Vancouver police are hoping the public can help them solve two unrelated cold case murders that happened coincidentally, on the same street, but 47 years apart.
The Pauls family case, which has frustrated investigators for almost 60 years, involves the brutal killings of the mother, father and their 11-year-old daughter.
The couple, David and Helen, were both in their teens when their families emigrated from Russia to Canada. During their 16 years of marriage, the couple lived in Saskatchewan and Aldergrove before settling down in Vancouver.
According to police, the Pauls family lived “an ordinary life” in the 1000-block of East 53rd Avenue in Vancouver.
David worked in Woodward’s warehouse and his wife, Helen, worked evenings at the Home Fancy Sausage Shop on East Hastings Street. Their daughter, Dorothy, was in Grade 6 at Walter Moberly School, where her classmates described her as quiet.
While details are sparse, police know on June 11, 1958 the family was murdered. Both parents were beaten and shot and Dorothy was viciously bludgeoned to death.
The weapons were never identified clearly by police. Investigators were only able to determine a heavy instrument was used to beat the victims. The bullets recovered from the bodies came from a .22 caliber revolver like a Rohm RG-10, colt-style, six-shot.
The second case involved Mayvette Monzon, who was only 31 years old when she was shot and killed in front of a home she shared with her mother in 2005. Monzon lived in the 1400-block of West 53rd Avenue and police believe someone had either followed her or had been lying in wait.
A bartender, Monzon worked at several nightclubs in the Lower Mainland and was described by her sister Maria Franco, as someone with a generous nature and zest for life.
While anonymous information has been given to police, no one has come forward to identify Monzon’s killer.
Anyone with information on either of these cold cases is asked to contact the VPD.
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