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0:32

This is a CBC Podcast. The

0:37

following episode includes descriptions of domestic

0:40

violence and refers to trauma related

0:42

to residential schools. Please listen

0:45

with care. Hey.

0:57

Hi. You

1:00

can just stick that on top of there. Hello.

1:03

Hi, how are you? Good. Nice

1:05

to meet you.

1:09

You guys all coming downtown? I'm

1:14

giving Alex and a few of his friends a ride

1:16

into downtown Whitehorse. Alex

1:18

is going to be meeting with prosecutors about his mother

1:21

Wendy's case.

1:22

The man who killed her will soon be sentenced.

1:30

So you're going down to the prosecutor's

1:32

place? I don't

1:35

want to talk about this right now. Okay. I

1:38

can try.

1:46

Alex doesn't want to talk right now

1:48

and I don't blame him. Like most

1:50

murder victims' family members, he's been forced

1:53

to completely rebuild his life, both

1:55

around the loss and the

1:58

unsolved case.

1:59

But for Alex, it's two cases,

2:02

his sister Angel's and his mother Wendy's.

2:06

Angel's unsolved, Wendy's

2:08

before the court, in a system

2:10

that has historically not served the indigenous

2:13

community.

2:16

I'm David Rijan and this is Someone Knows Something,

2:19

the Angel Carlaak Case, Episode

2:21

2, Wendy.

2:22

Wendy,

2:34

thanks for coming down, I appreciate it. It's

2:37

been a long time since

2:40

Angel went missing.

2:45

In January 2016,

2:47

CBC UConn interviewed Wendy

2:49

Carlaak. Before she was

2:51

killed, Wendy was in the same position

2:54

that Alex is now, being

2:56

a voice for Angel's story, something

2:59

she fought for for years. Here

3:02

Wendy's chatting with Dave White in

3:04

what will ultimately be her last

3:07

ever CBC interview.

3:09

How

3:11

have you coped over those last eight years? It

3:15

comes and goes, but I

3:20

always

3:20

think about, I want

3:22

to know what really happened and

3:24

why. They said

3:26

they're still on it, they're still looking into

3:29

it and that's all. Just stand

3:31

there and listen to them. What

3:33

can I say? Just keep

3:36

looking at the cop

3:38

station and walk by, wondering

3:42

what are they doing in that building? Because

3:45

I see them drive around and a

3:47

lot, there's still

3:50

reports going on as we

3:52

speak. It's getting worse every

3:55

month, every month something happens. They're

3:58

getting younger. They're younger

4:00

than my daughter, and still

4:03

nothing is done about it.

4:08

There is disagreement about the number of missing

4:10

and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada,

4:13

but their names and stories matter.

4:16

In the Yukon, some of the names I've found, Laura

4:19

Frank, age 19, 16-year-old

4:21

Miranda Shelley Peter, Brandy

4:23

Vitrequa, age 17, and 18-year-old Angel,

4:28

murdered in 2007.

4:33

Can I get your reaction to when you

4:35

heard that there would be an inquiry into

4:37

missing and murdered Indigenous women?

4:40

I said yes, right on. Yeah.

4:42

I seen it on the news, on TV,

4:45

right on, finally. In

4:50

December 2015, Canada

4:52

announced the creation of a national inquiry

4:54

into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls,

4:57

often referred to by the acronym MMIWG.

5:00

It would be the first of its kind,

5:03

and it sparked hope in victims' family members.

5:06

The truth-gathering process began in Whitehorse

5:08

in May 2017 with community

5:11

public hearings. Families, friends,

5:13

and advocates began sharing their stories

5:16

of loss, trauma, and hope

5:18

for change.

5:20

How do you think an inquiry would help? Well,

5:24

more resources, investigators,

5:28

you

5:28

know, reporters. And

5:30

if you were asked to speak, what

5:32

kinds of things would you like to tell them?

5:34

I would ask them, why is it taking

5:36

so long to investigate when

5:39

they find a missing and murdered

5:42

First Nation? Why it

5:44

takes so long

5:46

to find them?

5:49

And then to report

5:51

it and find out what

5:53

happened? That would really

5:56

bother me.

5:59

Wendy,

5:59

never got the chance to speak at the inquiry.

6:02

Instead, her name appeared next to her daughter

6:04

angels. As a victim.

