Episode 405: On the 17th of May 1984, 48‑year‑old Beverley Anne Dyke was found brutally murdered in a wooded area near Moray Street and Saskatchewan Avenue on the edge of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her killing, a frenzied sexual assault and stabbing, left her family and the wider community fearing a predator was on the loose. For years, detectives chased dead ends and even a dramatic prison confession, but the real killer remained a mystery. It would take more than two decades, and a cold‑case DNA match, to finally reveal who murdered Beverley and why.

Sources:

May 25, 1970, page 1 - The Hamilton Spectator at Newspapers.com™
Mar 25, 1971, page 3 - The Hamilton Spectator at Newspapers.com™
Mar 25, 1971, page 10 - The Hamilton Spectator at Newspapers.com™
Aug 19, 1974, page 8 - The Hamilton Spectator at Newspapers.com™
Aug 19, 1974, page 11 - The Hamilton Spectator at Newspapers.com™
May 13, 1975, page 11 - The Hamilton Spectator at Newspapers.com™
Dec 30, 1984, page 10 - The Winnipeg Sun at Newspapers.com™
Dec 27, 1988, page 19 - Waterloo Region Record at Newspapers.com™
Dec 27, 1988, page 7 - Edmonton Journal at Newspapers.com™
May 07, 2001, page 5 - The Winnipeg Sun at Newspapers.com™
Feb 28, 2005, page 5 - The Hamilton Spectator at Newspapers.com™
Nov 19, 2005, page 4 - The Winnipeg Sun at Newspapers.com™
Nov 30, 2005, page 9 - The Winnipeg Sun at Newspapers.com™
Sep 14, 2007, page 5 - Edmonton Journal at Newspapers.com™
Feb 26, 2010, page 2 - Fort McMurray Today at Newspapers.com™
Mar 06, 2010, page 6 - Edmonton Journal at Newspapers.com™
Mar 07, 2010, page 8 - Times Colonist at Newspapers.com™
Nov 30, 2011, page 2 - Fort McMurray Today at Newspapers.com™
"Evidence of Evil" The Murder of Beverley Ann Dyke (TV Episode 2019) - Reference view - IMDb
"It was a vicious assault" | The Murder of Beverley Ann Dyke | Trace of Evil
R. v. Kociuk, 2009 MBQB 154 (CanLII)
R. v. Kociuk, 2009 MBQB 162 (CanLII)
R. v. Kociuk (R.J.), 2011 MBCA 85 (CanLII)
R. v. Kociuk, 2012 SCC 15 (CanLII), [2012] 1 SCR 529
FM010_Appellant_Robert-Joseph-Kociuk | PDF
Supreme Court of Canada | 34517
Robert Joseph Kociuk v. Her Majesty the Queen (April 12, 2012) Case # 34517
DNA Test Results In Charges | Castanet
Winnipeg Homicide | Beverly Ann Dyke
Jury finds Robert Kociuk guilty of first-degree murder in 1984 killing | Crime and Justice Canada
Mar 2010: Murder verdict returned quickly | Winnipeg Free Press

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Episode 404: In April 2015, someone began targeting some of the city’s most vulnerable residents: men living rough, sleeping outside, and often already failed by every system meant to protect them. By the time the killing stopped, three were dead: 37‑year‑old Miles Monias, 48‑year‑old Stony Stanley Bushie, and 65‑year‑old Donald Collins. Their killer was another man on the margins, a homeless drifter with a long history of violence and untreated mental illness, John Paul Ostamas.

Sources:

