Voices for the Victims
Cold Case Canada is an independently produced true crime podcast hosted by Eve Lazarus, a reporter and author based in Vancouver, British Columbia
57 most recent episodes
Visit website →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
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
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 dol
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
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 ho
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
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 neve
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 time
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.
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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 h
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 disappea
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 Pen
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 h
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
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
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 ju
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,
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 Sq
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 la
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 cat
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
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
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,
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 Vanc
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 ba
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
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 1
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 Ge
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 bac
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, a
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 Col
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
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
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.
P
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 co
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 co
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, oft
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
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, th
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
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 g
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
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 com
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 droppe
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 a
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 C
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 insan
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
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 ar
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, mone
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 Vancou
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
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 recen
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 s
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
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 ci
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