6:08

The RCMP say two indigenous

6:10

women were found dead in this neighborhood and

6:12

believe they were killed. One of them

6:15

was Wendy Carlech, the same Wendy Carlech

6:17

says the community who has been an advocate

6:20

for missing and murdered indigenous women.

6:23

She was killed on April 10th, 2017,

6:27

along with her close friend Sarah McIntosh.

6:30

Sarah had been in an on and off relationship

6:32

with a man named Everett chief, who was 43

6:34

at the time. On

6:36

that day, the two met up with Wendy in

6:38

downtown Whitehorse. And then the three

6:41

of them went back to Sarah's where alcohol

6:43

was consumed. According to

6:45

chief at one point, he and McIntosh

6:48

got into an argument and he was quote, set

6:50

off. Chief then allegedly blacked

6:53

out and later woke up to find Wendy

6:55

and Sarah dead, whereupon he left

6:57

the scene. Importantly, police

7:00

say there is no connection between Wendy

7:03

and angels murders.

7:08

Hey

7:11

William, can you hear me okay? I

7:13

hear you loud and clear.

7:16

William Carlech is Wendy's brother

7:18

and angels uncle. I'd like to speak

7:20

to him about both of them and what he remembers.

7:24

I've caught him in Whitehorse just before he heads out on

7:26

a family trip. I had hoped

7:28

to meet in person, but on the phone we'll

7:30

have to do.

7:32

You know, there's a journey to be made and

7:34

journey be to be celebrated. And

7:37

for my sister

7:39

and for my niece,

7:42

when their lives are taken tragically, people

7:45

say tragically, but when somebody takes their

7:47

life, that's the creator's

7:49

number one law that says, you know,

7:52

respect all life that he created. And

7:54

when you take it so blatantly, like that,

7:57

there's a big price to pay.

8:02

William believes that Whitehorse was

8:04

bad for Wendy and the kids.

8:06

They moved to the big city and

8:09

then after that Wendy

8:12

got caught up in the city life and

8:15

the street people. The next

8:17

thing she was into alcohol

8:20

and things just kind of fell apart

8:22

right from there, to the point where

8:24

the little angel situation

8:27

came to be. I'm

8:29

not saying it would have changed any different, but

8:31

I just thought if there

8:33

was some kind of a support, I'll let

8:35

back on that. That could have happened too for

8:38

my sister Wendy. She could

8:40

have been successful. She could have been at

8:42

her own home like most women that

8:44

want to have a home. And for a little

8:47

angel who knows, she could have been one of our leaders

8:49

today.

8:52

William has experienced a lot in his

8:54

life. He lost Angel, he

8:56

lost Wendy, and he lost

8:58

his 21 year old son who died

9:00

in a car accident. And before

9:03

all that, William went through the

9:05

horrors of Canada's residential school

9:07

system.

9:09

Six years old and somebody

9:11

just come to your house with the police

9:14

and just grab your six year old and

9:16

say, okay, we're taking them and

9:18

we're going to take them across the country

9:21

and we're going to drop them off at an institution

9:24

run by people that

9:26

have no emotional connection to him

9:29

and will never develop an emotional connection

9:31

to him. And all they're going to do is make

9:33

sure that he survives day to day

9:35

there for the next 10 months

9:37

and you're not going to see them.

9:40

Wendy was also a survivor of residential

9:43

school.

9:44

My mom and dad had lost probably

9:47

six of us to residential school, so

9:50

they were all yanked out of their lives. So

9:52

their lives became meaningless and so how

9:55

they filled that void was alcohol.

10:00

Understand the emotional disconnect that

10:02

you have with your child because you don't grow up

10:04

with them anymore, but also the emotional

10:07

disconnect you have with your siblings

10:09

because you're separated

10:11

from them in that institution too.

10:17

Many of the Indigenous children who were forcibly

10:20

taken to residential schools never returned.

10:23

On the way out here, driving through northern Alberta,

10:26

I came upon hundreds of orange flags

10:28

that had been planted in the ground next to the highway.

10:31

These were the kind of flags that would normally mark a pipeline

10:34

or underground cable, but a look

10:36

closer revealed that they were actually silent

10:38

markers. Tiny plastic

10:41

memorials that had been carefully placed

10:43

there to stand for some of the hundreds of unmarked

10:46

graves that have been discovered across the

10:48

country associated with residential

10:50

schools. Children who didn't

10:53

survive the same government-funded church-led

10:55

system that took William from his home.

