The morning of January 20, 1983 started off like any other day for the Murrell (pronounced Murl) family. 5-year- old John and 6-year-old Tania (pronounced Tohn-ya) were eating cereal for breakfast when their aunt, Vera Stortz, arrived at their rented bungalow located at 10426 - 145th Street. Stortz and her nine-month-old son, Dustin, were dropped off by her common law husband, Gary Rothermal, at about 7:30am. Stortz had been babysitting her niece and nephew for three years.
Tania and John's father, Jack, left for work shortly after Vera arrived. Before their mother, Vivan, left a half hour later at 8am, Tania told her mother she could not find her backpack so Vivian placed Tania's school stuff in a Safeway bag and taped it up. As John and Tania headed out the door their aunt asked them what they wanted for lunch and they chose macaroni and cheese. Then the young siblings walked towards Grovernor Elementary School, located at 10345 - 144th Street where Tania was in grade 1 and John was in kindergarten.
Vera was preparing the macaroni and cheese as requested when John walked in the door around 11:20am. Brother and sister normally walked home from school together but on that day, John arrived home all alone. Vera called Vivian to tell her that Tania had not arrived home for lunch. John told Vera that other students at the school said that Tania went to a friend's house for lunch. With baby Dustin and John in tow, Vera knocked on the door of that friend's house, only to find out that Tania was not there. When she returned to the Murrell house, Vivian had already arrived and Jack was on his way home.
Knowing immediately something was not right, Vivian went to the school to see if Tania had returned to class after lunch. Sadly, the Safeway bag she had used that morning in place of her misplaced backpack was all they found.
The official police report states that Tania was heading home for lunch on January 20, 1983. Police say that she left through the doors at the south end of the building at about 11:10am and without waiting for her brother John's class to finish, headed towards home. A teacher at the school is said to have watched her walk away. They did not have anyone stating anything different until 30 years later when Tania's best friend, Brandy-Jo Ewashko, who was also a 6-year-old in Grade 1 at Grovenor Elementary School on January 20, 1983, says that she knows that Tania was not going home that day. When asked why it took her 30 years to mention this, Brandy-Jo stated that she thought she had mentioned her exchange with Tania that day to several people. She says she was standing outside the north doors of the school that day when Tania came up to her and asked if she wanted to walk with her to the 7-11 for lunch as she had some money. Brandy-Jo told Tania she could not go as she had gotten in trouble with her mother for not waiting for her brother, Peter, the day before that. She stayed at the school and ate lunch with her brother and that was the last time she ever saw Tania. On January 20, 1983 the 7-11 Brandy-Jo says Tania was walking to was located at Stony Plain Road and 147 Street.
At the time of her disappearance Tania was 3'5" or 3'6" tall, and weighed 45 pounds. She has blonde hair and brown eyes. Her ears are pierced and she has a birthmark on her right temple. Tania was wearing a black Harley-Davidson T-Shirt and green corduroy pants. Tania had dressed herself that morning as she had complained the clothes her mother had picked out for her were too tight. She was also wearing brown boots and a blue winter coat with a white fur collar. Tania was 6-years-old at the time of her disappearance, born on June 20, 1976.
Tania's younger sister, Elysia, who was born on November 12, 1984, believes that the sister she never met is still alive, having been abducted and brainwashed by a woman who could not have children of her own. This theory cannot be ruled out as there is a tip from a realtor who told police that around the time Tania vanished, he had seen an older woman walking with a child across 144 Street near 104 Avenue. The woman and the child from this sighting have never been found. The realtor said that the child seemed to fall and that the woman was either helping or dragging the child.
It is widely believed that Tania was abducted and murdered by the only person of interest in her disappearance, a family friend, known to John and Tania as Uncle L. Uncle L died in August of 2016. Edmonton homicide detectives say that the prime suspect in Tania's disappearance was working outside on the morning of January 20, 1983 and does not have a solid alibi. The results of his polygraph conducted in 1983 were inconclusive. John says that his mom, Vivian, said that after Tania disappeared Uncle L was weird sometimes and probably did it.
At the time of Tania's disappearance, the largest search ever mounted in the city up to that point, covered more than 1,900 square blocks, including ravines and alleys. The search was suspended after three days and the investigation turned over to a team of eight detectives. No trace of Tania was ever found. [6] According to Ed Cornell and Don Heth, who in 1983 had begun reviewing 18 RCMP searches over a span of two years and who had also examined the published reports of other searches conducted, determined Edmonton police did nothing wrong in the search for Tania. Cornell and Heth learned that 75% of children who are truly lost, are found within 2 miles (3.2 kilometres) of the spot they were last seen. They say it is likely an abduction when a child is not found within that area.
Tania's family never stopped searching and have not given up hope that the little girl with the bright smile, who hated getting dressed in the morning and changed her outfits repeatedly and who loved to sing - and to sing loudly, will be found. On the 25th anniversary of Tania's disappearance, her mother, Vivian, wished that she could find her daughter before she died. Vivian said there was not a day that went by where she did not think about her daughter and that her disappearance devastated the entire family. Vivian said Tania's disappearance affected her everyday, it aged her and she suffered a brain aneurysm. Tania's younger brother, John, started a life of crime in his 20s going in and out of jail but he refused to blame his choices on the disappearance of his sister. He did admit that it tore his family apart. His parents split up in the late 1990s. His father, Jack, passed away in 2005 and then his mother, Vivian, in 2011. Vivian never did get her wish - to see her beautiful daughter before she died. As if the Murrell family had not suffered enough loss, John Murrell died in February of 2015. Elysia Murrell is the only surviving member of her immediate family.
When interviewed on the 25th anniversary of her daughter's disappearance Vivian said that she believes Tania was placed on this earth so that missing children will be recognized. There was nothing in place to help the Murrell family at the time but Child Find Alberta, Canada's first child search agency, was founded in 1983 because of Tania Murrell. We The Missing podcast (coming soon) and website was also started because of Tania Murrell. I was 8 years old when I heard that Tania, who was only two years younger than me, went missing. This was the first time I understood that children could go missing. I hope to help bring her and missing children all over the world, home. We can't bring them home if no one even knows they are missing. So please help spread the word and details about missing children - for Tania.
Here is a link to a google map I created of Tania's school, her home, where the realtor witnessed the woman and the little girl walking and the location of the 7/11 her friend Brandy-Jo says she believes she was headed.
If you have any information that can help solve the disappearance of Tania Marie Murrell, please contact:
Edmonton Police Service: 780-423-4567; eps@edmontonpolice.ca Reference Case#: 83-009284
Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-TIPS(8477) or online at https://www.canadiancrimestoppers.org/tips Crime Stoppers provides anonymous tipping
Missing Kids at 1-866-KID-TIPS(543-8477)
Send email to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains at: canadasmissing-disparuscanada@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
RESOURCES:
What Happened to Tania by Byron Christopher, published April 17, 2020
Edmonton Sun - January 18, 2013 - Gary Poignant - 30 years later, friend of missing six-year-old Tania Murrell still has nightmares (for some reason I am receiving an error when I try to access this article - it was working when I used it as a resource)
The Vancouver Sun - February 5, 1983 - Richard Helm - Edmonton clings to hope
Edmonton Journal - January 29, 1983 - Ron Chalmers - Police strategy correct in search for Tania, say 2 experts, pg 13
Global News - Caley Ramsey - Child Find Alberta begins steps to permanently close doors
Edmonton Journal - November 21, 1985 - Richard Watts - Mom hopes new picture will help in finding Tania, pg. 26
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