Latest / Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast / The Abbotsford Killer - Terry Driver

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The Abbotsford Killer - Terry Driver · Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast

0:07
Speaker 1: In the quiet, farming city of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada,
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Speaker 1: no one expected evil to come lurking in the dark,
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Speaker 1: but in the fall of nineteen ninety five, that is
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Speaker 1: exactly what happened, when two teenage girls were brutally attacked
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Speaker 1: in an act so senseless and cruel it shattered the
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Speaker 1: community sense of safety overnight. What followed was a month's
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Speaker 1: long man hunt, a chilling game of cat and mouse,
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Speaker 1: and the unraveling of one of Canada's most disturbing true
0:39
Speaker 1: crime cases. This is the story of the Abbotsford Killer.
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Speaker 2: My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked
0:50
Speaker 2: and Grim, a.
0:50
Speaker 1: True crime podcast.
0:53
Speaker 3: The following material in mature Listener, What.
1:20
Speaker 1: Did you say on a scale of one.
1:21
Speaker 2: To ten, I was like a three, three to five
1:24
Speaker 2: for how how much you still sound sick?
1:26
Speaker 1: How much I still sound sick? It is a bit notous,
1:30
Speaker 1: a little nasily kind of Is that?
1:33
Speaker 2: Maybe that's what it is?
1:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, Well I had a pretty bad cold hit
1:36
Speaker 1: me a few days ago and we had to skip
1:38
Speaker 1: last week's episode. Did But I'm here. I'm mostly better.
1:44
Speaker 1: I'm better than I sound, I think and we're going
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Speaker 1: to get this cool case going well.
1:49
Speaker 2: And thankfully I because I looked at what our last
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Speaker 2: case was and it was a part two. So thank
1:53
Speaker 2: goodness this didn't happen in between a part one and
1:56
Speaker 2: a part two.
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Speaker 1: People would have I would have been the subject of
2:00
Speaker 1: our next case. I would have been yeah, in hot water.
2:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I guess if it's good time to get sick,
2:07
Speaker 2: that was good timing.
2:09
Speaker 1: Hey, silver lining, right, yeah, fair enough. So today's case
2:13
Speaker 1: is actually one requested over on Patreon that's requested by Randall.
2:17
Speaker 1: So shout out to Randall forgiving us this cool case.
2:20
Speaker 1: I don't mean cool case.
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Speaker 2: That's the second time I said that, but you know
2:23
Speaker 2: what I mean is case recommendation. There we go gonna
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Speaker 2: pique our interests.
2:28
Speaker 1: You're on it today, you're on fire. But do you
2:30
Speaker 1: know what else? There's people who are on fire out
2:33
Speaker 1: there who signed up on our Patreon. Did you know
2:36
Speaker 1: that those people out there who signed up, Yeah, they're wicked. Yeah,
2:40
Speaker 1: they're wicked. They're on fire. They're amazing. And their names
2:43
Speaker 1: are j Megan Kristin, Morals, Richard Court Whitney, Melissa Kellogg,
2:49
Speaker 1: and Katie Venturo. They're all on fire because they're amazing
2:52
Speaker 1: and support us and join Patreon.
2:55
Speaker 2: Yeah that's awesome, Thank you guys.
2:57
Speaker 1: I feel like that was a very forced It's very formal.
3:00
Speaker 2: It was yeah, okay, we did not rehearse that, though
3:03
Speaker 2: it maybe sounded like we did, or it was just
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Speaker 2: awkward as shit. I don't know one or the other.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, oh well, I tried my best.
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Speaker 2: Man.
3:09
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna blame it on being sick. Still.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we're both just over here not feeling
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Speaker 2: one hundred percent, so bear with us. But we're back
3:17
Speaker 2: and it's gonna be good.
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Speaker 1: We're not feeling one hundred percent, but we're giving it
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Speaker 1: our hundred percent. That's all that matters, right, is that
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Speaker 1: you try.
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Speaker 2: Yes, yes, just.
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Speaker 1: Don't try too hard because no one likes to try hard,
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Speaker 1: But just try gosh song.
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Speaker 2: As you try your hardest, you can't be upset with yourself.
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Speaker 2: I feel like I don't think you need to.
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Speaker 1: Try your hardest. I just think you need to try
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Speaker 1: your best. There you go, because there's a difference. Sometimes
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Speaker 1: the hardest is not what's needed. You just need to
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Speaker 1: try your best, you know. Yeah, trying too hard can
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Speaker 1: hurt you or someone else, But trying your best means
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Speaker 1: you have the good intentions at hand.
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Speaker 2: God the moral lesson today it is getting sappy. I
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Speaker 2: don't even know what to say.
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Speaker 1: I'm just like, okay, how about we say let's just
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Speaker 1: get on with today's episode. How's that.
4:01
Speaker 2: I think that's a good plan. Let's do it.
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Speaker 1: Okay. It was on the night of Friday, October thirteenth,
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Speaker 1: nineteen ninety five when something would happen in the Canadian
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Speaker 1: town of Abbotsford, British Columbia, something that would set into
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Speaker 1: motion a very large cat and most game between investigators
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Speaker 1: and a madman.
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Speaker 2: Of course, it was a Friday the thirteenth. That's how
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Speaker 2: every true crime podcast should start.
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Speaker 1: Not only that, but it's of course in October as well.
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Speaker 1: So it's an October Friday the thirteenth.
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Speaker 2: Okay.
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Speaker 1: So it all started with two teenage girls, sixteen year
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Speaker 1: old Tanya Smith and her close friend Misty Cockrel, who
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Speaker 1: were walking through their neighborhood after a small house party. Now,
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Speaker 1: without warning, a man burst out from behind some hedges
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Speaker 1: armed with a baseball bat, and in an instant, the
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Speaker 1: girls were ambushed. The attacker with a weapon in hand,
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Speaker 1: forced Tanya and Misty off the road and into a dark,
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Speaker 1: bushy area. Now, as panic set in, the man then
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Speaker 1: ordered them to remove their clothes. Now it was two
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Speaker 1: against one. Though yes, he was wielding a baseball bat
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Speaker 1: to you know, show he meant business. But in the terror,
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Speaker 1: as Tanya complied and began unbuttoning her shirt, Misty stopped.
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Speaker 1: She refused to go Quietly. She thought to herself, He's
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Speaker 1: gonna kill us, whether we listened to him or not, so,
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Speaker 1: you know what, I might as well fight back. So
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Speaker 1: she did, even managing to actually grab the bat and
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Speaker 1: strike the assailant a little bit in this battle, we'll
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Speaker 1: call it in a desperate bid. Now, however, the attacker did,
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Speaker 1: you know, manage to get that bat back. He was
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Speaker 1: much stronger. He overpowered Misty and savagely beat her with
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Speaker 1: that bat, striking her head repeatedly over and over until
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Speaker 1: she blacked out.
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Speaker 2: Wow, okay, this is savage he Now.
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Speaker 1: With Misty beaten unconscious, the attacker left her for dead
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Speaker 1: and turned his attention to Tanya. Alone and defenseless, she
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Speaker 1: suffered unspeakable violence at this man's hand. Now, incredibly speaking,
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Speaker 1: Misty eventually regained consciousness after this attack, but also after
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Speaker 1: the attacker had already fled. Now it was sometime in
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Speaker 1: the early hour of October fourteenth. As she slowly opened
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Speaker 1: her eyes, she was dazed and seriously hurt, but she
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Speaker 1: managed to get to her feet and stumble out of
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Speaker 1: the bushes and make her way to a nearby building,
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Speaker 1: which was Abbotsford Hospital. Severely wounded with multiple skull fractures,
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Speaker 1: this sixteen year old was rushed into emergency surgery, clinging
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Speaker 1: to her life. Now, police, of course, soon arrived on
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Speaker 1: the scene as hospital staff had called and reported the
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Speaker 1: injured girl who had just stumbled through their doors. Now,
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Speaker 1: Misty was very incoherent and drifting in and out of consciousness,
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Speaker 1: but from her fragmented statements, police began to grasp the
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Speaker 1: horrors of what had actually just happened. She mumbled about
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Speaker 1: a man, a man with a bat, and how she
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Speaker 1: thought she was going to die now. Most chillingly, throughout
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Speaker 1: all this, Misty repeatedly begged for her friend, saying where's Tanya,
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Speaker 1: Where's Tanya? Over and over. Police immediately launched a search
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Speaker 1: to locate Tanya Smith. Officers combed around the area of
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Speaker 1: the attack site that they thought this took place on
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Speaker 1: foot and with dogs looking for any trace of the
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Speaker 1: missing girl, and unfortunately they found disturbingly little, no obvious
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Speaker 1: blood trail or weapon left behind. There was just nothing.
