Sonya Cywink was last seen alive on August 26, 1994, in Old East London. Four days later, her body was found at Southwold Earthworks National Historic Site of Canada in Elgin County.
In the 30 years since her murder, no one has been arrested.
On this episode of The 519 Podcast, we look into Sonya’s murder and follow the work of her sister, Meggie Cywink, and original investigator Chris Gheysen in their pursuit of solving the case.
Hosted by Scott Kitching
Written and Produced by Patrick Magermans
You can listen to the episode below and read the full transcript just beneath the embedded player.
KATE
In Canada, Indigenous people make up less than 5 percent of the population.
Despite this, near one in five female murder victims in Canada are Indigenous.
They also make up about one in 10 missing women in this country.
It’s estimated that between 1956 and 2016, about 4,000 Indigenous women went missing in Canada.
One of those women was Sonya Cywink.
30 years ago, she went missing from the east end of London.
And while it wasn’t long before she was found, the discovery was not a happy ending.
In fact, Sonya had been murdered. Her body was found four days after her disappearance at Southwold Earthworks, a former Indigenous community in Elgin County.
30 years later, there has yet to be justice for Sonya.
No arrests have been made.
In this episode of the 519 Podcast, we delve into the life of Sonya Cywink, her disappearance, her murder, and the investigation that has yet to find her killer.
Here’s your host, Scott Kitching
SCOTT
Sonya Cywink grew up on Manitoulin Island, a member of the Whitefish River First Nation.
She was known for her kindness and having a way of bringing people together. She was seen as a leader among her friends, who always took the opportunity to help push people forward.
She loved swimming, gymnastics, and organizing plenty of other games and activities to do with her friends.
But as a teenager she was sexually assaulted, and that trauma affected the way she continued to live afterward. She struggled with drug addiction, eventually coming to London as part of a detox program to get help. For a time she was able to stay clean. She was attending meetings and surrounded herself with the right people to continue making progress.
However, her challenges continued, as she would later turn to sex work to support her addiction.
She was last seen alive on August 26th, 1994 near Dundas and Lyle Street in London. She was 24 weeks pregnant at the time of her death.
This is Megge Cywink, Sonya’s sister.
MEGGIE
I had Toronto Blue Jay tickets. And they were good seats, and I wanted, it was on her birthday, and I said, let’s go to this baseball game. And so, I think she had every intention of coming to Toronto to, to be with me to go to that game. Then she didn’t phone, she didn’t show up, and, you know, I was not always, I wasn’t concerned right away. I just thought, okay, you know, maybe something came up. And, you know, I didn’t, I didn’t have a phone number for her. This was before the time of cell phones, obviously, and so I let it roll, I let it slide.
And then that weekend I had a party. Someone’s birthday party at my house. And there were, you know, several people there. And then it was Sunday and then Monday came. I still hadn’t heard from her. And then Tuesday morning I woke up and I said to my roommate, I said, first thing I said in the morning was, I need to go to London. I have to go to London.
My sister worked at Western University and she was driving home from work and it was about 4:30, 5:00 o’clock. She was listening to the news on the radio and she had, she had heard on the news that they had found a woman’s body. And they described what, you know, the woman was wearing and my sister said, when she came home that day she said, she told me about this. And then she said, I thought of Sonya right away, and then she said, no, it’s, it’s, it can’t be Sonya. And then when she described to me what the woman was wearing, or what, what the report said she was wearing, I knew it was my sister. And then probably around six o’clock that night, six 30, um, we received a call from my brother, who was, um, my dad was living in Elliot Lake at the time and we received a call from him and he told us that the police had come by to talk with my dad to let him know that my sister’s body was found.
SCOTT
Sonya’s body was found at the Southwold Earthworks National Historic Site of Canada in Elgin County on August 30th, 1994. It was a 45-minute drive from where she was last seen in Old East London.
Police have never disclosed any details or theories as to how she ended up in that location after being missing for four days.
Very little information from the crime scene itself was ever released to the public. And it was only later, that it was publicly learned that her body showed signs of blunt force trauma.
