- 2 days ago
At twenty-one, Lenore Rattray moved to Vancouver for a fresh start, working at a local photo studio while chasing her dream of journalism school.
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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.
00:12The mystery began on Monday night.
00:1454-year-old Ian Blackburn and his 49-year-old wife Nancy were found murdered in the trunk of Nancy's
00:20car.
00:21He drove up to check his cottage and was confronted by an individual in his house and taken under control.
00:27Ian must have asked Nancy to come up there.
00:30The perpetrator could have taken the two of them from there in her car back down to Toronto.
00:37But at the same time, we're dealing with a person who was breaking into cottages that was named to be
00:42Cottage Hermit or House Hermit.
00:44In each of the break-ins, pages of handwritten notes about World War II bombers and battleships were found in
00:51and around the cottages.
00:52She saw the writings and immediately she recognized him as being a person who she had spent time working in
00:58the store with.
00:59This is the man police are looking for.
01:0337-year-old David Alexander Snow.
01:06Possibly could be armed.
01:08He could be suicidal and extremely dangerous.
01:11There was no thought that he had left the province.
01:18Police were hunting a predator in Ontario's cottage country linked to two brutal murders and a terrifying abduction.
01:27What they didn't realize was that the search would soon stretch far beyond the province's borders.
01:32Tonight, the shocking twist that left investigators scrambling to catch up.
01:39Here now is Jamie Dahl with part two of Trail of Terror, Camp Hell.
01:49With a college diploma now in her pocket, a young Calgary woman was ready to put her hometown in the
01:56rearview mirror.
01:57It was the spring of 1992.
02:00Mom said one day, Dad, I'm moving to Vancouver.
02:03She was excited, nervous, like anybody would be.
02:07And then entering the unknown.
02:09She thought her opportunities were better in Vancouver after taking a course at SAIT in journalism.
02:16She was always interested in photography and that sort of thing.
02:21And actually worked at a store here in Calgary.
02:24And then moved to Vancouver and got a job in another store selling film and doing photos.
02:33Lenore Rattray also wanted to be closer to her mom and brother.
02:37Whenever she'd come here, you know, we'd go to the beach and everything like that.
02:41It was really different than, you know, than Calgary.
02:45And then to be closer to me because, you know, we hadn't been that close for a while, like on
02:50a day-to-day basis.
02:52It was great.
02:53Yeah, really good.
02:54It was really fun.
02:56On July 3rd, 1992, Lenore went to work at Suter's Photoshop.
03:02Her dad, Dennis, had been visiting from Calgary that week.
03:05I was heading back to Calgary at that time.
03:08Stopped at the store to say goodbye to her.
03:11And I think back to that moment.
03:16I knew something wasn't quite right.
03:19But late that afternoon, Faye did not hear from her daughter when she was expecting to.
03:24When she didn't phone, she phones every day.
03:27So I went over to Suter's and her car was there.
03:31And Lenore never went anywhere without her car.
03:33And I just said, something's not, you know, something's not right.
03:37So that's when I phoned the police.
03:40Later that night, Dennis had just pulled into his driveway in Calgary when the phone rang.
03:46And I got a call and said that she was missing.
03:49Her car was still parked where she had left it.
03:52There was just too much evidence saying that there's something wrong.
03:56So, yeah, I just turned around and went back.
04:02There's only one thing you can think of.
04:04Like, hang in there.
04:08I'll find you.
04:12It was Friday afternoon, a seemingly normal day for the clerk at Suter's Photo Store in East Hastings.
04:17She was new on the job.
04:19She'd moved from Calgary just two months ago.
04:2121-year-old Lenore Denise Rattray was working alone when she mysteriously disappeared,
04:25and police fear the worst.
04:27From the circumstances, it would lead us to believe that this is totally out of character
04:33and there's nothing to indicate that there is foul play,
04:39but there's nothing to indicate that there isn't.
04:41So we're treating it as seriously as possible.
04:44Lenore apparently locked up the store at 6 o'clock.
04:47Police don't know if anyone was with her, but there was no sign of a struggle.
04:50Her car with Alberta plates was left parked in a lot about a block away.
04:54The suggestion that there may be a boyfriend involved, is that being pursued?
04:59That's normal.
04:59That's what you do in any type of investigation where somebody goes missing,
05:03where things don't add up.
