Casefile True Crime - Case 28: Lindsay Buziak | Update

Episode Date: January 27, 2019

This is an update on the Lindsay Buziak case in Case 28. For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-28-lindsay-buziak

Lindsay Booziak was a 24-year-old real estate agent from Victoria, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. We covered the circumstances of her death in detail back in August 2016, during Episode 28 of Case Bar. For a quick refresher, on February 2, 2008, Lindsay travelled to her home in Saanich on Vancouver Island, where she had an appointment to shell property to a couple who were in the market to purchase a large home for their family. The husband and wife had been in contact with Lindsay just a few days earlier, advising

they were moving to the area and wanted her help in securing a suitable home within their million-dollar budget. They said they had been recommended to Lindsay by one of her previous clients, which was excellent news for the junior agent. On the day of the property viewing, Lindsay received a phone call from the husband, advising his wife was not feeling well and he would be attending the meeting solo. Lindsay was already a little apprehensive about the viewing, and this call exacerbated her concerns, so she asked her boyfriend, Jason Zalo, to meet her at the property.

At 5.29pm, February 2, 2008, Lindsay accessed the real estate lockbox at 1702 Desusa Place, which provided the key to gain access to the property. Despite the earlier phone call, the wife of the couple was in attendance after all. Lindsay was seen greeting the mystery couple by the back of her car in the driveway of the house. There were no other cars in the driveway. Lindsay and the couple then made their way inside. At 5.30pm, her boyfriend Jason was captured underneath a security camera getting into

his Range Rover with a friend. When they arrived at the house at 5.45pm, the door was locked and their knocks went unanswered. They eventually gained access to the house, finding Lindsay in an upstairs bedroom with 40 stab wounds to her body. Her killer has never been identified, and her murder has never been solved. Every year, Lindsay's father, Jeff Bouziak, organizes a memorial walk to honour his daughter's memory and campaign for justice. The walk begins at Victoria's Royal Oak Burial Park on Fallet's Drive, the cemetery where

Lindsay's ashes are held. It continues for 16km past the house where Lindsay was murdered and ends up on the steps of Sanich Municipal Hall. This year marks 11 years since Lindsay's death, and once again, the Lindsay Bouziak Memorial Walk for Justice will be going ahead on 2 February. We spoke to Jeff Bouziak about the walk, and he also filled us in on some of the details that have emerged since we originally released the episode back in 2016. Well, I go out annually and do a walk for justice on February the 2nd, which is the

day Lindsay was murdered. This is the 9th time I've done the walk now. Sanich police have in the past tried to discourage me from holding it, and we end up at the Sanich Municipal Hall, where the police station and the fire station are, and even the municipality tried to discourage us in the past by saying, you know, at one time it was on a weekend and the hall won't be open, so we won't be able to provide washrooms for you when you get here, so you can't hold the walk. So the walk, really, is for people to express themselves, their frustration, and of course

it's an embarrassment for Sanich police, so they don't like it because they're reminded each year that they're failing in their duty to investigate and solve crimes. Whereabouts does the walk start from? We start from the Royal Oak Burial Park, which is on Falle's Drive. The walk starts at 10 a.m., so I suggest people be there at the very latest, 9.45. If anybody feels they're not capable of doing the whole walk, they can call taxis or arrange to have someone pick them up partway through the walk. We don't walk fast, it's quite a slow pace because we try and keep the group all together.

So I basically just call it a nice stroll and a chance to visit with people and make a statement. We walk from the park to the murder house, and we walk past the murder house and go to the municipal hall where the police station is. We hope everyone will attend on February the 2nd of this year because we need to send a strong message to not only to police, but to the politicians that were frustrated and we've had enough, and the numbers of murdered and missing are growing, not only on Vancouver Island, but across the province, and police, and politicians don't seem to be too concerned about it.

They're busy now off worrying about money laundering and bringing that up in the press. Meanwhile, people are being killed and they disappear. So on February the 2nd, we hope to once again remind them that we're not happy with what they're doing because they're failing in their duty to uphold the law, investigate, and arrest people responsible for murder, and in our case, Lindsay's unsolved murder. How many people are you expecting? Well we normally have in the neighborhood of 100, but I certainly like to see thousands because that would get the attention of the police and the politicians, and I'm sure would

cause things to happen, which are desperately needed. Sanage police seem to feel, justify, that they can say it's very complicated and it takes time, but then they tell you they have nobody working on the file full time. So rationally, it doesn't make sense. If they don't have enough, like anywhere else in the world, you hire more people, you put more effort into it, you work harder, you work longer, or you get fired to accomplish your goal. Well, not with them.

They seem to be able to just drag along. So as we take our concerns to the Premier of British Columbia, to the Attorney General, British Columbia, to the Minister of Safety of British Columbia, they all pass the buck and refer you back to Sanage police. So they're really not accountable to anybody? Even though legally, by parliamentary law, the Attorney General of BC is known as the top cop of the province, and he has the authority to rule over the police, but won't do that. Did I read somewhere that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had conducted a review?

Yes. On occasion, they have the RCMP review the file, and they've just announced they're going to do another review. Funny that the timing's right around when I go to Victoria to hold the annual walk for justice. But my opinion is, we don't need the RCMP to do the review. They could give it to anybody, and the questions could be quite simple. Have you solved the case?

The answer is going to be no. Well, why haven't you? Oh, because we don't have enough. Well, what are you doing to get more? Oh, well, we're waiting for something to come in. Well, that should end the review right there. You're fired. We need somebody else on this case.

What they're reviewing is not really the investigation. They're reviewing the file to make sure it's filed properly, and to make sure they followed procedures in filing the files properly, and making sure they followed probably the ten steps of investigation or something. Well, obviously, the review's quite simple. They haven't been successful, so they failed. Has there been any recent communication from Sanich Police? There's not too much dialogue.

I continue to send any information that I receive about Lindsey's unsolved murder through Chief Downey, and he does whatever he does with it, passes it on, I guess. About three years ago, Chief Downey reassigned all the officers working on the case, which was Chris Horstley as head, and other officers as well. So I'm understanding that last year, at this time, when I went out to do the annual Walk for Justice for Lindsey, that Chris Horstley was reactivated as head of the file. Basically, what I can discern from all this time is they want me to go away, and they want Lindsey's murder to go away.

Is there anything else you want to add, Jeff? It's certainly, you know, for me personally, the most stressful time of the year, because I am very frustrated about what's going on, and of course, still missing my daughter, but just frustrated that it seems ninety-some percent of the public know who killed my daughter. But yet, Saanich Police don't seem to be that concerned about it. The feeling I get from them, it's just another check, don't worry about it. Somebody will show up eventually that confesses, why don't you just go home and get on with your life, and that makes me ill.