Cold Case Canada

On June 24, 1992 Jean Ann James, a 53-year-old former Canadian Pacific Airlines flight attendant, went to the Shaughnessy home of her husband’s wealthy younger lover, and slit her throat with a box cutter. It would take police another 19 years to catch her. This episode is based on a story from  Cold Case BC: the stories behind the province's most sensational murders and missing persons cases . Fo...

On the day that 14-year-old Lindsey Nicholls disappeared, she was last seen walking down Royston Road, outside of Comox on Vancouver Island. It was August 2, 1993 - the Monday of the BC Day long weekend, and Lindsey was meeting friends at the annual Comox Nautical Days Festival.  This episode is based on a story from  Cold Case BC: the stories behind the province's most sensational murders and mis...

Gloria Levina Moody, who everybody knew as Lee, had been stripped, beaten, sexually assaulted, and left to bleed to death on a cattle trail about a kilometre off the Chilcotin Highway near Williams Lake, BC. She was the 26-year-old mother of two from Bella Coola on a weekend away with her family. Lee’s 1969 murder is the oldest of 18 cases of missing and murdered women and girls along Highways 5,...

I’m Eve Lazarus, and I’m the host and producer of Cold Case Canada. This is from a Facebook live event that I did on March 10 to talk about the process behind writing my bestselling book Cold Case BC , some of the challenges that I met along the way, and what you can expect from Season Four of my podcast which launches Friday March 17. For more information on my books and podcast, please visit eve...

In the Halloween Special of 2022 we visit a Victoria golf course, two mansions in Burnaby, and travel to a haunted highway in BC’s interior. Keep the lights on while you listen! Based on stories from Blood, Sweat and Fear: The Story of Inspector Vance , At Home with History: The secrets of Greater Vancouver’s Heritage Homes , Ghosts: More Eerie Encounters and Ghosts of Vancouver . With special gue...

On June 26, 1969, 16-year-old Philip Porter left his home in Townsite, Kimberley to run some errands for his mother. The son of the Cominco boss never came home. A ransom note demanding $100,000 for his safe return arrived instead. This episode is based on a story from  Cold Case BC: the stories behind the province's most sensational murders and missing persons cases and includes interviews with f...

Ronnie Jack, 26, Doreen Jack, 26, Russell 9, and Ryan 4 were last seen on August 2, 1989 at their home in Prince George. Earlier that night, Ronnie met a guy in the pub who offered him a job bucking logs and Doreen work in the camp kitchen. They told their family that there was a daycare for the boys and they'd be gone about 10 days. And then they vanished.  This episode is based on a story from ...

In 1978, 12-year-old Monica Jack was riding her bike near her home on the Upper Nicola reserve at Quilchena when she was abducted, raped and murdered. And, even though Garry Handlen was a suspect early on in this investigation and questioned in the 1975 murder of 11-year-old Kathryn-Mary Herbert, it would take another 36 years and a Mr. Big sting to convict him. This episode is based on a story fr...

Saanich residents Tanya Van Cuylenborg, 18 and Jay Cook, 20 were murdered while on an overnight trip to Washington State in 1987. Episode includes interviews with Detective Jim Scharf of the Snohomish Country Sheriff's Office and CeCe Moore, Chief Genetic Genealogist at Parabon Nanolabs, who cracked this case three decades later. This episode is based on a story from Cold Case BC: the stories behi...

Len Hogue was one of three dirty VPD cops who supplemented their salaries initially through B&Es, escalated to bank robberies, and in 1965 pulled off the biggest heist in Vancouver’s history - $1.2 million worth of bank notes that were being sent back to Ottawa to be destroyed. When police officials caught on, 33-year-old Hogue went home, shot his sleeping wife in the head, and then hunted down an...

In 1956, Len Hogue, David Harrison and Joe Percival joined the Vancouver Police Department and within a few years, became known as the “terrible three.” The cops were supplementing their salaries initially through B&Es, escalated to bank robberies, and in 1965, pulled off the biggest heist in Vancouver’s history - $1.2 million worth of stolen bank notes that were being sent to Ottawa to be destroy...

Tanya Busch disappeared on the way to her Vancouver school on June 2, 1972. She was the second 7-year-old abducted in just over two years. Was there a connection? This episode is based on original research and interviews from a chapter in my book Cold Case Vancouver: the city's most baffling unsolved murders For photos, show credits, sources and information about my books, blog or podcasts visit: ...

