BEHIND THE CRIMES: Murdered teen's friend left wondering 'what if' nearly five decades later
Nearly 50 years after her best friend was found dead in a field, Ilona Pallagi still wonders about what could have been.
On a summer day in 1973, before Pauline Ivy Dudley disappeared on the way to her boyfriend's place in Milton from her parents' Oakville home on Lakeshore Road, the 17-year-old had called and asked Pallagi to hitchhike together - as the pair often did.
But Pallagi already had plans and declined.
That was the last I talked to her," she said, as she contemplates the what ifs and whether things would have turned out differently had she been able to go.
According to police, Pauline left Oakville at around 10 p.m. on Aug. 20, 1973. The following day, her boyfriend reported her missing. The young woman was never seen alive again. Her decomposed body was found by a farmer in a field in the area of Highway 25 and Lower Base Line in Oakville - just south of Milton - a week later on Aug. 28.
Police said Pauline was found fully clothed, with a hairline fracture in her jaw and her wallet nearby. It was determined there were efforts by the perpetrator to conceal the body under the hay and wheat in the field - all indicating foul play.
The discovery put the communities on edge. There were five young women murdered in and around Halton during the same period, all unsolved at the time.
It kind of scared everybody in the neighbourhood around the area," Pallagi recalled.
Now in her 60s, she speaks fondly of the happy girl, shy and quiet at times, who had been her close friend for three years and remembers their adventurous days - from hopping into the back of trucks to the backcountry and horse riding at a nearby ranch to hanging out at what was known then as Hopedale Mall, where their mothers worked at an eatery.
The pair, who had matching purses, attended the former General Wolfe High School.
We had plans to do stuff together. We did things together and then she wasn't there anymore," she said.
With Pauline gone, Pallagi didn't stay long in Oakville and eventually headed west.
I had to carry on until I could leave home ... and have a life," she noted.
Pallagi has theories on who might be responsible for her friend's death. But whoever did it may not even be alive anymore, she said, and she hopes that the killer lived a life of misery.
Det. Sgt. Trevor Bradley of Halton police's homicide unit said in a phone interview that solving the Pauline Ivy Dudley mystery, like other cold cases, gets more challenging with time as memories of those who may have information fade.
Also, information about the case may die with individuals who actually have knowledge or understanding of what happened.
There were several suspects in the past but the investigation never went beyond the point where the police could lay charges.
While advancement in forensic science brings hope, Bradley said that police don't have a DNA profile for an offender in this particular case. A motive was also never established.
Regardless of the length of time that a case sort of has been active or unsolved, we still keep it open and ... we're always looking at avenues of investigation," said Bradley. Our homicide tip line is always open for anybody that chooses to give us information because ultimately we want to solve them all ... It's never too late to reach out."
For Pallagi, time could never erase the bond that she shared with Pauline. Not very far from where she lives - at a village up in the Rockies in British Columbia - Mount Pauline stands 2,650 metres tall. In a way, she sees it as her dear friend's namesake.
I think about her all the time," she said. She's a part of me."
-With files from David Lea