Latest Episodes

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.

In our last episode we heard of the murder of eleven-year-old Kathryn-Mary Herbert in Abbotsford, B.C. The 1975 murder went unsolved for nearly 40 years. Less than a year after Kathryn-Mary was killed, another girl from Abbotsford, Theresa Hildebrandt, 15, also went missing. Her body turned up in 1980, she’d been murdered. Two years after that and more than 200 kilometres from Abbotsford, another girl, Monica Jack, 12, went bike riding near Merritt, B.C. and was never again seen alive. Her remains were not found until 1995 near Nicola Lake, she too had been murdered. Police believed that all three murders were connected. They had only circumstantial evidence on one suspect they presumed had committed all three killings.

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.

In our last episode, we heard about the murder of 61-year-old retiree, and beloved mother, grandmother and recent great-grandmother, Diana Russell. On February 22, 2002, after her car was found abandoned, in out-of-the way Boston Bar, her family became concerned. Diana was not answering her phone and no one knew where she was. She was later found by police in the basement of Kelowna ,B.C. townhome. Diana had been beaten, hogtied, raped and then strangled. The number one suspect was no stranger to the family. He was Ronald Leal Fowler, an ex-boyfriend of Diana’s eldest daughter, Michele, and father to that daughter’s two-year-old son, Brandon. After killing Diana, Fowler had fled in her car, but after it became hopelessly stuck after a freak winter mud and snow slide he’d hitchhiked to Vancouver. Fowler was arrested there after the truck driver who’d dropped him off in the Lower Mainland called police about the sketchy guy who’d ridden with him. Fowler, who’d illegally walked away from half-way house in which he’d been living, claimed amnesia due to drug and alcohol binge at the time. He denied responsibility for Diana’s murder and maintains that position to this day. Diana’s remaining family was left to pick of the pieces of their broken lives. This crime is still a painful wound for them, ripped open by Fowler’s every appeal and applications for parole.

Episode 235: On February 22, 2002, a vehicle was found in the ditch off the Trans-Canada highway near Boston Bar, B.C. The car was registered to 61-year-old mother, grandmother and recent great-grandmother, Diana Russell, who was nowhere around the car. RCMP obtained a key to Diana’s Kelowna townhouse and went inside finding the woman partially clothed body underneath some mattresses and furniture. She’d been hogtied, raped, beaten and strangled. Police quickly determined that Ronald Leal Fowler, 31, was a person of interest in the murder. Fowler, father of one of Diana’s grandchildren after a brief relationship with Diana’s eldest daughter, Fowler was later dramatically captured in Vancouver. He was then charged and in 2006 was convicted of first degree murder. Diana Russell's daughter Valerie MacPherson kindly shared her writings about her family's pain around the time of the murder and the twenty years since. In part 2 we will hear from Diana's grandson, Collin Lucksinger, as he shares first hand his thoughts and feelings around Diana's murder.

