Dateline NBC S32E11 The Case of the Man With No Name H 264

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Transcript

00:00:09Tonight on Dateline.

00:00:11An investigator called me to say that we had found Duane's car.

00:00:16It was on fire and we're looking for Duane.

00:00:19I started panicking. I was crying.

00:00:23There was so much luminous from the amount of blood in the car

00:00:27that you could pretty much see it from space.

00:00:30Probably something very bad had happened to Duane.

00:00:35She commented that she would not be surprised

00:00:38if her ex-boyfriend might have something to do with this.

00:00:42He said, you're spending time with him and not with me.

00:00:45We can't track him down. Nobody has been to his home.

00:00:48They don't know where he lives. He's a ghost, this guy.

00:00:51I reached out to his grandmother. I send her his driver's license.

00:00:55She immediately says, that's not my grandson. I've never seen him before.

00:01:00This guy had taken her grandson's identity.

00:01:04He only asked one question.

00:01:05How far will this jet ski go on a full tank of gas?

00:01:09I almost feel like we're chasing James Bond here.

00:01:12I lived in terror. Sleeping with one eye open.

00:01:16He will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

00:01:19A murder suspect armed with a stolen ID and a jet ski

00:01:23makes for a manhunt like no other.

00:01:26I'm Lester Holt and this is Dateline.

00:01:37Here's Keith Morrison with

00:01:39The Case of the Man with No Name

00:01:49He was a ghost.

00:01:52A grainy image on a bit of security video.

00:01:56The whatever it was that lurked in a midnight dumpster.

00:02:00The mystery man rushing into the street with something under his arm.

00:02:03That he was up to something devious

00:02:06here in this big northern city

00:02:08seemed obvious.

00:02:10If only someone could make sense of him

00:02:13and his deeds

00:02:14as he slipped in and out of view

00:02:16like some prairie poltergeist.

00:02:19Just who was he?

00:02:21This man with no name.

00:02:25What did he do?

00:02:27And where did he go?

00:02:31No one could believe it.

00:02:33If you'd scripted this for a movie

00:02:35they would say this is far-fetched.

00:02:44And here is how it began.

00:02:47It was a bright Sunday morning going on noon.

00:02:50May 31st, 2015, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

00:02:54A pedestrian walking past a parking garage

00:02:56heard a loud explosion

00:02:58and quick as a wink pulled out a smartphone

00:03:01and caught this video

00:03:03of a man running away from the garage

00:03:05and the smoldering hunk of an Acura sedan

00:03:08inside the garage.

00:03:11Firefighters and police, to their relief,

00:03:13could find no victim inside the car.

00:03:16But why did someone set it on fire?

00:03:19Had to be a reason.

00:03:22The registered owner was a guy

00:03:24who lived a three-hour drive away

00:03:26in the city of Edmonton.

00:03:2842-year-old Duane Demke.

00:03:32This is Duane's brother, Darren.

00:03:35I received a call

00:03:36from the Calgary Police Arson Investigator

00:03:43call me to say that we had found Duane's car

00:03:45and it was on fire

00:03:47and we're looking for Duane.

00:03:48Kind of insinuating maybe that

00:03:51he had something to do with it

00:03:52and I knew right away that

00:03:53no, Duane didn't have anything to do with that.

00:03:57His friends had just seen Duane the night before

00:04:00at a birthday party for one of his best friends,

00:04:04Kalia Palihuanopoulos.

00:04:06But he left early to pull a shift

00:04:08at his limo service job.

00:04:10Here's Kalia.

00:04:12Duane said that he'd come back

00:04:13after he was done his limo shift.

00:04:16But he did not.

00:04:18I didn't really think anything of the time.

00:04:20I just thought maybe he went home

00:04:22to bed or something.

00:04:24He was tired.

00:04:25So nobody was very worried about it at the time?

00:04:27No.

00:04:28And then I got a phone call.

00:04:29From a friend, asking...

00:04:32Had you heard from Duane since the party

00:04:34and I said no.

00:04:35And he said that Duane's father

00:04:37had called to say that the police

00:04:39had called him to let him know

00:04:40that the car was on fire in Calgary.

00:04:42And then of course he'd just start panicking

00:04:44and phoning Duane like crazy

00:04:46and just trying to call anybody

00:04:48that I could think of

00:04:49that he might have gone to spend the night

00:04:50at their house or anything.

00:04:52You're hoping that somebody just stole the car

00:04:54or something, right?

00:04:55Duane's friend, Darren Bavare,

00:04:58got the news from one of Duane's cousins.

00:05:00She'd said apparently Duane

00:05:03hadn't come home after his shift

00:05:05the previous night

00:05:06working as a chauffeur.

00:05:08And then I knew Duane had worked

00:05:10for a company at that time

00:05:12called Revolution Limousine.

00:05:14Shortly after that conversation

00:05:16I'd Googled the address.

00:05:18I just started a curiosity

00:05:19to see where it was located

00:05:20and it turned out to be

00:05:21not too terribly far

00:05:22from my home address.

00:05:24This Darren, by the way,

00:05:26is a rodeo rider.

00:05:28Laconic, slow talking.

00:05:29His friends called him

00:05:31the cowboy.

00:05:32But now, in that moment,

00:05:35the cowboy adopted a new role.

00:05:38Amateur detective.

00:05:40And when I was young, teenage boy,

00:05:43I'd read a lot of

00:05:44these Encyclopedia Brown books,

00:05:47which is basically a boy detective

00:05:49that kind of solves crimes

00:05:51in his neighborhood.

00:05:53And now hearing about

00:05:55a possible crime

00:05:56in his neighborhood,

00:05:57maybe involving his friend,

00:06:00cowboy was on the case

00:06:02and on his own

00:06:03drove out to Revolution Limousine

00:06:05in search of clues.

00:06:07And I surveyed the whole area,

00:06:11taking it all in.

00:06:12I'd taken quite a few pictures

00:06:14of the parking lot,

00:06:16the vehicles in the parking lot,

00:06:17license plate numbers,

00:06:19and came around behind

00:06:21this planter here.

00:06:23And I didn't notice it at first.

00:06:24I'd passed by

00:06:24because I was looking at the ground.

00:06:25And I happened to look to the side

00:06:29and notice sitting in the corner here

00:06:31was a black ball cap.

00:06:34And a sheath of some sort.

00:06:39And the cowboy wondered,

00:06:41what would Encyclopedia Brown do?

00:06:44Well, if this was a crime scene,

00:06:47if that is,

00:06:48then this hat,

00:06:50this sheath,

00:06:51should be handled as evidence,

00:06:54which is what he did.

00:06:56Took some pictures

00:06:57from quite a few different angles,

00:06:59close up,

00:07:00didn't touch anything,

00:07:01disturb anything.

00:07:02And then after donning

00:07:04a pair of gloves,

00:07:05Darren Beauvais took the hat

00:07:07and sheath to his truck

00:07:08and put them in separate plastic bags,

00:07:10having no idea.

00:07:13He had just collected evidence

00:07:14that would eventually help explain

00:07:16the mysterious disappearance

00:07:18of his friend,

00:07:19Dwayne Demkew.

00:07:36With a nickname like the cowboy

00:07:38and a childhood hero like Encyclopedia Brown,

00:07:41it hardly needs saying,

00:07:44Darren Beauvais was a determined man.

00:07:46Unable to find his missing friend,

00:07:48Dwayne Demkew,

00:07:49anywhere in or around

00:07:51the Revolution Limo Company,

00:07:52Darren drove over to the FedEx office,

00:07:55where Dwayne was scheduled

00:07:56to go to work on his second job

00:07:58that very night at 8 o'clock.

00:08:02And kind of staked out that workplace

00:08:04and waited around

00:08:06and 8 o'clock came and went

00:08:07and still no sign of Dwayne.

00:08:10Now the cowboy was really worried.

00:08:13This wasn't like Dwayne at all.

00:08:15So the next morning,

00:08:17he handed off his evidence,

00:08:19the knife sheath and the hat,

00:08:21to the police.

00:08:23And that same morning,

00:08:24Dwayne's friend,

00:08:25Collier,

00:08:25got a call from a detective

00:08:27with a request.

00:08:29They asked my boyfriend and I

00:08:31to come down to the police station

00:08:34to be interviewed.

00:08:35And they wanted to know more

00:08:37about what kind of person Dwayne was

00:08:39and what sort of relationship

00:08:42he had with Collier.

00:08:43Dwayne would come over a lot to my house.

00:08:46I'd make dinner for him

00:08:47once or twice a week.

00:08:48He got along really well

00:08:49with my boyfriend.

00:08:51Dwayne was a popular guy?

00:08:52He was very popular, yes.

00:08:54Yeah.

00:08:55What was it about him?

00:08:56He was just a really fun-loving guy.

00:08:58He was jovial.

00:08:59He laughed at everything.

00:09:01He was very kind-hearted

00:09:03and thoughtful.

00:09:04He was a hard worker.

00:09:06And he really went out of his way

00:09:08for people that he cared about.

00:09:11He worked really hard

00:09:12so that he could take

00:09:13a few months off a year

00:09:14because he was a PADI instructor.

00:09:16So he liked to go

00:09:17to tropical destinations

00:09:19and teach scuba diving.

00:09:21So he worked as hard as he could

00:09:22to save up

00:09:23and then take a few months off.

00:09:26That sounds like kind of

00:09:27an ideal life

00:09:27for some people I know.

00:09:29Yeah, it was for him.

00:09:31Hmm.

00:09:32He, I hear,

00:09:33had quite a crush on you.

00:09:36He did.

00:09:38But he wasn't ever

00:09:39forward or awkward about it.

00:09:41He always was respectful

00:09:42of my relationships,

00:09:43but he did have a crush on me.

00:09:47And so Kalia,

00:09:48like the cowboy,

00:09:49decided to pitch in to help.

00:09:52But rather than working alone,

00:09:54she pulled together

00:09:55a team of friends.

00:09:57And then we start

00:09:58trying to do

00:10:01our own detective work

00:10:02to put the pieces together.

00:10:03Sure.

00:10:04So what kinds of things

00:10:06did you do?

00:10:07We got flyers.

00:10:08We also had a friend

00:10:09who put up a billboard.

00:10:11We called all his friends.

00:10:14We were trying to

00:10:14lay all the puzzle pieces

00:10:16together to try

00:10:17to figure out

00:10:18what happened.

00:10:19Did quite a lot of work.

00:10:20It was,

00:10:21but you feel like

00:10:22you have to do something.

00:10:23Did you go over

00:10:24to the location

00:10:27of the limo company

00:10:27and look around there?

00:10:29We sure did, yes.

00:10:30What did you find there?

00:10:31Nothing.

00:10:32We were just looking

00:10:33to see if there was cameras,

00:10:34if we could see

00:10:35maybe there was

00:10:35a different angle,

00:10:36maybe just trying

00:10:37to find anything.

00:10:38Like I said,

00:10:38you're trying

00:10:38to be a detective.

00:10:39By using Dwayne's iPad,

00:10:42they found the spot

00:10:43where Dwayne's phone

00:10:44last pinged,

00:10:46about five miles

00:10:47from Revolution Limousine,

00:10:49along this highway

00:10:49that leads to Calgary,

00:10:51as if the phone

00:10:52had been tossed

00:10:53from a car.

00:10:54Of course,

00:10:55we're trying to drive

00:10:56to see if we can see

00:10:57maybe something,

00:10:58maybe he's in like

00:10:59a drainage pipe

00:11:00or anything.

00:11:01We're just trying

00:11:02to look, you know.

00:11:03I mean,

00:11:04we don't really know

00:11:04what we're looking for.

00:11:05We're just trying

00:11:06to find anything.

00:11:07Did it seem to you

00:11:07that the police

00:11:08were doing that

00:11:08same kind of work

00:11:09or not?

00:11:11No, they were.

00:11:12They definitely were.

00:11:13But you just

00:11:13can't sit still.

00:11:16Understand,

00:11:16the cops were

00:11:17treating this seriously,

00:11:19but as a missing

00:11:20persons case.

00:11:21After all,

00:11:22Dwayne could

00:11:23resurface any time.

00:11:25Sure, it looked bad,

00:11:26but people do

00:11:27turn up often.

00:11:30But by June 4th, 2015,

00:11:33four days in,

00:11:34the missing persons cops

00:11:36knew it was time

00:11:37to make a phone call.

00:11:40And they began

00:11:41to realize

00:11:42that probably

00:11:43something very bad

00:11:44had happened

00:11:45to Dwayne.

00:11:47Which is why

00:11:48they called in

00:11:49Lead Edmonton

00:11:49Homicide Detective

00:11:50Brian Robertson

00:11:51and Detective

00:11:53Rob Billaway.

00:11:54Based on the

00:11:56lack of signs of life

00:11:57with Dwayne Demke,

00:11:59it was obvious

00:11:59that harm had

00:12:01come to him.

00:12:02Mind you,

00:12:03there was still

00:12:04no forensic evidence

00:12:06that Dwayne was dead.

00:12:07Still,

00:12:08the detectives

00:12:09took it on

00:12:09the way they would

00:12:10a murder investigation

00:12:11and started from scratch.

00:12:14They looked at

00:12:15that cell phone video

00:12:16shot by the bystander

00:12:17who saw the man

00:12:18running away

00:12:20from the parking garage

00:12:21after Dwayne's car

00:12:22exploded.

00:12:22And as he was recording,

00:12:24he saw a guy

00:12:25running from

00:12:26the parking garage

00:12:28and he was looking

00:12:28back over his shoulder

00:12:29at the car

00:12:30that was on fire.

00:12:31Afraid of being detected,

00:12:33the passerby

00:12:33put his phone down

00:12:34by his side

00:12:35but told detectives

00:12:36he saw the man.

00:12:38And he was carrying

00:12:39a license plate

00:12:39and he kind of

00:12:40tucked around

00:12:41behind a garbage bin

00:12:43and he took off

00:12:44his shirt,

00:12:45he wrapped up

00:12:46the license plate

00:12:46in the shirt

00:12:47he was wearing

00:12:47and he started

00:12:48to walk away

00:12:49and he essentially

00:12:50walked out of sight

00:12:51of where he was.

00:12:52Not suspicious behavior

00:12:54at all.

00:12:55Just a little bit,

00:12:56yeah.

00:12:56What made it

00:12:57even more strange

00:12:58is the timing

00:12:59of the day,

00:13:00his actions

00:13:01in plain view,

00:13:03it certainly

00:13:04didn't make

00:13:05any sense at all.

00:13:06So who was that guy?

00:13:08The video was just

00:13:09too fuzzy to tell.

00:13:11They brought the car

00:13:13in for forensic analysis

00:13:14and right away

00:13:16they could see

00:13:16that guy

00:13:18if he was the one

00:13:19who started the fire

00:13:20was an amateur.

00:13:22Whoever started

00:13:23the fire

00:13:23really didn't know

00:13:24much about fires

00:13:25because they started

00:13:28the fire in the trunk

00:13:29of the car

00:13:30but when they started

00:13:31the fire

00:13:31they closed the trunk

00:13:32and when they

00:13:32closed the trunk

00:13:33they eliminate

00:13:33all the oxygen

00:13:34and the fire goes out.

00:13:35So it really

00:13:37didn't get going

00:13:38sufficiently enough

00:13:39to do much damage

00:13:41to the car.

00:13:42Leaving most of the car

00:13:44and its contents intact.

00:13:45There were some documents

00:13:46with different individuals

00:13:48names on them

00:13:49keys were in the ignition

00:13:50the vehicle was running.

00:13:52And one more thing

00:13:54quite probably

00:13:56the very thing

00:13:57the arsonist

00:13:58wanted most of all

00:13:59to destroy

00:14:00on the back seat

00:14:03there was blood.

00:14:20blood.

00:14:21Never a good sign

00:14:23when it turns up

00:14:23in the back seat

00:14:24of a missing man's car.

00:14:26If it was

00:14:27Dwayne Dempke's blood

00:14:28that is.

00:14:30Also it was unclear

00:14:31how much blood

00:14:32was in there

00:14:33without some more testing.

00:14:35Was it blood that said

00:14:36you had a nasty cut

00:14:38or blood that said

00:14:39you were dead?

00:14:41Anyway detectives

00:14:42Billoway and Robertson

00:14:43spent their time

00:14:44combing through

00:14:45all the stuff

00:14:45the missing persons

00:14:46investigators had found

00:14:48inside Dwayne's car.

00:14:50They needed to sort out

00:14:51what was evidence

00:14:52and what was just junk.

00:14:54It was quite a mess.

00:14:56There were some documents

00:14:57with different individuals

00:14:59names on them.

00:15:00One of the names

00:15:00on a piece of paper

00:15:02in there was

00:15:02Angel Chalifu.

00:15:04So they gave

00:15:04Angel a call

00:15:05to see

00:15:07what information

00:15:08they could glean

00:15:08from her.

00:15:11Angel?

00:15:12Who was she?

00:15:15Well as it turned out

00:15:16Angel had already

00:15:17been questioned

00:15:18by the missing persons

00:15:19cops just the day

00:15:20before Robertson

00:15:21and Billoway

00:15:22were assigned the case

00:15:23so they pulled up

00:15:24the video of her interview

00:15:26to see what she had to say.

00:15:29Angel and Dwayne

00:15:30used to live common law.

00:15:31They were living together

00:15:32for about eight years.

00:15:33They ended their relationship

00:15:35but they still maintained

00:15:37a very strong friendship.

00:15:38They spoke every day.

00:15:40They saw each other

00:15:41probably four to five times

00:15:42a week.

00:15:43They were just

00:15:43very good friends.

00:15:45In fact,

00:15:46said Angel,

00:15:47she saw so much

00:15:48of Dwayne

00:15:48another guy

00:15:50in her life

00:15:50got jealous.

00:15:52She commented

00:15:53that she would

00:15:55not be surprised

00:15:56if her recent

00:15:58ex-boyfriend

00:15:59a fellow by the name

00:16:00of Robert Aubrey Maxwell

00:16:01might have something

00:16:03to do with this.

00:16:04He did not like

00:16:05Dwayne very much

00:16:06and he was not

00:16:07really comfortable

00:16:07that his then

00:16:09girlfriend Angel

00:16:10had such a close

00:16:11friendship

00:16:12with Dwayne

00:16:13who was

00:16:13an ex-boyfriend.

00:16:14Well,

00:16:15that's a classic

00:16:16motivation,

00:16:17all right.

00:16:18Absolutely.

00:16:19And according to Angel,

00:16:21Dwayne told her

00:16:21this Robert Aubrey Maxwell

00:16:23fellow was bad news

00:16:24and wanted her

00:16:25to dump him.

00:16:27Dwayne said,

00:16:27Angel,

00:16:28get rid of him.

00:16:29I'm worried

00:16:29every time you're with him.

00:16:31Even my sisters

00:16:32were like,

00:16:33no, no,

00:16:34don't hang out

00:16:35with him.

00:16:36Get rid of him.

00:16:36Is there anyone else

00:16:38you think

00:16:38that would have

00:16:39of a problem

00:16:39with Dwayne?

00:16:41No,

00:16:43we can't think

00:16:44of anybody.

00:16:45Can you describe

00:16:46Robert to me?

00:16:47Describe him?

00:16:48How so?

00:16:49Tell me what he looks like.

00:16:51This is the point

00:16:52of the interview

00:16:52where Billoway

00:16:53and Robertson

00:16:53sat up in their seats

00:16:55because Angel

00:16:56went one better

00:16:57than a simple description

00:16:58of Robert.

00:16:59She pulled out

00:17:00her smartphone,

00:17:01showed them a video.

00:17:03He looks big.

00:17:04He looks like a big guy.

00:17:06And then just dressed

00:17:08like that,

00:17:08like jeans.

00:17:10Is that a North Face coat?

00:17:11Is that his winter coat?

00:17:13Yes.

00:17:14Then Angel said

00:17:15this.

00:17:16His hat is a North Face.

00:17:18His hat is a North Face,

00:17:21she said.

00:17:22Just like the one

00:17:23the cowboy found

00:17:24outside Revolution Limousine

00:17:25where Dwayne worked.

00:17:27Well, if that hat

00:17:28was Robert's,

00:17:29then perhaps

00:17:30it could tie him

00:17:30directly to Dwayne's

00:17:31disappearance.

00:17:33Big if, of course,

00:17:34lots of those caps

00:17:36ride around

00:17:37on the heads

00:17:37of Edmontonians

00:17:38on any given day.

00:17:40Still, that one hat

00:17:41was what they had.

00:17:42So they sent it out

00:17:43for DNA testing

00:17:44and waited.

00:17:47Don't hold your breath,

00:17:49said the lab.

00:17:50There just happened

00:17:50to be a backlog.

00:17:52Lots of cases

00:17:53vying for DNA attention.

00:17:54So don't expect

00:17:55to see results

00:17:56for weeks,

00:17:58at least.

00:17:59So we just have

00:18:00to sort of

00:18:00forge ahead

00:18:01with our investigation?

00:18:03Which meant

00:18:04bringing Angel

00:18:05back in

00:18:06for another round

00:18:07of questions.

00:18:09So I know

00:18:09the police

00:18:10have already

00:18:10spoke to you.

00:18:11This time,

00:18:12Detective Billoway

00:18:13wanted to ask Angel,

00:18:15did she recognize

00:18:16that guy

00:18:17in the cell phone video?

00:18:18The one walking away

00:18:20from Dwayne Demkiew's

00:18:21burning car?

00:18:22It's a really short

00:18:23thing.

00:18:24I've probably looked at it

00:18:24a couple times.

00:18:27and I just want

00:18:28you to be clear on

00:18:29if you recognize

00:18:29anyone as being

00:18:31anyone,

00:18:31you do.

00:18:31If you don't,

00:18:33that's just as important.

00:18:34Yeah.

00:18:34Okay.

00:18:42Oh, wow.

00:18:44God, I hope not.

00:18:45But would I pin

00:18:48that as him

00:18:48if I was walking

00:18:49down the street

00:18:50and thinking,

00:18:51hey, Robert?

00:18:52Yeah, I would

00:18:53probably do that.

00:18:54Okay.

00:18:55Yeah.

00:18:56On a scale

00:18:57of one to ten,

00:18:58how?

00:18:58Well, um,

00:19:00an eight.

00:19:01You're an eight?

00:19:01Yeah.

00:19:04Now the hunt

00:19:05was on

00:19:05for Robert Aubrey

00:19:07Maxwell.

00:19:09The problem was

00:19:10Aubrey Maxwell,

00:19:12like Dwayne Demkiew,

00:19:13was missing too

00:19:16without much

00:19:17to tell

00:19:17what happened.

00:19:19Except

00:19:20this dark

00:19:21security video

00:19:22recorded

00:19:23just hours

00:19:24before

00:19:25Dwayne's

00:19:26car

00:19:27exploded.

00:19:44Six days

00:19:45after Dwayne Demkiew

00:19:47vanished

00:19:47from his

00:19:47happy life

00:19:48in Edmonton,

00:19:50Detectives

00:19:50Billoway

00:19:51and Robertson

00:19:51were now searching

00:19:52for two missing

00:19:53persons.

00:19:54One,

00:19:55a possible victim.

00:19:57The other,

00:19:58Robert Aubrey

00:19:59Maxwell,

00:19:59a possible suspect.

