Evelyn Dick ( MacLean, born October 13, 1920) was a Canadian woman convicted of murder until her pardon in 1985. Her trials remain among the most sensationalized events in Canadian criminal history.

Background and case

Dick was born in

Beamsville, Ontario Beamsville (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 Urban area estimated population 13,323) is a community that is part of the town of Lincoln, Ontario, Canada. It is located along the southern shore of Lake Ontario and lies within the fruit belt of the Niagar ...

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immigrants Donald and Alexandra MacLean. A year after her birth, her family moved to 214 Rosslyn Avenue, Hamilton, Ontario. Her father worked for the Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) as a streetcar conductor She was suspected of and arrested for

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

after five local children in Hamilton, Ontario found the torso of her missing estranged Russian husband, known as John Dick. His head and limbs had been sawn from his body and — as later evidence revealed — were disposed of in the furnace of her home at 32 Carrick Avenue. She was defended in her first murder trial in 1946 by J.J. Sullivan, convicted and sentenced to hang, but her lawyer J.J. Robinette appealed her case and won an eventual acquittal. In the meantime, however, a partly mummified body of a male infant was found in her attic, encased in cement in an old suitcase. The infant was identified as her son Peter David White. She was tried for the baby's murder in 1947 and sentenced to life in prison, but was paroled in 1958 after serving only eleven years in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

's Prison for Women, with a new identity and job and disappeared from public view and her file was permanently sealed after her 1985 pardon.

In the media and popular culture

A well known school yard song, (with a double entendre) at the time of the murders went as follows: :''You cut off his legs...'' :''You cut off his arms...'' :''You cut off his head...'' :''How could you Mrs Dick?'' :''How could you Mrs Dick?'' The Forgotten Rebels used these lyrics for the song "Evelyn Dick" on their ''(Untitled)'' album in 1989. In 2001 Canadian author

Brian Vallée Brian Michael Vallée (1940–2011) was a Canadian author, journalist, documentary film producer, screenwriter, and public speaker. He is best known for his work reflecting on domestic violence and his role with CBC's award-winning documentary prog ...

authored '' The Torso Murder: The Untold Story of Evelyn Dick'' a book focusing on Dick's murder trial and subsequent disappearance. A 2002 television film, '' Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story'', suggests Dick protected her parents, who were also viable suspects in the murder of her baby and husband, and that she was sexually abused by her father and exploited by both parents (especially by her mother) to provide them a higher standing and income. The movie was originally scheduled to be aired on September 11, 2001, but was delayed until March 18, 2002 due to the terrorist attacks on the original air date. The case was also the subject of the 2005 film noir musical, ''

Black Widow Black widow may refer to: Spiders * Black widow spider, a common name for some species of spiders in the genus ''Latrodectus'' American species * ''Latrodectus apicalis'', the Galapagos black widow * ''Latrodectus curacaviensis'', the South Amer ...

''.

References

Sources

External links

Evelyn Dick - The 'Torso' Murder

Torso Murder (Evelyn Dick) series in the Brian Vallée archival fonds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dick, Evelyn 1920 births 20th-century criminals Canadian female murderers Canadian people convicted of murder Canadian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Filicides in Canada People acquitted of murder People convicted of murder by Canada People from Hamilton, Ontario People from the Regional Municipality of Niagara People paroled from life sentence Possibly living people Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Canada

Background and case

In the media and popular culture

References

Sources

Further reading

External links