0:00

Hey, it's Nancy. Before we

0:02

begin today, I just wanted to let

0:05

you know that you can listen to

0:07

Crime Beat early and ad-free on Amazon

0:09

Music included with Prime. The

0:13

following episode contains descriptions of sexual

0:15

violence and may not be suitable

0:17

for everyone. It also contains course

0:19

language, adult themes, and content of

0:22

a violent and disturbing nature. Your

0:25

discretion is advised. In

0:33

the late 1970s and early

0:35

80s, a sexual predator lurked

0:37

in the shadows and left

0:39

an entire city on edge.

0:42

The city was kind of going nuts.

0:45

There were multiple reports of an

0:48

unknown man exposing himself to both

0:50

women and children, and

0:52

police said some reported being

0:54

violently sexually assaulted. Investigators

0:57

believed the same person

0:59

was responsible and that

1:02

they were looking for a serial rapist.

1:07

The big thing about what was

1:09

happening was a lot of midnight

1:12

break-ins and

1:14

sex assaults, and

1:17

then there were similarly

1:19

going on at the same time events

1:23

involving children, youngsters.

1:27

Youngsters were being attacked on

1:29

the street and a very,

1:33

very elusive person

1:36

at the time. You

1:39

know, they were in

1:42

different locations, but you

1:44

had to know by the MO and after

1:47

the interviews

1:49

with the victims, you had to

1:51

know there's a link there.

2:00

your crime reporter for Global

2:02

News. Today, on Crime Beat,

2:04

I share the devastating story

2:06

of what happened and the

2:08

steps investigators took in solving

2:10

these crimes. This is

2:12

The Hunt for a Predator. Before

2:21

I begin, a warning. This

2:24

story includes graphic details of

2:26

sexual assaults and violence against

2:28

children. In

2:32

the spring of 1980, Calgary teachers

2:34

walked off the job in one of

2:36

the longest strikes in the city's history.

2:39

The job action impacted more than 80,000 public

2:43

school students who no longer

2:45

had classes to attend. Two

2:47

of those kids were Olivia, who was 11

2:49

years old and would have been

2:51

in grade five, and Emily, who was

2:53

10 and would have been in

2:56

grade four had school been in session. I'm

2:59

not using Olivia and Emily's real

3:01

names for reasons that will soon

3:03

become clear. On

3:07

one particularly nice June afternoon, the

3:09

two young girls took advantage of

3:11

the unexpected early summer break to

3:13

go for a bike ride in

3:15

the southwest part of the city.

3:18

Olivia's bike was a blue 10-speed,

3:21

and Emily rode a blue 3-speed.

3:24

They got onto a popular bike

3:26

path that winds along the Elbow

3:28

River and rode to the Glenmore

3:31

Reservoir, a manmade lake that supplies

3:33

Calgary's drinking water. It

3:35

was about a 10-minute ride from their neighborhood.

3:38

They took their time and stopped to throw

3:41

rocks in the water before hopping back

3:43

on their bikes. On

3:45

their way back home, they cut off

3:47

the main bike path and took a

3:49

dirt trail up the hill. That's

3:52

when seemingly out of nowhere,

3:54

a man appeared. He

3:56

grabbed Olivia, the older girl, and put a

3:58

knife in her hand. Your throat.

4:02

The. Man told her she better listen.

4:04

And. Threatened that the two girls would

4:06

get it if they didn't comply. Olivia

4:10

started to cry. And. Tools

4:12

Emily to listen to whatever he said.

4:15

The man six girls by their hands

4:17

and walk them into the nearby bush's.

4:20

The. Little girls were terrified.

4:24

I need to warn you what

4:26

happened next is terrific and I'm

4:28

only going to share details that

4:31

are absolutely critical to the case.

4:36

of the deal was as he

4:38

blindfolded concerned with a towel. She.

4:41

Took note of what he was

4:43

wearing Jeans and a red, blue

4:45

and white checkered shirt. He

4:48

then asked Emily if she could see

4:50

anything. She said no. But.

4:52

Secretly, she was able to peek

4:54

under the edge of the cloth.

4:57

That's when Olivia made a move.

5:00

She tried to run. But. He

5:02

quickly chaser down. He held his nice

5:05

to wear a legs and threatened to

5:07

kill her. He. Made

5:09

her lie down and sexually assaulted

5:11

her. When. He was finished.

5:13

He went over to Emily, took

5:15

off her blindfold and put it

5:17

on Olivia. Then he

5:20

sexually assaulted Emily. When

5:23

their attacker finished, he warned them not

5:25

to tell or he'd come after them.