Chris Gheysen is a retired OPP investigator who worked on the case.
CHRIS
That first day, you know, there’s a convergence of resources. I mean, there’s, uh, and that’s one thing that OPP is well known for, that territorial place. You know, we’ve got, people, you know, detective constables, converging from neighboring detachments, neighboring counties, to canvass that area. You know, they’re, the London area and, you know, canvass households, obviously any businesses, and obviously the forensics identification unit members, you know, are, doing their, their diligent work processing the scene.
And then afterwards, you know, we, again, there’s several teams of investigators, that, are tracking down everybody they can find that knew Sonya. Acquaintances, you know, persons of interest, and interviewing these people.
Sonya was, uh, a sex trade worker in East London. And, she had a, she had an addiction issue, a drug addiction issue. She was supporting her drug addiction, drug addiction challenge as a sex trade worker. So, again, she’s living that, you know, that, high-risk lifestyle
We were dealing with, with, you know, it’s a challenging group of people. You know, a lot of people with addiction issues and, uh, people involved with some cases trafficking drugs, Sex trade workers, escort, people running escort services.
SCOTT
Even at the best of times, many people are reluctant to get involved in a murder investigation. They get nervous, uneasy, intimidated. Coming forward with information isn’t always easy, let alone when you’re involved in a social web of drug traffickers, sex traffickers, and everything else you’d want to keep out of the eyes of the police.
It was a major source of frustration for the investigators and hindered their ability to solve the case. Despite this, they were still able to make some progress.
CHRIS
a couple of persons of interest identified that, you know, was probably the most interesting lead given to us. But, you know, that was something that was followed up on with the persons, you know, interviewed and polygraphed and DNA taken. And then, you know, that was, that was it for the first six months. And then, nothing really, I guess was materializing,
we never really got, at that point, the initial year, got to the stage where we thought, you know, um, we can close an arrest.
Which consequently, resulted in most of the Detective Constable and investigators going back to their home detachments, their counties that they were working previously, with the exception of myself and one partner who continued to work, you know, similar work, follow up, talking to people, and, for another six months before we return to our, our respective detachments and other jobs.
SCOTT
The case seemed to run into a dead end. The resources dried up, no new information was coming in, and in turn, things came to a standstill. As we all know, the case went cold.
It left a wake of unanswered questions and frustrations- not only for the police, but even more so for Sonya’s Family. Because, while the police had some notion of where the case was at and where it was heading, the family knew just as much as the public, which wasn’t a whole lot.
MEGGIE
The OPP Didn’t tell me anything. You know, they still didn’t tell me anything. So I, I don’t know what their theories were. I don’t know if they even had theories of what had happened to my sister. Where she was, where she went, who took her. I mean, I’m totally in the dark about that.
It was an open active investigation. We, there was a lot of, a lot of eyes and a lot of, a lot of resources put, you know, to trying to find out what had happened to my sister. And so they were very tight-lipped. I gave a statement while I was in London to the police. You know, just of who, who Sonya was when I last seen her and stuff. But, I think they were closed lip for a very, very long time. The only way I found out that she had died from blunt force trauma was through a newspaper. The newspaper is how I found out most of my information.
It wasn’t long after that that I sort of became the person, the point person from my family to really be in contact with the police. And I had made many, many calls, many efforts, many emails to ensure that there was clear communications with the police. That any new information would come to me and then I would disseminate it to my family members.
SCOTT
It was as the point person that Meggie came into contact with Chris Gheyson. She would reach out to him for updates on the case as the years passed, and he’d answer what he could. But, the frustrating reality of cold cases is that during their lifespan, which can often be several years….investigators handling the case can come and go.
While Chris’s support and contact with Meggie remained, he had long since moved on from the investigation.
Meggie says there have probably been 12 or 13 different officers assigned to Sonya’s case in the 30 years it’s been open.
MEGGIE
I don’t think that, that families really understand, you know, the progression and, and really, you know, you might have a police officer that you’re working with for a year, two years, three years, and then all of a sudden that police officer is gone. Why? Because opportunities come along and they move, you know, within the ranks of the police services. And so I found that very, very frustrating.
