Summer Cut Short: The 1977 Rosedale Murders

Update: 2024-09-02

Description

Episode 333: On the evening of July 18, 1977, five local teenagers were relaxing, drinking and listening to music near Ferry Island Park on the banks of the Fraser River just east of Chilliwack. It was a beautiful summer night.

At 9:40 p.m., a man appeared from the underbrush armed with a rifle and, without a word, began shooting. Four of the teens were killed: Brothers from Rosedale, Jan Christiaan “John” Den Hertog,16, and Evert “Ed” Den Hertog, 19, Egbert “Bert” Menger, 19, of Clearbrook and Rosedale resident Leola Corrinne Guliker, 16. The killer sped off in Evert Den Hertog’s truck, while the only survivor, fifteen-year-old Adrian “Eddie” Menger, Egbert’s younger brother, fled and sought help.

The terrified community, stunned by the senseless slayings, began burying their dead while police sought a killer. More than a month later, they had their man — 23-year-old Walter Murray Madsen of Chilliwack. Madsen had then dumped all four victims into the Fraser, hoping the water would hide the evidence of his horrific crime.

Madsen’s bizarre motives for the shootings and further plans were revealed at his trial in 1978. Leola Guliker’s body was not found until nine months after the shooting, just days after Madsen was sentenced to life in prison for her killing and the three others.

Sources:

https://thereach.pastperfectonline.com/byperson?keyword=Madsen,%20Walter%20Murray

walter madsen sentence 1978

CRIMES ON TEENAGERS IN THE FRASER VALLEY | Victims and Vandals

http://richardislivingwithals.blogspot.com/2013/03/bert-menger.html

walter madsen

The Old Man in the rain

CRIMES ON TEENAGERS IN THE FRASER VALLEY | Victims and Vandals

http://pgplweb02.lib.pg.bc.ca:8080/fedora/get/pgc:1978-04-12/ilives:viewerSdef/getViewer

Full text of "The Daily Colonist (1977-09-01)"

https://newspaperarchive.com/medicine-hat-news-sep-02-1977-p-2/

Apr 14, 1978, page 9 - Red Deer Advocate at Newspapers.com