thecrimeshop

The Murder of Donna Marie Sywak and Gordon Clifford Charles Sinclair

June 24, 1992

7561 144 St, Surrey, BC V3W 5S7, Canada

Donna Marie Sywak, 39, and her common-law husband Gordon Clifford Charles Sinclair, 56, were found shot to death inside their home June 24th, 1992.

The police learned of the murders through an anonymous tip that had been called into them that morning. Several resident’s heard around 9 gunshots in the wee hours but it was not until around 6am that morning that anyone telephoned the police.

Both Donna Marie and Gordon were known to the police as well. The police have determined and rightfully so that they were murdered by someone that they knew, yet they have no suspects still.

The caller was eventually tracked down and cleared by the way.

Gordon had been convicted on 17 charges of counterfeiting but had yet to be sentenced, a good reason greason to murder the couple over. The police did admit that they had in fact, visit the home on several occasions prior the murders. They also admit that the counterfeiting could be the reason that the couple had been murdered but since they have no proof they must keep the options open. That is a smart way to look at it actually.

Some neighbors have stated that the couple were quiet, while others stated that they watched cars come and go from the home at all hours of the day and night which makes sense if the couple were still involved in some sort of illegal activities. Without a doubt what so ever, they in fact were.

What makes this case interesting is that the case has been left unsolved so far as well as a great many other cases from the area.  These two victims made it the 4th and 5th murder within a 10 block area in “recent” months. At least that is how one paper put it. That number is exponentially high if we are looking at mere months for a 10 block area.

It means the area is riddled with criminal activity in fact from 2002-2013 Surrey had 76 unsolved murders. That is just unsolved murders, the count does not include solved cases.

From Wikipedia:

In the 1980s and 1990s, Surrey witnessed unprecedented growth, as people from different parts of Canada and the world, particularly Asia, began to make the municipality their home. Surrey is projected to surpass the city of Vancouver as the most populous city in BC by 2020 – 2030

Mike Hager with the Sun in Canada did a report that looked at unsolved murders in what is considered the lower Mainland part of Canada which Surrey BC is a part of. From 2002-2013 they found that in all of the lower Mainland they were looking at a total of 290 unsolved murders. Out of that number they dug deeper and discovered the majority of those that were murdered from that region happened in Vancouver and Surrey, most were men, and almost all of those murdered had some type of ties to criminal activities. Drugs, organized crime, gangs. Almost all were shot.

It is easy to assume that Donna Marie and Gordon were killed because of the counterfeiting, my gut tells me that is only half of the tale. I am leaning heavily towards organized crime. When looking at counterfeiting it is either a one man show or part of organized crime.

Can the case be solved? Of course it can if the police are clever enough to get someone to roll and tell the truth. Organized Crime is tricky sometimes but usually you’ll find one person willing to talk at one point. To take it a step further this person either did or is doing some pretty hard time for other crimes. The trick is finding the known associates of Donna Marie and Gordon and following them to the point of origin. The couple was murdered for a reason and that reason is in fact tied to Gordon’s conviction. Who had the most to lose by him going to prison or talking? He had been convicted of the counterfeiting June 17th, and was subsequently murdered just days after, his sentencing hearing was scheduled for July 29th. A deal may have been on the table still, or someone felt that he was going to try to get a lesser sentence by rolling on them.

So yes the case could be solved still just by following the couple’s paper trail prior to his conviction so to speak. Sometimes, police are not as quick or willing to work hard to solve a murder case if it involves known criminals. That does not mean the police are bad, they just work harder to solve the murder of an innocent over that of a known criminal. 

Cristal M Clark