Lois Hanna Case: New OPP Documentary Reveals Previously Unreported Evidence [Video]
A new OPP documentary on Lois Hanna's 1988 disappearance from Kincardine reveals a 3 a.m. vehicle sighting and suspicious activity at the harbour that night. Watch the full video here.
The Ontario Provincial Police released a new documentary today on the 1988 disappearance of Lois Hanna from Kincardine, including details about the case that have not previously been made public.
Vanished Lois Hanna: Unsolved is the latest in the OPP’s Unsolved video series and was released on YouTube on May 20, 2026.
It features first-hand accounts from Hanna’s four brothers, the co-worker who entered her home the day she was reported missing, one of the initial OPP detectives assigned to the case, and a recently assigned detective who, according to the release, has reviewed the entire file, conducted 45 new interviews and administered two new polygraphs.
The OPP continues to treat the case as a homicide.
What happened in July 1988
Hanna, who was 25, was last seen at approximately 11:45 p.m. on Sunday, July 3, 1988, at the Lucknow Homecoming Dance. According to the OPP, she said goodbye to her brother Dave Hanna and walked away; he watched her leave.
A missing persons report was filed with the then-operational Kincardine Police the next day after Hanna did not report for work. A co-worker, Christine Szekely — who speaks publicly about the case for the first time in the documentary — went to check on her at home.
According to the release, Szekely found the lights on, the television playing, Hanna’s clothes from the previous night put away, her purse and keys untouched, and a fresh cup of tea on the kitchen counter. The house was locked. Her car was in the driveway.
Two drops of blood were later found on the wall by the side door, near where the cup of tea sat.
“The bathroom window was opened a tiny bit, so I was able to fit through that window and enter her house,” Szekely is quoted as saying in the release. “When my feet hit the tub, I was immediately overcome with a sense of dread. I knew something was wrong.”
The OPP was asked to assist Kincardine Police on Wednesday, July 6, 1988. The release says hundreds of interviews and exhaustive searches by land, water and air across hundreds of acres followed. Hanna has never been found.
In 1996, six detectives were assigned to re-examine the case. The following year, the OPP announced that advances in DNA technology had produced a male DNA profile from the two drops of blood found in Hanna’s home.
What is new in the documentary
According to the OPP release, the documentary makes public for the first time two pieces of evidence:
A vehicle was seen parked outside Hanna’s home at approximately 3:00 a.m. on the night she disappeared. The vehicle had round headlights, which the OPP notes is significant because vehicles in the mid-1980s typically had square headlights — suggesting the vehicle was likely an older model from the 1970s.
That same night, a witness the OPP describes as credible reported hearing suspicious voices and activity at the Kincardine harbour.
The release does not specify why these details are being made public now, nearly four decades after Hanna’s disappearance, or whether they emerged from the recently assigned detective’s reinvestigation.
The Owen Sound Current has not independently confirmed when these details first entered the police file.
Statements from family and police
“To have someone gone and to not know how they left, where they are, that’s the hard part,” Hanna’s brother Jim Hanna is quoted as saying. “At this point in time and to give the family some peace, if we could just have Lois back that would be enough.”
Detective Inspector Phil Hordijk, Major Case Manager with the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch, said in the release:
“The OPP is committed to investigating the disappearance of Lois Hanna.
We have dedicated resources to this case, and with continued advancements in DNA, we remain hopeful that we will learn what happened to Lois.
Thirty-eight years is a long time. We urge anyone with information to please come forward.”
Watch the full documentary here:
Reward and how to provide information
The Government of Ontario is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the location of Lois Hanna.
The South Bruce OPP Crime Unit continues the investigation under the direction of the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch. Anyone with information is asked to contact the OPP at 1-888-310-1122, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 or ontariocrimestoppers.ca.
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