05:05You start looking into their past.
05:08Lenore lived in the basement of a Burnaby home shared with Charlene and Dennis Simpkins.
05:12They were away at the time and don't know if she came home.
05:15There was a wine bottle and some glasses.
05:17So she must have been here Friday night.
05:19But other than that, nobody knows much.
05:23I'd really like to help find her if there's anything I can do.
05:26I didn't even verbalize, oh, I think she's kidnapped and blah, blah.
05:30I just said something's not right.
05:33My gut told me that she wouldn't just take off and not be in contact with anybody.
05:40This is a very busy neighbourhood on the Vancouver-Burnaby boundary.
05:44The Kootenay bus loop over there, hundreds of people every hour.
05:47And the store itself, people coming and going all the time, buying film, dropping off photographs.
05:53We're appealing to the public for any information on her whereabouts or anything that may have happened to her.
05:59I'm going to put some posters around and if anybody would like to help or if there's anybody that feels
06:05they can spread some posters
06:06and they can get in touch with the police to spread some too.
06:10But I know somebody, somebody must have seen her but they just don't remember seeing her at all.
06:15So something will come up because right now there's nothing and there's got to be something.
06:20Somebody, you know, somebody must have seen her somewhere.
06:25I drove around aimlessly, Vancouver, there's not much you can do.
06:30Looking at everything in as much detail as you can, thinking, where could she be?
06:41Yeah, it's just, where is she?
06:44It's like a haunting.
06:46It's like a nightmare.
06:48It's always there in the back of your head.
06:51I said to the police, look in the woods, look in the woods, look in the woods.
06:55I don't know, I had sort of a thing that she's in the woods.
06:58I remember one night falling asleep and thinking that, yeah, I think she is in the forest.
07:07Gaining the thoughts, just sending them out and hoping that you stay strong and I'm still here and I'm never
07:15going to give up.
07:29Welcome back to Crime Beat.
07:3121-year-old Lenore Atre vanished while working at a Vancouver photography studio in July 1992.
07:38Her family searched frantically, holding on to hope she would be found safe, unaware of the ordeal she was enduring.
07:48We now return to Jamie Dahl with Trail of Terror, Camp Hell.
07:59What was this?
08:01This was, this was Suter's.
08:04Her shift at Suter's started off like any other.
08:07A quiet morning working alone and around 11 a.m. a customer walked in.
08:13The way that I've described it most vividly, I guess, in a simple way, is dead, rotting corpse.
08:20Like he was like a walking, dead person.
08:24He claimed that he was interested in family pictures.
08:27He was focused on his mother.
08:29He wanted to honour her somehow.
08:34She was a shut-in.
08:35She didn't leave the house much and he wanted to know about us coming on site to do some pictures.
08:43Then he left.
08:46My dad came by.
08:48Did you tell him about the stinky guy that had come before?
08:51No.
08:51It didn't stick out in my mind at all that of something that I should be aware of.
08:59The man came back two more times before closing.
09:03Where it all turned around, it was just before five and I was, we'd had no sales.
09:12I'd done the cash out early and I heard the bell ding and I looked out and there he was
09:19again.
09:20And he said, I'm back.
09:22He said, I've been thinking about that studio option again.
09:27He said, I'd really like to look at it one more time.
09:32I didn't think anything of it.
09:34I turned my back to him and the next thing I know I felt something hard and cold on my
09:39cheek.
09:41And his voice dropped.
09:44And he said, I want the money.
09:46But he shut the door and in this room there were no windows.
09:52There was no back door.
09:53He had me go down on my knees with my back to him.
09:58And you have a gun to your cheek.
10:01Yeah.
10:03Lenore gave the man the money hoping that would end the robbery.
10:07But he had other ideas.
10:11He wanted my car and for whatever reason, I was very protective of my car.
10:17I lied and I said, I didn't have it.
10:22I didn't want him to have my car.
10:26I said, it was at my mom's house.
10:28That's when he said, get your things.
10:31I'm going to take you with me.
10:34And then we just started walking.
10:39It was very clear that to me that the gun was right there in his pocket, in his hand.
10:46And he had told me he had escaped from prison.
10:49And he told me he's not going back there.
10:52And he had said, I don't want to hurt you, but I'm not afraid to use my gun.
