Dark Poutine – A podcast about notorious Canadian crimes, dark history and other creepy topics as told by real-live Canadians

All Episodes

February 28, 2023 by Mike Browne

411: The Niagara Murder: The Tragic Death of Frederick C. Benwell

March 25, 2026March 23, 2026 by Mike Browne

Episode 411: In February 1890, the body of 24-year-old Englishman Frederick Cornwallis Benwell was found in a shallow grave near Lundy’s Lane, just outside Niagara Falls, Ontario. Benwell had travelled to Canada after corresponding with John Reginald Birchall, aka Lord Frederick A. Somerset, a fellow Englishman who advertised opportunities for young men seeking work and advancement overseas. Within days of Benwell’s disappearance, suspicion fell on Birchall, who was arrested in Buffalo, New York, and returned to Canada to stand trial. What followed was one of the most closely watched murder cases in late 19th-century Ontario.

Sources:

The Swamp of death, or, The Benwell murder by Oliver Wendell Holmes | Canadiana.ca
Catalog Record: The Swamp of death, or, The Benwell murder | HathiTrust Digital Library
Newspapers.com | Search: John Reginald Birchall
https://www.themeister.co.uk/birchall/birchall_reginald.pdf
BIRCHALL, REGINALD (Lord Frederick A. Somerset) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Frederick Cornwallis Benwell (1865-1890) – Find a…
John Reginald Birchall (1866-1890)
Murder as a Fine Art by Alan Blytheway
The Trial of Reginald Birchall
John Reginald Birchall | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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410: The Legend of Agnus McVee: Murder at 108 Mile

March 25, 2026March 16, 2026 by Mike Browne

Episode 410: In the final years of the Cariboo Gold Rush, between roughly 1875 and 1885, travellers moving along the Cariboo Wagon Road through British Columbia’s interior passed through a remote roadhouse known as the 108 Mile Hotel, about 108 miles from Lillooet on the route toward Barkerville. According to a long-told regional legend, the hotel was run by Agnus McVee, alongside her husband Jim McVee and her son-in-law Al Riley, who were accused of drugging, robbing, and murdering miners carrying gold through the region. The story claims that dozens of travellers disappeared after stopping at the inn, with some accounts later alleging that bodies were recovered from nearby lakes and that young women were held captive at the hotel.

Sources:

CARIBOO CALLING: The Legend of Agnus MacVee
The Cariboo Gold Rush Timeline
History – Gold Rush Trail – British Columbia Shaped by Nature
History and Timeline | Cariboo Gold Project
Agnus McVee – Habitual Runaway Tours
Sarah Leavitt’s comic imagines the life of Agnes McVee | CBC Books
Agnus McVee | Wikipedia
Agnes, Murderess | Goodreads
108 Mile Heritage Site – Preserving the rich history of the Cariboo

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409: The Toronto 18 — Radicalized in the Suburbs

March 25, 2026March 9, 2026 by Mike Browne

Episode 409: In June 2006, police carried out coordinated arrests across southern Ontario and charged 18 young men under Canada’s anti-terrorism laws. The case quickly became known as the Toronto 18. It was described as a homegrown plot, not directed from overseas but organized in suburban communities around Mississauga and Toronto.

Most of the accused were in their late teens or early twenties. Many were Canadian citizens or long-time residents. Their backgrounds varied, but research and court records show no pattern of hardened criminal histories or severe mental illness. What drew them together, investigators argued, was a shared sense of grievance over global conflicts and a growing embrace of militant ideology.

Sources:

Prime Minister comments on terror arrests | Canada.ca
Seventeen Arrested on Anti-Terrorism Charges | Canada.ca
2006 Ontario terrorism plot | Wikipedia
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day Issues Statement on Canada’s National Day to Remember Victims of Terror | Canada.ca
Toronto 18: Key events in the case | CBC News
Manitoba Law Journal, vol 44 no 1, 2021 CanLIIDocs 787
R. v. N.Y., 2008 CanLII 51935 (ON SC)
R. v. Gaya, 2008 CanLII 24539 (ON SC)

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408: The Murder of Taylor Samson

March 25, 2026March 2, 2026 by Mike Browne

Episode 408: In August 2015, 22-year-old Dalhousie University physics student Taylor Samson walked into an apartment on Henry Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia, carrying 20 pounds of marijuana. He never walked out.

What followed became one of Nova Scotia’s most closely watched murder cases. William “Will” Sandeson — a former university track athlete and incoming medical student — was arrested days later. Surveillance footage showed Samson entering Sandeson’s apartment. Blood and DNA evidence tied the scene to a fatal gunshot. Samson’s body was never recovered.

This is the story of Taylor Samson’s disappearance, and the long road to justice for his killer.

Sources:

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407: The Tragic End of Henrietta Knight

March 25, 2026February 23, 2026 by Mike Browne

Episode 407: On a quiet street in Kingston, Ontario, a 92-year-old woman named Henrietta Knight opened her front door on a summer afternoon in 1995. She was violently assaulted during a home invasion, left badly injured, and her house was ransacked. Though she survived the attack and spoke to police, paramedics, and doctors, her health steadily declined, and she died months later. What caused her death, and whether it was connected to the assault, would linger as an unanswered question for decades. This episode traces the case from its beginnings in eastern Ontario in the mid-1990s through years of silence and uncertainty, leading to a courtroom many years later, where the truth proved far harder to define than anyone expected.

