It was a beautiful fall day in Renfrew County, Ontario, when the first of three 911 calls came into the local police dispatch. The woman on the other end of the phone was screaming. A man had just shot her sister.

Then, a second call. A young man had just witnessed his mother being attacked by a gun-wielding man in their home. Finally, a third call. A local real estate agent had just found her client dead in her cottage, and it

looked like she had been strangled. Three women killed in less than two hours in a quiet rural community. Yet, it didn't take the police long to know who their number one suspect was.

He was a man who had a long history of domestic violence and abuse, but ultimately, nothing prevented him from enacting his ultimate revenge on the women who had stood up to him.

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It was an unspeakable tragedy - twin three-year-old girls had drowned at a local lake in Gander, Newfoundland while under the care of their father. Their mother was inconsolable but the police were perplexed. What really happened that day at the lake? Nelson Hart, the twin’s father would eventually be charged with their murders after confessing to an uncover investigator. But would the police tactics used to elicit that confession hold up in a court of law? Would justice be served for two innocent victims or would a killer go free?

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In the summer of 1992, a dangerous sexual predator was on the loose in North Vancouver. Three young women had been sexually assaulted at gunpoint and two of the victims had been kidnapped. It was a race against time to find the woman and apprehend the suspect before he struck again. But Vancouver authorities really had no idea who they were hunting. The man they were after was a fugitive -  a killer who had already left behind a trail of torture and murder in a small Ontario town. And he had no plans on stopping his reign of terror. 

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When David and Kate Bagby were told their 28-year-old son Andrew had been murdered they were devastated. Andrew was a well respected family doctor who had just begun his career after years of study. Now he was gone and his ex-girlfriend, another doctor, had been charged with his senseless killing. The Bagby’s felt they had nothing to live for and even contemplated suicide. But when they were told that the woman accused of killing their son was expecting their grandchild they knew they had to do everything to protect that baby. When the woman fled the U.S to Newfoundland they followed her and applied for custody of their unborn grandchild. But when their grandson finally arrived the courts and social services deemed his mother, an accused murderer, a fit parent. The decision of the “experts” would have dire consequences and leave a couple already grieving the loss of their son destroyed by another death that was entirely preventable. 

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In 1987, teenage sweethearts Tanya Van Cuylenborg and Jay Cook set out from Victoria, BC for a one-night trip to Seattle. Tragically they were never seen alive again. Somewhere along their route they encountered a violent stranger who targeted the trusting couple. But who was this evil predator, and would he strike again? The killer had left his DNA at the crime scene but with limited forensic testing available in 1987, the double murder case went cold. Many years passed before advances in genetic testing gave investigators an exciting new approach to potentially finding the killer. Could a stranger’s DNA profile on a public ancestry database be the key to solving a double murder?

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She was just going to be a few minutes, so Julie Bowers decided to leave her sleeping 11-month-old son Dusty in his car seat in the back of her car when she went into the bank. It was the afternoon of January 14, 1988, a bitter cold day in Kincardine, Ontario.

When Julie returned to the car Dusty was gone. It was a parent’s worst nightmare – a missing child. But for the young mother it was just the beginning of a terrifying ordeal that would end in tragedy and an arrest. Accused of killing her own son, Julie Bowers would stand trial for murder while her hometown struggled to come to grips with the horrendous crime. Who left a baby to die in the snow? Secrets and accusations would fly but would the truth ever come out?

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When a young Canadian nurse is brutally murdered in a suburb of Los Angeles in 1979, the police are baffled by what the killer has left behind – a homemade garotte used to strangle the victim. They are certain the unique weapon will lead them to her killer. But without any other evidence the case eventually goes cold.

Years go by and a family in Stratford, Ontario is left to mourn their beautiful daughter, but the victim’s sister is not willing to let a vicious killer escape justice even if she has to write to the President of the United States.

Finally, a cold case team reinvestigates the murder and reexamines that unique homemade weapon. Fresh eyes find new evidence and the suspected killer is arrested and charged. But thirty-five years later can a jury be convinced of his guilt and will a determined sister and a grieving family finally get justice?

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When a well-to-do recently widowed mother disappears from her suburban home the police are baffled. She didn’t take any money or clothing, and no one has seen or heard from her in days. It’s 1963 in a city known as “Toronto the good,” and middle-aged women just don’t disappear. Rumors spread that she’s taken off with a new man to Florida but her family is convinced she would never leave her teenage son. But strangely that same 16-year-old son forgot to report his mother missing and doesn’t seem too upset over her disappearance.

It will take three long years before a battered body is discovered but it won’t take police investigators long to figure out who’s responsible for the missing mother’s grisly demise.

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In the fall of 2021, hundreds of women in British Columbia received a letter from the B.C. Women’s Hospital. It informed them that during their recent time in hospital, they had been treated by a woman who had posed as a nurse without any qualifications.

Apparently, the imposter nurse had a long history of fraud, forgery and impersonation. Her real name was Brigitte Cleroux, and she had spent thirty years taking on nursing jobs and teaching positions, none of which she was qualified to do.

