Episode 323: In April 2014, a tragic shooting occurred at a sawmill in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Kevin Douglas Addison, 47, a former employee, opened fire at the Western Forest Products mill, killing Michael Lunn, 61, and Fred McEachern, 53, and injuring two others, Earl Kelly and Tony Sudar. Addison was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. Addison's actions shook the tight-knit Nanaimo community and highlighted critical issues surrounding workplace...
Jun 24, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep 323•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 322: Nova Scotia's rugged coastline and treacherous waters have made it a graveyard for ships throughout history. The SS Atlantic, a White Star Line steamship, sank off Nova Scotia on April 1, 1873, in one of the worst maritime disasters before the Titanic. On its 19th voyage from Liverpool to New York with around 975 people on board, the ship ran short of coal and diverted to Halifax. Navigational errors caused it to strike rocks near Prospect, Nova Scotia. Rough seas hindered lifeboat ...
Jun 17, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep 322•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 321: On August 10, 2018, the city of Fredericton, New Brunswick, was rocked by a horrific shooting that left four people dead. A man armed with a legally obtained assault-style rifle opened fire in a residential neighbourhood, killing two police officers and two civilians. Constables Robb Costello, 45, and Sara Burns, 43, were gunned down as they responded to reports of shots being fired. The civilian victims were 42-year-old Donnie Robichaud and his girlfriend, 32-year-old Bobbie Lee Wr...
Jun 10, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep 321•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 320: In 1991, the city of Vancouver was rocked by the brutal murder of 29-year-old Mary-Lynn Kimberly Breeden. Friends and family called her Lynn. The charred remains of her body were discovered in a dumpster, with a single bullet wound to the skull. What followed was a complex investigation that would uncover a web of deceit, greed, and cold-blooded violence. Through witness accounts, advances in forensic evidence, and detailed police work, detectives were able to piece together the chi...
Jun 03, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep 320•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 319: In the first two parts of our Shadows of Deception series, we delved into the abysmal depths of depravity exhibited by Dellen Millard and Mark Smich through the heinous murders of Tim Bosma and Laura Babcock. With Millard and Smich already incarcerated for their previous atrocities, a new investigation was launched into the 2012 death of Dellen's father, Wayne Millard, a wealthy aviation businessman. Initially presumed to be a suicide, the circumstances surrounding his demise came u...
May 27, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep 319•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 318: In the previous episode, we explored the shocking murder of Tim Bosma and the subsequent trial that brought two killers to justice. However, their trail of violence did not end there. In this second installment of our three-part series, we delve into the tragic case of Laura Babcock, 23, whose July 2012 disappearance from Toronto was eventually attributed to Dellen Millard and Mark Smich. We'll learn a bit about Laura’s life and examine the circumstances surrounding her vanishing an...
May 20, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep 318•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 317: Tim Bosma, a 32-year-old family man from Ancaster, Ontario, went missing in May 2013 after taking two men for a test drive of his truck. The two men were later identified as Dellen Millard, a 27-year-old heir to a Canadian aviation empire, and Mark Smich, a 24-year-old drug dealer and aspiring rapper. This case would expose the disturbing reality of Millard and Smich's cold-blooded violence and web of deceit. The investigation into Bosma's disappearance was just the beginning of unc...
May 13, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep 317•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 316: On January 18, 1987, 20-year-old University of Victoria student Marguerite Telesford disappeared during a morning jog in Saanich, British Columbia. Her bloody earmuffs, bloodstains, a discharged shotgun shell, and a pry bar were found, suggesting foul play, but her body was never located. In 1989, Scott Ian MacKay was convicted of second-degree murder concerning Telesford's death despite maintaining his innocence. MacKay had a history of violent assaults on women. Recently, after se...
May 06, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep 316•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 315: Barbara Gayle Stoppel, a 16-year-old waitress, was tragically murdered on December 23, 1981, in the women's washroom of Ideal Donut Shop in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was strangled with a twine, and despite being found alive, she succumbed to her injuries after six days on life support. The murder case quickly became notorious not only due to its brutal nature but also because of the wrongful conviction of Thomas Sophonow, who was initially accused of the crime. Sophonow underwent thre...
Apr 29, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep 315•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 314: Ezra Allen Miner, more commonly known as Bill Miner, was an infamous American stagecoach and train robber born in Michigan in 1846. Bill Miner's criminal career included an early arrest on April 3, 1866, for robbery, leading to a three-year sentence at San Quentin. Over thirty-five years, Miner was incarcerated for a cumulative total of nearly 30 years, experiencing two official releases and making five escapes from custody. He became infamous in Canada for robbing the Canadian Paci...
