- 2 days ago
On July 12th, 2005, a Ford Explorer was found abandoned in a northeast Edmonton parking lot. The driver's door was ajar, and some personal belongings were strewn outside. The vehicle belonged to Liana White, a 29-year-old married woman expecting her second child. Liana failed to show up for work that morning, and the police were instantly suspicious about her sudden disappearance. But as her husband, the authorities, and the public began a desperate search for her, detectives didn't realize the answers they were looking for were hiding in plain sight.
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00:02this program is rated 14 plus and contains scenes of violence and mature subject matter
00:07viewer discretion is advised
00:12she certainly isn't gonna just leave her vehicle it just smelled it was the biggest story of the
00:18entire period and people were on the edge of their seats like what happened to this
00:22woman of all the cases that i have this one needs to be solved
00:28you go back and do the book back and forth this search and rescue team is spending its day in
00:34the ditches looking for a clue that suv what we believe to be the ford explorer enters the screen
00:40and drives through and the video didn't capture the license plate of that vehicle no it was certainly
00:46not that kind of quality it's every homicide detective's dream get a bag of evidence that
00:53the bad guy actually got for you i went holy crap look at this stuff it was a gold mine
01:00it was
01:00unbelievable
01:04welcome to crime beat i'm anthony robart on july 12 2005 a 29 year old edmonton mother vanished
01:13without a trace her disappearance sent shockwaves throughout the city especially because she was
01:19four months pregnant no one had any answers as to where she could have gone
01:26here now is jamie doll with behind closed doors
01:34day breaks in edmonton on a warm july morning as the city stirs a woman on her way to the
01:40gym
01:41discover something unusual in the parking lot of a baseball diamond
01:47it was july 12 2005 and it first started off where somebody noticed a vehicle abandoned and
01:54suspicious circumstances she actually phoned the police saying there was a car there
01:59the driver's side door is open and there seems to be like belongings to the side of it on the
02:05ground
02:05and a pair of shoes and i don't see anybody inside in to go up to the vehicle but like
02:10the seagulls and
02:10the crows are playing with whatever's on the ground where's the car 157th avenue and if you're going down
02:18castle downs road and you hit 157th avenue and you go west it's the first opening to where you would
02:25park for the baseball diamond she knows for a fact that that suv was there at 545 when she walked
02:32to
02:32the ymca for a workout i remember being called out to the scene of where the suv was abandoned
02:39i was asked to take pictures of the suv there was a pair of shoes sort of nicely placed there
02:44the door
02:45was ajar on the vehicle it was a ford explorer it was parked in kind of a gravel parking lot
02:50and there
02:51was no other vehicles around it just seemed strange and the keys their driver's license were on the
02:57driver's seat and they were just sitting there the other forensic guy had gotten into it and i think
03:02he's just under six feet tall and he couldn't touch the foot pedals of the vehicle so it had to
03:07be a
03:07large person that was driving that vehicle no one touched the seat at all no signs of a struggle no
03:12blood no nothing in that truck that we could see with our naked eyes it was a parking lot of
03:18a wreck
03:19area in castle downs the initial responders thought that it was a little staged nothing looked like it
03:25was random any idea at that point who the vehicle belonged to yeah they ran it belonged to a lady
03:30named
03:31liana white who didn't live too far away wans and i started looking around these trees in and around
03:37then we started walking that way
03:41i saw a wallet sitting as a leaner like in horseshoes against the bottom of the tree trunk
03:47it was underneath the branches we saw this and grabbed it and it was liana's wallet
03:52i still remember seeing the video of police walking around with the little markers evidence markers
03:59the door hanging open as they're walking around it really sort of symbolized the we don't know what
04:04happened here and she just disappeared out of nowhere people were clamoring for any kind of
04:10information about what happened to liana white 29 year old liana white lived with her husband michael
04:16white they had a little girl and another baby on the way liana was a mother to ashley who was
04:24a young
04:25child probably two or three at the time she was a unit clerk in the neil nail unit at the
04:31royal
04:31alexandra hospital by all accounts a very popular and valuable employee there very reliable michael was
04:39a former military member now working as an apprentice heavy duty mechanic he tried calling his wife and
04:45didn't have any luck she hadn't shown up for work so that's when things you know that the flags really
04:50started going off that something probably really serious happened here makes me a little nervous
04:56concerned because you're not sure you know if there's someone out there watching you know if this
05:01woman was on her way to work and how she could disappear you wonder you know how she kind of
05:05got
05:05targeted makes me wonder if we should worry if there's something going on that they're not telling us
05:12perhaps or something we should watch for if something is off so i think what really stood out is
05:17here's a woman that is pregnant and if she was missing and needed help it wasn't just her life
05:23that it was at stake it was the unborn child we were covering it as a missing persons case at
05:28the time
05:29she was a young woman cautious careful she worked as a clerk at the royal alexandra hospital she seemed
05:35like a responsible prudent person i would guess the distance between where the vehicle was located
05:42and her home was maybe about 10 blocks two original patrol guys went to the house and the door was
05:51open the dog was outside which is never outside the door wasn't locked so they went in and found phone