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Speaker 1: It seemed the attacker had taken Tanya with him, and
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Speaker 1: as dawn broke the desperate search extended beyond Abbotsford as
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Speaker 1: they knew they knew it was possible she may have
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Speaker 1: been taken out of the city.
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Speaker 2: That's pretty incredible of Misty that she is in this
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Speaker 2: kind of shape and still you know, so concerned about
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Speaker 2: her friend and like hoping she's safe and able to
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Speaker 2: give the police, I guess everything she has in order
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Speaker 2: to you know, hopefully find her friend.
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Speaker 1: For sure, the idea that she was, yeah, like most
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Speaker 1: in first and foremost like concerned for her friend's safety
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Speaker 1: in that state of mind more or less is incredible.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really good.
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Speaker 1: So that is a big thing going through this is
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Speaker 1: regardless of the situation she's in, she's willing to help
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Speaker 1: the police do the best of her her ability. So
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Speaker 1: major props to her for all of that. Now. Meanwhile,
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Speaker 1: later that morning, about twenty kilometers away, a fisherman made
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Speaker 1: a grim discovery on the banks of the Vetter River
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Speaker 1: near chilliwac he spotted clothing tangled in bushes along a
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Speaker 1: river path. The site of bloody clothes hanging in a tree, well,
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Speaker 1: it was enough for him to call police there on
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Speaker 1: the spot, and when investigators arrived, they followed the trail
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Speaker 1: of strung up clothes almost like kinda they were put
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Speaker 1: there on purpose, like.
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Speaker 2: A trail of sorts, yeah.
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Speaker 1: Like breadcrumbs leading someone somewhere. And as they followed these
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Speaker 1: clothes strung up in trees, sure enough they found a
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Speaker 1: body laying in the shallow waters of the cold river.
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Speaker 1: Immediately before they even know identified the remains, they had
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Speaker 1: an idea of who they had just found, as reports
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Speaker 1: of the missing girl had already circulated. They called the
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Speaker 1: Abbotsford Police for a photo of Tanya, and with that
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Speaker 1: it didn't take long to confirm the worst The victim was,
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Speaker 1: in fact Tanya Smith damn Hey, the bright and bubbly
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Speaker 1: sixteen year old who had simply been walking to a
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Speaker 1: party with her friend was now dead. Tanya was found
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Speaker 1: nude when she was pulled from the river. It appeared
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Speaker 1: the killer had attempted to destroy evidence by washing her
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Speaker 1: in the waters, and her autopsy later revealed that Tanya
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Speaker 1: had suffered severe blunt force trauma. She'd clearly been beaten
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Speaker 1: vicious with a blunt object, consistent with Misty's account of
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Speaker 1: a baseball bat being used. Now in fact, the beating
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Speaker 1: alone it was likely fatal. But tragically, Tanya was still
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Speaker 1: alive when she was dragged into the water. Her ultimate
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Speaker 1: cause of death was drowning.
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Speaker 2: Oh seriously, yeah, Oh my goodness. Okay, So okay, both
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Speaker 2: these girls I feel like, are just tough as shit
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Speaker 2: really for enduring everything that they went through and like
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Speaker 2: her ultimately was drowning.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. So they're pretty strong both for sure. So
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Speaker 1: for the investigators and the community, Tanya's murder was very
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Speaker 1: hard to digest. Abbotsford had never seen such a brutal crime,
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Speaker 1: and people were horrified that a violent predator capable of
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Speaker 1: this was on the loose. Police vowed to catch the
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Speaker 1: killer quickly, but they had very few leads to work with.
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Speaker 1: In fact, Misty Cockrell, the sole survivor and witness to
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Speaker 1: the case, couldn't even help investigators because she had now
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Speaker 1: slipped into a coma following some brain surgery which left
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Speaker 1: her unable to assist. All authorities really knew was that
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Speaker 1: this perpetrator was extremely dangerous, that he might strike again
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Speaker 1: if not caught, and he was still on the loose.
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Speaker 1: So everyone got to work and forensic specialists began analyzing
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Speaker 1: the evidence available from Tanya's autopsy. They collected a vaginal
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Speaker 1: swab which confirmed what police suspected. Tanya had been sexually assaulted.
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Speaker 1: But this also meant that with seamen being recovered, it
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Speaker 1: gave investigators a chance to develop a DNA profile of
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Speaker 1: this attacker. However, in nineteen ninety five, DNA testing, while
11:50
Speaker 1: it took time, it was in its infancy. Really potentially
11:53
Speaker 1: weeks or even months is how long this could be
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Speaker 1: to process, and the results would be useless until a
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Speaker 1: suspect was identified for comparison. So they need DNA to
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Speaker 1: compare with this DNA basically, and if they don't have that,
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Speaker 1: all they have is, you know, an end on a trail,
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Speaker 1: nowhere to go from there.
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Speaker 2: So it helps like solidify if they catch the person.
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Speaker 1: Yes, but it doesn't help find the person. So DNA
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Speaker 1: alone wasn't going to crack this case, let alone stopping
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Speaker 1: a potential another murder. Now, another disturbing piece of evidence
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Speaker 1: emerged from this autopsy, the medical examiner discovered a bitemark
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Speaker 1: on Tanya's body, specifically on her right breast. It appeared
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Speaker 1: as though the killer had bitten her, likely during the
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Speaker 1: sexual assault, leaving a very clear impression of his teeth
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Speaker 1: in her skin.
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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that's disturbing as.
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Speaker 1: Shit right now, this gruesome detail. It was immediately classified
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Speaker 1: and it was held back for you know, for evidence
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Speaker 1: that the public wouldn't see. It was crucial information that
13:04
Speaker 1: police decided to keep secret from the public. Only the
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Speaker 1: killer and the investigators knew about this bitemark, that was it.
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Speaker 1: So if anyone came forward with that knowledge, or maybe
13:14
Speaker 1: a killer brag, perhaps the police would be sure they
13:18
Speaker 1: had their right man. Meanwhile, a forensic dentist created casts
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Speaker 1: of the bitemark. The impressions showed distinctive dental features which
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Speaker 1: were chipped and crooked teeth, and even in alignment, it
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Speaker 1: was almost like a signature of a perpetrator's bite. I'm
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Speaker 1: sure we could all run our tongue along our teeth
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Speaker 1: right now and feel little imperfections that might be signatures
13:41
Speaker 1: to our teeth as well. It was very same. It's
13:43
Speaker 1: kind of like a fingerprint, you know, identifying you and
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Speaker 1: what your teeth would look like. Investigators also tried to
13:50
Speaker 1: comb the physical crime scene for clues. Now, they found
13:53
Speaker 1: a spot they believed could have been the Abbotsford attack site.
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Speaker 1: They found what seemed to be signs of struggles in
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Speaker 1: the bush where they thought the girls could have been attacked.
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Speaker 1: But there were some footprints and broken vegetation. But that
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Speaker 1: doesn't mean an attack really, because this is a public
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Speaker 1: open space. It could have been anyone who had gone
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Speaker 1: through there and left those.
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Speaker 2: Marks, even someone walking a dog right.
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Speaker 1: Exactly now, even it could be the crime scene, but
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Speaker 1: who's to say it hasn't been walked through since or
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Speaker 1: it's not even the spottle together Now over in Chiliwac,
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Speaker 1: at the location where Tanya's body had been dumped, police
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Speaker 1: discovered tire tracks near the remote river access point, as
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Speaker 1: well as a set of bootprints on the trail. Plaster
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Speaker 1: casts were made of both the tire impressions and the footprints,
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Speaker 1: just in case they ended up matching a suspects vehicle
14:42
Speaker 1: or shoes later on. At this early stage, though, there
14:45
Speaker 1: was no way of knowing if those tracks were left
14:47
Speaker 1: by the killer or again another innocent person accessing the area.
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Speaker 1: They were merely potential clues filed away for future analysis. Now,
14:57
Speaker 1: things were all over the place for this investigation. To
15:00
Speaker 1: say the least, authorities were scrambling to find any real
15:03
Speaker 1: clues to help point themselves towards the murderer. Then it
15:08
Speaker 1: was just days after the killing had happened when the
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Speaker 1: case took an unexpected and very chilling turn. The killer
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Speaker 1: began calling the police.
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Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, I was not expecting that, But just
15:22
Speaker 2: such an asshole move.
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Speaker 1: Hey, like the arrogance, yeah, oh, trust me, this guy's
15:27
Speaker 1: arrogance is uncomprehendible.