00:20:01We were looking

00:20:02for him solved.

00:20:03Like, he was,

00:20:04he became the only

00:20:05guy that we were

00:20:05looking for.

00:20:06They didn't expect

00:20:07it to be easy.

00:20:09They had no idea.

00:20:11They started

00:20:12their Aubrey

00:20:13Maxwell phase

00:20:14of the investigation

00:20:14in the very same

00:20:16place where Cowboy

00:20:17started his,

00:20:18Revolution Limousine.

00:20:20That's the spot

00:20:21where, in a planter

00:20:22outside the front door,

00:20:23Cowboy found

00:20:24the knife sheath

00:20:24in the North Face

00:20:25hat.

00:20:26If there was a sheath,

00:20:28there had to be

00:20:29a knife.

00:20:30So was that around

00:20:32here somewhere

00:20:33nearby, too?

00:20:34We looked everywhere.

00:20:36There was absolutely

00:20:37nothing.

00:20:37We were behind

00:20:38the ball a bit

00:20:39because we were

00:20:40six days into

00:20:40the investigation

00:20:41so it makes sense

00:20:44that we wouldn't

00:20:44have fined anything

00:20:45but I guess

00:20:46you have to try.

00:20:49Then they went

00:20:50looking for video,

00:20:52surveillance video.

00:20:53Aren't those cameras

00:20:55everywhere now?

00:20:56Well, no.

00:20:59Outside,

00:20:59there was a grand

00:21:00total of one

00:21:01security camera

00:21:03attached to an

00:21:04adjoining building

00:21:05peering out

00:21:06over the parking lot.

00:21:07but there were

00:21:08hitches.

00:21:09For one thing,

00:21:10it wasn't recording

00:21:11all the time.

00:21:12It was motion

00:21:13activated on the

00:21:15roof at the back

00:21:15of the industrial

00:21:17building.

00:21:18It's a black and

00:21:19white and it's a

00:21:20really grainy video.

00:21:22Still, they went

00:21:23through it,

00:21:24squinting at every

00:21:25frame, and maybe

00:21:27they had something

00:21:28here?

00:21:29Maybe?

00:21:30At about 11.10

00:21:32in the evening,

00:21:33the video turns on

00:21:35because what looks

00:21:37like a male figure

00:21:38walks through the

00:21:39screen and then

00:21:41off the screen

00:21:42out of camera range.

00:21:44Three or four

00:21:45minutes later,

00:21:47what's likely the

00:21:48same male returns

00:21:49on screen and

00:21:51walks past through

00:21:52again and he goes

00:21:53to a dumpster,

00:21:55large industrial

00:21:56dumpster that's at

00:21:57the rear of a

00:21:58revolution limousine.

00:21:59He opens the lid

00:22:00to the dumpster and

00:22:02he crawls inside and

00:22:03he closes the lid.

00:22:05What?

00:22:06And then on two

00:22:07occasions after that,

00:22:09the camera activated

00:22:11because the lid of the

00:22:12dumpster raised up

00:22:13about six inches and

00:22:16then closed again.

00:22:17And then a little

00:22:18while later raised up

00:22:19like someone was

00:22:20looking, you couldn't

00:22:21see the person, but

00:22:21like someone was

00:22:22peering out and

00:22:23then closed again.

00:22:25My, my, my.

00:22:27So one grainy camera

00:22:30outside where somebody

00:22:31seemed intent on some

00:22:32sort of weird

00:22:33surveillance and two

00:22:35cameras inside

00:22:37Revolution Limo's

00:22:38garage, quality a bit

00:22:40better.

00:22:40So we were able to

00:22:41determine that at

00:22:432.50 a.m.

00:22:45Dwayne was able to

00:22:46drive the limousine

00:22:48into the loading bay.

00:22:51We could see the

00:22:52loading bay, we could

00:22:52see him walking around.

00:22:54He cleaned up the

00:22:55limousine as he did

00:22:58every night and we were

00:22:59able to tell that at

00:23:014 in the morning, he

00:23:03punches in the code to

00:23:05set the security system

00:23:07and he walks out the

00:23:09door.

00:23:10After Dwayne walked

00:23:11out that door,

00:23:12Billoway and Robertson

00:23:13expected to see some

00:23:14sort of assault take

00:23:16place on that grainy,

00:23:17motion-sensitive camera

00:23:18overlooking the parking

00:23:19lot.

00:23:20But for some reason, it

00:23:23didn't activate.

00:23:24And that's the gut

00:23:25punch.

00:23:26Our only thought was

00:23:28that that night, shortly

00:23:30before 4 o'clock in the

00:23:32morning, a significant

00:23:33thunderstorm rolled

00:23:34through that area,

00:23:35probably knocked the

00:23:36power out in that area

00:23:38for a short period of

00:23:39time, and the camera

00:23:40went offline.

00:23:41So detectives were

00:23:43left with just this one

00:23:44final shot of Dwayne

00:23:46Demkiew walking out the

00:23:48door.

00:23:49And that is the last

00:23:50time that Dwayne has

00:23:52ever seen.

00:23:53Mind you, soon they're

00:23:55after, the same could be

00:23:57said of the number one

00:23:58suspect, Robert Aubrey

00:23:59Maxwell.

00:24:01Not that he ever made it

00:24:02easy to be seen, even to

00:24:05his friends.

00:24:07It was a bit of an enigma.

00:24:08We knew nothing really about

00:24:10him recently.

00:24:11No one knew where he lived.

00:24:12He would never talk about

00:24:13where he grew up.

00:24:14No one knew what kind of

00:24:15family he had, if he had any

00:24:16brothers or sisters.

00:24:18No one knew anything about

00:24:19him.

00:24:20He's self-employed.

00:24:21He has a glass business.

00:24:23We go to the business

00:24:26address, and that turns out

00:24:28to be a storage facility.

00:24:30It's really unusual, isn't

00:24:32it?

00:24:33Very unusual, especially for

00:24:35Angel, who had known him

00:24:38for about a year and a half at

00:24:40that point, maybe two years,

00:24:41to know nothing about him.

00:24:43But nobody did.

00:24:44He has no online social media

00:24:46presence.

00:24:47He has no Facebook.

00:24:49We talked to some acquaintances

00:24:51of his.

00:24:52Nobody has been to his home.

00:24:53They don't know where he lives.

00:24:55He's a ghost, this guy.

00:24:56He certainly is a ghost.

00:24:58But he really did exist.

00:25:01They found all sorts of public

00:25:03records proving that.

00:25:05We were finding pieces of

00:25:06evidence all along the way,

00:25:08video evidence, cell phone

00:25:09evidence, everything that

00:25:11continued to tell us that we're

00:25:12going in the right direction and

00:25:14we're looking at the right

00:25:15person.

00:25:15And we've got pictures of

00:25:17Robert Aubrey Maxwell.

00:25:18He's got a legitimate legal

00:25:20driver's license with a photo.

00:25:21He's got a Canadian passport

00:25:23with a photo.

00:25:24He's got a social insurance

00:25:25number.

00:25:26We know who this guy is.

00:25:28And he was discovered on

00:25:29security camera video recorded

00:25:31around Calgary shortly after

00:25:33the car fire.

00:25:35His picture keeps showing up on

00:25:37this escape route, basically,

00:25:39everywhere he goes.

00:25:40We've got him on hotel cameras.

00:25:41We've got him all these places.

00:25:43And then the trail ran out.

00:25:46No idea where he went.

00:25:48So, back to the other question.

00:25:51What kind of person was he?

00:25:53In a word, creepy.

00:25:55He just gave me the heebie-jeebies.

00:25:58There was just something off about him.

00:25:59Calya knew Aubrey Maxwell.

00:26:02He, along with Angel and Cowboy,

00:26:05were all part of a bigger circle of

00:26:07friends.

00:26:07And the first birthday dinner that

00:26:10we went to where he attended,

00:26:12we were in a private room.

00:26:14It was a nice birthday dinner.

00:26:16And he's on his phone watching

00:26:17videos.

00:26:18And I'm like, put your phone away.

00:26:20It's really rude.

00:26:20And he's watching videos of people

00:26:22get into car accidents and die.

00:26:25Yeah.

00:26:26He was an odd guy,

00:26:29is how he was described.

00:26:30He had previously lived with a couple

00:26:33people.

00:26:34They never got along whatsoever.

00:26:36The people that he lived with were even

00:26:39somewhat fearful of him.

00:26:41Maybe for good reason.

00:26:42Here's what the roommates found when they

00:26:44searched his old bedroom after he moved out.

00:26:47They found a large knife sheath and knife.

00:26:51And the similarity is, the knife sheath that

00:26:54was found behind Revolution Limo was called

00:26:58a Gerber Junior.

00:26:59And the knife that was found in his apartment

00:27:03suite was called a Gerber Senior.

00:27:06So it was the same knife, but just quite a bit

00:27:09larger.

00:27:10It wasn't a knife, actually, but a machete.

00:27:14This is the Junior version of it.

00:27:1712 inches long with a fine edge on one side of

00:27:20the blade and saw teeth on the other.

00:27:23A very lethal weapon, which was made clear to

00:27:26the detectives once lab tech sprayed a chemical

00:27:29that illuminated the blood inside Dwayne Demkew's

00:27:33car.

00:27:34There was so much luminol or luminous from the

00:27:38amount of blood in the car that you could pretty

00:27:40much see it from space.

00:27:42It just glowed.

00:27:43Wow.

00:27:44Enough blood that we were able to make a

00:27:46determination that whose ever blood that was

00:27:49likely did not survive.

00:27:51Which made this very much a murder case.

00:27:54But the killer, if killer he was, seemed several steps

00:27:59ahead of them.

00:28:00There one minute, gone the next, without a trace

00:28:03left behind.

00:28:05The forensic members had never seen a vehicle like

00:28:07that, that had been wiped that clean.

00:28:30There was no longer any question.

00:28:32The amount of blood found in Dwayne Demkew's car came from

00:28:35wounds that were clearly fatal.

00:28:38Was it Dwayne's blood?

00:28:39Almost certainly.

00:28:41But, like the detectives, Dwayne's family and friends could

00:28:45only wait for the DNA to confirm it.

00:28:48An awful grief-colored limbo.

00:28:51Did you think that there was any chance he was still alive?

00:28:56We hoped.

00:28:58But there was so much blood in the back of the car.

00:29:01What did that feel like, to lose Dwayne?

00:29:04Devastating.

00:29:05I was heartbroken and...

00:29:08Um, it was just tough.

00:29:11I...

00:29:11I've never lost anybody like that before.

00:29:14Yeah.

00:29:15I mean, I hope I never will and I hope nobody else has to go

00:29:18through that, but, I mean, and you never think it's going to

00:29:22be the last time you see somebody.

00:29:24The detectives, meanwhile, were concentrating on the elusive

00:29:27Robert Aubrey Maxwell and found, through a records search,

00:29:32he'd once been arrested on an assault charge.

00:29:34An offense serious enough to have his DNA entered into the

00:29:38National Criminal Registry.

00:29:40A surprise, perhaps?

00:29:43But also a lucky break.

00:29:44Because now all the detectives had to do was wait on the DNA

00:29:48test results for the North Face hat to tie Aubrey Maxwell

00:29:52to Revolution Limousine and whatever happened to Dwayne Demkew.

00:29:57So we were looking forward to lab results telling us whether we,

00:30:02in fact, found DNA on the hat, because there's no guarantee

00:30:04it's there.

00:30:05And if we do find DNA on the hat, we were certainly hopeful that

00:30:09it couldn't come back to Robert Aubrey Maxwell.

00:30:12As for finding him, records showed he owned a white GMC

00:30:17pickup truck, which vanished at the very same time he did.

