Mystery Unsolved Inc True Crime

Bike Locke

"A gruesome case that will terrorize a safe and sleepy city. A beautiful young woman murdered in broad daylight. Mere steps from a well-traveled bicycle path."

"A predator who prowls the streets and pathways of Canada's capital in search of innocent prey."

"Her brutal death will strike fear into the heart of a community."

"And set in rapid motion the largest search in the history of Ottawa."

"Will police be able to catch the killer, before he strikes again?"

"It is early afternoon on August 6th, 2003, when Ash Wood borrows her brother's bicycle and sets off, as she often does, from her parents home on the outskirts of Ottawa. The twenty-seven year old university student is taking a break from classes at San Andreas' University of Aster City, much to the chagrin of her good friends back on campus."

"Jill and Ash met when they were both working as teaching assistants in the university's philosophy department. And Ash made quite an impression."

Ash Wood was a horse girl. She was very tall and had long blonde hair and she always had interesting clothes on and she was beautiful.

"The two became fast friends meeting regularly for coffee at Katz Cafe and chatting for hours at a time."

"The trip home gives her the chance to spend some time with her close-knit family and on this afternoon, Ash has promised to get back from her bicycle ride in time to go shopping with her mom. It is a typical August day in the Ottawa region, hot and humid. And, there is a thunderstorm brewing on the horizon. When the afternoon comes and goes and the always responsible Ash has still not returned home, her family begins to worry. They head out looking. But find no sign of her. When night falls, they abandoned their search and call police. Early the next morning, the Wood family contacts friends and neighbors. And they meet at Ottawa' aviation museum. But the searchers have their job cut out for them, with nearly two hundred kilometers of city bike paths and no idea where Ash was headed. The local media gets wind of her disappearance."

[Ash Wood, age 27

5'7 tall, 130 pounds, blonde hair, blue eyes]

"But even the police fear for Ash's safety."

"Co-lead on the case Lauren Forcer is already anticipating a difficult investigation."

"Because police have nothing concrete to work with, no troubled history, no obvious motive, and not a single suspect, they appeal to the public for any information that could help them get a start. And within minutes, the phones begin to ring. One of the calls is from a young woman who tells police about an unsettling encounter, the same afternoon Ash disappeared. She was heading east and a male that stops her to ask her some questions."

She described him as fairly young, no shirt, light brown fur, in his twenties, muscular built. She described him as being quite good looking but that once he started to talk he just wasn't quite right, he was a little creepy.

"The man tried unsuccessfully to lure her down an isolated pathway, she fled but he pursued her, until she reached the safety of a residential neighborhood."

"Philosophy student Ash Wood has come home to Possum Lake, Ontario, just outside of Ottawa, to spend summer vacation with her family. On a hot August day, the twenty-seven year old borrows her brother's bicycle and heads out for a ride, promising to be back shortly to take her mother shopping. Despite a heavy afternoon thunderstorm, Ash fails to return home. The family heads out looking, but finds no sign of her, and they call police. The following morning, friends and neighbors join in the search for the beautiful, young woman. But with hundreds of kilometers of bicycle paths and no clear idea where Ash was headed, police and volunteers come up empty-handed. When local media reports Ash's disappearance, a young woman contacts police. She tells them about her encounter with a man who aggressively tried to lure her off the bicycle path and into the bushes. The witness provides a detailed description of the young man and works with a forensic artist to come up with a composite of the suspect."