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After a night out on the town, a young woman vanished. Her loved ones held out hope that the aspiring nurse would be found safe, but after months of searching, their worst fears came true. Join Global News Senior Crime Reporter Nancy Hixt as she shares the shocking details of this murder mystery.
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00:02This program is rated 14 plus and contains scenes of violence and mature subject matter. Viewer discretion is advised.
00:11Snow covers the roads.
00:13Me and Nelly were out investigating. We followed Barbara's route. We found out she went up to that bar.
00:23A sign reads renegades. Barbara's in a bar at closing time gets into an argument with two individuals.
00:31We knew she was missing. That's all we knew.
00:35We could not find any footprints of life for Barbara after she left renegades.
00:40A sign reads Alberta. They were going straight across Highway 22.
00:45He saw the passenger side door open and there was a woman who appeared to be naked trying to get
00:52out of the truck.
00:53I'm worried that she's not alright. Like she could be hurt or even dead.
00:59Because I fear the worst.
01:01A young woman smiles in a photo. Crime Beat.
01:04Welcome to Crime Beat. I'm Anthony Robart.
01:06A night out ends in turmoil as a young woman vanishes.
01:11Loved ones held out hope that the aspiring nurse would be found safe.
01:15But after months of searching, that hope was shattered.
01:19With a murder investigation underway, detectives raced to find the truth behind the shocking details of this murder mystery.
01:28Here now is Nancy Hicks with Last Call.
01:35Snow gently falls beneath the street light at night.
01:39Early one morning in 2002, the driver of a semi truck was navigating snowy roads when he noticed a vehicle
01:48driving erratically.
01:50The trucker then saw a naked woman hanging out of the passenger door.
01:57He figured the occupants had been drinking.
02:00And soon after, the vehicle drove out of his sight.
02:04A young woman's image appears in a newspaper.
02:06More than a week later, while reading a local newspaper, he made a startling connection between what he saw and
02:15a mysterious case that had been unfolding in Calgary.
02:19So the family members of Barbara Iapace called us and they were concerned because they hadn't seen her in a
02:24few days, hadn't heard from her in a few days.
02:26Barbara had a scheduled appointment with her dad at a bank.
02:31And her dad called us and said, like, it is very, very unusual that she wouldn't have attended.
02:37And if she wasn't going to attend, she certainly would have contacted him.
02:40And the fact that she didn't show up, she didn't contact him, it was a concern.
02:45They didn't know what happened, if anything, but she just hadn't been seen in a bit and they were concerned.
02:49Barbara's father.
02:50I also knew of Barbara's way.
02:52She was always, if she said she'd be somewhere, she'd keep her word.
02:58Well, Natalie was getting all panicky for a day or two.
03:02I said, just relax.
03:05If she's not back for her job Monday, then we'll do something.
03:13Well, she didn't come back for her job.
03:16So then I said, okay, we'll go do something.
03:19So I went down and talked to the detectives.
03:25An aerial view shows a river flowing beneath the bridge.
03:29As investigators retraced Barbara's steps, they realized none of her family or friends had seen or heard from her since
03:38January 17th.
03:40Brother Kevin.
03:41It was actually my mom that phoned me and she was just hysterical, kind of just saying that she was
03:48gone.
03:48And that wasn't like her, right?
03:50Like, she always was in touch with my mom, always in touch with my dad, my aunt.
03:55So when we interviewed Barbara's mom, we knew that they had been out together.
03:59They had been drinking at Allegiant downtown.
04:02That they had left that place together and they had gone to another bar, the Cecil Hotel downtown.
04:11And that later on, after a few drinks, that Barbara's mom left and Barbara was still there with some other
04:18individuals.
04:19When the mom couldn't get a hold of Barbara, she started doing her own investigation.
04:23She found out that Barbara had gone to Renegade's bar from the Cecil via cab.
04:30And that it was actually a group of them that had left the Cecil and went to Renegade's.
04:35A sign reads Renegade's Pub and Nightclub.
04:39The inquiries at Renegade's indicated that Barbara had gone into some type of altercation argument with two males.
04:48It seemed to be over her accusing them of stealing $25 and that she needed that money because that was
04:55her cab money to get back home.
04:57And that seemed to be the gist of this particular dispute that was going on.
05:01I can only think that it was probably a substantial argument if people are noticing it.
05:06And if that's your cab fare to get home and somebody's taken it and now you're stranded somewhere, like I
05:13can see where somebody obviously would be upset.
05:15The manager said that there was an off-duty doorman bouncer that had given Barbara a ride home.
05:22He said that he gave her a ride home.
05:24He also said though that there were some other individuals that seemed to be involved in this story somehow.
05:30That when he gave her a ride home that there were some other people that were there and they were
05:35the people from the bar.
05:36So it was pretty clear that he has some information and we need to get that information from him.
05:41A sign reads Calgary Police Station.
05:44Calgary Police Detective Len Howland was assigned to work on the missing persons case.
05:50His first task was to interview the bar's bouncer, who was now considered a key witness in the investigation.
05:59His statement was that she was incredibly intoxicated.
06:05She had no money.
06:07She said that someone had taken it.
06:10He was in there on his day off.
06:12So he technically wasn't working.
06:14He was in there as a patron.
06:15But he volunteered to drive her home.
06:17And he said that he drove her from the bar to her home.
06:20And he mentioned that he thought someone was following him from the bar.
06:25But he dropped her off at her home where she told him it was.
06:28He saw a couple of guys get out of the car.
06:31This witness told police it was the same two men Barbara had been seen arguing with at the bar.
06:37And he didn't want to get involved in an altercation.
06:40So he left.
06:42The detective opens his car door.
06:44He gets into the driver's side.
06:48And he drove me on the route that he took to take her home.
06:52When he dropped her off, it was at the intersection which was about three houses from her home.
06:59Not in front of the house.
07:01He's even stronger in his description of having been followed a couple of guys.
07:06And he watched them get out of their vehicle.
07:08They started arguing with Barbara.
07:10And he drove away.
07:11It was certainly red flags for us.
07:13You know, Barbara's in a bar at closing time.
07:16Gets into an argument with two individuals.
07:19And those two individuals somehow show up at her house.
07:22Then came disturbing reports of gunfire aimed at the bouncer.
07:28I heard my window go.
07:30He found me.
07:31He took a shot.
07:32He missed.
07:32I got away.
07:33Well, this is a significant concern.
07:35And it's really an escalation.
07:39Title.
07:40Crime Beat.
07:41Last Call.
07:48Crime Beat.
07:50Welcome back to Crime Beat.
07:51As police investigate the disappearance of Barbara Iapace.
07:55They are confronted with conflicting stories about her final hours.
07:59That is, until key evidence came to light from an unexpected eyewitness.
08:06Here again is Nancy Hicks with Last Call.
08:11Barbara's mother lights a candle.
08:13She's interviewed by the press.
08:15I'll keep it burning for her until I hear something.
08:18You know.
08:20Nellie Iapace kept a candle burning for her missing daughter Barbara.
08:24As a sign of hope that she'd be found safe.
08:28Nobody's seen her or heard from her or anything.
08:33You know, that's not like Barbara.
08:35She would have got in contact with one of us.
08:38Barbara was working as a waitress at a downtown Calgary restaurant and had recently been accepted into a nursing program.
08:47Just days before her disappearance, she had spent time with her family.
08:52Barbara's father.
08:53Well, that's when she came over, cooked that beautiful meal.
08:57And I walked her outside.
08:59She had a bike.
09:01She was gone.
09:03She only lived a few blocks away.
09:06With every day that passed, Barbara's family became more fearful.
09:12I'm worried that she's not alright.
09:14Like, she could be hurt or even dead.
09:17Because I fear the worst.
09:19Brother Kevin.
09:20Just not knowing.
09:21Like, no one knew anything.
09:23Not knowing is the worst.
09:25Right?
09:26Because it could be anything.
09:27My mother said that she had got a call from the bar manager and said that Barb was there at
09:36the club.
09:37And that she was going to be getting a ride home from one of the staff members.
09:44But that was all she said and that's all she knew.
09:47But she never showed up.
09:48You know, I can't imagine what it's like for the family when you've got your 24-year-old that's gone
09:54missing.
09:54And you had just been out with her just before she went missing.
09:59So the family, as they're trying to help and they're trying to get information, they also know about this argument
10:04that took place in the bar.
10:06They're talking to family and friends.
10:09They're getting some of this information.
10:10And they are very convinced that these two individuals must be responsible.
10:16Because they're the only ones that anybody saw Barbara have a conflict with.
10:20They now show up at her house parked outside.
10:24And you now have the bouncer claiming that his window was shot out by them.
10:30So like this is definitely an escalation in this particular investigation.
10:35The bouncer went to his local police station and provided officers with a description of the suspect vehicle and details
10:43of what happened.
10:44Actual interview.
10:45It was a royal blue Honda four-door with a sunroof.
10:51That was the same car that was at her house when I pulled up.
10:59And I seen him hold his hand out.
11:02And I seen a gun in his hand.
11:03What type of gun?
11:04Black.
11:05Handgun, long gun?
11:06Handgun.
11:06Handgun?
11:07I heard my window go.
11:09So you heard the window go?
11:10Yeah.
11:11But did you actually get the shot?
11:13Yes I did.
11:13Okay.
11:14So he found me.
11:16He took a shot.
11:17He missed.
11:18I got away.
11:19The bouncer told police he was targeted because he could identify the men responsible for Barbara's disappearance.
11:28This guy has a motive.
11:29I can identify him.
11:30Right.
11:30Okay.
11:30I'm kind of, I'm pretty interested in catching this person, whoever, you know, whatever he did with Barbara.
11:37Sure.
11:38And I feel kind of responsible because I had the choice.
11:40I could have got out of my truck and grabbed those two guys and smacked them around and they would
11:44have left.
11:45But instead I just drove off and she went with him I guess.
11:49The witness volunteered to have police examine his truck to help them find the person responsible for the shooting.
11:57There was a substantial amount of investigative work that went into this and in particular into trying to identify these
12:03two individuals.
12:04But we did and we were able to go and interview both of those males that Barbara had that argument
12:11with.
12:12We interviewed them separately.
12:14Their stories were very similar and their story was that they did leave the bar but they left the bar
12:20in a cab and they gave us a cab number.
12:22When we tracked down their alibi, it seems to check out.
12:25We got a taxi receipt that indicated that in fact they did take a taxi.
12:30We talked to the roommates that said yes, this is when they showed up.
12:33And so we've got two conflicting stories going on here.
12:38We're not really sure what's going on but it appears that these males are not involved in their disappearance.
12:43And then another startling development.
12:47We were able to determine that there's no way that that vehicle was shot at.
12:50So we had our forensic crime scenes unit look at that window and it was broken for sure.
12:56But they were able to determine that it was not shot out.
12:59That it looked like it was some type of instrument that had broken it.
13:02It definitely was not broken by a bullet.
13:06That that part of the story that he provided, there's something wrong there because that is not accurate.
13:13Why would Fred Abma, the renegade's bouncer, lie to officers about a missing persons investigation?
13:21There's so many conversations with him.
13:24He's starting to get suspicious that maybe we think he's the suspect.
13:28And he says that we need to talk to his friend where he went after he had dropped the victim
13:35on.
13:35I went and talked to that friend and got a written alibi, a statement stating that Mr. Abma had been
13:42to that house from like 2.30 till 4.30 in the morning on the 18th.
13:48So we have an alibi.
13:50Newspaper clippings are laid out on the desk.
13:54By now, Barbara's case had become front page news.
13:58But what happened to her remained a mystery.
14:02It's pretty clear that somebody is lying to us.
14:04And so we need to figure out who that is.
14:07Barbara smiles in a photo.
14:09We could not find any footprints of life for Barbara after she left renegades.
14:14So when we looked at banking information, there was no banking information.
14:18She had a job.
14:19She didn't show up to her job.
14:21We already know that she had not contacted her family.
14:24We know that she had missed that appointment with her dad.
14:26All of these pieces coming together causes us great concern that something more has happened to Barbara.
14:36That's when police finally got a break in the case.
14:41Title, Crime Beat, Last Call.
14:50Crime Beat, Last Call.
14:52Just over a week after Barbara Iapace vanished, the investigation unraveled in an entirely new direction.
15:02A semi-truck driver came forward to police to report a shocking scene on the highway early in the morning
15:09of January 18th.
15:11Just hours after Barbara was last seen leaving Renegade's Bar.
15:17We got a witness statement from the RCMP that originated from a truck driver who had seen a suspicious vehicle
15:25out south of Langdon.
15:27It was night time, it was snowing, and he was behind this pickup truck.
15:31This truck driver said that he had seen a woman trying to get out of the passenger side cab of
15:37the truck.
15:38He's thinking this is strange.
15:39His brain clicks.
15:40He gets a hold of the RCMP.
15:42He provides a statement.
15:44The truck driver had seen a newspaper article about the missing persons case in Calgary
15:50and said he believed the woman he saw could have been Barbara Iapace.
15:56You saw somebody's picture in a newspaper?
15:59Yeah.
16:00And where was that?
16:02Where did you see this?
16:03What was it?
16:03The son he saw?
16:05The Calvary son?
16:06Yeah.
16:14The trucker took police on the exact route he drove that night.
16:19When you say you saw him weaving?
16:21Yeah.
16:22Like on the other side of the line?
16:24Yeah.
16:25So you would speed up, slow down if what I understand is correct?
16:29Yeah.
16:30He was sitting up in front of me here.
16:32In this lane?
16:33Yeah.
16:34Okay.
16:35And I was checking traffic at the time and I wasn't paying any attention to him.
16:39Uh huh.
16:40And then when I looked up again, they were right in the middle of the road here.
16:43That's when it appeared the woman tried to get out of the truck.
16:48She had the door wide open.
16:49She had her feet stuck right against the side of it.
