Vancouver’s ‘Babes in the Woods’ murder victims identified after 70 years

Editor’s note: This article contains details that may be disturbing to some readers.

Seven decades after the bodies of two children were discovered in Vancouver, victims of the “Babes in the Woods” murder have been identified.

In 1953, the skeletal remains of two boys, believed to be aged 6 and 7, were found by a groundskeeper near Beaver Lake in Stanley Park.

The children have now been confirmed to be brothers Derek and David D’Alton, descendants of Russian immigrants who came to Canada at the turn of the 20th century. They lived in Vancouver, had a family member who lived near the entrance to Stanley Park at the time of their death.

David, 6, and Derek D’Alton, 7, were murdered in 1947 but their identities were not confirmed until a DNA sample led investigators to living relatives in January. (Vancouver Police Department)

The children’s skulls had been bludgeoned by a hatchet. That hatchet was found near the bodies, which were covered by a woman’s coat. Investigators have said the children were believed to have been killed in 1947, but weren’t discovered until five years later.

Police say no charges will be laid in this case, as they believe the suspect died 25 years ago.

“I can tell you with confidence that he person who killed these boys was a close family member,” Insp. Dale Weidman said Tuesday at police headquarters.

“I think we can make some very real assumptions on who did it, but will we ever be able to say 100 per cent.”

David D’Alton was six years old when he was murdered along with his brother. Their remains weren’t discovered until 1953 by a groundskeeper. (Vancouver Police Department)

Vancouver police say this was the oldest unsolved case in the city’s history, and that it haunted generations of homicide investigators.

“While great folklore has surrounded this case for years, we can not forget that these were real children,” Weidman said.

Family members were notified following the confirmation of the boys’ identities but have chosen not to appear publicly to discuss the results.

Derek D’Alton was killed when he was seven years old. The boys both lived in Vancouver before their deaths. (Vancouver Police Department)

“It was about giving these boys a name and finally telling their story,” Weidman said.

Det. Constable Aida Rodriguez, the VPD’s lead investigator, says the children’s bones will be released to the family, who will then lay the boys to rest.

“They likely were very impoverished,” Rodriguez said. “They had normal families like the rest of us, they were going to school like other normal kids. Unfortunately, for reasons that I don’t think anyone will ever be able to explain, they were taken. They were murdered in the woods and we can’t really say for what, but it was obviously senseless.”

When asked about a possible motive, Weidman said they can only make assumptions based on what they know about the family.

“This family was very poor. And we have to look at this as back in 1947, which is a dramatically different landscape as from what it is now. We didn’t have the social security net that we have now … a very rough life. It’s assumptions on why this would have happened, as far as a motive at this point, and probably forever. That’s as best as what we’re going to be able to do.”

Rodriguez adds they believe the boys had at least one additional sibling.

“We’re not sure if there are more. … we’ll be following up with other family members to see what they are aware of.”

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Last May, investigators said they sent DNA taken from the bones of the victims for analysis in the hopes of finding answers in the cold case.

Through Redgrave Research Forensic Services, a Massachusetts-based forensic genealogy company, they were able to identify the maternal grandparents of one of the boys, and constructed a family tree by comparing the victims’ DNA to people who had submitted their own DNA to private companies for genetic testing.

Anthony Redgrave with the genealogy company says most of the DNA was too degraded, but they were able to extract enough from the skull of one of the boys.

“We are able to upload it … to compare it to other living people who willingly uploaded their DNA for comparison with others and who have opted into law enforcement mapping,” he said, adding it’s similar to when people are searching for adopted parents.

“Depending on how distant the relatives are, this process can take a long time … In this instance, we were able to identify common ancestors on the first day that we had the file, and then spent the next 24 days trying to make sure we were in the right family of interest.”

Related: Vancouver police use DNA to look for relatives of 1950s ‘Babes in the Woods’ cold case

For Rodriguez, it was important to find out who the boys were.

“It’s just heartbreaking to know that … there wasn’t anyone who claimed them. I felt that it was necessary to give them names, in order to give them some sense of peace.”