VPD working with Dutch police on decades-old missing person cold case
Posted August 19, 2026 1:11 pm.
The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) confirms it is working with police in the Netherlands to identify a man who may be the subject of a missing person cold case from more than 30 years ago.
On its website, the Politie Amsterdam says that for the last three years, they have been trying to identify a man known to them only as “Lucky,” who is in the hospital in that city. According to the Politie, Lucky is dealing with a medical condition that has left him unable to communicate.
This week, Dutch police put out a video asking the public for help identifying the man.
This appeal led to suggestions that Lucky looks similar to John Russell Kenny, an Ontario man who went missing in Vancouver in 1994. According to online speculation, Lucky may have been an English speaker known on the streets in the Netherlands as “Chris the Canadian.”
The VPD says its Missing Persons Unit is “actively collaborating” with the Politie and Interpol to determine whether Lucky and Kenny might be the same person.
According to the VPD’s cold case file, Kenny was “transient in nature.”
Amsterdam police say two retired officers who are now volunteers with the department’s cold case team took over the case and have discovered Lucky had been a member of an Amsterdam Buddhist community.
An RCMP missing persons description says Kenny was 34 years old on May 22, 1994, when he went missing from Vancouver, where he was living with no fixed address.
The VPD says the investigation is ongoing and it will provide an update if a positive identification is made.
VPD Cst. Megan Lui tells CityNews that Amsterdam police are also assessing five other persons of interest.
— With files from The Canadian Press.