But what did this mean for the women who had been treated by her? Some had experienced extreme pain during their procedures -pain so bad procedures were called off. One woman lost sensation in both of her hands for two weeks as a result of Cleroux’s botched attempts to insert an IV needle. And others discovered they were given inappropriate medications, including Fentanyl.

After finally being arrested and charged in Ontario, investigators began to unravel a web of lies and deceit that spanned the country. Exactly how many patients were treated and possibly harmed by the fake nurse and how did Brigitte Cleroux fool so many for so long?

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Within days the son of the murder victims and his friend are arrested and charged with murder. Scott Franz claims he shot his stepfather in self-defense while his Canadian friend Bruce Curtis says he shot Scott’s mom by accident. Who will a jury believe, and will justice ultimately be served?

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It was supposed to be a fun summer holiday. Nova Scotia teenager Bruce Curtis was going to spend the July 4th long weekend with his American friend Scott Franz. The two eighteen-year-olds had just graduated from a prestigious private school and were looking forward to hanging out together on the fabled New Jersey Shore. But while Scott bragged about being rich to his Canadian friend, the reality of his homelife is anything but. Scott lives with his mom and stepfather who is a violent man. He keeps loaded guns in the house and isn’t afraid to use them.

Within a couple of days, Bruce realizes that he and his friend need to leave the house in New Jersey before anything serious happens. They’ll drive back to Nova Scotia. But in one fateful moment, everything changes. Now four people are missing and blood stains in the house indicate a violent struggle. Now the local police aren’t sure if they’re investigating a murder, a kidnapping or both?

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In 1996 seventeen-year-old Rebecca Middleton from Belleville, Ontario was viciously raped and murdered in Bermuda. Two local men are arrested within days, but an inept criminal justice system has resulted in one of the accused taking a plea deal with a five-year prison sentence and the other being acquitted of murder. Rebecca’s family vows to never give up in their fight for justice, and the case finally attracts the attention of a famous London lawyer who also happens to be the wife of the British Prime Minister. But can an internationally renowned lawyer finally convince the Bermudian Supreme Court that a grave injustice has occurred and will anyone ever be held accountable for the young girl’s murder?

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A teenage girl from Belleville, Ontario is brutally murdered in Bermuda while on a summer vacation in 1996. Within days two local men are charged and the case against them seems strong. It doesn’t take long for one to flip on the other, so the Bermudian crown attorney’s office makes a plea deal. They’re willing to give up one to secure a murder conviction against the other. But when DNA evidence points to the wrong man on trial for murder, the prosecutors realize they made a deal with the devil. Can prosecutors save their case and secure a murder conviction or will the young girl’s vicious rape and murder go unpunished?

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It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime, two teenage girls from Belleville, Ontario were heading to Bermuda for a six-week summer vacation. The British Island Territory was a well-known and safe tourist destination. The two best friends were living in paradise, until something went terribly wrong.

After a late-night of drinking and partying, the girls get separated and only one of them makes it home. A frantic search of the island turns up nothing, but it doesn’t take long for the other girl to be found. She has been brutally attacked, raped and left to die in the middle of a road.

A Canadian family is left devastated, but their daughter’s heinous murder is only the beginning of their nightmare and a decade-long struggle to find justice in a foreign land.

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Jane Stafford is charged with the first-degree murder of her husband Billy after his headless body is discovered. Jane admits to shooting him but claims it was in self-defence after he threatened to kill their neighbours and her son. Her trial gains nationwide attention because her defence rests on battered women’s syndrome. The jury will hear of the horrific abuse she and her young son suffered for over six years at the hands of her violent husband and how she believed he would eventually kill her. The jury will have to decide if Jane deserves to be sent to prison but regardless, Jane will have to live with what she did for the rest of her life. What price will she ultimately pay for striking back and speaking out about domestic violence?

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When a headless corpse is found on a deserted dirt road in rural Nova Scotia the local RCMP are certain it’s the body of the town’s resident bully, Billy Stafford. He’s been a thorn in the cop’s side for years and they doubt anyone is going to miss him but they still need to figure out who pulled the trigger.

When Billy’s common-law wife Jane is arrested three days later she quickly confesses but claims she was acting in self-defence. After six years of unimaginable abuse and fearing for her life, Jane finally snapped.

Her story will make headlines across the country and ignite a much-needed debate about domestic violence and how the Canadian criminal justice system deals with abusers and their victims. Was Jane justified in her actions and what price will she ultimately pay for fighting back?

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For decades Dr. Norman Barwin was revered as a miracle worker.  His specialty for helping women and couples who had issues with conceiving their own babies earned him the nickname The Baby Whisperer.

The walls of his offices at the Broadview Fertility Clinic in Ottawa were covered with photos of the babies that resulted from his treatments.  