I always respected the police and I always said, okay, they’re doing the job, let them do their job. And then I kept thinking to myself, like, nothing’s happening. Nothing’s happening. And then I, I started to think and, and what can we do? What can we do as a family? And so we decided, okay, well, let’s start doing street campaigns. Let’s, let’s get out onto the street where she was last seen at Lyle and Dundas in London.
SCOTT
The street campaign came at the 25th year anniversary of Sonya’s murder and was a massive effort to bring attention to the case.
They set up tables and were out gathering information for 8 straight days. They put up posters, handed out pins, mounted several billboards- all with Sonya’s face on them. Meggie did interviews on TV, Radio, and print media, looking to gain as much information as possible.
MEGGIE
We were looking for tips and we were, we were working along with Crime Stoppers as well. Chris taught me how to make these tip sheets. And so any, you know, place, person, all the information we needed, we kept it in a file so that once we were done, we would turn it over to the OPP. And then people started reaching out to me around the 25th Memorial. They started, like people that knew my sister, they started coming with stories. And so, some of these things, I felt, deserved some attention. And so these people didn’t want to talk to the police, right? They wanted to talk to a family member. And I think that that is really critical, especially in these, these older cases. You know, people, especially if there’s a criminal element, You know, they want to talk to family because they, they trust family and they want that connection. I, I gave all of that stuff over to the OPP and wanted them to do their investigation in terms of, okay, there’s credible information. Maybe it’s not, maybe it is, I don’t know. But my issue was, I never knew what happened to that information. Once I gave it to them, like, did they even open the file, did they even talk to the people? Well, I found out that the OPP never talked to these few individuals that approached me, that I thought they should be following up on. Well, I know, I’m not an investigator, but it’s like, okay, at least give these people a call, have an interview with them, sit down with them, and it never happened. And so I think, you know, long story short, I really feel as though the OPP didn’t follow through. I really feel that we made a big effort to try to get information to them, but I don’t think the follow-up was, was very good at all. So I really lost my confidence in the OPP. I really felt re-traumatized by putting myself in a position of saying, okay, here I am, a family member out on the street with supports, with family, with my husband and Chris and stuff. And I just said, what are the OPP doing to, to help this along? So yeah, I just, I really did lose confidence in them.
SCOTT
Regardless of how the OPP handled the tip sheets, it can’t be understated that after years almost no new information, Meggie was able to give the case a new life. She was able to gain new perspectives, new theories, and details that could finally bring a resolution to the investigation.
MEGGIE
It’s a mixed emotion because on one hand you, yes, of course, you know, I want, I want this solved. On the other hand, it’s, it’s pretty hard to hear if people are, are even making up stories about what have happened to her. To hear people’s thoughts or ideas around like, the brutality of it. That was really difficult for me as a family member to listen to somebody telling me these, these very, pretty, pretty intense details. But it did, it did motivate me to say, Okay, I mean, what we’re doing is working. You know, what, why aren’t other families doing this?
SCOTT
A few months after the 25th Anniversary of Sonya’s homicide, Chris would retire from law enforcement. And while most people may take this as a chance to step away from the profession, Chris used it as a springboard to dive into Sonya’s case.
He and Meggie had kept in touch through the years. In the beginning, it was more that she would reach out and ask Chris if there were any new details he could give her. Then, in the later years, their contact was more out of support and friendship. But, with Chris now retired, they’ve been able to team up and work on the case together.
They’ve seen a major shift in the case following the success of the Street Campaign, and they’ve been able to continue pushing the investigation forward. Meggie described it as ‘22 or 23 years of very little, and then the last seven years have been lightning speed forward’
The biggest difference they’re seeing- people are starting to talk.
MEGGIE
Chris has always said to me, Meg, people wanna talk to families. And, you know, he’s really instilled that in me. To be open, you know, to, to listen to people with an open heart, to, to be present with people when they’re speaking with me. As, as small or minute as it might seem, their story means something, you know. They’re, they might have one little tiny piece of information that is part of the puzzle. And so, you know, he’s taught me that that is really important to be able to, to, to be that.
