- 2 days ago
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.
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00:00This program is rated 14-plus and contains scenes of violence and mature subject matter.
00:08Viewer discretion is advised.
00:15On a day off from school, this sidewalk near Corinne's townhouse would be filled with children's laughter.
00:21But today, a somber mood has moved into the neighborhood.
00:24Corinne, if you're watching, please dial 911. You know it. Please.
00:30Come home. Please, babe. Come on, Punky. Phone us. Do something, Punky.
00:37I was just hoping that they'd both find her, that she was still alive.
00:42Today, it was confirmed. Corinne was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and smothered to death.
00:53The task now is to find Corinne's abductor.
00:57Each of them has just the license number on them.
00:59The police were absolutely flooded with tips, and it was driving the two investigators.
01:04This was their first big case. It was utterly overwhelming.
01:09The fact that it's been almost 14 months now and it hasn't happened again might lead some to believe that our suspect is no longer here.
01:17It wasn't until a decade later, thanks to new technology, the police decided, let's take another look.
01:23I just cried. I had hope all day, every day. I thought this would be the day that the phone would ring and say that they caught the guy.
01:33Welcome to Crime Beat. I'm Anthony Robart.
01:39Tonight, teams of police and volunteers hunt for any trace of Corinne Gustafson, known affectionately by her friends and family as Punky, a six-year-old girl who goes missing while playing in her yard.
01:53But it would be years before the terrifying truth finally emerged.
01:58It was a sleepy Sunday morning on the Labor Day weekend in 1992. A hint of the changing season hung in the air.
02:15It was a chilly day. It was a quiet morning. One of the ones that was up with me and Ray and Corinne.
02:25Families in this northeast Edmonton neighborhood were settling in to a new school year.
02:32In Rundle Park Village, six-year-old Corinne Punky Gustafson bounded out of her townhouse, eager to play with her friend, just two steps away from the porch.
02:43I got up in the morning. She was already out playing with the neighbours.
02:49I told Corinne to come and have breakfast and then she wanted to go back outside.
02:57My dad just got out of the hospital the day before and I forgot to go get him some stuff.
03:03So I said, OK, I'll be right back.
03:06And you gave her something, right?
03:07I gave her a $2 bill.
03:09I went to Bingle the night before and I said, if I win, we'll give his money and we'll go to the store together.
03:19I left the door and I went to my dad's.
03:22I was just getting a coffee when I looked out the door and couldn't see her or that neighbour girl, Lindsay.
03:33I went running to the next door and she said, Lindsay's here, but Corinne's gone.
03:43So I ran all over the neighbourhood looking for Corinne.
03:49Lindsay told me that Corinne was taken.
03:52And I told the neighbour lady to call the cops while I was out looking for her.
04:01Ray had phoned and asked if Punky came with me and I went, we said no.
04:07And he said, well, then somebody took her.
04:12So I hurried up, jumped in my dad's truck and I took off and I went home.
04:16And she wasn't there.
04:21I just went crazy.
04:23I just, banging my head and just, telling her, I want my girl back.
04:30And they come home and she was crying.
04:35And I told her that I went, looked all over the neighbourhood and she just didn't, couldn't be found.
04:46I was just wanting to break down the tears.
04:50I couldn't get it in my mind who it would have been.
04:56She was playing at the door when I left the door and she asked me where I was going.
04:59And I said, I was going to go to the bus bus to fix the TV and I was going to come back and take a shopping.
05:07And she said, I'll see you after.
05:09And I said, yeah.
05:11And that was it.
05:12That was the last time I'd seen her.
05:14You don't know what was happening.
05:16And I cried and cried and cried.
05:18Kept on saying, I hope, you know, whoever took her would drop her off.
05:24She would find her way home or somebody would find her.
05:27Police soon arrived at Rundle Park Village.
05:32After speaking with the young witness and Punky's parents,
05:35they launched their investigation into the abduction of Corrine Gustafson.
05:40Apparently the guy just grabbed her and put his hand around her and also she couldn't scream.
05:47And Corrine, dad loves you, mom loves you.
05:51Please come home.
05:53I'm just waiting, hope that she's alive.
05:58April, come home.
05:59Once we found out it was an abduction, we went full gear.
06:03It was like, okay, somebody's abducted this little kid.
