1. Disappearance

2. Investigation
     Initial search efforts    Reported sightings    Latest developments  

3. Impact

4. See also

5. References

6. External links

Michael Wayne Dunahee (born May 12, 1986 – disappeared March 24, 1991)^[1] is a missing child from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada who disappeared from the playground at Blanshard Park Elementary School, also known as the Blanshard Street Playground in Victoria, British Columbia on March 24, 1991 when he was four years old and has never been found or seen since. Michael was last seen that day around 12:30 pm playing at the school playground as his mother Crystal Dunahee was participating in a female football practice to which his father was a spectator. Although Michael disappeared metres from his parents, no witnesses to his disappearance have ever been identified.

Michael's disappearance became one of the largest police investigations in Canadian history, and to this day, over 11,000 tips have been received by the police. The case was a major story for many years, and was reported across Canada and the United States. However, despite a large number of tips and a $100,000 reward, the police still do not have any solid leads in the case.^[2]

Disappearance

On March 24, 1991, Michael and his family went to Blanshard Elementary School for his mother Crystal's flag football practice. That day Michael was wearing a blue hooded jacket, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirt, rugby pants, and blue sneakers.^[3] They arrived at the school around 12:30 pm and Michael asked his mom if he could go play on the playground, which was visible from the field where the football practice was taking place. Despite having a gut feeling that "something wasn't quite right",^[4] Crystal allowed him to walk over to the nearby playground by himself, but told him that once he got there, he had to "stay there and wait for daddy to come",^[5] but when Michael's dad Bruce came to the playground, Michael was not there. Around fifty people began to look for Michael, and Michael's parents immediately notified the police.^[5]

Investigation

Initial search efforts

At that time, the investigation regarding Michael's disappearance became one of the largest in Canadian history, and still remains one of the largest today.

Since Michael had disappeared so quickly from a public place, the police were quick to classify his case as an abduction rather than a missing child case, and all the detectives from the Victoria Police Department were called in to begin solving the case.^[6] Hundreds of tips began coming in every hour from across British Columbia and North America, and during that time they had to be written on carbon paper and sorted out manually.^[6] The police believe that if they had the technology that is available today, such as video surveillance, DNA techniques, and a computer system to sort out tips, they may have been able to solve the case.

The Victoria Police Department poured in all their resources to solve the case, with detectives looking through leads, investigating known sex offenders, and interviewing anyone who had been in the area around the time of Michael's disappearance,^[5] but they were unable to find much information other than a witness report that "a man in his late 40's or early 50's" had been near the playground, and that a brown van was also spotted nearby.^[5] A month after Michael disappeared, the police staged a re-creation of his disappearance at Blanshard Elementary, which included using a brown van, but were unable to produce any new leads.^[5]

Reported sightings

In 2006, reports of a young man who looked like Michael and had been living in the interior of British Columbia since 1991 breathed new life into the case. For several weeks, news stations carried the story that the Michael Dunahee case had been re-opened after several strong leads, perhaps bringing a conclusion to what happened to him. However, nothing came out of the leads, as the young man in the interior of B.C. was confirmed to not be Michael after DNA testing was done.^[7]

In early 2009, U.S. police found a missing person poster of Michael at the Milwaukee home of Vernon Seitz. Seitz, 62, confessed to his psychiatrist that he had killed a child in 1959 when he of 12 and knew of another child killing. Seitz was later found dead by Milwaukee police, apparently from natural causes.^[8]

In 2011, with the 20th anniversary of Michael's disappearance approaching, the police were notified of a man living in Chase, B.C. who looked like Michael Dunahee. DNA testing later confirmed that he was not Michael.^[9]

In 2013, another possible break first surfaced when a man with the username Canuckels posted on the message boards of canucks.com, the official website of the Vancouver hockey team, that the police were coming for a DNA test. They had requested a blood sample from a Surrey, B.C. man who they believed could possibly be the missing boy.^[10] On September 9, 2013, the Victoria Police Department stated that DNA testing confirmed that the Surrey man was not Michael.^[11]

Latest developments

Michael's case remains open, with officers still committed to continuing the investigation. Both the police and Michael's family remain hopeful and believe that one day a tip will come in that will provide them with an answer about Michael's whereabouts and what had happened.^[6]

2016 marked the 25th anniversary of Michael's disappearance, and to this day tips continue to come in from the public, especially around the anniversary of his disappearance each year.

Impact

Michael's disappearance changed the quiet city of Victoria, with many of its residents recalling March 24, 1991 as a "loss of innocence" for the city and the people who lived there.^[5] The fact that a child had been abducted in their community came as a shock to many residents, and fear of child abduction quickly rose among parents, kids, and schools in the months after the disappearance.^[5]

Michael's mother Crystal became an advocate for missing children's issues in British Columbia, and has served as the president of Child Find British Columbia.^[12] In 2002, Crystal lent her voice to support the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in calls to introduce an Amber Alert system in BC, as she believed that her son would have been found if such a program existed back in 1991.^[13] The system has since been implemented in most regions of Canada.

The community of Esquimalt, part of the Greater Victoria metropolitan area, holds an annual charity event called the Michael Dunahee "Keep the Hope Alive" Fund Run to raise money for Child Find. This event is organized by Michael's sister Caitlin, and 2016 marked the 24th annual run.^[6]

In 2006, a book called Unstolen by Wendy Jean^[14] was published, and it was based on the events of Michael's disappearance.

See also

• List of people who disappeared

References

External links

• MissingKids.ca profile of Michael Dunahee
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110710132136/http://popeye.discash.com/childfind/db/child.cgi?alias=36 Child Find Canada profile of Michael Dunahee]
• {{Doe Network|148dmbc.html}}
• Canada - Michael Dunahee, 4, Victoria, BC, 24 March 1991 Websleuths

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