# Top 5 Canadian True Crime Cases That Science Can't Solve | 165

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 18 Jan 2026, 45 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO2108319171.mp3

Hey everyone, today I'm discussing 5 disturbing cases from Canada. Episode 165 of the podcast btw. 👇 Youtube links: Lazy Chill True Crime Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8dVJtzeHcJgd_Z0bHrJTHQ Lazy Chill History Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillHistory Lazy Chill Zone Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillZone 👇 Support My Work: 🛍️ Merch: https://lazy-chill-zone-shop.fourthwall.com ❤️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lazychillzone 👇Social Media Links: https://www.instagram.com/lazychillzone/ 👇 Podcast links: ⚡History Video Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/7km5pLWpYWEj1mrPpEfRUr?si=0FHYnZf-Qs2FY1GyLevfig ⚡True Crime Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/0klIz08pAr7wR4we0Ia4sk?si=68qZxCeAQkysXzMZrHE0Iw 🍏 True Crime Podcast on Apple 🍎: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lazy-chill-true-crime/id1815534472 true crime, cold cases, unsolved mysteries, missing persons, murder investigation, forensic evidence, serial killers, crime scene analysis, dark history, criminal psychology, real life horror, police investigations, DNA breakthroughs, forensic genealogy, crime documentaries, criminal profiling, mysterious disappearances, solved cases, justice system, law enforcement stories, cold case files, creepy mysteries, true crime storytelling, crime reconstruction, chilling cases, investigative reporting, modern forensics, victim advocacy, unidentified remains, crime scene forensics, disturbing cases, true crime analysis, hidden clues, infamous crimes, real crime stories, canada cold cases, canadian crime cases, toronto crime cases, hamilton crime cases, etobicoke true crime, scarborough true crime, north york true crime, ottawa true crime, oakville crime cases, ontario true crime

## Transcript

[0:00] Hey everyone, it's Jimmy here reminding you to like and
[0:02] subscribe and to ring the notification bell and turn on
[0:05] all notifications. And of course, don't forget to
[0:08] drop your location in the comments or just leave a quick
[0:11] comment saying that you're doing your part.
[0:14] With all that said, let's get down to business.
[0:19] The evening of Tuesday, June 9th, 1959 was heavy with the
[0:23] humid heat that often clings to the river valleys of
[0:26] southwestern Ontario. On the grounds of the Station
[0:30] Clinton, an Air Force radar training base, the air was thick
[0:35] with the sounds of children playing in the lingering
[0:37] twilight. Among them were 14 year old
[0:40] Steven Truscott and 12 year old Lynn Harper, 2 classmates in a
[0:45] transient military community. Around 7:00 PM, outside the
[0:50] local school, their paths converged for a brief, fateful
[0:54] journey. Lynn needed a ride to the
[0:57] highway, and Steven, pedaling his bicycle, agreed to take her
[1:03] as she climbed onto the handlebars.
[1:05] Neither of them could have known that this simple act of
[1:08] adolescent chivalry would spark a national tragedy.
[1:12] This act would send one of them to a shallow grave and the other
[1:16] into a nightmare of legal machinery that would attempt to
[1:19] take his life. The investigation that followed
[1:23] Lynn Harper's disappearance was swift, driven by a community's
[1:27] terror and a deference to authority characteristic of the
[1:31] 1950s. Lynn didn't return home that
[1:34] night, and her father, an Air Force officer, reported her
[1:39] missing just before midnight. Two days later, searchers
[1:43] discovered her body in a wood lot known as Lawson's Bush, not
[1:47] far from where Steven said he had dropped her off.
[1:50] She had been subject to the most disturbing form of assault
[1:53] imaginable before being strangled with her own blouse.
[1:57] Because Steven was the last admitted person to see her
[2:00] alive, the police focus narrowed on him almost instantly.
[2:05] He told investigators he had ridden her to Hwy. 8 where he
[2:09] saw her get into a Gray car, possibly a Chevrolet Bel Air,
[2:13] with yellow license plates. The police, however, viewed this
[2:18] detail as a clumsy fabrication designed to deflect guilt.
[2:23] They theorized that Steven had never reached the highway, but
[2:26] had instead turned into the woods, assaulted Lynn and slain
[2:30] her, all within a razor thin window of 45 minutes.
[2:37] The Crown's case against the 14 year old rested on what would
[2:40] later be described as 4 pillars of evidence, though time would
[2:44] reveal them to be pillars of sand.
[2:47] The 1st and most critical was the medical evidence regarding
[2:50] the time of death. Doctor John Penniston, the local
[2:55] pathologist, examined the contents of Lynn's stomach and
[2:59] found her dinner of Turkey and peas largely undigested.
[3:05] Relying on the medical dogma of the era, Penniston testified
[3:09] that digestion ceased at death and proceeded at a linear rate.
[3:14] He concluded with deceptive precision that Lynn must have
[3:18] died between 7:00 and 7:45 that night.
[3:22] This timeline was lethal for Truscott, since he was with her
[3:25] at 7:15 and returned alone by 8. The pathologist's window left no
[3:30] room for any other suspect. The second pillar involved
[3:35] physical lesions found on Steven.
