Seeing Red in Nanaimo — The Case of Lisa Marie Young
Her disappearance is part of the bigger epidemic facing Indigenous women
Passionate and athletic, Lisa Marie Young wanted to become a television sports announcer. From Nanaimo, British Columbia, she went out with friends to a nightclub on June 29, 2002 to celebrate a birthday, when their plans for the evening changed. A stranger joined them, striking up conversation, inviting them to a house party in his distinctive maroon Jaguar.
Hours later, Young’s phone sent out distressed messages, then nothing.
The person she was last seen with had more than just a criminal record.
Marelene “JoAnne” Martin Young, her mother, was a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, part of the Nuu-chah-nulth Indigenous people, who live in the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada in fifteen related tribes.
It was Dallas Hulley’s birthday that Lisa Marie Young, 21, wanted to enjoy alongside him. Having just met the unfamiliar man, Christopher William Adair, they went from one house party to the next, staying out until Sunday morning. At one point, Young voiced that she was hungry, but as a dedicated vegetarian since childhood, there were very few options for her there.