06:05And all they had to go on was the five-year-old's testimony,
06:08but that was enough to get police moving and us too.
06:12As soon as we put that on the six o'clock news, it was, our phone lines just lit up.
06:17The switchboard lit up.
06:19It was terrifying.
06:20We didn't have stories like that very often that happened here in Edmonton.
06:23The whole city was checking all the parks in our neighborhood.
06:28I just hope they will find her.
06:34A playmate is the only person who saw Corrine Gustafson picked up and taken away Sunday afternoon
06:40by a man with three earrings in his left ear.
06:43Somebody in his early 20s with a light brown skin, with light, actually brown hair, short on the side, short on the top.
06:53And apparently there's some white stripes.
06:56Something like died probably on his hair.
06:59She did call him the boogeyman.
07:02Punky's friend called him the boogeyman.
07:03That's how she saw him.
07:04This was any parent's worst nightmare.
07:07At that time, there were no Amber Alerts.
07:09Everybody was just, well, we have to find this little girl.
07:11Like, what has happened to her?
07:13I think everybody was just setting on pins and needles.
07:16Police received a tip from a young neighbor who said they saw a man get into a blue van with a little girl that morning.
07:24So you're driving around looking for a blue van.
07:26Hey, could it be that one?
07:28Well, it could be that one.
07:28I got to know roads in the city that they didn't even know existed.
07:33I did every dirt road, cow pasture, just looking for a blue van.
07:42You recognize that girl?
07:44She's about your age and looks almost kind of like you with long blonde hair.
07:48Corinne is six years old.
07:50She has blonde hair and is approximately four feet tall.
07:53When she disappeared, she was wearing a purple full-length coat, black and white polka dot pants, and white runners.
07:59She goes by the nickname of Punky.
08:02Corinne, if you're watching, please dial 911.
08:05You know what?
08:06Please come home.
08:08Please, babe.
08:09Come on, Punky.
08:10Phone us.
08:12Do something, Punky.
08:15None of the men in this group have ever taken part in a search like this, nor do they know the little girl.
08:21But they're out here for one simple reason.
08:24They care.
08:25You can't have nothing more important than to go out and look for somebody else's child, you know.
08:28That's the way I feel.
08:29Halfway through those trees, one at the top of the trees.
08:33Well, I've got two kids of my own, and yeah, I'm sure most people tend to have an uneasy feeling when it involves a defenseless young child.
08:43This is her graduation picture from kindergarten, and she just started grade one this year.
08:49She's six years old.
08:50They were going through hundreds of volunteers.
08:54They organized to go through ravines and neighborhoods, and they were looking for this little girl.
09:02I remember the intensity of that time.
09:06I remember there was a raft of really horrible murders at that time in Edmonton.
09:13Do we have to keep our kids in the house?
09:14Because, you know, somebody, some wacko, to put it nicely, has, you know, decided to terrorize the neighborhood.
09:21Whoever has her, can you please bring her home?
09:24Because I'd never know her to come home.
09:28I'm not a self-sleeper.
09:30Like, I'm a very light sleeper, so any little noise, I wake up.
09:34Because I kept on hearing footprints in the house.
09:38We always thought that would be Corrine's footprint.
09:41Her saying, Mommy, I'm home.
09:44It meant nothing.
09:45Welcome back to Crime Reads.
10:00A little girl has been snatched from her parents' yard.
10:04The only witness, her five-year-old friend.
10:06Now, panic grips the city of Edmonton as hundreds of volunteers join the search for little Corrine,
10:13clinging to hope that she'll be found alive.
10:17We now return to Jamie Dahl with Stolen.
10:22The Boogeyman Took Punky.
10:30She was my baby.
10:32I have my oldest daughter, and then my son, and then I had Corrine.
10:37And her nickname was Punky.
10:40Her hair had sticking up all over the top.
10:44And we'd seen that show Punky Brewster.
10:48And we called her Punky all the time.
10:54What was she like?
10:56Love, lovable.
10:57She loved, like, even bugs, ants.
11:04She was just an outgoing girl.
11:07She always wanted to be outside, doing things.
11:12She always wanted to ride her bike.
11:15She was just, she was so bubbly and cheery that, yeah, she just, you're drawn to her.
11:20That's what it was.
11:21She was just starting grade one?