10:59

This is the kind of cruelty and pain that is not

11:01

quickly or easily overcome, even

11:04

over several generations. When

11:09

you went through the system, you came back.

11:12

Somehow you managed to thread the needle and

11:14

kind of come up with a better outlook that you were able

11:17

to survive with, even though it was horrifying.

11:20

Everybody has a job to do when they're putting

11:23

their own Mother Earth, everybody.

11:25

And your whole quest

11:28

is to

11:29

eventually get that job done. And

11:32

that's why I'm still here talking to you, because I'm

11:34

still working on getting that job done.

11:44

Hey. You coming

11:45

too? Yeah. Just

11:50

going to hang out with me for a little bit, then? Sure.

11:59

It wasn't what

12:02

we were freaking planning.

12:06

It's grey and threatening rain. I've

12:08

picked up Alex and Chris Dawson near the

12:11

prosecutor's office where Alex went

12:13

to discuss the sentencing of Everett Chief, the

12:16

man who killed his mother, Wendy. What'd

12:19

he say? Pretty

12:23

much said that my mother wasn't only

12:27

worth seven years to that motherfucker.

12:36

I'm not gonna let this shit sign. Seven

12:41

years for two counts of manslaughter,

12:44

that's what they're saying? I only

12:46

gave him fourteen. Between

12:50

both of them, this fucking is seven years.

12:56

In the weeks after Alex's meeting with prosecutors,

12:59

Everett Chief was eventually given a longer

13:01

sentence. Eighteen years

13:04

on two counts of manslaughter. I'm

13:06

not sure if the extra years made anyone any

13:08

happier. Police interviewed Chief

13:11

for almost six hours in which he confirmed

13:13

through tears that he was with Wendy and Sarah

13:15

that night. He later told his

13:17

cellmate, who was a planted police officer,

13:20

that he didn't remember killing Wendy and Sarah,

13:23

and that he didn't plan it.

13:27

What's your name, buddy? Dave. Dave,

13:30

yeah. So

13:32

I'll get you checked in and

13:35

call it a day, and see you tomorrow

13:37

sometime, the afternoon or something. I

13:40

got an interview in the morning, so I gotta

13:42

spend some time with that.

13:46

I drop Alex off to get settled into

13:48

a new hotel room and then head back

13:50

to my own room for the night. Whitehorse

13:53

has been taxing emotionally and physically

13:56

for everyone. And we're just

13:58

getting started here.

14:07

A big construction site here. It looks like

14:09

a lot of new buildings.

14:13

I hope this is the right place. Hi, I have

14:15

an appointment with

14:19

Chief Bill.

14:20

Oh, we can take you

14:23

in the link room over

14:25

here. Oh, okay. Chief

14:27

Bill is the first. Oh, great.

14:29

I've arrived at my appointment with Chief Doris

14:32

Bill, who represents one of the largest

14:34

First Nations in Yukon, the Kwanlandun

14:36

First Nation. I walk into

14:39

a beautiful new building of wood and steel,

14:41

all in curves and colors of red, black

14:44

and blue. Chief Bill arrives,

14:46

coffee in hand, in a matching top and pants,

14:49

black with artful white brushstrokes, leather

14:51

pursed at her side, and glasses. Hi,

14:54

how are you? Hi, Bill. I don't shake. Oh,

14:57

okay. Thanks. I'm not a busy person,

14:59

but she has personal as well as public

15:01

reasons to prioritize talking to

15:04

me about Angel and Wendy.

15:08

When Wendy passed,

15:13

to think that both her

15:15

and Angel were murdered,

15:18

and Wendy's case is working its way through

15:20

the courts right now, and Angel's case

15:23

is outstanding. It's just such

15:25

a tragic story of

15:27

our lives as indigenous people.

15:30

It's just such a tragic,

15:33

tragic past. And

15:36

these two women, their lives

15:38

mean something. And

15:41

I think we all wanted to mean something. I

15:44

think that we want to honor them.

