- 44 minutes ago
Two men arrive at a local sandwich shop and find the store clerk lying in a pool of blood.
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00:03This program is rated 14 plus and contains scenes of violence and mature subject matter.
00:08Viewer discretion is advised.
00:13It looks like this is a robbery that has gone horribly wrong.
00:17We found her on the floor.
00:19She was hit in the back of the head.
00:20There was blood all over the floor.
00:23This is now 100% a homicide investigation.
00:28Why was she in this area working by herself?
00:32I didn't sleep for weeks after that.
00:35Within fairly short distance of each other, within just a couple hours, we had two significant attacks.
00:43The victim had been very severely beaten and was in life-threatening condition at the moment.
00:49What really made a difference in the ATM robbery was there was CCTV.
00:56We thought, oh, we just were watching a homicide.
01:01We're not saying the incidents are connected, but there's a number of similarities that make us tend to look that
01:08way.
01:17Our number one priority is to get that offender in custody.
01:21That offender has killed an innocent individual already, and who knows what they're capable of.
01:29Welcome to CryBeat, I'm Antony Robart.
01:31A brazen and violent attack on a young store clerk left an entire city in fear.
01:38There were no eyewitnesses and no CCTV.
01:41But soon, police discovered she wasn't the only victim.
01:46Here now is Nancy Hixt with The Night Shift.
01:55On a cold and snowy Thursday in February of 2000, two young men took a break from a night of
02:02watching movies to go get some fast food.
02:07As they approached a nearby subway, they noticed a sign on the door that read,
02:13Less than $50 in till.
02:16Clerk cannot open safe.
02:18They joked about how pointless a holdup at this shop would be.
02:25Seconds later, they saw the outcome of that very scenario.
02:31I believe she was robbed.
02:32She was, we found her on the floor.
02:34She was hit in the back of the head.
02:35There was blood all over the floor.
02:38She was vomiting.
02:39We saw the mess behind the counter, and when he walked around the counter,
02:43I started calling 911, and I started giving her CPR.
02:48At 11.42 p.m. on February 17th, the Calgary Police Service get a phone call to assist the paramedics
02:57at a subway along 17th Avenue.
03:00And that particular subway, when the paramedics get there, when the police get there,
03:05we have a 25-year-old employee of the subway that is in critical condition,
03:10and the paramedics are working on her.
03:12She's been attacked.
03:13The young woman had suffered massive head injuries.
03:19She was rushed to hospital by ambulance, but despite best efforts, just minutes after she arrived, she passed away.
03:28This is now 100% a homicide investigation.
03:34The entire subway restaurant and parking lot is now part of the crime scene.
03:40So we've called in our forensic crime scenes unit.
03:43Again, they're going to take photographs.
03:45They're going to look at what evidence they can collect.
03:47They're going to look for fingerprints.
03:49They're going to look for swabs.
03:51Even back then, we had DNA that we were looking for.
03:54There's napkins and pieces of paper that would normally be on a counter that are scattered on the floor.
03:59They can see that there's a large pool of blood.
04:02There appears to be some things that have been moved around or are missing,
04:07and one of the things that they noted fairly quickly is it looks like a cash register is missing.
04:18One of the things that the investigators did right away is start talking to neighbouring businesses,
04:25asking people if they saw anything.
04:26We start, again, doing neighbourhood inquiries to find out, do we have any witnesses?
04:31Is there film footage somewhere?
04:33The subways back then, again, like most businesses, just didn't have the cameras,
04:40certainly not like you see today.
04:41But we were really coming up dry.
04:43Police identified the victim from a wallet and ID found at the scene.
04:49Tara MacDonald had been working alone at the subway that night
04:53when her attacker burst into the store.
04:57It looks like this is a robbery that has gone horribly wrong.
05:01This is a significant event in our community.
05:04You have a young 25-year-old woman working alone
05:08in what should be a safe job making sandwiches for people.
05:13And so it's not lost in anybody that responded or anybody working in the city
05:18that this was a significant event.
05:21And it was really all hands on deck to do whatever we could as quickly as we could.
05:26One of the techniques that we used and used in this case is we called our canine unit.
05:34Utilizing their canine dog, they began a track.
05:38What the dog followed was a trail of coins
05:42that led officers directly from the crime scene
05:45towards a nearby residential neighbourhood.
05:48We were able to determine which way the subject left from the subway.
05:54And so the working theory is that the coins probably fell out of a cash register
06:00or a cash drawer that may have come from the subway.
06:05Investigators located parts of a cash register
06:07not far from the coins in a dark alley.
