COLD CASE: Could This Button Be the Key to Solving a 38-Year-Old Teen Murder Case in Mississauga?
Published November 7, 2018 at 7:07 pm
Thirty-eight years ago today, a Toronto teen left her apartment building and met up with a friend in Mississauga.
She was never seen alive again.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is still looking for the person or people who murdered Veronica Lynn Kaye, an 18-year-old Etobicoke teen who disappeared after meeting a friend at a photography store on Hensall Circle in Mississauga.
Police say Veronica left her home on Markland Dr. on Nov. 7, 1980 and never returned, prompting her worried family to report her missing.
The OPP says extensive investigation failed to turn up any leads.
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On Oct. 9, 1981, two men walking in a field near the intersection of Humber Station Rd. and Castlederg Sideroad in Caledon discovered Veronica’s body lying in a wooded, isolated area some distance from the roadway.
She had died of injuries suffered during what police called a violent confrontation.
According to the OPP, Veronica was wearing the same clothing she was observed wearing when she was last seen alive: a red ski vest, a maroon blouse, blue jeans and running shoes.
Curiously, a unique button was found with Veronica that did not come from her clothing, and police are hoping that the button might be the key to finding out more about who attacked her on that fall day almost 40 years ago.
Mostly, police are wondering if anyone can identify the source of the button.
Veronica’s family is also hoping the button might be the key to finding out who murdered the teen that everyone referred to as “sweet Veronica.”
“Well, as you can imagine, it’s the worst,” says Julie Kaye, Veronica’s sister.
Kaye was just eight-years-old when Veronica went missing.
“It’s the worst and it had long legs. It’s been 38 years and it still lives. We have a lot of family that want to know answers. We’re happy the OPP has put together a video to keep it in the media, but there are tons of people who still want to know what happened as far as who did it.”
While investigators and family know what Veronica did on the morning and afternoon of her disappearance, no one knows what happened once she left a Mississauga store.
On Nov. 7, Veronica had plans to meet up with a friend at Cherish Photography. After that, she was reportedly planning on heading to Square One.
Police say that at approximately. 1:30 p.m., Veronica boarded a Mississauga Transit bus and headed to the store.
The OPP says investigation has revealed that she gave no indication that anything was wrong. Veronica also reportedly told her friend that she had a ride, but the identity of the driver has never been revealed.
Police say that Veronica was never spotted with anyone, nor was a vehicle seen in the parking lot.
That was the last time she was seen alive.
“She went missing in the afternoon and she was 18,” says Kaye. “It’s hard to say how someone can go missing and be killed and no one knows anything, no one confesses anything to anybody, no one says anything about someone who did this terrible thing to an 18-year-old.”
Kaye’s last memory of her older half-sister, who was living with her maternal grandmother at the time of her disappearance, is of them happily trick-or-treating together with their father on Halloween.
“The last time we saw her was on Halloween and she was with us in Mississauga. Our dad and her, we all went trick or treating in our neighbourhood. She was excited, she was going to be going to school, it was an exciting time,” says Kaye, adding that Veronica was anxious to eventually start school at Humber College in Toronto.
Kaye says the mystery–and the fact that no one has ever come forward with any information–has been hard on not only her family, but the entire community.
“What we do know is the effect that this has on a family,” says Kaye. “That’s what we know. How it really is a terrible thing someone did to not only our sister, but also to our family. She was loved and she was a very sweet person.”
Kaye says her family still wonders how Veronica ended up in Caledon.
“As family, we aren’t always privy to everything [in the investigation], but we know the events that happened leading up to her disappearance. We don’t know how she got from Cawthra and Dundas to Caledon. Who drove her there? That’s one of the things that you think about it.”
Kaye says the murder shook the entire community.
“My dad was petitioning to have hitchhiking banned because we thought, at the time, she might have been doing that. A fund was set up for Veronica that went towards victims of violence. It was a real shock to the community,” she says.
Mostly, Kaye says her family just wants to know who murdered their sister and daughter.
“Everyone across the board just wants to know who did it. Veronica’s mother is still alive and our father is still alive. They just want to know who did it. The hope is, with some attention, someone might remember something, or have heard something, or have come across something or know the origin of this button. Those things would be really helpful if anyone would reach out to police on it,” she says.
“It’s been a long time, but now, before anybody [in our family] passes away, it would be good to know. That would be great to have that sense of justice, to know who actually did it.”
Kaye also wonders if the perpetrator is still out there, and if he or she went on to harm someone else.
“Who did it? It would have to be somebody violent. Are they still in the community? Did they do this to someone else? I don’t know.”
Police are still hoping that they can solve the murder that rocked an entire community close to four decades ago. A $50,000 award is being offered for information leading to arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Veronica’s murder.
“[We want] people to review the video and communicate with police. Anything they remember from that time that might be relevant,” says Kaye. “The focus of the video is to jog someone’s memory and to hopefully get some new leads.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the OPP at 1-888-310-1122, their local police service or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477
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