Apr 22, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep 314•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 313: Douglas Donald Moore, known in Meadowvale, Ontario, as a drug supplier for young teens, gained notoriety in Mississauga for killing three young men before taking his own life in his jail cell while awaiting trial on 11 charges for sexual assaults on three boys. Peel Regional Police assert that Robert Grewal, 22, of Meadowvale, and Giuseppe (Joseph) Manchisi, 20, of Milton, who were close friends, were killed in 2003 by Moore. After Moore’s death, he was named the prime suspect in th...
Apr 15, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep 313•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 312: In a home in Shediac, New Brunswick, on February 13, 1805, Amos Babcock, driven by delusions of divine mission, subjected his family to a horrifying ordeal. He gathered his wife, children and sister, Mercy, instilling fear with his erratic behaviour and unsettling declarations. Spurred by imagined threats and seeing himself as an instrument of God, Amos prepared for a sacrificial act, treating his family with cruelty dressed up as a religious ritual. His deep descent into madness wa...
Apr 08, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep 312•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 311: On October 21, 2021, a tragic accident occurred on the set of the low-budget old-west movie Rust, filmed on a New Mexico ranch. Wife, mother and Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, was fatally shot, and writer/director Joel Souza, 48, was injured. It was the lead actor and producer, Alec Baldwin, who was holding the prop gun that killed Hutchins and wounded Souza. Somehow, it contained a live round. Investigations also revealed other live rounds on set, which is never supposed to h...
Apr 01, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Ep 311•Transcript available on Metacast In the summer of 2006, a young Calgary woman was on top of the world. She had a supportive family, amazing friends and a great job. But life as she knew it came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the night on August 6, 2006. In this episode, Global News senior crime reporter Nancy Hixt shares details of a violent attack- a story that’s every woman’s worst fear. www.calgarycrimestoppers.org - reference case # 06274598 https://newsroom.calgary.ca/sexual-assault-case-from-2006-has-new-lead/ Contact...
Mar 28, 2024•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 310: On October 21, 2021, a tragic accident occurred on the set of the low-budget old-west movie Rust, filmed on a New Mexico ranch. Wife, mother and Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, was fatally shot, and writer/director Joel Souza, 48, was injured. It was the lead actor and producer, Alec Baldwin, who was holding the prop gun that killed Hutchins and wounded Souza. Somehow, it contained a live round. Investigations also revealed other live rounds on set, which is never supposed to h...
Mar 25, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep 310•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 309: In Mike's first book, Murder, Madness and Mayhem, he wrote about an unknown man whose body was found on Somerton Park beach near Adelaide, Australia, by two trainee jockeys who’d been out with their horses on the morning of December 1, 1948. Lying in peaceful repose, the man wore a suit, overdressed for the warm Australian summer, and had no wallet or identification. He was unknown to anyone locally. The labels of his clothing had been ripped out. Some enigmatic leads proved fruitle...
Mar 18, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep 309•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 308: Kimberly Lynn Hallgarth was the 33-year-old mother of one and involved with former CFL football player Joshua Joseph Boden when. she was found brutally murdered at her residence in Burnaby, British Columbia, in March 2009. Her death was covered extensively in the media due to its connection with Boden, who had a long history of legal entanglements and was the main suspect in her killing. After years of awaiting a resolution, Kimberly’s family finally got a whiff of justice, when in ...
Mar 11, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep 308•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 307: On Friday, July 10th, 1970, around 7 a.m., near Ludlow, Maine, 45 kilometres from the border with Canada, the crew aboard a northbound Bangor & Aroostook Railway train noticed something lying on the tracks ahead. They thought at first it might be trash but reacted quickly regardless. Despite the immediate application of the brakes, the locomotive, towing 19 heavy boxcars, could not stop in time to avoid a collision. The objects on the tracks were sleeping bags containing three young...
Mar 04, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep 307•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 306: This week, we discuss the shooting death of American Mark Harshbarger during a 2006 hunting trip to Newfoundland. The Meshoppen, Pennsylvania, man was shot by his wife, Mary Beth Harshbarger, who claims she thought he was a black bear. In 2010, Harshbarger was extradited to Newfoundland, where she stood trial for criminal negligence causing death. The prosecution cited insurance money as Mary Beth’s motive for the killing. After two weeks of hearings in September, the presiding judg...
Feb 26, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep 306•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 305: Joseph LaPage, a French-Canadian rapist and necrophile known as the French Monster, was tried and hung in 1878 for the brutal, sexually motivated murder of Josie A. Langmaid, 17, in Pembroke, New Hampshire, in 1875. LaPage was also the sole suspect in the 1874 murder of Marietta N. Ball, a girl from St. Albans, Vermont. He was arrested for that crime; however, insufficient evidence prevented a trial, but the night before his execution, LaPage confessed to Marietta’s murder. Only wee...
