Case: 95-030477
Name: Helen Gillings
Murdered/Body Found: February 17, 1995
Location: Hamilton, Ontario
Date Of Birth: 1976
Age: 19
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color:Dark Brown
Race / Ethnicity: Native / Aboriginal / Indigenous
Gender: Female
Distinguishing Characteristics: Petite size
A Little Bit About Helen's Case:
Helen Gillings was a 19 year old Hamilton resident known to frequent the area of King and Emerald Street in Hamilton. She was distinguished by her petite size and long straight dark hair. Helen Gillings worked in the sex trade and is said to frequent a bar at the corner where King and Emerald Street North meet called the Straw Hat. . At approximately 5:00 pm Friday February 17, 1995 her body was found in an alley at the rear of 483 King Street East in Hamilton. She was naked and stuffed beneath an overturned couch in the dark and dirty alley behind a King Street East apartment building, a short walk from the bar. She had been strangled. She was only 19 years old. It is unclear if she was killed in the alley or if her body was dumped there. She was last seen alive entering this alley with a male at approximately 1:00 am Thursday February 16, 1995.
A Little Bit About Helen:
Her life was never easy. She was born in Kenora, Ontario and was adopted by the Gillings family when she was four years old - along with her younger sister. The siblings were raised, along with the Gillings own son, in the small farm town of Sundre, Alberta, 100 km north of Calgary.
Helen was bright. She loved animals and drawing, but not school. By 12, she was rebellious and had run away from home several times. By the tender age of 14, she was living on the street. Helen's adoptive parents were not Indigenous. In that time there wasn't the resources and support where they lived that they have now, but her parents loved Helen and tried their best.
When she turned 16, Helen moved to Toronto where she met Jerry, who was five years older. They moved to Hamilton together in 1994 into a place on Wilson Street, just before their first daughter was born. Neighbours said when Helen arrived, she was petite and pretty, with long, shiny hair and big dark eyes. She usually wore a sweatsuit and was pleasant to talk to. But life wore her down quickly and she aged before their eyes. Jerry once told 'The Spectator' that Helen had 'turned her life around', however Hamilton Police Service and various neighbours saw she was working in the sex trade.
Jerry and Helen had been evicted from their apartment for not paying the rent. A neighbour claimed to see a man throw Helen out of an apartment lobby where she had gone to get warm. "She landed face down in the gutter and the guy just walked around her," the neighbour said. On Jan. 26, 1995, Helen had a second daughter. She was born prematurely, weighing just three and a half pounds. St. Joseph's Hospital kept her there. Less than a month later, Helen would be murdered. Heher family did not come to Hamilton for her funeral. Her newborn baby was still in the hospital and her first born child was just two years old. Both of her daughters were eventually adopted.
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Homicide Unit at (905) 546-3801Hamilton Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477)
Submit a Tip on this website.
*The Hamilton Police Services Board is now offering a reward of ten thousand ($10,000) dollars, to be paid in Canadian funds, for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for this murder. Claims will be recognized only when made in writing and final disbursement of funds will be determined by the Chief of Police.*
Sources:
CBC Case Profile
Crimestoppers Hamilton
23 years after her unsolved murder, Hamilton remembers Helen Gillings
