The Murders of Jay Cook & Tanya Van Cuylenborg
In 1987, Jay Cook and Tanya Van Cuylenborg were a young couple from Saanich, British Columbia. Jay, 20, and Tanya, 18, had met in high school. They’d been dating for six months when the two decided to visit Seattle to pick up a part for Jay’s father’s business.
Jay and Tanya left in Jay’s father’s 1977 Ford Club van, taking the ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, Washington. They drove southeast on Route 101 to Bremerton before embarking on another ferry to Seattle. They fueled up at least once along the way.
When the couple failed to return home on November 9th as they planned, their families began to worry. They had not contacted their families at all, so they reported them missing on November 20th.
A Gruesome Discovery
Four days later, Tanya’s body was found in the ditch of a rural road near the town of Alger, not far from Bellingham. She’d been raped and bound with plastic ties before her murderer shot her. Initially, the police wondered if they should pursue Jay as a suspect, but both families denied that he could ever kill Tanya. Investigators continued their search.
The next day, Tanya’s wallet and keys were found in Bellingham at the Greyhound station. Investigators found the van just a few blocks away, containing plastic ties, receipts for…