5:28

He. Told them to start counting as

5:30

he ran away. After

5:33

a few minutes past the

5:35

two girlfriends who will libya's

5:37

have both in cheers they

5:39

told their parents who called

5:41

the police. i

5:47

was in court of queen's bench or

5:49

was or was testify in it of

5:51

of i'm a major or france where

5:53

are a jury trial and i i

5:55

don't have a page or message to

5:57

go to earn address in southwest georgia

6:00

where two young girls reported

6:03

being attacked. Jack

6:06

Mullins is retired now, but in 1980, he

6:09

was a detective with

6:12

the first ever Calgary Police Sex

6:14

Crimes Unit. I read the interviews

6:17

at the house. I got some statements.

6:19

I asked them if they would write out

6:22

on paper what they saw, what

6:24

he looked like, this guy and

6:27

how they came upon

6:29

him. Detective Mullins

6:31

has a clear memory of his

6:33

interview with the two little girls.

6:36

They're children. They're just

6:39

kids. They're, yeah. They

6:41

were on their bikes. They were down by the park and

6:44

they got intercepted by this fellow. And

6:47

he had assaulted them.

6:50

He said the girls provided

6:52

remarkably clear descriptions of their

6:55

attacker. They were very

6:57

brave and very astute. And I remember the

6:59

one little girl saying to me, you know,

7:02

I peeked. I,

7:04

I listed the blindfold and I

7:07

peeked. Am I

7:09

going to be in trouble? I said, no,

7:11

you're not in trouble. No. And

7:14

I remember that little girls, so

7:17

brave, those little girls, you know, what

7:19

they did that day, it

7:21

was, it

7:24

was a very, very moving

7:27

interview with those two little girls.

7:30

The detective was convinced these

7:33

two children could help police.

7:36

I left these

7:38

little girls with my card, my business card.

7:40

And I said, we're getting really close to

7:42

finding this guy. You might see him around.

7:45

And I do remember, I do

7:47

remember telling them that if you

7:49

could keep your eyes peeled and

7:53

if you see him, phone me

7:55

and here's my card. Both

7:57

Girls were taken to hospital where they

7:59

were exhausted. them and. Their

8:01

clothing with collected and became evidence

8:03

in the sexual. Assault case.

8:09

Meanwhile investigators. Began

8:11

their search for the attacker. And

8:14

Zealand went over. Had a list of for scene. Where.

8:17

This or kurds and got some

8:19

pictures. I had the identification branch

8:21

come out and take some pictures

8:23

for me. Hours later

8:25

Emily return to the spot

8:28

where they were assaulted. She.

8:30

Walked investigators through the area

8:33

and provided further details. Given.

8:36

The brazen daylight attack. Police

8:38

felt the sender was likely

8:41

the man they had previously

8:43

dubbed the southwest Calgary rapist.

8:46

I. Gather with some so only

8:48

by virtue of the. The

8:51

same time remains the same

8:53

modus operandi, the same operating

8:55

the same way. As.

8:58

A time there was a

9:00

long list of crime police

9:02

were investigating and attributing to

9:04

the Southwest Calgary rapists. Some

9:06

of those include an attack

9:08

in October of Nineteen Seventy

9:10

Eight. A seventeen year

9:12

old girl with grabs from her yard.

9:15

The man use a nice to threaten

9:17

her. He put goggles over

9:19

her eyes, dragged her to a

9:21

playground, and attempted to rape her.

9:24

He's. Forced her to perform various

9:26

sexual acts and then attempted to

9:28

rape her again. A.

9:31

Few months later, in January of

9:33

Nineteen Seventy Nine, a twenty seven

9:35

year old woman was grabbed. The.

9:38

Man put a nice to are

9:40

not put goggles over her eyes

9:42

and attempted to rape her several

9:44

times. In November

9:46

of nineteen seventy Nine and a

9:49

center broke into a school grabs

9:51

a woman working in the building

9:53

and blindfolded her with a scarf.

9:56

He dragged her into a room, attempted

9:58

to rape or so, The time and

10:01

when he wasn't able to complete

10:03

the assault, he fled. As.

10:06

His Predator Alerts Investigators

10:08

noted that with each

10:10

case, the offenders and

10:12

violence escalated and now

10:14

he was threatening to

10:16

kill victims if they

10:18

didn't cooperate. When

10:20

no one knew at the time

10:23

with the worst had already. Happened.