[3:37] During a medical examination 3 days after the slaying, the
[3:41] prosecution presented these sores as burns caused by forcing
[3:45] himself upon Lynn. In the alternative, they
[3:49] presented these wounds as being the result of his habit of
[3:52] frequent, intense gooning sessions.
[3:55] For those who have the fortune of not knowing what that means,
[3:58] let's just say they claimed that he'd like to perform a lot of
[4:01] trombone solos in his room. This was a damning
[4:05] characterization in a conservative era that branded
[4:09] the boy as a disturbing deviant. The remaining pillars of the
[4:15] prosecution's case relied on witness testimony and Stevens
[4:18] own conduct. The Crown marshalled children
[4:21] from the base who claimed to have seen the pair riding toward
[4:24] the woods but denied seeing Steven reach the highway.
[4:28] Furthermore, prosecutors argued that Stevens behavior after the
[4:32] disappearance was unusual. His return to the schoolyard to
[4:36] play and his failure to report the Gray car immediately
[4:39] demonstrated a consciousness of guilt in their eyes.
[4:43] The trial, held in the fall of 1959, was a media sensation
[4:48] across Canada and parts of the United States, such as Michigan
[4:52] and upstate New York. The presiding judge, Justice
[4:56] Ferguson, was an experienced but stern figure who, according to
[5:00] later reviews, failed to maintain the necessary
[5:03] impartiality during the proceedings.
[5:06] When defense counsel raised strong objections to the judge's
[5:09] jury instructions, Ferguson flew off the handle.
[5:13] He reportedly slammed his heavy notebook shut and declared the
[5:17] comments were insults to him and to the law, rather than valid
[5:22] objections. In his charge to the jury,
[5:25] Ferguson's language often openly disparage the defense's
[5:29] theories, subtly guiding the 12 men of the jury toward
[5:32] conviction. He strongly implied that
[5:35] reasonable doubt hadn't been raised by the defense,
[5:38] improperly creating the appearance of a reverse onus on
[5:42] the defendant to prove he's not guilty.
[5:45] As a quick reminder, in Canada, as in all common law countries,
[5:49] the burden alone is on the prosecution to prove guilt.
[5:53] The defendant doesn't have to present any arguments or do
[5:57] anything whatsoever, though of course this rarely ever happens.
[6:03] On September 30th, 1959, the jury returned a verdict of
[6:07] guilty with a recommendation for mercy.
[6:11] However, under the Criminal Code of that time, the penalty was
[6:15] mandatory. Justice Ferguson sentenced the
[6:18] 14 year old boy to be hanged by the neck until dead, gleefully
[6:22] scheduling the event for December 8th, 1959.
[6:27] For agonizing months, Steven Truscott sat in the Huron County
[6:31] Jail, a child, listening to the preparations for his own
[6:35] execution. The public outcry was immense
[6:39] and the prospect of the state hanging a 14 year old boy for a
[6:42] crime based on circumstantial evidence appalled many
[6:46] Canadians. The date was pushed back until
[6:49] in January 1960, the federal cabinet intervened, commuting
[6:54] his sentence to life imprisonment.
[6:57] Steven was transferred to the federal penitentiary system
[7:01] where he would grow from adolescence to adulthood
[7:04] surrounded by hardened criminals.
[7:09] Throughout his incarceration, he remained a model prisoner but
[7:13] steadfastly refused to admit guilt, a stance that complicated
[7:17] his parole prospects in a system that demanded remorse.
[7:21] He eventually won parole in 1969, disappearing into
[7:26] anonymity under the pseudonym Stephen Bowers in Guelph, ON,
[7:31] where he married. Raised three children.
[7:34] He worked as a millwright, always looking over his
[7:37] shoulder, fearing the day his past would catch up with him.
[7:42] After all, there were many people out there who thought he
[7:45] was the most vile kind of monster imaginable.
[7:50] The case, however, refused to fade into history.
[7:53] In 1966, journalist Isabel Laborde published The Trial of
[7:58] Steven Truscott. This was a book that
[8:01] meticulously dismantled the Crown's timeline and sparked A
[8:05] renewed national debate. This led to a Supreme Court
[8:08] reference in 1967, a judicial review where the court heard new
[8:13] evidence, including Stevens own testimony.
[8:17] In a crushing blow, the court ruled 8 to one against a new
[8:21] trial, deferring to the original jury's wisdom.
[8:25] However, it's believed that the questions raised by this event
[8:29] ended up leading to Stevens parole in 1969.
[8:36] It would take another 30 years and a revolution in forensic
[8:39] science before the doors to justice would pry open again.
[8:44] In 2000, facing his own mortality and wishing to clear
[8:47] his name for his family, Truscott went public, enlisting
[8:52] the help of the Association in Defense of the Wrongly
[8:54] Convicted. The exoneration of Stephen
[8:58] Truscott was built on the demolition of the medical
[9:01] evidence that had convicted him. The defense team attacked Dr.
[9:05] Penniston certainty regarding stomach contents, bringing in
[9:09] modern experts who testified that digestion is a highly
[9:12] variable process. They established that Lynn
[9:15] Harper could have lived for hours after her meal, pushing
[9:19] the time of death well past the 7:45 PM deadline.
