On Saturday, March 16, 1946 a group of children were playing on the Niagara Escarpment, known locally as The Mountain, in Hamilton. Part way down the slope, in amongst the trees, they found what they thought was the body of a pig. Police quickly realized they were dealing with the naked torso of a man, and it was soon identified as belonging to John Dick.
Evelyn Dick’s Unconventional Marriage
In his book The Torso Murder: The Untold Story of Evelyn Dick, Brian Vallée recounts the story of the murder and subsequent trials.
It seems that the beautiful and young (she was 26 at the time of her husband’s death) Evelyn Dick had many lovers.
She moved in the upper-class circles of Hamilton society so her marriage to John Dick, a Hamilton Street Railway conductor came as a surprise. By all accounts the relationship was stormy and ended quickly. According to Time Magazine, “Five days after her marriage (in October 1945) she committed adultery. Shortly after, she and John separated.”
Investigation Points to Evelyn Dick
The 2002 movie Torso says that when Evelyn Dick was questioned by police about her husband’s fate her response was “Don’t look at me. I don’t know anything about it.” Then, she started to tell stories about a Mafia-style hit man and a jealous husband who claimed John Dick had been fooling with his wife as the likely suspects.
But investigators weren’t buying any of Evelyn’s stories because they were turning up hard, physical evidence. About the time of John’s disappearance she had borrowed a car and returned it with bloodstains on the upholstery that were the same group as John’s. “Out in the back yard of her home,” wrote Time, “police found bits of human bones mixed with some cinders from the furnace.”
Evelyn Dick Charged with Murder
Then, another gruesome discovery was made; in the attic of Evelyn’s home the body of an infant boy was found encased in concrete inside a suitcase. The body was identified as that of her son Peter.
Police charged Evelyn with the murder of her husband and son and she came up with yet another version of what had happened. She signed a statement that John Dick had been killed by a lover named Bill Bohozuk and her father, Donald MacLean.
Now, all three faced charges of murder.
Trial Garners Sensational Coverage
In October 1946, Evelyn Dick’s case came before the courts.
Writing for Maclean’s Magazine, Charlie Gillis comments that “It was the golden age of newspapers, and they had a…field day with Hamilton’s ‘black widow’ trial. Constant front-page treatment of the story transfixed readers, drawing hundreds to gather outside the courthouse during the proceedings.”
After nine days of testimony the jury took less than two hours to return a guilty verdict. Evelyn was given the death sentence, although her conviction for the murder of her husband was overturned on appeal.
Bill Bohozuk walked away a free man when Evelyn refused to give testimony in his trial. Her father was convicted of being an accessory to murder and got a five-year sentence.
Evelyn Dick Sentenced to Life
However, Evelyn did not escape the hand of justice. She was found guilty of the manslaughter death of the infant Peter and received a life sentence. Writing in The Globe and Mail, John Allemang points out that Evelyn’s “charm endured, even in captivity. She served only 11 years before friends in high places engineered her freedom. And then…she disappeared.”
But author Brian Vallée claims she married a wealthy man after her release and moved to Canada’s West Coast where she lived without anybody knowing about her past.
Sources
- “The Torso Murder: The Untold Story of Evelyn Dick” Brian Vallée, Key Porter Books, 2002.
- “Canada: ONTARIO: The Dick Affair.” Time Magazine, October 28, 1946.
- “A Killer Vanishes.” Charlie Gillis, Maclean’s Magazine, March 15, 2005.
- “A Moment in Time.” John Allemang, The Globe and Mail, March 16, 2011.
Rupert Taylor - Rupert Taylor is the editor of a magazine that provides background to current events.