00:30:21So we put a flag on that vehicle.

00:30:25So if any law enforcement agency were to run that plate,

00:30:28I would get notified immediately if that vehicle was ever

00:30:31stopped or located or observed.

00:30:34And two weeks later, Detective Billoway got an alert.

00:30:39From a Vancouver Police Department member saying that he had located

00:30:44this vehicle.

00:30:45It was in the Kitsilano Beach parking lot.

00:30:48Aubrey Maxwell, it appeared, had driven as far west as possible

00:30:52before he simply ran out of road.

00:30:55Based on the parking ticket stacked up on the windshield,

00:30:58police figured the truck had been there for three days.

00:31:01And it might as well have had an embossed invitation, along with

00:31:05those parking tickets.

00:31:06Steal me, please.

00:31:09The passenger window was partially down.

00:31:12The keys were in the ignition.

00:31:14There was a brand new cell phone in a drink container.

00:31:17All of us, including the Vancouver Police members, couldn't believe

00:31:20that it didn't get stolen on the very first day.

00:31:22Maybe because, to a potential thief, the truck looked staged.

00:31:27Almost like a set-up.

00:31:29It was so obvious that someone wanted that truck stolen,

00:31:33that the suspects would have thought it would have been a bait truck,

00:31:36and they wouldn't have taken it.

00:31:38Obviously, that was the intent.

00:31:39Clearly.

00:31:40Robert didn't want to be found.

00:31:41He wanted somebody else to take that truck.

00:31:43Take the heat off.

00:31:44100%.

00:31:45He wanted someone to take that truck, drive it, contaminate it,

00:31:49get it full of any kind of other evidence,

00:31:52or whatever whoever steals a truck brings into it.

00:31:56And now the detectives had what surely must be a truckload of evidence to examine.

00:32:02We want to search for fingerprints.

00:32:04We want to go through it with a fine-tooth comb, if you will,

00:32:08and just see what evidence we can glean from it.

00:32:11What did you find?

00:32:12Well, we found that whoever had used it last had completely wiped it down.

00:32:19The forensic members had never seen a vehicle like that,

00:32:22that had been wiped that clean.

00:32:23Even in between the door panels, everywhere you could think of was wiped down.

00:32:28As was the cell phone found inside the cab.

00:32:31Who was this guy?

00:32:33Who would think of prepping a vehicle to be both stolen by thieves

00:32:38and discovered by the police?

00:32:42Besides the cell phone, the CSI team found only three items of note,

00:32:46all in the truck bed.

00:32:48A small boat trailer, a plastic fork, and a chewed piece of gum.

00:32:54Almost like the driver of the vehicle threw a gum out the window

00:32:58and the wind blew it back into the box of the truck.

00:33:00And it came back in.

00:33:01Right.

00:33:01Now, what's not lost on us is this is a very common pedestrian area in that parking lot.

00:33:06And someone could have walked past that truck and thrown a piece of gum in themselves.

00:33:10Like someone apparently did with the plastic fork.

00:33:14Still, the detectives dutifully sent the fork and the gum out for DNA testing, just in case.

00:33:20We weren't sure what was going to come of it, but the truck was so clean

00:33:23and there was a lack of evidence that at this point we were looking for anything.

00:33:28Well, they waited for the lab analysis to come in.

00:33:31The detectives ran the registration on that small boat trailer found in the truck bed,

00:33:36expecting it would come back in Aubrey Maxwell's name.

00:33:40But it did not.

00:33:42It was registered to someone else altogether.

00:33:46Someone who lived in a Vancouver suburb.

00:33:49And we reached out to that registered owner and interviewed them.

00:33:53What did they tell you?

00:33:54They said that a fellow with a white truck with Alberta license plates

00:33:58answered their ad for a jet ski for sale.

00:34:02The mail that they described matched the description of Robert Aubrey Maxwell.

00:34:07He tried to include a cell phone in the purchase.

00:34:12They said they just wanted cash.

00:34:14So ultimately he just paid them cash for the boat.

00:34:17And he only asked one question.

00:34:19And the question he asked was,

00:34:20how far will this jet ski go on a full tank of gas?

00:34:39Where was he?

00:34:41Did Robert Aubrey Maxwell actually escape on that jet ski?

00:34:45I thought he was on an island in B.C.

00:34:48It was something like a sinking feeling.

00:34:50Detective Rob Billoway contemplated all those rainforests that rise up from the ocean off the British Columbia mainland.

00:34:57Islands studded with thousands of often empty cottages.

00:35:02Many within easy range of a jet ski full of gas.

00:35:05I think you can live quite a while undetected on one of those islands.

00:35:09So we got a hold of Canada Coast Guard.

00:35:10And the inquiries we made were,

00:35:12is there any abandoned or lost jet ski that's been found anywhere that has come to their attention?

00:35:20And they had no reports of any of that stuff.

00:35:23But then, lead detective Brian Robertson never did think their suspect was hiding out on some island out there.

00:35:30The first thing I thought of was that he put that jet ski in the water

00:35:34and he drove it around the coastline to Point Roberts, Washington.

00:35:39Point Roberts, Washington is a tiny peninsula just south of Vancouver.

00:35:44But as a result of a long ago border treaty,

00:35:47this sliver of land is part of the United States, not Canada.

00:35:52From here on Point Roberts, it seems pretty clear what he might have done with a jet ski.

00:35:57You see that slip of land out there, that's the ferry terminal,

00:36:00the southernmost piece of Canada heading out into the strait.

00:36:05A jet ski could go around that ferry terminal,

00:36:08come back into the land, just behind those pillars there,

00:36:12and be in America without anybody being any the wiser.

00:36:15You can totally get to the mainland U.S. undetected

00:36:20and not have to go through U.S. customs again.

00:36:23Wow, that was an interesting route.

00:36:25What else would that tell you about this guy?

00:36:27Well, that told us that I don't think he's going to go somewhere that he's not familiar with.

00:36:32He's going to go somewhere where he's comfortable.

00:36:35A reasonable idea, except detectives Billoway and Robertson could find nothing connecting Robert Aubrey Maxwell to the United States.

00:36:43No U.S. relatives or friends or girlfriends.

00:36:47Nobody, as far as they could determine.

00:36:50It sounds like that hit a dead end.

00:36:52A dead end for sure.

00:36:53There was absolutely nothing to indicate that Robert Aubrey Maxwell had any history with the United States whatsoever.

00:37:02Still, just to be sure, they searched the entire shoreline of Little Point Roberts.

00:37:07No sign of an errant jet ski there.

00:37:10So, the detectives moved their search back north along the Canadian shoreline.

00:37:16And ran the jet ski's registration number through a national database for stolen cars and boats.

00:37:23And...

00:37:24It identified that that jet ski had been seized a few days earlier by the Delta Police Department.

00:37:31Delta Police Department?

00:37:32In Canada?

00:37:33In Canada.

00:37:34It had been found washed up against the Tawasson Causeway to the ferry terminal.

00:37:41And that causeway is basically the last piece of land that butts out into the ocean before you get to

00:37:49Point Roberts.

00:37:51So, maybe he dumped the jet ski just short of the border and swam the rest of the way?

00:37:57Or maybe the current pulled it back into Canada.

00:38:00Whatever.

00:38:03But they did know this.

00:38:05He was in the U.S. and they were on the right trail after all.

00:38:09We know that he rode this jet ski at least 13 nautical miles.

00:38:14I don't know who comes up with an idea like that, but somebody who desperately wants to escape, I guess.

00:38:19We kind of laughed at each other, Rob and I, and said,

00:38:22I almost feel like we're chasing James Bond here. This doesn't even make sense.

00:38:25But if Aubrey Maxwell had really sneaked into the United States illegally, he could be anywhere.

00:38:31Once again, his trail had gone cold.

00:38:34And then, two and a half months after the car fire, six weeks after that jet ski was found,

00:38:41the first DNA results came in.

00:38:44Oddly, they were the last one submitted and the least likely to be helpful.

00:38:48The ones for the plastic fork and the chewing gum somebody had thrown into the bed of the white pickup

00:38:53truck in Kitsilano.

00:38:55The fork came back clean, nothing there.

00:38:58But the lab techs were able to extract a usable DNA sample from the gum.

00:39:04We weren't really holding our breath on what that DNA might come back as,

00:39:08but it was certainly of interest to us.

00:39:11Well, the DNA came back and it was identified as unknown male 1 in our file.

00:39:18Meaning it did not match Robert Aubrey Maxwell's DNA on file from that earlier assault charge,

00:39:24nor did it match anyone else in the national DNA database.

00:39:30So the gum must have been tossed into the bed of the truck by an innocent passerby,

00:39:35just like they suspected.

00:39:37The North Face cap, though, that was the big one.

00:39:40That DNA could lock up the case.

00:39:43I think collectively our whole investigative team was waiting for this DNA to come back.

00:39:47And the lab results for that sample came in four days later.

00:39:53It was certain to be a match to Aubrey Maxwell.

00:39:56Just had to be.

00:39:58But it was not.

00:40:02It was the unknown guy who chucked the chewing gum into the truck.

00:40:06We recognized when we got the second matching unknown male DNA that we had a problem.

00:40:13And it was a big problem.

00:40:15Big problem, yeah.

00:40:16We need to understand this DNA before we continue pursuing Robert Aubrey Maxwell.

00:40:23And suddenly, nothing made sense at all.

00:40:28We were going down a path where we believed Robert Aubrey Maxwell was our suspect.

00:40:32And getting that hit on that DNA, we're back at square one.

00:40:36Either Robert Aubrey Maxwell wasn't our guy, Robert Aubrey Maxwell had an accomplice,

00:40:42or Robert Aubrey Maxwell's our guy, and we've got to figure out how is he our guy.

00:40:48Because if the unknown chewing gum guy was also the North Face hat guy,

00:40:54then he was almost certainly the guy who killed Dwayne Demkiew.

00:40:57But who was he?

00:41:17Who was he?

00:41:20Who was Dwayne Demkiew's killer?

00:41:23Who was this unknown male one?

00:41:26It was confusing.

00:41:27We were really on a linear path towards Aubrey Maxwell.

00:41:31And we were finding pieces of evidence all along the way.

00:41:34Video evidence, cell phone evidence, everything that continued to tell us that we're going in the right direction

00:41:41and we're looking at the right person.

00:41:42And now we have this fly in the ointment, this unknown male one DNA that we can't establish.

00:41:47The logical conclusion was that Aubrey Maxwell had an accomplice.

00:41:53And that this is this guy's DNA, so we're still driving towards Aubrey Maxwell

00:41:57because the first question we want to ask him is, who was with you?

00:42:00Yeah, so maybe there were two guys in that jet ski leaving the country.

00:42:03Entirely possible, right?

00:42:05Except, all the surveillance photos of Aubrey Maxwell taken in Calgary shortly after the car fire showed him alone.

00:42:14So, when in doubt, call all about.

00:42:18Robertson and Billoway gathered the rest of the homicide unit together to get their take on it.

00:42:24Maybe fresh eyes could see something.

00:42:27What were they missing?

00:42:29In this particular case, Brian was doing what Brian typically does, which is tell stories.

00:42:33This is Detective Kirk Martin.

00:42:36Basically, I'm listening to their story and I'm thinking about what they're actually telling me.

00:42:40They talked about the DNA evidence.

00:42:42I said, Kurt, is there any other way this DNA can happen?

00:42:47We should be getting it from Aubrey Maxwell because he's a real person.

00:42:50He's got real ID, everything else.

00:42:53We know who he is.

00:42:54Kurt looks up from his desk and he says,

00:42:57How do we actually know that Robert Aubrey Maxwell is actually Robert Aubrey Maxwell?

00:43:00As soon as he said that, it's like, of course.

00:43:05You're right.

