Charmayne Fay Manke, 24, was the single mother of a three-year-old daughter. She had begun driving for Skyline Cabs two months earlier to save money for her tuition, having enrolled in a veterinary assistant program at Grant MacEwan College The petite blonde was described by Skyline's general manager as "a gentle little thing." A fellow driver said that she "was so small she could hardly see over the steering wheel." Ms. Manke was last heard from at 2 a.m. on Saturday, April 14, 1984. She was parked outside the Flashback nightclub when a man came out of the cllub and offered her an out-of-town trip. She asked the dispatcher for a price quote. The Flashback started as a gay club in 1975 but quickly became one of the most popular night spots in Edmonton. It outgrew its original location and in 1977 moved to an old warehouse building at 103rd Aveue and 104th Street where it remained until 1989. Although it catered to a gay customer base the Flashback attracted a mixed clientele. In the 1980s Billboard magazine named it one of the two best nightclubs in Canada. The building was converted into condominiums after 1989. The man directed Ms. Manke to a motel, supposedly to pick up his luggage for the trip. The man was actually staying at the motel with his girlfriend. The couple had moved to Edmonton from British Columbia a month earlier and wanted to leave the city, but did not have enough money. The man had gone to Flashback with the intention of borrowing money or winning it at pool, but was not successful. While in the motel, the man armed himself with a knife and sat in the front seat of the cab. Witnesses said Ms. Manke's driving from this point became erratic, although she did not radio a "secret" distress code. When Ms. Manke did not return the taxi at the end of her shift at three a.m., it was assumed that she took the car home. Ms. Manke was found dead in a farmer's field near Morinville, about 34 kilometres (20 miles) north of Edmonton, at 7:30 a.m. Her carotid artery was severed and she had been stabbed 12 times in the neck and three times in the head. It was estimated that she died between three and five a.m. The killer got away with between $150 and $200. Ms. Manke was lying on the ground and the taxi was stuck in a farmer's field. There was no evidence of another vehicle in the field so police theorized that the killer left the scene on foot. Witnesses later reported a man of his description hitchhiking south toward Calgary on Highway 2 at about five a.m. Ms Manke's funeral was held on April 18. About 500 mourners attended. It was estimated that three-quarters of the Skyline fleet of 130 cabs were off the road for the funeral. On the same day as the funeral Calgary police, acting on information provided by the RCMP, picked the killer up in a Calgary nightclub. The man was remanded for two weeks to undergo psychiatric examination, after which it was determined that he was fit to stand trial. The trial opened a year later, in April, 1985, but it lasted less than a week before it was brought to a temporary close. A surprise prosecution witness turned out to be a former client of the defence lawyer who, with the agreement of the judge and the prosecution, withdrew from the case to avoid a conflict of interest. [Next column]

The building that was home to the Flashback nightclub at the time of Charmayne Manke's murder. It is now a condominium complex. Photo (September, 2020) by the ECAMP Team. (Source: Ron Byers and Rob Browatzke, History of Edmonton’s Gay Bars, Part 2: A Flashback to Flashback.) The trial reopened in November, 1985. Among other testimony, the killer's cellmate said that he confessed to attacking Ms. Manke inside and outside her taxi, and that when he saw her moving on the ground he stabbed her again. The killer was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. The first-degree conviction was allowed by the Criminal Code of Canada because Ms. Manke's murder involved her forcible confinement even though there was no evidence of premeditation. The killer appealed on the grounds that this Criminal Code provision violated Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The appeal was dismissed by the Alberta Court of Appeal in 1988 but this decision was itself appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1990. The Supreme Court ruled that the Criminal Code section relating to forcible confinement did not violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and therefore the killer's appeal was again dismissed. The Supreme Court's decision in this case has become both a legal landmark and an ongoing source of controversy. Ms. Manke's daughter was left in the care of her maternal grandmother. Three different trust funds were set up on the little girl's behalf. one by her grandmother, one by her grandfather and one by Skyline Cabs. Charmayne Manke's death prompted the Alberta government to establish a provincial "Task Force" on cab driver safety. The Task Torce report, Taxi Driver Safety in Alberta, simply accepted and repeated the industry's conventional wisdom on safety measures especially with regard to the "ineffectiveness" of shields. The report recommended electronic alarms, driver training, cash drops and compulsory health insurance for drivers (for more about the Task Force report, see Manjit Singh Dhaliwal).