It's the stuff of a Hitchcock film. Plumber, WW II naval veteran and former musician Ray Palmer was the repeated victim of mistaken identity problems after a prisoner named Raymond J. (Joseph) Palmer escaped from the B.C. Penitentiary in 1970 and wasn't recaptured until 1972 in Australia. Raymond J. (John) Palmer was repeatedly accosted, handcuffed and arrested by gun-wielding police because he so closely resembled the missing convict in appearance. Harassment of the innocent Ray Palmer continued until he and his family went underground in 1978. His memoir Wanted: A Bizarre Tale of Mistaken Identity was slated to be published by Heritage House in 2004 in order to record his ordeal after he had resurfaced in Hamilton, Ontario. Unfortunately publication was delayed and Ray Palmer died in 2005. The manuscript has remained unpublished.

DATE OF BIRTH: October 17th 1924

PLACE OF BIRTH: Dundas, Ont.

ARRIVAL IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: 1969

EMPLOYMENT OTHER THAN WRITING: Musician

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Wanted: A Bizarre Tale of Mistaken Identity -- yet to be published

[BCBW 2005] "Law"