11:23Yeah, just starting grade one.
11:24She liked it.
11:27She wanted to go, even on, like, on that weekend.
11:32She said, I'm going to school.
11:33No, it's a weekend.
11:34You don't go to school on the weekends.
11:36On a day off from school, this sidewalk near Corrine's townhouse would be filled with children's laughter.
11:42But today, a somber mood has moved into the neighborhood.
11:45I hope, you know, whoever took her, would drop her off.
11:50She'll find her way home or somebody will find her.
11:55I was just hoping that they'd both find her.
11:59But she was still alive.
12:12RCMP were called to the Sherwood Park Industrial Area at a quarter to five.
12:16Two days after Punky disappeared, the agonizing hours of searching came to a grinding halt.
12:26A horrific discovery was made on the outskirts of the city, less than 10 kilometers from her home.
12:33A passerby found the body in this storage lot behind a trucking firm.
12:36The owner of the company, who refused an interview, said the body was that of a young girl.
12:42Someone who worked there came and he saw something.
12:45He thought it was like a doll covered in mud and dust, is how he put it.
12:51And he immediately went to the police and reported it.
12:55The body was found clothed.
12:57I don't know whether it was partially clothed or fully clothed, but clothed.
13:01And the clothing does match the description of Corrine Gustafson's clothing.
13:04The body was found between two truck trailers.
13:08After a crime scene investigation, the body was taken away by the medical examiner's office for an autopsy.
13:18Shortly after, police made a visit they had hoped they'd never have to make.
13:24They just knelt in front of Karen and they said, you know, I'm sorry, we found her and she's gone.
13:31And that's, and then, you know, Karen was screaming in her head.
13:35And, uh, and then it didn't take long after that I had to take Karen to the hospital because I thought she was going to have a nervous breakdown.
13:42I was banging my head against the wall.
13:44I was doing everything.
13:45So they'd try to calm me down and I couldn't.
13:51My heart went right out of my chest.
13:56It's like somebody tore a heart out of my chest.
14:01And they told me that they found her.
14:07Punky's dad and uncle rushed to the trucking yard.
14:12Then eventually, the morgue.
14:15I just walked to hold her and just walked to go and see what she had to go through.
14:24Wondering what she felt when she died.
14:27And, uh, I just couldn't get through my mind.
14:39I just want to get revenge.
14:43It's when they came and gave us the news that they, uh, that she was deceased.
14:48And, uh, I think that's when the light and the life of pretty much everybody in that household just disappeared for a while.
15:01And then you kind of go numb.
15:05The body of the little girl has been positively identified as Karen Gustafson.
15:11Today, it was confirmed.
15:19Karen was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and smothered to death.
15:24It scares the hell out of me.
15:26You know, it's kind of hard.
15:28How do you say your friend ain't coming back to school?
15:31It's really hard.
15:32Students have an understanding this morning that Karen is gone from us and she is, she is dead.
15:37And she won't be with us any longer.
15:39And what is normal after, after we've lost one of our children.
15:51Thanks to all the volunteers.
15:54That's all I have to say.
15:56Thanks.
15:58To all the people in the city.
16:01I'm helping.
16:02No more.
16:04You got her?
16:05No more.
16:06Okay.
16:07She was just here five minutes before and looked in the patio window and I was, I was right there and then all of a sudden she was gone.
16:15Just a nightmare.
16:16Cops are going to get you pretty soon or one of these days.
16:21You woke up there.
16:22You look at this because you aren't going to hurt.
16:29This was national news by this time as soon as her body was found.
16:33Everybody wants to know who is the monster behind this.
16:36Where is he and will he strike again?
16:38A few days after Kareen's little body was found, her parents were interviewed once again by police.
16:45They put us in a little room at the police station there and asked us a bunch of questions and it was hard.
16:56I told them I didn't have nothing to do with it.
17:00I couldn't understand why I'm being arrested and taken away from the family.
17:15Welcome back to Crime Beats.
17:22Two days after six-year-old Punky Gustafson disappeared from outside her northeast Edmonton home, her lifeless body was found in a trucking yard.
17:32Now as police hunt for her killer, her family has the painful task of saying goodbye.
17:37We now return to Jamie Dahl with Stolen, The Boogeyman Took Punky.
