Latest Episodes

Episode 427: In the summer of 1934, John Sackville Labatt was one of the most recognizable names in Canada. The fifty-three-year-old president of John Labatt Limited had spent nearly two decades running one of…

Episode 381: In December 1987, 12-year-old Trina Campbell, a Métis girl from Brampton, Ontario, was abducted and murdered by Douglas Robert Worth, a violent ex-convict known as the “Pictou Sadist.”…

Sheree Fertuck, a 51-year-old businesswoman, mother of three, and grandmother from Saskatchewan, disappeared on December 7, 2015, after leaving her family’s lunch gathering at her mother’s farm in Kenaston to return to work at a nearby gravel pit. The next day, her abandoned gravel truck was found in the pit, with her personal belongings inside, raising immediate concerns about her unexplained disappearance. Despite extensive ground searches by her family, friends, and the police around the gravel pit and other locations, no trace of Sheree Fertuck has ever been found. RCMP and Sheree’s family believed she was abducted, or worse, murdered. As the weeks and months passed with no sign of Sheree, suspicion fell on her estranged husband, Gregory Mitchell Fertuck, 62. The pair had been going through a contentious divorce for some years. The RCMP undertook an undercover operation to acquire a confession to Sheree’s murder. Due to legal challenges and COVID restrictions hampering proceedings, it was not until June 2024 that this case was finally resolved.

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 and as a cure for their boredom. The kidnappers hid the bus and took its occupants to a buried truck trailer in a quarry in Livermore, California, intending to demand $5 million for their release. Remarkably, led by Ed Ray and Michael Marshall, 14, one of the older children, the victims managed to escape without any ransom being paid. Even though they all made it out alive, the victims suffered psychological scars that changed their lives and persist to the present day. This was the largest kidnapping in U.S. history, and it has a Canadian connection. After their hostages escaped, all three kidnappers went into hiding but were eventually apprehended and convicted, although one of the suspects, the mastermind behind the kidnapping, Frederick Woods, fled to Vancouver, British Columbia, before being arrested by the RCMP.

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 contrasting with the spirit of joy and family. One notable incident was a shootout at Winnipeg’s Polo Park Mall, causing terror among Christmas shoppers. The dramatic end to his criminal spree came with a 12-hour standoff involving a former girlfriend, leading to his capture. This episode not only recounts Syrnyk's heinous acts but also underscores the lasting impact of his crimes on the victims and the broader community in Winnipeg.

On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants attacked the US embassy in Tehran, Iran, taking 66 diplomats and staff members hostage. Remarkably, six diplomats managed to slip away unnoticed. These individuals were Robert Anders, Cora Lijek, Mark Lijek, Joseph Stafford, Kathleen Stafford, and Lee Schatz. Schatz sought refuge at the Swedish embassy, while the others went to the British embassy. However, upon nearing the embassy, they encountered a large crowd of protestors obstructing their path. Consequently, they decided to take shelter at Anders’ residence and devise their next steps. After six harrowing days, the six American diplomats sought refuge at the Canadian embassy.

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.

In Abbotsford, B.C., on the evening of September 24, 1975, Kathryn-Mary Herbert, age 11, was abducted while on her way home from a friend’s home. Last seen The girl’s body was discovered almost two months later on the Matsqui Indian Reserve north of Abbotsford. Investigators determined that she was likely murdered on the day she’d disappeared. In May 1976, Theresa Hildebrandt, 15, vanished without a trace from her Aldergrove, B.C. home. F Police believed she might be a runaway, but her family felt otherwise. or nearly four years no one knew what had become of Theresa. In March of 1980, her skeletal remains were found in a shallow grave off Downes and Mt. Lehman roads. Almost exactly two years after Theresa’s disappearance, in early May 1976, 12-year-old Monica Jack was riding her bicycle near Merritt, B.C. when she disappeared. As Monica was of indigenous heritage, her disappearance fell under Project E-PANA, the RCMP’s initiative to solve the multitude of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls along B.C.’s infamous Highway of Tears. In June of 1995, Monica’s remains were discovered off a logging road on Swakum Mountain, to the west of Nicola Lake and several kilometres from where she was last seen. Families of the victims had their suspicions about suspects and worked hard to hold police on task, to solve the murders of their girls. Due to similarities in the cases, police believed them all, potentially, linked. After years of running down tip after tip, a man with a history of sexual assault convictions and had been living in B.C. during all three killings fell under suspicion of investigators. After a long operation which involved the employment pf their infamous Mr. Big technique to get their suspect to talk, RCMP arrested 67-year-old Garry Taylor Handlen, and charged him with the murders of Kathryn-Mary Herbert and Monica Jack in 2014, more than 36 years after the murder of Monica Jack. He was later convicted of first-degree murder�. Sadly, in regards to Theresa Hildebrant’s murder, no one has yet been charged in her killing, and 46 years later, her family has yet to receive any official answers about Theresa’s death.