10:58With the gun in his pocket, the man walked Lenore eight kilometres towards North Vancouver
11:04and over the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge.
11:08Somehow I remember coming down a grassy embankment leading up to this.
11:13And that's where the terror really took hold.
11:18As I was like, where the F am I going?
11:22This is the first time Lenore has stepped foot on this bridge since that day.
11:27I was imagining in my mind, just pushing him.
11:32But like the gun, like close to me, the gun was in his pocket.
11:38I remember police cars driving by when he would mumble to me, don't do anything stupid.
11:46We have nothing new.
11:48We've got nothing substantial in the case to give us any leads or information as to where
11:52she could be at this point.
11:53Wherever she is, it's beyond her control that someone must have, I believe, foul play.
12:08Yeah, this is, like it makes my legs weak.
12:16Is this Camp Hell?
12:17Oh, this is Camp Hell.
12:21He had a bunch of black garbage bags all around the hedging.
12:27He had a piece of astroturf laid down.
12:31He had some blankets.
12:34There were evidence of food containers and such that were strewn about.
12:40Moments later, the living nightmare turned into a living hell.
12:46I just knew it was going to be bad.
12:52What happened then?
12:53Well, that's where he got violent.
12:55Or that's where the, it just all changed.
12:59He had me go on my knees again.
13:01And he reached around and he started his dirty talk.
13:06And he started undressing me, undoing the buttons on my shirt, reaching from behind.
13:13And I freaked.
13:15And that's where I just started flailing and the fight was on.
13:23And that's the only time I fought him.
13:24And it was, it was, it was a mess.
13:30It was bad.
13:31He smashed me repeatedly in the face.
13:35He broke my teeth.
13:37And he was threatening.
13:39He started to threaten.
13:40And I think that's where he pulled out his other guns and showed me that I don't know who I'm
13:47dealing with.
13:48Basically, this is not up to you anymore.
13:51Or that night, he forced himself upon me.
13:54It was hours.
13:57Hours.
14:01But he said if I did this, he'd let me go the next day.
14:05Where did you go in your mind?
14:08I think that's when I started counting.
14:11I don't know where that came from, but my coping mechanism was counting.
14:18I counted seconds, to minutes, to hours.
14:23As you're being.
14:24Yeah.
14:26My ankles were always bound.
14:27My wrists were always bound in the front.
14:29So I, I, you know, was, I was sitting down or laying down and bound by my ankles and my
14:37wrists tightly.
14:39He was just like, I was like this,
14:45this toy that he wanted to hurt.
14:50If I stood up, I could, I would be able to see it through there.
14:54That feeling that.
14:56It was so close and so far.
14:58Like, I mean, humanity was right there, but it was whizzing by me.
15:05Lenore said every day her captor would hogtie her and cross the highway to the Safeway.
15:10He'd bring back small amounts of food and the newspaper.
15:15He seemed to be obsessed with finding articles on me being missing in the paper.
15:25I was worried about my mom, and I saw my mom in the paper.
15:30I just want to tell her that there's a lot of people that are, um, really care for you, and
15:37we're really...
15:48And we're really, we're really trying to find you.
16:03Welcome back to Crime Beat.
16:0521-year-old Lenore Rattray had been missing for days, held captive by a man in the woods.
16:11She was tied up, even stripped of her clothes.
16:15But through all the horror and abuse, she managed to stay alive.
16:21We now return to Trail of Terror, Camp Hell.
16:31I soon learned that I kept talking and kept him entertained and told him stories.
16:36The less and less time was spent on torturing me.
16:41The horrific abuse in the woods continued for eight straight days.
16:47And on the ninth day, something changed when the man went across the road.
16:52My perception is that he was getting less and less turned on by me and borderline bored.
17:00It's 10-10 Saturday morning.
17:01The kidnapper set his sights on Movie Land video near Safeway.
17:05His target this time, a 19-year-old clerk, Monica Fast.
17:08He ties up her boss and forces her to drive him away in her car.
17:11When he came back, when he started to tell me, I've taken another person, you're going to come with me,
17:19I need you to pretend that we are together, don't do anything stupid.
17:22I went with him to the car where this blue Volkswagen Beetle was there, this older model.
17:31And he came out of the woods with her.
17:32She got in the driver's seat.
