Michael Dunahee

Case background and investigation

Michael Wayne Dunahee was four years old when he went missing in Victoria, British Columbia, on Sunday, March 24, 1991. According to the RCMP's Canada's Missing database, he was at the Blanshard Elementary School playground with his parents and his younger sister. Victoria News and CBC News report that the family had gone there for a flag football game, and that the area was busy with players, families and spectators.

According to Wikipedia's account, which cites Canadian news coverage, his mother Crystal was taking part in the football and his father Bruce was nearby when Michael asked to go to the playground, a short distance away. He disappeared at about 12:30 p.m. CBC News reported that he vanished only a short distance from his family. No witness to the disappearance itself has been identified.

The RCMP listing describes Michael as about three feet tall and 51 pounds, with short blond hair, blue eyes and freckles beginning to show on his nose. He was wearing a blue hooded jacket with red lining and cuffs, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirt, multicoloured rugby pants and blue canvas sneakers.

CBC News reported that hundreds of volunteers and officers from several police agencies carried out an extensive search. The Victoria Police Department, which leads the investigation, has treated the case as a suspected abduction, according to Wikipedia. On the 30th anniversary in March 2021, a police spokesperson told CBC News that more than 10,000 tips had been received. On the same day the department released an age-enhanced forensic sketch showing how Michael might look at 34, prepared by a police forensic artist working with the family, and opened an online tip portal.

Several men thought to resemble Michael have been investigated over the years. Wikipedia, citing news reports, records that DNA testing ruled out men in British Columbia in 2006, 2011 and 2013. These details rest on that secondary summary and should be treated with some caution.

Michael's family has continued to campaign publicly. An annual Keep the Hope Alive walk and run is held in Esquimalt each March and raises money for Child Find BC; Victoria News reported that the 35th event took place on March 29, 2026. Around the 35th anniversary, Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers and police renewed their appeal for information, and CTV News reported that the case remains unsolved. The RCMP lists the Victoria police file number as 91-10349.