Latest Episodes

Episode 167: On July 13, 1994, just after 2:00 am, police responded to a 911 call from Sebastian Burns, 18. Sebastian and his friend, Atif Rafay, also 18, claimed they had discovered ‘some kind of break in’ and multiple deaths at  Atif’s family home in Bellevue, Washington. A bloody crime scene awaited the first responders. All three of the victims, Tariq and Sultana, Atif’s parents and his sister, Basma, had been bludgeoned to death. Right away, something felt off to the Bellevue Police, who focused their attention on the pair of young men who’d reported the crime. But did they get it right? Sources: United States of America v. Burns, 1997 CanLII 3271 (BC CA), United States v. Burns, 2001 SCC 7 (CanLII), [2001] 1 SCR 283, [168 Wn. App. 734, STATE V. RAFAY] [Rafay Burns Appeal Site] [Sebastian Burns 911 Call - YouTube] [On the Margins of Freedom | The Walrus] [Written In Blood - CBS News] [Confessions of Murder ; Exposing the False Confessions Created from the Mr. Big Stings by Alan R. Warren | eBooks - Scribd] [The wrongful convictions of Sebastian Burns and … - En Vero] [Give Them Enough Rope - Shawn Blore] [YouTube - Sebastian Burns Pre-Sentence Statement Part 1 of 6] https://fuqrafiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/WMFuqraWash.pdf Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

In the early morning hours of November 17, 2001, officers from the Vancouver Police were dispatched to the Second Beach area of Stanley Park. Several callers to 911 indicated that there had been some kind of  altercation and a group of man had badly beaten another man. Two VPD constables arrived at the Second Beach parking lot within minutes of being called to find a distraught man frantically providing CPR to a bloodied man on the ground. The man on the ground was naked except for socks and shoes. Police assessed the man’s condition and immediately called for an ambulance. The paramedics from the BC Ambulance Service arrived quickly, but determined that it was too late. Aaron Zane Donald Webster, 42-year-old and a  member of Vancouver’s gay community, was dead. He had been brutally beaten with a blunt instrument and his killers had skittered off into the night leaving Aaron to die. Aaron’s death would be come to be recognized as Canada’s most well-known and notorious cases of ‘gay bashing’. Guest Host: Mathew Stockton (Steve the dog's dad) Sources: R. v. J.S., 2003 BCPC 442 (CanLII), R. v. A.C., 2003 BCPC 508 (CanLII), R. v. Cran and Rao, 2004 BCSC 1635 (CanLII), R. v. Cran, 2005 BCSC 171 (CanLII), R. v. J.S., 2005 BCPC 556 (CanLII), R. v. Cran, 2006 BCCA 464 (CanLII), [Wright, N. (2011). Murder in the park : civic identity-making and space in Vancouver. University of British Columbia.] [Aaron Webster | Xtra Magazine] [The murder that changed us | Xtra Magazine] [Ten Years After Aaron Webster’s Death, What’s Changed? | The Tyee] [Stanley Park Rawlings Trail, Gay Vancouver Cruising Areas] [Stanley Park | City of Vancouver] [Search - Aaron Webster - 2001 - Newspapers.com] [Aaron Webster - CHF BC] [Aaron Webster Housing Co-operative – Original Site – Community Land Trust] [QMUNITY — BC’s Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirit Resource Centre] [Pflag Canada] Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

It’s 2021. It’s been a hell of a year and Dark Poutine is still ticking along. That said, I need a quick break for my sanity and to do some behind the scenes work to freshen up some of the elements the show. Dark Poutine will be returning on April 19, 2021, with the same level of careful research and compassionate, personal story telling with new guest hosts, a shiny new logo and some new music. See you in a month, so until then, don’t forget to be a good egg and not a bad apple. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 165: On the afternoon of July 24, 2015, the RCMP were called by the residents of 192 Pleasant Grove Road, outside of Charlottetown in Prince Edward Island. They said that the night before there had been a fight between a man, Joel Lawrence Clow, 46, and a woman, Clow’s 40-year-old on an off-again girlfriend and mother of one, Traci Lynn Lynch. Responding officers knew they would be investigating a domestic dispute, they’d dealt with Traci and Joel before. Things became more serious when cops discovered Traci, deceased on Clow’s property. Sources: R v. Clow, 2017 PESC 9 (CanLII), R v. Clow, 2017 PESC 10 (CanLII), R v. Clow, 2017 PESC 12 (CanLII), R v Clow, 2019 PECA 5 (CanLII), Trial - Day 1 Trial - Day 2 Trial - Day 3 Trial - Delay Trial - Day 4 Trial - Day 5 Trial - Day 6 Trial - Day 7 Trial - Day 7b Trial - Day 8 How This P.E.I. Program Helps Women Take Back Control After Leaving Abusive Relationships | CBC News | Ethical Editor Belvedere Funeral Home - Traci Lynch Obituary Clow / Lynch Timeline - CBC Why People Stay - The Hotline Ending Violence Association of Canada Domestic Violence and Abuse - HelpGuide.org Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 164: On July 12, 1997, in the town of Kitimat, British Columbia, after months of tension, tempers boiled over, and a violent altercation took place between a mad man and four young men. Three of the men, Michael Mauro and Mark Teves, both 20 and 21-year-old David Nunes were dead, and another, 20-year-old Donny Oliveira, was barely clinging to life after a local man named Kevin Louis Vermette allegedly blasted away at the group with a sawed-off shotgun before disappearing into the brush. He is still on the loose almost 24 years later. Co-host: Carol Browne Sources: Suspected BC murderer: Vermette still on the loose | Dawson Creek Mirror $25,000 reward in Kitimat triple murder cold case set to expire  | Globalnews.ca Wanted by the RCMP: Kevin  Louis  Vermette | Royal Canadian Mounted Police B.C. town rescinds $25,000 reward for info on 1997 triple-murder. Some donors want their money back | National Post A hockey game gets rowdy, and other Kitimat police files this week – Kitimat Northern Sentinel Wanted man who fled B.C. city 16 years ago may be alive: RCMP - The Globe and Mail Experienced outdoorsman flees into forest after killing 3 young adults and injuring another with a shotgun. Police believe he may still be alive. : UnresolvedMysteries Fifteen years on, the questions remain – Terrace Standard America’s Most Wanted Fans - Kevin Vermette KEVIN LOUIS VERMETTE | Wanted For Murder (July 1997, Kitimat, BC) Wanted by the RCMP - Kevin Louis VERMETTE CANADA’S MOST WANTED: These killers are on the run; have you seen them? | Toronto Sun America’s Most Wanted - Season 22 Episode 32: May 23, 2009 - Metacritic Community Profile - District of Kitimat Unsolved Mysteries - Board With Everything amw.com | Kevin Vermette - Fugitive Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 163: In New Brunswick, in the fall of 1922 a convicted double murderer named Bennie Swim was hanged for the murder of the woman he loved, his first cousin Olive and her husband, Harvey Trenholm. Bennie didn’t die the first time, so the authorities hanged him again. Co-host: Carol Browne Promo:Murderish Sources: The Ballad of Benny Swim (original) - Mike Q - YouTube Hanged Twice_Benny Swim Bennie Swim | Cases | Crime and Punishment | Projects | Faculty of Arts | UNB ExecutedToday.com » 1922: Benny Swim, “dead as a door-nail” (or not) The Carleton County Man Who Was Hung Twice ”Benny Swim” Benny “Bennie” Swim (1899-1922) - Find A Grave Memorial The Life of a Screw - Douglas E. Arch Drop Dead: A Horrible History of Hanging in Canada: Poplak, Lorna HistoricPlaces.ca - HistoricPlaces.ca Harvey Dixon Trenholm (1883-1922) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree Olive M (Swim) Trenholm (1905-1922) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree Benny Swim (1899-1922) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree William Guy Carr - Wikipedia This Week in New Brunswick History http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/canada.html Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 162: In July of 2013, on a busy summer night in downtown Toronto, police received several calls about a man on a streetcar brandishing a knife and threatening passengers and the transit operator. After an encounter with police lasting only 50 seconds, 18-year-old Sammy Yatim had been shot nine times and later died from his wounds. As videos of the incident surfaced, many people were outraged, claiming that the police had used excessive force and calling for the head of the officer who had pulled the trigger. Co-host: Carol Browne Promo:Ignorance Was Bliss Sources: Global News | Search - Sammy Yatim Toronto Police shoot Sammy Yatim on TTC streetcar - Markus Grupp YouTube Enhanced audio/video - Shooting of Sammy Yatim by Toronto Police Const. Forcillo on July 27, 2013 - YouTube TTC surveillance camera 1 - YouTube TTC surveillance camera 2 - YouTube TTC surveillance camera 3 - YouTube TTC surveillance camera 4 - YouTube The Killing of Sammy Yatim | Toronto Life Sammy’s Fight Back for Justice - Home | Facebook Shooting of Sammy Yatim - Wikipedia Special Investigations Unit — News Release James Forcillo bail decision | Bail | Appeal Reasons for the sentence of James Forcillo | Murder | Crime & Violence James Forcillo parole decision | Parole | Probation Officer Police Encounters With People in Crisis 2014 | Emergency Department | Mental Health Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 161 - On a warm July day in 1986, 11-year-old Alison Parrott was lured from her Toronto home by a man on the phone claiming to be a sports photographer who wanted to take photos of the young athlete. Two boys discovered Alison’s body in a heavily wooded section of Kings Mill Park two days later. She had been bound, raped and strangled to death. It would take a decade before science caught up to the point where her killer could be brought to justice. Co-Host: Carol Browne Sources: R. v. Roy, 2003 CanLII 4272 (ON CA), [Exhibit A - Killer in a Box] [Alison Parrott: Leader of the pack  | Globalnews.ca] [YouTube - Crime Beat TV Show - Alison Parrott] [Murder of Alison Parrott - Wikipedia] [The horror of child murders | Maclean’s | AUGUST 11, 1986] [Parrott’s Killer Convicted | The Canadian Encyclopedia] [FindAGrave.com - Alison May Campbell Parrott] [GIRL FOLLOWED RULES, BUT KILLER WON GAME - Chicago Tribune] [Jury convicts Roy in Alison Parrot murder | CBC News] [News Article - Toronto Star Ottawa Bureau] [Staring down evil - The Globe and Mail] [Why millions in Crime Stoppers rewards go unclaimed | The Star] [Girls who went missing in Ontario: Solved and unsolved cases | The Star] [Colin Pitchfork - Wikipedia] [Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System | Royal Canadian Mounted Police] [What is ViCLAS – What is ViCLAS] [Stay Alert Stay Safe PSA#3 - YouTube] Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 160 - Elena Tchoudakova was a beautiful, outgoing and vibrant 23-year-old Russian woman attending Interior Design at Toronto’s Ryerson University. In January of 1995 Elena was discovered in her apartment, she’d been brutally beaten to death and left in her bathub. There were a number of suspects with means and motive but only one with opportunity. Co-host: Carol Browne Sources: [The Russian Princess Case: MacDonald, Bruce: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store] R. v. Ho, 1999 CanLII 3823 (ON CA), [50 Cambridge Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Housecreep] [Tchoudakova : Toronto Public Library] [Interactive: Toronto homicides since 1990 | The Star] [Can a theatre program help rehabilitate Ontario prisoners? | The Star] Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 159: In the early 1980s near the small town of Rulo, Nebraska a white-supremacist cult leader named Michael Wayne Ryan and his band of followers took over a local farm essentially stealing it from the property owner. They burglarized nearby businesses and residences to fund their survival after the upcoming battle of Armageddon prophesied in the Books of Revelations. Ryan, a proponent the Christian Identity movement’s doctrines with links to an anti-government group called Posse Comitatus spewed antisemitic views, the supremacy of the white race and planned to take down the government. In 1982 Ryan was arrested for the torture and murder of, Luke Stice, the 5-year-old son of the property’s former owner and the torture killing of one of his followers, 27-year-old, James Thimm. Co-host: Carol Browne Sources: [Michael Wayne Ryan | Murderpedia] [Michael W. Ryan - Wikipedia] [Christian Identity and Religions of America (Joseph Baker)] [Evil Harvest: The True Story of Cult Murder in the American Heartland] [Nebraska Inmate Details] [Cult Education Institute :: Group Information Archives] [Christian Identity | Extremism in America | ADL] [ROSS] Facts [NIGHTMARE IN RULO - Chicago Tribune] [State v. Ryan :: 1989 :: Nebraska Supreme Court Decisions :: Justia] [Dennis Ryan | Omaha Magazine] [SPLCenter.org: Identity Crisis] [Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville Timeline] [PolitiFact | Donald Trump’s ‘very fine people on both sides’ remarks (transcript)] [Rick Ross, Executive Director] Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine