Dark Poutine - True Crime and Dark History

Episode 149: William Avery (Billy) Bishop was born in Owen Sound, Ontario, on February 8, 1894. When the First World War broke out, as with many young men of his day, Billy was off to Europe to do his part. By the end of the war, Bishop claimed he had survived more than 170 air battles and said he had shot down seventy-two German aircraft. This number left Bishop only three behind René Fonck of Fr...

Episode 147: Canada has a long history of folks who have attempted to communicate with the dead - a practice is known as Spiritualism. Some of these have claimed that they can connect directly with those on the other side. Here we will give a bit of history, tell some of their stories and give a how-to primer for entertainment purposes only. We do not recommend, dear listeners, that you make attem...

Ride along with 25 year veteran Crime Reporter Nancy Hixt, from Global News, on her award winning podcast Crime Beat as she takes you through some of Canada’s most high-profile criminal cases. Real People, Real Crimes, Real Journalism. Each episode takes you deep inside cases she has worked to give you detail you didn't hear on the news. Season 3 is available NOW - LISTEN​ Crime Beat is the 2020 w...

Episode 146: On June 13th 1901, Ada Mills Redpath and her son Jocelyn Clifford Redpath were killed in their mansion in on Sherbrooke Street in Montreal. Ada had been shot to the back of the head. Clifford has a gunshot wound to his the temple. The police were not called. A coroner’s inquest the next day declared the deaths a murder-suicide. Ada and Clifford were buried June 15th without any furthe...

Episode 145: This episode contains disturbing and graphic details of the 2015 murder of Chinese millionaire, Gang Yuan, in West Vancouver at the hands of his soft-spoken cousin Li Zhao. The crime’s unthinkable and twisted aftermath is horrendous. Sources:Pre-Trial Voire DireR. v Zhao, 2020 BCSC 1322 (CanLII), BC v. Child 3, 2019 BCCA 171 (CanLII), Mother 1 v Solus Trust , 2019 BCSC 200 (CanLII), 9...

Episode 144: On the evening of December 27, 2005, in my home province of Nova Scotia, Jason McCrae, husband of a beloved educator, artist, sister and mother named Paula Anne Gallant, reported her missing. Paula failed to return to her home in Timberlea after a shopping trip to nearby Halifax. The next day, Paula’s body was found locked in the trunk of her car in the parking lot of the school where...

Episode 143: On the island paradise Bermuda in the early morning hours of July 3, 1996, a group of friends were riding in a car headed toward Ferry Reach Park, on the northeastern edge of the island. The vehicle’s occupants were startled when the car’s headlights illuminated a form lying in the middle of the dark and isolated road. They pulled the car over and got out to investigate. The group pre...

Episode 142: On a chilly, cloudy winter night in early 2005 at a gas station in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, a 24-year-old gas station attendant named Grant de Patie was brutally slain by a callous young man over just $12 and 30 cents worth of gas. Sources:R. v. Pratt, 2006 BCSC 1198 (CanLII), R. v. Pratt, 2007 BCCA 206 (CanLII), https://www.mapleridgenews.com/news/driver-from-2005-vehicle-dragg...

Episode 141 - In late June 1993, police were called to a possible stabbing at a residence in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. In one of the bedrooms, Kenneth John Ladubec, 46, lay dead in a massive pool of blood. His killer was Jacob Leroy Andrew Green, 16, the son of Kenneth's live-in girlfriend. Green was tried as a young offender and found guilty of manslaughter. After Jake's release, all seemed relati...

Episode 140: On July 22, 2018, at around 10:00 pm, calls flooded Toronto's 911 call centre. There was a man on Danforth shooting at people in the streets and in the restaurants and cafes in Greektown. After the 16-minute rampage, 13 people were wounded, 10-year-old Julianna Kozis and 18-year-old Reese Fallon had been killed and the gunman had completed suicide. Even after two intensive investigati...

Episode 139: On September 27, 2017, when Dianna Mah-Jones failed to show up for her shift without calling in sick, her co-workers were concerned. Neither Dianna nor her husband, Richard Jones, was answering the phone. One of Dianna's colleagues went to the couple's home in Vancouver's Marpole neighbourhood and discovered what appeared to be a bloody crime scene. Dianna and Richard lay dead inside...

Episode 138 - On the afternoon of May 10, 1973, a stranger entered the CIBC branch on Main St in the small town of Kenora, Ontario. The man, claiming he had a bomb, demanded all the money in the bank. (Photo credit: Don Dutton, Toronto Star)Sources:CJRL Covers the Kenora Bank Robbery 10 May 1973Devil's Gap by Joe Ralkohttps://unidentified.wikia.org/wiki/Paul_Higginshttps://www.services.rcmp-grc.gc...