Media Release - April 28, 2015 - Winnipeg Police Service
R. v. Ostamas, 2016 MBQB 136 (CanLII)
R. v. Ostamas (J.P.) (2016), 329 Man.R.(2d) 203 (QB) | vLex
R v Ostamas, 2022 MBCA 68 (CanLII)
John Paul Ostamas | APTN Archives
John Paul Ostamas | Global News, Videos & Articles
Winnipeg's Duck Face Serial Killer
Winnipeg's history
Garden Hill First Nation | Wikipedia
Little Grand Rapids First Nation
Apr 27, 2015, page 16 - Calgary Herald at Newspapers.com™
Apr 29, 2015, page A5 - Telegraph-Journal at Newspapers.com™
May 2015: Death and the homeless
THE FIRST NATIONAL INDIGENOUS BROADCASTER IN THE WORLD | APTN
Winnipeg police charge man in connection with 3 murders | APTN
Man charged with 3 Winnipeg killings came from ‘good family’ in Eabametoong First Nation | APTN
May 2016: Guilty plea in killing spree
'3 monstrous murders': Homeless killer John Paul Ostamas will get no parole for 75 years | CBC News
‘Person of interest’ located by Winnipeg Police: Sources - Winnipeg
Police say suspect in Winnipeg deaths known to Ontario police
Murder charges for deaths of homeless Native men in Manitoba
Accused serial killer John Paul Ostamas sought help from Kenora pastor
Stoney Bushie's friends, family gather for Winnipeg prayer service | CBC News
Ostamas tried to burn down Winnipeg hotel, police say - Winnipeg
Thunder Bay-area man charged with murder after 2 homeless men killed in Winnipeg | CBC News
Families honour victims of alleged serial killer John Ostamas
Man charged with killing 3 men in Winnipeg | CBC News
Who is John Paul Ostamas, alleged serial killer in Winnipeg deaths? | CBC News
Homeless in Vancouver: Homeless man charged in serial killings of three Winnipeg men | Georgia Straight Vancouver’s source for arts, culture, and events
Homelessness – Social Planning Council of Winnipeg
Indigenous Peoples and Homelessness | homelesshub.ca
Homeless in Vancouver: Serial killer may be targeting Winnipeg homeless | Georgia Straight Vancouver’s source for arts, culture, and events
Latest Winnipeg street census suggests homelessness at highest point in past decade | CBC News
AMC Responds to Record Homelessness in Winnipeg | manitobachiefs.com
Understanding Indigenous Homelessness
28239_here_now_plan_report_FIN_WEB | PDF

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Episode 403: Nicholas Melady Jr. was 24 years old when he stepped onto a wooden scaffold above the stone walls of Goderich Gaol in December of 1869, about to become the central figure in Canada’s last public hanging after the brutal murders of his father, Nicholas Melady Sr. and stepmother, Ellen, in a quiet Huron County farmhouse. In this episode, we return to a world of bush farms, rough taverns, and bitter family feuds over land and inheritance, tracing a path from a whispered meeting on a bridge and talk of “just a robbery” to a blood‑soaked kitchen floor, sloppy police work, and a coroner making two young men stand barefoot in dried pools of blood.

Sources:

Double Trap by John Melady
Seaforth Doors Open | shopseaforth.ca
Audio-Tour-of-North-Street | goderich.ca
Huron Historic Gaol
‘Morbid curiosity’: When executions were public spectacles in Ontario | TVO Today
Mar 27, 1869, page 1 - The Globe and Mail at Newspapers.com™
Apr 02, 1869, page 3 - Ottawa Daily Citizen at Newspapers.com™
Dec 08, 1869, page 4 - The Critic and Record at Newspapers.com™
Dec 09, 1869, page 4 - Buffalo Courier Express at Newspapers.com™
Dec 17, 1869, page 1 - Brampton Times at Newspapers.com™
Dec 07, 1869, page 3 - Boston Evening Transcript at Newspapers.com™
Carling R. Marshall ~ Public History Blog: Semi-public? - The Hoag Hanging, Walkerton - 1868
Carling R. Marshall - Capital punishment: Huron County opinion in 1869
Nicholas Melady | Wikipedia
1869: Nicholas Melady, the last public hanging in Canada | Executed Today
Researching Canada’s ‘Last Public Hanging | Huron County Museum
The Final Days of Nicholas Melady Jr. as Witnessed by William Dickson - Champlain Society

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Episode 402: On July 31, 1987, an ordinary summer afternoon in Edmonton, Alberta, ended in catastrophe. A powerful tornado cut through the city’s southeast, killing 27 people and leaving entire neighbourhoods destroyed in minutes. In this episode, we examine the second-deadliest tornado in Canadian history through firsthand survivor accounts and direct statements from officials who faced a disaster few believed could happen in a major Canadian city. The day would later become known as “Black Friday,” a name repeated in municipal histories and anniversary coverage. On July 31 itself, it was still just another Friday afternoon.

Episode Sources:

Tornado, a report : Edmonton and Strathcona County, July 31st, 1987 : Alberta Public Safety Services
Edmonton Tornado (1987) | The Candian Encyclopedia
BELLWEATHER KENNELS CANADA - EDMONTON TORNADO 1987 by Tom Taylor
Edmonton Tornado | Wikipedia
The Edmonton Tornado | Environment Canada
Black Friday changed city, survivors | CBC News
This Was the Worst Tornado in Canada’s History | Reader’s Digest
Jul 30, 1988, page 92 - Edmonton Journal at Newspapers.com™
From the Edmonton community on Reddit
Edmonton Journal front page story of the Edmonton tornado July 31, 1987 (Black Friday)
Regina Cyclone | Wikipedia

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Episode 401: At the start of the twentieth century, Vancouver, B.C., was a fast-growing Pacific port. Most residents were white settlers of British or European descent, but Chinese and Japanese communities were already well established and growing. They lived, worked, and built businesses in neighbourhoods like Chinatown and Powell Street, playing a central role in the city’s economy while being denied political rights and social acceptance.

By 1907, economic anxiety and racial resentment had hardened into open hostility. Asian workers were blamed for falling wages and job insecurity, a message repeated by newspapers, politicians, and organized exclusionary groups. The riots that followed on September 7 were not sudden outbursts, but the result of years of public rhetoric that treated entire communities as threats. This episode examines how those ideas gave rise to violence on Vancouver’s streets.

Sources:
The 1907 Racist Riots – Union Zindabad!
The Asiatic Exclusion League Riot, 1907 — Published by BC Labour Heritage Centre
The Vancouver Anti-Asian Riots
Causes of the 1907 anti-Asian riots :
The Lessons of the Anti-Asiatic Riot
"Images" and "Issues" : the portrayal of Asians in the Vancouver Daily Province and the Vancouver Daily World, 1907 to 1908
Anti-Asian Riots of 1907 - British Columbia - An Untold History
Mayor Ken Sim
David Lam
Chinese Immigration Act
Chinese Head Tax in Canada
1907 Vancouver anti-Asian riots
Asian Labour History in British Columbia
A White Man's Province by Patricia Roy | Internet Archive
W.L. Mackenzie King’s 1907 Report on Japanese Losses in Vancouver Riots
W.L. Mackenzie King’s 1907 Report on Chinese Losses in Vancouver Riots
The History of Canada Series: Trouble on Main Street: Mackenzie King Reason Race And The 1907 Vancouver Riots

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Episode 400: In October 1894, 18-year-old Frank Westwood was shot on the doorstep of his Parkdale home. The killing shocked Toronto and sparked a frantic search for a suspect. Weeks later, a mixed-race tailor named Clara Ford walked into a Toronto police station and was quickly accused of the murder. With no weapon, no motive, and a disputed confession, her trial exposed deep racial bias and divided the city. This episode looks at Clara’s life, the investigation that targeted her, and the aftermath of the trial that captivated Canada’s largest city.

Episode Sources:
Clara at the Door with a Revolver — Carolyn Whitzman (UBC Press, 2023)
Toronto Public Library – Digitized Toronto newspapers
Newspapers.com – Historical Toronto press coverage
City of Toronto Archives
Archives of Ontario – Mercer Reformatory & judicial records
Race on Trial: Black Defendants in Ontario’s Criminal Courts, 1858–1958 — Barrington Walker
Afua Cooper – Black Canadian history resources
DEWART, HERBERT HARTLEY – Dictionary of Canadian Biography
JOHNSTON, EBENEZER FORSYTH BLACKIE – Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Death in the Queen City: Clara Ford on Trial, 1895 By Parick Brode
A blood-drinking monster? When this Toronto woman was accused of murder, the newspapers of 1894 went wild
A sensational Toronto murder from 1894 – Bill Gladstone Genealogy
Transcript: The Story of a Black Woman Accused of Murder in 1894 | Feb 15, 2023 | TVO Today
Interview: Carolyn Whitzman on the archival story behind novel Clara at the Door  – MOBA

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Episode 399: As the clock strikes midnight, not everyone welcomes the New Year with champagne and resolutions. In this episode of Dark Poutine, we explore the darker, stranger, and sometimes dangerous traditions used around the world—and across Canada—to chase away bad luck and invite prosperity. From gunfire and forgotten parades in Newfoundland, to Hogmanay superstitions, poverty-banishing rituals, icy polar bear swims, and fire-lit celebrations meant to ward off evil, these customs reveal what people have been willing to risk for a clean slate. We also venture beyond Canada, examining ancient sacrifices, ritual fights, smashed plates, burning effigies, and other unsettling ways humanity has tried to reset the calendar. It’s a look at New Year’s Eve not as a party—but as a threshold, where superstition, fear, and hope collide. 

