Cold Case Canada
Cold Case Canada is an independently produced true crime podcast hosted by Eve Lazarus, a reporter and author based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Each episode explores unsolved Canadian murder cases, shedding light on victims and seeking public assistance to generate new leads.
Episodes
S6 E57 Murder of a Model
Twenty-year-old Wanda Watson was an aspiring actor and model who moved from Victoria, BC to live with her older sister in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant. On August 3, 1991 she was stabbed to death in her home. The intruders then poured gasoline around the house and set it on fire.
There was surprisingly little information in the newspapers of the time. The conclusion was that Wanda had surprised a rob
S5 E56 Martha: The Ghost in Room 209
In this Halloween special we're travelling up Indian Arm to visit the Wigwam Inn, one of Metro Vancouver's most storied old mansions. Built in 1910 by Alvo von Alvensleben as a hotel for the rich, it's been a brothel, an illegal casino, used to print counterfeit money, and now owned by the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. Is it haunted? Of course. The ghost of Martha lives in room 209.
With special gu
S5 E55 The Mission Skull
In 1995, a partial skull was discovered in a slough just outside Mission, BC. Forensic testing revealed that the skull belonged to a Caucasian woman aged between 20 and 40. Missing person files were searched, but nothing matched her description, and the skull was named Jane Doe, placed in an RCMP storage facility and forgotten.
Then in 2002 police searched serial killer Robert Pickton’s Coquitlam
S5 E54 The Blonde Embezzler
In 1962, 20-year-old Ann Spiller was hired as a bank teller at the Penticton branch of the Royal Bank. After she’d been on the job for about a year, Ann spotted a flaw in the bank’s accounting system. By 1968, she had stolen nearly half a million dollars, and this former farm girl, was living the life of the rich and famous.
Drawing of Ann Spiller by Roy Peterson, Vancouver Sun, November 9, 1968
F
S5 E53 The London Cellar Murder
In 1910, American-born Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen was living in London with his wife Belle, when he fell in love with Ethel Le Neve, his 20-something assistant. Crippen poisoned his wife and buried most of her in the cellar of their Hilldrop Crescent home. When Scotland Yard started to investigate Belle’s disappearance, Crippen grabbed his young lover, cut off her long brown hair, dressed her in a
S5 E52 Andrea Lynn King
Eighteen-year-old Andrea King graduated with honours from New Westminster Secondary in June 1991. She took a job with the Greyhound Bus Company to save money for a trip across Canada. Her plan was to check out universities while she worked her way home to British Columbia. On January 1, 1992, Andrea took an Air Canada flight to Halifax. She phoned her family from the airport and told them she’d ca
S5 E51 Boys in the Woods
Ramsey Rioux and Kenneth Lutz were two Indigenous boys living in Burnaby, BC . When the 13-year-olds ran away in December 1989, RCMP put little effort into looking for them. It wasn't until a skull was identified in Stanley Park almost a decade later that police discovered that they weren't missing. The boys were murdered.
If you have any information about these murders, please contact the Vancou
S5 E50 Girl in the Field
The body of 15-year-old Myfanwy Sanders was found on November 9, 1945 in a field near her home on Vancouver Island. She had been missing for 23 days. Apart from a couple of newspaper articles and a coroner's inquest, this Saanich teen’s case was never really looked into at all. And, while Saanich police have four unsolved murders on their books, Myfanwy, who was known as Dot by her family and frie
S5 E49 Murder at Swan Lake
In January 1943, fifteen-year-old Molly Justice took the 5:50 pm bus from her job in Victoria, BC and got off at Swan Lake near her Saanich home. Her body was found a few hours later lying face down in the snow. She had been stabbed more than 20 times and hit on the head with a rock. What followed was one of the most seriously botched police investigations of last century.
This episode is based on
S5 E48 Aimee Beaulieu
On April 1 1992, 19-year-old Aimee Beaulieu was killed in her home just outside of Nelson, British Columbia. Her twin babies David and Samantha, died in the fire that was lit to cover up her murder.
For more information, please visit my website: evelazarus.com or join us on the Facebook group page Cold Case Canada.
S5 E47 The Kitimat Murders
On Saturday July 12, 1997, four 20-year-olds were gun downed at a campsite in Kitimat, British Columbia. The shooter was 42-year-old Kevin Vermette. After killing three of the four young men, Vermette returned to his motel room, grabbed his dog and his shotgun - and disappeared into the bush. Vermette is still at large, and as I quickly learned, nothing about this story is as it first seemed.
For
S5 E46 The disappearance of seven-year-old Terri Lynn Scalf
Seven-year-old Terri Lynn Scalf disappeared from Aldergrove, BC on July 24, 1983. She was last seen in the company of a 55-year-old convicted child molester and another 10-year-old girl from her townhouse complex. Police initially linked her disappearance with that of Joanne Pedersen, 10, from Chilliwack who had vanished six months earlier. Both girls are still missing.
For more information, pleas
S5 E45 The Disappearance of Joanne Pedersen
Ten-year-old Joanne Pedersen was last seen in a Chilliwack, BC phone booth at 8:20 pm on Saturday February 19, 1983. She had been calling her mother to tell her that she had been locked out of her house and asked if she could pick her up from the Penny Pincher general store. Just as her mother went to talk to Joanne, a young man got on the phone and told her that if she wasn’t there in half-an-hou
S4 E44 Three Ghost Stories and a Murder
In this last episode of Season 4, I'm delighted to be joined by four local storytellers. We'll hear about the murder of iconic architect Francis Rattenbury, visit a haunted firehall, a spooky house in New Westminster from the 1860s, and a character house in East Vancouver that's home to three ghosts: a man, a little girl and a charcoal grey cat.
For more information visit evelazarus.com or join us
S4 E43 Where is Mike Smith?
Michael Smith, 17 is RCMP case #2014003272 and one of 233 missing kids on the Canada’s Missing website. Mike was last seen on December 30, 1967 when he left his North Vancouver home after a fight with his family when he was caught with some weed. If Mike is alive, he’d be 73 years old, and may have no idea that his family has searched for him for over four decades.
The second part of the episode i
S4 E42 The Cloverdale Murder of Nancy Johnsen
On November 6, 1967, sometime before 6:00 pm, seven-year-old Nancy Johnsen went missing from her Cloverdale BC farmhouse. Nancy, one of ten children ranging in age from six months to 16 years, was found on the property the next morning. She had been strangled. No one reported seeing a stranger around the house that night and Nancy was not known to wander outside alone in the dark. The case went co
S4 E41 The Alley Murders
Between April 1988 and August 1990, a serial killer murdered six sex trade workers and dumped their bodies in the laneways of Vancouver. Officially, the murders are unsolved and two were added to the Vancouver Police Department’s cold case website just last year. But two retired detectives who worked on a joint RCMP/VPD task force called E-Alley, say they know who killed these women, and he died i
S4 E40 Taken: Casey Rose Bohun
Casey Rose Bohun, 3 disappeared from her North Delta, BC home on August 5, 1989. Dozens of volunteers searched for Casey but no trace of her was ever found. Police believe that she either wandered off and got lost, was killed by someone close to her, abducted by a stranger, or sold and living somewhere else with no memory of her real family.
This episode is based on a story from Cold Case BC: the
S4 E39 The Night Club Murders
At the end of 1974, 22-year-old Barbara Larocque’s body was found in Langley, BC. She had been strangled with her own scarf. Two months later, Gail "Sam" Rogers, 26 went missing from her Kitsilano basement suite. Her body was found in a creek near Squamish, her head bashed in with a claw hammer. Both women were go-go dancers at Vancouver nightclubs. Their deaths are believed to be the result of co
S4 E38 A Town Divided: The Search for Brenda Byman
On May 7, 1961, 12-year-old Brenda Byman went for her first sleepover at her friend’s house in Wilmer, a tiny community outside of Invermere, BC. The next day she and four teens went for a hike to Lake Enid. Brenda never returned. Over six decades later, Brenda's tragic disappearance continues to divide the town.
