Mike Browne

Episode 252: Starting when Amanda Michelle Todd was just 11 years old, a person began a campaign of sexual extortion, relentless harassment and cyberbullying. Over the next three years, Amanda endured constant pressure from the man who used 22 online aliases on four different social media platforms to coerce and lure her into performing pornographic cam shows for him.

On September 7, 2012, Amanda posted a now-famous video on YouTube in which she used a series of flashcards to tell her experience of being blackmailed into exposing her breasts via webcam, which later led to her being bullied and physically assaulted. The video gained global attention when it went viral after Amanda completed suicide at her family home in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a month before her 16th birthday on October 10th, 2012. As of this writing, the video, still up on YouTube, is just about to crack 15 million views.

Amanda’s mother, Carol Todd, was driven by grief of her daughter’s loss to become an activist. She established the Amanda Todd Trust at the Royal Bank of Canada, which receives donations to support anti-bullying awareness education and programs for young people with mental health problems.

In 2014, a Dutch-Turkish man, Aydin Coban, in his 30s when the abuse of Amanda Todd began, was identified as the man who’d been harassing her and at least 39 other young girls and young gay males in the Netherlands, U.K., and Canada. After legal proceedings in the Netherlands wrapped up, Coban was imprisoned there. Although charged with five offences related to Amanda Todd here in Canada, Amanda’s family would have to wait for justice for her.

In June 2022, almost ten years after Amanda’s death, after being extradited to Canada, Aydan Coban stood trial in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. On August 5, 2022, the jury found Coban guilty of all five of the charges he was facing.

Sources:

Amanda Todd Legacy Society Official Site – Home

My story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self-harm | YouTube

The Story of Amanda Todd | The New Yorker

2022 BCSC 1810 (CanLII) | R. v Coban | CanLII

Dutch man Aydin Coban convicted of sexually extorting B.C. teen Amanda Todd | CBC News

Amanda Todd – Transcript of video – Pastebin.com

Amanda Michelle “Manda” Todd (1996-2012) – Find a Grave Memorial

Get help & support for suicide – Google Search Help

Canadian Association For Suicide Prevention

International Association for Suicide Prevention

Amanda Todd Legacy – Staying Strong

Carol Todd’s Snowflakes | http://amandatoddlegacy.org/

https://snowflakes4amanda.tumblr.com

My Name is Amanda Todd | Life Reflected | National Arts Centre

‘She shared everything with me’: Amanda Todd’s mother talks about her life with her daughter (with video)

Timeline of the Amanda Todd cyberbullying case | Vancouver Sun

Timeline: Amanda Todd investigation | CTV News

Amanda Todd blackmailer Kody Maxson outed another pedophile blackmailer

Cyberbullying trial: Closing arguments in B.C. | CTV News

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Episode 251: In the rural area known as Drummond Township, near Perth, Ontario, about a mile north of the village of Balderson’s Corners, in the early morning hours of December 10, 1828, what appeared to be an accidental fire resulted in the deaths of Thomas Easby’s wife and four eldest children. Only a month later, it was the word of Thomas’s only surviving son that painted a different, more sinister picture. Thomas was arrested, charged with the murders and tried. Easby’s trial was brief, he was convicted and sentenced to hang for what has been called Canada’s first mass murder.

Sources:

Rampage: Canadian Mass Murder and Spree Killing

The Thomas Easby Murders in 1829 — Foulest Ever in Lanark County | lindaseccaspina

Perth & District Historical Society – Perth, Ontario, Canada

THE DEVIL VISITS DRUMMOND TOWNSHIP

Thomas Easby Murders « Arlene Stafford Wilson

A Matter of Honour: And Other Tales of Early Perth – Susan Code – Google Books

The Early History of Balderson’s Corners

Historic Lanark County Documents from the Perth Courier

Uncovering the Secrets of the Perth Museum Archives: A Q&A with Debbie Sproule – Lanark County Tourism

A History of Drummond Township – John C. Ebbs – Google Books

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Episode 250: At 8:00 PM on the evening of March 21, 2006, the B.C. Ferries-operated motor vessel Queen of the North departed Prince Rupert, British Columbia. The long-haul passenger and vehicle ferry, making the 18-hour overnight trip to *Port Hardy* on the Northern end of Vancouver Island, was carrying 22 vehicles, 101 people, 59 passengers and 42 crew. Many passengers were asleep when, at 12:21 A.M., at 17.5 knots, the ferry struck an underwater ledge on the northeast side of Gil Island in Wright Sound. The damage to the hull was catastrophic; it tore holes in the starboard side and took out the propellers. The ferry lost propulsion and began drifting and taking on water. Upon realizing the ferry was lost, the crew and passengers loaded into lifeboats to take them safely away from the foundering vessel, which sank in 430 m of water only 80 Minutes later. Sadly, two of the passengers, Shirley Rosette and Gerald Foisy, both of 100 Mile House, British Columbia, were unaccounted for and, as they’ve never been found, they have since been declared dead.