06:11The crime scene unit would go to any of the pieces of evidence that we were finding.
06:18But once again, hopes of identifying a suspect were quashed.
06:23Yeah, unfortunately when we examined the evidence that we had at this point,
06:26it was still a whodunit.
06:27We did not have a name of an offender.
06:29Our number one priority is to get that offender in custody.
06:32That offender has killed an innocent individual already
06:35and who knows what they're capable of.
06:50Welcome back to Crime Beat.
06:51A violent robbery for petty cash left a young store clerk dead.
06:56This happened decades ago
06:58and surveillance cameras weren't as common.
07:00So the killer eluded police.
07:02That is, until officers realized he had a signature M.O.
07:09Here again is Nancy Hickst with The Night Shift.
07:18Police worked around the clock as the hunt for a killer intensified.
07:24This was indeed an extremely brutal, brutal homicide.
07:29The police service is doing everything in its power.
07:32You know, they're leaving no stones unturned in this one.
07:41Early on Friday, February 18th, 2001,
07:46Deb Dorr was getting ready to leave her home in Lethbridge.
07:50She had a two and a half hour drive ahead of her
07:53to see her daughter in Calgary.
07:55Earlier that week, she had confirmed plans with Tara on the phone,
08:00not realizing those would be their final words to each other.
08:05I love you.
08:07We never ended a conversation without saying that.
08:14At about seven in the morning, Deb got a strange phone call.
08:20My ex-husband phoned.
08:23He was sobbing.
08:24And he had said, hey, there's been a robbery.
08:27Tara's dead.
08:28And as he said that, I turned the TV on and there's Tara on the TV
08:33because he had released her name to the press.
08:36So they had a picture and her name, as I'm being told,
08:41because the Lethbridge police hadn't got to us yet.
08:44Oh, I screamed.
08:46It was, yeah.
08:48So we went to the police station in Lethbridge.
08:52And I walked up to the front desk.
08:55And they had been notified.
08:57And they had said, oh, I'm sorry, Deb.
08:59We were just putting a few things together for you.
09:02I said, don't worry about it.
09:03I already know.
09:04And we left and came to Calgary.
09:07Later that day, Deb met with Calgary police
09:11at the sandwich shop.
09:13They had just said that she was working alone.
09:17And they hadn't caught the person yet,
09:19but they had some leads.
09:22And that two young boys had tried to save her.
09:27They administered first aid and tried.
09:30They knew that there was robbery.
09:32The cash register was missing.
09:35And that they would keep them posted
09:38as soon as they knew anything.
09:40It was roped off.
09:42And there was hundreds of bouquets of flowers
09:46and teddy bears and everything outside the door.
09:51A stream of strangers had stopped by
09:54to pay their respects to Tara,
09:56including a former employee of that very subway.
10:00It's sad to see someone die over less than $50.
10:05Officers continued to search, retracing all steps previously taken in the dark,
10:12hoping to find further evidence, including the murder weapon.
10:16So the autopsy of Tara McDonald
10:18indicated that she died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head
10:23and that it was a blunt instrument that had struck her.
10:27And the investigators believed that it was likely a hammer.
10:30Police didn't release details of the murder weapon to the public.
10:34As you know, hold back is very crucial to an investigation.
10:37And it's a significant piece of evidence or information
10:42that only the killer and the police investigators would know.
10:45A hammer as a weapon stood out to investigators.
10:52There had been another similar violent attack
10:57two hours before Tara's murder just down the street.
11:01We're not saying the incidents are connected,
11:03but there's a number of similarities that make us tend to look that way.
11:09On February 17th of 2000, the Calgary Police Service received a phone call.
11:15There had been an individual from our community that had been at a Bank of Montreal ATM
11:21and had been doing some banking transactions.
11:23It's about 9.30 at night.
11:25As the community member is doing his transaction,
11:29somebody comes up from behind and begins assaulting him
11:33with what turns out to be a hammer and strikes him multiple, multiple times.
11:39The victim had been badly injured,
11:42but was somehow able to stagger to a nearby business to ask for help.
11:58Minutes later, police and EMS arrived.
12:02The victim was taken to hospital by ambulance with severe head injuries.
12:07Certainly we had a lot of resources put into that.
12:09There were cameras, and so we were doing neighbourhood inquiries.
12:14We were looking for evidence.
12:15We would have had a significant patrol response.
12:18And then also detectives from our general investigation unit
12:22came out to take over that investigation.
12:26We were told that there was what we call a roll job.
12:29So a person had been a personal robbery.