This episode is based on a story from Cold Case BC: the stories behind the province'
S4 E37 The Box Cutter Murder: Gladys Wakabayashi
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.
For
S4 E36 Lindsey Nicholls: Vanished from Vancouver Island
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 miss
S4 E35 Gloria Moody: The Highway of Tears
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,
Introducing Season 4: Cold Case Canada Podcast
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 evel
S3 E34 Halloween Special 2022
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 guests
S3 E33 Kidnapped: The Philip Porter Story
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 fa
S3 E32 The Jack Family Missing from Prince George
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 C
S3 E31 The Monica Jack Murder
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
S3 E30 Double Murder: Tanya Van Cuylenborg and Jay Cook
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
S3 E29 When Cops were Murderers
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
S3 E28 When Cops Were Robbers
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
S3 E27 Tanya Busch: The Prison Guard’s Daughter
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:
S3 E26 Abducted: Evangeline Azarcon
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
S3 E25 The Babes in the Woods Update
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 informat
S2 E24 Halloween Special 2021
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
S2 E23 Murder by Milkshake Part 2
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
S2 E22 Murder by Milkshake Part 1
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
S2 E21 Murder of a Poet: Pat Lowther
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
S2 E20 Murder in Mole Hill: Muriel Lindsay
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
S2 E19 Soft, Sweet and Country
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
S2 E18 On the Edge of Chinatown: Jimmy and Lily Ming
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
S2 E17 Sweet Sixteen: The Rhona Duncan Murder
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
S2 E16 Murder at the Good Earth: Brenda Young
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
S2 E15 The Murder of Robert David Hopkins
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
S2 E14 Danny Brent’s Murder: Vancouver’s First Gangland Hit
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
Trailer: Blood, Sweat, and Fear, the story of Inspector Vance
I'm Eve Lazarus, a reporter and author based in Vancouver, BC. This is a 12-episode podcast based on original research from my book Blood, Sweat, and Fear: the story of Inspector Vance. Inspector Vance was Canada’s first forensic investigator. He worked for the Vancouver Police Department and helped solved some of the most sensational murder cases of the twentieth century.
For more information abo
S1 E13 The Babes in the Woods Part 2
The Babes in the Woods is the story of two tiny skeletons found in Stanley Park in 1953. The case is still unsolved, but the investigation continues. In part two I visit the site where the boys were found and talk with the VPD Inspector who ordered an exhumation in 2015 in an effort to identify the boys. We also hear about the latest development from the coroner who is currently revisiting Vancouv
S1 E12: The Babes in the Woods Part 1
The Babes in the Woods is the story of two tiny skeletons found in Stanley Park in 1953. It is one of Vancouver's oldest and most fascinating unsolved murder mysteries.
Cover art: Katarina Thorsen
This podcast is based on a story from my book Cold Case Vancouver: the city's most baffling unsolved murders
For crime scene photos, show credits, sources and information about my books, blog or podcast
S1 E11 Axe Murders in Mount Pleasant: The Kosbergs
In December 1965, 17-year-old Tom Kosberg made milkshakes for his parents and four siblings, dosed them with sleeping pills, and then hacked up their bodies with a double-bladed axe. Only the baby survived. Tom was found not guilty by reason of insanity. So, why was he out in 10?
This podcast is based on a story from my book Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City's Hidden History
For crime scen
S1 E10: The Renfrew Murders: Louise Wise and Geraldine Forster
Windemere Secondary School student Louise Wise had just turned 17 when she was stabbed to death in her East Vancouver home in 1971. Two years later, Geraldine Forster, 19 was shot to death at Renfrew Street and Grandview Highway with a Mountie's .38 service revolver. For a while police thought there was a connection, but when Louise's case was reopened 25 years later, detectives found the murder k
S1 E9: Halloween Special - Three Ghost Stories and a Murder
A Halloween Special that travels to Chilliwack to cover the Hostess with the Ghostess; to North Vancouver for the Grain Elevators: a fire and a ghost story; to Victoria for Murder in James Bay; and to the Vogue Theatre's resident's ghost.
