was set in the area of Kerr Street and East 54th . She was inside her house, where she lived for more than 36 years, with one of her sons and his wife, who survived the blaze.
Chong immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong in 1949. She married in 1959 and went on to have five children and seven grandchildren.
The Vancouver Police Board approved a $10,000 reward in 2010 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of person or persons responsible for Chong’s death.
Though the case remains unsolved, Jerry Chong was heartened by the arrest police made two weeks ago in a five-year-old cold case.
Police arrested Aaron Dale Power and he was charged with second-degree murder in connection with the homicide of Michael Ciro Nestoruk, whose body was found April 9, 2009 on the grounds of Sir Guy Carleton elementary.
“There’s some hope, I guess,” added Chong.
The website’s address is vpdcoldcases.ca and cost less than $10,000 to build, according to the VPD.
