Episode description

June 9, 1959. Clinton, Ontario. After failing to return home, 12-year old Lynne Harper is reported missing and her body is discovered in a woodlot two days later. She has been sexually assaulted and strangled to death with her own blouse and suspicion turns towards her 14-year old classmate, Steven Truscott, who claims that he gave Lynne a ride to the highway on his bicycle and saw her climb into a passing car. Steven is soon charged, convicted and sentenced to death for Lynne’s murder, but his sentence is commuted to life imprisonment and he is paroled in 1969. Decades later, Steven files a successful appeal to have his conviction overturned, but there is still a lot of debate about who was actually responsible for Lynne Harper’s murder. To commemorate the eight-year anniversary of “The Trail Went Cold”, we will be releasing the first part of a special two-part episode about one of the most controversial murder cases in the history of Canada. Special thanks to listener Sarah Browning for narrating the opening of this episode.

Additional Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Truscott

“Until You Are Dead: The Wrongful Conviction of Steven Truscott”

“Steven Truscott: Decades of Injustice” by Nate Hendley

https://www.cbc.ca/news2/background/truscott/index.html

https://www.cbc.ca/news2/background/truscott/timeline.html

https://www.thestar.com/news/2007/01/29/can_science_clear_truscott.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/court-acquits-truscott-calling-conviction-miscarriage-of-justice-1.668524

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/victim-s-family-stunned-by-truscott-compensation-1.747261

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/who-killed-lynne-harper-retired-opp-sergeant-says-travelling-salesman-a-suspect-in-string-of-murders

https://web.archive.org/web/20070401115048/http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/ps/ccr/kaufman/exec.html

If you would like to make a donation to “Season of Justice”, please visit our donation page at https://givebutter.com/SOJ_thetrail or text “TRAIL24” to # 53555.

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

“The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon UK” in London on September 21-22, 2024. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to the event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD24”, by visiting their website.

“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Denver Marriott Westminster in Colorado on July 12-14, 2024. To get a 15 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL”, by visiting https://truecrimepodcastfestival.com.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.