16:52And she had to be sitting right on the edge of the seat.
16:55Right on the edge of the seat?
16:56Oh yeah.
16:57And I turned the corner here and I stopped and I watched them to see what they were going to
17:01do.
17:03And he just kept going and the snow was flying up so bad and she hadn't closed the door yet.
17:08I was thinking I should have followed them but I was already in the motion to turn so I didn't
17:12want to block the lane.
17:14And what did you notice about the truck, the back of the truck that you can tell me?
17:18Well there was one tail light out on it.
17:21Which one was that?
17:22On the left side.
17:23Okay.
17:24An older model blue Dodge Dakota pickup with a burned out tail light.
17:28He's following them along and when they get to Langdon they turn right, head south.
17:35So when they're about to cross, they were going straight across Highway 22.
17:41He saw the passenger side door open and there was a woman who appeared to be naked trying to get
17:49out of the truck.
17:50The bouncer who gave Barbara a ride home from the bar, Fred Abma, drove a dark blue Dodge half ton
17:58truck.
17:59We got a witness describing a vehicle.
18:03That's the same description as what the original, the witness that I drove around had.
18:09This vehicle, another witness had seen a woman trying to get out of it.
18:14We've got a missing person case where the witness that owns a pickup truck admitted that he drove her home
18:21in it.
18:21Police put out a press release stating there was new information on the disappearance of Barbara Iapace.
18:29It may have been a dark colored pickup truck in this line of traffic.
18:33And we've been told there were two people in this truck that were attracting the attention of other motorists.
18:39So we're asking if anyone has seen this or has any information regarding this truck, if they could give us
18:43a call.
18:44So what we released to the media as a follow up was a description of this truck, including the fact
18:50that the truck had a burnt out tail light.
18:52We released the fact that there was two occupants of the vehicle and they seemed to be in some type
18:58of altercation.
18:59And we released the time and the location of this vehicle.
19:03What we didn't release and what was hold back for us was the fact that the truck driver saw a
19:10female trying to get out of the vehicle.
19:13And through that door and then being pulled back.
19:16And so that's the piece that we held back in this particular case.
19:20By now, Mr. Abma is a suspect.
19:23We've got people following him 24-7.
19:27Well, then we would watch Mr. Abma.
19:29He fixed his tail light the next morning when the information came out in the paper.
19:33Certainly, this is looking suspicious.
19:35A team searches through fields.
19:37Just over a month after Barbara Iapace vanished,
19:41searchers began scouring the countryside east of Calgary.
19:45Looking for things that are unusual, out of place.
19:48And that's the job that we do.
19:51So as we track Barbara's whereabouts as best we can,
19:55we know she left Renegades.
19:56And then we suspect that a few hours later at 4 o'clock in the morning
19:59that she was seen in that truck trying to get out.
20:03So what we did was the investigators arranged for a search of that particular area.
20:10So we started searching south of Langdon.
20:14Huge area.
20:16Some of us were out there on our own time.
20:19Drive around just trying to see what the lay of the land and stuff.
20:22We got our search and rescue teams out there.
20:24And we searched and searched along the highway,
20:27you know, back a few hundred feet looking for small items.
20:29So it wasn't, we weren't looking for big items.
20:32We were looking for anything we could find.
20:34A helicopter flies overhead.
20:36The search continued for weeks.
20:39Well, we have found some items,
20:41but we don't know their significance or relevance to the investigation.
20:44That'll be done at a later time.
20:46We're just going to collect everything that we can,
20:48and our ident people will be examined thoroughly afterwards.
20:52But there was still no sign of Barbara.
20:56We had a belief that she was no longer alive,
20:59and we were determined to do everything we could to find her killer.
21:04I was giving news releases like I met with the reporters
21:08in a parking lot by my home or in the office
21:12or out at Renegades and stuff like that.
21:16Like, it was just constant.
21:17The former detective arrives at the plaza.
21:20So this is where Renegades used to be.
21:22The bar's gone.
21:23The main entrance would have been there were the chipboards on the wall.
21:26Detective Howland stayed in constant contact
21:29with the Renegades' bouncer, Fred Abma,
21:33never letting on that he was considered a suspect.
21:37So what do you think happened?
21:39You know, you're the last person to see our victim.
21:43What do you think happened?
21:44Nothing that Abma was telling us made sense.
21:48All it did was raise suspicions.
21:49What Abma didn't realize was that covert officers were watching him 24-7.
21:57A business card reads Fast Fred's.
21:59He spent time establishing his own business called Fast Fred's.
22:04He was delivering appliances.
22:06It might have been a dryer or some kind of appliance.
22:09He had delivered to a location of ours.