[9:23] Further, they raised the fact that Truscott's quote UN quote
[9:26] physical injuries were almost certainly caused by his frequent
[9:30] trombone solos. They challenged the idea that
[9:34] this made him some sort of deranged predator, noting that
[9:37] this was common behavior for a male of his age.
[9:41] In short, the physical and scientific links between Steven
[9:44] and the crime were severed. The most spectacular
[9:49] breakthrough, however, came from a science that barely existed in
[9:53] a forensic capacity in 1959. Entomology doctor Penniston's
[10:01] original autopsy notes and photographs recorded the
[10:03] presence of maggot activity on Lynn's body, data he had deemed
[10:07] irrelevant. Decades later, forensic
[10:10] entomologists analyzed this evidence.
[10:13] They identified the larvae as Formia Regina, the black
[10:17] blowfly. This species has strict
[10:20] behavioral constraints, and it doesn't fly or lay eggs at
[10:23] night. By calculating the growth rate
[10:26] of the larvae against the temperature records of those
[10:29] June days, the scientists determined that the maggots
[10:32] found on the body were too small.
[10:35] They couldn't have been deposited on the evening of June
[10:37] 9th. It was a biological
[10:40] impossibility. If Lynn had been killed and left
[10:45] in the woods before sunset, as the Crown claimed, the flies
[10:48] would have colonized the body immediately.
[10:51] The larvae would have been substantially larger by the time
[10:54] of discovery. The small size of the larvae
[10:57] proved that the eggs weren't laid until the daylight hours of
[11:00] June 10th. Since the flies don't lay eggs
[11:03] at night, the body must have been inaccessible to them, or
[11:07] Lynn must have been alive until after dark on June 9th.
[11:13] This scientific alibi placed the time of death after sunset,
[11:18] likely after 9:00 PM, a time when Stephen Truscott was
[11:22] indisputably miles away. These humble insects would be
[11:26] Stephen's saving grace. In 2007, the Ontario Court of
[11:32] Appeal heard this overwhelming body of fresh evidence.
[11:36] Confronted with the collapse of the Crown's timeline and the
[11:39] scientific proof of innocence, the court quashed the
[11:42] conviction. Notably, though, the court
[11:45] didn't declare Stephen Truscott innocent, and the reasons for
[11:49] this are less to do with him and more to do with the legal
[11:53] system. If he was declared innocent,
[11:56] that would make everyone who was found not guilty of an offense a
[12:00] degree more guilty than simply innocent.
[12:03] However, from the wording of the full decision, it's extremely
[12:07] clear that they did factually consider him to be innocent,
[12:11] even if the judges couldn't deem him as such.
[12:15] Stephen Truscott, who had once been condemned at age 62, was
[12:19] finally free from the shackles of guilt.
[12:23] While the courts couldn't declare him innocent, he kept up
[12:26] the fight to fully clear his name through other means.
[12:31] The acquittal was followed by a formal apology from the Ontario
[12:35] government. The Attorney General expressed
[12:37] deep regret to the Truscott family for the decades of
[12:40] suffering they had endured. In 2008, the province awarded
[12:45] Truscott near $7,000,000 in compensation, the largest
[12:49] settlement for a wrongful conviction in Canadian history
[12:52] at that time. It was a financial
[12:55] acknowledgement of a stolen youth, the trauma of death row,
[13:00] and the burden of living a double life under a pseudonym.
[13:05] The tragedy of the Truscott case extends beyond the wrongful
[13:08] conviction to the Harper family, who were left with their own
[13:12] unresolved grief. For 50 years, they had taken
[13:16] solace in the certainty that the perpetrator had been caught.
[13:21] The exoneration of Truscott ripped that certainty away,
[13:25] leaving a void where justice should have been.
[13:29] Lynn's father, Leslie Harper, refused to accept the acquittal,
[13:33] stating he was numb and viewed the compensation as a travesty.
[13:39] Perhaps most disturbingly, the justice system's tunnel vision
[13:43] in 1959 hadn't only convicted an innocent boy, but had allowed
[13:48] the real perpetrator to escape detection.
[13:51] The 2007 review highlighted ignored leads, particularly
[13:56] regarding Alexander Kalachuk, an Air Force Sergeant who was also
[14:00] a known offender who lived nearby.
[14:03] Kalachuk, who drove a car matching the description Steven
[14:07] had given, had been arrested for luring a young girl just weeks
[14:10] before Lynn's slaying, but was never seriously investigated.
[14:16] Personally, I have to question how someone with this history
[14:20] was still operating within the Air Force, but let's put that
[14:23] aside for a moment. I suspect that he may have used
[14:26] the authority of his uniform to lure Lynn Harper into his
[14:29] vehicle. After all, I suspect Lynn had
[14:33] been taught to be respectful to military officers and Kalichuk
[14:37] likely knew her father, adding extra weight to his authority.
[14:42] That said, this theory has never been proven and at present too
[14:45] much time has passed for the case to ever be fully solved.
[14:50] In the end, 2 innocent young people lost their lives here,
[14:53] one literally and another metaphorically, because of the
[14:56] acts of an evil individual who was never caught.
