Today (Dec. 13) is the five-year anniversary of the violent death of South Surrey teen Dario Bartoli, who, with a friend, was attacked in 2014 in Bakerview Park, located at 18 Avenue and 154 Street.
READ MORE: Boy, 15, killed in Surrey assault
But while police said this week that the file is still “definitely an active investigation,” they also said there are no updates that they can share.
“Unfortunately, no further details,” Integrated Homicide Investigation Team spokesman Sgt. Frank Jang said Thursday, in response to inquiries from Peace Arch News.
As well, Jang said there’s no plan to again ask the public for information that could lead police to those responsible.
It’s been 18 months since that last happened, when Crime Stoppers announced in June 2018 that the unsolved homicide was its ‘Crime of the Week.’
READ MORE: Unsolved South Surrey homicide named ‘Crime of the Week’
“Bartoli and his friend were beaten; but, they managed to run to a residence in the 15600 block of 18th Ave, where the police and emergency services personnel were summoned,” the Crime Stoppers appeal stated.
“It’s been over three years, and although this is still an open and active case, thus far it has not been solved and no arrests have been made.”
Bartoli, 15, died at Peace Arch Hospital just a few hours after he and a friend were assaulted in Bakerview Park, in what police described at the time as an “alcohol-fueled altercation that turned tragic.”
It was Surrey’s 16th homicide that year, and occurred just three days after the smothering death of eight-year-old Teagan Batstone shocked the Semiahmoo Peninsula.
READ MORE: Child’s body found in car trunk in South Surrey, woman arrested
READ MORE: Mother’s choice to kill daughter a breach of trust that ‘could not be more abhorrent’
In that case, Teagan’s mother Lisa Batstone was found guilty in March of second-degree murder, and learned this past September that she will have to wait 15 years before she can apply for parole – a sentence she plans to appeal.
In Bartoli’s case, police said in December 2015 that they “can’t move forward” without the public.
“We know there’s people who haven’t talked to us,” then IHIT-spokesperson Sgt. Stephanie Ashton said at the time.
According to court documents filed by Bartoli’s mother in 2017, when she launched a civil suit against the province and a 911 dispatcher in connection with her son’s death – alleging negligence on the part of the dispatcher who fielded the call for help early Dec. 13, 2014 “caused and/or contributed” to the outcome – Bartoli and his friend, 14, were walking home from McDonald’s at around 2 a.m. when they were violently assaulted by a group of unknown males.
“During the assault Dario was stabbed several times in the abdominal area and struck on the head with a crowbar,” the civil claim states. “He was seriously injured and bleeding profusely.”
The claim alleged the dispatcher erroneously entered information regarding the call that resulted in a slower response by paramedics, given the severity of the incident.
Transported to PAH, and despite extensive efforts, Bartoli was pronounced dead around 10 a.m. that day.
tholmes@peacearchnews.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