10:32

I young correctional officer. He said it

10:34

was the most dangerous prison and kill

10:36

of when he is forced to make

10:38

a choice. Fulfill his earth or

10:40

back his fellow officers and eyes the

10:43

badge of my off. Time

10:45

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New for some. A story

10:52

about who gets hurt when the system

10:54

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10:56

bent on protecting itself? Find.

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It wherever you listen to podcasts. Back

11:03

and Twenty Twenty vs. the I came

11:05

to a stopped a wild plot to

11:07

kidnap the Governor of Michigan. Thank you

11:09

to the fearless. F B I agents

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bringing the sick and depraved meant to

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at politicians Christmas I Target

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wherever you get your podcasts.

11:42

Five months before Olivia and

11:44

Emily were attacked in the

11:46

same community where the selfless

11:48

Calgary racist attacks had happened.

11:50

A five year old girl

11:52

disappeared on her way to

11:54

school. Altidore is

11:56

an inner city Calgary neighborhood.

12:00

In the 1980s, the relatively

12:02

quiet community labored a military

12:04

base. It has beautiful

12:06

recreational areas, including Sandy Beach,

12:09

along the Elbow River. And

12:12

there's a popular bike path that follows

12:14

the river there as well. This

12:17

is where Kimberly Thompson, affectionately

12:19

called Kimmy, grew up. Here's

12:22

her mother, Evelyn Thompson. She

12:25

was a happy little girl. She loved her

12:27

jewelry. She

12:29

loved being around people. Yeah,

12:39

she was just happy. She was a beautiful

12:41

little girl, big brown eyes. Five-year-old

12:44

Kimmy was the youngest of

12:46

Evelyn's three children. She

12:48

just loved her picture being taken. And

12:51

anytime I tried, she would crawl towards

12:54

me. So you can get the pictures, right?

12:58

She loved hanging out with her brother and sister and her cousins. In

13:02

a photo taken in the fall of 1979, Kimmy

13:06

had her long brown hair in

13:08

pigtails. Her mother told me

13:10

that particular photo was a big deal because

13:13

it marked the beginning of kindergarten.

13:16

She was loving school, and everything seemed

13:19

to be going really well. Until

13:21

I had a conference with the

13:23

teacher, and she

13:25

told me that Kim was

13:28

too dependent on me. At

13:30

that time, Kimmy was about a month short of

13:32

her sixth birthday. So

13:35

that I should let her do things on her own. So

13:40

that was the first time I let her go to

13:42

school on her own. I

13:45

had my reservations, and I thought, no, you know, that's

13:47

not a good idea. But then I thought, what do

13:49

I do? So

13:52

I figured, OK, I'll try it. Evelyn

13:56

Thompson remembers those final moments

13:58

before Kimmy's birthday. She walked

14:00

to school alone for the first time

14:02

on January 24th, 1980. She

14:06

had on dark blue dress pants and

14:09

a red turtleneck sweater with yellow socks.

14:12

Evelyn made sure Kimmy was bundled up.

14:15

She had on a blue snowsuit with a

14:17

red and white scarf, a green hat with

14:19

brown and yellow and white on it, and

14:21

of course she was wearing her winter boots.

14:26

So when she was going, she

14:28

had left all her mittens at school. So

14:31

I said to her, you know, make sure

14:34

you bring your mittens home from school. And she,

14:37

you know, I said, and go straight to school,

14:40

you know. And I watched her till she

14:42

got to the corner. And

14:44

then I went back in and

14:47

I was babysitting at the time

14:49

my niece and nephew. The

14:54

walk to Altidore Elementary School was

14:56

only about six blocks. And

14:59

then at lunchtime, the other

15:01

kids came home and my niece, she said

15:03

to me, Auntie, where's

15:06

Kimmy? And

15:08

I looked at the clock and it was like quarter

15:11

after 12 or something. So

15:15

I ran. I ran to the

15:17

school and I went in and I checked

15:19

her room, the kindergarten room,

15:21

and she's not there. I

15:23

went to the office and I said, you

15:25

know, where's Kim? Kim

15:28

Thompson. Oh, she didn't make

15:30

it here today. Oh,

15:33

Jesus. Oh, Jesus.

15:35

So I, on the way

15:37

home, I ran

15:41

and I stopped at all

15:43

her little friend's place that I knew

15:45

where she might go and nobody had

15:48

seen her. And

15:51

when I got home, I was

15:55

so rattled that I

15:57

couldn't even remember the phone number to the police station.