17:54Weighed down in shock and grief, one week after the murder, family, friends and members of the public packed into an Edmonton church to say goodbye.
18:03To take someone's life, to destroy this beautiful gift that God has given, is the most evil act that a human being could ever commit.
18:18Just because the light went out doesn't mean she is gone.
18:23She will be in our hearts now and forever.
18:30Investigators told us that they had surveillance at the funeral.
18:34That maybe it's somebody that's sitting and watching.
18:37Were you scared that it could happen again?
18:39Yeah.
18:41The task now is to find Corrine's abductor.
18:44Police are scouring the area for any possible clues.
18:47They found a few tire tracks, but that's about all.
18:50What they'd really like to find is the pair of white canvas runners Corrine had on when she was kidnapped.
18:55They're missing.
18:56Besides that, police have only a sketchy description of a suspect to go on.
19:01A darker skinned individual with dark hair, five foot six to six foot tall, slim build, with a patch of white hair on the crown of his head, three earrings in his left ear, with a blue and white jacket and possibly glasses.
19:14Police have already received more than 300 tips on the abduction.
19:19The stumbling block is that the only eyewitness to the incident is a five-year-old girl.
19:23When Punky disappeared from her northeast Edmonton neighborhood, witnesses believe the suspect fled in a blue van.
19:29But when searching the Sherwood Park trucking yard where Punky's body was found, police were able to lift tire tracks, not from a van, but from a second vehicle.
19:38At the scene where Corrine's body was found, these tire prints were found.
19:43These tire prints cannot come from a van.
19:45Police believe the killer dumped the body from a car, a car similar to a Dodge Aries, Chevrolet Cavalier, or a Ford Tempo.
19:53Each of them has just the license number on them. Just follow those up. When they come back, just the attached report goes into the box right here.
20:02The police were absolutely flooded with tips, and it was driving the two investigators, Terry Elm and Al Sovey, like they were, these were young guys.
20:12This was their first big case, and it just, it was utterly overwhelming.
20:16Investigators Terry Elm and Albert Laher agreed to sit down with us to discuss intricate details of the case.
20:24They politely declined an on-camera interview, saying the memories are still too triggering to relive in front of the lens.
20:32Both men had children close in age to Punky at the time, and added while they were able to watch their kids grow up, Punky didn't get a chance.
20:41You know that these officers, the men and women in the police force, they took that case home every night to their families too, and then they never let it go.
20:50You could see it was mentally draining.
20:54In this room in the police station, 50 officers a day work on the case full-time, following up tips.
21:00It's an important case to police, and they're not ruling out any means necessary in solving it.
21:05I'm going to forward this to homicide.
21:07Police were relentless in their pursuit of the killer, from sending out questionnaires to offering a $40,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
21:17Okay, cameras rolling.
21:18Even reenacting the gruesome story on camera, hoping to ignite anything to help capture the suspect.
21:27Police and actors are recreating the crime, complete with a Kareem Gustafson look-alike.
21:32Crime stoppers, that would run every single night in our 6 o'clock news.
21:37I'm just traveling inside right now, just thinking about it.
21:39I just couldn't believe it.
21:41Especially in broad daylight.
21:43You know.
21:44But anyway, I hope they get the sicko that did it.
21:4823 days have passed since Punky's body was found.
21:51Three dozen police are hunting the killer around the clock.
21:57Punky's picture was wallpapered across the province.
22:00The billboard campaign was huge.
22:02It just swept right across Edmonton.
22:04Do you have any information at all leading to something that would lead to the arrest or finding a suspect?
22:10It was hard.
22:11It was hard.
22:13Even with my kids, when we took a bus and, Mom, there's Corrine.
22:17Yes.
22:19Every bus had a picture.
22:22And what it said was, somebody else didn't know.
22:25Because I was the one that said it.
22:27That somebody else didn't know.
22:28It was just eerie.
22:31This is the worst imaginable crime.
22:33Her picture, her pretty little face is on the front of every newspaper.
22:37It's just, it made people crazy.
22:40How can this evil be in our city?
22:41It was an awful time in Edmonton.
22:44And it haunted people.
22:48Meanwhile, investigators were still dissecting every inch of the scene where Punky's body was found.
22:54Police discovered a pubic hair on Corrine's ankle.
22:57But scientists were unable to get a full genetic profile of the suspect.
