The 2018 Thai cave rescue quickly became an international spectacle that captured the attention of people all around the world.

Twelve boys and their soccer coach were exploring the Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai when the cave suddenly flooded, trapping the team. Monsoon season came early that year, and the cave became blocked by heavy rainwater.

On this episode of What happened to…? Erica Vella revisits the incredible Thai Cave rescue mission. She speaks with diver Rick Stanton about the life-saving dive and how a team of people was able to successfully rescue the Wild Boar soccer team from the Tham Luang cave.

Find out more at https://globalnews.ca/news/9733852/what-happened-to-thai-cave-rescue-part-2/

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The 2018 Thai cave rescue quickly became an international spectacle that captured the attention of people all around the world.

Twelve boys and their soccer coach were exploring the Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai when the cave suddenly flooded, trapping the team. Monsoon season came early that year, and the cave became blocked by heavy rainwater.

On this episode of What happened to…? Erica Vella revisits the incredible Thai Cave rescue mission. She speaks with diver Rick Stanton about the wins, the challenges and ultimately, how it was pulled off. She also speaks to water management expert Thanet Natisri to find out how the cave was made safe enough for divers to enter.

Find out more at https://globalnews.ca/news/9733417/what-happened-to-thai-cave-rescue-part-1/

Contact:

Email: [email protected]

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There are stories…..that grab the world’s attention…

But what happens when the cameras turn off and new stories take over the headlines?

On this season of Global News “What Happened to”, Erica Vella brings you some of the most gripping stories from the past and talks to the people at the heart of them to find out what's happened since.

Starting Sept 14 we'll share stories on The Thai Cave Rescue, The Downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, The 2011 Vancouver Riots, TikTok, Google Glass, and The Toronto Bathhouse Raids.

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In this season wrap we give you a sneak peek at the complete season on Global News What Happened To…? as journalist Erica Vella brought you incredible stories and spoke to the people at the heart of each one to find out what’s happened since the news cycle turned and the cameras walked away.

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Email: [email protected]

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Brook Schryer recalled his first interaction with zebra mussels in the early 1990s. He was living with his family on Lake Scugog in Ontario and one fall, Schryer and his brothers pulled the family boat out of the water and noticed that it was double its normal weight. This was because of the sheer number of tiny mollusks that clung to the bottom of the boat.

The brothers scraped the mussels off the boat but at just five years old, Brook didn’t understand just how big of a problem the pesky mollusks would become.

Zebra mussels are native to the Black and Caspian seas region in southeastern Europe and in the 1980s they established themselves in the Great Lakes through ballast water from ships.

According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, as of 2020, the mussels have been found in Lake St. Clair, the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River, the Mississippi River watershed and most recently in Lake Winnipeg, the Red River and the Nelson River.

Zebra mussels have created huge changes in the ecosystems they have established in; they have also caused significant economic impacts. In the 1990s and early 2000s, attempts were made to prevent other invasive species from causing the same havoc.

On this episode of What happened to…? Erica Vella speaks with experts about the damage caused by zebra mussels and finds out what has been done to stop the spread of the invasive species and how can we prevent it from happening again.

Contact:

Email: [email protected]

Resource for reporting invasive species in North America www.EDDMapS.org

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Fifty years ago, Kim Phuc Phan Thi's life seemed simple; she lived with her family in the village of Trảng Bàng in Vietnam. The country was in the middle of a war, but as a nine-year-old child, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Everything changed in June 1972 when several napalm bombs fell on her once peaceful village. Suddenly there was fire everywhere around her and her clothes burned off. In excruciating pain, Phuc ran down the main highway in her village and at that time, Associated Press photographer Nick Ut snapped a picture and the rest is history. On this episode Erica Vella takes a closer look at the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo, The Terror of War, which is commonly referred to as 'Napalm Girl'. She speaks with Kim Phuc, the young girl in the photo and learns about her miraculous survival.

Contact:

Email: [email protected]

Kim Foundation http://www.kimfoundation.com/

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In a nearly three-hour-long interview between Det. Rob Thomas and the man accused of driving a rental van on a busy Toronto sidewalk we got insight on the driver's frustrations with women and his inability to attract a partner.

"I would say that sometimes I am a bit upset that they choose to date obnoxious men instead of gentlemen," he said in the interview.

He then speaks about 4Chan — an online anonymous image board — where he engaged in conversations with others about his anger with women and being a part of the involuntary celibate ("incel") community, an underground online community that lives primarily on the dark web.

