Daughter of historical hit-and-run victim speaks out in RCMP video

CITYnews halifax / By Natasha O’Neill

In a video released by the RCMP, the daughter of a hit-and-run victim details her life without her father, who died on a roadway in 1985.

It was a clear night in Pictou, RCMP Inspector Mike Ingles said in the video aimed at spurring public attention on the 40-year-old case.

Anthony (Tony) Burke, 29, was at a friend’s house on Wellington Street on March 27, 1985. There was an altercation, and Burke left the home and was seen walking down the street. At around 9:48 p.m. he was struck by a vehicle.

The suspect vehicle was a blue car, possibly an AMC Gremlin, police said. The driver left the scene, with Burke in the street.

Another motorist who witnessed the incident went to help him, but he died shortly after. RCMP now say they believe the same suspect vehicle is still in the province.

Open Gallery 6 items

“I think about the moments lost, the memories stolen. You took them away from me before I even got a chance to know him,” Shauna Collier, Burke’s daughter, says in the video.

Collier was 12 when her father was killed. She said she went to see her grandmother multiple times to get more of the truth of what happened, but Burke’s mother was “clearly” grieving the loss of her son.

“But eventually she did tell me that he was killed by someone in the town in a hit-and-run accident,” Collier said. “She also told me

that he was hit so hard that he was unrecognizable and that the hit was intentional.”

RCMP believe the vehicle is in Nova Scotia

Cst. Daniel Ronaghan started at the Pictou County RCMP detachment in November of that year and is still working on the case today. He said that all the evidence from the scene was taken and kept in a locker.

Police say they are using state-of-the-art DNA technology to try and see if further clues will help them identify who killed Burke.

“We’ve got some information that the car is still around and we’re seeing if we can narrow it down,” he said in the video.

Collier wants closure and to understand what happened to her father that night.

“I’ll never know what parts of him live in me,” she said. “His ways, his laugh, his mannerism. Would he be proud of me? But instead he was killed instantly. And he deserves better.”

Anyone with information about Burke’s death is asked to contact Pictou County District RCMP at 902-485-5441.

To remain anonymous, contact Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submit a secure web tip at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca, or use the P3 Tips app.