23:01The technology just wasn't there.
23:03It wasn't all the killer left behind in the trucking yard.
23:07They also found his shoe prints with the baseball cleats in them.
23:14He tried to hide the evidence, the tire tracks and his own footprints.
23:19But he's in such a hurry that he didn't do a very good job.
23:22So they were able to get really good look and pictures of footprints and tire, tire tracks.
23:29It was the same cleat, the same shoe size that was found at her home in northeast Edmonton when she was grabbed.
23:37So they found the same one in soft mud beside the houses that she was taken from.
23:42They determined that it was probably something called a mitre brand baseball cleat.
23:46And they started to go through every one who had played baseball in that area at the time.
23:52There had been a baseball tournament.
23:53So they tried tracking everybody down.
23:55Based on the evidence and the type of crime, police believed they were dealing with a solo perpetrator.
24:00We're working on that Corrine Gustafson homicide.
24:03You guys see you play baseball?
24:04Yeah.
24:05Size eight feet, huh, so you know about it then.
24:08Were you in a tournament all that weekend?
24:10While some officers checked with baseball teams, the search for the suspected vehicles,
24:15that car with bald tires and a blue van, carried on.
24:20They run on a diet of phone tips.
24:23This is tip 2849, a blue van that hasn't moved since September.
24:29Turns out it's been cleared before.
24:32Good evening and thanks for joining us tonight.
24:34Four months after Punky died, two of Edmonton's largest television stations came together for an unprecedented half-hour special.
24:43This is such a horrific story.
24:45Let's get CFRN together with ITV.
24:49Global was ITV at the time.
24:51And let's team up and put all the resources, get all the police and let's really go.
24:56It was January of 1993.
24:59It was about a two-day period in the time between when Corrine was abducted and they found her body.
25:04What happened in that two-day time period?
25:06Was she killed at the site where you found her?
25:08So we don't know exactly how long she'd been there ever.
25:11We do know that she wasn't killed at that location.
25:14We do believe that Corrine was killed at another location, yes.
25:19I was talking to one of the detectives.
25:21I remember thinking and I looked at him and I said,
25:24do you think the killer might be watching us right now?
25:26And he looked at me and he went,
25:28there's a very good chance the killer's watching us right now as this broadcast is happening.
25:32And a chill just went up my back now thinking about it.
25:35I think the minute after they found her in the trucking yard was I was put to the top of their list.
26:04Because I know the area.
26:06I gave them my DNA.
26:08I gave them a police report as to where I was the night before and what I was doing up until the time.
26:14I think these guys are grabbing it.
26:15Ron Davies emerged from his six-hour interrogation with police badly shaken and angry.
26:21I got 15 nephews and nieces.
26:25If they think I'm capable of doing that to one of them, they're crazy.
26:31There's no way.
26:32How many times were you brought in?
26:34I don't know, five, six times.
26:36There's one interrogation that he will never be able to shake.
26:40They threw all the pictures across the table of her laying underneath that trailer in the mud.
26:48Her body just plain as day right there.
26:53And it was like, I did not need to see that.
26:59That's the one thing the family never got to see until that day at the RCMP when they threw all the pictures.
27:05You see that tiny little body.
27:15And then it was like, he slaps his hands on the table and he says, you know you did it.
27:23Let's confess so we can close this case and I can get on with another one.
27:29Police said they had 400 suspects, but months went by with no concrete leads.
27:35Action.
27:37American program unsolved mysteries even came to town.
27:41Police hoped it would cast a wider net in their search for evidence.
27:45The fact that it's been almost 14 months now and it hasn't happened again might lead some to believe that our suspect is no longer here.
27:53We're not at the point where we can say that yet.
27:55Investigators told us they travelled far and wide to follow up on tips.
27:59Detective Terry Elm said he even flew to an advanced forensic lab in England with the hair sample found on Punky
28:07to see if it was connected to another suspect in a similar case in British Columbia.
28:12It wasn't a match.
28:14They had just intense pressure, mostly put up by themselves, but other cops too.
28:19Everyone had a theory, everybody, you know.
28:22Get out.
28:23You guys are young cops.
28:24Get out there on the street more.
28:25Bang on the doors.
28:26Bang some heads.
28:27You know, the old school thinking.
28:28And like they were doing everything.