17:35She looked at me and just, I mean, the terror in her eyes.
17:39She got in the driver's seat.
17:41And then he just barked orders.
17:45Working on a weekend, and the cameraman that I was working with, he and I were kind of roaming around
17:51on the North Shore of Vancouver.
17:53There was a high alert call that was going out.
17:56And it was that there was a woman from a video rental store at Westview Shopping Centre in North Vancouver
18:05was missing.
18:07And her car was gone.
18:08And the police were responding.
18:12He took me to a different part where she was, and he tied me up.
18:18I could hear the sounds of somebody hitting somebody.
18:20I could hear her screaming.
18:22I could hear her saying no.
18:24And within a few moments, his hand was on my shoulder, and he said, the police are at the car.
18:34I'm on my way now.
18:36I'm not going to hurt you anymore.
18:38And then I looked up, and it's almost like he just got swallowed into the bush and he was gone.
18:47Get back in the car, you guys.
18:51Get back in the van now.
18:52We'll give you a statement, and we can find out what's happening.
18:55We raced down to Indian River Road, and of course the police are there, and jump out of the van,
19:03turn the camera on, and get this shot of this woman from the movie land, who is now being escorted
19:10out of the woods.
19:10They've got a tarp or a blanket to warm her up, to pull her out.
19:15And it's like, we're still trying to figure out what's going on.
19:19We had no idea the scope of it.
19:22I saw this police officer charging at me, gun drawn.
19:31And I said, my name's Lenore, I'm a missing person, something like that.
19:41I think he had a knife, and he cut my bindings then and took me out.
19:45Like, oh my gosh, this could be over.
19:51It's the end of a horrifying ordeal two young women will never forget.
19:55They are led from the bushes at the base of Mount Seymour Park in North Vancouver.
20:00On the left in the brown jacket, Lenore Denise Rattray, free after being captive for a week.
20:05On the right in black, an unidentified 19-year-old store clerk kidnapped just two hours before.
20:10Are you available to clear from the victim to assist Bravo 9 with the dog master?
20:14I just got a phone call, and all they said is she's been found.
20:20She looked really disheveled.
20:22You know, I mean, she looked, you know, dirty.
20:24She just looked really, you know, and just kind of, you know, like straight face.
20:30Just, you know, I mean, I think she's in shock, right?
20:33And then when we hugged, we both cried.
20:35Has Lenore told you anything in terms of what she's been through?
20:38Well, she's been very helpful.
20:39We can appreciate she's quite traumatized, and we're approaching that very carefully.
20:43She looks like it's been a very difficult week for her.
20:45She's a very difficult week, and she's a very strong little girl, yes.
20:49Yeah.
20:50Yeah, I want to cry, but I'm crying because I'm happy.
20:53But she's alive.
20:55That's the main thing.
20:56Yes.
20:57What was that moment like when you saw your mom for the first time?
21:03Just, I felt like it was just all of it.
21:06Just felt safety, like real life.
21:24Like my granny, I don't know why, how my granny got out there, my mom's mom.
21:30And I remember her standing there with a little pink and white teddy bear, just holding him.
21:36Like just...
21:38It's just like so relieved.
21:44So...
21:45Yeah, it's like, you know, a hundred elephants just left my back.
21:51You know, it was probably one of the best days of my life.
21:57Lenore's in tough shape.
22:00She's gone through an ordeal.
22:02The ordeal isn't over for her.
22:03And we're trying to do everything that we can do to give her what she needs and support her and
22:10also at the same time satisfy our investigative needs.
22:13But suffice to say that Lenore has been through an ordeal and it's not over for her.
22:20We don't have a whole lot on him, just he's a very dangerous fella.
22:24This is a...
22:25This is very bizarre.
22:27An alert officer had spotted the car, now reported as stolen.
22:31The kidnapper abandoned his victims and ran.
22:34Oh, I think this was very critical.
22:38I sincerely think that if the police officer wasn't along at the time he was, that we'd be looking at
22:44the worst case scenario.
22:46He might have been investigating a homicide.
22:47A double homicide.
22:50Late Saturday afternoon, the largest manhunt in North Vancouver RCMP history takes more than 40 officers into Mount Seymour Park,
22:57searching for a man in connection with the disappearance of two Vancouver women.
