Tuesday’s announcement from Barrie police that they are looking closely at a recent tip regarding the unsolved death of Dale Sams jogged a lot of memories for those who remember the fatal hit-and-run in April 1997.
One of those people is a childhood friend who is still hoping for answers and the case to be solved.
Sams, 18, was killed by an unknown driver when he was struck by a vehicle while walking home in the early hours of April 26, 1997 along Big Bay Point Road, between present-day Prince William Way and Sandringham Drive.
Michael Gennings and Sams were childhood friends and grew up not far away from where the deadly collision occurred. The two knew each other from the age of three and did lots together in their younger days.
“We both grew up in what was called Bayshore Estates area off of Big Bay Point Road. I lived on Spruce Crescent and he lived on Pine Drive. We were right around the corner from each other,” Gennings told BarrieToday. “We went to Warnica Public School, but weren’t in the same class as I was a year older.
"But we rode our bikes together, went to Beavers and Cubs together, played baseball and Lego together. We would ride the school bus everyday together to public school and high school. We were childhood friends and knew each other very well," he added.
Gennings said they both attended Innisdale Secondary School and by the time high school rolled around, they had begun hanging out in different social circles. But the friendship remained.
“We talked all the time. We would see each other in the hall or outside and stop and chat,” he said. “We had known each other since we were very small. That friendship stays.”
Gennings recalled the last time he saw his friend. It was at the Tim Hortons on Fairview Road the day before Sams was killed.
“I last saw him on the Friday (April 25, 1997) before he died. I was at the Timmies on Fairview waiting for friends who were coming in from out of town to visit me, and Dale walked in. He grabbed a coffee and sat with me. We chatted for about 30 to 35 minutes,” Gennings said. “I saw my friends pull in and I told him I had to run out and see them, and from there we left.
"I didn't actually say goodbye to him, I kind of just left from there. Then the rest of the weekend went on from there as it did.”
Sams was killed sometime between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. the next morning.
Gennings recalls it being Sunday when he heard something on the radio about a fatal hit-and-run, but doesn't remember hearing other specifics.
“It was 25 years ago, so the details are a bit fuzzy, but I heard something about it on the radio and I don’t think I even heard his name. But very quickly through mutual friends we were able to connect the dots,” Gennings said. “This was before social media and smartphones, so it was word of mouth and everyone talking in the days to come is where you heard more and more.”
The first article published by the now-defunct Barrie Examiner on the hit-and-run came out on Monday, April 28, 1997. In it, city police speculated the vehicle would be damaged in the right front area, with the belief coming from the fact that the teen's injuries indicated he was walking facing traffic and where he was found on the road.
Police at the time believed Sams could have been on the road for about 15 minutes before being discovered. He had suffered catastrophic injuries.
The following day’s news article, in the April 29 edition of the Examiner — written by present-day BarrieToday reporter Marg. Bruineman — reported that Sams was wearing all black and police believed he was dragged for quite a distance after being struck by the mystery vehicle.
At the time, Barrie police Const. Dave McClymont said “certainly the culprit would be better off if he turned himself in, because we’re going to get him.”
Gennings recalls police were pushing for information, including the public plea for people to keep their eyes open.
“The police worked very hard at this. I remember specifically hearing through the news that police wanted people to watch for anything unusual,” he said. “They said to watch for a car that would normally be parked in a driveway that no longer was, meaning it could be hiding damage.”
Having graduated high school just before the tragedy, Gennings was already into his career as a journalist. While he had reported on stories of people being killed, this was the first time he had experienced someone close to him dying that way.
“This was the first personal experience that I had with it. I remember connecting with our mutual friends at the time and we all were feeling a real sense of anger," he said. "We were more mad than anything at how someone could hit him and leave him there.
“In the days that followed, there were lots of pleas for information, but nothing ever came of it, no one was caught or came forward," Gennings added. "I’m just remembering that there wasn’t even gossip about who it could be. There was just nothing, no clues out there that were obvious.”
Gennings was a pallbearer and spoke at Sams’s funeral, which was held a few days later at Northwest Barrie United Church on Ferndale Drive.
He told BarrieToday he thinks of his friend nearly everyday as something will remind him of Sams or what happened.
“It will flash into my mind even for a few seconds every day, particularly when I drive by Barrie Union Cemetery where he is buried,” Gennings said. “I always think about how he was robbed of Christmases, birthdays, the opportunity to start a career and a family. I’m still angry, every time. Someone did this and someone has chosen to not turn themselves in.”
Gennings said Barrie was “not a big city at the time, but certainly not Mayberry,” and recalled anything east of the neighbourhood that he and Sams lived in as being predominantly countryside.
“Police have said this, but Big Bay Point was a two-lane road, gravel or dirt shoulders and no lights. It was pretty quiet except for the Allandale Golf Course and then all farm fields until you hit farther east and got to the waterfront homes," he said.
As Barrie police put the Sams case back into the public eye this week to mark 25 years, hoping someone will feel the need to come forward, Gennings holds similar hopes.
“My hope is that someone is reading this and would contact the Barrie police and explain what happened. Dale’s father has had to live for the last 25 years not knowing what happened to his son. Dale’s sister has had to live with not knowing what happened to her brother,” Gennings said. “As bad as it is for me and his friends, it is a million times worse for them. Turn yourself in and do the right thing."
Anyone with information can contact the Barrie police Sams tip line at 705-728-9712 or by email at [email protected]. If you wish to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or report online at www.p3tips.com.
"He was an 18-year-old kid," Gennings said. "I say kid because I’m going to be 45 this year and I’ve had the chance to have a career, marry and have two kids. Dale didn’t. He was robbed of all of that.”