[15:03] It was a warm summer morning in 1985 when 8 year old Nicole
[15:07] Moran stepped out of her family's Toronto apartment and
[15:10] vanished. On July 30th, 1985, Nicole left
[15:15] her 20th floor apartment in Etobicoke to meet a friend for a
[15:19] swim, but she never made it to the lobby and was never seen
[15:24] again. The mystery of her disappearance
[15:27] sparked one of the largest searches in Canadian history and
[15:30] continues to haunt Toronto decades later.
[15:35] July 30th, 1985 began like any other day for the Moran family,
[15:40] with nothing to foreshadow the tragedy to come.
[15:43] That morning, around 10:30 AM, Nicole went to fetch the mail
[15:47] before getting ready for a swim at the building's pool.
[15:51] She planned to meet a friend in the lobby for a late morning
[15:54] swim. Nicole wore a bathing suit and
[15:57] packed a bag with a towel and a change of clothes.
[16:00] When her friend buzzed on the intercom at 11 AM, Nicole
[16:04] answered that she would be right down.
[16:06] That was the last time anyone heard from her.
[16:09] Nicole left her apartment and headed toward the elevators, but
[16:12] she never arrived downstairs. After about 15 minutes, the
[16:16] friend buzzed the apartment again, wondering why Nicole
[16:19] hadn't come. Nicole's mother, Jeanette, who
[16:22] was busy running a small daycare in their unit, initially assumed
[16:26] her daughter had simply gotten sidetracked.
[16:30] She believed her daughter was already playing with other
[16:32] children in the building or already at the pool without her
[16:35] friend. When hours passed with no sign
[16:39] of Nicole, Jeanette realized something was very wrong.
[16:44] At around 3:00 that afternoon, nearly 4 hours after Nicole had
[16:48] left, her mother finally called the police to report her
[16:51] missing. Once alerted, Toronto police
[16:56] responded swiftly and on an unprecedented scale.
[17:00] Officers launched an intensive search of the apartment building
[17:03] in the surrounding area. They went door to door through
[17:07] every unit of the 21 story complex, even entering
[17:11] apartments when residents didn't answer.
[17:14] To ensure Nicole wasn't hiding inside, roadblocks were set up
[17:18] around the site and cruisers drove through the neighborhood,
[17:21] broadcasting Nicole's description over loud speakers.
[17:26] One resident told police she saw Nicole on the elevator that
[17:29] morning, likely confirming the abduction happened in the
[17:32] elevator itself. After that point, however, the
[17:36] trail went cold and no trace of Nicole could be found then or
[17:41] since. By the next day, the search
[17:45] effort expanded dramatically. Police broadened their canvas by
[17:49] land, water and air, deploying mounted officers on horseback,
[17:54] marine units to check ponds and creeks, and helicopters to scan
[17:58] from above. Tracking dogs sniffed through
[18:02] garages, storage rooms and basements for any sign of the
[18:06] missing girl. Over 1000 volunteers from the
[18:10] community joined the search, helping officers comb through
[18:14] nearby parks, ravines and backyards.
[18:18] One neighbor reported seeing an unfamiliar blonde woman with a
[18:22] notebook on the 20th floor about 45 minutes before Nicole
[18:26] vanished. Police sought this woman as a
[18:29] possible witness, but she never came forward and remains
[18:33] unidentified, a fact that has raised significant suspicion.
[18:39] The investigation into Nicole's disappearance became the largest
[18:43] missing person case in Toronto history.
[18:46] A dedicated 20 member task force worked full time on the case for
[18:50] nine months, ultimately logging more than 25,000 hours in the
[18:55] hunt for clues. In the first months, authorities
[18:59] interviewed around 6000 people, including hundreds of known
[19:02] offenders, but turned up no solid leads.
[19:06] Police even offered a $100,000 reward for Nicole's safe return,
[19:11] yet it yielded no breakthroughs. While family members are often
[19:16] scrutinized in such cases, police quickly cleared all of
[19:20] Nicole's relatives and acquaintances of involvement.
[19:24] The Morans were distraught at the loss of their only child.
[19:27] In a chilling twist, detectives discovered an eerie entry in
[19:31] Nicole's notebook from a couple of months earlier.
[19:35] She had written I'm going to disappear in pencil.
[19:40] This note was never explained, but it was presumed to be just a
[19:43] fanciful musing of an 8 year old rather than a serious
[19:47] prediction. Authorities came to believe
[19:50] Nicole was most likely abducted by an unknown person, though
[19:54] they never found proof of who was responsible.
[19:59] Nicole's father, Art Moran, refused to give up on finding
[20:02] his daughter. Against police advice, he raised
[20:05] funds to hire a private investigator and even quit his
[20:08] job to devote himself full time to the search.
[20:12] He set up an office to manage tips and traveled across Canada
[20:16] and even into the United States chasing down any leads.
[20:20] Nicole's mother, Jeanette, in her desperation, even consulted
[20:24] A psychic, hoping for any clue to her daughter's fate.
[20:28] The stress and grief took a toll on the family and the Moran.
[20:32] Separated by 1987, Jeanette passed away in 2007 without
[20:37] answers. Art, however, held on to hope
[20:40] for decades, remaining in the Toronto area and waiting for a
[20:44] breakthrough. Over the years, countless tips
[20:49] and alleged sightings were reported, but none led to
[20:52] answers. In 2004, a startling lead
[20:56] emerged when a European organization claimed that images
[21:00] from an international dark network showed a girl resembling
[21:03] Nicole. Toronto police investigated, but
[21:07] this lead couldn't be verified and ultimately went nowhere.