23:04A member's attending Indian River Drive.
23:07We now have a suspect description.
23:10White male, thin bill, 30 years.
23:13High cheekbone, wearing gold-rimmed glasses.
23:16A blue t-shirt, blue jean, baseball hat.
23:20He has rotten teeth and he smells very bad.
23:23Again, this suspect should be considered very dangerous.
23:25He's obviously very desperate.
23:27He's hiding up in the bush.
23:29Our suspect is in possession of two 9mm hands.
23:41Once the Volkswagen bug was located with the girls, a duffel bag was located with three handguns in it.
23:52When we checked these handguns, they were associated to a break-in in Caledon, Ontario.
23:59That David was now identified as none other than wanted fugitive from Ontario, David Snow.
24:07The Ontario suspect is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for the murders of Ian and Nancy Blackburn.
24:12Their bodies were found in the trunk of their car in the driveway of their home.
24:16Police want to question him about the disappearance of Caroline Case, a 47-year-old abducted from her Toronto gift
24:23store.
24:24Or in North Vancouver, a Volkswagen was found with camera equipment and guns that were known to have been stolen
24:33from the house across from the Blackburns.
24:35I'm on holidays in London and one of the detectives from London, who I had in other cases, calls me
24:43and says,
24:43Have you been watching TV? Because I think they have your guy in B.C.
24:47The detective sergeant from the OPP and myself made arrangements to fly immediately out to Vancouver.
24:57I first remember that night coming into work, and that was the first time I saw a composite of David
25:06Snow.
25:07So at that point, they knew who they were looking for.
25:14It's heading towards the road, too, that trail.
25:19The suspect is traversing the Baden-Powell Trail, and it's difficult to see because it cuts through a dense forest,
25:25under power lines, and in and out of gullies, and police are having a tough time.
25:30I mean, he's a good runner, and he knows the area very well. He's gone up and down and all
25:34around.
25:34Through thick brush, thin brush, almost through a creek a couple of times.
25:38So, pretty tough. Very tough.
25:42Police eventually closed the mountain, and over the next few hours, searched every car as it left the park.
25:48Throughout the day, more and more heavily armed emergency response team members showed up.
26:06The suspect was spotted a number of times, and at one point, it seemed as though police were closing in
26:12on him.
26:12But then he disappeared again.
26:28Corporal Rosa, Dog Handler, Brossard, and Marshall were going in on this Baden-Powell Trail we're leaving now.
26:37Much like an advanced scouting team during a war, North Vancouver police took every precaution to avoid becoming victims
26:43in the search for a man considered armed and dangerous.
26:46I'll be doing that right now, staff. I'm at the...
26:50Darkness ended the search for the day, and it became a waiting game as police assumed they had contained the
26:56man in Mount Seymour Park.
26:59They dispatched to me, says, we've got two alarm calls. Can you cover them?
27:04And I said, sure. And Starbucks has got an alarm going in Edgemont Village, and then the next one is
27:13the Bridgeview Restaurant, further up Capilano Road.
27:16So we were told to cancel, and then we could go to the Starbucks one.
27:20And I did, for some reason, another one of these things, you don't know why you do it, but I
27:24said, ah, we'll get out and check it anyways.
27:27I sent John around what would be the west and the north side, and then I went along the south
27:33and east side.
27:34of the building. And I didn't see anybody around, it was dim lighting inside the restaurant, so it looked like
27:41it was closed.
27:42I rattled the French doors, and they were locked.
27:45And as I walked further around, to go to the other side, there was a latticework shed, maybe 12 feet
27:53tall.
27:54I come around the corner, and I have my flashlight. There's a male over a female. She's naked from the
28:01waist down, but you can't see her face, because she's got a plastic bag over her face.
28:07And he's very studiously sort of doing a motion, like, with his hands, like he's tightening something.
28:15He looks immediately at me, and through the flashlight, I pull my gun. I yell something at him, I don't
28:20know what it was at the time.
28:21As he starts running, and he's running pretty hard, and I'm behind him. We go through a hedge, a fairly
28:30thick hedge. And then we end up in another parking lot. And I tackled him there.
28:36He went down face first. I handcuffed him, and he's not saying much. You know, he's got a little bit
28:44of blood on his face from hitting the gravel.