Investigations by B.C. Ferries and the Canadian Transportation Safety Board determined that the sinking was due to human error on the part of the ferry’s navigational crew, and the RCMP undertook a criminal investigation. Helmswomen Karen Briker was fired, as was Captain Colin Henthorne, rightfully in his cabin at the time.

But the blame for the incident fell squarely on the shoulders of another man, the ship’s fourth officer. On March 16, 2010, the Crown charged *Karl-Heinz Arthur Lilgert* with two counts of criminal negligence, causing death. Lilgert was subsequently convicted of both charges and sentenced to four years in prison.

Sources:

Connecting the Coast | BC Ferries

Marine Investigation Report M92W1057 – Transportation Safety Board of Canada

Marine Investigation Report M06W0052 – Transportation Safety Board of Canada

Skidegate Band Council

Home | City of Prince Rupert

Divisional Inquiry | BC Ferries – British Columbia Ferry Services Inc.

2013 BCSC 1329 (CanLII) | R. v. Lilgert | CanLII

Navigator was either fighting or having sex with former lover on bridge of B.C. ferry the night it sank, Crown tells court | National Post

Queen of the North, the Captain’s story – North Island Gazette

The Queen of the North Disaster by Colin Henthorne – Ebook | Scribd

Family asked to prove loved ones died at ferry sinking trial | CTV News

Family of two victims testify at B.C. ferry sinking trial | CBC News

Ferry passenger believes she saw couple before crash, thinks they went overboard | Globalnews.ca

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Episode 249: As this is our special Christmas episode. It is our tradition to tell a Yuletide-themed yarn. This one is about a duo of bandits who burglarized various shopping malls across the United States and Canada year after year during the holidays. Their insidious M.O. was to work from the inside. The group’s leader, a safe cracker named Willie Thomas Soke and his sidekick, a little person of colour called Marcus Skidmore, would acquire jobs inside the department store. Soke, a foul-mouthed, chronic alcoholic and sex addict, would play the store’s Santa Claus, and Skidmore, his evil sidekick, would be one of Santa’s elves. Finally, after the murder of the head of a mall security manager named Johnny ‘Gin’ Calhoun at a Phoenix, Arizona, shopping complex, the pair were brought to justice in 2003. This was thanks partly to the unwitting help of a Canadian-born 10-year-old boy, Thurman Merman, who was living in Phoenix with his grandmother.

Sources:

Achondroplasia | Johns Hopkins Medicine

City of Phoenix, Arizona, Police Department

Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’ – song and lyrics by Charley Pride | Spotify

Simon Fraser University

The University of British Columbia

‘Documentary’: Bad Santa

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Episode 248: In New York City on the 8th of December, 1980, the world was rocked by the murder of influential rock and roll icon, artist, sometimes controversial activist and dad John Lennon. After an evening recording session at the Record Plant, John Lennon and his wife, artist Yoko Ono returned to their Central Park West apartment building, The Dakota. As John and Yoko approached the entrance to the building, they passed a man for whom, only hours earlier, Lennon had signed an autograph. The man, Mark David Chapman, 25, watched the couple walk by and then pulled a .38 special from his coat and unloaded on John Lennon, shooting him in the back four times. The deadly hollow point bullets tore through the former Beatle, mortally wounding him. He was pronounced dead at Roosevelt Hospital later. When police arrived, they found Chapman patiently reading his book, Catcher in the Rye. 

Sources:

JOHN LENNON. GIMME SOME TRUTH.

The Beatles

This Is: The Beatles | Spotify Playlist

This is: John Lennon | Spotify Playlist

John Lennon’s “bigger than Jesus” quote | Slate

23 December 1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono meet Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau | The Beatles Bible

The Catcher in the Rye | Summary, Analysis, Reception, & Facts | Britannica

Two Marks — Mark David Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon — Crime Library

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | John Lennon killer ‘wanted fame’

BBC ON THIS DAY | 8 | 1980: John Lennon shot dead

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Episode 247: In January of 1922, the first of a series of fires broke out on a farm in the small rural community of Caledonia Mills in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia. The family who lived at the farm, Alexander, 70, and sixty-nine-year-old Janet MacDonald, 69, and their 15-year-old adopted daughter Mary-Ellen, claimed the unexplained blazes, 30 in all, had begun in rapid succession in places not close to either wood stove. The fires and other terrifying occurrences that drove them out of the home, they believed, were caused by a malicious poltergeist bent on their destruction and focused around Mary-Ellen. News of the events brought renowned international investigators of things paranormal, even catching the attention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes detective stories.