On November 20, 1969, seven-year-old Evangeline Azarcon disappeared on her way home from Edith Cavell Elementary in Vancouver. Her abduction sparked the biggest search in BC’s history. Two years later another seven-year-old was abducted on her way to her Vancouver school. Was there a connection? This episode is based on original research and interviews from a chapter in my book Cold Case Vancouver...

It's almost 70 years since they were found buried in Vancouver's Stanley Park, but now the Babes in the Woods have their names back. They were Derek and David D'Alton aged 7 and 6 when they were beaten to death with a hatchet.  This episode is based on a chapter in my upcoming book Cold Case BC: the stories behind the province's most sensational murders and missing persons cases   For more informa...

The Halloween Special is the last episode of Season 2. Join me and five storytellers as they tell you their favourite ghost stories: a haunted nightclub, a shooting, a former insane asylum, the Chinatown ghost, a cemetery and a haunted grand piano. Photo: Riverdale Psychiatric Hospital, courtesy Coquitlam Archives  

In 1965, Rene Castellani, a 40-year-old radio personality murdered his wife Esther with arsenic-laced milkshakes so he could marry Lolly, CKNW’s 25-year-old receptionist. The Castellani's had an 11-year-old daughter called Jeannine, who became the collateral damage in one of the most sensational murder cases of the 20th century.  This episode is based on original research and interviews from  Murd...

In 1965, Rene Castellani, a 40-year-old radio personality murdered his wife Esther with arsenic-laced milkshakes so he could marry Lolly, CKNW’s 25-year-old receptionist. The Castellani's had an 11-year-old daughter called Jeannine, who became the collateral damage in one of the most sensational murder cases of the 20th century.  This episode is based on original research and interviews from Murde...

Three weeks after Pat Lowther was reported missing, her body was discovered by a family out for a hike at Furry Creek, about 50 kilometres from her Vancouver home. She had been beaten to death with a hammer by a man who was jealous of her strong, often violent feminist poetry and her growing place in the Canadian literary scene.  Photo: Pat Lowther and Fred Candelaria co-chairs of the League of Ca...

In the months leading up to her murder, Muriel Lindsay had been targeted and harassed. Her cat was stolen, she’d received bizarre anonymous letters, and someone had used her credit card to take out subscriptions and make a donation to the United Way in her name. Who was stalking Muriel and why was this 40-year-old postal worker found beaten to death in her West End apartment? Cold Case Canada is b...

On February 22, 1975 country and western singer Debbie Roe, 22 finished her shift at the OK Corral, stopped to get gas and something to eat. Her body was found the next day on an isolated stretch of highway in Langley, BC. Just two months earlier, the body of Barbara LaRocque, 22 had been found nearby. Barbara worked at the Syndicate, a club with the same owner as the OK Corral. In March 1975, the...

At the start of 1985, things looked good for Jimmy and Lily Ming. The couple had two small children, owned their own home and worked in the family’s thriving Robson Street restaurant. But by the end of January, Jimmy and Lily had been kidnapped from their Vancouver house, the restaurant was closed and the rest of the Ming family feared for their lives. This podcast is based on original research an...

Sixteen-year-old Rhona Duncan was murdered in the early hours of July 15, 1976 after walking home from a high school birthday party. She was in sight of her North Vancouver house, when she was intercepted, raped and strangled. Although 45 years has gone by, Rhona’s friends still get together to remember her and to try and solve her murder. Some believe they know who did it. This podcast is based o...

On January 7, 1976, Brenda Young, a 38-year-old mother of four, was found murdered in her store the Good Earth on Lower Lonsdale in North Vancouver. After I wrote about Brenda in my book Cold Case Vancouver, a retired detective contacted me and said Brenda’s murder was a case of mistaken identity. He believed that a corrupt RCMP officer, then in jail, put out a contract on the female police inform...

In 1954, Bob Hopkins worked at the Vancouver News Herald. He was a friendly man who kept to himself and was liked by his colleagues. None of them knew that Bob was gay and lived a secret life. He had to. In the 1950s homosexuality was illegal and coming out would have meant losing his job, his place in the community, and possibly his family. This podcast is based on original research and interview...

On September 15, 1954, Danny Brent’s body was found on the tenth green at UBC’s golf course. Stuffed inside his shirt was an early edition of the newspaper, soaked with his blood. There was a half-smoked cigarette inside his shirt where it had dropped from his mouth when he was shot—once in the back and twice in the head with .45-calibre bullets. This podcast is based on original research and inte...