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Speaker 2: Okay, Well, I was just sitting here thinking he sure
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Speaker 2: wasn't really covering up any of his shit that he
15:37
Speaker 2: was doing. But I guess maybe he didn't really care to.
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Speaker 2: If he's freaking calling the police.
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Speaker 1: Now, well you'll soon learn what he's all about, trust me.
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Speaker 1: It started with a phone call to the Abbotsford Police
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Speaker 1: Department's non emergency line. A male caller spoke with a
15:54
Speaker 1: disturbing mix of smugness and menace in his voice. He
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Speaker 1: also claimed to have information about the murder and directed
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Speaker 1: officers to check out the area behind some trees near
16:03
Speaker 1: a walkway as if guiding them to the actual crime scene.
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Speaker 1: When the police dispatcher pressed him on how he knew
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Speaker 1: of this spot, the man confessed outright, quote, I'm the killer,
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Speaker 1: and he to prove it, added a ghastly detail, quote,
16:21
Speaker 1: her right nipple tasted pretty good.
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Speaker 2: Oh gosh, imagine having to speak to that person. Hey,
16:30
Speaker 2: no kidding, Oh, that just gives me the heavy gbs.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, this stomach turning statement, it sent a jolt
16:38
Speaker 1: through the investigators. And rightfully, so, they're on the phone
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Speaker 1: with this guy, and this caller clearly knew about the
16:43
Speaker 1: bite mark on Tani's body, something that was never released publicly,
16:47
Speaker 1: so only the investigation team and the killer would know
16:51
Speaker 1: it's there. So in that moment, they knew this was
16:54
Speaker 1: not a prank caller. They knew this was the real
16:56
Speaker 1: guy and he was calling to taunt them. So the
16:59
Speaker 1: converseation continued, and it was laced with the man's creepy bravado.
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Speaker 1: He dared the police to catch him, sneering why don't
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Speaker 1: you try and catch me if you can, and boasting
17:08
Speaker 1: that he was going to kill again. Soon police traced
17:11
Speaker 1: the call to a payphone. In fact, it was one
17:14
Speaker 1: that was outside a local Arena in Abbotsford, only a
17:17
Speaker 1: few blocks away from the police station. Patrol cars raced
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Speaker 1: the phone booth within minutes of the call, getting there
17:25
Speaker 1: as fast as they could, but the killer had already
17:29
Speaker 1: ended the call and fled from the scene.
17:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sure he did. I also just have to say, though,
17:34
Speaker 2: no one should be this confident.
17:37
Speaker 1: Just you wait, okay, just you wait, because, like I said,
17:42
Speaker 1: it is uncomprehendible the metaphorical balls on this man. So
17:50
Speaker 1: at the scene at that phone booth, forensic teams dusted
17:53
Speaker 1: for prints or any sort of evidence left behind. Right,
17:56
Speaker 1: he had clearly just been there holding the phone. But
17:59
Speaker 1: when they dust and checked, there was nothing. No usable
18:02
Speaker 1: fingerprints were recovered. But as they were dusting for those prints,
18:08
Speaker 1: as they're sitting there processing the scene at that phone booth,
18:11
Speaker 1: another call came into the police department. The voice on
18:15
Speaker 1: the other end of the phone scoffed and said, quote,
18:19
Speaker 1: do you think I'd be stupid enough to leave my
18:21
Speaker 1: fingerprints behind when I make a phone call? He knew
18:26
Speaker 1: exactly what they were doing. He was watching them and
18:30
Speaker 1: mocking them.
18:31
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that is just okay. This guy is
18:34
Speaker 2: a frickin' piece of shit.
18:37
Speaker 1: But I want to highlight this, this statement from this guy.
18:40
Speaker 1: I want to highlight it because we will be coming
18:42
Speaker 1: back to it. So I'm gonna say it one more time.
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Speaker 1: Quote do you think I'd be stupid enough to leave
18:49
Speaker 1: my fingerprints behind when I make a phone call?
18:52
Speaker 2: End?
18:52
Speaker 1: Quote? It's a very important statement. We will come back
18:56
Speaker 1: to that.
18:57
Speaker 2: Okay, well, I do think this guy is stupid as shit.
19:00
Speaker 1: Fair enough, so, the unknown man was clearly toying with
19:04
Speaker 1: the authorities, deliberately relishing in it. Even and he hung
19:07
Speaker 1: up before the second phone call could be traced. It
19:11
Speaker 1: seems the killer was steps ahead, successfully pulling off a
19:15
Speaker 1: very dangerous game of cat and mouse with the law enforcement.
19:18
Speaker 1: And over the next few weeks, more calls would come in.
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Speaker 1: Each time this killer he would now be taunting investigators
19:26
Speaker 1: just the same, with new threats and everything. In another call,
19:29
Speaker 1: he laced with cackling laughter warnings about are you having
19:33
Speaker 1: trouble finding the killer? I'm the one. I'll be driving
19:37
Speaker 1: around looking for someone else, just to let you know
19:40
Speaker 1: who I am. So he's, like I said, the proverbial
19:45
Speaker 1: balls and he's pushing hard.
19:47
Speaker 2: But here I was literally just thinking, Okay, well, this
19:50
Speaker 2: is good that he's putting his effort into this rather
19:52
Speaker 2: than hurting someone else.
19:53
Speaker 1: But well, the thing is though, taunting them that with that,
19:56
Speaker 1: he's saying he's going to hurt someone else's That's the
19:59
Speaker 1: message he said them, he intends to attack again, and
20:02
Speaker 1: he was enjoying this whole pursuit and the mocking. So
20:06
Speaker 1: Abbotsford residents learning bits from this news report and everything,
20:09
Speaker 1: they were terrified to this guy calling in and you know,
20:13
Speaker 1: treating police like this, mocking them. He was an elusive
20:16
Speaker 1: boogeyman to say he's out there seemingly at any point,
20:20
Speaker 1: and he's brazen enough to taunt them like that. It
20:22
Speaker 1: was enough to send a chill down everyone's spine. And
20:25
Speaker 1: the effect of these tauntings, the calls, all of it,
20:28
Speaker 1: it was profound on the community. The city of Abbotsford
20:32
Speaker 1: had once prided itself on being a family friendly place
20:35
Speaker 1: and safe enough to you know, have a family, little
20:38
Speaker 1: farm in the area, but now it was trapped under
20:41
Speaker 1: a state of fear. Women were afraid to go out
20:43
Speaker 1: at night, parents kept their teenagers on tight leashes, and police,
20:47
Speaker 1: for their part, had to walk a very fine line.
20:51
Speaker 1: They didn't want to incite panic, but they did need
20:54
Speaker 1: the public's help and vigilance, and they did need to
20:57
Speaker 1: warn them so that they are also safe now. After
21:00
Speaker 1: one particularly disturbing call in which the killer threatened to
21:03
Speaker 1: bite another victim, the police made the tough decision to
21:07
Speaker 1: actually release portions of the caller's audio to the media,
21:11
Speaker 1: alongside with warnings about the threat. Hearing the killer's actual
21:15
Speaker 1: voice was startling. His tone was odd and casual, almost playful,
21:20
Speaker 1: as he threatened the town with more violence. But still
21:22
Speaker 1: it was just little clips they released, And in the
21:26
Speaker 1: midst of all this terror and fearmongering, Abbotsford held a
21:30
Speaker 1: heart wrenching funeral for Tanya Smith. The community turned out
21:34
Speaker 1: in large numbers to support Tanya's family and honor the
21:37
Speaker 1: murdered girl. Undercover officers quietly attended to mingling with mourners,
21:43
Speaker 1: and investigators had a hunch the killer well, they thought
21:47
Speaker 1: he might not be able to resist showing up to
21:49
Speaker 1: revel in the aftermath of his crime. Behavior like this
21:52
Speaker 1: is not exactly unheard of with violent predators seeking to
21:55
Speaker 1: relive that excitement, so.
21:57
Speaker 2: Especially if he's making calls and stuff to.
22:00
Speaker 1: The cops right exactly, it seems like something he'd do.
22:03
Speaker 1: So video cameras were discreetly filming the crowd the entire time.