12:32But the victim had been very severely beaten
12:35and was in life-threatening condition at the moment.
12:39Investigators immediately noticed surveillance cameras at the bank
12:43and put a rush on getting access to CCTV.
12:47In the meantime, witnesses were interviewed and forensic evidence gathered.
12:54Just hours later, officers were shocked to learn the victim
12:59had miraculously regained consciousness in hospital.
13:03Around 4 o'clock in the morning, my partner and I attended the hospital.
13:07He couldn't recollect anything about the incident at all.
13:09He remembers running some errands prior to
13:12and then going to the bank to take some money out for groceries
13:17and pay some bills.
13:18And that last he remembers.
13:20He didn't remember getting hit.
13:22He didn't remember stumbling along 17th Avenue.
13:26Nothing like that.
13:28Later that day, the victim underwent surgery
13:32as doctors tried to mitigate the damage caused by multiple depressed skull fractures
13:38that were putting pressure on his brain.
13:41His injuries were the result of repeated blows to the head with a hammer,
13:46all captured on CCTV.
13:49It was amazing.
13:50We thought, oh, we just were watching a homicide.
13:52It was amazing that he pulled through.
13:55We reckoned that had he not escaped the vestibule at that point
13:59and got out into the public, he probably would have perished, yes.
14:04Investigators learned that his wallet, which only had about $30 inside,
14:09had been stolen.
14:11His red Toyota Corolla was also missing.
14:15Just the sheer brutality of it.
14:17There really was no reason to strike a person in the back of the head.
14:21Simply brandishing it and demanding money would have.
14:23been sufficient.
14:26Horrific violence for a $30 payoff.
14:30Thankfully, the attacker left behind evidence that couldn't be disputed.
14:36His face was captured on video.
14:39He had a very unique look about him.
14:41And if you were a cop in Forest Lawn in the late 90s and early 2000s,
14:47you knew exactly who he was.
14:50I call him a opportunistic career criminal, I suppose.
14:54His big thing was break-in enters.
14:56Typically commercial break-in enters.
14:58He'd done a couple of residential ones.
15:00Stealing cars.
15:01A lot of car thefts.
15:04Simple drug possessions.
15:06Being intoxicated in a public place.
15:09Stuff like that.
15:09But just a career guy that everybody knew.
15:12With a person of interest identified, investigators began the arduous task of finding the career
15:19criminal who had a way of disappearing.
15:24Just blocks from the ATM investigation, detectives at the subway homicide scene wondered if they
15:31could be looking for the same offender.
15:34When you have two violent crimes like that in close proximity, that's a flag.
15:41And really, the ATM robbery is still being actively investigated and being pursued.
15:48So it didn't take long for the investigators to figure out there might be a linker.
15:53It is possible that's the same offender that committed the ATM robbery a few hours earlier
15:58and then travelled to the subway and committed another robbery, except this time also committed
16:04homicide.
16:23In her hometown of Lethbridge, hundreds gathered to
16:27to remember Tara MacDonald.
16:30We are in a state of disbelief, shock, horror, and sadness.
16:36A member of our family would be the victim of such a violent crime.
16:41It's not going to be easy to live through, but God calls you to walk close with him and
16:46he will pour out his grace upon you.
16:48He will touch your hearts with his love and you will have your memories of Tara to carry
16:52you through.
16:56Loved ones reminisced about Tara's determination and how her strength inspired others, especially
17:05after being badly injured when she was just six years old.
17:09She stuck a piece of cardboard into the furnace and it ignited her.
17:17She was burnt from her neck to her knees and her arms to the, from her shoulders to her
17:26elbows and both her hands.
17:29For more than a decade, Tara was in and out of hospitals undergoing reconstructive surgery.
17:37It was awful, but she came through it with such a phenomenal attitude.
17:44She had a compassionate heart and aspired to be a police officer.
17:48I came home from work one day and there was a homeless person sleeping on the couch.
17:53She said, who's that?
17:55She said, I don't know.
17:56I said, how did you get here?
17:58I brought them home.
17:58It's not right that people sleep outside.
18:01And she just would help anyone if she could.
18:07Now, her life had been stolen for the pittance that the robber got away with.
18:14There will be nothing that I believe will take away our pain.
18:21Back in Calgary, detectives were making progress in both the murder investigation and the attack
18:28at the ATM.
18:32Just a few blocks from the bank, on a nearby residential road, police recovered the victim's car
18:39and seized it for a full forensic examination.
18:45In the meantime, the public got their first glimpse at the person of interest in connection with both
18:51attacks when investigators released a sketch.