Sources:

Caledonia Mills: The Mary Ellen Spook Farm Case

Fire Spook by Monica Graham – Ebook | Scribd

Ghost Stories of Canada by John Robert Colombo, Jillian Hulme Gilliland – Ebook | Scribd

The Mary Ellen Spook

Folklore | Visit Antigonish

Caledonia Mills – Wikipedia

Folklore of Nova Scotia by Mary L. Fraser

Antigonish Heritage Museum – The Old Train Station News – Newsletter 8, Oct 2009

Hobgoblin – Wikipedia

Apparitions Of Black Dogs

Black Shuck: The Legendary Devil Dog Of The English Countryside

Investigating the Antigonish Fire Spook Haunting

PSICAN – Paranormal Studies and Inquiry Canada – Caledonia Mills Fire Spook

American Society for Psychical Research

A look back at the mysterious haunting of an Antigonish County farm, 100 years later | CBC News

More Canadian Poltergeists

The Mysterious Fire Spook of Caledonia Hills

Phantoms and Monsters – Real Cryptid Encounter Reports – Fortean Researcher Lon Strickler

Seeks Ghosts: Poltergeist: Fire Spook, Part l

Dark Visions: Personal Accounts of the Mysterious in Canada – John Robert Colombo – Google Books

Le cas curieux de la ferme Mary Ellen Spook – PREUVES DU PARANORMAL

poltergeist | Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained – Credo Reference

spr.ac.uk |

Glossary | spr.ac.uk

Lexscien: Library of Exploratory Science

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Episode 246: John Ruffolo, 36, an employee of Brinks Canada at Butler Crescent location in Saanichton, British Columbia, was due to start a night shift at 10:30 PM on October 19, 2003. He was an ATM technician and an armoured car driver. When John didn’t show up, the rest of the armoured car crew waited 30 minutes before calling John’s home. A woman answered the phone, telling John’s co-worker, Jason Amos, that John had left for work some time ago. The crew waited a few more minutes before calling in a replacement.

John’s wife, Ruby Ann Ruffolo, reported her husband missing on October 20th. His car turned up outside a local pub in Victoria two days after that. On October 25, 2003, a hiker walking near Humpback Road in Langford, 15 kilometres from his Victoria home, found John Ruffolo’s body in a culvert and called the police. John’s body was uninjured except for puncture wounds, believed to be needle marks, on both arms.

Six months after John Ruffolo died, police arrested Ruby Ann Ruffolo and charged her with first-degree murder in her husband’s death. John’s surviving family had to wait seven long years for justice in a case beset by numerous delays, some initiated by the defendant and her lawyers, but also included a judge’s death and a mistrial. 

Sources:

John RUFFOLO Obituary (2003) – The Times Colonist

2010 BCSC 1630 R. v. Ruffolo

2012 BCCA 325 R. v. Ruffolo

826 Esquimalt Road, Victoria, BC — Google Maps

Routes from 994 Tulip Ave to 6721 Butler Crescent — Google Maps

Heroin | HealthLink BC

Amitriptyline – Oral | HealthLink BC

Nortriptyline – Oral | HealthLink BC

Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative

CN BC: Judge’s Death Puts Cases In Jeopardy

Woman killed cheating husband with overdose of heroin | CTV News

Family furious over convicted killer’s release | CBC News

Murder victim’s family responds to Ruffolo’s release – Saanich News

Ruby Ann Ruffolo Guilty of First Degree Murder – YouTube

Ruby Ann Ruffolo loses last appeal of conviction for murdering husband in 2003 – Victoria Times Colonist

KidSport Canada | So all kids can play

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Episode 245: Between 1926 and 1928, a sinister darkness was afoot on a small chicken ranch in Wineville, California. When he was only 19, Gordon Stewart Northcott, a Canadian, had abducted, raped, tortured and murdered at least three and as many as 20 others. His victims were predominantly prepubescent boys. He sexually assaulted and released numerous others. When a portion of the truth came out, much of it was told by Northcott’s nephew, 13-year-old Sanford Clark. Northcott had brought Sanford with him from Canada two years before. 

Northcott viciously raped and beat Clark numerous times before tiring of him as he aged. Afterward, through fear and intimidation, Northcott coerced his nephew into assisting him in committing and covering up the murders of his victims. Even Northcott’s mother, Sarah Louise Northcott, helped in some of the crimes to keep her son out of jail. 