[21:11] In 2014, police received a tip that prompted a fresh search of
[21:16] a rural area near Barrie ON, about 50 miles north of Toronto.
[21:21] Officers and cadaver dog team spent two days searching the
[21:24] woods for any trace of Nicole, but nothing was found.
[21:28] These false leads deepen the frustration in a case that
[21:31] remained unsolved. Nicole's story, however, never
[21:36] faded from public memory. Most recently in.
[21:40] July 2025 Toronto police renewed their appeal to finally solve
[21:45] this cold case on the. 40th. Anniversary of Nicole's
[21:49] disappearance, officials held a news conference at the apartment
[21:53] building where she was last seen.
[21:56] They announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to her
[21:59] whereabouts and insisted they will never close the file.
[22:04] Nicole would be 49 years old today.
[22:07] Nearly a lifetime has passed, but hope still remains that her
[22:10] case will be solved. Melissa Elishuk, Nicole's
[22:15] childhood friend who buzzed her that day and who in turn became
[22:19] a police officer, has said she remains hopeful her friend will
[22:23] be found. She believes somebody out there
[22:26] knows the truth and that the case just requires additional
[22:29] evidence to solve this haunting Toronto unsolved mystery.
[22:37] In 1980. 2 The quiet of Oakville, a suburban town in
[22:41] Ontario just southwest of Toronto, was shattered by a
[22:45] scream in the night. The community wasn't known for
[22:49] violent crime, which made the sudden disappearance of 25 year
[22:53] old Delia Adriano all the more shocking.
[22:56] She had just been dropped off at her family's home but never made
[23:00] it inside. Six weeks later, her.
[23:03] Body was discovered in a wooded area miles away, yet the mystery
[23:07] of what happened to her remains unsolved to this day.
[23:13] At 25 years. Old Delia worked as a secretary
[23:16] and was engaged to be married. Those who knew her recall an
[23:20] ordinary woman excited about her future.
[23:23] On Sunday, September 26th, 1982, Delia spent a pleasant day with
[23:29] her fiance, Danny Dutra. The couple watched a soccer
[23:34] match and attended a BBQ together that evening.
[23:38] Danny drove Delia back to her parents home on Wildwood Dr.
[23:41] around 9:30 PM and dropped her off, expecting she would be
[23:46] safely inside within moments. Tragically.
[23:50] Delia may never have crossed the threshold.
[23:54] In the blink of an eye, a normal day in her life turned into the
[23:58] beginning of a baffling tragedy. The timeline of.
[24:03] Events on the night of Delia's disappearance is narrow yet
[24:07] haunting. Roughly one hour after her drop
[24:10] off at around 10:30 PM, neighbors heard a piercing
[24:14] scream echo through the area of Wildwood Dr. and Slade Crescent.
[24:19] Alarmed witnesses reported seeing a commotion on the
[24:22] street. A young woman matching Delia's
[24:25] description was being forced into a small, dark car by an
[24:28] unidentified man. The struggle between.
[24:31] The woman and her assailant continued even after she was
[24:34] pushed into the vehicle, which then speed off into the darkness
[24:38] with its headlights turned off. In the aftermath.
[24:43] One clue was left behind a purse on the sidewalk near the Adriano
[24:47] home, later identified as Delia's handbag, dropped during
[24:52] the violent abduction. Despite the terrifying scene,
[24:56] the attacker and victim vanished into the night before anyone
[24:59] could intervene. Several witnesses.
[25:03] Initially thought they might be observing a domestic dispute
[25:06] rather than a random attack, according to investigators.
[25:10] Bystanders described the argument they overheard as
[25:13] sounding like an argument between a husband and wife or a
[25:17] couple who knew each other, not strangers.
[25:21] This detail LED. Detectives to suspect that Delia
[25:24] likely knew her abductor. Witnesses noted that the verbal
[25:28] quarrel continued inside the kidnappers car as it drove away,
[25:32] reinforcing the idea that the assailant was someone familiar
[25:36] to her. Such observations.
[25:38] Made investigators focus on people in Delia's life rather
[25:42] than an unknown predator. For weeks.
[25:46] Delia's family and the police waited in agony, not knowing
[25:50] where she could be and having few clues to go on.
[25:53] Their worst fears were confirmed on November 6th, 1982 when
[25:58] Delia's body was found about 30 kilometers away from Oakville in
[26:03] a secluded wooded area near Milton.
[26:06] This was a spot locally known as a Lover's Lane, used by young
[26:10] people to get out of sight of prying eyes.
[26:14] She. Was identified.
[26:15] Through dental records, given the condition of her remains and
[26:19] due to decomposition, the coroner couldn't determine an
[26:21] exact cause of death. With little physical.
[26:25] Evidence to go on. Investigators were left with few
[26:29] leads beyond the witness accounts from the abduction.
[26:33] Local police have. Long believed that Delia
[26:35] recognized her abductor, A suspicion borne from the nature
[26:39] of the crime and the argument witnesses heard.
[26:44] Now I know what you're. All thinking here given who the
[26:47] last person to see Delia was and trust me, detectives had the
[26:52] exact same thoughts. Delia's fiance.