28:46And I said to him, I said, are you the guy we're looking for? And he said something like, yeah,
28:52probably.
28:53My partner, he comes running, he's yelling for me. And I said, did you see the woman on the ground?
28:59And he said, no, no.
28:59And I said, well, go back. She wasn't breathing then. She had a wire around her neck.
29:05But it was tight. He couldn't undo it. He managed to cut off the wire. She had a plastic, I
29:10think it was like a yellow save-on bag over her head.
29:13So that came out. She had a ball gag in her mouth. She started to come to, because we thought
29:19she was dead, actually.
29:21She started to come to and started to sputter a bit. And the ambulance was there fairly quickly. And they
29:29got her loaded up and going to the hospital.
29:31And meanwhile, of course, we had called it in, and where we were, and that we think we've got Mr.
29:38Snow, and cars are screaming at us from across the city.
29:46Police retrieve two guns at the scene, but they had not been used. Instead, the suspect had attempted to strangle
29:51the woman.
29:53I was locking the door. As I locked the door and I turned around, there was this male standing there
29:59with something on my side.
30:01I went and looked down. It was a gun. And he said, be quiet. Don't make a noise.
30:07He said to me, I've just escaped from jail. I don't care what I have to do to get money.
30:13I need money.
30:14So I said, I don't have any money. I can't help you. He dragged me outside, took me right up
30:20to the road.
30:22And I was thinking, oh, Capilano, is anybody going to Grouse Mountain? Let me see a car.
30:29I would either push him in front of it or fall in front of it. But he dragged me back
30:35in again.
30:35And then he took me around the corner, goes into the garden, pushed him against the wall that's there.
30:42And I was still saying to him that I don't have anything. What do you want? What do you want?
30:46That's when he said to me, I'm going to you to death. When he said that, I started fighting.
30:52I was fighting. I mean, I didn't even know, but apparently there was a, he put a bag on my
30:59head.
31:00And he had taken off and, you know, the hanging baskets that hung, he took the metal off one of
31:06the baskets,
31:07and it was wrapped around on my neck. And I just, I just fought him.
31:14All I know, it was hurting a lot. And all there was blood all over the place.
31:18And my hair was stuck with blood. I was wearing a slip under my skirt, a silk slip.
31:26That was pushed down my throat. So I was having a problem breathing, of course.
31:32And really, I mean, I thought I was dead. That's why.
31:36When this policeman appeared, and I don't remember anything else at all until I saw this face.
31:43And I was thinking, oh, it's my guardian angel. And that was the policeman.
31:49I was at Lionsgate Hospital in the intensive care unit.
31:53I had the room to see a person in the bed. Couldn't recognize him.
31:57Because the beating was so severe. He was not recognizable.
32:03His face was swollen. This person was like, there's my mum.
32:08I went over and, yeah, she heard my voice right away.
32:12And she said, I thought I was dead. I thought it was, your voice was angels' voices.
32:17So it was pretty, pretty moving.
32:21And the phone rang, and I picked it up, and it was Sergeant Randy Bennett.
32:25And he said, we caught the bad guy.
32:28That was amazing.
32:32Yeah.
32:34Like, just indescribable.
32:37Have you ever caught somebody trying to-
32:40Kill somebody? No, it's very, very, very rare.
32:48David Snow lied to his victims in British Columbia that he had escaped from prison.
32:53That is exactly where investigators in Ontario were hoping to put him for the rest of his life.
32:59His arrest on the other side of the country was their big break.
33:04It was a massive relief at the time.
33:06I mean, we were surprised where he was at.
33:09We found out that he had taken the train within a couple of days after the murder of the Blackburns.
33:15Even before the kidnapper was captured, Ontario police got involved.
33:19They are now here to question the suspect for a double murder in Caldon, Ontario, and a number of other
33:25unsolved cases.
33:27He said, I'll tell you everything, but I don't want to go to jail for more than 25 years.
33:33He wanted to make a deal, but we didn't, and he never did tell us.
33:38Meanwhile, in British Columbia, investigators discover Lenore Rattray was not Snow's first victim in Vancouver.
33:46There is one other incident that could be linked.
33:50The NewsHour has learned that on Monday, June 29th at roughly 5pm on West Broadway, another female was sexually assaulted.
33:57She was closing stars on Broadway when a man entered the store and tied her up.