Episode 220: The attention grabbing headline of the the article in The Province newspaper on the morning of July 3, 2013 screamed, “RCMP foil Canada Day bomb plot”, the subheading read, “VICTORIA: Two British Columbians allegedly hatch scheme to blow up legislature.” Since March of that year, RCMP had been engaged in what they called Project Souvenir, a complex and expensive sting operation to gather evidence against two Surrey residents, John Stuart Nuttall, 38, and his common-law wife, Amanda Marie Korody, 29. The RCMP alleged that the pair were Islamist extremist bent on blowing up BC’s legislature buildings in Victoria and killing as many innocent Canadians as possible on Canada Day that year. On the morning of July 1, the couple had apparently placed three pressure cooker bombs strategically near concrete planters on the west and east sides of the Provincial legislature buildings. The pair were taken into custody in the hallway of a hotel in Delta, B.C. where they had used a room, wired by cops for video and sound, where they had built their bombs and spoken openly about their plot to kill Canadians. But, as the truth came out, evidence revealed that Nuttall and Korody were not even remotely the devious threats to national security they’d been said to be and that the RCMP had in fact, according to court findings, entrapped the pair. The bombs had been inert, made using intentionally flawed designs and materials handed to the couple by the RCMP themselves during the more than one million dollar operation to bust them.Sources:John Nuttall | ReverbNationR. v. Nuttall, 2016 BCSC 1404 (CanLII), R. v. Nuttall, 2018 BCCA 479 (CanLII), Korody v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 FC 1398 (CanLII), Friends of John Nuttall say he was a great friend, but was also troubled | Globalnews.ca3 Jul 2013, 4 - The Province at Newspapers.com3 Jul 2013, 3 - Times Colonist at Newspapers.com4 Jul 2013, 4 - The Vancouver Sun at Newspapers.comCKNW — NUTTALL & KORODY VideoVancouver Sun — Raw: Alleged terrorists Nuttall, Korody talk about Canada Day plotVancouver Sun — Raw: John Nuttall, accused in B.C. terror case, speaks with undercover officerYou searched for korody - BC Civil Liberties AssociationBC Civil Liberties AssociationVancouver Sun — An alleged terrorist’s Surrey suite is revealed 97a AveCanadian Press — B.C. couple walk free after entrapment ruling in terror caseBC Terror Trial Reveals Gong Show RCMP InvestigationExclusive W5 interview: Terror plotters claim they were groomed by Mounties and were relieved bombs were fakeW5: Undercover RCMP anti-terror investigation — YouTubeSurrey Suite, BB TV — YouTubeTerror trial video shows second thoughts — YouTubeCanada Day crowd at B.C. legislature was target in thwarted bomb plot, police say — Victoria Times ColonistNuttall and Korody, couple accused in Victoria legislature bomb plot, remain free after B.C. Court of Appeal ruling - BC | Globalnews.caRCMP spent $1M on Victoria terror plot investigation, including $90K on Nuttall and Korody - BC | Globalnews.caRCMP entrapment of B.C. couple in legislature bomb plot was ‘travesty of justice,’ court rules | CBC NewsSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 212: On the afternoon of January 27, 1993, the day before her 20th birthday, Sian Simmonds, a student who was working he way through school, was found dead in her basement suite in the Guildford neighbourhood of Surrey, B.C. She had been shot and bludgeoned. Neighbours had heard screams coming from her suite. Only days later, a man named David Schlender was arrested. Already on bail for the attempted murder of one of his cocaine dealers the year before, Schlender told police he’d been hired by another man, Brian West, to commit the murder in exchange for wiping an outstanding drug debt. The investigation of Brian West led to another man, Josephakis Charalambous, the Simmonds’ family doctor who had hired West to murder Sian. Eighteen months before her murder, Sian and her older sister Katie had filed grievances with the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons alleging sexual assault by Charalambous. Rather than face censure by the College and risk losing his substantial annual income, Charlambous had sought to silence the girls. As the truth came out about the doctor, his carefully constructed facade of the community minded healer came tumbling down revealing an ugly pattern of violence and predatory behaviour toward young women and girls.Sources:Betrayal of trust | Maclean’s | DECEMBER 12, 1994R. v. West, 1997 CanLII 3157 (BC CA), R. v. Charalambous, 1997 CanLII 3363 (BC CA), Mountie Seduced My Wife. I Want a New Trial — PressReader.comCharalambous v. Canada (Attorney General), 2009 FC 1082 (CanLII), Charalambous v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 FC 1045 (CanLII), Charalambous v. Canada (Attorney General), 2016 FCA 177 (CanLII), Charalambous v. Attorney General of Canada, 2017 CanLII 1337 (SCC), Doctor denied day parole 27 years after hiring hitman to kill teen | Vancouver SunScandalous Case had Public Riveted — PressReader.comDocumentary pays tribute to parents of murdered children - New West RecordFamily Physician Hired a Hit Man to Silence Her…Permanently - Medical BagServing Life 25-One Guard’s Story — ScribdDr. Death M.D. by David Pietras - Ebook | ScribdDoctors Who Kill by Carol Anne Davis - Ebook | ScribdFatal Prescription: A Doctor without Remorse by John Griffiths | GoodreadsMedical Ethics | The Canadian EncyclopediaAbout CAVEATSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 206: Starting on the evening of June 29 and going into the early morning of June 30, 2002, Lisa Marie Young, a 21-year-old indigenous woman, was celebrating with friends in her hometown, Nanaimo, B.C. It was not only Canada Day long weekend, but also her friend Dallas’s birthday. The group went to several nightclubs and then attended a pair of house parties outside the city. Lisa left the party with a man the group had met just that evening. There were several frantic texts from Lisa shortly after her departure indicating she was afraid. Lisa Marie Young has not been heard from since. The man she was seen with while leaving the party was later identified as a local 27-year-old man named Christopher William Adair. Adair now refuses to speak to police and has left the country. Nanaimo RCMP presume Lisa has been murdered and her remains have never been found. In the days before the recording of this podcast, an anonymous donor contacted advocates for Lisa offering $50,000 reward to locate her remains. It’s time to bring Lisa home. Someone knows where she is. Maybe you can help.When she went missing, Lisa Marie Young was 21 years old. She was 5’4” (163 cm) tall and weighed 115 pounds (52 kg). She had long dark brown hair, brown eyes. Lisa has a tattoo of a band of flowers with a heart in the middle that circles her upper right arm. She was wearing a black skirt, black top, black high boots and a silver hoop necklace.If you have any tips or information regarding Lisa Marie Young’s disappearance, please call RCMP Corporal Markus Muntener directly at 250-754-2345#BringLisaHomePromoDealing Justice - PodcastSources & Further ReadingDisappearance of Lisa Marie Young - WikipediaNative Women’s Association of Canada — Lisa’s StoryNative Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC)YouTube — Lisa Marie Young — Nanaimo Crime StoppersMcColl Magazine - Lisa Marie Young, Missing WomenLisa Marie Young Help Find Lisa Missed by family and loved ones from Nanaimo+ Since June 30, 2002Lisa’s Song by Allison Crowe — MP3Island Crime PodcastLisa Marie Young: Reward offered for location of missing Nanaimo woman | CTV NewsLisa Marie Young — Facebook GroupMain | Lil’ Red Dress ProjectFinal Report | MMIWGMMIWG2S Inquiry — Master List of Report RecommendationsMMIW — Calls for JusticeFamily seeks closure 10 years after daughter’s disappearance | Ha-Shilth-Sa NewspaperCase 26: Lisa Marie Young - Casefile: True Crime PodcastThe Disappearance of Lisa Marie Young — True Crime FilesThe Disappearance of Lisa Marie Young - Part I - Canada Day Weekend : UnresolvedMysteriesThe Disappearance of Lisa Marie Young - Part II - The Man in the Red Jaguar : UnresolvedMysteriesThe Disappearance of Lisa Marie Young - Part III - The City Without Pity - Conclusion : UnresolvedMysteriesCSO - Search Traffic/Criminal By Participant Name — Christopher William AdairSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 185: RCMP officers arrived at the Blackman family residence on Spuraway Avenue in Coquitlam, B.C.’s Ranch Park subdivision in the early morning hours of January 18th, 1983. A neighbour had called 911after hearing screams and then witnessing what appeared to be a domestic argument next door that escalated into a shooting. Inside the eerily silent home as the cold winter rain fell, the responding officers found a horrific and bloody scene; six members of the Blackman family were dead.The deceased were Richard Blackman, 50, his wife, Irene Blackman, 49, their daughter, Roberta Lynn Davies, 28, Roberta’s husband, John Iowerth Davies, 39, Karen Dale Rhodes, 25, another of the Blackman’s daughters, and the youngest of the Blackman children, 16-year-old son, Rick Blackman. Just outside the home, police had detained a young man, 22-year-old, Bruce Alfred Blackman, another of Irene and Richard’s sons. Bruce, who’d been picked up as police arrived, was acting bizarrely, telling the RCMP officers that he was the Antichrist and that the world was going to end on January 31.Sources:Blackman v. British Columbia (Review Board), 1995 CanLII 3437 (BC CA), Blackman v. British Columbia (Attorney General), 1993 CanLII 2620 (BC CA), British Columbia Review Board - Decision on Bruce Alfred Blackmanhttps://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/oic/arc_oic/0332_1983https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/oic/arc_oic/1122_1991Violence and Schizophrenia by Heidi J. Wehring and William T. CarpenterCorrelates of Future Violence in People Being Treated for Schizophrenia | American Journal of PsychiatrySchizophrenia: Warning Signs of Violence | HealthLink BCA Voice out of Nowhere eBook : Booth, Janice Holly: Amazon.ca: Kindle StoreBruce Alfred Blackman | Amok Wiki | FandomPolice layed six charges of first-degree murder Tuesday against… - UPI ArchivesAuthor Janice Holly Booth — Book: A Voice out of NowhereLittle Known Details Behind Mass Murder Case Revealed in New Book, A Voice out of NowhereSomeone I love has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. How can I help? | Here to HelpSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine

Episode 179 - On April 19, 2018, in the village of Victoria Gracia, a community close to Pucallpa in Peru’s central Amazon region of Ucayali, a man got off his motorcycle. He walked toward the home of Olivia Arevalo Lomas, an 81-year-old shaman and respected elder in her community. The man was irate over a debt owed to him by the woman’s son. After firing a warning shot that drew a crowd of neighbours, the elderly healer came out of her house. After a bit of yelling back and forth, the man gunned the woman down with two shots from his pistol, killing her in broad daylight. The man, later identified as Sebastian Paul Woodroffe, a 41-year-old British Columbian in Peru as an Ayahuasca researcher, was pursued by villagers who publicly lynched him. A cellphone recorded his killing, and the user later posted the video to Facebook. Woodroffe’s body was buried in a shallow grave. Two Peruvian men were later arrested for Woodroffe’s slaying. What led this man, known to his friends as a gentle, helpful soul, to such a brutal crime? Sources: [Descent into darkness | CBC News] [Blurred Vision: A Shaman’s Murder Exposes the Dark Side of Ayahuasca] [The Cull of Personality Ebook - Kevin Tucker — Black and Green Press] https://retreat.guru [Preparing for Ayahuasca Ceremony - The Uncensored Guide] [Ayahuasca, dimethyltryptamine, and psychosis: a systematic review of human studies] [Sebastian Woodroffe — YouTube Channel] [Sebastian Woodroffe — Facebook] [Improving  On Addiction Help | Indiegogo — Sebastian Woodroffe] [Sebastian Woodroffe - VICE] [Global News — SEARCH: Sebastian Woodroffe] [Sebastian Woodroffe video | CBC.ca] [YouTube — Murder investigation in the jungle - The Fifth Estate] [Hallucinogenic Plants and Their Use in Traditional Societies - An Overview | Cultural Survival] [(PDF) 📄 The Consumption of Psychoactive Plants in Ancient Global and Anatolian Cultures During Religious Rituals: The Roots of the Eruption of Mythological Figures and Common Symbols in Religions and Myths] [Ayahuasca Retreat Peru, Traditional Retreat Center in the Amazon of Peru] [Tragedy in Pucallpa: the Death of Maestra Olivia Arévalo - Temple of the Way of Light] [Peruvian mob kills Canadian man accused of killing respected shaman | Daily Mail Online] [Terence McKenna - Self Transforming Elf Machines - YouTube] [“Machine Elves” or “DMT Elves”: A Spirit World Journey | DoubleBlind Mag] [Canadian lynched in Peru after being accused of shaman’s death | Peru | The Guardian] [All evidence shows B.C. man lynched in Peru had shot and killed Indigenous healer: prosecutor | CBC News] [Woodroffe remembered by neighbours as ‘spiritual, loving, kind and polite’ – Comox Valley Record] [Briton Unais Gomes killed by Canadian Joshua Andrew Freeman Stevens in Peru | Daily Mail Online] [The Canadian Man Who Killed a British Guy at an Ayahuasca Retreat in Peru Speaks Out] Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/darkpoutine