What does a reporter do when they receive a cold call from one of the most horrific serial killers in Canadian history?
The killer: Clifford Olson, who murdered at least eleven children in the 1980s. The reporter: Arlene Bynon, who recorded her jailhouse calls with Olson for years.
Alongside legendary journalist Peter Worthington, Arlene spent hundreds of hours on the phone with Olson. It was kept secret from his prison guards; he wasn't allowed to speak to the media.
In Calls From a Killer, from CBC’s Uncover, Arlene unearths secrets that have been buried for decades.
Secrets about Olson's crimes, about how police failed his young victims and their families — and why law enforcement paid a psychopathic serial killer $100,000.
With Nathaniel Frum — Peter's grandson — Arlene exposes hard truths about a forgotten tragedy, a bungled investigation, the loved ones left behind, and the mind of a killer.
About UNCOVER: Crime. Investigation. Revelation. Uncover brings you explosive, high-caliber true crime year-round. From CIA mind control to serial abuse, mysterious disappearances to wrongful imprisonment. Each season features a new host who is deeply connected to the story, committed to tracking down the truth. With over 30 seasons to choose from, Uncover represents the best in true crime.
For early access to episodes, plus ad-free listening, visit apple.co/cbctruecrime.
Dr. Ewen Cameron, an internally renowned psychiatrist, was once the director of the World, American and Canadian Psychiatric Associations. So how did he come to develop his controversial treatments? And what was the real purpose behind his experiments? This is Uncover: Brainwashed. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/brainwashed-transcripts-listen-1.5734335
Communist brainwashing, mind control experiments, a government cover up... MKULTRA sounds like the stuff of conspiracy theories or science fiction. But it was real. John Marks, author of The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, and Stephen Kinzer, author of Poisoner in Chief, reveal the shocking details of the bizarre and expansive secret CIA project. This is Uncover: Brainwashed. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/brainwashed-transcripts-listen-1....
After discovering that they were the unwitting victims of human experiments, nine of Dr. Cameron’s victims band together to take on a Herculean task – to make the CIA pay. How do you sue one of the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world? This is Uncover: Brainwashed. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/brainwashed-transcripts-listen-1.5734335
MKULTRA was supposed to have ended in the 1960s. The torturous experiments didn’t work. So why did these techniques evolve and continue to be used by American trainers throughout Latin America, and then get revived once again in the era that followed the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks? The CIA’s Black Sites and a courtroom inside the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base may hold some of the answers. This is Uncover: Brainwashed. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/bra...
MKULTRA has entered popular culture, becoming the butt of jokes, television plot points, and the darling of internet conspiracy theorists. At the very least, the secrecy that still surrounds MKULTRA, or the CIA’s post-9/11 programs, sows distrust of governments, and medical professionals. At worst, it gives credence to online conspiracies, like Pizzagate, that end up having real world consequences. Meanwhile, the families of the victims continue to suffer. And continue to fight for justice and r...
In a U.S. federal courtroom Tuesday, Keith Raniere was sentenced to 120 years—having been convicted of a slew of crimes related to his alleged sex cult NXIVM. During the trial and sentencing, victims told of how the self-professed empowerment "vanguard" had turned some of his followers into sex slaves and branded them with his initials. Front Burner's Jayme Poisson discusses with Uncover: NXIVM host Josh Bloch.
On November 12, 1995, 28-year-old Brenda Way is found murdered behind an apartment building in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Investigative journalist Tim Bousquet discovers, right in his own neighbourhood, a community of sex workers and a pattern of violence that indicates this is not the first time. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-7-dead-wrong-transcripts-listen-1.5612940
The police investigation into Brenda Way’s murder is going nowhere until a new investigator is assigned to the case. Suddenly, new witnesses and evidence start to appear, and all of it points in one direction. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-7-dead-wrong-transcripts-listen-1.5612940
The trial of Glen Assoun for the second degree murder of Brenda Way starts on June 1, 1999. But within days, the trial takes an expected turn, and events begin to unfold that place Glen in an impossible situation. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-7-dead-wrong-transcripts-listen-1.5612940
The day after Glen is convicted of murder he starts to work on his appeal. A new lawyer and an ex-RCMP private investigator find fresh evidence that should help get Glen a new trial. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-7-dead-wrong-transcripts-listen-1.5612940
Glen faces new horrors while being locked up in prison. But then he makes a connection with someone on the outside who provides a lifeline — and possibly, a route to freedom. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-7-dead-wrong-transcripts-listen-1.5612940
An RCMP profiler and analyst is put on a killer’s case. He starts to make links that lead to a shocking discovery. Can this be helpful to Glen? For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-7-dead-wrong-transcripts-listen-1.5612940
Glen’s last hope — a federal lawyer opens a new investigation that leads to a hearing at the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. Tim works to get sealed court documents released to the public. The result is a bombshell. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-7-dead-wrong-transcripts-listen-1.5612940
What now? Bousquet reviews the original police investigation, talks with Glen and his family, and wonders: What does justice look like? Will anyone be held accountable? And what other innocent person might be in prison? For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-7-dead-wrong-transcripts-listen-1.5612940
Twenty-five years ago, Brenda Way was found murdered in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. A botched investigation followed, resulting in the wrongful imprisonment of Glen Assoun—who served more than 17 years for the crime. How could one investigation go so wrong? And where is the justice for Brenda?
Police Officer Claudia Bryden is drawn into a bizarre case unfolding in the peaceful Prairie town of Martensville, Saskatchewan. What starts with a single complaint about an alleged sexual assault in a home daycare grows into something bigger and more disturbing than anyone could have imagined. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-6-satanic-panic-transcripts-listen-1.5437487
By June 1992, nine people face nearly 180 charges related to the sexual abuse of children who have attended a home daycare in Martensville. Journalist Dan Zakreski revisits the sites of the story that dominated everyone's attention, including a ‘Devil Church,’ and reflects on his own role in spreading the story. Then, we meet a young mother searching for answers who shares her own heartrending story of a childhood turned upside down by the Martensville Nightmare. For transcripts of this series, ...
As the number of suspects continues to grow, rumours of an underground Satanic cult whose members include police officers have taken root. Saskatoon Police Officer John Popowich finds himself facing “the worst things that a human being can be accused of.” For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-6-satanic-panic-transcripts-listen-1.5437487
A local activist in Saskatoon, Marjaleena Repo, says she knew instantly that the accused were innocent, victims of nothing less than mass hysteria. Though she sounds the alarm in any forum she can find, her warnings are ignored. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-6-satanic-panic-transcripts-listen-1.5437487
As devastating as the Martensville Nightmare is for all involved, it’s just one piece of a much bigger picture. FBI special agent Ken Lanning spent the ‘80s trying to figure out what the hell was happening across North America, and why. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-6-satanic-panic-transcripts-listen-1.5437487
How does it come to be that hundreds of children across North America and beyond report such similar crimes? How has a phenomenon that’s never seen a proven case become so real in the minds of so many? And what does it mean for the children at the centre of it all? For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-6-satanic-panic-transcripts-listen-1.5437487
Far from healed, the Martensville Nightmare remains an open wound for those who lived through it. And yet for the rest of us, the history is all but lost — a symbol of the broader failure across the board to face the effects of the Satanic Panic head on or to learn its lessons. But, some surprising good did emerge out of all the pain. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-6-satanic-panic-transcripts-listen-1.5437487
Throughout the 1980s, Satanic cults were widely believed to be preying on children — torturing and terrorizing them as part of dark rituals. Across North America, there were hundreds of false allegations, scores of unjust criminal trials and countless lives torn apart. But never any real proof. By the early 90s, the panic reached the tiny Prairie town of Martensville, Saskatchewan. And nearly 30 years later, the people touched by it all are still picking up the pieces. So what happened? And why ...
Join Ian Hanomansing and the hosts of Uncover, Missing and Murdered and Hunting Warhead as they share never-before-told stories from their podcasts in front of a live audience at the Hot Docs Podcast Festival. Josh Bloch asks if he was duped by his friend and subject of Uncover: Escaping NXIVM, Sarah Edmondson. Connie Walker reveals why she became a journalist and her hidden motivation behind her true crime podcast Missing and Murdered. Justin Ling, host of Uncover: The Village dives deep into H...
Sharmini, Episode 1 - On June 12, 1999, 15-year-old Sharmini Anandavel left her family’s Toronto apartment around 9 a.m. She never returned. Her remains were found in a wooded ravine four months later. Investigative journalist Michelle Shephard revisits the case that has haunted her for twenty years and hears—for the first time—police theories about the only suspect. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-5-sharmini-transcripts-listen-1.5277...
Sharmini, Episode 2 - Michelle visits Woodbine Junior High in North York to learn about Sharmini’s life as a Grade 9 student. Her friends, teachers, and community recall the days after the teen's disappearance, and the false stories born out of prejudice. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-5-sharmini-transcripts-listen-1.5277530
Sharmini, episode 3 - In the years between being a suspect in Sharmini's killing and his 2009 conviction, Stanley Tippett exhibited disturbing patterns. Michelle talks to law enforcement officers, old neighbours, and witnesses about Tippett's behaviour as he moved from Oshawa to Collingwood to Peterborough. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-5-sharmini-transcripts-listen-1.5277530
Sharmini, episode 4 - Michelle talks to Stanley Tippett for the first time in twenty years. Face to face. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-5-sharmini-transcripts-listen-1.5277530
Sharmini, episode 5 - Michelle questions Tippett on the shifting details of his stories, while he firmly maintains his innocence. His own words from months ago —and from 1999— contain many contradictions. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-5-sharmini-transcripts-listen-1.5277530
Sharmini, episode 6 - Sharmini's brother Kathees shares the last time he saw her and recalls their interactions with Stanley Tippett before she went missing. The Toronto Police shares why no one was charged for Sharmini's murder, with context of another case around the same time. We hear her voice for the first time. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/uncover-season-5-sharmini-transcripts-listen-1.5277530 Also, after the credits, an update from the tea...