22:07
Speaker 1: Anyone who was coming to the service and leaving, they
22:10
Speaker 1: all had their face on camera, capturing every single one
22:14
Speaker 1: of them to see potentially, you know what, looking back,
22:17
Speaker 1: if the murderer was there or not seeing if he's
22:20
Speaker 1: hidden in plain sight. Now, at the time, this was
22:23
Speaker 1: merely a shot in the dark. The police still had
22:25
Speaker 1: no name or face for the culprit. It was just
22:28
Speaker 1: Misty's vague description and the taunting voice on the phone. Meanwhile,
22:33
Speaker 1: Misty did remain under close protection. Now Remarkably, after a
22:37
Speaker 1: month after the attack, on November seventeenth, nineteen ninety five,
22:41
Speaker 1: she did actually manage to wake up from her coma,
22:44
Speaker 1: and she gradually recovered enough to leave the hospital. She
22:48
Speaker 1: would survive good. Yeah, her survival was honestly nearly as
22:53
Speaker 1: miraculous as the as it was courageous to be honest,
22:57
Speaker 1: because despite the grievous injuries, she pulled through multiple brain
23:01
Speaker 1: surgeries and even actually began to heal from it all.
23:04
Speaker 1: But the moment Misty could communicate clearly, officers realized she
23:09
Speaker 1: was still in danger. The killer calling hinting you know
23:11
Speaker 1: what next time could easily mean he intended to finish
23:15
Speaker 1: the job targeting Misty. She could be the one victim
23:19
Speaker 1: who got away. She could be the one victim to
23:22
Speaker 1: get him caught.
23:23
Speaker 2: Well yeah, and also he probably when he left expected
23:26
Speaker 2: that she wouldn't have made it right.
23:28
Speaker 1: Exactly, So they're thinking she could be in serious danger. Dang.
23:32
Speaker 1: They weren't about to take any chances, and they promptly
23:35
Speaker 1: placed Misty and her family in a witness protection program, so,
23:39
Speaker 1: in the dead of night, under secrecy, Misty was relocated
23:42
Speaker 1: hundreds of kilometers away. She had to assume a low
23:46
Speaker 1: profile kind of lifestyle and could not even contact her
23:49
Speaker 1: friends back home. It was a life totally upended. Not
23:53
Speaker 1: only had she lost her best friend, but now she
23:56
Speaker 1: was essentially in hiding, haunted by the possibility that this
23:59
Speaker 1: killer might come after her. Misty herself later described it
24:04
Speaker 1: as being revictimized. Even when she was finally out of
24:08
Speaker 1: the hospital, she couldn't truly go home or resume a
24:12
Speaker 1: normal life while the killer roamed free, he still had
24:15
Speaker 1: that power over her.
24:16
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I couldn't only imagine because instead of say,
24:20
Speaker 2: going out and like distracting yourself. She really can't do
24:23
Speaker 2: any of that stuff, so she's just kind of having
24:25
Speaker 2: to sit there and have things probably relive in her
24:29
Speaker 2: mind and replay I mean and ugh.
24:31
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now Misty's recovery, it also brought a ray of
24:35
Speaker 1: hope to the investigation. Now she was the only eyewitness.
24:39
Speaker 1: She was the person there who saw his face. So
24:43
Speaker 1: as soon as she was able to, investigators gently interviewed
24:46
Speaker 1: Misty for details about that night and the man who
24:49
Speaker 1: attacked them. Despite the trauma and the head injuries, Misty
24:53
Speaker 1: was determined to help catch Tanya's killer, so peace by piece,
24:57
Speaker 1: she recalled what she could. The attacker was roughly in
25:01
Speaker 1: his late twenties or thirties, with a medium build. He
25:04
Speaker 1: had an unkempt appearance, as she remembered, scraggly, frizzy hair
25:07
Speaker 1: that might have been brownnish red, kind of possibly thinning
25:11
Speaker 1: balding on top. He wore a noticeable mustache and thin lips,
25:15
Speaker 1: and she also remembered his voice. There was something odd
25:18
Speaker 1: about the way he spoke, an unusual inntation or accent
25:23
Speaker 1: that she couldn't quite place, but she would recognize if
25:27
Speaker 1: she heard it again. With Misty's input, police artists drew
25:31
Speaker 1: up a composite sketch of the suspect, and that sketch
25:34
Speaker 1: was released publicly, with police urging anyone who might recognize
25:38
Speaker 1: the man to come forward. The description, however, it was
25:42
Speaker 1: still fairly generic, unfortunately, a white male in his twenties
25:46
Speaker 1: or thirties with a mustache that honestly fit any number
25:49
Speaker 1: of local men, and it, along with many other details,
25:53
Speaker 1: generated a lot of tips. People were calling in with
25:56
Speaker 1: all sorts of vague suspicions about neighbors or ex boyfriends,
26:00
Speaker 1: and each tip, well, it had to be checked, and
26:03
Speaker 1: the task force, now encompassing multiple police agencies in the region,
26:07
Speaker 1: worked around the clock to chase leads, no matter how thin.
26:11
Speaker 1: One of the promising leads that emerged was when two
26:14
Speaker 1: young men came forward saying they had met Tanya and
26:18
Speaker 1: Misty on the night of the attack. These teens revealed
26:23
Speaker 1: they had given the girls a ride part way home
26:26
Speaker 1: from a party that evening, dropping them off near the
26:28
Speaker 1: spot where they were actually attacked. It seems as though
26:32
Speaker 1: they had gone their separate ways just minutes before the
26:34
Speaker 1: assault had actually taken place. Investigators interviewed these young men thoroughly.
26:40
Speaker 1: After all, they were the last or among the last
26:42
Speaker 1: see Tanya and Misty before the crime, and the boys
26:45
Speaker 1: cooperated fully. They provided fingerprints, shoe impressions, and even let
26:49
Speaker 1: police examine the tire treads on their car, none of
26:53
Speaker 1: which matched the evidence from the scene. Also, their alibis
26:56
Speaker 1: checked out for the rest of the night too. They
26:59
Speaker 1: were just good Samarrits, who happened to cross paths with
27:01
Speaker 1: the girl, came forward to provide the information they had
27:05
Speaker 1: and to clear their name of suspicion. Now another tip
27:08
Speaker 1: that they had received seemed a little more ominous. Someone
27:12
Speaker 1: suggested a local trouble maker known for violence against women
27:15
Speaker 1: could potentially be responsible. This suspect had a history of
27:19
Speaker 1: assaults and was rumored to carry a baseball bat in
27:23
Speaker 1: his vehicle. He also looked very similar to the composite
27:26
Speaker 1: sketch that was released to the public. Police soon brought
27:29
Speaker 1: this man in for investigation and for interrogation, but under scrutiny,
27:34
Speaker 1: he was very adamant that he was not involved at all,
27:38
Speaker 1: and even offered his own fingerprints to end dental impressions
27:43
Speaker 1: to clear his name. He did this voluntarily, and police
27:48
Speaker 1: took him up on the offer. Forensic analysis compared the
27:51
Speaker 1: teeth cast to the bitemarks on Tanya and his voice
27:54
Speaker 1: even to the recorded calls. They had him read many
27:57
Speaker 1: scripts and things that the guy had said, trying to
27:59
Speaker 1: compare hair of things, trying to find similarities. But everything
28:03
Speaker 1: he provided, none of it was a match. The bite
28:06
Speaker 1: pattern was different, the vocal characteristics didn't line up, you
28:09
Speaker 1: name it. Nothing. Misty herself also, when seeing him in person,
28:14
Speaker 1: could not positively say if he was the attacker or not.
28:18
Speaker 1: So with no evidence tying him to the crime, that
28:21
Speaker 1: suspect too was eliminated. The investigation seemed to be right
28:24
Speaker 1: back at square one, and the frustration it was mounting.
28:29
Speaker 2: I just have to say, I think it's kind of
28:31
Speaker 2: funny sometimes the tips that come in and people are like, well,
28:34
Speaker 2: I know this guy, he's super sketchy or he's a
28:36
Speaker 2: super asshole, like he would have had you have done this,
28:39
Speaker 2: and they're just like turning in their neighbors or anyone
28:42
Speaker 2: that they think just you know, is not of right
28:45
Speaker 2: mind or whatever.
28:46
Speaker 1: But the thing is sometimes they're right.
28:49
Speaker 2: Sometimes they are yes.
28:50
Speaker 1: Right, Like an out on a limb tip could be
28:53
Speaker 1: the tip that could be the right guy, you make
28:57
Speaker 1: a statement wearing like, oh my ex boyfriend, he's crazy.
29:00
Speaker 1: He has a baseball bat in his truck and he
29:02
Speaker 1: threatened me once. Maybe you are just kind of, you know,
29:06
Speaker 1: trying to get your ex boyfriend arrested for nefarious reasons
29:10
Speaker 1: for your own self gain.
29:11
Speaker 2: But who knows, Maybe it is actually them.