[26:55] Was fully cooperative with authorities and was quickly
[26:59] ruled out as a suspect as he had an airtight alibi for the time
[27:03] when the attack happened. This meant the focus shifted to
[27:06] other acquaintances who might have had a motive to harm her.
[27:11] Witness descriptions enabled authorities to create a
[27:14] composite sketch of the suspect, a white male of average height
[27:18] and medium build with brown hair that was perhaps in a mullet.
[27:23] The vehicle used in the abduction was identified as a
[27:26] dark colored 2 door car, possibly a Chevrolet Chevette
[27:31] with distinctive stripes along its side and Ontario license
[27:34] plates. Unfortunately.
[27:37] Beyond seeing where the plates were from geographically, no one
[27:40] recorded any portion of the plate number.
[27:44] One report even suggested that a car like this was seen parked
[27:47] nearby on the night of the crime, hinting that the
[27:50] perpetrator may have been lying in wait.
[27:53] Despite these clues, matching a generic dark Chevette and a
[27:57] generic unidentified man in 1982 proved incredibly difficult.
[28:03] No arrest was made, and as the years passed, Delia's case grew
[28:08] cold. Over time, various theories have
[28:11] emerged about who might be responsible.
[28:16] Some have speculated. That she may have been the
[28:18] victim of a serial predator. Though police have been very
[28:21] cautious making any such connection, they've emphasized
[28:25] that she almost certainly knew who her attacker was, making
[28:29] this scenario much less likely, though not impossible.
[28:34] Others have speculated that the man was an ex-boyfriend based on
[28:38] the description of the witnesses who thought it was some sort of
[28:42] lover's quarrel. With her fiance conclusively
[28:46] ruled out as a suspect. The logic behind this makes
[28:50] sense in my view. Notably, it remains unclear if
[28:54] there was any genetic evidence found at the scene or whether
[28:58] this evidence was preserved. If this is the case, some have
[29:02] speculated that genetic genealogy could one day be the
[29:06] key to unlocking this unsolved mystery.
[29:11] For Delia Adriano. 'S family The decade since 1982
[29:15] have been an agonizing journey without closure.
[29:18] Each passing year without an arrest is a reminder that the
[29:21] predator has so far evaded justice, likely still roaming
[29:25] the streets knowing what he had done.
[29:30] Hey everyone, if you're. Enjoying my video so far?
[29:33] The biggest way you can help out is by hitting the share button
[29:36] and sending this video to your friends or family members.
[29:40] Also there is a Patreon and a YouTube membership available
[29:44] where you can support my work further.
[29:49] On a cool autumn. Night in 1996, A 42 year old
[29:53] mother finished her late shift and began the drive home through
[29:57] the quiet streets of Welland ON. Audrey Desjardins vanished
[30:02] without a trace on October 3rd, 1996, leaving behind a mystery
[30:07] that continues to haunt her family and community.
[30:11] How? Could a woman?
[30:12] Vanish on a routine drive home in her city.
[30:15] Decades later. That question still torments
[30:19] those left behind. Audrey Desjardins was a 42 year
[30:24] old wife and mother who lived in Welland, a city in Ontario's
[30:28] Niagara Region. With her husband Gaytan and
[30:31] their 20 year old son. She worked night shifts at a
[30:34] Nabisco fruit packing plant in Saint David's, roughly a 20
[30:38] minute drive from home. Audrey drove a burgundy 1985
[30:42] Ford Crown Victoria and she was a caring, dependable person who
[30:47] often helped colleagues by giving them rides after work.
[30:51] She was only weeks away from her 43rd birthday when she
[30:55] disappeared in the fall of 1996. After finishing work on October
[31:01] 3rd 1996, Audrey did something she had done many times before,
[31:07] she gave a Co worker a ride home.
[31:10] She dropped her friend off in Welland and the two said their
[31:13] usual goodnight, planning to meet again at work the next
[31:16] evening. Audrey then drove away alone in
[31:19] her red Ford Crown Victoria, which bore a small Canadian flag
[31:23] bumper sticker on the rear. She was a petite 42 year old
[31:28] with long blonde hair and blue eyes, and that night she was
[31:31] wearing a light blue denim jacket, blue jeans and a salmon
[31:35] colored sweatshirt. Nothing appeared to miss as she
[31:38] left. Yet that drive home was the last
[31:41] time anyone saw Audrey or her distinctive car.
[31:46] When Audrey failed to. Make it home An extensive search
[31:49] was launched. Niagara Regional Police scoured
[31:52] the roads along her likely route and also focused on the region's
[31:56] waterways. Notably, they spent significant
[31:59] time on the Welland Canal that winds through town on the theory
[32:03] that her car might have plunged into the water.
[32:07] Over the next 5. Years Police divers conducted 35
[32:10] searches of the Welland Canal and other bodies of water, but
[32:15] they found absolutely no sign of Audrey or her vehicle.
[32:19] With no evidence of a crime scene, authorities initially
[32:22] didn't suspect foul play, favoring the accident theory.
[32:27] However, as time went on, with no evidence whatsoever to
[32:30] corroborate the accident hypothesis, police eventually
[32:34] began to treat the case as a likely crime.