15:47

And that's why Wendy's portrait sits on

15:49

the

15:49

Staples building today. And

15:52

Wendy's death

15:52

hit us really hard. That's

15:55

working its way through the courts. And

15:59

we're watching this. sentencing closely. Because

16:01

there's a lot

16:04

of concern about the lenient

16:06

sentences that are going on in some of these cases.

16:11

While Angel and Wendy were from the Casca

16:14

Denna First Nation, Chief Bill

16:16

has shown interest in their cases through her

16:18

office at Kwanlandun.

16:20

I was a journalist with CBC Television

16:23

for many many years, but I actually

16:26

interviewed Angel at one time

16:28

for homelessness. She talked to

16:31

me about her dreams, what

16:33

she wanted to see in her future, and

16:35

she talked about housing, her need for

16:38

her own place. That's my

16:40

connection to her. I did

16:43

talk to her both on camera and off,

16:45

and she was such a

16:48

beautiful young woman.

16:52

Chief Bill spoke to Angel about unhoused

16:55

youth in Whitehorse in October

16:57

of 2006 at the Blue Feather Youth

16:59

Center. From all of the footage

17:01

taken of Angel that day, this

17:03

single clip is all that remains.

17:08

After work you had to like

17:10

find like somewhere to stay, or you had

17:12

to find somewhere to like take a shower

17:15

or something, wash your clothes, because

17:17

you don't like feeling grumpy.

17:22

There's a lot of rumor out there, there's a lot of

17:24

innuendos, and it

17:27

is frustrating, you know, because

17:29

somebody out there may know something,

17:31

and sometimes you know it doesn't matter

17:33

how insignificant it may

17:36

be, it may turn into

17:38

something very significant. So

17:41

you know I try to urge people to come forward.

17:43

If they don't want to come to the RCMP,

17:45

they can come to our Justice Department here

17:48

at Kwanlandan, and that's happened

17:50

in the past. When people don't feel

17:52

comfortable coming forward to the RCMP,

17:55

they come to us, and there

17:57

are several cases throughout the Yukon Islands.

18:00

including in this community that are

18:02

unresolved. And it's

18:04

slow moving for the families, and I know

18:07

some of these cases take time. And

18:10

it's been very frustrating for communities

18:12

and for the families to just,

18:16

just to watch the years tick by and

18:18

nothing comes of it.

18:23

It's difficult to determine the numbers of

18:25

missing or murdered Indigenous women and

18:27

men in Canada. Research

18:30

suggests that police use different methods

18:32

to identify cases or even who

18:34

might be Indigenous. Calls for

18:36

a national tracking system for MMIWG

18:39

cases have come out of inquiries and commissions,

18:42

but currently there is none.

18:47

What do you think it's gonna take to solve

18:49

Angel's case? What do you think will be

18:51

needed?

18:52

I've thought about that many times, and

18:54

I don't know

18:55

if we should, like, you

18:57

know, I've even thought about offering, should

19:00

we be offering the rewards. Yeah.

19:03

I don't know. Maybe that's enough

19:06

to motivate someone. I think

19:08

the more awareness we create

19:10

around this case, I think the better.

19:14

Chief Bill shifts and speaks directly

19:17

to the person or persons who must

19:19

hold the information we need about Angel's

19:21

case.

19:24

I, you know, to whoever has done

19:26

this, or if people, you

19:28

know, whoever has information, please

19:31

know there's a family behind

19:34

this person that really

19:36

needs to have this case resolved.

19:39

It's agony. It's

19:41

agony for the families that are involved.

19:52

Hi, I'm Michelle Shepherd, host

19:56

of Uncover Charmini from CBC Podcasts. In 1999, In 2009,

20:00

15-year-old Sharmini Anandavell

20:01

disappeared on her way to a job

20:04

that police believed didn't exist. Four

20:07

months later, her remains were found in a wooded ravine.

20:10

I revisit the case that has stayed with me for

20:12

over 20 years,

20:13

ever since I first covered it

20:15

as a cub crime reporter for the Toronto Star.

20:17

You can find Uncover Sharmini on

20:20

CBC Listen or on your favourite podcast

20:22

app.

20:23

The venue's set. Family's coming

20:25

in from all over. It's your quinceanera.

20:28

With all the excitement, it may be easy to

20:30

overlook COVID-19. It's still a risk.