But in the early 2000s, his reputation would begin to unravel. It started with two lawsuits that exposed major issues with how sperm was allegedly mixed up because of lax standards in his clinic. Children were conceived using sperm that was not that of the chosen donors.

And when those lawsuits brought further scrutiny from couples and the children conceived through his lab, a shocking betrayal would unfold, resulting in the loss of his license to practice medicine, and a multi-million dollar class-action lawsuit.

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The British police have just arrested a man and his wife for suspected identity theft and possible murder. The man has been using the name of his friend who turned up dead in a fisherman’s net off Devon, England. But it turns out that identity fraud and murder are just the tip of a very extensive web of lies and deceit that goes back many years.

The English police have nabbed #4 on Interpol’s most wanted list and his real name is Albert Johnson Walker. He’s been missing from Canada for six years along with his fifteen-year-old daughter Sheena. But since disappearing together the father and daughter have been living as husband and wife and she has given birth to two children.

Albert Walker will stand trial for murder but will his daughter testify against him? And if she does what dark family secrets will finally be revealed?

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On a sunny July day in 1996 off the coast of Devon, England, a fisherman and his son caught something very unusual in their net. It was a dead man! He was fully clothed but had no identification. Yet, strangely he was still wearing an expensive Rolex watch. Tracing the timepiece’s unique serial number, the police identify the drowned man. But his identity only leads to a stranger mystery when it’s discovered that the man’s best friend has stolen his identity. Now the British police have two men with the same name and one of them ended up dead. Who is the imposter and what other secrets is he hiding? The truth will leave even the most experienced criminal investigators reeling!

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He was a kid who learned how to skate practically before he could walk. Born and raised in a

small northern Canadian town, Brian Spencer had a dream that one day he would make to the

National Hockey League. It was an irresistible desire that came with a lot of sacrifice for him

and his dad Roy. But their hard work and determination finally paid off when Brian was drafted

by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1969.

Sadly on the night Brian was to make his Hockey Night in Canada debut, tragedy would eclipse

the momentous event. Brian’s NHL career would be forever overshadowed by what happened

on that fateful night and his life after hockey would descend into a world of darkness and

despair that he could never recover from.

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When emergency responders arrive at a car fire on a deserted California mountain top road, they are too late to save the man trapped in the burning Volkswagen. Luckily his wife, Lucille has managed to get out of the car and call for help.

But once the fire is extinguished and the charred body of Doctor Gordon Miller is removed, investigators quickly determine that the newly widowed woman’s story just isn’t adding up. The car shows no signs of an accident but there is an empty cannister of gas on the back seat. It isn’t long before the tragic car fire is beginning to look a lot more like murder and Doctor Miller’s wife is now their prime suspect.

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On a cold winter night in January 1985, a worried mother discovered the body of her twenty-three-year-old daughter. Nancy Eaton, an heiress to the Eaton family fortune had been stabbed to death in her own home and sexually assaulted. And the distraught mother knew exactly who was responsible. Seventeen-year-old Andrew Leyshon- Hughes was a troubled teenager, but Nancy was his friend and had treated him like a little brother. It wouldn’t take long for Andrew to confess to the horrible crime but was he ultimately responsible for what he had done? His esteemed lawyer Clayton Ruby would argue that his client wasn’t guilty of anything. What would a jury decide?

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She was the great, great granddaughter of Timothy Eaton, founder of Canada’s largest department store chain and he was from a wealthy, well-respected family. She was a beautiful twenty-three-year-old woman with a new career and an exciting social life, while he was a deeply disturbed seventeen-year-old who had been in and out of psychiatric hospitals half his life. An unlikely pair, but they had bonded over a carefree summer in Muskoka at their neighbouring family cottages.

Life back in the city would put a strain on their friendship, but she would always make time for him and let him sleep on her couch when he nowhere else to go. So nothing seemed out of the ordinary when he showed up on her doorstep on a snowy January night in 1985. But by the next morning everything would be very different. She would be dead before she woke, and he would be holding the bloody knife.

They were the closest of friends, so why did he kill her? Was he simply bad or completely mad? That would be the ultimate debate in determining his fate

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Emmy award-winning comedian. He was famous for his work on Saturday Night Live and had a starring role in NewsRadio, an NBC sitcom. He was also the voice of several characters in the long-running animated show The Simpsons.

Alongside his successful career, he was living a million-dollar lifestyle in Los Angles with a beautiful wife and two young children.But behind their perfect-looking family life there was trouble. Long simmering issues of jealousy, anger and addictions were creating tension and their ten-year marriage was imploding.

Those closest to Phil and his wife knew there was trouble, but no one could have ever predicted the violent ending!What happened to one of America’s favourite funnymen and was it a tragedy that could have been prevented?

