The Bushman's Lair by Paul McKendrick

Author:Paul McKendrick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: John Bjornstrom, Fugitives, justice, British Columbia, Shuswap Lake, Thieves, Biography, Escaped prisoners, prisoners, True crime
ISBN: 9781550179231
Publisher: Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd.
Published: 2021-04-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Hunakwa

“I’ve gone a little bit overboard on some things.”

John Bjornstrom

When RCMP officers from the Kamloops District Major Crime Unit interviewed Bjornstrom after his arrest—a pleasant diversion from their typical investigations, they acknowledged—they tried to coerce him into disclosing the location of his hideout on Hunakwa Lake. “If I give you everything, then I have nothing,” he countered. They argued that safety was a concern if firearms were stashed there; they didn’t want to risk the weapons falling into the wrong hands. Bjornstrom reassured them that he had camouflaged it extremely well to avoid such an outcome. Still they persisted.

“What if another resourceful person comes along?” they asked. “They’re going to find it.”

“You have to know where it is to see it,” he maintained. “It has two feet of earth on top of it and it’s surrounded by over two feet of earth as well. You can look at it and you won’t see it.”

“Sounds like it’s up that quad trail, I’m just guessing,” suggested one of the officers.

“There is no trail.”

“Where that creek runs down there.”

“There is no trail.”

“Little trail with a creek running down on the north side.”

“There are many, many creeks out there.”

But Bjornstrom did provide some details in that RCMP interview that gave clues to its location. He told them he would hike the trail from Anstey Arm and then canoe to his camp on Hunakwa. He said the structure was roughly thirteen by sixteen feet and the stovepipe extended about forty feet up the hillside under two feet of earth, so it was presumably located at the toe of a steep slope.

It’s possible he used explosives to create it. He did have some familiarity with explosives from his trucking days, and he testified at his trial that he had taken explosives from cabins—including a type of dynamite called Geogel, used for seismic work, as well as explosives used for road construction. However, he also explained, he had used only a chisel and hammer to carve out the less remote Anstey Arm cave.

The Hunakwa camp must have been located close to a creek, as he generated electricity with a micro hydro generator. And given that he was picking up moss and replacing it to avoid leaving a trail, the location was likely not too far from the lakeshore.

“I’m truly looking forward to seeing this,” said one of the officers.

“Well, you’ve got a challenge.”

“Well, don’t underestimate our guys.”

“No, I don’t underestimate ’em, but . . . uh . . . don’t underestimate me either.”

According to Sergeant Jim Harrison, the RCMP never bothered to look for the hidden lair—a sensible decision given the description they had received. And after nearly two decades of believing the cave had been his principal lair and witnessing the effort that had gone into its construction, I didn’t think I would look for it either. It was almost unfathomable to me that he could have established a second home on an entirely different lake farther north. But the various accounts he gave were tough to ignore.

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