The Murder of William Bearns: A Body in Quidi Vidi Lake

Quidi Vidi Lake around 1921

Today, Quidi Vidi Lake is one of the most familiar and beautiful places in St. John's. Every summer, thousands gather here for the Royal St. John’s Regatta. But almost 200 years ago, these waters became the centre of a very different story.

On the evening of Friday, August 29, 1834, 39-year-old William Bearns, a shoemaker from St. John's, was returning from the Grove Farm.

He never made it home.

For several days, no one knew what had happened to him.

Then, on Tuesday, September 2, his body was discovered in Quidi Vidi Lake.

The surviving historical record is frustratingly brief. A coroner's record from the period states simply that William Bearns, aged 39 and a shoemaker, had been murdered and that his body had been thrown into Quidi Vidi Lake.

But that single sentence leaves us with so many questions.

Who killed him?

Why?

And what happened to William between the time he left the Grove Farm and the moment his body was found in the lake?

We know that Bearns was not simply a name on an old crime report. He was a real man who had built a life in St. John's. Historical records indicate that William Bearns married Eliza Perkins in St. John's in 1829.

And remarkably, his name appears in the city's records just one year before his death. In 1833, William Bearns was listed among the petty jurors of St. John's. A petty juror is a member of an ordinary trial jury. They listen to evidence in a civil or criminal court case and decide the final verdict. Was this why he was targeted?

Then, in 1834, his life ended violently.

Imagine St. John's almost two centuries ago. There were no forensic laboratories, no surveillance cameras, no DNA testing and no modern police investigation techniques.

A murdered man was pulled from a lake, and investigators had to rely on witnesses, physical evidence and whatever information the community could provide.

Today, we can stand beside Quidi Vidi Lake and watch rowers race across the water, surrounded by cheering crowds.

But beneath that familiar landscape is another chapter of St. John's history.

A 39-year-old shoemaker named William Bearns disappeared one August evening in 1834.

Four days later, his body was found in the lake.

And almost 200 years later, the most important questions remain unanswered:

Who murdered William Bearns and why?

The case has never been solved.