Episode 223: On Friday, February 20, 1976, while on vacation in Florida OPP Corporal Donald R. Irwin, 39, a father of three from Kitchener, Ontario, went on a ride along with his good friend Florida State Trooper, Philip Black, also 39-years-old. Irwin was in civilian clothing and unarmed. At around 7:15 a.m. they checked an old Camaro parked in a rest area on I-95, north of Pompano Beach, Florida. Moments later, both officers were dead, and the five people who’d been in the Camaro had fled in Black’s cruiser. Walter Norman Rhodes Jr., 26, 29-year-old, Jesse Joseph Tafero, Sonia “Sunny” Jacobs, 28, Tafero’s wife and two children, Jacobs’ 9-year-old son, Eric, and the couple’s 10-month-old daughter, Christina, were apprehended at a road block after having kidnapped another man, and stolen his Cadillac from a retirement home after abandoning Black’s cruiser. Rhodes’ life was spared as he pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the other two. Jacobs and Tafero were both sentenced to die in Florida’s electric chair, but was justice really served. The case eventually unravelled but not before Tafero had his date with Old Sparky in 1990.Promo:Podcast by ProxySources:21 Feb 1976, Page 1 - Fort Lauderdale News at Newspapers.comKiller of 2 Police Officers Executed in Florida - The New York TimesOntario Police Memorial Foundation — Donald R. IrwinFHP MEMORIAL — Phillip A. Black (1936-1976)In the Blink of an Eye - Essayhttps://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/i-had-nothing-the-world-i-left-no-longer-existedJesse Tafero - Case Chart - Grassroots Investigation Project by Claudia Whitman Sponsored by Equal Justice USAJesse Tafero - Case Summary - Innocence Project by Claudia Whitman sponsored by Equal Justice USAJesse Tafero - WikipediaExoneree, Center on Wrongful Convictions: Northwestern Pritzker School of LawTafero v. State, 223 So. 2d 564 | Casetext Search + CitatorJesse Tafero | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderersJesse Tafero - WikipediaJessie Joseph Tafero, Petitioner-appellant, v. Louie L. Wainwright, Respondent-appellee, 796 F.2d 1314 (11th Cir. 1986) :: JustiaHome - The Sunny CenterThe Joys of Forgiveness on Death Row | Sunny Jacobs | TEDxGalway — YouTube‘Exonerated’ blurs facts about death penalty caseFormer death row couple: ‘Life turned out beautifully’ | Family | The GuardianTIPS LEAD TO CAPTURE OF PAROLED MURDERER – Sun SentinelFugitive’s prosthetic leg gives him away | The Seattle TimesWALTER RHODES JR v. HARDEE CI WARDEN FLORIDA PAROLE COMMISSION SECRETARY FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS | FindLawRhodes v. Fla. Parole Comm’n, CASE NO. 8:13-cv-1424-T-36AEP | Casetext Search + CitatorPhillip Black and Donald Irwin murders 2/20/1976 Broward County, FL *Shot to death by Walter Rhodes, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison; It is, actually, a complicated case* | Bonnie’s Blog of CrimeSunny Jacobs: Life BeyondStretch of I-95 honors 2 fallen troopers TRANSLATE with x English ArabicHebrewPolishBulgarianHindiPortugueseCatalanHmong DawRomanianChinese SimplifiedHungarianRussianChinese TraditionalIndonesianSlovakCzechItalianSlovenianDanishJapaneseSpanishDutchKlingonSwedishEnglishKoreanThaiEstonianLatvianTurkishFinnishLithuanianUkrainianFrenchMalayUrduGermanMalteseVietnameseGreekNorwegianWelshHaitian CreolePersian TRANSLATE with COPY THE URL BELOW Back EMBED THE SNIPPET BELOW IN YOUR SITE Enable collaborative features and customize widget: Bing Webmaster PortalBackSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 219: In the first of two episodes released this week, Mike interviews Chris Rutkowski. Chris A. Rutkowski is a science writer who has devoted much time to investigating and studying reports of UFOs, writing about case investigations, and offering his insights into the broad UFO phenomenon publishing the annual Canadian UFO Report. Chris has authored numerous books on UFOs and two of his previous books, Abductions and Aliens and The Canadian UFO Report, were national bestsellers. He was recently referred to in a 2021 report to the Canadian Minister of Defense on UFOs in Canada as the person to which the government hands over reports of UFOs. He lives just outside Winnipeg.Sources:The Canadian UFO SurveyTwitter - Chris Rutkowski Facebook Page - Chris Rutkowski, WriterBlog - Chris Rutkowski Report a UFO in Canada - The Canadian UFO SurveyReport a Canadian UFO Sighting — The Nighttime PodcastThe Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System (CADORS)UFO sightings: Canada’s defence minister briefed | CTV NewsThematic Guides - Unidentified Flying Objects - Library and Archives CanadaWhat does Canada do with reports of UFO sightings? — The Big StorySupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine