Four years after the body of Wendy Ladner-Beaudry was found adjacent to a popular trail in Pacific Spirit Park, women jogging and hiking along the popular trail continue to be watchful.
Despite hundreds of tips into the murder of the vibrant, socially-conscious 53-year-old mother of two children, homicide investigators have yet to make any arrests into the mysterious slaying.
Knowing no one has been sent to prison for the murder, women using the trail at 41st Avenue and Marine Drive on Tuesday said they are taking precautions when going into the park.
“I used to run in the forest around here listening to music quite a bit,” said area resident Jessica Leung, 24.
But after the murder of Ladner-Beaudry, Leung said that stopped. “After the murder it made me more conscious of my surroundings,” she said.
At an information bulletin board along the trail where Ladner-Beaudry was found, a poster from the Integratged Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) remains pinned up. The poster notes that investigators believe the murder happened on April 3, 2009, between noon and 3 p.m.
The poster also points out “the homicide may be a random act of violence.”
Shortly after the murder, the family of Ladner-Beaudry offered a $30,000 reward for information into the murder.
On Wednesday, a media conference is scheduled to see if anyone who may have been in the area that day remembers something that could help crack the cold-case. A IHIT spokesman did not return calls Tuesday.
Even after four years, people said the high-profile murder is still fresh in their minds.
“Everybody still remembers and talks about the murder,” said Cindy Sym, 47, who was out in the park jogging. “I don’t come here at night. The murder hasn’t been resolved and that is scary.”
Sym said she has yet to see any homeless people in the well-used UBC park area and finds it hard to believe the murder was a random act of violence.
IHIT investigators have interviewed more than 500 people in the case.
About 80 of those people live within a 10-kilometre radius of the murder scene.
Ladner-Beaudry’s husband Michel, a columnist with the weekly Pique newsmagazine in Whistler, at one time was a prime suspect. But investigators in 2011 said they did not have any evidence to link Beaudry to the crime.
Ladner-Beaudry was a well-known physical fitness advocate who co-chaired the B.C Games Society and was chairwoman of KidSport.
Peter Ladner, the brother of Ladner-Beaudry said he would be at the press conference to help refresh people’s minds in the hopes of getting further tips. He also said Michel Beaudry would not be attending the event.
Beaudry did not attend a 2011 press conference police held to try and get more leads.
“He doesn’t want to talk,” Ladner said of Beaudry.
In a column for the Pique, Beaudry wrote of the family’s loss: “Maybe it’s because I just celebrated my 55th birthday. Maybe it’s because the Christmas season has always featured such a strong family theme for me. Whatever. I miss Wendy more this week than I have in a long time. And though my daughters try valiantly to mask their emotions, I know they feel exactly the same way I do…
“It’s been eight months since my lovely wife was stolen from our lives. Eight long, difficult months in which we three survivors have done what we can to rebuild our shattered existence. And it hasn’t been easy. Our home is full of ghosts. The ghost of Wendy’s smiling face in the morning …She was the glue that held the family together. The steady hand at the helm.
“And while I gallivanted around the world searching out good stories to tell, she remained at home and kept the hearth fire burning.”
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