Crime Beat Season 7, Episode 17: Trail of Terror: Cottage Killer

Vanished

Just days away from a family Easter dinner in 2019, a young single mom and her 22-month-old daughter disappeared. Days passed, and their loved ones grew increasingly concerned, eventually contacting the police. Investigators said it appeared all footprints of life had come to a sudden end. An exhaustive search eventually led them deep into the wild and forested mountains of Kananaskis Country.

45 min

A Knock at the Door

Imagine there’s banging on your door. What you don’t realize is that the person on the other side of the door has a gun. For residents of a Vaughan condo building, just north of Toronto, it was a night that changed their lives forever in one of Canada’s worst mass shootings. Reporter Catherine McDonald covered the story back in 2022 and spoke with the only shooting victim who survived, along with her husband who fought off the gunman. She returns now to meet the first responders who helped save their lives.

45 min

Not Without Her Daughter

In October 2006, pregnant mother and schoolteacher Manjit Panghali left a yoga class in Surrey, BC, and was never seen again. Her family said her disappearance was out of character because the loving mother would never leave her young daughter. Days after she disappeared, burned remains were discovered along a container terminal causeway. Join reporter Christa Dao as she reveals how, without a smoking gun, investigators worked tirelessly to piece together enough evidence to find her killer.

45 min

Death Comes to the Door

75-year-old Teresa Santos was a bit feisty but regarded fondly by most. Originally from Portugal, she was a jokester who loved to bake for people and volunteered with the disadvantaged in her community. So during COVID, when it’s discovered that she’s been dead in her apartment for days, fellow residents are distraught. 48 hours later, that distress turns to fear when the autopsy reveals she’s been murdered in a horrifically violent way. Who would do such a thing – and more importantly – how did they gain access to her 8th floor apartment?

45 min

Rumours and Lies - The Murder of Reena Virk

In November 1997, Reena Virk was invited to a party by a group of her peers. What started out as a regular Friday night in Victoria, BC quickly took a sinister turn. The 14-year-old teen would be brutally ambushed and attacked by the group, most of them girls. Schools were abuzz with gossip that someone had been murdered but there was no body and only rumours to go on. Join reporter Christa Dao as she shares how investigators deciphered fact from fiction and revealed ruthlessness and evil in teen girls, unfathomable at the time.

45 min

Final Call: The Murder of Marie Gabriel

On March 26, 2022, Marie Gabriel’s ex-partner, Jean-Bruno Fenelon, called 911 saying he found her dead when dropping off their children. Fenelon had lots of theories as to who her killer was, but it would be a horrific forensics scene that ultimately led Ottawa police to the murderer and left Marie Gabriel’s family reflecting on some hard truths as they strive to keep her legacy alive.

45 min

Stolen: The Boogeyman Took Punky

In 1992, a six-year-old girl disappeared while playing in the backyard of her Edmonton home. Two days later, her body was found dumped in the mud of a trucking yard, nearly ten kilometers away. The brutal crime left parents paralyzed with fear and a city on edge. As Jayme Doll reports, it would take more than a decade before police finally identified her killer.

45 min

Golden Years Gone

A rural Alberta community was shocked when a beloved senior was found beaten to death in his own home. Despite exhaustive efforts by investigators, the murderer eluded arrest. Then, more than a year later, a Calgary senior disappeared. There was a note left on his table, suggesting he’d gone fishing, but a subsequent search of the home revealed a violent scene. Join Global News Senior Crime reporter Nancy Hixt as she shares how two seemingly unrelated murders intersected in Golden Years Gone.

45 min

Manhunt

In Vancouver, authorities unveil Canada’s Most Wanted Criminal—alongside 24 of the country’s most dangerous fugitives. With record-breaking rewards offered for information leading to arrests, international manhunts heat up. From elite fugitive squads to Interpol and the U.S. Marshals, global forces converge in a relentless pursuit of justice. This episode dives into some of the most unexpected takedowns of individuals once named Canada’s Most Wanted

45 min

Finding Nicole Morin

On July 30, 1985, a then eight-year-old Nicole Morin reportedly left her top-floor apartment on The West Mall in Etobicoke to meet a friend for a swim. She was never seen again. Nicole’s disappearance marked one of the largest and most extensive searches in Toronto police’s history. Now, police are offering a new $50,000 reward for anyone with information about her disappearance.

45 min

Road of No Return

In July 2010, a retired couple embarked on a road trip in their RV from Alberta to British Columbia. When Lyle and Marie McCann didn’t arrive to meet up with family at a set date and time, their loved ones were frantic to find them. Two days after they set out, their charred motorhome was discovered. But their remains were never located. As Jayme Doll reports, the mysterious and complex case is full of many legal twists and turns.

45 min

Four Little Words

Jermaine Titus was a rising chef and devoted father to a 4-year-old son; hard-working and much-loved, having no reason to be killed. But one Wednesday morning as he was on his way to get a haircut, a bullet pierced his car window and then his head. The 32-year-old died on scene, leaving behind a family traumatized that such violence had entered their lives. Even worse, the resulting investigation revealed that he’d still be alive were it not for an exchange of text messages between two people he didn’t even know.

45 min

Bringing Them Home (1)

Four First Nations women disappeared in 2022. The evidence pointed to a serial killer, and to the city's landfills. One by one, the families of Rebecca Contois, Morgan Harris, and Marcedes Myran received the devastating news, while a fourth victim remained unidentified and the location of her remains unknown. When there are so many layers of pain, what does justice look like? And what were the systemic failures that enabled this predator to keep killing?

45 min

Bringing Them Home (2)

The families of Rebecca Contois, Marcedes Myran, Morgan Harris, and 'Buffalo Woman' were devastated to get the news that evidence pointed to a serial killer in the disappearances of their loved ones. But that was only the beginning in their years-long quest for justice, as questions swirled about a fourth unidentified woman who became known as Buffalo Woman and the killer’s modus operandi was hauntingly similar to that of another predator targeting Indigenous women a decade prior.

45 min

The Night Shift

Two men arrive at a local sandwich shop and find the store clerk lying in a pool of blood. They called for help, but despite their best efforts, the young woman died at the scene. That’s when officers noted the cash register was missing. As detectives followed a trail of evidence, they learned someone else had been savagely attacked and robbed just hours earlier. Join Global News Senior Crime reporter Nancy Hixt as she shares how the two cases intersected providing further evidence as police searched for a killer.

45 min

Gone in Town

When Reita Jordan vanished without a trace in March 2013, she wasn’t immediately reported missing. Her long-time boyfriend told detectives she’d likely left on her own because most of her clothing was gone. But why couldn’t anyone get in touch with her? After two months of investigating, Halifax police would finally start to piece together the grisly details of what happened to Reita – and their quest for justice would turn into a precedent-setting legal case that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

45 min

Trail of Terror: Camp Hell

At twenty-one, Lenore Rattray moved to Vancouver for a fresh start, working at a local photo studio while chasing her dream of journalism school. But she had no idea a fugitive from Ontario was lurking in the shadows. On July 3rd, 1992, a routine shift became a living nightmare. Abducted, assaulted, and held captive in the woods for days, Lenore’s fight for survival began. But she wasn't the only one in his crosshairs. Tonight, the harrowing story of a predator on the run—and the trail of horrific crimes he left in his wake.

46 min

Last Call

After a night out on the town, a young woman vanished. Her loved ones held out hope that the aspiring nurse would be found safe, but after months of searching, their worst fears came true. Join Global News Senior Crime Reporter Nancy Hixt as she shares the shocking details of this murder mystery.

46 min

Please Don't Leave Me

What was meant to be a joyful night celebrating her 32nd birthday turned into tragedy when Mohanie Henry Khan’s husband, Peter Khan, was shot. Despite desperately trying to stop the bleeding, she couldn’t save him. Now, for the first time, she sits down with reporter Catherine McDonald to share the full story—revealing what happened that fateful night, why Peter wasn’t the only victim, and how investigators ultimately tracked down his killer.

46 min

A Stolen Life

In the early morning hours a dashcam captures the theft of a vehicle out of a quiet driveway. Hours later a 16 year old boy is pronounced dead at hospital. Homicide investigators discover the two crimes are linked and they lead to the only woman on Canada’s Most Wanted List - Catherine Bergeron-Pinzarrone. She was part of a large international car theft ring that police were working to take down.

46 min

She's Still Gone

In the summer, Michelle Charette goes missing; when she's found dead in a remote area, police have little to go on; they think they know who did it but can't prove it; the suspected killer may be responsible for the deaths of three other women.

46 min

The Incel Murder

In February 2020, Oguzhan Sert, armed with a sword, traveled to a Toronto massage parlour. Within moments, 24-year-old Crown Spa receptionist Ashley Noelle Arzaga was dead. But this wasn’t just a horrific murder. In a groundbreaking move, the killing was deemed an act of terror, marking the first time in Canada that 'incel' ideology was prosecuted as terrorism.

46 min

Behind Closed Doors

On July 12th, 2005, a Ford Explorer was found abandoned in a northeast Edmonton parking lot. The driver's door was ajar, and some personal belongings were strewn outside. The vehicle belonged to Liana White, a 29-year-old married woman expecting her second child. Liana failed to show up for work that morning, and the police were instantly suspicious about her sudden disappearance. But as her husband, the authorities, and the public began a desperate search for her, detectives didn't realize the answers they were looking for were hiding in plain sight.

46 min

A Part of Me Died

It was a horrific attack that took place by Montreal's McGill University campus, right in the middle of the afternoon. One October day in 2021, 24-year-old singer and actor Romane Bonnier was followed home from work and brutally stabbed, as horrified witnesses looked on. The murder was captured on video by area surveillance cameras. But justice wouldn't necessarily come easily for her family, including Romane’s identical twin sister. Reporter Dan Spector shares their story.

46 min

A Fatal Decision

46 min