I, I honestly feel like, there, there are some, there are some very credible things that we’ve learned over the last five years, and I think the people, several people, that have come and spoken with us, with me, are, you know, you have to wade through some of the B, some of the BS. But I, I think that like if you can weed, you can get through the weeds, I think there are little things that are, are, it’s like a chain. It’s like a link. One thing is leading to the other. And I think it’s all pointing towards the same direction.
CHRIS
Two years ago, we, there are two, well there’s a handful, but a couple that come to mind in particular that we want to prioritize. And so, with the help of another retired officer, he made contact with one person, and she was helpful. She wanted to help. I think she wanted to help even years before. You know, she just, I was trying to get out information, so she, she was helpful, opened up to that other retired officer, agreed to meet with Meg and myself and pretty much, you know, repeated maybe a little bit more detail, which he knew and that led us to another person that was, was, you know, more, more of a challenge to find, um, and to get to open up to us. But, you know that finally did happen earlier this year and, you know, and there’s, there’s, uh, this person had some some really, really good information, which obviously I can’t get into.
I’m not going to say I have some closure, you know, but I certainly feel good about what we’ve learned within the last couple of years and more so recently. So, you know, I’ve got some answers. Which, which give me, hope and make me feel better about, I, I think again, I think, you know, I feel, I feel good about, you know, that for, especially for the Cywink family.
MEGGIE
A lot of things are making sense, even to me, knowing my sister’s lifestyle, knowing who she was involved with at that point in her life, a lot more is making sense.
SCOTT
While they can’t comment on any specifics of what makes this new lead so promising, they are both very confident about where the case is at.
After 30 long years of waiting, what does closure look like for Meggie?
MEGGIE
I really feel as though getting a conviction is not, that’s not important to me anymore. You know, what’s important is finding the truth. What’s important is, is what happened to my sister. You know, what, what was, what were her last hours like? You know, what was that day like for her? That’s, that’s really what I, I want to know about. You know, I, I, that, that’s taking care of myself, that’s taking care of, of feeling like I can, I can close this book, this chapter in my life and I can feel that I’ve done everything I possibly can to, to bring her peace, to bring, bring my family some peace and be able to move forward in my life.
SCOTT
As the new information is now sitting in the hands of the OPP, all we can do is wait and see where it leads. Whether the case concludes in the coming months or years, there are some key takeaways about what got them to this point. Potentially ones that could be used in future cases.
MEGGIE
I think, had it been just me, and you know my family’s on the sidelines, had it been just me, I don’t know if I would have come this far. Like, I don’t know how far I would have come alone, because it’s a lonely world out here, right? But having someone like Chris, who’s so, Has made all the difference in the world.
So, if there were supports, if there was a way for, police services to ensure that family were walking along someone like Chris, to be able to, not necessarily hold their hand, but give them support. I would say that that’s critical, that’s really important because it’s, it’s really scary. And you, sometimes you want to give up and you feel defeated, but there’s somebody else holding you up. And so that that I think is really important.
CHRIS
It just needs to be done. I mean, yeah, I feel, I feel for, I’ve seen other other family members hurting doing interviews. And they’re just they’re just, they’re at the mercy of the police. I mean, they don’t know what the police, you know, they can’t challenge the police, what they’re telling them. You know, if the police say that, uh, there’s no new leads, that the DNA can’t be tested for whatever reason, they’re just not in a position. So I feel for these people, I mean, I just, I can’t, I can’t imagine their frustration.
I mean OPP and other, I’m sure other police services use retired officers, hire them back to work on, background investigations, you know, for hiring, for recruiting, you know. So, I mean, you got to think, not talking about people like me even, but, uh, recently retired criminal investigators, you know, people that have given so much in their respective crime units. You know, hire, if these people want to come back and work part-time, but you get more bang for your buck hiring some of these retirees with sound criminal investigative backgrounds, you know, to be part of an investigative team that would look at cold cases. if there was money solely for cold cases, government funding, um, because otherwise, The pot’s not going to be stirred. People aren’t going to probe and try to dig up new information for these cold cases. You know, there’s just not the bodies and the crime units to do that.