28:30They were being heavily criticized from within the force from other people.
28:33More experienced police officers about not solving this.
28:37For Punky's parents, grief grew into desperation.
28:41Parents supposed to go before the kids died.
28:48And I just felt like her being dead.
28:57I just didn't have nothing to live for.
29:01What were some of the thoughts you were having?
29:03I was going to jump over the bridge.
29:06I was going to go do something so I could be with Carmine.
29:10Towards the end, you know there's still police officers out there that think he did it.
29:19He says, we could put this all to rest if you would just agree to doing a polygraph.
29:25I went in and did the polygraph and he came back out and he says, you passed the polygraph.
29:32I said, I told you I would.
29:33I had nothing to do with this.
29:34Without any leads, the case went cold.
29:38And then new technology brought new hope ten years later.
29:43Thanks to new developments in DNA technology and testing and the DNA data bank, they were able to go back.
29:51The police decided, let's take another look.
29:56Punky's family was the first to hear what police believe could eventually solve the decade old murder.
30:03The PCR test had come into being so they could use smaller and smaller bits of DNA to identify killers.
30:12And they just thought, well, let's just give it one more go.
30:15Let's send all of Punky's clothing in to get it tested one more time at this new lab that's at the forefront of these new techniques and let's see if they can find anything.
30:26And they did.
30:27They found a DNA sample on Punky's panties.
30:30When I talked to the scientist who eventually came up with the complete profile, he says, Terry, I've got your killer.
30:40And I'll tell you, I'll tell you, that was the best news I'd heard in years.
30:45We are sending DNA samples to the lab.
30:50So we're hopeful that by reviewing these tips and from any information we may now receive that will be compared to the profile we have.
30:59One week later, the family marked the 10th anniversary of Punky's death.
31:04She was buried on my son's birthday.
31:10It's going to be hard on him.
31:11It's only going to take one tip that will catch the guy that did this.
31:14We live for the day that they catch him.
31:19And six months later, that day finally arrived.
31:24About ten years after the murder, new technology allowed investigators to create a DNA profile of Punky's killer, but nobody matched it.
31:32Then came federal legislation allowing for the creation of a national DNA data bank.
31:38Many convicted criminals became compelled to offer a DNA sample, including Clifford Slay, convicted of a different crime.
31:45And then came word Slay's DNA, matched the DNA profile of Gustafson's killer.
31:52I just cried.
31:55I had hope all day, every day.
31:58I thought this would be the day that the former ringer said that they caught the guy.
32:03And it happened.
32:06Punky's 20-year-old sister, Roseanne, promised her baby sibling the family would never give up hope.
32:15We just went to the grave site every year and just paid sort of how much we loved her and how much we were wishing that we would catch the guy.
32:24Big relief.
32:25I tell you, those 10-pound bricks are off my shoulders.
32:29This is the, by far, the best day I've had in over a decade.
32:3440-year-old Clifford Slay was already serving a 13-year sentence for two sexual assaults and forcible confinement at the Bowdoin Institute, south of Edmonton.
32:44There was 26 convictions in all.
32:46He was clearly a psychopath, just a cold, machine-like human being who did not experience regular emotions.
32:54According to parole board documents, Slay had amassed 26 convictions, mostly for property-related offences, impaired driving,
33:03breaches of trust, escape unlawful custody, and numerous violent offences, with his most concerning behaviour involving his pattern of predatory sexual assault.
33:16Police first met Slay weeks after Punky's murder, not as a person of interest, but a potential witness.
33:23Two months after the crime, they sent a detective to where Slay was moving with the woman he was with.
33:33And she had told the police in one of the tips that her boyfriend, Clifford Slay, said, oh, he had been out driving around that morning and he saw someone who he thought might have done it, someone in a van.
33:45So they went and they tracked down Clifford Slay and they asked him about that story and he denied anything about that.
33:53He had come to our attention earlier on in the investigation from another investigation that was unrelated.
34:03In the spring of 1993, while detectives were interviewing Slay about one of the sexual assault cases, they brought up the Gustafson case and asked for a DNA sample.
34:14Something they had been asking a lot of potential suspects to provide.
34:19They also searched Slay's home.
34:22They found a baseball cleat in the closet, but when they took it to forensic, it didn't match.