Episode Sources:
Guns, parades and superstitions: A host of forgotten New Year's traditions in N.L. | CBC News
Out with the old, in with the new — East Coasters share their unusual past and present New Year’s Eve traditions
Newfoundland and Labrador Customs
New Year's Day in Canada: Traditions, History and Insights
New Year's levee
Top safety tips for New Year’s Eve revellers
35 Crazy New Year’s Eve Celebrations Throughout History
Bizarre New Year’s Eve Traditions From Around the World | Ripley's Believe It or Not! | Aquariums, Attractions, Museums
Decision of the Intergovernmental Committee: 6.COM 13.26
New Years in Ecuador: Yellow Panties and Effigies
The Traditional Fighting Festivals of Peru
Divers had Set the Christmas Tree Underwater of the Baikal Lake
6 traditions from around the world for marking a Jan. 1 new year | CBC Life

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Episode 398: It was supposed to be a quiet Canadian Christmas—until every butter tart in the country vanished overnight. From Nanaimo to Newfoundland, kitchens were left empty, bakers bewildered, and the RCMP at a loss. When the case turns strange, Santa Claus himself steps in, uncovering a nationwide confectionery conspiracy that leads to old grudges, familiar faces, and a suspect far closer to home than anyone expected. Dark, absurd, and very Canadian, The Great Canadian Butter Tart Heist is a holiday mystery where justice is sweet, but never simple.

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Episode 397: In April 1895, two young women, both twenty-one, from San Francisco’s Emmanuel Baptist Church vanished days apart. Blanche Lamont, a dedicated teacher-in-training, and Minnie Williams, a hardworking domestic with dreams of her own classroom, both entered the same church and never left. Their bodies were later discovered inside the building, setting off one of the most sensational murder trials in California history.

This episode explores the lives of Blanche and Minnie, the discovery of their deaths, the investigation that followed, and the arrest and trial of Canadian-born medical student William Henry Theodore Durrant, accused of killing them.

Sources:
Clara at the Door with a Revolver — Carolyn Whitzman (UBC Press, 2023)
Toronto Public Library – Digitized Toronto newspapers
Newspapers.com – Historical Toronto press coverage
City of Toronto Archives
Archives of Ontario – Mercer Reformatory & judicial records
Race on Trial: Black Defendants in Ontario’s Criminal Courts, 1858–1958 — Barrington Walker
Afua Cooper – Black Canadian history resources
1897 film of convicted killer Durrant shapes prison policy -
Theodore Durrant
Sympathy for the Devil: The Emmanuel Baptist Murders of Old San Francisco
By Virginia A. McConnell
Theo Durrant — The Origin of Monsters — Crime Library on truTV.com
True Detective Mysteries, February 1929: Internet Archive
The tale of the 'Demon of the Belfry,' San Francisco's forgotten Jack the Ripper

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Episode 396: In this episode, we learn about an enigmatic narcissistic psychopath who led the Californian cult called The Children of Thunder. Glenn Taylor Helzer, and the other leadership was comprised of his brother Justin Helzer and their follower Dawn Godman. Raised in a strict Mormon home, Taylor’s life spiralled after years of mental health trouble. By 2000, the trio had formed a cult under Taylor’s delusional leadership. That summer, they murdered Ivan and Annette Stineman, Selina Bishop (daughter of guitarist Elvin Bishop), Jennifer Villarin, and James Gamble. The crime spree and investigation shocked authorities and families, exposing how Taylor twisted faith and loyalty into violence.

Episode Sources:

Shackles, Ski Masks and a Power Saw — Murderous Glenn Helzer and Justin Helzer called their cult The Children of Thunder — Crime Library
How Not To Get Away With Murder: Glenn Helzer And The Children Of Thunder
Glen Helzer | Wikipedia
Body Parts Identified / Disparate Tragedies' Common Ground Is Death, Suspects
Grisly clues unfolding in Delta case
Blues Guitarist's Daughter Killed
Murder, Madness and Mayhem by MIke Browne
20240418175434277_Cert Pet GlenTaylorHelzer
People v. Helzer
People v. Helzer, 317 Cal. Rptr. 3d 246 | Cal., Judgment, Law, casemine.com
Justin Helzer hangs himself in prison

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