16:01

So I had to call my sister and I said,

16:03

you know, what is the number? Well,

16:05

why? I said, because Kimmy's missing. She

16:08

didn't make it to school today. Friends

16:12

and family retraced Kimmy's steps,

16:15

but there was no sign of the little

16:17

girl. I was just terrified.

16:21

And then the police came and, you

16:23

know, set up a command center

16:25

outside and they started searching.

16:29

Friends of ours from the military came over. They

16:31

helped. They were searching.

16:33

Friends walked around the

16:35

neighborhood searching. I

16:39

was, and it

16:41

got later and later and later. And

16:49

I was standing at the window about, I

16:51

don't know, 11 o'clock at night. And

16:57

it was snowing. Oh, it was

16:59

snowing. Big snowflakes. Her

17:02

disappearance triggered around the clock search by

17:04

60 police officers, the

17:06

military, and more than a

17:09

hundred concerned citizens. As

17:12

the hours passed, Evelyn said,

17:14

hope of finding Kimmy safe

17:16

faded. And I just

17:18

had this overwhelming

17:20

feeling that what I was

17:23

never going to see her life again. She

17:26

was living every parent's worst

17:28

nightmare. They told me not to

17:30

leave the house. So I

17:32

stayed and there were people around. My

17:35

dad was there. My partner

17:37

was there. And I think it

17:40

was around, and I don't know the exact timing, but

17:42

I think it was around noon in

17:45

there. When a police

17:47

officer came in, he said, he

17:52

said, we found her. We found her

17:54

body. And

17:57

I just, I said,

17:59

I'm not going to see her. I'm not even sure if I collapsed

18:01

or not, but I could feel my knees going out and

18:03

my dad had one side of me and

18:05

Dawn was on the other. And

18:08

I don't

18:10

really remember much after that. Their

18:15

worst fears were confirmed just 24 hours

18:17

later when the little girl's nude frozen

18:19

body was discovered in a garbage bin

18:21

only blocks from her Altidore home. The

18:24

girl's body was wrapped in a garbage

18:26

bag piled in a fence line garbage

18:28

container just four blocks from her home

18:31

on the ground. Detectives began piecing together

18:33

the grizzly facts. Detective

18:36

Darrell Wilson became the primary

18:38

investigator assigned to the case.

18:41

I got the phone call said you've got to

18:43

come to work. We've got a we've got a

18:46

homicide for the child here. So that's

18:49

how it all started for me in the afternoon

18:51

of January 25th 1980. Detective

18:55

Wilson is retired now, but he was

18:57

with the Calgary Police Service from 1967

18:59

to 1994. The

19:03

first step is to sit down with

19:06

with the family members and discuss

19:08

the situation with them. You

19:11

know, what was a normal day who was around her?

19:15

What were her normal activities who

19:17

lived in the home with them? All

19:20

of those sorts of things. And

19:22

so sorts of people that were involved with her had

19:25

to be ruled out. He told

19:27

me that it didn't take long to

19:29

clear Kimmy's mother and family members as

19:31

suspects. But Evelyn

19:33

said when no one was immediately

19:35

caught and charged in the case,

19:39

many people wrongly assumed her

19:41

family was responsible. They

19:44

blamed me. They thought that I had killed her. And

19:47

then it wasn't me. It was it was Dawn

19:49

or her biological dad. My

19:52

kids were bullied at school. That

19:55

assumption weighed heavily on her as

19:57

she tried to cope with the

19:59

devastation. stating loss. As

20:10

the search for the killer continued,

20:13

detectives hoped an autopsy would provide

20:15

insight into what happened to Kimmy.