00:43:06You know, it's one of those, you're so busy in the investigation that sometimes you can't see the forest for

00:43:11the trees and you need someone on the outside who really is not wrapped up in it.

00:43:16And just like that, the whole investigation turned on a dime.

00:43:21What if they'd been chasing the wrong guy all along?

00:43:25Or maybe the right guy, but the wrong name?

00:43:30Up to now, detectives had held off contacting Aubrey Maxwell's family for good reason.

00:43:36We didn't want to alert the family that the police were looking for him until we got to the point

00:43:41where, holy cow, is this even Robert Aubrey Maxwell that we're dealing with?

00:43:46So Brian was able to speak to Robert Aubrey Maxwell's family.

00:43:51I reached out to a woman that I had found in Ontario and it turns out she's Aubrey Maxwell's grandmother

00:43:59and raised him as a kid.

00:44:02And so she says, I haven't talked to him since 2012.

00:44:05He left Ontario and he went to Vancouver and he was living on the street in Vancouver.

00:44:10He's got a drug problem.

00:44:12He wasn't doing all that well in Vancouver.

00:44:16So the detectives went back to their counterparts in Vancouver to see if they had any contact with Aubrey Maxwell,

00:44:23not as a criminal per se, but as a drug user.

00:44:28And they certainly did.

00:44:31Enclosed within this rich and extraordinarily beautiful city are a dozen square blocks of misery called the downtown Eastside.

00:44:40Here, in this land of lost souls, Aubrey Maxwell became known as a frequent flyer, an addict and street dweller

00:44:50who dumped into the law all the time.

00:44:53Robert Aubrey Maxwell was well known to police.

00:44:56Every city he goes to, he's well known to police.

00:44:58He's always dealt with in Ontario.

00:45:00He was always dealt with in B.C.

00:45:02Everywhere he went and very frequently.

00:45:04For what reasons?

00:45:05He was a drug user.

00:45:07He was homeless.

00:45:08When he moved from Ontario to B.C., he was living on the street.

00:45:13He was dealt with by police at least every week.

00:45:18So you can almost follow his movements that way.

00:45:23Here in this sad place, he bounced from street to street, shelter to shelter, surviving, if only just.

00:45:32And in September of 2012, all of that ended.

00:45:37He was no longer staying in shelters in Vancouver.

00:45:42We were able to track down where he had stayed last.

00:45:45We have the last date he was there.

00:45:47We were able to determine the last time he was ever dealt with by police.

00:45:50We were able to determine the last time his grandma spoke to him on the phone.

00:45:53So our timeline of when Robert Aubrey Maxwell was last seen alive was pretty tight and he was seen alive

00:46:01by a lot of people.

00:46:02And all of that ends, he's never dealt with by police again and his family never hears from him again

00:46:08and he never shows up at another shelter in Vancouver.

00:46:12In February 2013, more than two years before Dwayne Demkiew was murdered, Aubrey Maxwell's grandmother reported him missing to the

00:46:22Vancouver Police Department.

00:46:24So the police found the rooming house that he'd been staying in.

00:46:28In fact, in that rooming house, they said he's no longer here.

00:46:31He hasn't been here for a while.

00:46:33But when he was here last, he cashed a check from a company in Edmonton called Architectural Glass.

00:46:39Well, well, well.

00:46:40And that's the last time we saw him.

00:46:42So Vancouver Police Missing Persons investigators contacted Architectural Glass and said,

00:46:49your grandmother's reported you missing.

00:46:51She hasn't heard from you in a few weeks.

00:46:52She wants to know how are you doing, that kind of thing.

00:46:55He says, I'm fine.

00:46:58I'm living and working in Edmonton.

00:47:00I don't want anything to do with anybody in my family.

00:47:03That's why I'm here.

00:47:04I've cut ties with them.

00:47:06I don't want to be considered missing.

00:47:08So don't consider me missing.

00:47:10I'm just not contacting my family.

00:47:12They canceled their missing persons file.

00:47:15They contacted the grandmother.

00:47:17And they said, we found him.

00:47:18He's in Edmonton.

00:47:19He's fine.

00:47:20He says he doesn't want anything to do with his family.

00:47:23And that's it.

00:47:24And so she accepted that.

00:47:26And that's where it ended.

00:47:27The search stops.

00:47:30And unfortunately, he's not listed as missing any longer.

00:47:34Now, more than two years after he was reported missing,

00:47:37the detectives hoping to sort out who's who

00:47:39sent Aubrey Maxwell's grandmother his most recent driver's license photo.

00:47:45She looks at it and she immediately says, that's not my grandson.

00:47:49I've never seen him before.

00:47:51To be double sure, Robertson checked with police and Aubrey Maxwell's boyhood hometown

00:47:56to see if they had an old booking photo by chance from one of his drug arrests.

00:48:01And they did.

00:48:03This one.

00:48:05This guy was clearly not the Robert Aubrey Maxwell Edmonton detectives had been chasing all these months.

00:48:13We know why unknown male one DNA is not coming back to Robert Aubrey Maxwell because it's not Robert Aubrey

00:48:22Maxwell.

00:48:22And we're also immediately of a strong opinion that this person, when he took Robert Aubrey Maxwell's identity,

00:48:33likely killed him because Aubrey Maxwell comes to the attention of police far too often

00:48:40to not come to the attention of the police for three years on the Lower East Side in Vancouver.

00:48:46So now we believe that we have two homicides that we're investigating.

00:48:51Two murders.

00:48:53One unknown killer.

00:49:11They were just about stymied.

00:49:14Why would anyone decide to kill sweet, fun-loving Dwayne Demke, friend to everyone?

00:49:20It was puzzle enough.

00:49:22And then dump his body God knows where?

00:49:25But this unknown puzzle within a puzzle,

00:49:29who was unknown male one if not Aubrey Maxwell?

00:49:34The next phone call to Dwayne's family was not an easy one to make.

00:49:39Dwayne's brother, Darren.

00:49:41They called and said, we have a problem.

00:49:43The DNA came back.

00:49:44Oh, okay, great.

00:49:46It's not him.

00:49:48What?

00:49:50What do you mean it's not him?

00:49:51It's not his DNA.

00:49:53Somebody else's.

00:49:54We don't know who, but it's somebody else's.

00:49:57What'd that do to you?

00:49:58Deflates you.

00:49:59It deflated everybody, I think, at that point.

00:50:01Dwayne's friend, Kalia.

00:50:03It was like a movie.

00:50:05It was crazy.

00:50:06It was like a movie.

00:50:07Not only was there finding out that he had murdered our friend,

00:50:10but then finding out that he wasn't even the same person that you thought that he was.

00:50:14And then you kind of wonder what life he was leading before.

00:50:18Is there other people that he's done this to?

00:50:20Though now the detectives were pretty sure they had two murders to solve and no suspects.

00:50:26The only evidence of any use?

00:50:29Just a couple of DNA samples from someone they knew only as unknown male one.

00:50:35How do you look for a person when you don't know who they are?

00:50:39Nothing to do but go back to square one.

00:50:41We poured back over Angel's previous interviews that she had done.

00:50:47And on one of the interviews, we typically would ask her any sort of backstory

00:50:52that her boyfriend, Robert, had given her about his previous life.

00:50:58And she remembered that he had made mention that he had been in Washington State

00:51:03for a short period of time before coming to Vancouver.

00:51:07And that resonated with us, obviously, because we believed that he took the jet ski to Point Roberts.

00:51:13And that's a direct route to Washington State.

00:51:16So I contacted a friend of mine who now works for our motor vehicle branch.

00:51:19And so I requested that he send a photograph of Aubrey Maxwell, the driver's license photo,

00:51:26to Washington State DMV and have them run it through their facial recognition software.

00:51:32The photo recognition request was really just a giant fishing expedition.

00:51:37What Detective Robinson really wanted to do was run that mystery DNA profile

00:51:42through the U.S. database known as CODIS, which the FBI agreed to do.

00:51:48But there was a catch, a true Catch-22.

00:51:53The FBI said we have to have a name.

00:51:55We just can't sort of put an unnamed DNA to them.

00:51:57That doesn't meet their criteria.

00:51:59But a name, of course, was what Robertson was hoping the FBI could give him.

00:52:05So now it seemed the entire investigation was riding on the Washington State DMV facial recognition search.

00:52:13Maybe they would come up with a name.

00:52:17And surprise, surprise, three months into the investigation, on September 3, 2015,

00:52:23the homicide unit finally caught a break.

00:52:28Maybe.

00:52:29A Washington DMV representative called him back and said,

00:52:33we have a possible recognition on our computer for your driver's license photo.

00:52:41As soon as that happened, they electronically sent us a series of photographs

00:52:45photographs that the computer kicks out of their system and says,

00:52:49somewhere in here is the closest recognition to the photograph that you sent us.

00:52:56There were 25 photos in all, each given a probability rating on a scale of 0 to 1.

00:53:02And one of them, this one, which looked a lot like the guy in their surveillance videos,

00:53:06on the computer, it scored a perfect one.

00:53:09And that person was identified in their system as Jason Stedman.

00:53:16Jason Stedman?

00:53:18Well, might be the right name, might not be the right name,

00:53:21but this was the important thing.

00:53:24I can now have our forensic investigators send the DNA results to the FBI,

00:53:31and within a few days, it comes back as Jason Stedman.

00:53:36So now, we know who the picture in the driver's license is.

00:53:39He's Jason Stedman.

00:53:41We know whose DNA is in the hat.

00:53:43It's Jason Stedman.

00:53:45And we know whose DNA is on the gum in Aubrey Maxwell's truck.

00:53:49It's Jason Stedman.

00:53:51Except, maybe he wasn't really Jason Stedman either.

00:54:10Three months into their pursuit of Dwayne Demkew's killer,

00:54:14Detectives Robertson and Billoway learned the man they were chasing

00:54:18was wanted in two countries,

00:54:20had at least three identities,

00:54:22and different looks from one photo to the next.

00:54:25They learned their prey, under another name altogether,

00:54:29did time in Florida during the 90s

00:54:32for burglary, grand theft, and arson.

00:54:34We learned that Jason Stedman has a family in Washington State.

00:54:39He has an ex-wife named Jennifer and a young daughter.

00:54:42When we met, his legal name was Jason, and that was it.

00:54:46He got his legal name changed.

00:54:48Why? Why?

00:54:50So his driver's license said Jason,

00:54:53and his last name was blank.

00:54:55And I asked him about it,

00:54:56and he said he didn't have a relationship

00:55:00with his parents or his family,

00:55:02and he didn't want anything to do with them,

00:55:03so he legally changed his name to get rid of his birth name.

00:55:08At least, that's the story he told Jennifer Stedman,

00:55:12who Jason met in February 2008

00:55:15through a single social club.

00:55:17And we hit it off, and that's where it started.

00:55:21What were your first impressions of the guy?

00:55:22Ah, first impressions, but he was good-looking.

00:55:25He was a charmer.

00:55:27Very polite, very chivalrous, opening doors,

00:55:31offering to, like, just wane on me hand and foot.

00:55:34You know, what every woman's dream is.

00:55:37Jennifer, of course, had no idea

00:55:39her dream man was a convicted felon.

00:55:42All she knew is that when Jason started talking

00:55:45about settling down and getting married

00:55:47and having a family, she was all in.

00:55:51He was always like,

00:55:53okay, when do you want to start planning having kids?

00:55:56You know, we should start buying all the baby stuff now

00:55:58so we don't have a big expense in the end.

00:56:01So he'd randomly start picking up things

00:56:03like a stroller, a car seat, a crib.

00:56:06Before I even got pregnant,

00:56:07he started buying all these little things here and there.

00:56:10And I thought he was the guy

00:56:12that I'd spend the rest of my life with, so...