Feb 19, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep 305•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 304: On the morning of July 11, 1996, police were called to the parking lot of a hotel under construction off Interstate 40 at 7471 Crosswood Boulevard in Knoxville, Tennesee. There, they found the body of a man, later identified as Robert Dennis Blair Adams, 31, a Canadian citizen from Surrey, B.C. Family and friends called him Blair. Scattered around his body were personal items belonging to Blair and almost $4000 in various currencies, including Canadian, American, and German money. A...
Feb 12, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep 304•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 303: The Chowchilla school bus hijacking and kidnapping, a notorious case that occurred in 1976, involved the abduction of a school bus carrying 26 children, nineteen girls and seven boys, ages 5 to 14, and their driver, Frank Edward ‘Ed’ Ray, who was 55. It was orchestrated by three young men from affluent families — brothers Richard Schoenfeld, 22, James Schoenfeld, 24, and their friend Frederick Newhall Woods IV, also twenty-four. The crime was motivated by a desire for ransom money a...
Feb 05, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep 303•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 302: On April 25, 1978, RCMP Constable Thomas (Brian) King, a 40-year-old father of three, pulled over a vehicle for a minor traffic offence at 12:35 AM on Highway 11, roughly a quarter mile (400 metres) north of the Saskatoon city boundary. Inside the car were two young men: 18-year-old Darrell Luke Crook and 19-year-old Gregory Michael Fischer. The pair had intentionally disabled the vehicle’s tail light to draw the attention of law enforcement. As the unsuspecting officer was checking...
Jan 29, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep 302•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 301: In episode thirteen of Dark Poutine, we covered the Babes in the Woods case, a tragic and long-unsolved mystery from Vancouver. In 1953, the skeletal remains of two children were discovered in Stanley Park, one of Vancouver's largest urban parks. What made this case, particularly haunting was that the children were found with a hatchet that appeared to have been used to end their lives. The identities of the two children remained unknown for almost 70 years until, in 2022, using DNA...
Jan 22, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep 301•Transcript available on Metacast As this is bonus content related to episode 300, we don’t have the usual show open. There are no loons. There’s no music. There’s no Mathew here for this. This episode is dedicated entirely to Daniel Jordan Levesque's memory and features my recent conversation with his mother, Stacey Thur, from her home in Revelstoke. B.C. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 15, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 300: In June 2011, twenty-year-old musician Daniel Jordan Levesque moved from his family home in Revelstoke, B.C., to Victoria, full of dreams to start a new life and advance his burgeoning musical career. On June 15, seeking work, Daniel went to a 7-Eleven store, where he met Joshua Tyler Bredo, the store’s Assistant Manager, who hired Daniel on the spot. Bredo presented himself as a good guy, a helpful friend, but in truth, he quickly became obsessed with Daniel sexually with nefarious...
Jan 15, 2024•2 hr 33 min•Ep 300•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 299: In this episode, we explore a dark chapter of Winnipeg's criminal history, centred on the "Yuletide Bandit," notorious for his holiday-season robberies in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Michael David Syrnyk, known for targeting banks and armoured vehicles, executed his crimes with a reckless disregard for human life, often using firearms and viewing his victims merely as obstacles. His choice of the festive season for these heists added a cruel irony to his crimes, starkly contrast...
Dec 25, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep 299•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 298: Last week, we learned how Chinese immigrants have significantly contributed to Western Canada's development since 1788, playing critical roles in trade, gold rushes, and railway construction. Despite their contributions, they faced severe discrimination and exploitation, particularly during the railway construction in the early 1900s. Post-railway completion, they suffered rights losses and were subject to a prohibitive head tax, escalating to $500, which failed to deter immigration...
Dec 18, 2023•58 min•Ep 298•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 297: The history of Chinese immigration to Canada is a story marked by adversity. Chinese labourers played a pivotal role in building the Canadian railway under harsh conditions, yet faced institutional discrimination, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923, which limited immigration and separated families for years. Despite these challenges, the Chinese community's resilience has left an indelible mark on Canadian culture. Today, we honour their contributions and recognize the need...
Dec 11, 2023•59 min•Ep 297•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 296: On December 6, 1989, a tragic and profound event shook Canada and had a lasting impact. That evening, a gunman entered the École Polytechnique in Montreal, an engineering school affiliated with the Université de Montréal. This act of violence was specifically targeted against women, marking it as a horrific instance of gender-based violence. The attacker, motivated by his hatred for feminists whom he blamed for his personal and professional failures, embarked on a rampage through th...
Dec 04, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep 296•Transcript available on Metacast