Killer Wives: Evelyn Dick

For over 170 years, there had been horrendous murders in Hamilton, Ontario, but people across the country couldn't believe that such a young and attractive woman could be involved in such an unimaginably grotesque crime. Let's talk about Evelyn Dick, AKA The Torso Killer.

John Dick & Evelyn MacLean

John Dick was born in 1906 in Halbstadt, Russia. His family moved to Ontario in 1924 and is one of the many German-speaking Mennonites fleeing the Russian Revolution. In the 1940s, John moved to Hamilton for work, and in 1943, he landed a job with the HSR as a bus and streetcar driver.

Evelyn and her family moved from Beamsville to Hamilton when she was an infant. As an adult, she was an escort and prostitute, and police believed that she slept with over 150 men. She always had the money for lavish clothing, parties, and presents and supposedly made a down payment on her Carrick Avenue home herself.

John, unfortunately, married 24-year-old Evelyn MacLean in a small ceremony against her parents' wishes in 1945. The couple fought regularly about indiscretions and money. Within days of marriage, she slept with her boyfriend, Bill Bohozuk, who was later involved in John's death.

The Crimes

On March 16th, 1946, five Hamilton school children found a headless, limbless torso with bullet holes while hiking in the woods outside Hamilton, Ontario. The torso belonged to 39-year-old John Dick, who was married to Evelyn for only six months. He had two superficial bullet wounds in the chest that wouldn't have killed him. 

Pathologist Dr. William Deadman said the bullet holes in the torso were superficial and wouldn't have killed him. He also said John's cause of death was likely a gunshot to the head, something that couldn't be proven as it was burned along with his limbs. A .32-caliber, five-shot handgun was used to shoot and murder John Dick and was found at Donald MacLean's (Evelyn's father) home on Rosslyn Avenue.

During the investigation and trial of Evelyn Dick, police searched Evelyn's home, where they found the body of her baby son, Peter David White. His body was found suffocated in a suitcase encased in cement at her home.

The Trials

Suspicions quickly turned to Evelyn, who spun a string of lies about mafia hits and boyfriends. Her trial dominated Canadian headlines. Despite her connections in high society, she was convicted of murder in 1946 and sentenced to death. Unfortunately, the verdict was appealed. There was a second trial in the death of John Dick, but Evelyn was acquitted.