Sources:

Jan 12, 1996, page 9 – The Kingston Whig-Standard at Newspapers.com™
Sep 24, 1999, page 10 – The Kingston Whig-Standard at Newspapers.com™
https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2023/2023onsc1379/2023onsc1379.html
https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2023/2023onsc1165/2023onsc1165.html
https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2022/2022onsc5319/2022onsc5319.html
https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2022/2022onsc4291/2022onsc4291.html

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406: Stolen Life, Stolen Identity: The Murder of Dwayne Demkiw

March 25, 2026February 16, 2026 by Mike Browne

Episode 406: It was a bright Sunday late-morning, on May 31, 2015, in Calgary, Alberta, when a passerby heard a bang inside an airport‑area parkade and saw smoke pouring from the trunk of a black Acura. The car was still running, licence plate gone, still aflame as firefighters moved in, and a bystander quietly filmed a lone man walking away, glancing back at the burning vehicle. When investigators opened the doors, they found no driver, but blood soaked into the driver’s seat, the door, and the back seat, telling them someone had bled heavily inside that car. The Acura was registered to a 42‑year‑old limo driver, Dwayne Demkiw, who lived three hours north in Edmonton and hadn’t been seen since he finished a late shift around 4 a.m. that same morning. While his friends frantically called his phone and posted online, police in two cities were starting to realize they might be dealing with something far worse than a stolen car.

Sources:

Remembering Dwayne Demkiw | Reel by Dateline NBC
Dwayne Demkiw – Lets bring him home | Facebook
Dwayne Demkiw | Global News, Videos & Articles
R v Steadman, 2018 ABQB 1045 (CanLII)
R v Steadman, 2021 ABCA 332 (CanLII)
R v Sproule, 2025 ABKB 91 (CanLII)
R v Sproule, 2025 ABKB 707 (CanLII)
Canadian Taxi Driver Homicides: Dwayne Demkiw
Somebody’s Hiding Something s02e03 | Crave
“Dateline NBC” The Case of the Man with No Name (2023) IMDb
Dwayne Eugene Demkiw | Obituary
Donate to Dwayne Demkiw – Justice, Grieving & Healing, organized by Jesta Menace
5 horrifying details about the murder of Canadian limo driver Dwayne Demkiw | Primetimer
Fugitive charged in Edmonton murder lived under stolen identity: investigators | Globe & Mail
Family thanks the person who found the bones of their missing son | CBC News
Homicide victim’s friend removed evidence from crime scene, murder trial hears | CBC News
After a limo driver disappears, a fugitive’s web begins to unravel and sets off an international manhunt
Liberals grilled on trial delays after Dwayne Demkiw murder | Watch News Videos Online

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405: Final Justice: The Murder of Beverley Ann Dyke

March 25, 2026February 9, 2026 by Mike Browne

Episode 405: On the 17th of May 1984, 48‑year‑old Beverley Anne Dyke was found brutally murdered in a wooded area near Moray Street and Saskatchewan Avenue on the edge of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her killing, a frenzied sexual assault and stabbing, left her family and the wider community fearing a predator was on the loose. For years, detectives chased dead ends and even a dramatic prison confession, but the real killer remained a mystery. It would take more than two decades, and a cold‑case DNA match, to finally reveal who murdered Beverley and why.

Sources:

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404: Left in the Cold: The Winnipeg Homeless Murders

March 25, 2026February 2, 2026 by Mike Browne

Episode 404: In April 2015, someone began targeting some of the city’s most vulnerable residents: men living rough, sleeping outside, and often already failed by every system meant to protect them. By the time the killing stopped, three were dead: 37‑year‑old Miles Monias, 48‑year‑old Stony Stanley Bushie, and 65‑year‑old Donald Collins. Their killer was another man on the margins, a homeless drifter with a long history of violence and untreated mental illness, John Paul Ostamas.

Sources:

Media Release – April 28, 2015 – Winnipeg Police Service
R. v. Ostamas, 2016 MBQB 136 (CanLII)
R. v. Ostamas (J.P.) (2016), 329 Man.R.(2d) 203 (QB) | vLex
R v Ostamas, 2022 MBCA 68 (CanLII)
John Paul Ostamas | APTN Archives
John Paul Ostamas | Global News, Videos & Articles
Winnipeg’s Duck Face Serial Killer
Winnipeg’s history
Garden Hill First Nation | Wikipedia
Little Grand Rapids First Nation
Apr 27, 2015, page 16 – Calgary Herald at Newspapers.com™
Apr 29, 2015, page A5 – Telegraph-Journal at Newspapers.com™
May 2015: Death and the homeless
THE FIRST NATIONAL INDIGENOUS BROADCASTER IN THE WORLD | APTN
Winnipeg police charge man in connection with 3 murders | APTN
Man charged with 3 Winnipeg killings came from ‘good family’ in Eabametoong First Nation | APTN
May 2016: Guilty plea in killing spree
‘3 monstrous murders’: Homeless killer John Paul Ostamas will get no parole for 75 years | CBC News
‘Person of interest’ located by Winnipeg Police: Sources – Winnipeg
Police say suspect in Winnipeg deaths known to Ontario police
Murder charges for deaths of homeless Native men in Manitoba
Accused serial killer John Paul Ostamas sought help from Kenora pastor
Stoney Bushie’s friends, family gather for Winnipeg prayer service | CBC News
Ostamas tried to burn down Winnipeg hotel, police say – Winnipeg
Thunder Bay-area man charged with murder after 2 homeless men killed in Winnipeg | CBC News
Families honour victims of alleged serial killer John Ostamas
Man charged with killing 3 men in Winnipeg | CBC News
Who is John Paul Ostamas, alleged serial killer in Winnipeg deaths? | CBC News
Homeless in Vancouver: Homeless man charged in serial killings of three Winnipeg men | Georgia Straight Vancouver’s source for arts, culture, and events
Homelessness – Social Planning Council of Winnipeg
Indigenous Peoples and Homelessness | homelesshub.ca
Homeless in Vancouver: Serial killer may be targeting Winnipeg homeless | Georgia Straight Vancouver’s source for arts, culture, and events
Latest Winnipeg street census suggests homelessness at highest point in past decade | CBC News
AMC Responds to Record Homelessness in Winnipeg | manitobachiefs.com
Understanding Indigenous Homelessness
28239_here_now_plan_report_FIN_WEB | PDF

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403: The Melady Murders: Canada’s Last Public Hanging

March 25, 2026January 26, 2026 by Mike Browne

Episode 403: Nicholas Melady Jr. was 24 years old when he stepped onto a wooden scaffold above the stone walls of Goderich Gaol in December of 1869, about to become the central figure in Canada’s last public hanging after the brutal murders of his father, Nicholas Melady Sr. and stepmother, Ellen, in a quiet Huron County farmhouse. In this episode, we return to a world of bush farms, rough taverns, and bitter family feuds over land and inheritance, tracing a path from a whispered meeting on a bridge and talk of “just a robbery” to a blood‑soaked kitchen floor, sloppy police work, and a coroner making two young men stand barefoot in dried pools of blood.

Sources:

Double Trap by John Melady
Seaforth Doors Open | shopseaforth.ca
Audio-Tour-of-North-Street | goderich.ca
Huron Historic Gaol
‘Morbid curiosity’: When executions were public spectacles in Ontario | TVO Today
Mar 27, 1869, page 1 – The Globe and Mail at Newspapers.com™
Apr 02, 1869, page 3 – Ottawa Daily Citizen at Newspapers.com™
Dec 08, 1869, page 4 – The Critic and Record at Newspapers.com™
Dec 09, 1869, page 4 – Buffalo Courier Express at Newspapers.com™
Dec 17, 1869, page 1 – Brampton Times at Newspapers.com™
Dec 07, 1869, page 3 – Boston Evening Transcript at Newspapers.com™
Carling R. Marshall ~ Public History Blog: Semi-public? – The Hoag Hanging, Walkerton – 1868
Carling R. Marshall – Capital punishment: Huron County opinion in 1869
Nicholas Melady | Wikipedia
1869: Nicholas Melady, the last public hanging in Canada | Executed Today
Researching Canada’s ‘Last Public Hanging | Huron County Museum
The Final Days of Nicholas Melady Jr. as Witnessed by William Dickson – Champlain Society

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402: Black Friday: The 1987 Edmonton Tornado

March 25, 2026January 19, 2026 by Mike Browne

Episode 402: On July 31, 1987, an ordinary summer afternoon in Edmonton, Alberta, ended in catastrophe. A powerful tornado cut through the city’s southeast, killing 27 people and leaving entire neighbourhoods destroyed in minutes. In this episode, we examine the second-deadliest tornado in Canadian history through firsthand survivor accounts and direct statements from officials who faced a disaster few believed could happen in a major Canadian city. The day would later become known as “Black Friday,” a name repeated in municipal histories and anniversary coverage. On July 31 itself, it was still just another Friday afternoon.

Episode Sources:

Tornado, a report : Edmonton and Strathcona County, July 31st, 1987 : Alberta Public Safety Services
Edmonton Tornado (1987) | The Candian Encyclopedia
BELLWEATHER KENNELS CANADA – EDMONTON TORNADO 1987 by Tom Taylor
Edmonton Tornado | Wikipedia
The Edmonton Tornado | Environment Canada
Black Friday changed city, survivors | CBC News
This Was the Worst Tornado in Canada’s History | Reader’s Digest
Jul 30, 1988, page 92 – Edmonton Journal at Newspapers.com™
From the Edmonton community on Reddit
Edmonton Journal front page story of the Edmonton tornado July 31, 1987 (Black Friday)
Regina Cyclone | Wikipedia

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