29:14
Speaker 1: Maybe he's actually flipped a switch and he did do it,
29:17
Speaker 1: and your information actually provides the trail to find him.
29:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I mean it is important, but also I
29:22
Speaker 2: think it is just someone doesn't like someone, and there's
29:26
Speaker 2: sometimes under the bus.
29:27
Speaker 1: You know, you're right, definitely. Now, winter soon set in
29:31
Speaker 1: and months passed with no arrest. The taunting phone calls well,
29:35
Speaker 1: they eventually tapered off to leaving police to wonder if
29:38
Speaker 1: the killer had gone underground, or maybe worse, if he
29:41
Speaker 1: had moved on to pran victims elsewhere. But then, in
29:44
Speaker 1: February of nineteen ninety six, the Abbotsford killer made a
29:48
Speaker 1: dramatic reappearance, not with a phone call this time, but
29:52
Speaker 1: with a twisted public stunt instead. It was February seventeenth,
29:57
Speaker 1: when employees at a local radio station were radio max
30:00
Speaker 1: in abbots Ford. To be specific, arrived in the morning
30:03
Speaker 1: to a very bizarre site. There, Sitting on the hood
30:07
Speaker 1: of one of the station's brand new news vans was
30:11
Speaker 1: a gravestone. Shockingly, it was the actual headstone from Tanya
30:18
Speaker 1: Smith's grave. It had been stolen from the cemetery and
30:22
Speaker 1: placed on the hood of this vehicle.
30:24
Speaker 2: Oh wow, okay, I was hoping that it wasn't, but
30:28
Speaker 2: that is that is just beyond cruel.
30:31
Speaker 1: Well to go even further, the headstone had been defaced
30:34
Speaker 1: with black marker wow or profane graffiti and had an
30:38
Speaker 1: ominous message directed at Misty Amid. The scrawls were words
30:44
Speaker 1: like next time Misty or as some reports stated, one
30:49
Speaker 1: day Misty. There's a couple conflicting reports, but either way,
30:53
Speaker 1: they was saying she's.
30:54
Speaker 2: Next hey, this guy, because I bet you at this point,
30:58
Speaker 2: like Misty was starting to almost get confidence back, potentially potentially,
31:02
Speaker 2: and then this guy has to just go and do
31:04
Speaker 2: something like this, Are you freaking kidding me?
31:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a salt in the wound or a twist
31:08
Speaker 1: of the knife. Right.
31:09
Speaker 2: Well, then he already like murdered Tanya and he's just
31:12
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, okay, that is just not okay.
31:15
Speaker 1: I know I know, defacing her grave like that, let alone, Like,
31:18
Speaker 1: how do you think her family felt? Well, yeah, they
31:21
Speaker 1: finally have their daughter at rest and they're trying to
31:23
Speaker 1: make peace with the situation and then her grave gets defaced. Yeah, Like,
31:27
Speaker 1: how low does this guy go? He is a piece
31:30
Speaker 1: of shit.
31:31
Speaker 2: Just complete scum.
31:33
Speaker 1: Now. There was also an arrow drawn on the engraved
31:36
Speaker 1: photo of Tanya, pointing to the exact spot where the
31:40
Speaker 1: bite mark was.
31:41
Speaker 2: Seriously, okay, this is getting to be too much.
31:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, I basically pissed. It's almost like he's kind of
31:49
Speaker 1: trying to flex his handiwork if you will.
31:52
Speaker 2: This guy is just whole I could. Okay, So people
31:56
Speaker 2: like this, it's just they should not exist.
32:00
Speaker 1: Right. So in this exact instance, once again they knew
32:04
Speaker 1: they weren't dealing with a prank or a copycat of
32:08
Speaker 1: any sort. This was the guy who actually committed it,
32:11
Speaker 1: because again that detail was not public knowledge. Now, this
32:14
Speaker 1: radio station incident sent waves of renewed terror through Abbotsford.
32:19
Speaker 1: The killer had escalated his psychological warfare, essentially desecrating Tanya's
32:24
Speaker 1: memory to specifically torment Misty and the entire community. Police
32:29
Speaker 1: wisked Misty's family to yet another secret location after this,
32:33
Speaker 1: knowing that the killer was in fact actively fixated on her.
32:37
Speaker 1: Then just two days later, a mysterious delivery appeared. It
32:42
Speaker 1: was a heavy wrench wrapped in paper and tape and
32:46
Speaker 1: hurled through the window of a random Abbotsford home in
32:49
Speaker 1: the middle of the night. The homeowners were jolted awake
32:53
Speaker 1: by the sound of shattering glass and they found the
32:55
Speaker 1: wrench on their living room floor with the note taped
32:57
Speaker 1: around it. Now the note was a deep page letter
33:00
Speaker 1: from the killer. In it, he claimed credit for a
33:03
Speaker 1: string of other assaults in the area over the past year.
33:05
Speaker 1: As well, he described three earlier attacks on females, incidents
33:10
Speaker 1: that indeed had occurred, but until then were unsolved and
33:13
Speaker 1: not really publicly linked to anyone or each other. By
33:17
Speaker 1: detailing these crimes, the writer was clearly attempting to get
33:20
Speaker 1: acknowledgment for more of his work and to further you know,
33:25
Speaker 1: his intimidation on the community. The letter also contained yet
33:30
Speaker 1: more threats against Misty's life too. It was the ravings
33:33
Speaker 1: of a deeply disturbed individual who clearly enjoyed the power
33:36
Speaker 1: of terrorizing others. However, this time the killers growing brash.
33:42
Speaker 1: Theatrics would backfire on him. Remember when I said that
33:47
Speaker 1: statement would be important later.
33:49
Speaker 2: Oh you're kidding.
33:52
Speaker 1: Do you think I would be dumb enough to leave
33:54
Speaker 1: fingerprints behind when to make a phone call? Oh? Well,
33:59
Speaker 1: you see, when a mbling the package, he made a
34:01
Speaker 1: very critical error, and the tape investigators carefully and wrapped
34:05
Speaker 1: the tape that secured the letter to the wrench, and
34:08
Speaker 1: on the sticky side of the tape, they lifted a
34:11
Speaker 1: very clear fingerprint from it.
34:13
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that is a complete idiot.
34:17
Speaker 1: Well, think of he's probably wearing gloves committing most of
34:21
Speaker 1: these crimes, right, and as he's taping this thing to
34:24
Speaker 1: the wrench, I imagine catching that fucking edge on the
34:28
Speaker 1: tape to lift it up. We all have trouble fighting
34:30
Speaker 1: it and getting at times, right, So he's probably trying
34:32
Speaker 1: to lift that tape, couldn't get it, took off his
34:36
Speaker 1: glove to use his fingernail, got a hold of it
34:39
Speaker 1: and put a very clear fingerprint on it in the process.
34:44
Speaker 1: And he didn't think twice about it.
34:46
Speaker 2: Literally, every time I tape anything up, I think about
34:49
Speaker 2: my fingerprint being on this tape. I don't know why.
34:51
Speaker 2: It's kind of odd, but yeah.
34:52
Speaker 1: Well, clearly he didn't. He didn't the man that had
34:55
Speaker 1: previously taunted police with a phone call saying he wouldn't
34:58
Speaker 1: be so dumb to leave fingerprints behind, Well, now he
35:02
Speaker 1: had left one behind.
35:03
Speaker 2: He was so dumb.
35:04
Speaker 1: He was so dumb, he left a fingerprint.
35:06
Speaker 2: In his own words.
35:07
Speaker 1: Yeap, this was the breakthrough they desperately needed. As soon
35:11
Speaker 1: as they could, they ran the print through the National
35:13
Speaker 1: Fingerprint database and it came up empty.
35:18
Speaker 2: Oh what the hell, ben here? I literally just relax
35:22
Speaker 2: for a hot minute. Sorry, then you're like, nope, okay,
35:27
Speaker 2: thank you for that.
35:28
Speaker 1: So, to the tasks force astonishment, the fingerprint did not
35:32
Speaker 1: match any known criminal in the system, which meant the
35:35
Speaker 1: person they were hunting had no prior criminal record, a
35:39
Speaker 1: total clean slate.
35:42
Speaker 2: Okay, well that's disappointing.