[32:37] Despite a thorough. Investigation Police turned up
[32:40] no solid leads and never identified any suspect in
[32:44] Audrey's case. In 2000. 16 Nearly 20 years
[32:49] after Audrey vanished, a diver in the Welland Canal discovered
[32:53] a submerged car with a body inside.
[32:57] For a brief moment, authorities wondered if this could finally
[33:00] be Audrey's vehicle. However, the remains were soon
[33:04] identified as another missing woman, unrelated to Audrey's
[33:08] case, who had also gone missing decades prior.
[33:12] This discovery solved a different cold case, but it left
[33:15] Audrey's loved ones with more questions and no closure.
[33:20] The fact that another vehicle could lie hidden underwater for
[33:23] decades lent weight to the theory that Audrey's car might
[33:26] also have ended up in a canal or deep pond.
[33:30] Still, all the searches to date have failed to locate any trace
[33:34] of Audrey or the vehicle. Audrey is still officially
[33:38] listed as a missing person in the National Police database,
[33:41] and her case file remains open decades later.
[33:46] Personally, I. Think there's a decent chance
[33:49] that she saw someone she knew walking along the street while
[33:51] she was driving and stopped to pick him up.
[33:54] This tracks well with her personality, and I suspect that
[33:58] person may have done her harm. Of course, this is just a
[34:01] hypothesis, but it's as good a guess as any.
[34:05] That said, it's always possible that she had an accident and
[34:08] ended up in the canal or another similar body of water.
[34:15] On the evening of December 2nd, 1919, Toronto was locked in a
[34:19] winter chill that froze slush in the gutters and sent residents
[34:23] hurrying home to coal fires. In the city's theater district,
[34:27] however, the atmosphere was anything but cold.
[34:31] Ambrose Joseph Small, the undisputed king of Ontario's
[34:35] live entertainment industry, stood at the absolute peak of
[34:39] his power that day. He had completed what many
[34:43] called the Deal of the century, selling his vast network of
[34:47] opera houses and theaters for an astonishing $1.7 million.
[34:53] The check had been deposited, the papers signed and lavish
[34:58] gifts ordered for his wife, including a Cadillac and a fur
[35:01] coat. Yet sometime after 5:30 PM,
[35:06] Ambrose Small stepped out of his office at the Grand Opera House
[35:10] and vanished. He didn't die in.
[35:13] Any provable way. Nor did he flee with his
[35:16] fortune. He took nothing and left behind
[35:19] a wife who waited weeks to report him missing and a mystery
[35:23] that would defy explanation for more than a century.
[35:29] Understanding the disappearance requires understanding the man.
[35:33] Ambrose Small wasn't beloved in Toronto high society.
[35:36] He was feared, resented and grudgingly respected.
[35:41] Born in 1866 in Bradford, ON to Daniel and Ellen Small, he came
[35:46] from modest origins. His father ran the Grand Hotel,
[35:51] located beside the Grand Opera House, a proximity that shaped
[35:55] Ambrose's future. He entered the theatre business
[35:59] humbly as an usher and bartender, working the saloon
[36:02] and aisles of the Opera House next door.
[36:07] Small quickly. Revealed a sharp, unsentimental
[36:09] mind. He viewed theater not as art,
[36:13] but as a mechanism for profit. He quarreled with mentors,
[36:17] defected to rival venues and eventually returned as owner,
[36:22] buying the very building where he had once worked.
[36:25] By 19. 19 His dominance was complete.
[36:29] He controlled theaters. In seven cities and dictated
[36:33] bookings for 60, two others. Any touring production hoping to
[36:37] play in Ontario had to deal with Ambrose Small or they would be
[36:41] completely shut out. His business.
[36:45] Practices were ruthless. He was infamous for the
[36:48] so-called Joker Claws fine print that transferred financial risk
[36:52] entirely onto performers. He didn't simply want to win,
[36:57] rather he wanted the other side to lose, and he was willing to
[37:00] win less if they lost more. Contemporaries.
[37:04] Described him as unscrupulous, cold and intimidating.
[37:09] A man who inspired fear even among his associates.
[37:14] His private life. Mirrored his professional
[37:17] brutality. In 19 O2 he married Teresa
[37:21] Corman, an heiress to a brewing fortune.
[37:24] The marriage was more financial alliance than romance.
[37:28] They lived in a Rosedale mansion but kept separate bedrooms.
[37:32] Small was a serial. Womanizer, who maintained a
[37:35] secret room behind his office at the Grand Opera House, where he
[37:39] entertained actresses whose careers depended on his favor.
[37:43] He also kept a long. Term Mistress Clara Smith, an
[37:47] arrangement widely known and deeply humiliating to Teresa.
[37:51] By 1919, Small had accumulated enemies as easily as wealth.
[37:56] He cheated partners, underpaid staff and treated his wife with
[38:00] open indifference. The year itself was a turning
[38:03] point. The global conflict had ended,
[38:07] the Spanish flu had devastated society, and motion pictures
[38:11] were rapidly eclipsing live theater.
[38:14] Small recognized that the golden age of vaudeville was ending.
[38:19] Always pragmatic, he decided to sell at the peak.
[38:23] In the fall of 19/19, he negotiated with Trans Canada
[38:27] Theaters Limited, a Montreal consortium pushing aggressively
[38:31] for a December closing. The terms were.
