The Most Wanted Olympian from Suspicion

Ryan Wedding is led off a US Department of Justice plane, flanked by law enforcement on either side. In late 2025, his alleged crime syndicate began to fall apart after a series of blockbuster arrests: including a jeweller, a hitman and a lawyer who goes by the social media handle "Cocaine Lawyer."

The fugitive Olympian is now in custody. But how, exactly, was one of the world's most wanted men captured?

On a warm afternoon in Medellín, Colombia, a man is shot point-blank while eating lunch. The assailants flee, and a photo of the man's body - still holding a fork - is shared online. It's clear that this is a targeted killing. The victim is Jonathan Acebedo Garcia, a longtime associate of Ryan Wedding.

Reporter Calvi Leon and host Michelle Shephard visit Montreal, putting together the pieces of who Jonathan was. A family man. An alleged drug smuggler. And a confidential witness for the FBI.

Michelle Shephard travels to Mexico City, visiting the last known locations Ryan Wedding was spotted. After almost 10 years on the run, it's suspected that Wedding is operating his alleged empire from this sprawling metropolis - commanding killings and drug shipments thousands of kilometers away.

Alongside Miguel Vega, a 'fixer' with contacts inside the Sinaloa Cartel, they trace his footsteps to find out how an alleged narco kingpin could stay hidden for so long. But back in Canada, a lucky traffic stop and a bag full of cash start to break open the case against Wedding.

Calvi Leon and Michelle Shephard, the reporters behind the Most Wanted olympian podcast, pull back the curtain on how a rookie journalist's door-knock at a Caledon crime scene snowballed into a years-long investigation into Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympian accused of running an international drug empire.

This podcast is a co-production of Suspicion from the Toronto Star and Uncover from CBC. All episodes are now available to subscribers.

Listen to the whole series here, at Suspicion, at Uncover or at: https://www.thestar.com/themostwantedolympian.

Shots ring out in a neighbourhood north-west of Toronto. A father is dead and a mother and daughter are in hospital, battling for their lives. When Toronto Star reporter Calvi Leon arrives on the scene days later, witnesses tell her what really happened. What she learns starts her down a path she could never have imagined and leads to one man: former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding.

How does a small town Canadian kid, who was once called a labrador puppy by his teammates, find himself on the FBI's Most Wanted list?

This podcast is a co-production of Suspicion from the Toronto Star and Uncover from CBC. All episodes are now available to subscribers.

Former federal agent Brett Kalina is one of only a handful of law enforcement officers to come face to face with Ryan Wedding. In 2008, after years following the flow of money and drugs, Kalina arrests 'The Boss' and watches as the ex-snowboarder goes to trial.

But once behind bars, Wedding turns the tables. He makes prison work for him, using his time inside a violent Texas detention centre to allegedly make criminal connections and cartel contacts. And the next time the police come looking for him, he's already gone.

This podcast is a co-production of Suspicion from the Toronto Star and Uncover from CBC. All episodes are now available to subscribers.

Ryan Wedding was once a promising young athlete, a snowboarder who reached the Olympics. Now captured after a decade on the run, he's accused of running a deadly international drug trafficking empire. How did a small town Canadian boy allegedly become an alleged narco kingpin?

In The Most Wanted Olympian, a new podcast from CBC and the Toronto Star, host Michelle Shephard and journalist Calvi Leon trace Wedding's descent into a violent criminal underworld. From his beginnings at his family ski hill outside Thunder Bay, to Toronto and the shocking murders he's accused of ordering, to Mexico where he was believed to be protected by the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, they uncover his illicit connections and the stories behind the victims caught in the crossfire.

Featuring on-the-ground reporting and original interviews, this podcast investigates the Canadian who the FBI called a "modern day El Chapo" and asks: what will it take to bring him to justice?

In less than five years, three people would end up dead in the same house. Toronto Star investigative reporter, Amy Dempsey Raven, spent more than a decade asking what really happened inside that house.

Suspicion is pleased to bring you episode one of What Happened to the Harrisons?

Episode 1: Sudden Death

In April 2009, Bridget Harrison comes home to find her husband of 40 years dead behind a locked bathroom door. Bill had been alone in the house. Police say he died naturally. But for his family, something's not adding up.

Listen to episodes as they are released each week right at the Star, or binge all episodes of What Happened to the Harrisons? by subscribing at Apple Podcasts.

The faint hope hearing in the Mount Olive murder case has concluded, but for Toronto Star chief investigative reporter Kevin Donovan, the outcome raises questions that go beyond one courtroom. In part two, we dig into the Crown's cross-examination, the weight of the victim impact statements, and why the fight for Christopher Sheriffe is far from finished.

For years, the legal fate of Awet Asfaha and his co-accused Christopher Sheriffe seemed sealed — appeals exhausted, the book closed. But Toronto Star chief investigative reporter Kevin Donovan reveals something that happened in a Toronto courtroom recently that has cracked the case wide open again.