00:56:15You were happy about that.

00:56:16Yeah, it was all good.

00:56:18It was like he wanted to give me the world

00:56:19and treat me like a queen.

00:56:22Jennifer was three months pregnant

00:56:24when she and Jason married in Las Vegas

00:56:27on New Year's Day 2009.

00:56:31And that's when Jason took Jennifer's last name,

00:56:34becoming Jason Stedman.

00:56:37Six months later, they had a baby girl

00:56:39and as if by sleight of hand,

00:56:42the once convicted arsonist

00:56:43morphed into a middle-class dad.

00:56:46He had a wife, a baby, a nice apartment,

00:56:50was making good money as a union delivery driver.

00:56:55But for some reason,

00:56:56he was no longer treating Jennifer like royalty.

00:56:59And he would go off and hang out with his friends

00:57:01and his girlfriend come back,

00:57:03like at the end of the day.

00:57:05If I questioned him,

00:57:06he would start slapping me and getting physical.

00:57:08I think when my daughter was about two months old,

00:57:11we were fighting.

00:57:11And I remember he put his hands around my neck

00:57:14and choked me and said,

00:57:15if you ever take my daughter away from me,

00:57:17I will kill you.

00:57:20Jennifer was desperate to be out of the marriage,

00:57:22but was afraid to leave Jason,

00:57:25afraid of what he might do to her and their daughter.

00:57:29And then on the day before Thanksgiving 2009,

00:57:33just as they sat down for dinner.

00:57:36That's when all hell break loose.

00:57:40It started with a pounding on the apartment's front door.

00:57:45I looked out the peephole,

00:57:46and all I could see was a bright light.

00:57:48So I was thinking,

00:57:49oh, it was the fire department.

00:57:50Someone set off a smoke alarm.

00:57:52Opened the door to find

00:57:5520-plus FBI agents' guns in my face,

00:57:58battering rams at the door, ready to be used,

00:58:00ripping my house apart,

00:58:02interrogating him in different rooms,

00:58:04me in different rooms.

00:58:06It made the news.

00:58:08Eight black SUVs pull into our street and then park,

00:58:12and then two police cars block off both sides of the street.

00:58:14And they were all wearing FBI shirts,

00:58:17with their badges and bulletproof vests,

00:58:18and they were carrying a battering ram.

00:58:20Jason, much heavier at the time,

00:58:23was arrested.

00:58:24And that's when Jennifer learned,

00:58:27to her considerable surprise,

00:58:29that he had been fired from his delivery job

00:58:32two months earlier,

00:58:33and he didn't take it well.

00:58:35And then that's when he decided to,

00:58:38for lack of a better term,

00:58:41teach his boss a lesson.

00:58:43It started with simple things of flooding the bathrooms,

00:58:47and then it turned into

00:58:50mailing threatening death threats

00:58:53with white powder in them

00:58:55to his employer's headquarters with the Seattle Times.

00:58:59And I guess he had also been making pipe bombs

00:59:01and planting them in newspaper boxes.

00:59:03Did you have any idea

00:59:05any of this stuff was going on?

00:59:06I had no idea.

00:59:08And then they ended up arresting him

00:59:10and charging him with homeland terrorism.

00:59:14The pipe bombs were dummies,

00:59:15and the white powder nothing more than cornstarch.

00:59:19Still, in September 2010,

00:59:21Jason pleaded guilty to one count

00:59:23of sending threatening hoax letters

00:59:25and one count of committing a pipe bomb hoax.

00:59:29And as part of the deal,

00:59:30was given a two-year sentence.

00:59:32And I was able to divorce him while he was in jail

00:59:35and get away from him and start over.

00:59:38So that's kind of the blessing

00:59:39because he was removed from my life

00:59:41before it got worse.

00:59:42And it did get worse

00:59:44because Stedman was released on probation

00:59:47after serving less than a year.

00:59:49And what did he do then?

00:59:51He started phoning Jennifer

00:59:53about wanting to see their daughter.

00:59:57And demanding unsupervised visits with her

01:00:00whenever he wanted.

01:00:01So I started getting that red flag

01:00:05pit-in-your-gut feeling again.

01:00:07So I went down to the court

01:00:08and filed a restraining order against him.

01:00:10He evaded it.

01:00:12Every time they came to serve him,

01:00:13he evaded it.

01:00:14They'd leave business cards,

01:00:15he would evade it.

01:00:16He was taking some college classes at the time.

01:00:18They'd go to the college,

01:00:19he'd evade them.

01:00:21And then finally,

01:00:22we had worked out a plan

01:00:24with the sheriff's office

01:00:25to meet him at his next meeting

01:00:28with his parole officer.

01:00:31Everything was set.

01:00:32He didn't show for his meeting.

01:00:34They went to his apartment,

01:00:35found out he had completely moved out.

01:00:37He was gone.

01:00:40The U.S. Marshal Service

01:00:42started hunting for Jason

01:00:43and learned pretty quickly

01:00:45he'd been looking into buying

01:00:47one-way bus tickets.

01:00:49For him and a child.

01:00:51And a child?

01:00:52Mm-hmm.

01:00:53Which, once they told me that,

01:00:55I was like,

01:00:55okay, well, this goes back to his threat

01:00:58of if I ever tried to take her,

01:00:59he was going to kill me

01:01:00and take my daughter.

01:01:01So this was serious.

01:01:03It's as serious you can get.

01:01:04I'd have a detective meet me

01:01:06in the parking lot when I got to work,

01:01:08walk me inside my job,

01:01:10one of the company's security guards

01:01:12with me the entire eight-hour shift,

01:01:14while I'm at work,

01:01:15even walking with me to the restroom.

01:01:17My Lord.

01:01:18And then when I clocked out,

01:01:19they would walk me to the front door

01:01:20where the detective would meet me

01:01:22and walk me to my car.

01:01:23So you had to be pretty darn sure

01:01:24that he actually was out of the territory.

01:01:27Yeah.

01:01:28I lived my life in terror.

01:01:30I was constantly looking over my shoulders,

01:01:33sleeping with one eye open.

01:01:36Extra locks on the front door.

01:01:38I put little motion sensor alarms

01:01:39on all the windows

01:01:40in case he tried to break in.

01:01:42I was living in terror.

01:01:46And then Jason just disappeared.

01:01:51And very gradually, bit by bit,

01:01:55Jennifer let down her guard,

01:01:57even though no one, it seemed,

01:02:00had any idea where he was

01:02:02or what he might try to do next.

01:02:21It was August 2012

01:02:23when Jason Stedman vanished

01:02:25from his ex-wife Jennifer's life.

01:02:27Neither she nor the police

01:02:29nor the marshal's service

01:02:30had any idea where he was.

01:02:32They did issue an arrest warrant

01:02:34declaring he was a flight risk

01:02:36and a danger to the community.

01:02:38As far as Jennifer was concerned,

01:02:40it was good riddance.

01:02:41Hope he stays gone.

01:02:43But what none of them knew

01:02:44was that by the time

01:02:45the arrest warrant was issued,

01:02:47Jason was already in Canada.

01:02:51And at some point came here

01:02:53to the downtown east side of Vancouver,

01:02:56where the real Robert Aubrey Maxwell

01:02:58was living in a shelter

01:03:00and from there phoned his grandmother

01:03:02for the final time

01:03:03on September 6, 2012.

01:03:06Six days later,

01:03:08Jason, using Robert's birth certificate,

01:03:11applied for a government photo ID card.

01:03:13And just like that,

01:03:15both the real Aubrey Maxwell

01:03:17and the real Jason Stedman

01:03:20ceased to exist.

01:03:23Through the course of the investigation,

01:03:25we came to believe

01:03:27that he had in fact killed

01:03:30Robert Aubrey Maxwell

01:03:31so he could assume his identity.

01:03:33And that way,

01:03:34he was able to get photo ID in BC,

01:03:38which he then used

01:03:38to get photo ID in Alberta.

01:03:40He was able to get

01:03:41a social insurance number.

01:03:42He was able to get a passport.

01:03:44He was able to get a job

01:03:45where he could get paid

01:03:46under the name

01:03:47Robert Aubrey Maxwell.

01:03:48And in his mind,

01:03:50he could do this.

01:03:51And the only way he could do it

01:03:53is he knew

01:03:54the real Robert Aubrey Maxwell

01:03:55was dead.

01:03:58By posing as

01:04:00Robert Aubrey Maxwell,

01:04:01Jason Stedman built

01:04:03a kind of life in Edmonton

01:04:04as a one-man glass business.

01:04:07He dated Angel Chalifu,

01:04:09maybe murdered Dwayne Demke

01:04:12and torched his car

01:04:13and then quite possibly

01:04:16shed his Aubrey Maxwell identity

01:04:17like an old coat.

01:04:19But who was Jason now?

01:04:22And where was Jason now?

01:04:24Was he back in Washington?

01:04:27Jason's Canadian girlfriend,

01:04:29Angel,

01:04:29told the detective

01:04:30she thought Jason

01:04:31had gone anywhere

01:04:32but the United States.

01:04:34He was always saying

01:04:35how worried

01:04:35are the states

01:04:37even going back

01:04:37to the states.

01:04:38He can speak Spanish.

01:04:41He could easily

01:04:42go to Mexico.

01:04:45Months passed

01:04:46with no sign of Jason

01:04:47anywhere in the United States.

01:04:50It seemed likely

01:04:51he had indeed

01:04:52gone to Mexico

01:04:53or somewhere else.

01:04:55All this time,

01:04:57Jennifer Stedman

01:04:57was totally unaware.

01:04:59She had no idea

01:05:00where Jason went

01:05:01when he fled Washington

01:05:02three years earlier

01:05:03and had no idea

01:05:05that he was once again

01:05:06on the run,

01:05:07that he was wanted

01:05:08in Canada from murder.

01:05:12So she was not prepared

01:05:14when her mother called her

01:05:15in early November 2015

01:05:17with terrifying news.

01:05:20She says,

01:05:21guess who was just here?

01:05:23I said, who?

01:05:24She's like,

01:05:24your ex-husband.

01:05:26He was just here

01:05:27at my house.

01:05:28Tell me what that

01:05:29was like to hear.

01:05:30It was petrifying

01:05:34because I knew

01:05:35he had been gone

01:05:36for two, three years.

01:05:37Out of the blue,

01:05:38he shows up

01:05:39and with the threats

01:05:40he had made

01:05:40to take my daughter,

01:05:42that whole panic terror

01:05:44came back.

01:05:46In full force

01:05:48because Jennifer's daughter,

01:05:49then six years old,

01:05:50was right there

01:05:51at her grandmother's house

01:05:53and Jason had seen her,

01:05:55talked to her.

01:05:57And he asked,

01:05:58do you know who I am?

01:05:59And she says no.

01:06:00He told her

01:06:01that he was her dad.

01:06:03He showed up at the door.

01:06:04Yeah.

01:06:05And he was there,

01:06:06he was talking

01:06:07to your daughter

01:06:08who you tried

01:06:09so hard to protect.

01:06:11Yeah.

01:06:12What was that moment

01:06:12like for you?

01:06:13It was like sheer

01:06:14and utter terror.

01:06:16I didn't think

01:06:17I could get home

01:06:18fast enough from work

01:06:19before he took her.

01:06:21In my mind,

01:06:22he was there

01:06:22to take her

01:06:23and there was no way

01:06:24I was going to get home

01:06:25fast enough to save her.

01:06:27I drove as fast as I can

01:06:28down a windy,

01:06:31narrow road

01:06:32from my work.

01:06:33It was just like

01:06:34the life flashed

01:06:35before my eyes.

01:06:36Like, I need to save her.

01:06:37I need to save her.

01:06:38He's going to take her.

01:06:38He's going to take her

01:06:39and my mom can't stop him.