20:32

And that's why it's important to get this season's

20:35

COVID-19 shot ahead of time. It

20:37

helps protect against COVID-19, which

20:39

can cause severe illness and hospitalization. So

20:42

let's set the date, vaccinate and

20:44

celebrate. Check eligibility and

20:46

schedule this season's COVID-19 shot on

20:48

the CBC site, vaccines.gov.

20:49

sponsored by Pfizer

20:52

and Beyond Tech. Check, check, check. Hello?

20:57

Oh, hey. Who's saying hello? Oh,

21:00

hey. Lance

21:02

said he was going to be here. I've arrived at Lance Burton's place of

21:09

greenhouse teenagers in Whitehorse and

21:11

at the time offered food, crafts, community

21:14

activities and other services.

21:17

But this new space of Lance's now seems to be a

21:19

sort of multimedia studio and clothing store.

21:25

Lori, I know, is anxious to hear what Lance has

21:27

to say and ask some of her own questions. Hello?

21:35

Hello? Hello? Hello?

21:38

Hello? Hello? Hello?

21:41

Hello? Hello? Hello?

21:44

Hello? Hello?

21:47

Hello?

21:48

Hello? Sorry, I'm a bit late.

21:50

There you are. How are

21:52

you? Good to go, all right? I'm David.

21:54

Nice to meet you. Hi,

22:00

this is Laurie Strand. I'm

22:02

all following the old granddaughter. Oh

22:04

my gosh, yes.

22:06

Lance looks like he just stepped out of 1960's San

22:08

Francisco. Leather

22:11

brimmed hat with an appearance of laid-back

22:14

quietude. The upstairs,

22:16

like the downstairs of this building, is empty

22:18

of people, but it is filled with

22:20

new sound studios and film equipment.

22:25

My name's Lance Burton. I'm from Whitehorse,

22:27

Yukon. I arrived in Yukon

22:29

when I was about seven years old. So, 73,

22:33

I'm not very good at math, but I'm almost

22:36

here 50 years old. Lance

22:39

used to run the center with Vicki Durant,

22:41

but now the two have gone their separate ways.

22:44

I have yet to speak to Vicki, but will

22:47

be doing so soon, I hope.

22:51

Downstairs and upstairs, yes. Upstairs

22:54

we do training for video

22:56

and podcasting, like you're doing. So

22:59

we've got three recording studios here. So

23:02

we kind of work with all that kind of stuff.

23:05

While I want to get a sense of what Lance

23:07

does do here, I'm most interested

23:09

in what he remembers about Angel. Well,

23:12

she was our resident cook, so

23:14

she cooked there, and she also joined

23:16

in on some other programs, mainly

23:19

our mural programs. That's

23:21

how we were introduced to Angel. She

23:23

was cooking, and we had people coming

23:25

over for our dinner program. She

23:28

was great to socialize with the

23:30

people she was serving food for.

23:35

When you saw Angel last, was it

23:37

before, like just before her graduation, like

23:39

her last shift, would you have seen her? And

23:42

did she say, like, I'll see you on, like,

23:45

whatever day that you're coming out? I couldn't recall,

23:47

but I know that she was pretty consistent

23:49

at work. So I

23:51

would say that I would have seen her. And

23:55

if the weekend was happening, you know, I

23:57

don't really pay attention to what their plans

23:59

are.

23:59

are anything like that but

24:02

I you know I can only imagine during that

24:04

time it's graduation and it's a great celebration

24:07

for kids so and

24:09

after grad is a always an important

24:11

important event so

24:13

did Angel have a access to

24:16

blue feather but did she have a way to get in

24:18

and out with this year our own key which

24:20

is no okay and

24:24

I wonder how many people Angel would have met during

24:27

a regular shift and were they all

24:29

locals I'd like to speak to someone

24:31

closer to Angel's age at the time a colleague

24:33

or friend from the center so

24:36

we ask Lance if anyone comes to mind Brittany

24:39

your cousin

24:43

she was at the youth

24:45

center back then too

24:47

during that time and

24:49

I

24:52

forget I'm just give me a second yeah

24:55

yeah so we've something we got to figure she knew Angel

24:58

very well your cousin

25:10

my name is Brittany Johnson

25:14

from Champaign I

25:16

knew Angel I spent

25:18

a lot of time with her at Blue Feather Youth

25:21

Center and use of

25:23

today's society well

25:27

we did art painting we did

25:29

a lot of cooking and taking

25:32

care of our fellow youth

25:35

calm quiet she

25:38

always

25:39

had a hug and a smile

25:44

what do you remember about the last

25:46

time you saw Angel

25:49

Vicki's got pictures of it somewhere

25:51

we were in her office at

25:54

the youth center and

25:58

we were upstairs in the office like we're

26:00

not allowed to be but we're special so.