22:10At that seemingly chance meeting, Fred Abma struck up a conversation
22:16and jumped at a chance to discuss possible business opportunities
22:20over drinks at a Calgary bar.
22:23If you and I, you know, are able to help me out of this case,
22:27I'll do what I can.
22:29And that's, you know, it goes two ways, right?
22:31That's the way it might help you, the way I should.
22:35Throughout the entire investigation,
22:36the investigators are continuing to look to see
22:38if there's other investigative strategies that they could use.
22:42It's been months now and we still have had no signs of life from Barbara
22:46and we're not moving the investigation further.
22:50The investigators make a very bold choice to see
22:54if they could introduce undercover operators into Abma's life.
22:59Do you need some favours in the future?
23:01Do you need some favours? Whatever.
23:03I got buddies who took one.
23:08And they call in favours and you know what?
23:10Do you deliver them?
23:11Yes, yes.
23:12And you know what?
23:13If you ask me, it adds up to a couple hundred
23:17to a couple thousand a month.
23:19That's pretty good on your table cash.
23:21Right now, I need $1,200 for my truck.
23:25I'll have it.
23:26That's something where I can maybe help you out.
23:28They were happy to involve Mr. Abma,
23:31and they would pay him cash for small jobs that he would do.
23:36And this is how the friendship developed.
23:38What always happens in these operations is that
23:42the undercover officers want to gain the trust of their target.
23:49They want the target to fully believe that they are criminals.
23:54At the time, we were given very limited information,
23:57or at least I was.
23:58And the reason we have limited information
24:01is to protect the integrity of the investigation
24:03so that we don't know what happened, right?
24:06I was aware that a woman by the name of Barbara Ipace was missing,
24:11and it was believed that she may have been the victim of a homicide,
24:17and that Mr. Abma was the suspect that the homicide detectives had identified.
24:25It's a tough file, and even though Abma has been lying to us,
24:30and he's a suspect, we need evidence.
24:33It's not good enough just to say he lied.
24:36We need evidence.
24:36We need to find Barbara,
24:39and or we need some other break in this particular case.
24:42Title, Crime Beat.
24:51Crime Beat.
24:52Last Call.
24:54A woman sings at a candlelight vigil.
25:00Mourners surround the area.
25:03Exactly two months after Barbara Ipace disappeared,
25:07family, friends, and strangers gathered for a candlelight vigil.
25:11Barbara's mother.
25:12I'm just taking it a day at a time, like day by day.
25:15Like, it's hard.
25:16It's really hard not knowing.
25:18And this cold weather doesn't help.
25:20Like, you know, worry about where she could be,
25:23where she could be cold.
25:25You know, but I just feel that there's something wrong
25:29because she would have been trying to contact someone,
25:32any one of us.
25:35A woman sings into the microphone.
25:38As time passed,
25:40Barbara's mother found it hard to stay positive.
25:43I have hopes that they'll find her
25:45and find out what happened to her,
25:49but I don't think I'll see my girl alive again.
25:52I just, you know, I just have that feeling.
25:54Barbara's brother, Kevin.
25:55After, you know, a month or two goes by,
25:59you just, you basically know it's,
26:02only can turn out one way, right?
26:06Police continued to search east of the city,
26:09where the semi-truck driver believed he saw Barbara
26:12trying to escape from a vehicle.
26:15So now we arrange for more of our search and rescue teams.
26:19They come out.
26:20They were out, I think, a total of three times.
26:22One time we had, must have had 50 members out there,
26:27like walking the bush and down by the river
26:29and stuff like that.
26:30We needed to go over that land
26:31because you can hide a body behind a tree.
26:36And we believed that she was out in that area.
26:39On our own time, like when we're not scheduled to work,
26:42let's go look.
26:43At this point, the undercover operation
26:46targeting the bouncer, Fred Abma,
26:49was well underway.
26:51Mr. Abma, I believe, at least at that point in time,
26:57may have started to feel that he was in the clear
26:59because it was, nothing was being said anymore
27:03on the news or media.
27:05The police weren't hounding him.
27:16The sun rises over a farmer's field.
27:19Then, three and a half months after Barbara Iapace vanished.
27:25On the 27th of April, we got a phone call.
27:28A fisherman had found a body in the Bow River,
27:31south of Langdon.
27:33The detective travels in his vehicle.
27:36Investigators drove about an hour southeast of Calgary
27:39to investigate further,
27:40to the south shore of the river
27:43near Windham Carsland Provincial Park.
27:47We had help from Fish and Wildlife.
27:49They provided a boat, an operator.
27:51We got her on the boat.
27:52They took her over to a wharf
27:54where they could load her in the corners.
27:55And rather than get people's hopes up or not,
27:58we're going to wait until the enemy tells us of the victims.
