Nearly three-and-a-half-years have passed since Eva Clark last saw or spoke with her younger sister.
In one of their last phone conversations, Eva’s sister, Kara Lynn Clark, said she found a grey strand in her hair just a couple days after celebrating her 28th birthday on May 11, 2017.
“She was a little bit upset about that,” Clark chuckled.
Two months later, Kara was dead — murdered and her body left to the elements. On the afternoon of July 21, 2017, Kara’s body was found in the brush near a creek on Castlemore Road in Brampton.
Her employer had reported her missing three days earlier.
“We found out she had been missing for two or three days at that point and then it was pretty much the next day, was when we were told they found her body,” recalled her sister.
Clark and her mother travelled eight hours from Timmins to get Kara’s body, only to learn three days later her remains were already on the way back to Timmins.
An autopsy revealed Kara, whom her sister described as “shy and quiet” and having “a strong connection with children and animals,” had obvious signs of trauma. Police started a homicide investigation.
Despite the Peel Regional Police investigation, nobody has been arrested or charged to date.
Today, police said all possible investigative leads have been “exhausted” and the case is now classified as “pending further information.”
“This means that investigators will act on any new information in relation to this investigation as it is received,” said Cst. Bancroft Wright.
In the weeks and months following Kara’s death, little information was publicly released. Police did not share details about potential leads or suspects. Only a single release identifying Kara’s body was published by the force.
According to police, “any leads or references to persons of interest would not be shared with general public unless investigators feels it necessary.”
Cause of death has not been shared with the public or family, Clark said.
“They said essentially, (revealing the cause of death) will entrap whoever caused it; it’s a key piece of evidence for them,” said Clark.
The family has some indication of what happened, but no concrete answers.
Since Kara was found with “little to no hair,” the family believed she may have been scalped. However, that theory on the condition of her hair was debunked by investigators.
Kara had recently moved from Timmins to Brampton and was working at a recycling facility. According to Clark, she was living with a boyfriend she met at work.
Clark said during that last phone call with her sister, Kara revealed she had a fight with her boyfriend.
Clark said police were called and charges laid.
Police said there are separate reports in which both Kara and her boyfriend were charged in relation to domestic related incidents, but they would not confirm if the incidents took place during the days leading up to Kara’s murder.
Now, Clark is beginning to wonder if police took Kara’s missing persons report seriously enough. Clark said she and her family were told when Kara’s boss called police to report her missing, the officer didn’t seem to understand the urgency.
It was very strange for Kara to miss a day at work and her boss was adamant to police that it was “completely out of her character,” said Clark.
Eva described her sister as a “shy and quiet” person who loved to sing and game. Eva Clark photo.
As members of the Mishkeegogamang Ojibway First Nation, Clark noted the community has historically found law enforcement slow to act on cases of missing Indigenous women.
Clark also wonders if Kara’s and her boyfriend’s past interaction with the police played a role in the initial missing person investigation. Perhaps if police were aware of the fights, they thought Kara had left and was not necessarily missing, she said.
Despite this, Clark said once Kara’s body was found, a real effort was made by police to find her killer.
Eight detectives were assigned to the investigation.
“She had an awful lot of admirers, so they started narrowing down the (suspect) list and removing some people,” Clark said.
Almost a year had passed since Kara’s death when the police told her mother the case had no leads or suspects and that it was essentially “cold,” said Clark, who also believes the elements destroyed a lot or all forensic evidence in her sister’s murder.
Clark said police did not indicate they had a main suspect.
Police would not comment if Kara’s boyfriend was or is a suspect in the investigation.
Clark hopes a renewed interest in Kara’s story will get the investigation moving forward again; however, she believes there are just too many pieces of the puzzle for police to figure it out on their own.
“I think there’s too many factors; (the police) might have a piece of this, but they don’t have the complete layout.”
If there is anyone who has information in the death of Kara Clark, they can contact the Peel Regional Police’s Homicide and Missing Persons office at ext. 3205.
Anonymous tips can be left with Peel Crime Stoppers at (8477) or can be submitted on the website.