01:06:41She's just a little girl.

01:06:42She wouldn't know

01:06:43how to resist.

01:06:44It was terror

01:06:45because I felt like

01:06:47my daughter was slipping

01:06:48through my fingers

01:06:49if I couldn't go home

01:06:50fast enough

01:06:50to save her

01:06:53because all I know

01:06:54was he was there

01:06:54to take her from me.

01:06:56I made that

01:06:57eight-minute drive,

01:06:57I think,

01:06:58in under five minutes.

01:07:00By the time Jennifer

01:07:01got to her mother's house,

01:07:02Jason had left

01:07:04alone

01:07:04without her daughter.

01:07:06How did it feel

01:07:07to see her there?

01:07:08It was very relieving.

01:07:10It was like

01:07:11panic meets relief,

01:07:12but I was still panicked

01:07:14at the same time.

01:07:14I couldn't turn

01:07:15the panic off,

01:07:16but I was relieved

01:07:16that she was still there.

01:07:17Yeah.

01:07:18But yeah,

01:07:19I swooped her up,

01:07:20took her to the safest place

01:07:21I could think of

01:07:21in the quickest amount

01:07:22of time.

01:07:24But they were

01:07:25by no means safe.

01:07:26Jason was still out there

01:07:27somewhere

01:07:28and had just shown

01:07:29he knew how to find them.

01:07:32I got the U.S. Marshals

01:07:34on speed dial.

01:07:35They were like,

01:07:35no, we will be out there

01:07:36in less than five minutes.

01:07:38We will contact the sheriff.

01:07:39They scoured the town,

01:07:40couldn't find them.

01:07:41In the meantime,

01:07:42I was afraid to go home

01:07:44and I didn't know

01:07:45where else to go.

01:07:47As he had

01:07:48so many times before,

01:07:49Jason had vanished,

01:07:52only to reappear

01:07:53three days later

01:07:55at the one spot

01:07:56where no one

01:07:57ever expected

01:07:58to find him.

01:08:15Six months

01:08:17they'd been chasing him,

01:08:18chased down his fake ID

01:08:20to his possible

01:08:21second murder

01:08:22to a sneaked

01:08:23border crossing

01:08:24to what and where

01:08:27Robertson and Billoway

01:08:28did not know.

01:08:30Six months

01:08:31and the trail

01:08:32was colder than ever.

01:08:34Jason Stedman,

01:08:34now south of the border

01:08:36and beyond their jurisdiction,

01:08:37was gone.

01:08:39Probably for good.

01:08:41Quite possibly to Mexico

01:08:42for all they knew.

01:08:44And then,

01:08:45in mid-November 2015,

01:08:47Brian Robertson

01:08:48got a phone call

01:08:49from a U.S. Marshal

01:08:51in Seattle.

01:08:53And he says,

01:08:54you'll never believe

01:08:55who just walked in our door

01:08:57and turned himself in

01:08:58on his warrant,

01:08:59Jason Stedman.

01:09:02Stedman,

01:09:03who had outsmarted

01:09:04U.S. Marshals,

01:09:05FBI agents,

01:09:05sheriff's deputies,

01:09:07and evaded capture

01:09:08in Canada

01:09:08by fleeing on a jet ski,

01:09:10was now trying

01:09:11to pull off

01:09:12his greatest escape yet,

01:09:14ironically,

01:09:15by going back to prison.

01:09:18When he skipped out

01:09:19on his probation

01:09:20three years earlier,

01:09:21a warrant was issued

01:09:22for his arrest

01:09:23as Jason Stedman.

01:09:26So,

01:09:27if he gave himself up

01:09:29and served

01:09:30the few months

01:09:31remaining on his sentence,

01:09:32he'd be in the clear.

01:09:34Well,

01:09:35the cops ran in circles

01:09:36looking for some guy

01:09:37named Robert Aubrey Maxwell.

01:09:39Did he have any idea

01:09:41that the cops in Canada

01:09:42were well aware

01:09:43of what he had done?

01:09:44He had no idea.

01:09:45Our belief is that

01:09:48the only way

01:09:49to not be

01:09:50Robert Aubrey Maxwell

01:09:52is to be

01:09:53Jason Stedman again.

01:09:55And to be

01:09:56Jason Stedman again,

01:09:58he has to clear up

01:09:59his warrant.

01:10:00Then I can walk out,

01:10:01Jason Stedman,

01:10:02a free man,

01:10:03no one's looking for me,

01:10:04and we're off

01:10:06on a new life again.

01:10:07It wasn't until

01:10:08he was back in court

01:10:09for his resentencing

01:10:11that Jason learned

01:10:12his clever plan

01:10:13wasn't such a good idea

01:10:15after all.

01:10:16Kevin Greer,

01:10:17the U.S. Marshal,

01:10:18stood up in court

01:10:18and he advised

01:10:20the judge

01:10:21that he was wanted

01:10:23in Canada

01:10:23on first-degree

01:10:24murder warrants.

01:10:27And Kevin Greer said

01:10:29all Jason did

01:10:30was put his head

01:10:31down on the table

01:10:31and shake his head.

01:10:33That was the moment

01:10:34what he realized.

01:10:35That is when

01:10:35he knew that

01:10:37the gig was up

01:10:37in Canada

01:10:38that he was

01:10:39wanted for murder.

01:10:40Interesting case.

01:10:41I mean,

01:10:41here's a guy

01:10:42who clearly

01:10:42thought it out

01:10:43very carefully

01:10:44and probably thought

01:10:45he was being

01:10:45very smart about it

01:10:46but done in

01:10:47by his own mistakes.

01:10:48And that was

01:10:49what his problem was.

01:10:50He thought

01:10:50he was too smart

01:10:51for himself.

01:10:52He thought

01:10:53by leaving

01:10:55little pieces

01:10:56of evidence

01:10:57behind,

01:10:58such as the

01:10:59North Face ball cap

01:11:00and the knife sheet,

01:11:01he thought

01:11:02that that would

01:11:03solidify

01:11:04everyone thinking

01:11:05that Robert

01:11:06Aubrey Maxwell

01:11:07was the suspect.

01:11:08Bears repeating.

01:11:10Both Billoway

01:11:11and Robertson

01:11:12think Stedman

01:11:13left his knife

01:11:14sheath

01:11:15and North Face cap

01:11:16at Revolution Limousine

01:11:17on purpose

01:11:18to make sure

01:11:20his Aubrey Maxwell

01:11:21persona

01:11:21was connected

01:11:23to Dwayne Demkiew's

01:11:24murder.

01:11:25And then Stedman

01:11:26would just go back

01:11:26to being his old self

01:11:28in Washington State

01:11:28with no one the wiser.

01:11:30And his plan

01:11:31probably would have worked

01:11:33except for one thing.

01:11:35If Aubrey Maxwell's DNA

01:11:37had never been

01:11:38in the databank,

01:11:39we would have just

01:11:40got an unknown male

01:11:42number one DNA.

01:11:44We'd never be able

01:11:45to find Aubrey Maxwell

01:11:46to get his DNA

01:11:49to confirm it.

01:11:51Sure.

01:11:51Nor would we even

01:11:52think to.

01:11:53No.

01:11:54Because this guy's

01:11:55got legitimate

01:11:56government ID

01:11:58passport,

01:11:59which is one of the

01:11:59hardest IDs to get.

01:12:01He's got all of that.

01:12:02So we'd probably

01:12:03be sitting here

01:12:03right now

01:12:04with a warrant out

01:12:06for Robert Aubrey Maxwell

01:12:07for murder

01:12:10and not know

01:12:11where he is.

01:12:12If not for

01:12:13the fact that

01:12:14Aubrey Maxwell's DNA

01:12:16was in the databank.

01:12:17That's what turned

01:12:18the case.

01:12:19At the end,

01:12:19that's what

01:12:20was his undoing.

01:12:24Five months later,

01:12:26just after the

01:12:27long winter thaw,

01:12:28somewhere on the

01:12:29vast prairie

01:12:30between Edmonton

01:12:31and Calgary,

01:12:32a farmer was out

01:12:34walking the land

01:12:34with his dog.

01:12:36And his dog

01:12:37came across

01:12:38skeletal remains

01:12:40on the roadside

01:12:41in the ditch.

01:12:42And when the

01:12:44medical examiner

01:12:45examined the

01:12:46skeletal remains,

01:12:48the DNA came back

01:12:49to Dwayne Debke.

01:12:51Hmm.

01:12:51Carefully hidden

01:12:52or just tossed

01:12:54out of the truck?

01:12:54I think just

01:12:55dumped in the ditch.

01:12:57And Dwayne's

01:12:58family finally

01:12:59had to let go

01:13:00of whatever

01:13:01sliver of hope

01:13:01was left.

01:13:03Though,

01:13:04said his brother

01:13:04Darren,

01:13:06Myself,

01:13:06I felt a sense

01:13:07of relief.

01:13:08They found him.

01:13:10But Dwayne's

01:13:11friend,

01:13:12Calia,

01:13:12found no comfort

01:13:14in that.

01:13:15Because now

01:13:16you know

01:13:16he's 100%

01:13:17dead

01:13:19and there

01:13:20was no hope

01:13:21left.

01:13:22Six months

01:13:23later,

01:13:24in September

01:13:252016,

01:13:26Jason Stedman

01:13:27was turned

01:13:27over to

01:13:28Canadian

01:13:29authorities,

01:13:29where he met

01:13:31with a string

01:13:32of detectives.

01:13:33There's some

01:13:34things that you

01:13:34need to explain.

01:13:36You're wearing

01:13:37what appears

01:13:37to be a

01:13:38North Face

01:13:38ball cap,

01:13:39a North Face

01:13:41jacket.

01:13:41But during

01:13:43the hours

01:13:43of questioning,

01:13:44Stedman said

01:13:45only this.

01:13:47I can't discuss

01:13:48anything with you.

01:13:49I want to speak

01:13:50with my attorney.

01:13:52It was almost

01:13:53like a robot

01:13:54springing to life

01:13:55and then shutting

01:13:56down again.

01:13:57It would take

01:13:58nearly three years

01:13:59of pretrial delays

01:14:01before Dwayne Demke's

01:14:03friends and family

01:14:04would finally get

01:14:05a chance

01:14:06to find out

01:14:07why.

01:14:08Why did

01:14:09Jason Stedman

01:14:10kill

01:14:10Dwayne Demke?

01:14:27When Jason Stedman

01:14:28was extradited

01:14:29back to Canada,

01:14:30detectives,

01:14:31of course,

01:14:31had a lot of

01:14:32questions they were

01:14:33hoping you would

01:14:33answer.

01:14:34Questions about

01:14:35the murder

01:14:36of Dwayne Demke.

01:14:37I would like

01:14:38you to provide

01:14:38an explanation

01:14:39why your DNA

01:14:40was recovered

01:14:40from a North Face

01:14:41bald cap

01:14:42found in a

01:14:43planter box

01:14:44in the rear

01:14:44of Revolution

01:14:45limousine,

01:14:46the same location

01:14:47where Dwayne Demke

01:14:48was last seen

01:14:48alive.

01:14:49Do you want

01:14:49to answer

01:14:50that question?

01:14:51He did not.

01:14:53Stedman refused

01:14:54to answer any

01:14:55questions about

01:14:56Dwayne Demke,

01:14:58so detectives

01:14:59switched course

01:15:00and started a line

01:15:02of questioning

01:15:02about Robert

01:15:04Aubrey Maxwell,

01:15:05the real one,

01:15:06that is.

01:15:07I work for

01:15:08the Vancouver

01:15:09police and

01:15:10I'm here

01:15:10because I'm

01:15:11interested in

01:15:12the Robert

01:15:13Aubrey Maxwell

01:15:14situation.