Stories are from my books Vancouver Exposed; At Home with History; and Sensational Victoria.
For photos, show credits, sources and information about my books, b
S1 E8: The Shaughnessy Murder of Marion Hamilton
In 1975, Marion Hamilton, 69 was found dead in the bedroom of her Shaughnessy mansion. At first her death looked like suicide, but it was soon apparent that Marion had been murdered. It’s a fascinating story of a once prominent Vancouver family, money, a rambling old run-down mansion, and the shocking identity of Marion’s murderer.
Cover art: the Hamilton's Nanton Street house. Eve Lazarus photo
T
S1 E7 The Christmas Day Murder of Lila Anderson
Lila Anderson, 38 was murdered on Christmas Day 1959. She had been beaten with a tire iron and her head smashed against a rock after she was taken from a bus stop. Her naked body was dumped in a ravine at Knight Street and 45th Avenue in South Vancouver less than two blocks from the Paul house. Did Vancouver have a serial killer?
This podcast is based on a story from my book Cold Case Vancouver: t
S1 E6: The Pauls, Vancouver’s First Triple Murder
On June 10, 1958, David Pauls, 52 was shot in the head with a .22-calibre revolver by the back door of the family home. The killer then went upstairs and clubbed 11-year-old Dorothy Pauls to death in her bed. When Helen Pauls, 45 returned from work a short time later the killer shot her twice in the head and then beat her dead body with a blunt instrument. It was Vancouver’s first triple homicide.
S1 E5: The Hastings-Sunrise Murder of Evelyn Roche
In 1958, Evelyn Roche was murdered on the way home from the bus just two blocks from her Vancouver home. It’s a case that really haunted me when I first read about it. The newspaper stories just said was that she was a 39-year-old widow who had recently remarried and had a boy and a girl. I wanted to know what happened to her children, how their lives had turned out.
This podcast is based on a sto
S1 E4: Missing Without A Trace: Nick and Lisa Masee
In August 1994, Nick and Lisa Masee disappeared from their North Vancouver house. Their case has long gone cold, ruled a missing persons with suspicious circumstances by the RCMP. Are they really just missing or murdered?
This podcast is based on a story from my book Cold Case Vancouver: the city's most baffling unsolved murders
For more photos, show credits, sources, and information about my true
S1 E3: How To Catch A Killer: the Vivien Morzuch Story
In 2000, Vivien Morzuch was 15 when he was beaten to death and dumped in a ditch near Kamloops, BC. Former homicide detective Steve McCartney tells us how Vivien’s murderer was caught six years later through a Mr. Big operation.
This podcast is based on a story from my book Cold Case Vancouver: the city's most baffling unsolved murders
For more photos, show credits, sources, and information about
S1 E2: Who Killed Roddy Moore?
Seven-year-old Roddy Moore was killed on the way to his East Vancouver school in 1947. Why were his two step-fathers suspects? Interviews with Roddy's sisters Patty and Leona.
This podcast is based on a story from my book Cold Case Vancouver: the city's most baffling unsolved murders
Cover art photo: Vancouver Sun, September 30, 2006
For more photos, show credits, sources, and information about m
S1 E1: The Murder of Jennie Eldon Conroy
Jennie Eldon Conroy was a 24-year-old shipyard war worker who was beaten to death in 1944, her body dumped at the West Vancouver cemetery. Seventy-five years after her murder, forensic samples including her hair and gravel from the crime scene ended up on my desk. What happened to her baby?
This podcast is based on a story from my book Cold Case Vancouver: the city's most baffling unsolved murders
Cold Case Canada Trailer
I'm Eve Lazarus, a reporter and author based in Vancouver, BC. For the past few years I've been investigating unsolved murders and missing persons cases. I'm convinced that many of these cases can still be solved.
This true crime podcast is based on original research and interviews I've conducted with family members and friends, police detectives, criminologists, forensic psychologists and a coron
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