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The tragic murder of Dorothy Stratten in 1980 was headline news around the world. The beautiful Playboy Playmate had been killed by her jealous ex husband in a brutal murder-suicide But behind the salacious headlines a family grieved and her lover could barely go on. Famed Hollywood director, Peter Bogdanovich had lost the love of his life. But amid his grief an anger would emerge against others whom he believed responsible for the death of Dorothy Stratten. Peter would write a book about Dorothy and accuse Playboy Enterprises and its founder Hugh Hefner of the sexual and physical exploitation of a young, naïve Dorothy. But will Peter be prepared when Hugh Hefner turns the tables and accuses Peter Bogdanovich of reprehensible misdeeds?

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She was a pretty teenager in pigtails, working at the local Dairy Queen in Vancouver when a small-time street hustler first spotted her. He knew a good thing when he saw it and she was his ticket to fame and riches. Within a few months she was posing naked for Playboy Magazine, and he was buying a wedding ring. She was an instant star loved by many for her natural beauty and innocence, but he was a sleazy con no one wanted around.

Dorothy Stratten was a beautiful young woman on the verge of fame. She had just been named the Playboy Playmate of 1980 and her acting career was taking off. And more importantly she had finally found true love. But her ex-husband wasn’t prepared to let her go. As far as he was concerned, she was his possession and if he couldn’t have her, no one could.

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It was a mother’s intuition that something was wrong. Olga Kasian’s daughter Iana had just given birth to a baby girl and now she was missing. But Olga knew where she was. She was in a West Hollywood apartment with her boyfriend, a wealthy Canadian producer who had gained mediocre success with a graphic novel that explored the mind of a serial killer.

It would take the police two days to check on Iana and when they did they would discover a horrific crime scene. Her boyfriend would be charged with her killing and prosecutors would contend that like a B-grade Hollywood horror film he used scenes right out of his graphic novel as a blueprint for torture, mutilation and murder.

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A controversial undercover police technique called “Mr. Big” has resulted in a secretly recorded confession to murder. Sixty-eight-year-old Jean Ann James has admitted to the 1992 brutal slaying of her good friend Gladys Wakabayashi. It’s taken sixteen years to bring charges against their prime suspect and the Vancouver police are certain their undercover sting will put Jean Ann James away for life. But will the jury believe her confession? Was she admitting to murder or making up a story to please Mr. Big? And will she ever pay for what she did?

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In the summer of 1992 a shy, forty-one-year-old mother is brutally murdered in her home in one of Vancouver’s wealthiest suburbs. It turns out the woman had a secret, and that secret got her killed. It doesn’t take long for the police to narrow in on a prime suspect, but a lack of physical evidence at the crime scene prevents them from making an arrest. The case ultimately goes cold for sixteen years until investigators decide to take one last shot at charging their prime suspect. Using a controversial undercover sting operation called “Mr. Big” they will try to lure their suspect into a fantasy criminal underworld. It’s an elaborate plan, but, will they ultimately get the confession they need to put a murderer behind bars?

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For more information about this podcast, visit us at storyhunterpodcasts.com

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In the spring of 1970, the rural communities of Gormley and Palgrave, Ontario were shaken by two violent crimes in just thirteen days. Two mothers at home with their children were raped and murdered by a stranger. The unknown assailant was quickly dubbed “The 22-calibre killer” by the media for his weapon of choice. But despite one of the largest manhunts in Ontario history, the police were never able to find the killer and the double homicide went cold.

Twenty-five years later, a man renovating his newly purchased home would find a hidden piece of paper that would turn out to be the key to unlocking a decades old cold case that left two families shattered. But who would the 22-calibre killer turn out to be and how many other victims did he have?

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1959 was going to be an exciting year for Olga Kupczyk. The thirty-year-old Canadian nurse has recently re located to Santa Barbara, California where she had met a handsome, successful lawyer. After a whirlwind romance the two were now married and expecting their first child. But just five months into their marriage there was a big problem. Olga’s new husband had another woman in his life. This woman wasn’t a secret lover – she was Olga Duncan’s new mother-in-law and she planned to stop at nothing to get Olga out of the picture and keep her precious son all to herself…even if it meant murder!

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What began as a hot and sunny day in late July, 1977 soon turned into a nightmare that would be forever seared into the minds and hearts of Torontonians. Twelve-year-old shoeshine boy Emanuel Jaques was shining shoes at Yonge and Dundas when he was abducted and murdered above a body rub parlor on the Yonge St strip. For years people had been calling for the city’s sin strip to be cleaned up, but politicians and police turned a blind eye to the seedy sex industry. Now a young immigrant child from Portugal had been lured to his death and four men were in custody. Canada’s largest metropolis had lost its innocence and the citizens of Toronto were demanding change.

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In 1969, Mary Davis Nelles was kidnapped and betrayed by someone she once loved. For the wealthy Davis family, the betrayal was unforgivable, and it made the multi-millionaires even more reclusive. But sadly it would not be the last time a crime of greed would land the Davis family on the front pages of the country’s newspapers.

When Mary’s first cousin Glen takes over the Davis fortune, alliances are formed, and jealousies split the family. Glen has a different vision for company and its legacy. His passion is the environment, and he plans to donate millions to preserve it. But his generosity has created an enemy within the family, someone who wants his share of the family fortune even if he has to commit murder to get it.