34:02She was detained for an hour, but somehow managed to escape.
34:0637-year-old David Alexander Snow now faces 30 charges, twice as many as yesterday.
34:12They involve incidents in Vancouver and North Vancouver.
34:16One count of attempted murder, three of kidnapping, five of unlawful confinement, five of sexual assault, including one causing bodily
34:25harm, five of armed robbery, two of overcoming resistance by choking a victim to commit an offense, and nine weapons
34:34offenses.
34:35The North Vancouver courthouse was the scene of a surprise decision this afternoon in the David Alexander Snow case.
34:42Snow pleaded guilty to 23 charges last month, but he faced the verdict on seven more, including one for attempted
34:48murder.
34:49And that's where the surprise comes in.
34:51The judge found Snow guilty on counts of sexual assault in unlawful confinement, but found him not guilty on the
34:57most serious charge of attempted murder.
34:59The judge said that Snow had no intent to murder his fourth victim.
35:02He said Snow just made things up as he went along.
35:05Were you angry when he was found not guilty for your attempted murder?
35:09Very angry.
35:09She was a childhood survivor of Auschwitz, and she grew up and came to Canada and was just a wonderful
35:17human being.
35:18Snow, who is known as the house hermit in Ontario after a series of break-ins in cottage country, still
35:25faces abduction charges there.
35:27And he is a suspect in a number of Toronto area murders.
35:43Welcome back.
35:44While David Snow awaits his fate for crimes committed in British Columbia and Ontario, the search for the missing Toronto
35:52woman Caroline Case ramps up.
35:56Here's Jamie Dahl with a conclusion of Trail of Terror Camp Hell.
36:03Nine months before Lenore Rattray went missing in BC, 47-year-old businesswoman Caroline Case vanished.
36:11Police believe Case was abducted from her West End Toronto gift shop and then murdered.
36:17The next day, her blood-stained Mercedes station wagon was found rolled over in a Kaladin ditch.
36:25Initially, police searched the area where her car was found, but now they are shifting their efforts northwest after new
36:32information came to light this summer.
36:35As you know, there's been a couple of cases of kidnapping and confinement in BC.
36:41Taking a look at that method of operation, we've given this another try in this area after having a discussion
36:49with a person that was arrested out in BC.
36:54So a year later, when we came back and conducted the search here, her body was found 500 metres straight
37:03out from the car, right back in the field in that area.
37:06Just bones, nothing else, just on top of the ground.
37:10The weeds and grass were growing up around the skeletal remains.
37:15So very hard to look, to see, even in this grass.
37:19It's unfortunate that her body was missed.
37:21It's really, truly unfortunate because if she was found early, there would have been a lot of, I'm sure, evidence.
37:29Case's husband is astounded.
37:31Police failed to find the body the first time they searched, if in fact the body was there at that
37:36time.
37:37Not so much anger, it's frustrated.
37:39It would have made this year so much easier, I guess, if we'd known the answers a year ago.
37:47It's been a lot of agony trying to unravel what has happened and why it happened.
37:55The following year in 1993, back in Vancouver, a dangerous offender hearing was held for David Snow.
38:04Snow shows a pattern of antisocial and narcissistic behaviour.
38:08He suffers from a sexual disorder known as paraphilia, meaning he's only sexually gratified when violence is involved.
38:14As Hoffman described the chances of treatment as being low, the probability of re-offending as very high.
38:21And he was declared a dangerous offender in British Columbia.
38:24And at that point in 1993, myself and Detective Doug Grady from Metro Homicide went to BC and brought him
38:32back to Ontario for the two charges of the first degree murder of Nancy and Ian Blackburn.
38:38And in 1995, he pled guilty to the Appleton abduction and was sentenced to six years.
38:46And then we ended up with our trial in Toronto in 1997.
38:52David Snow, a former antique dealer, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first degree murder.
38:58After not hearing from Ian and Nancy Blackburn, nephew Jamie Osborne was sent to the couple's North Toronto home.
39:05Upon arrival, Osborne noticed Nancy's car was parked in the driveway.
39:10Inside the car, he discovered a Kleenex on the front driver's seat.
39:13Osborne told the jury, quote, I saw some spots on it. It looked like blood.
39:19DNA from David Snow matched the blood in the tissue paper in the front seat of the car.
