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You are here: Home / Forensics / OPP defends decision in Karen Caughlin case

OPP defends decision in Karen Caughlin case

June 5, 2011 By Alice

The Sarnia Observer reports that Commissioner Lewis stands by his decision in the 1974 unsolved murder of Karen Caughlin.

“OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis is defending his decision not to hand over the investigation of the Karen Caughlin murder to another police agency for external review.

Lewis, who was in Point Edward Sunday speaking at a Crimestoppers conference at the Holiday Inn, told The Observer a review of the file, quite likely by a service that has less experience investigating cold cases than the OPP, would accomplish nothing.”

Lewis also defended OPP Insp. Ian Maule, who is in charge of the Caughlin case. “Maule is a professional who has solved many cold cases during a career that has earned him international acclaim, he said. “Ian Maule has solved a whole pile of cold cases. He’s been very successful at it.”

A statement released by the Caughlin family Sunday, expressed  sadness at Lewis’ position: “We are very distraught over Commissioner Lewis’ decision without first speaking to our family, as we requested. An informed decision is made when all parties involved are heard.”

In 1974, Karen Caughlin was murdered. She was only 14 years old. On March 15, 1974, Karen went to school as usual. She had made after-school plans to go to a friend’s home. Later they would go to the Rose Garden roller rink. They made tentative arrangements for Karen to stay overnight.

Karen and her friend left the rink around 11pm. They accepted a ride from a couple of boys and left in a pick-up truck. Karen’s friend was dropped off at her home. Karen continued to drive around the area with these boys until Karen was dropped off near her friend’s house close to 1am (March 16, 1974). This was the last time Karen was seen alive.

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Filed Under: Forensics, Unsolved Tagged With: Autopsy, Canada, DNA, Evidence, Forensics, Karen Caughlin, Sarnia, Unsolved Homicide

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Author Notes

On this website, I write about old, unsolved cases. Most are from the pre-DNA era and are in need of renewed media attention. I only do research and leave the active investigation of these cases to the professionals.

My posts are about homicides, missing and unidentified people, wrongful convictions, and forensics as related to these cases.

On book reviews: I only review select works of true crime, crime fiction, and historical fiction/mysteries. The stories have to fit my website's theme and research. It remains my prerogative to not review a book.

My database has over 300 cases listed by the victim’s last name. You will find a brief description there as well. The database will always be free to the public to use. You cannot buy ad space on my website, ever.

All writing suggestions that come in by email are added to my to-do list in the order in which they were received. Please be patient. My to-do list is very long but no case gets dropped and I will get back in touch.

Defrosting Cold Cases is NOT an organization. It is my brainchild.

If you have any questions about my website please check the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, the about page, and the tabs in both menu bars. If you still cannot find the answer there, please contact me.

Thank you,

Alice de Sturler

Copyright

If you use my work, please add a link back. Let your readers know where you found your information. I do the same for you. Thank you!

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright: Please add a link back if you use my work. Let your readers know where you found your information. I do the same for you. If you need help with this, just contact me. Thank you, Alice de Sturler

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