28:00So after the remains were located,
28:02we did send out a media release with regards to that,
28:07just that we located the remains.
28:09And then we saw a newspaper article that actually came out
28:12that talked about what we released,
28:14but also put in some additional information in there.
28:17It talked about the truck driver and that particular tip,
28:20and it also quoted ABMA in that article.
28:25But what was of interest to us in particular
28:28was the fact that in the article,
28:29it talked about a female trying to get out of a passenger window
28:34of a truck.
28:36They were following up a report of a partially nude woman
28:38seen struggling and hanging out of the passenger window
28:41of a moving pickup truck along Highway 22X.
28:44And that was supposedly a tip that had come from the truck driver.
28:49That was not information we had released.
28:51And in fact, it wasn't accurate.
28:53As we know, a female was trying to get out of the door,
28:57not the window.
28:59So for us, it was inaccurate.
29:02And we just let it play.
29:05I know it's there.
29:07Even without official confirmation,
29:11Nellie Iapace felt in her heart
29:13that the body recovered from the river was Barbara.
29:18Something told me that she was in the water.
29:20I just got it.
29:21I don't know.
29:22You know, mother's intuition, I guess you'd call it.
29:24But I just knew she was in the water somewhere.
29:28That's when she blew out the candle
29:30she had kept lit for her daughter.
29:32Barbara smiles in a framed photo.
29:34In this particular case,
29:36it took dental records and skeletal records
29:39to confirm that, in fact,
29:41the body the fisherman saw was Barbara.
29:44As far as cause of death goes,
29:47the medical examiner said it was really undetermined.
29:50But he couldn't rule out choking.
29:53It was not easy.
29:54Because Nellie wanted to see her daughter.
29:56And I had to tell Nellie that
29:58there's not going to be an open casket funeral.
30:01Because she was in bad shape.
30:03It was three months under the water, under the ice.
30:07Above the ice, predation.
30:10You know, she was in rough shape.
30:11I'm just going to put her to rest.
30:13Have a decent funeral for her.
30:16And just try and continue on.
30:19Like, it's going to be hard.
30:20But that's what Barbara would want.
30:23She was a fighter right to the end.
30:26Once again, Barbara's case topped local news headlines.
30:30Well, when we have an undercover operation ongoing
30:33and there's something that is significant to the file that happens,
30:38such as in this case where we've located Barbara
30:41and we've now gone public with that information
30:43or at least some of that information,
30:45it often is a great opportunity for our undercover operators
30:52and the subject to have conversation around it.
30:57And that's exactly what happened,
30:59just days after Barbara's body was recovered.
31:03At that time, we were still hanging out with Mr. Atma.
31:08Maybe he felt like the police were kind of closing in
31:10and that he was feeling his jeopardy.
31:13The police had reached out to him
31:15and claimed that they had some new evidence
31:17or something to that effect
31:18and wanted to interview him again.
31:22And it was following that
31:24that he had essentially told myself
31:29and another operator
31:31that he was involved and responsible
31:34for Barbara Ipe's death.
31:36Where'd you meet this broad again?
31:38Brenege?
31:38Okay.
31:39How's the counselor there?
31:40At Dorman.
31:41And so, as it always does go,
31:45they talk about Mr. Big.
31:47They talk about their boss
31:50and that their boss can fix a lot of things
31:53in the criminal justice area.
31:56Mr. Atma just has to be frank and truthful with the boss
32:00so that he knows what the real problem is
32:03and how to fix it.
32:04He's a stand-up guy.
32:06If anybody can help me, he's the guy.
32:08Right?
32:09But he'll be honest with you too.
32:11He'll tell you straight up
32:11if he's going to be able to help you.
32:12Yeah.
32:13According to Mr. Atma,
32:14they had consensual sex
32:16and then afterwards he went to drive her home
32:19and at that point in time he said that
32:21Ms. I-Pace accused him of, in his words,
32:25of raping her.
32:25He said that he did not want that allegation of rape.
32:31He knew somebody that had been charged previously
32:34and what that person went through
32:35and he didn't want to go through the same thing.
32:37So I think he used the words getting rid of the problem
32:41or taking care of the problem
32:43or something to that effect.
32:44From that, he said that he ended up driving down Highway 797
32:50down to a body of water where he had killed Ms. I-Pace
32:57and discarded her into the river.
32:59Trucks travel along the highway at night.
33:02Abma told officers that a trucker likely saw Barbara
33:06as she tried to escape out the passenger door of his truck.
33:11The truck passed and she's all hanging out the window.
33:14Well, not hanging out the window but
33:15had the door open, right?
33:17The truck passed?
33:18The truck passed me.
33:19So somebody maybe saw that?
33:21That's what they saw.
