Killing of Hazel Lloyd remains unsolved
By GILLIAN SLADE on February 22, 2020.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade Police say the homicide of a 94-year-old Medicine Hat woman in August 2012 remains unsolved. Aug. 29, 2012 at about 10:30 p.m. Medicine Hat Police Service responded to a fire in a residential apartment in the 200 block of First Street NE. Inside the apartment the body of Hazel Lloyd was found. Following an autopsy, police stated the cause of death was “multiple blunt force injuries which occurred prior to the fire”. “It remains an open unsolved homicide right now,” said Staff Sgt. Chad Holt. That fact that there was fire in the apartment, believed to have been deliberately set, presented some challenges in terms of evidence destroyed, said Holt. Because the crime took place in an apartment building, Holt says, there were initially a number of people who came forward with information. “There were many interviews conducted at the time,” said Holt. In April 2013 MHPS major crimes section announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible. A year later MHPS released three composite sketches of individuals believed to have information related to the homicide. “I can’t get into the specifics of what that was but it did do what we’d hoped it would do – brought attention to it and brought it to the forefront,” said Holt. A routine review of the case was undertaken in 2019, said Holt. A new detective looked at the file from a fresh perspective to see if there was anything that might have been missed initially. Holt says sometimes changes in medical science and DNA testing can trigger new angles to take in an investigation. “It unfortunately did not produce anything new as far as arrests or investigative avenues to follow up on,” said Holt. Lloyd was born Feb. 4, 1918 in Whitewood, Sask. She was raised and educated in the Battleford area. She had been employed by Sterling Distributors for more than 30 years before retiring in 1983, which is when she retired in Medicine Hat. Her son, Wayne, had always declined to comment to the media about the investigation. Holt says Wanye has since passed away. Holt says even though it is so many years since the crime occurred there is still hope that it will be ultimately solved. Sometimes people have been reluctant to reveal what they know out of fear that something may happen to them. “If that fear is removed, or later on in life there is not a concern, or a feeling of guilt,” people may come forward, said Holt. “I don’t know what the odds are of that happening. Not favourable, but possible.” The subject of elder abuse in the community has recently been raised. Holt says there is nothing in the evidence to suggest that Lloyd was subjected to elder abuse in the traditional sense. Police do not know why she was targeted. “It creates another obstacle in trying to determine what happened and why,” said Holt. If you have any information contact the police’s Major Crimes Section at 403-529-8420. 23-22
Hello,
I lived in the apartment directly above Hazel and that night still haunts me.
During the fire, I noticed the Fire Chaplain at the scene and asked him why he was there? He told me that they always come to the scene to help people that may need help or something like that.
I was the last person allowed back into the building because they were some concerns about the air quality in my apartment.
After I was allowed back into me home I was standing on my balcony and the sight of watching the hearse pull up to take Hazel’s body out still haunts me. I have a very serious form of PTSD as a result of childhood trauma. And because of that, I internalize everything. Why didn’t I hear anything, why didn’t I see anything, and then came the police investigation asking me the same questions I was asking myself with no answers.
I remember watching Wayne take whatever was salvageable from his mom’s home and I watched a broken man probably asking the same question I was asking myself and that is, “Why, why did someone do this to a woman that would give you anything she had?
Here we are 7 and a half years later and I still have PTSD induced night terror because of what happened that night. I have a service dog that helps me through most nights, but she wasn’t with me Thursday night because of medical reasons and I didn’t get any sleep that night.
This story reminded me of why.