18:55We had some really, really good descriptive details from the person that helped us with that
18:59composite.
19:00So we were confident that that would be a good composite.
19:02And in fact, it was.
19:03First thought was, he's a regular.
19:05He's been here for years.
19:06He's been drinking and associating around TNC for years.
19:10Detectives were able to confirm that Trevor Stang was their suspect for both crimes.
19:16Sometimes we put out sketches and we might get one or two tips.
19:21In this case, we had well over 60 tips, all indicating that it was Stang.
19:28Trevor Stang was, at that time, a lifelong offender, amassing a lot of convictions over
19:35his life up until the Subway sandwich shop for crimes of violence, break and enter his
19:40possession of stolen property, that sort of thing.
19:43This was a significant break.
19:46And Tara's mother reacted by sending a message to Stang through a local newspaper.
19:52TARA STANG, Back in those days prior to social media, newspapers were a significant
19:57way of communication, as was the traditional news.
20:01And so I don't think there's anybody in the city that didn't know what had happened,
20:07and that we have an innocent 25-year-old woman that's murdered while working.
20:12That shouldn't happen in our city.
20:14And so when the family comes forward and when the victim's mom comes forward and basically
20:22pleads for the killer to turn himself in, that was pretty powerful.
20:27By now, investigators had also finally tracked down Stang and put him under 24-hour surveillance.
20:35There is a lot going on and the investigators are trying to balance the investigation as well
20:40as the risk of keeping this person in our community and not locked up. So we didn't have anything
20:45significant to charge him when it comes to the murder. Again, it's all speculation. He's our suspect,
20:52but it's because of the MO, it's because of the location, but that's not good enough to arrest somebody.
20:58But police felt the risk was too high when covert officers saw him head towards the same busy area
21:06where both violent crimes had taken place.
21:11At 5.30 in the morning, our surveillance units indicate that Stang is walking by himself on a
21:18sidewalk on 17th Avenue and that's our opportunity. There's nobody else around. There's very few
21:24pedestrians, very few cars. That was our opportunity to make the arrest and the detectives themselves
21:29arrested him.
21:31LAURA BAINESTERS- Trevor Stang was taken into custody.
21:34Trevor Stang was transported to the arrest processing unit and not only is he photographed,
21:41but also we seized the clothing that he was wearing and ultimately we sent that clothing up to the crime
21:47lab for analysis.
21:48LAURA BAINESTERS- Stang immediately called his sister.
21:52LAURA BAINESTERS- Hey.
21:53LAURA BAINESTERS- Hey.
21:53LAURA BAINESTERS- Hey.
21:54LAURA BAINESTERS- What's happening?
21:55LAURA BAINESTERS- Not much. I'm just being questioned. I'm in an interrogation cell.
21:59LAURA BAINESTERS- Oh.
22:00LAURA BAINESTERS- They let me have a phone call and a couple let me use the phone because this
22:07stuff's all scary.
22:08LAURA BAINESTERS- Yeah.
22:09LAURA BAINESTERS- You know, it got me pretty emotional anyways.
22:13LAURA BAINESTERS- Yeah.
22:14LAURA BAINESTERS- At that point, Trevor Stang was only charged in connection with the attack
22:20and robbery at the ATM. He called to update his mother.
22:25LAURA BAINESTERS- My charges are attempted murder, aggravated assault, robbery,
22:31and I'm wanted for questioning on that Tara McDonald murder.
22:36LAURA BAINESTERS- Oh, yeah.
22:38LAURA BAINESTERS- That's when key evidence related to the murder came to light.
22:42LAURA BAINESTERS- The investigators realized that where Stang's sister's house is and where Stang
22:48has been staying multiple times is just a short walk from where the subway homicide took place.
22:54On February 26th at 11pm, investigators go to the sister's residence with a search warrant.
23:01And we were able to talk to the sister and obviously search the residence for some things
23:06that we were looking for.
23:07LAURA BAINESTERS- As officers searched Stang's sister's home,
23:12she agreed to go to police headquarters and speak with detectives.
23:17LAURA BAINESTERS- As part of that interview,
23:20she was showing the video of the ATM robbery and she broke down.
23:25It was pretty clear that she knew who the offender was.
23:28And again, it's a very violent attack.
23:31And she decided at that point that she wanted to speak to police and tell what happened.
23:45LAURA BAINESTERS- In the days following the murder of Tara McDonald,
23:51police expanded their search from the trail canine trackers had originally identified.