35:44
Speaker 1: Well, this revelation upended much of the profiler's assumption about
35:47
Speaker 1: who they were dealing with, because up until now they
35:50
Speaker 1: had theorized that such a confident, sadistic offender like this
35:55
Speaker 1: probably had a history of violence or you know, run
35:58
Speaker 1: ins with law enforcement previously. But now it appeared they
36:02
Speaker 1: were chasing someone who had managed to avoid being caught
36:05
Speaker 1: for any past crimes. Even despite his boats and claims
36:09
Speaker 1: of previous assaults in his recent letter. Now, another intriguing
36:14
Speaker 1: clue from the letter was his language. Whoever wrote it
36:18
Speaker 1: used some interesting terminology, things like mo, which of course
36:23
Speaker 1: we know means modus operandi, and he used very formal
36:26
Speaker 1: phrasing such as attempted a sexual assault when referring to
36:30
Speaker 1: his crimes. Now, these words are more commonly found in
36:34
Speaker 1: police reports than in everyday conversation like officers and like honestly,
36:38
Speaker 1: we in true crime. In the true crime world, we
36:41
Speaker 1: are used to these terms when we listen to it
36:43
Speaker 1: and when we discussed cases and everything we watch the
36:46
Speaker 1: shows on Netflix. We hear it. We know this, But
36:49
Speaker 1: think of when you talk to someone who's not in
36:51
Speaker 1: the true crime world, how many conversations have you had
36:54
Speaker 1: with them? And they kind of look at you weird
36:56
Speaker 1: for how you're speaking, the terminology you use. It's not
36:59
Speaker 1: normal for the public to use that sort of verbage.
37:02
Speaker 2: Holy shit, is this person like a police officer or something?
37:05
Speaker 1: Well, that's kind of the thing. It spoke volumes to investigators.
37:09
Speaker 1: It hinted that this killer could be someone with insider
37:13
Speaker 1: knowledge of police procedures, or at least a fascination with
37:16
Speaker 1: law enforcement, so it brought up the uncomfortable question could
37:19
Speaker 1: their suspect be a cop or someone close to the police,
37:23
Speaker 1: even potentially, could it be someone working on this very investigation.
37:27
Speaker 2: That's a gross feeling.
37:29
Speaker 1: The notion was so unsettling, but they couldn't ignore it.
37:33
Speaker 1: So facing a killer this brazen Abbotsford police knew they
37:37
Speaker 1: had to up their game, and they decided, instead of
37:40
Speaker 1: waiting for him to strike again, they were going to
37:43
Speaker 1: come up with a plan called Operation mouse Trap. It
37:48
Speaker 1: was an operation a plan to lure the killer into
37:52
Speaker 1: making a mistake. So Operation Mousetrap relied on the fact
37:58
Speaker 1: that he had a habit of calling police to brag.
38:01
Speaker 1: They decided to use that specifically against him. With the
38:05
Speaker 1: help of technicians, they outfitted all local payphones with an
38:09
Speaker 1: advanced tracing system. So from now on, any call coming
38:14
Speaker 1: into the police station from these payphones would be automatically
38:18
Speaker 1: traced within seconds without the killer even knowing, meaning they
38:22
Speaker 1: would know exactly which payphone they were calling from before
38:27
Speaker 1: they even picked up the phone. That's really smart. He
38:31
Speaker 1: dials and it goes ring ring, it's already traced, So
38:36
Speaker 1: with not even talking to officers yet, and they already
38:38
Speaker 1: know where the call's coming from.
38:40
Speaker 2: And those are seconds or a minute or whatever that
38:43
Speaker 2: he would not even.
38:43
Speaker 1: Account for exactly. So Additionally, undercover officers were also stationed
38:49
Speaker 1: in unmarked cars near clusters of phone booths around town,
38:53
Speaker 1: ready to pounce immediately if any suspicious call was traced.
38:58
Speaker 1: So with all of this set, police would be able
39:01
Speaker 1: to be on the scene at the correctly identified payphone
39:05
Speaker 1: anyone in the city in about a minute or less
39:09
Speaker 1: of the call being placed.
39:11
Speaker 2: But how do they know. They're you know, not just
39:14
Speaker 2: giving this information to this person too, if he's part
39:19
Speaker 2: of the force, right.
39:21
Speaker 1: Well, that's true, right, But I don't think they really
39:23
Speaker 1: believed anyone was who's part of the force specifically, was
39:27
Speaker 1: capable of it. It's a possibility, but it was so
39:29
Speaker 1: far fetched. They weren't there yet. It was more mostly well,
39:32
Speaker 1: this guy's probably got a half knowledge at least of it,
39:36
Speaker 1: maybe X cop, maybe just obsessed with who knows, But
39:40
Speaker 1: the idea of it actually being someone on the force,
39:42
Speaker 1: it was so far out there. But it was a
39:44
Speaker 1: real possibility. But I will be honest, it wasn't the case.
39:47
Speaker 2: In this Okay, real good, good So next.
39:50
Speaker 1: The police crafted a carefully worded public announcement, one that
39:55
Speaker 1: they hoped would draw the killer out and tempt him
39:57
Speaker 1: to call the police. They issued a press release updating
40:02
Speaker 1: the case, suddenly suggesting that well, they were kind of
40:05
Speaker 1: stumped and perhaps dialing back the urgency of the investigation.
40:10
Speaker 1: So the idea was basically to plan the killer's ego
40:13
Speaker 1: to be like, Haha, I've got you, you can't figure
40:16
Speaker 1: it out, I'm the killer, to play on that and
40:18
Speaker 1: get him to respond or boast calling the police. But
40:23
Speaker 1: the Abbotsford killer didn't take the bait.
40:26
Speaker 2: Oh he didn't bite, you're kidding me.
40:30
Speaker 1: Days passed and no calls came in. Investigators began to
40:34
Speaker 1: worry that he'd gotten spooked or gone silent once again,
40:37
Speaker 1: and as the final trump card, they decided to confront him,
40:41
Speaker 1: well with himself. They took the unprecedented step of releasing
40:48
Speaker 1: full audio recordings of the killer's voice, not just statements
40:52
Speaker 1: or quotes or anything like that. We're talking actual full
40:55
Speaker 1: recordings from the phone calls, and they released it directly
40:58
Speaker 1: to the media. In early May of nineteen ninety six,
41:01
Speaker 1: local radio and TV stations broadcast these eerie clips of
41:05
Speaker 1: the anonymous caller saying phrases like catch me if you
41:09
Speaker 1: can and I'm the one who did it. The hope
41:13
Speaker 1: was that someone out there would recognize that very distinctive voice,
41:18
Speaker 1: that very specific speech pattern they had captured. It was
41:21
Speaker 1: a gamble, for sure, but thankfully it paid off. It
41:28
Speaker 1: was within only hours of the broadcast going out to
41:31
Speaker 1: the public that a call came in that would finally
41:35
Speaker 1: turn the tide of this cat and mouse race. A
41:38
Speaker 1: woman phoned in and she told police she recognized the voice.
41:44
Speaker 1: Investigators they were happy their tactic work, but she's on
41:48
Speaker 1: the phone and she told them that voice it belonged
41:52
Speaker 1: she believed to her son.
41:55
Speaker 2: Oh okay, that's a tough That would be a tough
41:59
Speaker 2: call for her.
42:00
Speaker 1: It would be. But she said the more she listened,
42:04
Speaker 1: the more the man in the audio clip, well, the
42:06
Speaker 1: more it sounded like her son, and the more certain
42:09
Speaker 1: she became. But that's not all. She also shared some
42:12
Speaker 1: alarming information. Her son had made a very bizarre comment recently,
42:17
Speaker 1: a few in fact, telling his brother quote you don't
42:20
Speaker 1: know me, you don't know what I'm capable of end quote,
42:25
Speaker 1: And she knew he was often off fishing in the
42:28
Speaker 1: Vetta River, which is exactly where Tanya's body was found.
42:32
Speaker 1: The name of this woman who called was Audrey Tye,
42:35
Speaker 1: and her tip instantly gave investigators a solid suspect, her
42:39
Speaker 1: very son, Terry Driver. Now Terry was a thirty one
42:44
Speaker 1: year old resident of Abbitsford. Far from the drifter or
42:48
Speaker 1: you know, the fringe loner many imagined the killer could be.
42:52
Speaker 1: In fact, he was shocking the ordinary on the surface.
