Walk for Jackie marks 50 years since London teen’s abduction, murder

It’s a milestone year for an annual walk aimed at finding answers in the murder of a London teenager.

A memorial service is scheduled Friday evening to remember Jackie English and hopefully prompt new leads in the unsolved case.

“On October 4, 1969, Jackie English left her job at the Metropolitan restaurant at about 10 p.m. and she was walking over the Wellington Street South overpass to catch the bus at Exeter Road. She accepted a ride and was never seen alive again,” local historian, bookseller and author Vanessa Brown told 980 CFPL.

“The person who committed this crime is still walking free.”

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English’s body was found five days later in Big Otter Creek near Aylmer.

Her sister, Anne English, started the walk about 10 years ago and reenacts, alongside other friends, family and community members, her sister’s final steps of freedom before her abduction. This year’s iteration, however, holds special significance.

“I really hope other Londoners will come out and support Anne as well. Think about this woman who’s been mourning her sister for decades with no answers,” said Brown.

“Reenacting her sister’s final steps every year to remember her is an absolutely heartbreaking image.”

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Brown is the author of the true-crime book The Forest City Killer, which not only identifies a possible suspect in the murder but also ties that suspect to a series of unsolved murders in the region.

“There was a predator in London during the time when Jackie was taken and she wasn’t the only victim. So this person was able to come to our city and prey on our children and murder people off of our streets and they’ve never come to justice. Finding justice for Jackie is a first step in that,” said Brown.

“(Anne English) was my right-hand man when it came to working on this book. Without her, I really couldn’t have done it. This way the book becomes a portrait, not of an evil predator, but of the people whose lives were stolen.”

People are expected to begin gathering at 8 p.m. outside of the McDonald’s at 4380 Wellington Road South, south of Highway 401. A memorial service is set for 9 p.m. and the walk begins at 10 p.m.