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They were one of Canada’s wealthiest families, but their millions couldn’t buy the privacy they desired. The Davis family shunned any notoriety or publicity but that didn’t stop those in their inner circle from violent acts of greed. In 1969 26-year-old newlywed Mary Davis Nelles is kidnapped in front of her husband. Her abductors demand $850,000.00 and threaten to kill her if their demands are not met. Her wealthy father and uncle have the means to pay the ransom but how do the kidnappers know that? The masked men who took Mary are not strangers to the Davis family dynasty. But who are they and how much is Mary’s life worth to them?

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Child welfare agencies across Canada spent millions of dollars on hair tests conducted by the Motherisk Lab based at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

In 2014, the Lab’s results were put under the spotlight during the criminal trial of April Broomfield, a single mother accused of feeding her son cocaine. Expert testimony at her trial cast doubt on Motherisk results, and the qualifications of the lab staff.

Toronto Star reporter Rachel Mendleson wrote dozens of follow-up stories following Broomfield’s acquittal as more families came forward with their stories of being victimized by erroneous results.

That put pressure on the government of Ontario to launch two investigations into the Motherisk Lab, and its processes and standards. What they found was shocking.

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The Motherisk Lab based out of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, claimed to be able to determine through a simple hair test if a parent was abusing drugs or alcohol.

Test results were used in thousands of child protection cases, often leading to families being ripped apart, and children put up for adoption. But the tests were flawed, and the people who ran the lab had no training in forensic evidence.

Toronto Star reporter Rachel Mendleson was at the forefront in the reporting on the failures of the Motherisk Lab, and details the history of how this lab came to wield so much power, and how it would all come crashing down with the help of determined lawyers, and parents.

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Brenda Waudby was a young single mother living in Peterborough when her 22-month old daughter Jenna was murdered in her home in 1997. 

Jenna suffered horrendous injuries involving burns, blows, and sexual assault. But rather than pursuing evidence that pointed towards the pre-teen boy who was babysitting Jenna at the time of her murder, Charles Smith instead insisted that the toddler’s injuries could have occurred much earlier in the day.

Armed with that opinion and timeline, police spent months investigating Brenda, and building a case that resulted in prosecutors charging the grieving mother with murdering her daughter.

But months later, the case against Brenda would fall apart as experts poured cold water on Charles Smith’s theories.

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In the summer of 1997 Lianne Gagnon was emerging from the haze of grief that had descended upon her and her family in the aftermath of her baby boy Nicholas’s sudden death. She was planning her wedding to her fiance Pete Thibeault when the investigation into Nicholas’s death was reopened, and she found herself accused of the horrifying crime of murdering her son.

A second autopsy was ordered by Dr. Charles Smith, the province’s leading juvenile forensic pathologist, and a man convinced of Lianne’s guilt. Outraged that his daughter’s freedom was being threatened, Lianne’s father Maurice Gagnon started looking into the qualifications and history of Charles Smith and others in the Chief Coroner’s Office of Ontario. Months into the renewed investigation, Lianne and her new husband would find themselves fighting for custody of their newborn baby girl Nicole.

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Charles Smith worked for decades as a forensic pathologist in Ontario. World-renowned, his testimony in hundreds of cases involving the sudden deaths of children put supposed killers behind bars. But one case against a young mother accused of murdering her eleven-month old son set in motion the unravelling of Charles Smith’s career, and helped expose his staggering incompetence.

Lianne Thibeault and her family fought for years to clear her name in the death of her beloved boy Nicholas who died 1995 after hitting his head at the family home in Sudbury.

Smith’s career would end in disgrace, and parents would eventually be exonerated.In this episode, Lianne Thibeault relives her darkest days when she was accused of killing her own son.

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When Shirley Iven’s husband didn’t come home from work one night in April, 1998, she knew something was wrong. Her husband Bob worked at the University of Toronto, in the medical department. In fact, he worked in the morgue preparing bodies for dissection formedical students. But now he hadn’t come home and she was worried.

The following morning when she receives a phone call from the wife of Bob’s work colleague she discovers that both men are missing and there have been three mysterious church fires in the city’s west end.

But what’s the connection? Before the day is over, a body will be found and an international manhunt will be underway.

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Jasmine Fiore was a beautiful swim-suit model from Las Vegas and Ryan Jenkins was a Calgary real estate developer and wanna-be reality TV Star. When they met sparks flew and they were married within a few days. But the ink had barely dried on their marriage certificate before serious problems emerged. It turned out that Ryan had issues of control and jealousy. He already had a record for domestic assault back in Canada – something he had hidden from the producers of the dating reality show he was on and from his new wife. Within a few short months Jasmine realized she had made a big mistake and wanted nothing to do with him. But the reality of “rejection” was not something Ryan the reality star could handle. He wasn’t going to let his new wife go and his obsession would prove fatal for both.

