If it wasn’t a Fraser Valley serial killer, who killed Michelle Choiniere 20 years ago?
Four sex-trade workers were found dead in the Fraser Valley two decades ago, Davey Mato Butorac is serving a life sentence for two of those homicides
Margaret Redford was found dead in Bertrand Creek in Aldergrove On May 20, 2006,
On March 13, 2007, Gwendolyn Lawton’s body was found by municipal workers in Abbotsford part-way down an embankment in a rural park.
Then on July 7, 2007, Sheryl Koroll’s body was found in the early hours in an industrial complex in Langley.
And on Dec. 7, 2007, Michelle Choiniere’s skeletal remains were found on Vedder Mountain in Chilliwack.
All four were sex-trade workers in the Fraser Valley, vulnerable women who were addicted to illegal substances. All four were murdered in horrific circumstances.
On Dec. 29, 2007, Davey Mato Butorac was arrested by the RCMP as the main suspect in the killing of Lawton and Koroll. He was later charged with the second-degree murder of both women based in part on DNA evidence found in his Chevrolet Cavalier.
He was also later charged with the murder of Redford whose DNA was also linked to him.
In 2010, Butorac was convicted of the murders of Koroll and Lawton. That was overturned on appeal in 2013. Then after a retrial, a jury found him guilty of the Koroll murder in 2015. He then pleaded guilty to the Lawton murder, and he was given two life sentences with no chance of parole for 18 years to run concurrently.
The Redford family never got closure and a scheduled 2014 trial apparently never happened. As the community reeled from a possible serial killer in the Fraser Valley, Butorac was linked as a possible suspect in Choiniere's murder. She had gone missing in 2005 but wasn’t found until December 2007. At the time, Integrated Homicide Investigation Team spokesperson Cpl. Dale Carr said Butorac hadn’t been eliminated in the Choiniere case.
“However, it’s our belief he is not responsible for her death,” Carr said in January 2008.
“We say that because in 2006, IHIT did a comprehensive investigation into the missing case of Michelle, where we treated it as a homicide. During that investigation there was a person of interest identified. However, it didn’t lead to charges and the file remains open.”
Somewhat cryptic. Was Butorac that person of interest or someone else? Regardless, Carr said it was their job to eliminated Butorac as a suspect in the killing, a murder that wouldn’t have totally fit the pattern because Choiniere was just 24 years old, while the other murdered womenwere more than 20 years older.
Still searching for answers
Who killed Michelle Choiniere?
IHIT and her family are still looking for answers.
“It has been twenty long years since my beloved niece, Michelle Caroline Choiniere, was taken from us,” Monica Choiniere said in a statement included in an IHIT news release issued this week, the 20th anniversary of her disappearance.
“Michelle was just 25 years old and pregnant when her life was stolen. We have lived with heartbreak, questions, and silence ever since.”
Monica raised Michelle as the girl’s parents had their own struggles. She was originally from Rivers Inlet, a coastal First Nations community near Bella Bella. Michelle’s mother is First Nations, her father is not. She grew up in Burnaby with hopes of one day working in the fashion industry, having children.
Michelle was protective of her mother who was addicted and worked in the sex trade in Vancouver, a world that Michelle would eventually get pulled into as well.
In the summer of 2005, plans were made for Michelle to go to the Okanagan to a treatment centre to change her life for the better with the help of her aunt Monica.
"But when the day came I was to pick her up at her apartment, she had disappeared. I couldn't find her, the police couldn't find her."
She was reported missing a couple of weeks later, her body not found for two years on Vedder Mountain.
Renewed search
IHIT often issues renewed calls for help on anniversaries of certain homicides. In a release issued on Wednesday (Nov. 26, 2025), IHIT said the agency remains open to new information to further the ongoing investigation into this cold case.
She was last seen in the Guildford area of Surrey on or close to Sept. 27, 2005.
Twenty years later, it’s obvious that someone out there knows what happened or at least has important information that could help IHIT’s investigation, help give some closure to the family.
“To the person responsible: you hold the truth,” according to a statement attributed to Michelle’s family. “You know why her life ended that way. While nothing can ever undo the pain, you still have the power to give Michelle the dignity she deserves and provide the answers we have sought for so long.
“I am not seeking vengeance – just answers, truth and peace.
“Michelle's life mattered. Her memory will never fade. Please, help us find justice.”
IHIT spokesperson Sgt. Freda Fong said the case remains open and that IHIT believes individuals have knowledge about the death who haven’t come forward.
“It is not too late to do the right thing. You could hold the piece of information that could bring closure to her family.”
Sgt. Fong said she is looking into whether or not Butorac was ever totally eliminated as a possible suspect in the Choiniere murder and what happened to the Redford charge. This story will be updated when a response is received.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the IHIT Information Line at 1-877-551-IHIT (4448), or by email at ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.
Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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Paul J. Henderson
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