33:22Okay, so she's-
33:24She's fighting the truck.
33:25Pulled back in the truck.
33:25Wham!
33:26On the floor.
33:27Slammed the door shut.
33:28Two times I choked her.
33:30And a third time I made sure I finished it.
33:32Hold back is so important in really any investigation.
33:38But certainly investigations like this.
33:41And in this particular case what we had was Abma
33:45talking to undercover operators and he confessed to the crime.
33:49He confessed to murdering Barbara.
33:52But on top of that there's what I would call a reverse hold back.
33:55There was the information that was in the article about
33:58a female trying to get out of a passenger window
34:01of the truck on Glenmore Trail.
34:04And we know that that's not what happened.
34:06And in fact Abma was adamant that that's not what happened
34:10and he told the undercover operators actually she was trying
34:13to get out of the door.
34:14A female trying to get out of the door of that truck
34:16we had never told anybody.
34:17We had never released to the media.
34:19And so but he was adamant that the information about the window
34:23was inaccurate.
34:23And he was right it was inaccurate.
34:25That became very very crucial to corroborating his confession.
34:30At one point Abma drew a map for undercover officers
34:34to better describe the route he had taken after they left the bar.
34:55He had ran out of gas near Langdon and that he had pushed his truck
35:04either up to the gas station or near the gas station.
35:06He described the gas attendant and he also described
35:10telling us a story about how he told this gas attendant
35:15that he was out there looking for a fifth wheel trailer
35:18that he sold to two guys from Newfoundland that didn't pay him.
35:22They tracked down the lady that was working at the gas station
35:24at the time that Abma stopped there.
35:26Got a statement from her and yes she confirmed that he was there.
35:29described his vehicle and him.
35:31And got his name because she'd asked for it.
35:34It was pretty clear that this was a legitimate confession.
35:40Have you told anybody else about this?
35:43The only people in the world that know this
35:44are the three men in the room right here right now.
35:48Crime Beat.
35:55Crime Beat. Anthony Robard.
35:58Welcome back.
36:00Three and a half months after Barbara Iapace disappeared,
36:02the search sadly ended in heartbreak.
36:05Her body was recovered from a river.
36:08Downstream in fact from where a semi-truck driver
36:10saw her trying to escape.
36:12Then, a confession in a Mr. Big sting operation.
36:16But would there be justice for Barbara?
36:21Here now is Nancy Hicks with a conclusion of Last Call.
36:27Barbara's mother, May 4th, 2002.
36:30Every day I put an X down that I hadn't heard nothing,
36:35I haven't seen nothing.
36:36Nellie Iapace had marked 100 X's on her calendar
36:41until her daughter was found.
36:44The 17th, that was the last day I was with my girl.
36:48100 days exactly, yeah.
36:50It was the hardest thing in my life.
36:52The first of the first 100 days
36:56till they recovered her body.
36:59Just drove me crazy every day.
37:04Just days later, on May 3rd, 2002,
37:08Fred Abma was arrested.
37:10I just put a big X on there.
37:12The charges were laid down.
37:14They said, we got good news.
37:16We found the guy.
37:17We've arrested him.
37:18The first thing that went through my mind was,
37:21my girl, you can rest now.
37:23We found her.
37:24We found your killer.
37:25You know, whoever hurt you, we found him.
37:27You can rest.
37:29He admitted everything.
37:32You know, he confirmed it with the little things too.
37:34It wasn't just the admission to the undercover guys.
37:37It was, you know, telling us exactly what the truck driver saw.
37:41No one else knew that.
37:42Found a cell phone on the passenger side floor of his truck.
37:46Had 911 dial on it.
37:48How long was this girl alive?
37:50And she knew she was going to die.
37:53She was trying to get out of the truck when they crossed 22X.
37:57She knew it wasn't good.
37:58Imagine the fear.
38:00It's a relief to finally know that someone that can commit this type of a crime is off the streets
38:07and is going to be facing a trial.
38:10Even after the damning confessions, investigators continued to search for further evidence.
38:18They returned to the shore of the Bow River, hoping to find Barbara's clothing.
38:23The search team looks through tall grass.
38:26If they were located, for instance, it might even give us a better understanding of what happened those moments leading
38:33up to her death.
38:35And then I kept working on it, trying to just tie up loose ends and stuff.
38:39And I went back and talked to the original person that gave us the alibi on May 5th.
38:43And he recanted everything and said no.
38:46Abner had threatened him and told him he had to tell us that he was there.
38:51I think it's a horrendous situation.
38:53You have this young woman that was out having a good time with family and then with friends, is looking
39:00to get a ride home.
39:08And she gets a ride from somebody that, although off duty at the time, was working, works at that bar
39:15and works as a bouncer, works as a security person for that bar.
