Three ordinary teenage girls were sex trafficked and murdered in Victoria in 1990/91.
Back then, the media portrayed the girls as ‘teen hookers’ and prostitutes.
Now, it is understood the sexual exploitation of youth should never be considered prostitution or consensual.
Episode two of a new true crime series podcast series ‘Sweethearts’ is continuing to shed light on who the girls were and exploring why their cases remain unsolved.
Cheri Lynn Smith. (Supplied)
Eighteen-year-old Cheri Lynn Smith was six months pregnant when someone took her life. Her body was discovered in a wooded area in Saanich in September 1990.
“As a little girl, Cheri was just the most adorable child you could hope for. We couldn’t have been happier to have such a loving little girl in our home,” Cheri’s father Ed Smith said.
Cheri is involved in her church, part of a puppet troupe called ‘The God Squad,’ and a peer counsellor who reads the bible daily. Cheri is outgoing and popular. She plays the flute and piano, baseball and ringette. Cheri is a B+ high school student attending Catholic school in Regina.
Midway through Grade 9, Cheri’s life becomes turbulent. She is acting out, drinking and partying.
“We felt like we had lost our lovely little girl with whom we’d had a wonderful relationship all through those growing-up years, but suddenly everything changed. And so the high school years were really difficult times for us because we just couldn’t connect with her,” Linda Smith, Cheri’s mother, shared.
Cheri meets a boy in the summer before Grade 12 at Regina’s annual ‘Buffalo Days’ fair. Cheri falls hard for the young man, telling her parents she is in love. Just weeks later, Cheri moves to Edmonton with her new boyfriend. But the young man is a pimp, luring Cheri into a life of sexual exploitation. Before her death, Cheri is trafficked in cities across Western Canada.
Kimberly Gallup. (Supplied)
Seventeen-year-old Kimberly Gallup was found strangled to death at Victoria’s Colony Motor Inn on Nov. 21, 1990.
As a child, Kimberly Gallup loves animals and playing outside. She plays soccer and baseball and goes to Disneyland.
Kimberly enjoys reading Nancy Drew and is a huge Bon Jovi fan as she grows older. Kimberly’s a Kansas City Chiefs supporter long before it was fashionable. She is also into car racing and is a trophy model at the Western Speedway. Kimberly dreams of one day being a flight attendant.
Kim’s father, Del Gallup, recalls her as being as high-spirited as a teenager.
“She didn’t really want to come home. She didn’t want rules. She didn’t want any structure. She wanted to come and go,” Del shared.
Kim is attending high school in Sidney when she begins being trafficked into sex work.
“She had, uh, pimp for lack of terminology. A boyfriend, she called him,” Del added.
Melissa Nicholson’s body was discovered off the side of a road in Shawnigan Lake, in June 1991.
“Melisa was just the most adorable little thing. She had long blondish hair. I used to braid it, and I often said that it would look like honey. It looked like when you are pouring honey, and you see the different colours as it’s dropping into the bowl. When she smiled, it was like a big cheesy smile. Her face lit up, so everything was sparkly. She was just a joy,” Melissa’s stepmother Linda LeFort said.
Melissa’s brother Christopher Nicholson recalls picking berries with her in the summers. Her brother Shawn Nicholson describes Melissa as caring, always watching out for him even though he is her older sibling.
Melissa had a chaotic childhood after her mother and father divorced. She attends alternative schools and hopes to train as a hairdresser. But Melissa struggles and is on the street on and off from the age of 13.
Jasmin Nicholson was only seven when her big sister was killed. She has no memories of Melissa. She feels like she was robbed.
“The only thing that we have is that she was a prostitute, and she was murdered. That’s what’s told. That’s the narrative. It was her fault. My whole life, it was an embarrassment. And there’s no healing in a family for family when that is your only outcome.”
Cheri Lynn Smith’s parents became early pioneers in the fight against sex trafficking in Canada. Their Christian faith sustains them through the darkest of times.
“For us, the core is our faith in Jesus Christ that no matter what happens to us, God loves us. The difficult things that happen to us make us better people when we reach out to God and ask for his help in these situations,” Linda Smith said.
Kimberly Gallup’s parents are no longer together. Both try to hang onto cherished time with their daughter.
“We cannot bring her back, so the best we can do is try and keep her memory alive, keep our memories of her as happy as we can, and remember all the wonderful times we had,” Barb Gallup explained.
Police returned the clothing Kim was wearing the night of her murder to her father: a denim mini skirt, white belt, pink ruffled shirt and high spiked heeled boots. Del gets rid of them; they are nothing but sore memories. But Del still holds onto a tiny handmade ladybug made by Kim as a child.
“Kimmie made me a ladybug from an egg carton with a little pipe cleaner antenna. It’s in a little display case in my living room,” Del Gallup said. “I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I may never know what happened or why, but I would sure like to know. “
Police responsible for investigating these homicides declined to comment on the cases. When contacted, the Saanich police department, Victoria police department and the RCMP all confirmed they would not provide any information regarding the investigations at this time.
If you or someone you know may be a human trafficking victim, call the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-833-900-1010.
‘Sweethearts’ is a series for the Frequency Podcast Network. You can listen to this series and other Island Crime episodes on all podcast platforms.
Rogers is the parent company of this station and the Frequency Podcast Network.