23:59We've had a number of Crime Stoppers tips come in, as you well know.
24:02And some of the tips indicate that perhaps something was either deposited or thrown into
24:06the field here, so that's what we're searching for.
24:11LAURA BAINESTERS- Police recruited volunteers skilled in using metal detectors.
24:16How good are these things?
24:17LAURA BAINESTERS- Very.
24:18I can pick up the back off an earring three inches underground with a good clear signal.
24:23LAURA BAINESTERS- But in the end,
24:25it wasn't these volunteers who located key evidence in this case.
24:30We were doing a grid search there with searchers, including canine. And the team came across
24:35what we were looking for, one of the things we were looking for. It's significant because it's
24:39close to the subway shop where the homicide took place and the ATM. That helps us to establish a
24:44number of things, including the path of the person who took the cash register.
24:49LAURA BAINESTERS- We found some black pieces of plastic. We also found what looked like a metal
24:57cash drawer. And we also found that some of the items had been duct taped and they were inside a
25:03plastic bag. All of the exhibits were sent for fingerprinting. And sometimes this happens, but
25:10unfortunately we weren't able to get any further forensics from those pieces of evidence that we found.
25:19LAURA BAINESTERS- In the meantime, forensic crime scenes officers continued to search Trevor
25:24Stang's sister's home as she opened up to homicide investigators.
25:29TREVOR STANGS- So she talked about how earlier in the day that Stang had indicated that he needed
25:35to go get some drugs. He left for a period of time. When he came back, he had $30 cash.
25:42He had
25:43some vehicle that had not been seen before. As investigators start piecing this together and
25:49putting it together, they realized that, well, that the timeline seems to fit with the ATM robbery,
25:54where $30 were stolen from the victim. And the vehicle matches the vehicle that was stolen from him.
26:00She also talks about her boyfriend being at the house at the same time.
26:04TREVOR STANGS- So when Stang came back, it was her, her brother, and her boyfriend, and they all did
26:10drugs
26:11together. Throughout this time, Stang is showing up with some money and or drugs. Or he has money,
26:19he leaves, gets drugs, comes back, they smoke it, he then leaves again. So there's this coming and going
26:24of Stang throughout that time.
26:27TREVOR STANGS- Carol Stang told police that around 10.30 on the night of the attacks,
26:33her brother once again left to get more money and drugs.
26:38She said he returned about an hour later, carrying a steel box.
26:44CAROL STANGS- And the three of them, Stang, his sister and her boyfriend,
26:48all are attempting to gain access to this box. When they did get access to the box,
26:54there was a couple of hundred dollars in there. Stang's sister indicates that she knew that the
27:00box came from Subway because of the pieces of paper that were in there. But she just assumed that it
27:05was a theft. And it wasn't until the next morning when it really broke on the news that she saw
27:11that
27:12there had been a homicide at the subway. And that's when she was able to piece things together and
27:17realize that her brother very, very likely committed a homicide.
27:22CAROL STANGS- She indicated to us that as she was panicking and trying to clean some of these items,
27:27she took them out of the house and got rid of them, but that she would be willing to show
27:32us where they were.
27:32CAROL STANGS- In the middle of the night, the murder suspect, Trevor Stang's own sister,
27:39agreed to walk investigators to the place she had disposed of key evidence.
27:45CAROL STANGS- This is Sunday, February the 27th. It's 3.30 a.m. We're now at 2804 46th Street,
27:53South East. And this is Carol Stang. Carol, I'm John Dukes. Acknowledge that you're so under oath,
27:59that we were given to provide you with a KGB statement. Now you've offered to take me from
28:03your house and show me where some items were stashed? Yes.
28:07CAROL STANGS- Okay, and this is all of your own free will? Yes.
28:09CAROL STANGS- You're not being forced to do this? No, only that.
28:11CAROL STANGS- I appreciate your cooperation and this is all the truth.
28:17CAROL STANGS- Carol Stang told police she hid the cash drawer near this tree,
28:22which is exactly where officers had located it during their grid search just hours earlier.
28:29CAROL STANGS- From here, you told me there's some other items placed. Now where would they be at?
28:34CAROL STANGS- Behind those blue candles.
28:37CAROL STANGS- Okay.
28:39CAROL STANGS- Now what's over there?
28:40CAROL STANGS- Um, that came here.
28:45CAROL STANGS- And the other pieces of the register.
28:57CAROL STANGS- Stang's sister told us that she found a ball peen hammer in the residence. She
29:03believed that it was the homicide weapon and in fact had taken step to clean that particular
29:09hammer. Again, that was hold back information that we hadn't told anybody.
29:16CAROL STANGS- The hammer was covered in snow and really it was just a partial
29:20piece of the hammer that we're seeing. But the fact that she was able to lead directly to there
29:26and point out exactly where she put the hammer, again, just adds to the reliability of the information
29:33she's giving. She did say that she had cleaned the hammer and when we sent it to the lab, forensics
29:40did indicate that it looked like it had been cleaned and so there was no DNA that we were able
29:46to get
29:46that was usable.
29:48CAROL STANGS- That night, Carol Stang told her boyfriend to cooperate and tell officers the truth.
29:54CAROL STANGS- Mario, I want you to understand that we're still under the KGB statement
29:59oath, okay? You're still required to tell us the truth, okay? So I'm asking you to take us to
30:06the location that you indicated in your statement earlier, okay? Are you willing to do that for us?
30:11CAROL STANGS- Yes, okay John.
30:13CAROL STANGS- Okay, just show us the way, where you went first, yeah, show us the direction that you
30:19went.
30:33CAROL STANGS- Okay, good.
30:37Suddenly, police had a mountain of evidence against Trevor Stang for both the attack at the ATM and the
30:45murder of Tara McDonald. But investigators continued to gather further proof against him
30:52while he was in custody awaiting trial.
30:55STANG- So one of the things that Stang was doing while he was in remand was he was calling
30:59people
31:00and having conversations with them about what he did and essentially was making confessions to them.
31:07CAROL STANG- Those calls were recorded and included this one to his mother.
31:11CAROL STANG- We're thinking that, you know, with a hammer like that, you should at least know that
31:16it would do some harm.
31:19CAROL STANG- Well, you know, I've been through hell accident-wise too.
31:24You know, the body's amazing.
31:26CAROL STANG- You're alive though.
31:28CAROL STANG- Stang reached out to several friends.
31:32CAROL STANG- Well, apparently I am guilty for that woman's death.
31:42CAROL STANG- In one conversation, he complained about his sister's cooperation with police.
31:51CAROL STANG- I had my own family, you know, let me out and now I'm being charged with first
32:02CAROL STANG- Oh, I got that paper right here in front of me.
32:08CAROL STANG- What paper?
32:10CAROL STANG- Oh!
32:12CAROL STANG- A date?
32:14CAROL STANG- Meta charge at hand.
32:16CAROL STANG- Ah, yeah.
32:17CAROL STANG- Announcement today to Meta charge.
32:20CAROL STANG- Page three.
32:22CAROL STANG- Motor charge at hand.
32:30CAROL STANG- And then, Stang admitted to attacking Tara McDonald with a hammer.
32:39CAROL STANG- What, you used a hammer or something?
32:42CAROL STANG- Yeah, that's what they're saying.
32:45CAROL STANG- And that's what I did use.
32:49CAROL STANG- But did you use the same thing on Tara?
32:52CAROL STANG- Yeah.
32:53CAROL STANG- Yeah.
32:53CAROL STANG- I think she was mopping or something.
32:56CAROL STANG- Like, she just finished mopping or something like that.
32:59CAROL STANG- We have Stang, who is caught on wiretap actually admitting to striking Tara McDonald on the head
33:09with a hammer and killing her.
33:11CAROL STANG- Also striking the ATM victim on the head with a hammer.
33:14CAROL STANG- That's all caught with his own voice, which is a very, very powerful confession.
33:21CAROL STANG- But would this new evidence be enough to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt?
33:57CAROL STANG- Welcome back.
34:01CAROL STANG- Here now is Nancy Hicks with a conclusion of the night shift.
34:17CAROL STANG- So this here is the BMO where the first attack happened, right in the vestibule here at
34:25the ATM.
34:27CAROL STANG- And then about 10 blocks behind us in that direction is where the subway is and or
34:34was and where we had the murder.
34:40CAROL STANG- On a cold winter night in February of 2000, police believed a drug addict's desire for money
34:48and cocaine fueled a violent crime spree that left one man with a brain injury and a young woman dead.
34:57CAROL STANG- What we have is a prolific offender that was addicted to drugs and that's what he cared
35:03about was getting money to buy drugs.
35:05CAROL STANG- That would be the prosecution's theory in two separate trials.
35:10CAROL STANG- So after the ATM robbery where he gets $30 from the victim's wallet and the car, he
35:16goes back to his sister's place, tells them that he has this car, which they ask him to park somewhere
35:22else, and he's got $30.
35:24CAROL STANG- So he then goes out to buy some crack cocaine, comes back, $30 of crack cocaine doesn't
35:29last long, they use up the crack cocaine.
35:31CAROL STANG- Then he has the brilliant idea of going to get more money to buy more crack cocaine.
35:36CAROL STANG- That's where Tara McDonald came in.
35:38CAROL STANG- These types of crimes are target focused.
35:42CAROL STANG- The target is the money and however you get the money doesn't really matter.
35:47CAROL STANG- So whether it is hitting someone over the head with a hammer, stealing a car, breaking into
35:52a home, any of those things.
35:55CAROL STANG- The target is to get the money to get the drugs and then you need to get
35:59more money to get more drugs and so it is crime that fuels that repetitive endless cycle.
36:06CAROL STANG- At the onset of the first trial for the attack at the ATM that was caught on
36:12video, Trevor Stang pleaded guilty to robbery.
36:16CAROL STANG- But he denied attempting to kill the victim.
36:19CAROL STANG- A key forensic finding in this case came from the jeans that Trevor Stang was wearing when
36:25he was arrested.
36:26CAROL STANG- Those jeans had blood on them and through DNA testing that was linked not to Tara McDonald
36:33but to the ATM robbery victim.
36:37CAROL STANG- And so that also helped to link his involvement in the spree that occurred that evening.
36:44CAROL STANG- In the end, a judge acquitted him of attempted murder and convicted him of aggravated assault.
36:52CAROL STANG- In handing down a 10-year prison term, the judge noted Stang made no expression of remorse.
37:03CAROL STANG- Then, in the fall of 2001, Tara McDonald's mother went to court to see her daughter's accused
37:10killer stand trial in front of a jury.
37:17CAROL STANG- The subway sandwich shop murder was a crime of convenience.
37:23CAROL STANG- Tara McDonald was a young woman working at the subway sandwich shop, working by herself at night.
37:29CAROL STANG- She wasn't hanging around with the wrong people.
37:31CAROL STANG- She wasn't doing bad things.
37:32CAROL STANG- She was just doing her job.
37:34CAROL STANG- And that's the kind of murder that people are more afraid of, where you're just doing your
37:40life.
37:40CAROL STANG- You're just doing things in life, and you happen to be the chosen victim.
37:45CAROL STANG- Little did she know, but Trevor Stang was out looking to make some quick cash to buy
37:50some crack cocaine.
37:51CAROL STANG- He went into the subway sandwich shop.
37:54CAROL STANG- She was working alone.
37:55CAROL STANG- There were no customers.
37:56CAROL STANG- He went up to her, and with a four-pound hammer, struck her on the back of
38:02the head, collapsing her skull,
38:05CAROL STANG- And then stole the cash register.
38:08CAROL STANG- He wasn't smart enough to open the cash register, so he actually stole the entire cash register,
38:14CAROL STANG- And then ran away with it.
38:17CAROL STANG- Along with wiretap admissions Stang made while in custody awaiting trial,
38:22the jury heard evidence from Stang's own sister and her boyfriend.
38:28CAROL STANG- His calls from the Remand Centre made it very clear that he was the killer.
38:33CAROL STANG- His Remand Centre calls alone probably would have put him in the frame for conviction.
38:42CAROL STANG- But his sister's evidence really gave us the context for the robbery,
38:47for coming home with the cash drawer, for getting rid of the evidence, that sort of thing.
38:53CAROL STANG- The evidence against Stang was overwhelming, yet he refused to admit to the murder.
39:01CAROL STANG- The defense was that this was a manslaughter.
39:05CAROL STANG- The argument before the jury was that there was no intent to kill,
39:10no intent to cause bodily harm that would rise to the level of murder.
39:13CAROL STANG- This was an unintentional killing, a robbery gone bad.
39:19CAROL STANG- And that was the logical argument for the defense to make to the jury.
39:24CAROL STANG- After hearing nearly three weeks of evidence, the jury deliberated for just five hours.
39:31CAROL STANG- The jury did not convict of first-degree murder, and it was absolutely open to them to
39:38do what they did.
39:38CAROL STANG- They convicted him of second-degree murder.
39:40CAROL STANG- They could have convicted him of first-degree murder, but they clearly weren't satisfied beyond a reasonable
39:44doubt
39:45CAROL STANG- that there had been enough planning or premeditation to rise to the level of first-degree murder.
39:50CAROL STANG- But they clearly had no difficulty convicting him of second-degree murder because they were satisfied there
39:55was an intent to kill,
39:57or an intent to cause bodily harm, and being reckless as to whether death ensued or not.