39:18And I have no doubt that she trusted him even just by his job.
39:23Cars travel through downtown Calgary.
39:26In October of 2003, almost two years after Barbara Iapace went missing, her accused killer, Fred Abner, stood trial in
39:37front of a judge alone.
39:39So the theory of the Crown and of the investigator is that Abner had plenty of time to plan out
39:46what he was going to do.
39:48That it was about a 30 minute drive.
39:50And during that time that he had planned out that he was actually going to kill Barbara and dispose of
39:56her.
39:56And so he was ultimately charged for first degree murder.
40:01The key evidence in this case was the Mr. Big confessions.
40:07And I say plural confessions because he had told two friends that he'd made and then he told Mr. Big
40:13the same story.
40:14And that, that was the key evidence against him.
40:19His testimony was that he had dropped her off at her house, as he'd said.
40:25And that there was somebody in a car that had followed them from the bar.
40:30And the last he saw of her was there.
40:32And then later he hears that she's missing.
40:35He, and the police want to question him, he hits the panic button and says,
40:39I, I made a false alibi up because I was the last one who was with her.
40:46After six weeks of evidence, Fred Abner was convicted of first degree murder.
40:52The judge looked at all of the evidence, including the confessions by Mr. Abner to the undercover police officers
40:59and said, I have no reason to doubt these.
41:02It makes sense that the body could have been dumped where Mr. Abner said,
41:06and that it was flowed downstream because the river, ice was melting, the river was flowing.
41:12The truck driver who saw this pair of naked legs hanging out the vehicle
41:18with the distinctive left tail light out and the same type of vehicle.
41:22All of that added up, all of these little pieces.
41:25The fact that Mr. Abner had gone for gasoline and even given his name to the gas attendant,
41:31very near where he says the body was put into the river.
41:35All of that circumstantially became overwhelming.
41:39Judge found it was a planned and deliberate that he had planned to kill her while basically,
41:45while he was driving, which meant an automatic life sentence with parole ineligibility of 25 years.
41:56Barbara's parents left court feeling some relief.
41:59Barbara's mother.
42:00She was the apple of our eye, I'm telling you.
42:02She was my only daughter.
42:04At least we get some kind of closure on the snow.
42:08We can't let this destroy us.
42:10Barbara's father, Bob.
42:12But in the end, that's exactly what Fred Abner did to Barbara's family.
42:19Nellie Iapace passed away in 2010.
42:22She was insane.
42:24She just lost.
42:25Barbara's brother, Kevin.
42:26No old will for anything after that.
42:29Barbara's father speaks with the media.
42:31He destroyed our family.
42:35That's pretty nerve-wracking even telling you guys this.
42:38Other than in the Mr. Big Sting operation, Fred Abner has never admitted to killing Barbara Iapace and never expressed
42:49remorse.
42:49Yeah, everybody knows except him.
42:52I don't know why.
42:55You know, if he said he was sorry, you know, had a little remorse, actually I probably wouldn't say, well,
43:06give the guy another chance.
43:08But I hear he has no remorse.
43:13Oh, jeez.
43:15That sickens me in the roundabout way.
43:18I'm scared for other people.
43:20I'm scared if he ever gets out that it could happen again.
43:26That's what I worry about.
43:28I don't want to save another girl, another family.
43:34Barbara's father steps out onto the terrace, looking out into the courtyard from his building.
43:39As Barbara's father battles cancer, he can't help but feel robbed of time and precious memories he could have had
43:49with his daughter.
43:50I just love her smile.
43:53He smiles staring at her photo.
43:55I do miss my girl.
43:58Everybody missed her.
44:01I worry, there's no such thing that's closure.
44:03I wish there was, but there's not.
44:08Sometimes I just hear a tune that I knew Barbara, like, tear by coming to my eyes.
44:16You know, she was a great daughter.
44:20Victim Barbara smiles in a photo.
44:22Fred Abma remains in prison and runs several online pages proclaiming his innocence.
44:28In 2020, he requested a ministerial review of his case.
44:32However, officials determined there was no reasonable basis to conclude a miscarriage of justice occurred.
44:39As of the release of this episode, he has been denied day and full parole.
44:45After her death, a donation was made in Barbara's name, contributing to a scholarship fund at Bow Valley College,
44:52awarded to students enrolled in the practical nursing program.
44:58Thank you for joining us tonight on Crime Beat.
45:01I'm Anthony Robart.
45:02Production credits follow.
45:03Want more episodes of Crime Beat?
45:06Listen to the Crime Beat Podcast.
45:07Now for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcast.
45:13And for past episodes of Crime Beat, go to the Global TV app, visit GlobalTV.com,
45:20or check out our Crime Beat YouTube page.
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