Experts have been studying the proliferation of the incel community for several years.

Mike Halpin, an associate professor at Dalhousie University, said the term was coined in 1997, when a Canadian woman who only went by her first name, Alanna, began a support group online for people struggling to form relationships.

"It was more about the kind of frustrations and complications with wanting a romantic partner, not being able to have one. Over time, the community became more and more populated by men and also more and more by people who were upset and angry about being alone," he said. The incel community then started popping up on places like 4chan and Reddit, he explained.

Halpin has been studying the incel community for several years and this episode of What happened to... Erica Vella speaks with Mike Haplin about the complex subculture of the incel community; she also finds out if the community has grown and learns more about other incel-inspired attacks. She also speaks with experts about incidents of gender-based violence that continue to increase across North America. 

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Email: [email protected]

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On Apr. 23 2018, a man drove a white rental van down busy sidewalks in Toronto, killing 11 people and injuring 16 others.

The driver was arrested without injury on the day of the attack and was brought in for questioning by Toronto Police.

The almost three-hour investigative interview between the driver and Det. Rob Thomas was released publicly in September 2019. At the time, the driver of the white rental van was facing ten counts of first-degree murder and 15 counts of attempted murder.

During the interview, the suspect begins to speak about4Chan – an online anonymous image board – where he engaged in conversations with others about his frustrations with women and being a part of the Involuntary Celibate (Incels) community, an underground online community that lives primarily on the dark web.

The interview was a crucial piece in the trial of the driver that began in November 2020.

During the trial, the driver had admitted to planning and carrying out the attack, but argued he should be found not criminally responsible for his actions because of his autism spectrum disorder.

The Crown had argued that the driver is a mass killer who knew right from wrong, and happens to have autism. But the defence argued that because of autism, the driver never developed empathy, and that lack of empathy left him incapable of rational choice.

On this episode of Global News’ What happened to…?, Erica Vella revisits the Toronto Van Attack and speaks with Watkins who explains details and tactics used in the investigative interview with the driver. She also learns more about the trial and continues her conversation with survivor, Cathy Riddell.

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Cathy Riddell has lived in Toronto's Yonge and Finch neighbourhood for over six decades; it's an area where she says she’s surrounded by familiar faces, shops and restaurants.

On a warm Monday in April 2018, Riddell was eager to be outside and run errands in the sunshine.

However, her day was interrupted when a white rental van wreaked havoc in the neighbourhood she called home.

On April 23, 2018, a white rental van mounted the sidewalk at the southwest corner of the intersection of Yonge and Finch streets and travelled south for several blocks

Riddell was one of the victims who was struck by the van while walking on Yonge Street.

At 1:27 p.m., the first call was made to 911. The attack would last approximately seven minutes as witnesses watched in horror while innocent bystanders got struck by the white van.

After driving 2.2 km, the van stopped at Poyntz Avenue because a beverage splattered across the windshield, making it difficult for the driver to see. The driver got out of the van.

The tragedy left the Toronto community heartbroken and grieving for the victims who lost their lives that day.

Riddell remembered very little about what happened that day.

On this episode of Global News’ What happened to…?, Erica Vella revisits the Toronto Van Attack to speak to a victim who was heavily impacted by the attack. She also speaks with Insp. Graham Gibson about his experience as a detective on the scene, and with reporter Catherine Mcdonald, who begins to unravel the motives behind the driver’s attack.

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Email: [email protected]

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The man who killed six men and injured over a dozen others after storming a Quebec City mosque will be eligible for parole after 25 years after a Supreme Court struck down a Criminal Code provision on consecutive sentencing for multiple murderers.

The unanimous high court decision happened May 27 and declared unconstitutional a 2011 provision that would allow a judge, in the event of multiple murders, to impose a life sentence and parole ineligibility periods of 25 years to be served consecutively for each murder.

The killer pleaded guilty to six charges of first-degree murder in the January 2017 attack that took place at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City.

Aymen Derbali was at the mosque the night of the shooting and was critically injured.

He said he was disappointed in the Supreme Court ruling.

"When I read the decision of the Supreme Court, I felt a deep deception as a victim of this tragedy," he said, adding he was surprised by the decision.

"I was expecting this decision to be sincere because I followed the public consultation."

On this episode of What happened to..? Erica Vella speaks with Derbali about the decision and finds out how the Supreme Court ruling will impact other cases involving multiple murders in Canada.

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