40:03CAROL STANG- Prior to being sentenced, Stang stood up in court and said he wished he could take it
40:09back.
40:09CAROL STANG- I mean, you say I'm sorry to people when you bump into them on the street.
40:13CAROL STANG- You don't say I'm sorry to their families after you hit them over the head with a
40:17hammer.
40:17CAROL STANG- Staying was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years.
40:25CAROL STANG- It's a fair sentence. This was a terrible crime. There's no doubt about it. And it was
40:30resulted in very tragic consequences.
40:34CAROL STANG- Well, all the evidence went before the judge. I think he considered all the appropriate factors and
40:38he gave a decision that's within the range in law.
40:42CAROL STANG- I'm a bit disappointed, but that just meant that he can't fly to get out until 18
40:48years is up.
40:53CAROL STANG- Even with Tara's killer behind bars, there was no peace for her mother.
41:00CAROL STANG- I thought it was unfinished because I do believe that not out of revenge or anything, they
41:08should have to face the victim's family.
41:10CAROL STANG- She decided to visit Trevor Stang at Bowdoin Institution.
41:15CAROL STANG- Because I was raised that prisons are country club settings and that they can get their education
41:22and, you know, I'd never had anything to do with the justice system.
41:27CAROL STANG- So to go in and go through the doors that slammed automatically behind you and the security
41:35clearance.
41:37CAROL STANG- And then it was in a room half this size just across a table. They brought him
41:43in handcuffed and shackled and he was absolutely terrified.
41:50CAROL STANG- And I think that might have given me the strength to, I wasn't going to buckle in
41:57front of him.
41:57CAROL STANG- Oh, he was crying and he apologized prophetically and, like, he kept asking me if I forgave
42:07him.
42:07CAROL STANG- And he says, no. I says, that's not up to me.
42:11CAROL STANG- I don't have to forgive you. It's not my place, you know.
42:16CAROL STANG- He said Tara was his only victim he had ever left behind.
42:21CAROL STANG- And I says, but you had 40 some prior convictions, maybe not murder, but other victims.
42:29CAROL STANG- And he didn't see them as victims because they were alive.
42:36CAROL STANG- Staying remains in prison.
42:39CAROL STANG- Deb Dorr continues to attend his parole hearings and even visited him for a second time in
42:46custody in 2025.
42:49DEB DORR- He was just very quiet and reserved and said he'd served his sentence.
42:55And I says, yes, but your 25-year sentence is what they consider life, where I get the life sentence
43:02without my daughter.
43:05CAROL STANG- And he didn't say nothing to that.
43:08CAROL STANG- I really don't feel anything towards him.
43:12CAROL STANG- Like I say, I think I'm more angry about, well, I'm angry at him and I always
43:17will be, but not to the point where it's going to eat me alive.
43:21CAROL STANG- I don't care if he forgets me, but I don't want him to ever forget what he
43:26did to her.
43:31CAROL STANG- Deb often visits her daughters,
43:34CAROL STANG- final resting place at a cemetery not far from the home where Tara grew up in Lethbridge.
43:43CAROL STANG- Every time, she's reminded of the magnitude of what she lost.
43:50TARA TURR- There's been lots of weddings and births.
43:52CAROL STANG- I'm lucky enough, I've got 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, and I see what they missed
44:02out on.
44:02CAROL STANG- To me, all my kids were spectacular, but Tara fought for everything she had, and excelled at
44:11everything, and still never lost the compassion or the caring.
44:17CAROL STANG- She would help anyone. I mean, if he demanded the money, she probably would have made him
44:21a sandwich to go with it.
44:26CAROL STANG- When Trevor Stang was convicted of murder, he had a record with approximately 40 prior convictions.
44:33CAROL STANG- Stang was also investigated in relation to hammer attacks and robberies involving two cab drivers in 1999.
44:41CAROL STANG- In the end, he was convicted of one count of robbery.
44:45CAROL STANG- Tara McDonald's family hoped her death would lead to laws being passed, preventing businesses from having solo
44:52workers at night.
44:53CAROL STANG- But that never happened in Alberta.
44:58CAROL STANG- Thank you for joining us tonight on Crime Beat. I'm Anthony Robart.
45:03CAROL STANG- Want more episodes of Crime Beat? Listen to the Crime Beat Podcast, now for free on Apple
45:09Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favourite podcast.
45:14And for past episodes of Crime Beat, go to the Global TV app, visit GlobalTV.com, or check out our
45:22Crime Beat YouTube page.
45:28CAROL STANG-
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