26:07

My understanding is that Vicki, who

26:09

was one of Angel's supervisors at the center,

26:11

was a major advocate of Angel's while

26:13

she was alive and also someone

26:16

who pushed for justice for her after her

26:18

murder. But tracking Vicki

26:20

down has been difficult. With

26:22

Lori's help I have left messages around

26:24

town for her and wait for her to call

26:26

back. There's

26:29

a bunch of youth that were, you know, displaced

26:31

with intergenerational trauma

26:33

and not knowing that then. And

26:36

having Vicki there and her support to

26:39

help us youth.

26:43

I couldn't go to Blue Feather Youth Center anymore

26:46

after.

26:48

Yeah.

26:50

Where did people go after?

26:54

There wasn't really anywhere to go. We

26:56

just kind of went to the streets.

27:00

I wonder if on the streets, Brittany

27:03

remembers how Angel got around.

27:06

Did you ever see her on a bicycle? I did. Okay.

27:09

All

27:09

the time. The only thing I remember about it is that it

27:11

was

27:11

bigger than what she

27:14

should have been riding.

27:15

Right? Like, you

27:18

know, how your toes are supposed to touch the ground or

27:20

your feet flatly. Yeah. Did

27:23

you talk to anybody who had seen her

27:26

that day as well after you saw her?

27:28

I was with numerous people that were like, I

27:30

just seen her. I just, we just hugged, you

27:32

know.

27:35

When you're a youth on the streets, you see everybody

27:38

often. Like, you see each other. There's

27:40

connections. And when you don't see each other

27:42

for a couple days or a day,

27:45

it stands out.

27:48

Did you hear anything afterwards about what might

27:50

have happened to Angel?

27:52

I do remember the day

27:54

before or the day

27:56

of like the after grad party and whatnot.

27:58

People talking about it, saying... that

28:01

they weren't sure if they wanted to go that far too because

28:04

it was kind of remote.

28:07

These parties have been mentioned to me before

28:10

including a big annual one at a place called Chadburn

28:13

Lake that I'll be looking into. Lori

28:16

asks Brittany about the common practice of hitching

28:19

rides for short distances home or back

28:21

into downtown. Was

28:23

there somebody that you guys would say avoid

28:26

this person or avoid that vehicle?

28:30

Mm-hmm.

28:30

There was a couple of vehicles that

28:33

were pretty regular. I don't know

28:35

if they were definitely

28:38

older gentlemen.

28:40

White. Older

28:43

Caucasian gentlemen. It's

28:46

the same today.

28:50

Did you ever hear anything that sounded credible

28:52

to you but what might have happened

28:54

to Angel? I

28:59

haven't heard anything

29:01

but like with most cases of missing

29:03

and murdered indigenous women usually

29:06

somebody they know and

29:09

that really you know this is

29:12

a small town.

29:15

Someone knows for sure and

29:18

I will be following up on all of the local

29:21

tips I receive. I

29:23

know this is really really hard. Thank

29:25

you for coming. I appreciate you. You're

29:29

welcome. Thank you very much. You're

29:31

welcome. It's amazing.

29:33

I love you so much. You're

29:36

welcome.

29:43

The next day Lori and I make a quick stop

29:45

by Krista Dawson's house, Alex's

29:47

girlfriend. I've been driving around

29:50

Whitehorse with Lori getting to know the community

29:52

and talking to anyone who is willing and

29:55

I found that most people are. There

29:57

is a deep love for Angel and her

29:59

family.

29:59

here. Are

30:05

you alright?

30:14

Yeah.

30:17

It's a recording thing. It just records

30:19

audio. It's like a tape recorder. Tape

30:24

recorder, yeah.

30:28

Working on the case of Angel Carlech.

30:31

Oh yeah. Yeah. Hi, I'm Lori

30:34

Liu. I'm Evan. Nice

30:36

to meet you.

30:38

Are you documenting something?