34:28His story was that he was babysitting for relatives and they checked out.
34:33And because of that and the cleat, he was taken off as a suspect, essentially.
34:41He was right there in front of them, but his family ended up covering up for him.
34:46They came up with an alibi, so that kind of led police to go, well, maybe we don't have the right guy.
34:52Let's keep looking in another direction.
34:54With the DNA match secured, investigators told us officers confronted Slay's former partner who had provided an alibi.
35:02She admitted Slay hadn't been with her the whole weekend.
35:15Welcome back.
35:16About a decade after Punky Gustafson's murder, the creation of a national DNA databank finally gave police a match to her killer.
35:25Now, it was time to confront the man they believed was responsible, already serving time for other crimes.
35:32We now return to the conclusion of stolen. The boogeyman took Punky.
35:44Police paid Clifford Slay a visit in prison. They set the stage, letting him know his DNA was on Punky's clothes.
35:51They also took another DNA sample at the request of the crown. It didn't take long for Slay to unravel.
35:59What did you talk about? What did you say?
36:05Well, she asked me where I was taking her.
36:08Okay.
36:10And...
36:12I didn't invite the call, right? I just didn't order. I didn't answer.
36:19It wasn't a conversation.
36:25I didn't say nothing to her.
36:27She'd just gone quiet.
36:29I just wanted to kind of drive as far as I could on this real drop-off and just leave.
36:34But...
36:35When I realized that there was no traffic in this area,
36:38it seemed very secluded, you know, I just...
36:41to put on myself to...
36:46I guess...
36:47had a sense of the...
36:49I don't know how to use the terminology.
36:51It's written, but...
36:53I had no intention to find it.
36:54You had no intention to find it?
36:55My hopes were that...
36:57somebody would find it.
36:58Right.
36:59So...
37:00I didn't expect to die from what I caused.
37:09I think that was some of the first times that we had really heard what had happened to...
37:13uh...
37:14to Punky Gustafson
37:15through the words of the man who had done it.
37:1740-year-old Clifford Matthew Slay is now facing first-degree murder charges
37:22in connection to the death of Punky Gustafson.
37:24I got the first view of him when they drove him down into the police department
37:30in the backseat of that car.
37:32Slowly.
37:33Just enough to get...
37:35so that the media and that could get his picture.
37:38Looking at him at that point,
37:41I thought,
37:42that guy has no soul.
37:44His eyes are just dark.
37:51The trial was set for May 9th, 2005.
37:57Punky Gustafson's family walked into the law court's building
37:59together,
38:00prepared to face the little girl's alleged killer for the first time.
38:08Dressed in blue overalls, Slay heard the charges against him.
38:11First-degree murder and kidnapping.
38:13Charges in connection with the disappearance of six-year-old
38:16Corrine Gustafson back in September 1992.
38:19Punky's mother quietly stared at Slay in the prisoner's box
38:23while other family members openly wept.
38:25In a surprising move, Slay pleaded guilty to kidnapping.
38:28Not guilty to aggravated sexual assault.
38:31And tried pleading guilty to manslaughter.
38:33But the Crown didn't accept the manslaughter plea,
38:35opting to continue with the first-degree murder trial.
38:38The whole trial took a bit of a turn.
38:40He's now admitting that, yes, I was there.
38:43I caused the death of Punky Gustafson.
38:45The question now is, did he murder Punky Gustafson?
38:49In court, he just sat there, was sitting on his arms
38:52and his head down.
38:53Never moved the whole time.
38:55If I could have, I would have smacked him.
38:58And that was why I just wanted to get at him,
39:00to make him suffer pain like she did.
39:03Always wanted to just, you know, strangle him, do something
39:08to him.
39:09Punky Gustafson's family left court stunned.
39:14The description of the young girl's injuries forced some
39:17of them to leave the room and some jurors to tears.
39:20The forensic examiner thought the most likely cause of death
39:25was from the rape itself, from internal bleeding from the rape.
39:29Essentially, she was raped to death by Clifford Slay.
39:40Clifford Slay had got into a fight with his common law partner.
39:45He was very mad at her and wanted to go and hurt her.
39:48His partner had a young daughter.
39:51And so his idea was that he was going to go and sexually assault
39:54his common law partner's daughter.
39:56But the problem with that plan was that she wasn't there right then.