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The year was 1969 and the place was Los Angeles California. The decade known for sex, drugs and rock and roll was coming to a close and the City of Angeles was still reeling from the brutal and unsolved homicides of seven people in one weekend. Actress Sharon Tate and four others had been butchered in the Hollywood Hills on August 9 th and two more people were killed the following night. Then three months later the body of a young woman was found very close to the Tate murder scene. The unidentified girl had been dumped into a canyon off of Mullhuland Drive and she had been stabbed one-hundred-and-fifty-seven times.

Who was she? The police had nothing to go on so they named her Jane Doe #59. One month later, Charles Manson and members of his cult family were arrested for the seven ritualistic homicides. But soon rumours of other murders had the LAPD questioning if Manson and his followers were also responsible for the death of Jane Doe #59. Was the beautiful, unidentified young girl another victim of the Helter Skelter madman and would the police ever learn her true identity?

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At 31 years of age, Ty Conn has spent over half of his life behind prison walls. And he’s still facing 47 years in federal lock-up. But after two failed prison escapes and several audacious bank robberies, Ty realizes that if he has any chance at ever having a normal life he’s got to work hard and prove he can change. So, when he sees a unique opportunity to get out of the maximum -security hell hole called Millhaven, he takes it. But, instead of landing closer to his goal of a medium security institution, Ty ends up in Canada’s most notorious prison – Kingston Penitentiary. The odds are stacked against him and those determining his future aren’t ready to trust him. Ty knows he’s only got one way out of Kingston Pen and it isn’t through the front gates. No one has escaped from the archaic prison in 41 years, but that isn’t going to stop Ty Conn. He’s going over the wall, and no matter what happens, he has promised himself that he’s never going back to prison…and tragically it’s a promise he is able to keep.

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Tyrone Conn has spent his life running away. He has escaped from almost every institution that has tried to contain him, including Collins Bay Penitentiary. After forty-four days on the run he has surrendered but he will pay a heavy price for his misdeeds. At twenty-seven he’s now facing a forty-seven year prison term. Ty has vowed to straighten out his life, but trouble seems to follow him wherever he goes. Bounced from on maximum security prison to the next, it’s all he can do just to keep his head above water. When a unique friendship blossoms with two television producers, Ty realizes he is valued and their support gives him the courage to face the future head on. But when his fellow inmates turn to him with an audacious plan, Ty is forced to make a life altering decision.

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Tyrone Conn never had a chance. Abandoned at a young age by his dysfunctional adopted family, he spent the rest of his childhood in institutions. He learned how to survive the hard way - by stealing and running away. And those two habits eventually landed him in federal prison by the time he was seventeen. Was it too late to turn his life around? He was a kid who had never know love, but love was out there and she was looking for him. Tyrone’s birth mother has never forgotten the baby boy she lost and she is intent on finding him. But when she does, she will soon discover the sad life her son has lived…and how it has led to a prison cell. She won’t abandon him again, but can a mother’s love alter Tyrone’s destiny?

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It was an escape that wasn’t supposed to happen! On May 6 th , 1999 an inmate scaled a thirty- two foot limestone wall at Kingston Penitentiary and became the first prisoner to breakout of the infamous penitentiary in 41 years. He ran and the public cheered him on because this wasn’t some violent criminal on the loose. He was a young man who had already lived over half of his life in institutions. Discarded by his family and society he turned to petty crime and eventually started robbing banks. Faced with a 47 year prison sentence, he bolted and had no plans of returning to prison.

But just fourteen days later, his fleeting taste of freedom would be over and he would be dead. And while it would be clear who pulled the trigger, many questions would remain about who and what actually killed Tyrone Conn.

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While Laurie remains in a Canadian prison, lawyers and politicians on both sides of the border continue to argue her case. New evidence and witness testimony presented by her Canadian legal team calls into question the very foundation of the Milwaukee prosecutors original case against her. But in order to potentially get a new trial, Laurie will have to return to Wisconsin. Ultimately she has to make a big decision. Stay in Canada with the hopes of gaining refugee status or return to the United States to seek the justice she claims she has long been denied? Either way, Laurie’s fight is far from over.

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Laurie Bembenek was convicted of killing her husband’s ex-wife based on what many people believed was highly suspicious and circumstantial evidence. So when she bolted from a Wisconsin prison after spending eight years incarcerated, it seemed like most of Milwaukee supported her escape. “Run Bambi run,” became her supporters rallying cry which soon turned into a media spectacle with t-shirts, bumper stickers and “Bambi” look-a-like contests. But while many felt justice had been denied, Wisconsin authorities were unwilling to re-examine the case. But when Laurie applies for refugee status in Canada based on persecution, a cross-border, political tug of war ensues. Laurie’s got one of Canada’s sharpest legal minds defending her and he intends on showing that she was wrongly convicted. He knows she is innocent and he can prove it.

