Unsolved since 1967. Pontypool, Ontario, in the City of Kawartha Lakes.
Who killed Billy Hall?
Billy Hall was 16, from North Sydney, Nova Scotia. On July 19, 1967, he left Port Credit, Ontario, to look for work on the tobacco farms. Twelve days later he was found shot in the bush near Pontypool, Ontario.
Billy’s murder is 59 years old and still open. The evidence was kept. In 2017 police reported DNA from more than one person, and new fingerprints. What the case needs now is a name, and names come from people.
If you know something, say something.
Send it to someone who lived in Port Credit, Bowmanville or Pontypool, Ontario, or in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, in 1967.
The case at a glance
WhoWilliam B. “Billy” Hall, 16, of North Sydney, Nova Scotia. He was working in Port Credit, Ontario, in the summer of 1967.
Last seenWednesday, July 19, 1967. He cashed his pay and set out to find tobacco work near Bowmanville, Ontario.
His carA black 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air, found beside the Don Valley Parkway in Toronto, Ontario. Police said it had been there since July 22.Billy’s black 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air. Did you see it in July 1967?
BuriedIn Bowmanville, Ontario, as an unknown youth, before anyone knew his name. He was identified on August 3. Today he lies in Holy Cross Cemetery in North Sydney, Nova Scotia.His memorial stone in Bowmanville Cemetery, Bowmanville, Ontario: “In loving memory of our dear brother.”
EvidenceThe OPP reopened the case in 2015. In 2017 police reported DNA from more than one person, and new fingerprints. No match has been reported.
ChargedNo one, ever.
Reward$50,000 from the Province of Ontario for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
“Somebody has the clue that can blow this wide open for us.”
Det. Staff Sgt. Paul Rosato, OPP, March 2017
$50,000
Reward for information about the murder of Billy Hall
The Government of Ontario is offering a total reward of $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder of William Hall.
Paid for information that leads to an arrest and a conviction.
Shared “as deemed just” by the provincial minister responsible for policing and the Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police.
No expiry date.
Crime Stoppers may also pay a cash reward of up to $2,000 for an anonymous tip.
OPP Special Circular 16-02, February 28, 2016. Tap to read the full notice. The notice on the OPP’s website opens in a new window.
What happened
A teenager came to Ontario to make something of his life. Twelve days after he set out, he was found in the bush near Pontypool, Ontario. Here is what is known, from the 1967 newspapers and the police’s public statements.
Summer 1967Port Credit, Ontario
He came to make something of his life.
William B. “Billy” Hall was born on July 23, 1950, and grew up in North Sydney, Nova Scotia. Like many young Maritimers, he came to Ontario for work. That summer he lived on Indian Road in Port Credit, Ontario, and did “a variety of chores” in the back shop of Hollywood Kitchens. He was quiet, and he loved to bowl. In June he bought a black 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air.
“He was like any other teenager: he liked to have fun, to drive his car and so on. He was a good worker and did whatever he was told. We were sorry to see him go.”
Hollywood Kitchens, where Billy worked. The Weekly, Port Credit, Ontario, August 1967.
July 19Wednesday Lakeview, Ontario, and Highway 401
He left on a Wednesday.
Billy cashed a pay cheque for $49.18 at the Royal Bank in Lakeview, Ontario. He said he had met someone, whom he did not name, and that the two of them would travel together to find work on a tobacco farm. The OPP says he left “to look for work in the tobacco fields in the Bowmanville area.” A co-worker tried to talk him out of it. Billy told him he “had to go and make something of his life.”
The same day, a motorist picked up a young hitchhiker on Highway 401. The young man said he was bound for Cobourg, Ontario, for tobacco work, and that he owned a 1956 Chevrolet V8 automatic. The driver let him out at Bowmanville, Ontario. Police also said Billy himself was “in the habit of picking up hitch-hikers.”
He may have been early. That week the Manpower office in Lindsay, Ontario, said the tobacco harvest was not expected until late in the first week of August.
July 22Saturday Don Valley Parkway, Toronto, Ontario
His car sat beside the highway.
According to the police, highway records showed Billy’s Chevrolet on a construction site beside the Don Valley Parkway, just south of Highway 401 in Toronto, Ontario, from July 22: three days after he drove away. Either Billy left it there, or someone else did.
July 31Monday Manvers Township, near Pontypool, Ontario
He was found twelve days later.