30:42

Angel Carlech's case from 2007.

30:45

Probably just a baby back

30:48

then.

30:50

Krista's brother Phil is changing

30:52

a truck tire out on the street. He's

30:54

working very quickly with power tools

30:56

but he looks up when he hears Angel's name.

30:59

You

31:06

say Angel was a good friend of yours?

31:10

Phil says that Angel used to call

31:14

him Philly

31:20

and that he would fix her bike all the time. Oh

31:25

yeah? BMX?

31:27

Should a

31:30

BMX bike? What color

31:33

was it? Do you remember? No.

31:39

I've previously found references to a bicycle

31:42

that Angel used to own and rumors

31:44

that it had been found somewhere after she

31:46

went missing. Potentially a very

31:49

important element in her timeline.

31:52

I heard that they found her bike locked

31:54

to something. You guys recently

31:58

went downtown? Yeah.

32:00

Did she drive it back and forth

32:02

to the village in the back? Ah,

32:05

everywhere. Yeah? Is that how

32:07

she'd get around mostly? Yeah. Did

32:11

you ever see her taking a ride with anybody? No.

32:15

Thank you. Thanks a

32:17

lot, man. I know you're busy. Yes, I'm busy

32:20

now.

32:26

The openness and willingness

32:28

to share is lovely here,

32:31

but delving into and talking about

32:33

murder, especially in your

32:35

own family, takes a toll.

32:39

Shortly after this meeting with Krista's brother,

32:41

I meet with Alex, and he reveals

32:43

that he's had enough. Lori and

32:46

I offer to get him back to Good Hope Lake,

32:49

and eventually he agrees. Are

32:52

you feeling

32:54

okay? I'm tired.

32:56

You doing anything?

32:59

No. Okay.

33:04

The next morning we pick up Alex at his hotel

33:07

and set out. Good Hope Lake

33:09

is just about six hours away by

33:11

car, but we'll have northern

33:13

daylight to spare. Alex,

33:18

exhausted, sleeps almost the whole way,

33:21

and Lori and I chat about the case.

33:25

Yeah, I mean, for me, knowing

33:29

the story of what happened is a

33:32

big part of trying to

33:34

help people through it.

33:37

It would help. But

33:39

also, all these years that have gone by,

33:41

we all have really great days, really

33:44

crappy days, mediocre days, and

33:47

this person or person

33:50

that murdered her, that killed

33:52

her, whether it be by accident or

33:54

on purpose.

33:57

When they go through their days, Do

34:00

they think about her? Do they wonder what could have

34:02

happened to her life like where she would

34:05

have been? Or let's say they have an amazing

34:07

day. We all have those days where you're getting ready

34:09

to go to bed. And you're like, wow, I had a really

34:11

great day. And

34:13

she was a great person because I'm her heart

34:15

those times in the moment.

34:17

Knowing that they took all of those days away

34:20

from someone. One

34:23

person to wear my dress.

34:25

And do they feel guilty? Remember?

34:29

I think a lot of times people

34:31

do change after wearing someone. I think

34:33

their lives... If

34:35

they have a conscience. If they have

34:37

a conscience.

34:42

We've driven south into British Columbia now,

34:45

far beyond cell phone range, passing

34:47

through a patchwork of bog and fen

34:50

and the charred remains of massive historic

34:52

burns. Mountains far

34:54

in the distance signal our destination and

34:57

seem to somehow move further away

34:59

until suddenly we are upon them. Alex

35:02

warns of sheep on the road. The wild

35:04

mountain kind of sheep, but unfortunately

35:06

we don't see any. We pass

35:09

the small community where he lives nestled

35:11

at the base of an impossibly gorgeous

35:13

mountain and keep on driving. There's

35:16

one more destination before the end

35:18

of today's trip. Rainstorm

35:28

just

35:32

as we got here.

35:39

The graveyard where Angel, her mother

35:41

Wendy, and grandmother all rest

35:44

beside each other. I follow

35:46

Alex as he makes his way toward some headstones.

35:49

On the right, a heart shaped piece with a large

35:51

granite angel hugging the side marks

35:54

Angel's spot. Wendy's features

35:56

a beautiful wooden carving. All

35:59

three have weathered platters.

35:59

plastic flowers, photos, and

36:02

memorabilia laid out on the ground in front

36:04

of them.