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It was the summer of 1990 when a famous American fugitive was captured in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Suddenly every tabloid talk show was scrambling for the story and a media frenzy descended upon the small northern city. Since escaping from a Wisconsin prison three months earlier, the convicted killer had gained a great deal of support and sympathy from the public. Many believed that she had been wrongly convicted and had in fact, had been framed by the Milwaukee Police Department. She had already spent eight years in prison, and her requests for a new trial had all been denied. Now she was

sitting in a prison in Thunder Bay and the Americans wanted her back. What was Canada going to do with this famous American fugitive? Send her back to face justice or listen to her claims of innocence? Her name was Lawrencia (Laurie) Bambenek, but to the world she was known as “Bambi” - Bambi Bembenek.

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In the summer of 1974, sixteen-year-old Laura, her younger sister Colleen and their mother Doris moved into a new apartment in Guelph Ont. Her parents had divorced after a thirty year marriage and this was a new start. But then tragedy struck, when Laura found her mother dead in her bed. The coroner ruled the death as natural causes and the family was heartbroken. But then two years after her mother died, Laura was told that her mother had actually been murdered by a serial killer named Russel Johnson. Forty-seven years later, Laura talks about the man who crept into their apartment and killed her mother and how she and the rest of her family are determined to keep him incarcerated for the rest of his life.

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The London police narrow in on their prime suspect in the murder of two young women and he eventually confesses. But detectives soon realize that his crimes are even more horrific than they could have ever imagined. Did they miss the clues? Could some of his been saved?

The “Bedroom strangler” is found not guilty by reason of insanity and is put away for life, but that was many years ago and now he wants out. Can his victim’s families convince a review board that he should stay locked up forever, or will this serial killer ultimately walk free?

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It was the 1970’s in London, Ontario, and the city was on edge. Someone was attacking young women in their apartments. Victims would wake in the middle of the night to find a stranger standing over their beds. But how was he getting into high-rise apartments, including one fifteen stories up? The police knew they were looking for a unique individual - someone with super-human strength, but the attacker had other strange habits too. He would often watch his victims sleeping before he attacked them and then he would clean up their apartments – even washing the dishes after one assault.

Dubbed the “Bedroom strangler,” his behaviour is escalating with each new attack. Then two women are found dead and the London police launch the biggest manhunt in the city’s history. Will they catch the killer before he strikes again and what deadly secrets will he reveal?

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A string of daring robberies in Los Angeles, California has the local police on high alert. But when an elderly woman is shot to death during an attempted break- in, law enforcement knows they have a killer on their hands. Finally, the thief is caught in the act, but escapes from police custody from a thirteenth-floor hospital window. Dubbed the “Los Angeles cat burglar,” the nimble suspect is eventually recaptured after a brazen car chase and shootout in Hollywood. But who is this mystery man and what crimes has he committed? When his true identity is revealed, authorities in two countries must decide on his fate. But before he pays the ultimate price for his misdeeds, will the Los Angeles cat burglar admit to all that he has done and the lives he has taken?

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In the summer of 1949, the city of Toronto is shocked by three senseless murders on a holiday weekend. One man is gunned down in front of his wife and daughter while trying to stop a robbery in Cabbagetown and two days later a young couple is found shot to death. The police are baffled by the brutal murders, but one Toronto police detective is determined to solve the crimes. Through dogged determination and rudimentary police science, an unlikely suspect emerges – a petty criminal named Stanley Buckowski. But Buckowski is on the run and hiding

somewhere in the US. The Toronto police are in hot pursuit, but will they catch their killer before he strikes again?

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In December,1974 Peter Demeter is sentenced to life in prison for the brutal murder of his wife Christine. After his appeals are denied, and letters from his lover Marina become less and less frequent, Peter sets his mind on other pursuits namely money and revenge. Peter sues the insurance companies for the one million dollar life insurance policy he had on his wife and begins to plot ways of getting back at those who he feels betrayed him. No one is safe from his evil including those closest to him. And while maintaining his innocence in Christine’s death, Peter plans two more murders. 

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Peter Demeter’s murder trial gets underway in London, Ontario and it soon becomes clear to thedefence that it’s going to take a miracle to save their client. Defence attorney Joe Pomerant will stop at nothing to try to shift Christine Demeter’s murder onto someone else, including Christine herself. He claims it was Christine who had actually hired a hitman to kill Peter but when her murder plot back-fired, she ended up dead. With more surprise witnesses, damning testimony and constant disruptions by the defence team, the trial becomes one of the longest in Canadian history. But in the end, what will the jury decide? Will Peter Demeter be found guilty of murdering his wife?

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While Peter Demeter awaits his trial, the Mississauga police continue their investigation into the murder of Christine. They know Peter had strong motives to kill his wife – an unhappy marriage, a one million dollar life insurance policy on her and a younger mistress, but they want to find the hitman Peter hired to kill his wife. And it doesn’t take long for former friends and associates to start flipping on their friend. Soon the police are confronted with more evidence against Peter and information that leads them to a bizarre Hungarian mafia underworld where Christine’s killer may be hiding.