At about four in the afternoon, a highways department workman found the body of a young man in the bush off the second concession of Manvers Township, about fifty feet from an old roadway. The place is near Pontypool, Ontario, now part of the City of Kawartha Lakes.
He had been shot in the back of the head and had been dead about two weeks. Police believed he was killed somewhere else and left there. Before anyone knew his name, he was buried in Bowmanville, Ontario, far from home.
August 3Thursday Bowmanville, Ontario, and Toronto, Ontario
A name, and “a million-to-one chance.”
On August 3, fingerprints identified him as Billy Hall. That evening OPP Inspector J. S. Kay, driving back toward Toronto, Ontario, passed a car with a flat tire on a construction site beside the Don Valley Parkway. It was Billy’s. A Toronto daily said the inspector found it by “a million-to-one chance.”
August and September1967 Port Credit, Ontario, and the tobacco farms
“Nobody saw him.”
Detectives canvassed his employers and the tobacco farms, and walked the streets of South Peel, Ontario, with “a blurred snapshot.” A $2,000 provincial reward brought no response.
“We’ve covered hundreds of people, but we have come up with absolutely nothing.”
OPP Inspector J. S. Kay, August 1967
2015 to 2017The case reopened
The evidence was kept. It still speaks.
In June 2015 the OPP reopened the case in its review of old unsolved homicides. The Centre of Forensic Sciences re-tested the evidence, including items from the car and the scene. In 2016 the Province of Ontario posted a $50,000 reward.
In March 2017 police announced the results: DNA from more than one person, and new fingerprints. Both were run through the existing databases. No match has been reported.
Today Billy lies in Holy Cross Cemetery in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, under a stone dated July 31, 2017: fifty years to the day after he was found. His surviving siblings are still waiting for an answer.
NowSixty years on July 31, 2027
Why now.
DNA science now names killers in cases older than this one. What it needs is a name, and a name usually comes from a person.
Anyone who saw Billy, his car, or the person he travelled with in July 1967 is now in their seventies or older. Some told their children. Some never told anyone. If that is you, or someone you love, this is the moment.
Do you remember the summer of 1967?
A detail that seemed small then may matter now. So may a story you heard at home.
Questions that still need answers
Who was the “someone” Billy said he would travel with?He never gave a name. A friend, a co-worker, a stranger he had just met?
Was the hitchhiker let out at Bowmanville, Ontario, Billy himself?The young man said he owned a 1956 Chevrolet. If it was Billy, where was his car?
Did Billy give the wrong person a ride?He was known to pick up hitchhikers. Did anyone ride in a black ’56 Chevy that week?
Who left his Chevrolet beside the Don Valley Parkway in Toronto, Ontario?It was there by July 22. Did anyone see it arrive, or see who walked away from it?
Where was he killed, if not where he was found?Police believed he was shot somewhere else and left in the bush near Pontypool, Ontario.
Whose DNA is on the evidence?DNA from more than one person was reported in 2017. One name could change everything.
You may know more than you think
You knew Billy in Port Credit or Lorne Park, Ontario, or at Hollywood Kitchens.
You got a ride from a young man in a black ’56 Chevy that July, or gave a ride to a teenager headed for the tobacco farms.
You worked tobacco around Bowmanville, Kendal, Orono, Pontypool, Burketon or Cobourg, Ontario, that summer, or hired help early in the season.
You remember a young man from the East Coast, about 5′10″ with long brown hair, looking for work in mid-July 1967.
You saw a black Chevrolet on the construction site by the Don Valley Parkway and Highway 401 in Toronto, Ontario, in late July.
You heard a gunshot near the second concession of Manvers Township, near Pontypool, Ontario, or the talk at the kilns, the hotel or the coffee shop after he was found.
You were at the funeral of the unknown boy in Bowmanville, Ontario, or heard the story told in your family.
However small. However long ago. Even if you think the police already know.
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This site was created and is maintained by Jason Ward, a retired Certified Specialist in Civil Litigation and co-owner of WARDS LAWYERS PC in the City of Kawartha Lakes, Ontario.
He is helping Billy’s surviving siblings to solve his murder. He volunteers only - he does not receive compensation for his help. It is never too late; if you know something, say something.
Every fact on this page comes from the 1967 press, the Ontario Provincial Police’s published reward notice and later published reports. No one is accused here. Please do not speculate about anyone online. Send what you know through the form instead.