Sources:

The Road Out of Hell : Flacco, Anthony : Internet Archive

Nothing is Strange with You : Paul, James Jeffrey Internet Archive

Cold North Killers : Canadian Serial Murder : Mellor, Lee : Internet Archive

Beyond Evil by Robert Keller – Ebook | Scribd

Gordon Northcott | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

10 Notorious Serial Killers Who All Suffered Childhood Head Injuries

Healdsburg Tribune 20 September 1928 — California Digital Newspaper Collection

Gordon Stewart Northcott’s handwritten confession, Riverside, 1928 – UCLA Library Digital Collections

People v. Northcott, 209 Cal. 639 | Casetext Search + Citator

Gordon Stewart Northcott Archives – Deranged LA Crimes ®Deranged LA Crimes ®

Gordon Stewart Northcott (1906-1930) – Find a Grave Memorial

Clark, chief witness in `20s child murders led exemplary life – Whittier Daily News

The Puzzling Disappearance Of Walter Collins | BuzzFeed Unsolved Wiki | Fandom

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Episode 244: On the morning of the 8th of July 1917, thirty-nine-year-old Tom Thomson, a renowned Canadian painter and skilled outdoorsman, set off well-supplied for a day-long fishing excursion in his canoe on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Provincial Park in Whitney, Ontario. A canoe, later identified as Thomson’s, was found floating upside down in the lake later on the same day. When Tom did not return from his fishing trip the next day, his friends became concerned. Eight days after Thomson first set out, Dr. G. W. (Goldwyn) Howland, a cottager from Toronto, spotted Tom’s bloated and decomposed body floating in the lake. An examination of Thomson’s body uncovered a large bruise on the right side of his head, and blood had come out of his right ear. Thomson’s death was quickly ruled an accident, and no police investigation occurred. Thomson was laid to rest in Mowat Cemetery near Canoe Lake, where he’d died. However, Thomson’s older brother George demanded the body be exhumed. Two days later, Tom’s grave was re-opened, the casket removed, and he was re-interred on July 21 in the family plot beside the Leith Presbyterian Church in what is now the Municipality of Meaford, Ontario.

Officially the matter was closed, but mythology has grown around Thomson’s death. In the intervening years since Thomson’s death, investigations by sleuths, amateur and professional, have come to various conflicting conclusions. Some agree with the initial findings that Thomson died due to accidental drowning. Others, however, suggest that Tom Thomson was murdered.

Sources:

Death on a Painted Lake: The Tom Thomson Tragedy

Algonquin Provincial Park | Ontario, Canada | The Friends of Algonquin Park

Tom Thomson | The Canadian Encyclopedia

The Group of Seven – Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933

Canada’s History Books – Canada’s History

The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson, Canadian Painter – alexanderadamsart

Tom Thomson: The Silence and the Storm by David Silcox, Harold Town – Ebook | Scribd

Tom Thomson by Joan Murray – Ebook | Scribd

Who Killed Tom Thomson? by John Little – Ebook | Scribd

The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson by Gregory Klages – Ebook | Scribd

The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson by George A. Walker – Ebook | Scribd

Tom Thomson’s Last Paddle by Larry McCloskey – Ebook | Scribd

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Episode 243: Eighty years ago, on August 19, 1942, in Operation Jubilee began as the Allies attacked the French port of Dieppe on the English Channel Coast. Of the more than 6100 troops involved, five thousand were soldiers of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division and a thousand British, many commandos, with a handful of others including Americans. The hope was to gain a foothold in Europe, breaching Hitler’s heavily-fortified Atlantic Wall. But unfortunately, the Germans were ready for them, and things did not go as planned. 

After nine excruciating hours of brutal fighting along the shore, the allied force retreated. Almost 1000 Allied troops lay dead, and at least 2000 more were prisoners of war, making this one of Canada’s darkest days ever in a time of war.

Sources:

Dieppe – Veterans Affairs Canada

The Dieppe Raid – Historical Sheet – Second World War – History – Veterans Affairs Canada

WarMuseum.ca – Democracy at War – Dieppe Raid, 19 August 1942 – Operations

Dieppe: a German Learning Experience – James Shelley – King’s College London

WWII: The Dieppe Raid – Canada at War

The Dieppe Raid : Juno Beach Centre

Cpt. Romuald Nalecz Tyminski, Polish Canadian Hero

PATRICK PORTEOUS VC

CBC – Dieppe

Prisoner of War: A Story from Dieppe : Juno Beach Centre

HyperWar: Six Years of War: The Army in Canada, Britain and the Pacific Chapter 11

HyperWar: Six Years of War: The Army in Canada, Britain and the Pacific Chapter 12

DIEPPE: “They Didn’t Have To Die!” – Legion Magazine

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