39:26That's what Crown Prosecutor Hank Goody says is a key piece of evidence.
39:31It was a long trial. It went from February to July.
39:36Survivors from British Columbia also took the stand.
39:40I think it was very important for those women that come and testified to show the similar fact
39:45and to show what kind of a monster that individual it was.
39:50And it tied into some of our forensic evidence that we had and our evidence that we had here in
39:56Ontario.
39:57Facing him in court was powerful, I guess, because he was stuck in the box and I had the freedom
40:04to move.
40:06Miss Rattray, when she got off the witness stand, was just relieved and confronted him,
40:11saying, you're not going to get away with this.
40:13She was very strong and just telling Snow, she's going to live and have a good life,
40:20despite what he's done to her.
40:23And I just thought it was one of the bravest testimonies I'd seen.
40:30What was that like to see him again?
40:36I wanted, I wanted to kill him.
40:40I was angry and I'm still to this day because you know what?
40:43His lawyer was arguing with me, trying to tell me that I was a liar and I was dreaming all
40:47this up and it wasn't true.
40:49And I was having none of it.
40:50The testimony of Lenore Rattray and Dalia Jeleno will stay with me forever because of the horrible ordeal they both
40:59endured and the way they fought to save their lives will stay with me forever.
41:05Verdict was guilty, two counts of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
41:10It's been a long six months waiting for this to come and so thrilled that we finally have a verdict
41:16we all want.
41:17What's the thought process to make somebody do this, not just to Ian and Nancy but to all the victims
41:23out west and it's incomprehensible.
41:26David Snow did not look at the jury and showed no visible reaction as the guilty verdict was read.
41:32When given the opportunity to speak, he mumbled, I have nothing to say.
41:37Snow was also convicted of break and enter with intent, robbery and armed robbery.
41:44Why no charges in the Caroline Case investigation?
41:48He's never been charged with Caroline Case but the timeline is there and I don't believe that there's any physical
41:55evidence.
41:55It's just a matter of the fact that the similarities are there.
42:00There's no doubt in my mind that it's not David Snow.
42:06Ontario investigators say David Snow has refused to speak with them about Caroline Case and has never admitted to any
42:13involvement.
42:14They did tremendous work back there in putting those cases together.
42:18What happened in that case with Dahlia is it becomes very personal real quick and so it's hard to dismiss
42:25it, right?
42:26Normally you just move on, I'm going to the next file. That one's a tougher one.
42:31We've got someone that we actually want you to meet.
42:42You and I will be an item forever, forever, forever.
42:46Yeah, I know.
42:47You will always, always, I will always remember you.
42:51Thank you so much for saving me. I'm here because of you.
42:53Thank you, you too.
42:55Often you've been in my heart, in my soul forever.
42:59You'll always be there too for me.
43:01We will be there forever, you and I. Thank you again.
43:06The effects of other people's debauchery is so impactful on so many in ways unannounced.
43:19Nothing is normal for me. I'm afraid to do this, I'm afraid to do that. I don't want to go
43:23here, I don't want to go there.
43:24Because although I think I'm really strong and nobody else sees it, I'm petrified inside to do anything just in
43:31case.
43:33It made me realize I'm not safe.
43:36It made me really realize how unsafe this world is.
43:41Every situation I'm in, I overthink. I always look at the worst case scenario.
43:49Here we are 30 some odd years later.
43:54All the trauma she's gone through with that.
43:58It still comes back. I still want to kill the bastard.
44:00My sister said to me, you know Faye, if you didn't find Lenore, you'd probably still be looking. And that's
44:08probably true. I'd probably be looking my whole life.
44:12The mental health piece has been the toughest one. But my mental capacity is what kept me alive. But that's
44:26the biggest fight that I battle. It's not letting the darkness win.
44:36In 2025, David Snow was charged with first degree murder in connection with the death of Angeline Quinnell, whose body
44:44was discovered near Apsley, Ontario, one month after Caroline Case went missing.
44:49No one has ever been charged in Caroline's murder. David Snow remains behind bars.
44:58Thank you for joining us tonight on Crime Beat. I'm Anthony Robart.
45:03Want more episodes of Crime Beat? Listen to the Crime Beat Podcast now for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or
45:11wherever you find your favourite podcasts.
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.
45:23.
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