Terri Lynn Scalf

Status:

Open

Missing From:

Aldergrove, British Columbia

Summary:

Seven-year-old Terri Lynn Scalf disappeared from Aldergrove, BC on July 24, 1983, while playing outside her townhouse complex. She was last seen in the company of a 55-year-old convicted child molester and a 10-year-old girl between 4:00 and 5:00 pm. Both Terri and the other missing girl, Joanne Pedersen, are still missing.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

Seven-year-old Terri Lynn Scalf was last seen outside her Aldergrove, BC townhouse complex on Sunday July 24, 1983, playing with friends and never returned. Police later reported that Terri was last seen by a man and a 10-year-old girl between 4:00 and 5:00 pm on the day that she went missing, with Terri leaving in the direction of her home while the man and girl went on their way. In 1989, the man, identified as Dodington, was convicted of sexually assaulting three children, including the 10-year-old girl who was with him on the day Terri disappeared. By 10:30 the next morning, a massive search was underway. Ten days after Terri went missing, police said they were looking into a link between Terri's disappearance and that of Joanne Pedersen, a 10-year-old girl from Chilliwack.

Additional Details:

The man was Dennis Elden Dodington, a 45-year-old convicted pedophile with a long criminal record including convictions for auto theft, break and enter, prison escape, weapons offences and sexual assault of boys and girls as young as six years. Dodington said he frequently visited Cedar Park Estates townhouse complex on 32nd Avenue and recalled seeing the girl only hours before she went missing on July 24, 1983. In 1989, Dodington was convicted of sexually assaulting three children, including Delarie, the 10-year-old girl that was with him on the day that Terri disappeared. He served 10 years. In May 1989 the Crown entered a stay of proceedings on charges, and Dodington was counselled by fellow child molester Raymond Herfner. While he supposedly told a cell-mate that he had murdered Terri, her body has not been found and he was not charged in her disappearance. Dodington claims he passed a lie detector test to prove his innocence in the Scalf disappearance, although he claims he passed it.

Case Last Updated:

Oct 16, 2026