The Unsolved Murder of Sherri Lee Hiltz
Location: Kamloops, BC
Date of birth: 1963
Sherri’s date of death: April 9, 2005
On the morning of Saturday April 9, 2005, Sherri Lee Hiltz was found in a vacant lot in the 800 block of Surrey Avenue in Kamloops, British Columbia. Sherri was last seen alive the previous evening on Tranquille Road.
Investigators determined she died from blunt-force trauma to the head. While police identified her through fingerprints, her killer has never been caught. At the time, her death was one of several unsolved murders involving women in the Kamloops area, though police were hesitant to confirm direct links between them.
Sherri was 44 years old when she died. She was said to be in recovery from drug addiction and had also alleged by law enforcement to engage in survival sex worker. It is unknown if law enforcement believes that the person who brutally took Sherri’s life was involved in either of these two aspects of her life.
Over the years, there has been speculation that Sherri’s murder is connected to Shana LaBatte’s murder.
The Unsolved Murder of Shana Ile LaBatte
Location: Kamloops, BC
Date of birth: 1973
Shana’s date of death: March 23, 2004
Shana’s body was found on the morning of March 23, 2004, by a couple walking near a trail in Mission Flats, just west of the pulp mill’s effluent ponds in Kamloops. She was last spotted between 4:00am and 5:00am on the day of her death at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Seymour Street, near a 7-Eleven.
Witnesses reported seeing her enter a late-model Ford Explorer shortly before she disappeared. In 2006, the RCMP released a composite sketch of a man believed to have been with her and shifted focus to a white pickup truck. The man was tracked down and he admitted to having spent time with LaBatte on the night she was killed – and driving the brown SUV police had been looking for – but successfully passed a polygraph and was ruled out as a suspect.
At the time of her death, Shana worked part-time as a hotel cleaner but also allegedly engaged survival sex work as well as suffering from substance use disorder.
Possible Connections
Both women’s cases have similarities due to the their lifestyles and the geographic proximity of the crimes. Sherri and Shana’s bodies were found approximately 15 minutes from each other.
For a time, both of these murders were suspected to be connected to Heather Hamill’s. Heather’s boyfriend was arrested in 2007 during the “Mr. Big” Sting after confessing to Heather Hamill’s murder. He admitted to striking her dozens of times – some reports say upwards of 50 to 60 times – using a hammer, mallet, and sledgehammer.
First trial began in 2009. He was convicted of second-degree murder but successfully appealed the verdict in 2013. Second trial was in 2014 where he claimed to have acted in self-defense, alleging Heather had threatened him and his young son with a machete. The jury rejected this claim and found him guilty of second-degree murder again in December 2014. In 2016, he initially filed a second appeal but later abandoned it, effectively ending the legal process.
On May 9, 2006 Thomas Svekla is arrested and charged in Edmonton with second-degree murder in connection with the 2006 slaying of a prostitute. There is speculation Svekla might be linked to the Kamloops’ murders, but he is eventually ruled out as a suspect. He was convicted of second-degree murder in 2008 and declared a dangerous offender two years later.
On January 7, 2008 police in the Lower Mainland announce a pair of second-degree murder charges against Davey Mato Butorac, alleging he killed two prostitutes in 2007. There was initially some speculation he could be involved in the murders of Shana Labatte and Sherri Hiltz, but nothing came of it. Butorac was convicted of both Vancouver-area counts in 2010. He was later charged again with another second-degree murder charge but this time in relation to a 2006 murder in Langley. In 2015, following a retrial, he was again found guilty of murdering Sheryl Koroll. Later that year, he pleaded guilty to the murder of Gwendolyn Lawton as part of a deal that also addressed the Margaret Redford case. As part of the 2015 plea agreement for the Lawton murder, the Crown stayed the second-degree murder charge against Butorac for the death of Margaret Redford. He was never convicted of this crime, although he remains the primary suspect identified by investigators.
Butorac is currently serving a sentence of life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 18 years.
To date, no charges have been laid in the murders of Sherri Lee Hiltz and Shana Ile LaBatte
If you know anything about Sherri or Shanna’s cases, please contact any of the following:
Kamloops RCMP: (250) 828-3000
Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-TIPS(8477)
Online at: https://www.canadiancrimestoppers.org/submit-a-tip/submit-a-tip
Crime Stoppers provides anonymous tipping
Source: Armchair Mayor, Castanet Kamloops, Kamloops this week, Global News, RCMP
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