[38:36] Extraordinary $1 million payable immediately and another $750,000
[38:42] to be paid over 20 years on December 1st, 1919.
[38:48] Small, Teresa and their lawyer, Edward Flock, met the buyers at
[38:52] the Law Offices of Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt, still in operation
[38:57] today. The contracts were signed and a
[39:01] certified check for $1 million changed hands.
[39:05] Ambrose Small had won. According to some accounts, he
[39:09] was now the richest man in Canada and one of the wealthiest
[39:12] in the British Empire. The following day.
[39:17] Began with routine administration and ended in
[39:20] silence. On the morning of December 2nd,
[39:23] the check was deposited at the Dominion Bank.
[39:26] Eliminating robbery as an immediate motive, Small returned
[39:30] to his office at the Grand Opera House.
[39:32] Appearing upbeat, he ordered expensive gifts for Teresa,
[39:37] possibly as celebration or appeasement.
[39:40] At 5:00 PM, he met with his lawyer to finalize transition
[39:44] details. The meeting ended at 5:30 PM.
[39:49] Flock invited Small to dinner, but Small declined, saying he
[39:53] would eat at home. Flock left to catch his.
[39:56] Train to London ON becoming the last confirmed person to see
[40:00] Ambrose Small alive. A disputed sighting later that
[40:05] evening complicates the timeline.
[40:07] Ralph Savain, a nearby newsstand operator, claimed Small stop by
[40:12] to buy his usual papers. When told deliveries were
[40:15] delayed by weather, Ralph said Small erupted in anger before
[40:19] storming off into the snowy night.
[40:22] Police later dismissed the account as publicity seeking,
[40:25] though the behavior aligned closely with Small's
[40:27] temperament. If true, it places him alive,
[40:32] angry and alone on the street. After that moment, there is
[40:36] nothing. Teresa Small's.
[40:39] Response fueled suspicion. She waited weeks before
[40:43] contacting police. She later explained that her
[40:46] husband often vanished for days on drinking and womanizing
[40:50] sprees, and she assumed he was celebrating the sale with a
[40:53] mistress. Reporting him missing.
[40:56] She feared would expose humiliating truths just as they
[41:01] were preparing for a new life. Not until.
[41:04] January 3rd, 1920. A full month later was the
[41:09] disappearance officially reported.
[41:12] When detectives began investigating, they discovered
[41:15] another disappearance. Jack Doughty, Small's personal
[41:19] secretary, was gone. Doughty was underpaid,
[41:24] resentful, and knew all of Small's secrets.
[41:27] On December 2nd, he accessed Small's safety deposit box and
[41:32] stole $100,000 in Victory Bonds before fleeing to Montreal and
[41:37] then the United States. Police tracked.
[41:42] Dowdy to a paper mill in Oregon, where he lived under an alias.
[41:47] His capture and extradition became a media spectacle.
[41:51] Dowdy admitted to the theft, claiming he deserved the money,
[41:54] but denied harming Small. Investigators learned Dowdy had
[41:58] previously discussed kidnapping Small for ransom but found no
[42:03] evidence the plan was carried out.
[42:06] With Dowdy cleared, attention turned to the most lurid theory
[42:10] that Small had been slain in the Grand Opera House and burned in
[42:14] its furnace. Police examined ashes, searched
[42:18] the basement, and excavated parts of the building.
[42:21] Yet forensic reality undermined the idea.
[42:25] Complete cremation requires sustained temperatures exceeding
[42:28] 1500°F. A coal furnace would likely
[42:33] leave bone or teeth, and none were found.
[42:37] Further, the odor alone would have drawn attention in a busy
[42:40] downtown theater. The investigation.
[42:44] Further deteriorated amid a vicious feud between Teresa
[42:47] Small and Ambrose's sisters Gertrude and Florence.
[42:51] The sisters despised Teresa, fueled by religious tensions in
[42:55] sectarian Toronto. They accused her of knocking off
[42:59] Ambrose to divert his fortune to the Catholic Church.
[43:03] To support their claims, they hired Patrick Sullivan, a
[43:07] disgraced former police officer turned tabloid publisher.
[43:11] Sullivan manufactured evidence and promoted wild conspiracies,
[43:15] including a forged letter supposedly written by Teresa,
[43:19] confessing to everything. As years passed, the case
[43:24] slipped into legend. Sightings placed small in
[43:27] Mexico, Europe and beyond. The strangest lead came in 1921
[43:33] when a private investigator claimed to have found Small in
[43:36] Des Moines, IA. Teresa waited for confirmation,
[43:41] but the man was identified as a well known local hobo.
[43:45] The story collapsed, likely invented by the investigator to
[43:48] claim a perceived reward. The final irony?
[43:54] Is that Small's fortune brought no happiness?
[43:57] Teresa lived as a recluse until her death in 1935.
[44:01] The estate went to the Catholic Church, but the Great Depression
[44:05] devastated its value. Legal battles dragged on into
[44:09] the 1950s, by which time most of the wealth had evaporated.
[44:14] After more than a century, Ambrose Small's fate remains
[44:18] unknown, with any number of his numerous enemies likely
[44:21] responsible for his disappearance.

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