42:55
Speaker 1: He was married with two young children, held a steady
42:58
Speaker 1: job as a printer at a local print shop, and
43:00
Speaker 1: Terry also came from a police family. His late father
43:04
Speaker 1: had been highly respected as a sergeant in the Vancouver
43:07
Speaker 1: Police Department. In his youth, Terry himself had even aspired
43:11
Speaker 1: to become a police officer, but was rejected from the
43:13
Speaker 1: force with reasons really only being speculated. This background, well,
43:19
Speaker 1: it suddenly became a massive red flag. Terry would have
43:22
Speaker 1: been familiar with police procedures terminology, which explained the letter's language,
43:27
Speaker 1: and he likely knew how investigators worked, which meant why
43:30
Speaker 1: he was so confident in taunting the cops. He also
43:34
Speaker 1: owned scanners to eavesdrop on police radio communications, meaning he
43:38
Speaker 1: could listen in real time to officers responding to his
43:41
Speaker 1: own stunts. Despite his normalcy outward, though Terry did have
43:47
Speaker 1: a bit of a troubled past. While he had no
43:50
Speaker 1: criminal record, it later emerged that he had spent time
43:52
Speaker 1: in his psychiatric care facility for teenagers due to violent behavior,
43:59
Speaker 1: which is the main speculation around him being turned down
44:01
Speaker 1: from joining the police. But I digress now, though police
44:05
Speaker 1: feared that all that latent violence had exploded into this
44:10
Speaker 1: series of crimes terrorizing Abbotsford. So with all this information,
44:15
Speaker 1: surveillance was set up on Terry immediately and discreetly unmarked
44:19
Speaker 1: units tailed him while detectives gathered as much evidence and
44:23
Speaker 1: things in his background that they could. They discovered that
44:28
Speaker 1: on the nights the key phone calls were made to police,
44:32
Speaker 1: Terry had conveniently taken night shifts off work or was
44:35
Speaker 1: otherwise absent from work, so it fit the timeline perfectly.
44:40
Speaker 1: Anytime he was away from work, the calls seemed to
44:44
Speaker 1: just so happen to line up and come in. He
44:47
Speaker 1: also did not resemble the composite sketch very closely, though,
44:50
Speaker 1: but still given Audrey's detailed tips and saying that it
44:55
Speaker 1: was her son, the circumstantial links police had strong reason
44:58
Speaker 1: to suspect they finally found their man. To be sure, though,
45:02
Speaker 1: they needed direct evidence, so investigators approached Terry carefully. At first.
45:10
Speaker 1: He was taken aback, but he was kind of cooperative,
45:13
Speaker 1: but in a guarded way. He agreed to come in
45:16
Speaker 1: for an interview, but denied any involvement in the murder
45:18
Speaker 1: or the attack. In fact, he seemed to almost be
45:22
Speaker 1: offended even when he was considered as a suspect, and
45:25
Speaker 1: as soon as he realized he may be an actual
45:27
Speaker 1: suspect in the investigation, he quickly invoked his right for
45:31
Speaker 1: legal counsel and refused to speak any further. So, since
45:35
Speaker 1: he wasn't arrested at this point and there's no warrant
45:38
Speaker 1: in play, Terry refused to provide DNA, which was by
45:42
Speaker 1: all means his full right to do so at the time.
45:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was.
45:47
Speaker 1: However, interestingly enough, remember that statement I said would be
45:54
Speaker 1: so important. It's going to come up again here. I
45:57
Speaker 1: wouldn't be so stupid to leave my fingerprints behind, right
46:00
Speaker 1: mm hmm. Well, interestingly enough, he did consent to give
46:05
Speaker 1: his fingerprints.
46:07
Speaker 2: Oh okay, because he would have thought they would.
46:11
Speaker 1: Not have this on him exactly so he agreed to
46:14
Speaker 1: give his fingerprints, but only in the presence of his lawyer.
46:17
Speaker 1: It appeared to police that Terry, if he was in
46:19
Speaker 1: fact the killer, believed his own boast so much that
46:23
Speaker 1: he left no Prince behind for police to find that
46:25
Speaker 1: he was so bold to actually give his prints directly
46:29
Speaker 1: to them to fake clear his name from suspicion. Now,
46:34
Speaker 1: when police compared the fingerprints that he gave them to
46:37
Speaker 1: the ones lifted from the tape, the unique loops and
46:40
Speaker 1: whirls of Terry Driver's thumb matched perfectly with the print
46:46
Speaker 1: the killer left behind.
46:48
Speaker 2: What did I say earlier too? No one should be
46:51
Speaker 2: this confident.
46:52
Speaker 1: Ake exactly now you were everything you were saying. I'm
46:56
Speaker 1: just inside like, oh my god, she has no idea
46:58
Speaker 1: she's gonna love this.
46:59
Speaker 2: Well, well, yeah, unbelievable.
47:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, he had the balls, but he was stupid
47:05
Speaker 1: enough to still do it.
47:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like, I mean your fingerprint and tape, I don't know,
47:10
Speaker 2: I just that's really rookie, right there.
47:13
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, analysis found eleven points of identification in common
47:18
Speaker 1: with the Prince, an incontrovertible match. So in May of
47:23
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six, it seemed he wasn't careful enough, and
47:26
Speaker 1: Terry Driver was arrested and charged as the Abbotsford killer.
47:31
Speaker 1: After seven months of fear and uncertainty, the community breathed
47:35
Speaker 1: a collective sigh of relief.
47:38
Speaker 2: Well, I'm sure glad he wasn't careful right, that he
47:42
Speaker 2: did make a mistake. Yeah, I'm also just sitting here
47:45
Speaker 2: shook though that you had said he was married with kids.
47:50
Speaker 1: Correct he was, which is very disturbing I know. Now.
47:54
Speaker 1: As soon as Terry was under arrest, the floodgates of
47:57
Speaker 1: evidence opened up even further. A search of his home
48:01
Speaker 1: and belongings turned up some damning evidence. Police seese Driver's
48:06
Speaker 1: computer and printer. Forensic analysis later showed that the taunting
48:09
Speaker 1: letters were produced using his printer. The typeface and formatting
48:14
Speaker 1: matched exactly. The investigators also obtained a warrant for his
48:18
Speaker 1: dental impressions. When forensic dentists compared casts of his teeth
48:22
Speaker 1: to the bite marks on Tanya's breast, well, it again
48:25
Speaker 1: matched perfectly, down to the crooked tooth alignment and chipped edges. Finally,
48:32
Speaker 1: the team got the long awaited results of the DNA test,
48:35
Speaker 1: the DNA profile from semen recovered from Tania Smith's body.
48:39
Speaker 1: Was matched against a sample of Terry's blood. Statistically, the
48:43
Speaker 1: odds of the DNA belonging to anyone else other than
48:47
Speaker 1: Terry Driver was astronomically small, to the order of trillions
48:55
Speaker 1: to one.
48:57
Speaker 2: Thank got him.
48:57
Speaker 1: There's not even that many people on planet Earth.
49:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, gotcha.
49:01
Speaker 1: His DNA also matched saliva traces found on the bite
49:05
Speaker 1: mark as well, so, in short, science left zero room
49:10
Speaker 1: for doubt that the man in custody was the very
49:13
Speaker 1: same person who had committed those horrific crimes. To top
49:18
Speaker 1: it all off, when investigators reviewed the surveillance footage from
49:21
Speaker 1: Tanya's funeral with fresh eyes, they spotted terror amongst the crowd.
49:27
Speaker 1: The killer had indeed attended the victim's funeral, lurking among
49:32
Speaker 1: the mourners.
49:34
Speaker 2: Okay, I that is just so bothersome to me that
49:38
Speaker 2: I don't know. That is just one of the things
49:40
Speaker 2: up there that is just so unbelievably disturbing to me
49:44
Speaker 2: that they would go to the person's funeral, Like, are
49:47
Speaker 2: you actually kidding.
49:49
Speaker 1: Something so sacred? Right, You've done something so horrendous already,
49:53
Speaker 1: and the family has this one sacred thing and you're
49:56
Speaker 1: still not letting him have that.
49:58
Speaker 2: Well, it's like they wan go and see the family
50:01
Speaker 2: mourning or something.
50:02
Speaker 1: I don't know.
50:03
Speaker 2: It's just completely sick.
50:06
Speaker 1: It is. It's uh sends shivers at my spine. Yeah,
50:10
Speaker 1: now face with this mountain of evidence. Terry Driver eventually
50:13
Speaker 1: went to trial in nineteen ninety seven. In court, he
50:17
Speaker 1: still tried to evade full responsibility for his actions. At
50:20
Speaker 1: one point, he even concocted a bizarre story claiming that
50:23
Speaker 1: he hadn't beaten the girls. He in fact claimed he
50:26
Speaker 1: supposedly stumbled upon them after some mystery man had attacked him,
50:31
Speaker 1: and then, in a panic, he then raped Tanya's unconscious
50:34
Speaker 1: body and dumped in a river.
50:36
Speaker 2: That is almost like comical. That's so such a terrible lie.
50:41
Speaker 1: It doesn't make any sense that, Like.
50:43
Speaker 2: Don't even be trying anymore.