36:09

This is your grandma? Yes. This

36:13

one over here? Yes. It's beautiful.

36:16

She's a good guy. Hi, Ben. She's a good

36:18

man. I went to residential school with my mom. This fellow with the decari?

36:21

Yes. My Uncle William's idea of his eyes. It's

36:23

beautiful. I was going to get

36:25

the same one as Angel's, but I don't know. Any

36:31

investigation you've got? I'm

36:40

happy that you were able to help out.

36:46

I want

36:52

to thank

36:53

you for coming. If I

36:55

find out stuff that's new, I'll

36:57

let you know.

37:07

We leave the graves behind and drop

37:09

Alex at home. A small cabin

37:12

with a Canadian flag used as a curtain.

37:15

He waves and walks inside. Back

37:21

up where the road enters the Yukon, Lori

37:24

and I try to gather ourselves again.

37:28

It's so sad

37:30

and angry and all

37:33

the depths of emotions in between those

37:35

things. They come in waves. I

37:38

still get angry sometimes. Or I

37:40

get uncontrollable sadness

37:44

when you think of Angel. You

37:46

have Wendy in there too because

37:48

she left not knowing.

37:52

I mean, they're together now, but still.

37:56

I just hope Wendy knows that.

38:00

Alex is still continuing the fight the best way

38:02

he knows how, and that

38:04

he does have family

38:07

around him that's supporting him.

38:09

I don't speak for the family, but

38:13

I still love Angel and Alex

38:16

wholeheartedly with every fiber and

38:19

I'll always try to be there to support him and

38:21

love him the best way. I know how, even if sometimes

38:24

it has to be at a distance.

38:27

Like our drive today was, it

38:28

was hard leaving him there. It

38:31

was.

38:35

There's much more investigation waiting

38:37

back in Whitehorse and I will keep in touch

38:39

with Alex about it. Laurie

38:42

and I are ready to get back and focus

38:44

once again on Angel.

38:50

I do think that the key really

38:53

is in where she was found. I think that gives the

38:56

most information so far of anything that

38:58

I've seen. Other

39:00

than what we might hear from people that saw her last

39:02

and knew who she was with last. I

39:05

think the most information

39:06

comes from her

39:08

remains being found and where they were found

39:11

and how they were found. I

39:14

think the people who were there, I think have always felt that way.

39:17

I'd like to say dropped off just because

39:19

it takes such a violent

39:21

end for me.

39:23

There was no need or reason or rhyme

39:25

for them to be out

39:26

that way. It's

39:29

just too far for a bunch of

39:31

youth to go party in

39:34

there when there used to be at

39:36

the 420 Herc at

39:38

the end of the street there or by the river

39:41

or even by that big rock thing. Even

39:43

Chadburn's a big farm and it

39:46

was a special grad thing that's where

39:48

all the Muslim kids would meet. So

39:50

that's why it's a high thing that human throw up

39:52

to move there.

39:59

Well, you'll find out more as

40:02

you go with me, but I think you'll finally

40:05

get some answers on that. I

40:12

think knowing the truth will probably be easier than letting

40:14

my mind wander.

40:22

For Lori, wandering through the details

40:24

of Angel's case has created its

40:27

own kind of obsession. For

40:29

her, a circular trail around

40:31

the same fundamental question.

40:33

What happened?

40:35

The brain gets used to the path and it's hard

40:37

to break free, but to me personal

40:40

justice and healing is as important

40:42

as solving a case. And direct

40:44

confrontation with the darkest of facts

40:47

can help break the cycle, I believe.

40:50

Going to the people and the places

40:53

and seeing. And Lori agrees

40:55

that's what we're going to do and

40:58

keep doing until we find

41:00

the answers. The

41:35

next episode of the CBC Podcasts is Aaraf Narani.

41:38

Special thanks to CBC UConn for

41:40

use of their 2016 radio interview

41:43

with Wendy Carlec. to

42:00

the CBC True Crime Premium channel

42:03

on Apple Podcasts, where you

42:05

can binge the full season ad-free.

42:08

Just click on the link in the show description.

42:11

If you're looking for another investigative series

42:13

to listen to, check out Uncover from

42:16

CBC Podcasts. Find Uncover

42:18

on the CBC Listen app or wherever you get

42:20

your place.