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Thirty -three year old wife and mother Christine Demeter has been brutally murdered and based on her husband Peter’s odd reaction to his wife’s death, the Mississauga police suspect that he may have had something to do with it. But he has a solid alibi so the Mississauga police quickly realize that they are going to have to rely on some untraditional investigative techniques to catch their killer. Wire taps, secretly recorded conversations and police informants soon give them the ammunition they need to arrest Peter Demeter for the murder of his wife.

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Wednesday July 18th, 1973 was going to be a busy day in the Demeter household. There were meals to prepare for out of town guests along with some sightseeing and souvenir shopping in downtown Toronto. Peter and Christine Demeter lived in the exclusive Erindale neighbourhood of Mississauga Ont. To the outside world, they had it all – a beautiful three-year old daughter, a gorgeous home with a pool, luxury cars, a thriving business and even a beloved spaniel. But by the end of that sultry, summer evening Christine would be lying dead in a pool of blood in the garage.

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In July 1973, when Andrea Demeter’s was three, her mother was brutally murdered in the garage of their Mississauga home. It wasn’t the type of violent crime the small suburban police force was accustomed to, but they soon narrowed in on a prime suspect. Years later Andrea would discover much more about what happened on the warm summer evening and who was responsible for her mother’s murder. The answers would haunt her for the rest of her life and force her to never stop looking over her shoulder.

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In this bonus episode, producer Catherine Fogarty interviews one of Hamilton’s foremost experts on the notorious Evelyn Dick. Sarah Farr has been researching Evelyn’s story for several years and hosts a Facebook group called the Evelyn Dick Files. Sarah has some unique thoughts and theories about the murder of John Dick and what eventually happened to his former wife. Catherine and Sarah may differ in their opinions about Evelyn and her criminal misdeeds, but they certainly never tire of talking about her.

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Evelyn Dick may have escaped the hangman’s noose, but her star lawyer, JJ Robinette isn’t able to keep her out of prison. Evelyn is finally sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her infant son. But how will the soft-spoken, genteel Evelyn survive in Kingston Penitentiary for women? Surprisingly Evelyn adjusts well to her less than glamorous surroundings and eventually catches the eye of someone on the parole board who sees Evelyn as a model prisoner. Evelyn’s good looks and charm have always benefited her, and now they may just help her to get out of jail and create an entire new life for herself.

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Sentenced to hang for the murder of her husband, Evelyn Dick has only three months to live. She has one chance to appeal her conviction, and she’s going to have to rely on a new lawyer.

Can an inexperienced criminal lawyer convince a twelve-man jury that Evelyn Dick had nothing to do with her husband’s murder despite overwhelming evidence and the damning testimony of her own mother.? The gallows are being built, but will Evelyn Dick walk up those steps to her death?

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As the John Dick murder trial gets underway, the photogenic Evelyn Dick becomes a media star. Every newspaper in the country is jostling for the latest scoop about what the accused is wearing and whether she will take the stand in her own defence? With her own mother set to testify against her, Evelyn’s chances of beating a murder wrap are looking grim. And if she is convicted, she could face the hangman.

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While investigating the murder of John Dick, the police make a startling discovery in Evelyn’s home. They find the mummified remains of an infant boy that Evelyn had given birth to eighteen months prior. At the time of his birth, Evelyn told her mother she had given the baby up for adoption. While it looks like Evelyn will be charged with two murders, she’s still talking to the police and still trying to put the blame on others.

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As the Hamilton police question Evelyn Dick, about her husband’s grizzly demise, the young widow has an unbelievable story to tell about a murder for hire and a mafia hitman. And while Evelyn’s ever evolving story continues to point the blame away from her, the police uncover incriminating evidence that puts blood on her hands. But Evelyn’s not done talking and soon implicates her father and an ex-lover in the murder of John Dick. Evelyn thinks she’s outsmarted the police, but how will she defend herself when another body is found in her attic.

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On March 6, 1946, five months after his marriage to Evelyn MacLean, John Dick goes missing. Ten days later, a group of kids out for a picnic on Hamilton Mountain discover the human remains of a man minus his head, arms and legs. The torso is later identified as John Dick and it doesn’t take the police long to narrow in on their prime suspect, John’s estranged wife, Evelyn.

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John Dick is a Russian immigrant who works as a trolley driver for Hamilton Streetcar and Railway. At thirty-seven he’s living the life of a popular bachelor around town until one day a beautiful young woman steps on to his streetcar and he’s instantly smitten. Her name is Evelyn MacLean and three months later they are married. But John soon finds out his new wife isn’t exactly the woman he thought she was, and his hasty marriage will have deadly consequences

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A beautiful, raven haired girl is raised on a quiet street in Hamilton by her working-class, Scottish immigrant parents. But as she matures, her desire for the finer things in life drives her to seek out the affections of wealthy , often married suitors. Soon she finds herself a young, unmarried mother who is shunned by Hamilton’s upper class. She seeks out a respectable husband, but her choice in a spouse leaves everyone guessing.

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