01:15:16What happened

01:15:17to him?

01:15:18The sergeant

01:15:19wanted to know.

01:15:20And how was it

01:15:21Stedman ended up

01:15:23assuming Aubrey

01:15:24Maxwell's identity?

01:15:25Do you have

01:15:26an explanation

01:15:27for where you

01:15:27got his ID?

01:15:29But true to form,

01:15:31Stedman sat

01:15:32frozen,

01:15:33again refusing

01:15:35to answer any

01:15:36questions put

01:15:36to him.

01:15:37Mr. Stedman,

01:15:38did you hear

01:15:38what I had

01:15:39to say there?

01:15:40At one point,

01:15:41almost childlike,

01:15:42he closed his eyes

01:15:43as if he could

01:15:45make all this

01:15:46unpleasantness just

01:15:47disappear in a wink.

01:15:49And I don't know

01:15:49if you,

01:15:50when you close your eyes,

01:15:51if you're listening

01:15:52or if you're just

01:15:54meditating or,

01:15:55or what's going

01:15:56on there.

01:15:57While Stedman

01:15:58sat in jail

01:15:58waiting to go

01:15:59on trial,

01:16:00the detectives

01:16:01kept investigating

01:16:02and discovered

01:16:04the man had spent

01:16:05most of his time

01:16:06while on the run

01:16:07hiding out

01:16:08not in Washington

01:16:09State,

01:16:10but in upstate

01:16:11New York.

01:16:13Can I get you

01:16:13a glass of water

01:16:14before we get started?

01:16:15You're in?

01:16:16At his half-brother

01:16:17Chris Preston's apartment,

01:16:19who said he,

01:16:20Stedman,

01:16:20who we hadn't seen

01:16:21in nearly a decade,

01:16:23emailed him

01:16:23out of the blue.

01:16:25And then he's like,

01:16:26I don't know,

01:16:28you coming to town?

01:16:28I'm like, cool.

01:16:29Don't tell anybody.

01:16:30I'm like, fine.

01:16:31Though Chris said

01:16:32he had no idea

01:16:33his brother Jason

01:16:34was on the run.

01:16:35Did he ever talk

01:16:37about this homicide?

01:16:39No.

01:16:39I had no doubt,

01:16:41just from,

01:16:42you know,

01:16:42the exchanges

01:16:43that we had

01:16:43that, you know,

01:16:45he had done

01:16:47and or been involved

01:16:48in and or,

01:16:50you know,

01:16:51been partying to.

01:16:52Okay.

01:16:53You know,

01:16:54some form of

01:16:54leaf alley.

01:16:55What makes you

01:16:56say that?

01:16:57Just the way,

01:16:58you know,

01:16:58it's like we talked

01:16:59about like the rage

01:17:01and the seething

01:17:01and the,

01:17:02and you said,

01:17:03you know,

01:17:03you don't know,

01:17:04you don't know

01:17:04the things I've done,

01:17:06you don't know

01:17:06where I've been,

01:17:07you don't know

01:17:07the that I've seen.

01:17:09Did he ever get

01:17:10into any specifics?

01:17:11No.

01:17:12No.

01:17:12If he did,

01:17:13I'd tell you.

01:17:14But he said

01:17:15Jason did talk

01:17:15about hiding

01:17:16under a false identity.

01:17:18I'm like,

01:17:19how'd you do that?

01:17:19He's like,

01:17:20well, you know,

01:17:20I got a fake ID

01:17:21from Holland

01:17:22on the dark web.

01:17:23It was a fairy tale

01:17:25version of how

01:17:26Jason took over

01:17:27the identity

01:17:27of Robert Aubrey Maxwell.

01:17:29And when Chris

01:17:30later found out

01:17:31through news reports

01:17:32that Robert was missing,

01:17:34oh, he knew,

01:17:35he said,

01:17:36he knew what

01:17:37must have happened.

01:17:38I'm like,

01:17:39yeah, that's

01:17:39done.

01:17:40You know,

01:17:41not to,

01:17:42not to make light.

01:17:43You know,

01:17:43I feel bad.

01:17:44I feel horrible.

01:17:45I mean,

01:17:45I honestly have

01:17:46no doubt as to

01:17:47just exactly,

01:17:48probably what,

01:17:48the only way you're

01:17:49gonna,

01:17:50you gotta find a body,

01:17:50guys.

01:17:51Yeah.

01:17:51You gotta find a body.

01:17:52Yeah.

01:17:53Did he ever talk about

01:17:54anything related to that?

01:17:57I'm thinking sewers.

01:17:59I'm sorry?

01:17:59I would think sewers.

01:18:00Okay.

01:18:01Why do you say that?

01:18:02Just because

01:18:02he likes sewers.

01:18:04He likes sewers?

01:18:05Yeah.

01:18:05Okay.

01:18:08Detective Brian Robertson,

01:18:10though,

01:18:10has his own theories

01:18:11about what happened

01:18:12to the unfortunate

01:18:13Robert Aubrey Maxwell.

01:18:15Thoughts which he shared

01:18:16with us as we walked

01:18:17through the tough

01:18:18downtown east side

01:18:19of Vancouver.

01:18:21The last home

01:18:22Robert ever knew,

01:18:24if home,

01:18:25you can call it.

01:18:27As you're looking

01:18:28around here,

01:18:28what occurred to you

01:18:29about what actually

01:18:30happened to Robert

01:18:31Aubrey Maxwell?

01:18:32Well,

01:18:33because he's never

01:18:34been found,

01:18:35and that's significant,

01:18:37I think that he

01:18:38probably was disposed

01:18:39of in such a way

01:18:40that we're not

01:18:41going to find him.

01:18:42That's the only way

01:18:42that Stedman can get

01:18:43away with this crime.

01:18:44It's a busy place.

01:18:45How would you do that?

01:18:46Well, I mean,

01:18:46look at this alley.

01:18:47We look around,

01:18:48and there are lots of times

01:18:49when there's nobody

01:18:50in the alley.

01:18:50And if there is

01:18:52anybody walking by,

01:18:53they're certainly not

01:18:53paying attention to

01:18:54what's happening

01:18:54up the alley.

01:18:55And it takes nothing.

01:18:57There's dumpsters like this

01:18:58in every alley

01:18:58in the downtown east side.

01:18:59And it would be pretty easy

01:19:01just to put his body

01:19:02in the dumpster,

01:19:03close the lid.

01:19:04Every night,

01:19:04they get emptied.

01:19:05So quite possibly,

01:19:06he's just in a landfill

01:19:07somewhere.

01:19:07Yeah.

01:19:08Yeah.

01:19:08That's probably our best guess.

01:19:11And we'll never find him.

01:19:14And to this day,

01:19:15investigators have yet to charge

01:19:17Stedman,

01:19:18or anyone else for that matter,

01:19:19for the presumed death

01:19:21of Aubrey Maxwell.

01:19:23But for murdering Dwayne Demke,

01:19:26Jason pleaded not guilty,

01:19:28said he didn't do it.

01:19:29But prosecutors had all the DNA

01:19:31and video evidence

01:19:32that said he did.

01:19:34That he hid in a dumpster

01:19:35outside of Revolution Limousine,

01:19:38and with that Gerber knife,

01:19:40stabbed Dwayne to death

01:19:41when he left the building.

01:19:43And then dumped Dwayne's body

01:19:45off this gravel road,

01:19:47and drove his car down to Calgary,

01:19:49where he set it on fire,

01:19:50later making his way back

01:19:52to Edmonton on the train.

01:19:55Motive, though?

01:19:57That was a tougher case.

01:19:59Not that prosecutors

01:20:00needed to prove motive,

01:20:01but juries tend to want to know.

01:20:04So, when Stedman went on trial

01:20:07in 2019,

01:20:08prosecutors were stuck

01:20:10trying to explain to the jury

01:20:11the inexplicable,

01:20:13the why of it all.

01:20:15Though Brian Robertson

01:20:16suspects the motive was

01:20:18what he thought all along,

01:20:20one of the oldest known to mankind.

01:20:23Why would he do it?

01:20:24What was the motivation

01:20:25for this crime?

01:20:26Well, he won't talk to us

01:20:28about anything.

01:20:29He never talked to us

01:20:30about anything.

01:20:31Our belief is the motivation

01:20:33was Angel had broken up

01:20:36with him.

01:20:38He had always disliked Dwayne

01:20:42because Angel was such

01:20:44close friends with him.

01:20:45He often said to Angel

01:20:47that the reason

01:20:49that we can't become closer

01:20:51is because you're still

01:20:53so close to Dwayne.

01:20:54And so, I think that

01:20:56in some narcissistic way,

01:20:58he blames Dwayne

01:20:59for the failure

01:21:02of his relationship

01:21:03with Angel.

01:21:04And when she broke up

01:21:05with him,

01:21:06that was that.

01:21:07And he set his sights

01:21:09on Dwayne Demke.

01:21:12There was so much evidence

01:21:14against Stedman

01:21:15and his alter egos,

01:21:16it took nearly two months

01:21:17for the prosecution

01:21:18to present it all.

01:21:20And all the while,

01:21:21Dwayne Demke's friends

01:21:22and family were there

01:21:24in court,

01:21:25keeping a constant watch

01:21:27on the man who'd taken

01:21:28his life

01:21:29and caused so much pain.

01:21:32He just sat there

01:21:34like it was just

01:21:35any other normal day.

01:21:37He didn't look concerned,

01:21:38he didn't look sad,

01:21:40he didn't look anything.

01:21:42He just was very neutral-faced

01:21:45and he just sat there.

01:21:47He had absolutely no emotion,

01:21:49like none.

01:21:50Like a narcissist,

01:21:52a sociopath,

01:21:54a murderer,

01:21:55and to me,

01:21:57he still had that mindset,

01:21:58said, I'm still gonna

01:21:59get away with this.

01:22:02But that did not happen.

01:22:04It took the jury

01:22:05a little more than three hours

01:22:07to arrive at a verdict.

01:22:09It was a sense of relief

01:22:11when we heard guilty.

01:22:13Oh, what a great feeling

01:22:15to hear that guilty verdict

01:22:18on first-degree murder

01:22:21being read.

01:22:24Guilty of first-degree murder,

01:22:26guilty of arson

01:22:27for the car fire,

01:22:28life in prison

01:22:29and no chance of parole

01:22:31for 25 years,

01:22:33the maximum in Canadian law.

01:22:36We contacted Stedman

01:22:37through the prison administration,

01:22:39but he declined

01:22:40our request for an interview.

01:22:45On the side of a gravel road

01:22:47between Edmonton and Calgary,

01:22:49there is a simple

01:22:50but well-tended memorial

01:22:52burial for the gentle man

01:22:55who was murdered

01:22:56for being nothing more

01:22:57than a caring friend.

01:23:00Does he pop back

01:23:01into your mind sometimes?

01:23:02Of course.

01:23:03As you go on with your life?

01:23:05Of course.

01:23:07Does he come to visit

01:23:09in any particular way

01:23:10in your brain?

01:23:13Oh, sorry.

01:23:15That's okay.

01:23:16I mean, I have pictures

01:23:17of Dwayne in the house

01:23:18of when we were on vacation

01:23:20and other times,

01:23:21so I see his pictures

01:23:22every day,

01:23:23but I mean,

01:23:25I do think about him a lot.

01:23:30He was really kind

01:23:31and supportive

01:23:32and just really

01:23:34a loving guy.

01:23:41That's all for this edition

01:23:43of Dateline.

01:23:44We'll see you again Thursday

01:23:45at 10, 9 central,

01:23:47and of course,

01:23:48I'll see you each weeknight

01:23:49for NBC Nightly News.

01:23:51I'm Lester Holt.

01:23:52For all of us at NBC News,

01:23:54good night.

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