From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michael Wayne Dunahee (born May 12, 1986) is a missing child from Victoria, British Columbia who disappeared when he was five years old, presumed to be abducted, and has never been found. He disappeared from the playground at Blanshard Park Elementary School, also known as the Blanshard Street Playground, in Victoria, British Columbia on March 24, 1991. Michael was last seen around 12:30 P.M. playing at the school playground as his mother, Crystal Dunahee, was participating in a softball tournament and father was a spectator. Michael was abducted meters from his mom and dad. No witnesses to Michael's disappearance ever came forward.
Michael's disappearance spawned one of the largest police investigations in Canadian history and to date, over 11,000 tips have been received by police. The case was a major story for many years, being reported across Canada and in the US. Despite the large number of tips, and a $100,000 reward, police do not have any solid leads in the case.[1]
Michael's mother Crystal has become an advocate for missing children's issues in British Columbia, and currently serves as the president of Child Find British Columbia.[2] In 2002, Crystal lent her voice to support the R.C.M.P. in calls to introduce an Amber Alert system in BC, stating that she believes her son would have been found had such a program existed in 1991.[3] The system has since been implemented in most regions of Canada.
The community of Esquimalt, part of the Greater Victoria metropolitan area, holds an annual charity event called the Michael Dunahee "Keep the Hope Alive" Fun Run to raise money for Child Find. 2006 marked the 15th annual run.
In 2006, strong tips, and reports of a young man who would be Michael's age now, living in the interior of BC who arrived there in 1991, who looked like Michael, breathed new life into the case. For several weeks, news stations carried the story that the Michael Dunahee case had been re-opened after several strong leads, perhaps bringing a conclusion to what happened to Michael. However, nothing came out of the leads, and the report of the young man in the interior of BC was determined not to be Michael after DNA testing was done.