20:18

The medical examiner concluded she

20:21

died from asphyxia from either

20:23

smothering or drowning and

20:26

noted there was water in the little

20:28

girl's lungs. At

20:30

the autopsy, police also collected

20:32

forensic evidence. Back in

20:34

those days, as a homicide detective, you did

20:37

a lot of your own forensic gathering where

20:40

that wouldn't happen nowadays. So it

20:43

was necessary for us to very slowly collect

20:47

evidence from Kimberly's

20:49

body. There

20:51

was many, I can say there were

20:53

certainly many hairs and fibers that were located

20:56

on the body and removed by

20:58

us. The samples were

21:00

sent to the RCMP crime lab

21:03

in Edmonton, but results would take

21:05

time. Right. It was

21:07

frustrating. There

21:10

was another issue as well, and

21:13

it was made public. Not

21:16

that we particularly wanted it made public, but that

21:18

was the clothing was never found. The

21:22

outfit that Evelyn had carefully picked

21:24

out for Kimmy before sending her

21:26

off to kindergarten that morning was

21:28

missing. That included

21:31

her pants, turtleneck sweater, her

21:33

yellow socks, the snow suit,

21:35

hat and boots. It

21:37

kept coming up on the news, so we still don't

21:39

know what happened to the clothing in this case. Then

21:43

five days after Kimberly Thompson's

21:45

body was found, there was

21:47

an anonymous phone call to

21:49

a nearby grocery store. And

21:51

told them if they went to the dumpster, they were going to

21:54

find clothing. And

21:56

so of course they did. And one of the people that

21:58

worked in the grocery store happened to be be the son

22:00

of a police officer. So

22:03

he phoned his dad right away and said, hey, you

22:05

know, this has happened and what do we do here?

22:07

So his father

22:09

told him how to collect the evidence and to

22:12

just leave it as best he could, not

22:15

handle it. Investigators carefully

22:18

examined the items found in

22:20

the garbage bag. The

22:22

clothing maps, but we knew about

22:24

Kimberly's body that again, we're back to

22:27

these hairs and fibers and

22:29

everything was, in fact, it

22:32

was our staff sergeant at the time

22:34

that went and retrieved the bag and

22:37

laid it out, examined it, removed what he could

22:39

from it. And the

22:41

rest of it was packed up and

22:44

it was actually sent or taken

22:46

to another crime lab in

22:49

Toronto by one of our detectives.

22:54

They were hoping for fingerprints. They had a

22:56

new system for fingerprints, removing fingerprints

22:59

back in those days. Unfortunately,

23:01

no fingerprints were recovered, but

23:03

with this new evidence, investigators

23:05

worked around the clock to

23:07

solve the case. They

23:10

knocked on every door in the

23:12

neighborhood, hoping to find witnesses to

23:14

Kimmy's abduction and murder. Nobody,

23:17

nobody said anything. Nobody

23:19

saw anything. It's

23:21

amazing. Kimmy Thompson's

23:24

case became a true

23:26

whodunit. Can't tell you

23:28

the amount of pressure I put on me and

23:30

my superiors. Every

23:32

day they were wanting updates and wanting news,

23:34

what's going on with this case. So

23:38

my superiors were then coming to my partner and

23:40

I and you know, what's going on? And have

23:42

you done this? Have you done that? And as

23:45

we know, investigating a homicide is a

23:47

slow process. There's no

23:49

shortcuts. Detective

23:53

Wilson and his partner came up with a

23:55

cutting edge strategy that involved a dog. and

24:00

it played a critical role in the

24:02

hunt for a predator. It

24:05

wasn't just our family, it was the whole neighborhood

24:07

that was in fear. I'll

24:10

never forget it. You

24:13

know, like I said, I could children my own

24:15

similar age. It

24:17

was a difficult case. I'll

24:20

tell the day I die, I'll never forget. It

24:23

makes me sick, actually. I'm

24:25

sick to my stomach because I'm so,

24:30

so afraid that it's going to happen again to

24:32

somebody else. And nobody, nobody

24:34

should have to go through what our family's

24:36

gone through. That's

24:39

next time on Crime Beat. Crime

24:43

Beat is written and produced by

24:45

me, Nancy Hicks, with producer Dila

24:47

Velazquez. Audio editing and sound

24:49

design is by Rob Johnston. Special

24:52

thanks to photographer editor Danny Lantella

24:54

for his work on this episode,

24:57

and to Jesse Weisner, our Crime

24:59

Beat production assistant. And

25:01

thanks to Chris Bassett, the

25:03

VP of network content production and

25:05

distribution and editorial standards for

25:07

Global News. I would

25:09

love to have you tell a friend about this

25:12

podcast. There are five seasons

25:14

of stories you can listen to

25:16

and share. And if

25:18

you can, please consider rating and

25:20

reviewing Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts

25:22

or wherever you listen. You

25:24

can find me on Facebook at Nancy

25:27

Hicks Crime Beat and on Instagram at

25:29

Nancy.Hicks. Thanks again for listening.

25:31

Please join me next time. Audio

25:33

shots fired. Blood

25:42

evidence always tells a story. People

25:45

who do this job,

25:48

they risk it all. Sunday on

25:50

Global. Come back the next day

25:52

and do it all over

25:54

again. Keep following the

25:56

evidence. I Found him. Are

26:00

you.