50:44
Speaker 1: Terry Well, he tried that. And then he also attempted
50:47
Speaker 1: to blame his actions on mental disorders, saying he had
50:50
Speaker 1: conditions like Tourette syndrome and OCD which somehow culminates to
50:55
Speaker 1: make you do something like that, which is just like
50:59
Speaker 1: spitting on anyone with Tourette syndrome or OCD.
51:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think that would make you do.
51:03
Speaker 1: That, but no, definitely not. It was ridiculous to say
51:06
Speaker 1: the least, and it's no surprise to say nobody in
51:09
Speaker 1: the court when was buying it. I'm pretty sure his
51:11
Speaker 1: defense was probably even scoffing at it. But I digress.
51:14
Speaker 1: The forensic proof was overwhelming, and Terry's own calls to
51:19
Speaker 1: the police while they are basically serving as recorded confessions.
51:23
Speaker 1: So in October of nineteen ninety seven, Terry Driver was
51:26
Speaker 1: convicted a first degree murder for killing Tanya Smith and
51:30
Speaker 1: attempted murder for the attack on Misty Cockrell. The judge
51:33
Speaker 1: sentenced him to life in prison with no chance of parole,
51:38
Speaker 1: which is a mandatory sentence for first degree murder in Canada.
51:43
Speaker 2: Good good, good.
51:44
Speaker 1: Furthermore, Terry Driver was declared as a dangerous offender, a
51:49
Speaker 1: designation reserved for the worst criminals, which meant he could
51:53
Speaker 1: be kept incarcerated indefinitely for the safety of the public
51:57
Speaker 1: should something happen with you know, his uh, what's the
52:02
Speaker 1: word I'm looking for sentencing? There we go.
52:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, that's good, because, yeah, this guy is a
52:07
Speaker 2: freaking menace to society.
52:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, so a Terry Driver locked away. The reign of
52:12
Speaker 1: terror that had gripped Abbotsford finally came to an end.
52:16
Speaker 1: The Abbotsford killer would spend the rest of his life
52:19
Speaker 1: behind bars, never having another chance to harm an innocent person.
52:23
Speaker 1: In fact, Terry Driver remained imprisoned until he died in
52:27
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one of natural causes, still serving his life sentence,
52:31
Speaker 1: and he never showed signs of genuine remorse for his actions.
52:35
Speaker 2: Seriously, Yeah, he wouldn't have been that old when he died.
52:38
Speaker 1: No, I don't think so.
52:39
Speaker 2: But I also feel like as soon as he, you know,
52:42
Speaker 2: went into jail and stuff like, it probably gave mist
52:45
Speaker 2: you a little bit of her life back too.
52:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, like for her seeing her attacker brought to
52:50
Speaker 1: justice was it was honestly a very crucial step in
52:52
Speaker 1: her healing. Her recovery though was still going to be
52:55
Speaker 1: a long.
52:55
Speaker 2: Journey absolutely, yeah, forever, Oh definitely so.
52:59
Speaker 1: In the years after the try trial, Misty worked to
53:01
Speaker 1: rebuild her life. She had survived a real life horror
53:04
Speaker 1: movie and emerged as a living witness against a killer.
53:07
Speaker 1: Refusing to be defined solely as a victim, Misty actually
53:12
Speaker 1: grew into an aspiring advocate. She has spoken openly about
53:15
Speaker 1: her experience both the trauma and the resilience, and became
53:19
Speaker 1: a tireless voice for victims' rights. Looking back in the ordeal,
53:23
Speaker 1: Misty has expressed that while she never forgave Terry for
53:28
Speaker 1: what he did, she has freed herself from living in
53:31
Speaker 1: a shadow, saying quote, I won't let him run my
53:34
Speaker 1: life now. Instead, she chose to focus on the future,
53:38
Speaker 1: honoring Tanya's memory by living life to its fullest. Misty's
53:43
Speaker 1: unwavering courage, from fighting back during that attack to assisting
53:47
Speaker 1: the investigation despite her injuries, to rebuilding her life afterwards,
53:51
Speaker 1: it turned her into what many call the ultimate survivor
53:54
Speaker 1: and what we hear on the show call the badass
53:58
Speaker 1: of the day. The Abbotsford community, shaken but resilient, also
54:05
Speaker 1: gradually healed. Tanya Smith's memory lives on in the hearts
54:08
Speaker 1: of those who knew her, and every year people still
54:11
Speaker 1: reflect on how this vicious predator was able to strike
54:15
Speaker 1: in their midst and how he ultimately was unmasked and stopped.
54:20
Speaker 1: The case of the Abbotsford Killer remains one of Canada's
54:23
Speaker 1: most infamous criminal investigation and reminds us that sometimes true
54:28
Speaker 1: evil can hide behind a friendly facade, but it also
54:32
Speaker 1: tells the story of a life lost, end of a
54:35
Speaker 1: life lived in defiance preservation by a brave young woman
54:39
Speaker 1: who refused to let a murderer extinguish her spirit and
54:43
Speaker 1: her friend's memory. And that's a story of the Abbotsford killer.
54:48
Speaker 2: Hmm. Yeah, that is a new story for me too.
54:52
Speaker 1: That's a wild ride with someone who fucking cocky as hell,
54:56
Speaker 1: and I'm glad it caught up with them.
54:58
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Yeah, if this would have ended with
55:01
Speaker 2: him not getting caught, I would have been completely liked.
55:03
Speaker 3: Ye.
55:04
Speaker 1: So to answer his question, do you think I would
55:07
Speaker 1: be dumb enough to leave my fingerprints behind on a payphone? Yeah,
55:11
Speaker 1: we think you're dumb enough to leave your fingerprints behind.
55:14
Speaker 1: Why you were the most obvious place of all tape,
55:19
Speaker 1: you know.
55:19
Speaker 2: I also we have to be like pretty thankful for
55:22
Speaker 2: his mom too, because the fact that I don't know
55:26
Speaker 2: that would I feel like a lot of parents maybe
55:29
Speaker 2: wouldn't even have called in, right, even if they did
55:33
Speaker 2: suspect that it was their own kid.
55:34
Speaker 1: Well, that's when you were saying, like, oh, it's kind
55:36
Speaker 1: of funny that people like call in for all these
55:38
Speaker 1: random things. It's like sometimes those random things are actually something.
55:41
Speaker 1: That's kind of what I was like trying to say,
55:43
Speaker 1: without giving anything away, is it could be the thing that,
55:47
Speaker 1: you know, what brings the case to an end. In
55:49
Speaker 1: this case, it actually was.
55:51
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well no, I'm thankful she did because, like I
55:54
Speaker 2: said earlier, that would not have been a good or
55:57
Speaker 2: an easy phone call to make.
55:58
Speaker 1: Definitely not. But I'm glad she made that call. It
56:00
Speaker 1: was the right thing to do.
56:01
Speaker 2: And I also feel very sorry that this man had
56:05
Speaker 2: children that had to be brought up in this world
56:08
Speaker 2: knowing that their father is a complete disgusting monster. There's
56:16
Speaker 2: a lot I have to bite my tongue sometimes because
56:19
Speaker 2: like I could just go off and call this guy
56:21
Speaker 2: so much stuff, but then I'm like, Okay, this is
56:24
Speaker 2: like kind of live.
56:25
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean all right, I got you.
56:29
Speaker 2: I sometimes if we have to stop, I'll like really
56:32
Speaker 2: let some things go. But yeah, for here, I'll just like, yeah,
56:34
Speaker 2: he is just scum of the earth. Let's just say that.
56:39
Speaker 1: Oh definitely. But yeah, thank you guys for being here.
56:43
Speaker 1: Sorry again that we didn't get an episode out last week,
56:45
Speaker 1: but we are here regardless. I'm starting to feel it
56:48
Speaker 1: in my throat a little bit. I don't know if
56:49
Speaker 1: you can hear it in my voice.
56:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, well there's a lot of talking that, more so
56:53
Speaker 2: than you have been doing the past.
56:55
Speaker 1: Yeah. I just need to drink a little bit of water,
56:57
Speaker 1: get some you know, some moisturize in my throat.
57:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, but thank you for being here and being patient
57:04
Speaker 2: for this episode. So yeah, it was worth the way,
57:07
Speaker 2: that's for sure.
57:08
Speaker 1: Definitely, so thank you. You guys are amazing. Don't forget
57:10
Speaker 1: the description where you get all the links and good stuff,
57:13
Speaker 1: the socials, you know, it's all there. Thank you, You're
57:16
Speaker 1: amazing and until next
57:17
Speaker 2: Time, stay wicked.