‘Panic in our city’: The grim anniversary of a Saskatoon serial killer

WATCH: A local historian captured the story of a serial murder in Saskatoon in a YouTube documentary recounting the capture of a Saskatchewan killer.

We don’t often think of serial killers when we think of Saskatchewan cities, but Tuesday, Aug. 12 marks a rare and grim anniversary in Saskatoon.

A local historian captured the story of the murder of four children in a YouTube documentary to mark the 50th anniversary of the deaths and arrest of the killer.

“This should be the only child serial killer ever in the history of Saskatoon and there are some stories that have had a great impact on the history of our city. Unfortunately, this is one of the worst ones,” historian and author Terry Hoknes told CTV News.

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It was the summer of 1975. The case had city residents gripped in fear.

“Thousands of children weren’t allowed to go out, parents who were in fear for their children’s safety and this affected the whole city,” he said.

It started on June 15 when a boy and girl, ages nine and 12, went missing in a residential area on Saskatchewan Crescent East.

“That this was where the children had last been seen and their bikes were locked up. We’re standing roughly where it happened.”

Just over a month later on July 26, near the train tracks on Central Avenue in Sutherland which were then home to The Igloo restaurant, two girls, seven and eight-year-old, were last seen.

A reward got as high as $10,000. It was provided by various residents. Businesses offered employees up to join search parties. Saskatoon residents were desparate to solve the mystery.

“That’s really what it kicked the panic in our city. Parents don’t trust their children going anywhere or being out of sight,” Hoknes said.

Both locations where the kids were taken from were well populated.

“What David did, was he went and offered to buy the kids ice cream and all the children went for it, and that’s how he got them into his car.”

He is speaking about David Threinen who admitted to the murders and led police to the shallow graves outside of the city where he hid the bodies on August 12th, 1975.

Then 27-year-old, Threinen admitted to attempted abductions of other kids also.

He is now serving a life sentence, according to Hoknes, saying he had been moved to various prisons from Saskatchewan to B.C. to New Brunswick over the years.

Hoknes has been interested in Saskatoon history most of his life, having authored books on the subject. Releasing a documentary about this case on YouTube, on the anniversary was an important project for him, feeling compelled to honour the victims.

“The memory of these children and it’s hard to believe that 50 years just gone by.”

According to Hoknes, the Block Parent program began in Saskatoon after this case with many wanting to see something positive come out of the sadness. It was a program started in 1968 in Ontario aimed at identifying homes where children could go if they needed help.