39:59So instead, he just went out to look for somebody else.
40:03She's sitting in her yard playing with a friend.
40:06He describes how he just goes and snatches her.
40:09Slay told investigators he took Corrine simply because
40:13she was the closest to the fence.
40:16To have that confirmation and to see just how random this was,
40:21a bit of a jaw-dropping moment in a case filled with jaw-dropping moments.
40:27Two weeks after the trial began on May 25, 2005, a verdict was reached
40:33on the eve of Karen's birthday.
40:35We caught him and she rest in peace now.
40:40Okay.
40:42They said first degree.
40:44It just felt like it was a big load off of our shoulders.
40:49Relief now, finally come to her nap.
40:52We're able to see what St. George is done.
40:54Many of you guys are always part of our family.
40:57Always welcome.
40:58I was in homicide unit for 10 years and this was the case that I followed right through
41:02and I had the opportunity to continue on with the investigation even after I retired.
41:07So, yeah, you know, because of that I have some closure with it as well.
41:13Clifford Slay was given the maximum sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
41:20The most dramatic moment of the sentencing hearing came when Slay addressed the court.
41:25Slay started by saying, I just want to apologize and say I'm sorry.
41:30Then for the first time in the trial, Clifford Slay showed some emotion.
41:33He began crying.
41:34At that point, Punky's cousin stood up in the back of the courtroom and said, don't cry for us.
41:40We don't need your remorse.
41:41It's over now.
41:42He's a little bastard.
41:44He shouldn't be able to go back to court.
41:46He should be able to deserve his time.
41:49Okay, that's it.
41:50Please get out of here.
41:52You tore our family apart and now we get our justice and I hope that you rotten, rotten.
42:02For me, it's a few moments in the courtroom, you know, having a daughter
42:09and thinking about that crime that has a big emotional impact on me.
42:17But for them who lived it, it would be overwhelming to talk about it again, to think about it.
42:27You know, even after 30 years, it still hurts.
42:29You see kids doing certain things that she used to do and then you think, what she would be like today, right?
42:38So, it never goes away.
42:41It's there.
42:42The pain's there.
42:43I won't know what she would be like today if she would have gotten married, you know, and had kids.
42:49What do you miss the most?
42:51Her hugs.
42:52I'll say goodbye.
42:54Good night.
42:55I'll see you later.
43:00This is the walkway.
43:04Where are he talking from?
43:06Ah, baseball members.
43:08That $2 bill Karen gave Corrine the last time she saw her was found by police still folded up in Punky's little coat pocket.
43:23I told them I want, they thought that I wanted her clothes.
43:27I went, no.
43:28I want that $2 bill.
43:30So, they put it in the frame for me.
43:35In 2015, Ray had Punky's body moved to the small Alberta town of Castor, two and a half hours away from Edmonton.
43:42It's where most of his family members are buried.
43:45He's already picked out his final resting place.
43:50Right here.
43:51Right next to her.
43:54She's the love of my heart.
43:57I'll never get over it.
43:59Even the odds I'll take it to my grave.
44:06This is Corrine's tree that they planted.
44:11For her and her memory.
44:16While Karen now has to drive a long distance to visit her daughter's grave, she finds solace here on the grounds of Punky's old school.
44:27Corrine is watching over us at this time.
44:32Wherever I go, I think she's out there.
44:35But she's our angel now.
44:38Clifford Slay can apply for parole in 2028.
44:47Corrine Gustafson's family has vowed to do everything they can to prevent that from happening, as they continue to keep the memory of their beloved Punky alive.
44:57Thank you for joining us tonight on Crime Beat.
45:03I'm Anthony Robart.
45:06Want more episodes of Crime Beat?
45:08Listen to the Crime Beat Podcast.
45:10Now for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favourite podcast.
45:16And for past episodes of Crime Beat, go to the Global TV app, visit GlobalTV.com, or check out our Crime Beat YouTube page.
45:25it's all of us on web page.
45:32We're definitely going to celebrate the rest of the year.
45:35But I'll see you later on theEEP page.
45:37We're just going to fake people with therant
45:41sensors.
45:42So theps, we'll see you later on the regularchieden on the new droid portal on the microphone,
45:46ë³´ him as always.
45:49Let's make sure you cannot open your door, armingarts, and at all,
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