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Latest Episodes

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327
July 22, 2024
Hopes Crushed: The Murder of Maple Batalia
Maple Batalia, a 19-year-old college student studying health sciences, was also a working model and actress and loved to paint. On the night of September 28, 2011, after a late-night study session at Simon Fraser University’s Surrey campus, she was shot and attacked with a knife in a parking lot as she left the campus library. The savage nature of the attack left her with multiple gunshot wounds and severe stab wounds to her head. Despite efforts to save her, Maple succumbed to her injuries at a Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminister. Suspicion immediately fell on Maple’s ex-boyfriend, Gurjinder (Gary) Dhaliwal, with whom she’d broken up a month before. Dhaliwal refused to leave Maple alone and obsessively contacted her since their breakup, and he had been violent with her. Days before her murder, Dhaliwal had violently confronted Maple, and police became involved, telling him to stay away. Dhaliwal claimed innocence after Maple’s slaying, but his relationship with his friend Gursimar (Gary) Bedi proved to be his undoing.
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326
July 15, 2024
The British Home Child Migrant Scheme
Between 1869 and 1948, over 100,000 children from the United Kingdom were sent to Canada and other British commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa as part of the British Home Children migration scheme. This movement was initiated to alleviate the burden of poverty and overcrowded workhouses in Britain by providing these children with opportunities abroad. However, the reality for many of these children was harsh. In Canada, they were often placed with farm families where boys worked as labourers and girls as domestic servants. While some found caring homes, many others faced neglect, abuse, and exploitation. The children were frequently moved from one placement to another, leading to instability and a lack of proper education. Despite these hardships, many British Home Children contributed significantly to Canadian society, with some even enlisting in the military during the World Wars. Today, it is estimated that over ten percent of the Canadian population are descendants of these children, though many remain unaware of this heritage.
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325
July 8, 2024
The Life and Crimes of Serial Killer Edward H. Rulloff
Edward H. Rulloff was a 19th-century Canadian-born serial killer renowned for his exceptional intellect and heinous crimes. Rulloff exhibited prodigious intellectual abilities from a young age. He was a polymath with expertise in various fields, including linguistics, where he made significant contributions, proposing theories on the origin of languages. Despite his scholarly achievements, Rulloff's life was marred by a series of crimes that began with the mysterious disappearance of his wife, Harriet Schutt Rulloff and their young daughter, Priscilla Charlotte Rulloff, in 1845, which many suspected to be his doing. His erudition earned him a reputation as one of the most learned men of his time, even while he was incarcerated. Rulloff's criminal activities were as notorious as his intellect was celebrated. He was involved in a string of burglaries and was eventually implicated in multiple murders. His undoing was the killing of a store clerk, Frederick Merrick, during a robbery attempt. His two accomplices, Al Jarvis and Billy Dexter, also died while fleeing the crime scene. Rulloff was suspected of doing away with them. He was soon captured and held for trial. Despite attempts to use his intellectual prowess as a defence, Rulloff was convicted and sentenced to death. His execution in 1871 was a significant event, as many viewed his death as the tragic end of a brilliant yet malevolent mind.
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324
July 1, 2024
What Happened to Sheree Fertuck?
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.
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323
June 24, 2024
The 2014 Nanaimo Mill Shooting: The Murders of Michael Lunn and Fred McEachern
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 violence and safety in industrial settings.
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322
June 17, 2024
Marine Disasters in NS and The Wreck of the SS Atlantic
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 launches, trapping many passengers below deck. Local fishermen and others aided in rescue efforts, but 562 people perished, marking it the greatest civilian loss in the North Atlantic at that time.
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321
June 10, 2024
Summer Tragedy: The 2018 Fredericton Shooting
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 Wright. The perpetrator, 48-year-old Matthew Vincent Raymond, was arrested at the scene after exchanging gunfire with other officers. He was charged with four counts of first-degree murder. Raymond was charged with four counts of first-degree murder. At his 2020 trial, two psychiatrists testified that he had a mental disorder that rendered him incapable of understanding his violent actions at the time they were committed. On November 20, 2020, after a nine-week trial, a jury found Raymond not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder. Many members of the public, including some members of the victims’ families, feel justice was not served.
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320
June 3, 2024
All That Remains: The Murder of Mary-Lynn Breeden
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 chilling details of Breeden's final moments. Their investigation led them to a suspect named Christian Albert Cruz, a male stripper with a history of violence. As the case unfolded, a tragic tale of betrayal and desperation began to emerge, shedding light on the dark motivations that drove one man to commit such a heinous act. Join us as we delve into the story of the murder of Lynn Breeden and explore the complex human emotions and societal factors that can lead to such senseless violence.
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319
May 27, 2024
Shadows of Deception (Part 3): The Murder of Wayne Millard
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 under intense scrutiny after his son's sensational arrests for the Bosma and Babcock murders. After their investigation, authorities arrested Dellen Millard and charged him with the first-degree murder of his father. This shocking twist cast a sinister shadow over the already grim narrative, painting Dellen Millard as a far more depraved criminal than initially realized – one willing to extinguish even the life
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318
May 20, 2024
Shadows of Deception (Part 2): The Murder of Laura Babcock
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 and the painstaking yet unsuccessful search efforts to uncover her remains. You’ll hear disturbing details that emerged during the trial for her murder, shedding even more light on the twisted dynamics between Millard, Smich, and their unfortunate victim. This episode serves as a prelude to the final chapter, where we'll explore the most shocking revelation of all, that Dellen Millard also killed his father, Wayne, for his money.
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