Sweethearts podcast: Examining the possibility of a serial killer on the Island

Shaun and Christopher Nicholson believe it’s likely their little sister Melissa Nicholson was murdered by a serial killer. 

“I really think she was killed by a serial killer, honestly. I don’t believe that the person knew her. I love British Columbia, but it’s a messed up place with a pig farmer and all them weird people,” Shaun said.

“I couldn’t imagine the pain and suffering that she went through during the time this monster decided he was going to take her life. I would like to grasp his life from him, just the way he did to my sister,” Chris added.

The body of the 17-year-old Esquimalt teen was found in the bushes south of Shawnigan Lake on June 11, 1991, just a few days after she went missing, on the night of June 7.

Melissa is one of three teenagers murdered in the Victoria area between the summers of 1990 and 1991. All three were last seen in downtown Victoria, being sex trafficked on the old ‘stroll.’ Their stories are featured in a new true crime series called the Sweethearts podcast, the latest season of Island Crime.

The cases are being investigated by three different police jurisdictions and remain unsolved.

Melissa Nicholson’s case rests with the RCMP’s E Division Major Crimes Unit. The Saanich Police Department holds Cheri Lynn Smith’s file, while Kimberly Gallup’s case is with the Victoria Police Department.

At the time of the young women’s murders, police were unable to establish a connection between these cases or any of the other women who had gone missing or were murdered. 

“There was absolutely nothing that I’m personally aware of that would say that they’re linked. We could not establish a link between them, other than they’re in a dangerous business,” said retired Victoria Police Major Crimes Detective Don Bland.

The Sweetheart murders take place before the arrest of William Robert Pickton and Gary Ridgeway, the so-called ‘Green River Killer’ in Washington state.

Crime writer and podcaster Eve Lazarus broke the news in 2023 that Vancouver’s ‘Alley Killer’ was responsible for six murders of women working in the sex trade between 1988 and 1990.

Now, more than 30 years later, it appears Saanich police are considering the possibility a serial offender may have been operating in Victoria at the time Melissa Nicholson, Cheri Lynn Smith, and Kimberly Gallup were murdered. 

Retired Saanich Police staff sergeant Chris Horsley served as a media liaison. Speaking on the Victoria Police Union podcast, Horsley revealed:

“I have absolutely no doubt, no doubt at all, that there was a serial killer in Victoria killing street workers. There are just so many, I think it was up to seven or eight, that were either missing or murdered. And, although some of the circumstances were different, there were enough similarities there. And, of course, the fact that we have so few murders, it was rapidly clear that someone was committing these crimes about a two to three year period in our area.”

Police authorities on each of the three cases have thus far declined to comment, citing open and active investigations.

Dr. Michael Arntfield is an expert on serial offenders and a professor and criminologist at Western University.

“The Pacific Northwest of the United States has been deemed significant in terms of serial offenders. Some of the more notable ones have emerged out of there. We already know about the linkage between climate and crime, but on top of that, there seems to be, if not a disproportionate number, certainly noteworthy offenders emerging from that area. So, the fact that this is all happening in B.C. around the same time, it’s not entirely surprising,” he explained.

Arntfield believes there’s a reason serial predators focused on women in the sex trade and the teens being sex trafficked at that time.

“Officials may tend to be less inclined to consider the existence of a pattern because there are certain preexisting stereotypes assigned to the victims. And serial offenders know this. They target vulnerable groups because they’re available and vulnerable and there was sort of a forensic countermeasure advantage whereby offenders often know that these cases will be sort of consigned to the dustbin,” he said.

But retired VicPD Detective Bland rejects the idea that cases like those of Kimberly Gallup, Cheri Lynn Smith, and Melissa Nicholson would have been less vigorously investigated.

“There was absolutely no difference in my experience to anybody I worked with or any investigation I did. The victim’s a victim and you do everything possible to find the perpetrator. It doesn’t matter what they did for a living or who they were or anything else. I’ve heard that lots of times, you know, ‘you didn’t investigate it because they’re a prostitute,’ which is total crap.”

Melissa Nicholson’s brothers still hold out hope that there could yet be justice for their sister. But they have different perspectives on what they want to see happen if and when a suspect is ever identified.

“I’d like to see this person caught. And I’d like to be in the courtroom. It’s been a long time, but it’s still very emotional. I would enjoy seeing this man go to prison for life. I’d like to see him executed. You know the laws of Canada and how you do things, you don’t have that benefit for people like this,” Chris Nicholson said from his home in New York.

“If I was to give this guy a message, I forgive him. I prayed for God to forgive him, because I can’t go on living this anger for the rest of my life. The guy must be carrying some type of guilt or shame, the person might want to make amends,” added Shaun Nicholson.

If you or someone you know may be a human trafficking victim, you can call the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-833-900-1010.

‘Sweethearts’ is a series for the Frequency Podcast Network. You can listen to this series and other Island Crime episodes on all podcast platforms.

Rogers is the parent company of this station and the Frequency Podcast Network.