SCOTT
There are plenty of factors that work against solving cold cases. Flawed original investigations, lack of new leads, and as we’ve heard- lack of resources.
But, in an era when Forensic science has been able to accomplish more than ever before, and families have been finding the answers they’ve been looking for- is now the time to start finding the resources? Or, at least considering options like the ones Meggie and Chris spoke of?
MEGGIE
you know, there was, there was a friendship. There was more than just this working, caring, you know, relationship. It was more of a friendship. And so, you know, slowly I began to, to see him and his, and his family as a friendship. And then, as, you know, since he’s retired, I’ll stay with them when I’m in the London area. He’s, he’s become more family. He’s, he’s like a brother, actually, you know. He, his wife is more like a sister. They’re, they’re people that I trust implicitly. They’re, they’re very kind to me, very caring. And, yeah, I never imagined it being this way. You know, 10 or even 15 years ago, but it’s like, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s full circle. It’s like I lost my sister, but yet I gained, I gained two, two incredible people as well. So, you know, and their, and their family. So it’s, it’s, it’s really, really, it’s really lovely.
CHRIS
We just got to know each other and I got to appreciate how good a person she is and I got to, I got to just, you know, think more about Sonya too. Obviously, you know, get to know Sonya through Meg. That sounds, that sounds right, but, how good a person, no doubt, Sonya was. I mean, we can, we can, foolishly misjudge people by the path of life that they’re taking. And as a sex trade worker, you know, but in no doubt there’s a, and Sonya’s one of these many good people suffering with addictions, addiction issues.
SCOTT
Judging people can be easy when you don’t have all the facts. You can take a look at a person like Sonya and have your vision clouded by her drug habit, or turning to sex work.
But, what you don’t see is the person behind the stigma, and the way that people closest to Sonya saw her. That’s how she’s remembered most.
MEGGIE
You know, she was a very, she was a leader. When she was a younger person, she would always be the first one in line to want to motivate people to do things. But yet she always stood in the background.
So she never really wanted the attention. She always wanted to, to motivate people to do well, to do things.
One of the things that she, she would do is, so at Christmas time, they would, they would do, Christmas caroling. And, you know, nobody was doing anything. Um, it was sort of, we would do that in our community. And so, Sonya would gather up, you know, say four or five girls, and they would go house to house, and they would, they would do some chorus. They would do some, some Christmas carols.
She wanted to be, she wanted to bring people together. I think that was more of what, what her personality was. And, you know, I, I think about that now and I think, you know, she, she brings people together. You know, just, just still being gone, she still brings people together. So, you know, she hasn’t really stopped doing that.
One thing I wanted to say, which I only found out about maybe about eight years ago, is she was an incredible poet. She wrote some really nice poetry, and we did something called Shades of Our Sisters, and it was who she was and how she was loved, and it was a documentary on her. But, they, these kids, these, Ryerson students at the time, they found some old books, some old, notebooks of hers. And they started looking through those books and, they found this poetry in these books. And, yeah, just, just really, really talented, really great writer.
she was traumatized as a young girl, right? She was sexually assaulted as a young teenager. And so, you know, I think that that really affected the way she continued to live her life afterward. I think everything was, was colored in a different, set of glasses. And I think that she lived her life, not so much in fear, but more so trying to protect herself in any way she could.
You know, there was a void inside of her and so when she was. You know, when she, I think she, she really wanted to try to fill that void with something. And so she, she filled it with, with drugs and alcohol.
As you get older, it’s like, I think you, you know, I think that I, you know, I think about all these little things, and it’s like, it would be great to, to have her around right now. What would she be like? She would probably not change very much. She would probably be, have all, still have all those great qualities. So, it’s something to, um, aspire to, I think, in life.
She was the kindest sister that I, that I had. She was just, just always full of joy, always just really, I mean, I can’t describe how kind she was, you know, I miss that.
SCOTT
Thank you for listening to this episode of the 519 podcast.
The episode was written and produced by Patrick Magermans.
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