Episode 137 - At 9:30 a.m. on Friday, June 19, 1914, the worst coal mining disaster in Canadian history occurred at Hillcrest, Alberta, in the Crowsnest Pass region of western Canada. Episode written by Josina de BreeSources:Anderson, Frank. “Hillcrest Mine Disaster” (Triumph and Tragedy in the Crowsnest Pass. Diana Wilson, Heritage House Publishing, Surrey, BC, 2005)www.crowsnest.bc.cawww.crowsne...

Episode 136 - In July of 1998, Keith Scott Black went missing. He was a respected Taekwondo instructor who had three schools near Kelowna., B.C., where he taught with his wife, Rhonda Petra Black. Rhonda was saying Keith had abandoned her, but Keith's sister Sandy and the cops knew there was more to the story. After five long years the story came to a conclusion as the true story emerged as did Ke...

Episode 135 - In the wee hours of Saturday, October 11, 2008, after an altercation with his cousin and one of two roommates, 21-year-old, Dylan Koshman, left the Edmonton home he shared and out into the night wearing only sneakers, jeans and a t-shirt. Dylan has not been seen since and what was thought to be a missing person case was upgraded to homicide in 2017 by the Edmonton Police Service. Dyl...

Episode 134 - On the morning of October 22, 2014, an armed terrorist murdered Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, one of three honour guards at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, Ontario. Immediately after that, the man shot his way into the Parliament Buildings but was quickly neutralized by security service officers inside our nation's capital. Further Reading and Sources:Nathan Cirillohttps://globalnews.ca/...

Episode 133 - Throughout the 1970s and '80s serial pedophile Westley Allan Dodd molested dozens of children in the Pacific Northwest. Although caught for his crimes more than once Dodd never did any real prison time. Feeling invincible, Westley's fantasies became more violent and depraved until the fall of 1989 when he crossed the line between child predator to multiple murder. On Labour Day weeke...

Episode 132: In this episode we take a look at a topic not spoken of often, slavery in colonial Canada and its aftermath. As well, we learn a little about the Black Loyalists in Nova Scotia and the shameful destruction of the community of Africville near Halifax, beginning in 1966.Sources and further information:[Africville Museum][Africville][The story of Africville | CMHR][Remember Africville by...

Episode 131 - For centuries, the indigenous peoples of the western Canada and in the forest along the west coast of the United States told tales of a an elusive massive, hair covered bipedal creature leaving giant footprints behind. Called Sasquatch by some, and Bigfoot by others, this giant man of the forest has been described as gentle but potentially dangerous. In this our inaugural episode on...

Episode 130 - On March 29, 1975, pretty and popular, 16-year-old Sharron Prior left her home in the Montreal, QC, neighbourhood where she lived with her mom and siblings. She was off to a pizza joint only 5 short blocks away. Sharron was found days later, raped and murdered in another neighbourhood across the river. Her murder has never been solved. Her mom, Yvonne, still holds hope that one day s...

Episode 129: In May of 1914, before the outbreak of WWI, a Japanese steamship called the Komagatu Maru anchored in Burrard Inlet in the Vancouver harbour. There were 376 people aboard led by a man named Baba Gurdit Singh Sirhali. Mostly from the Punjab area of India they dreamt of emigrating to Canada for a better life. Thanks to exclusionary Canadian immigration policies meant to prevent immigrat...

Episode 128 - On the 15th of July, 2019, just outside Liard Hot Springs, B.C., the bodies of an innocent couple, Chynna Deese, 24, from Charlotte, NC, and her Australian boyfriend, Lucas Fowler, 23, were found shot to death beside their 1986 Chevy van. Police had no idea who had done this, or why. Four days later, a burning truck, registered to a young Vancouver Island man was found burning near D...

Episode 127 - On the morning of October 20, 2003, in North York, a quiet neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Raymond Zhang and Sherry Xu awakened to find their only child, 9-year-old, Cecilia was missing. She had clearly been abducted. There were no ransom demands or clear motives for her kidnapping. All efforts to find the girl were fruitless, until a Scarborough man stumbled across a body in a ra...

Episode 126 - On the morning of June 18, 1906, on the trail on the west side of the Two-Mile House, a drinking establishment outside Hazelton, B.C., the body of local tough guy, Alex McIntosh, was found. He had been ambushed and shot through the back. A short time later on the trail to the east of the Two-Mile House, the body of a labourer, Max Leclair, was discovered. He'd died in exactly the sam...

Episode 125 - On cold December night just before Christmas in 1974, the 14-year-old son of Moncton, NB restauranteur, Cy Stein was kidnapped from the family home by two masked gunman. By just before 5:00am the kidnapping came to and end, but two city of Moncton police officers had then gone missing. Their fate would not be known for two more days, and the outcome was not positive. Sources:Regina v...