05:55numbers for leanna's work mike's work that's where they got all the phone numbers from where they worked
06:01she would not not show up for work and not let anybody know she certainly isn't gonna just leave her
06:06vehicle in the parking lot and take off police went to see leanna's husband michael at his work
06:14he was brought in for an interview and not as being a suspect he's a witness so you know you've
06:19got to
06:19get his story before you can start much what did he say just that she left for work at um
06:24six o'clock
06:25and he was asleep and he never never heard anything he had no idea where she was or what happened
06:31to her
06:33michael white was at work generally saying everything was fine when i went to work i dropped
06:38our daughter off at daycare i came to work and here i am i haven't been able to get a
06:42hold of my wife by
06:43phone again that was normal behavior for leanna and michael they called each other back and forth
06:48about four or five times throughout each day so according to his story he's the last person that saw
06:53her at home it's like layers of an onion you're peeling the onion and initially we've just got an onion
06:58with one layer off it which is we've got this vehicle at that point that's our crime scene
07:06there was some evidence that we had that was leaving that in fact the crime had taken place
07:12we would let you know that at this time it's missing person we have no indication at all that
07:17a crime has taken place
07:24the word at that time was that they had had a peaceful happy marriage there was no major conflict
07:31he was a good husband he's a big baloo of the bear of a guy like a happy-go-lucky
07:35friendly guy like
07:36baloo the bear on the jungle book they're just normal family she's pregnant they were happy and she was
07:42ready for have a second child and then now she's missing the thought was that she was on her way
07:47to work
07:48and at some point between leaving home and getting to work she was strangely abducted
07:53it was the biggest story of the entire period and people were on the edge of their seats like
08:00what happened to this woman
08:17welcome back to crime beat 29 year old leanna white failed to show up for work her suv was found
08:24abandoned in a parking lot the doors left open with some of her belongings strewn on the ground nearby
08:31now as the mystery builds police step up their search for the pregnant edmonton mother
08:37we now return to jamie doll with behind closed doors
08:48we had two search managers that were searching the areas north of their house and where the suv was
08:53found where the house is it's a pretty large area from 153 abe north in edmonton between 97th street
09:01and 142 street that's a big area to be looking so they started organizing volunteers and policemen
09:08i was just trying to get a picture of the vehicle and then a picture of leanna put it on
09:13a poster and
09:14essentially try and get as many people as we could to see that and and be on the lookout for
09:19her
09:20we've checked all the leads and people are phoning in we probably had 500 tips in the first three days
09:27she may have had an old boyfriend 10 years ago we checked him out there was two guys in a
09:32car at
09:32the lance happy mart that had nothing to do with it leanna sold avon cosmetics as a part-time job
09:39so
09:39one thing we were trying to explore is was this a robbery and because she did the family's finances she
09:46was the one that went to the bank and did all the banking and things like that did she have
09:49money
09:50on her from her avon sales the other most likely explanation is is that she's hit the road right
09:56she's tired of this guy and she's gone not likely as she's left her daughter ashley but you never know
10:03right we interviewed leanna's mom when we found out that leanna and her mom were really close we asked
10:10her mom some questions about how she sort of saw leanna and michael's relationship and whether
10:16leanna had ever confided in her about any problems or concerns the mother thought the relationship was
10:23fine maureen was obviously really stressed she was really worried i think she was a little overwhelmed
10:29with what was going on which is pretty understandable
10:35meanwhile a steady stream of journalists were knocking at the whites door eager for any
10:41information on a story that was gripping the city michael said what should i do with the media should i
10:47talk to him i said well you know you do what you feel like doing if you think it's important
10:51that you
10:51should go and talk to the media then you go and talk to the media but we are not going
10:55to participate
10:57so as soon as we were getting ready to leave he goes to the door he's like i'm going to
11:01talk to them
11:02we are hearing for the first time tonight from the husband of an edmonton woman who left for work
11:07yesterday morning and then disappeared police did find 29 year old leanna white's car abandoned not far
11:14from her home right here is that where you are is perfect sir thanks for doing this is there something
11:22you want to say uh leanna just hold tight um
11:32thanks for everybody who's been involved and looking thank you um thanks for the media and their support
11:41and putting her out there and putting her face on making making known who she is um thanks for every
11:48officer police officer detective on the case thank you that's all i got to say i just want to say
11:55thanks
11:55this must be a really difficult time for you no i mean no thanks i just
12:03go back and do the book back and forth this search and rescue team is spending its day in the
12:09ditches
12:10looking for a clue a clue that will help lead them to leanna white so far they found nothing we're
12:17searching
12:18near leanna's residence and we call that the point last scene where she was actually physically seen
12:26leanna's husband michael was also searching he was taking neighbors and friends and family and all of
12:32the people in this city that felt compelled to be able to try to help on this taking them out
12:37and
12:37searching for his wife walking up and down the streets going in through the ditches looking for any kind of
12:44evidence meanwhile investigators were zeroing in on cctv footage they collected from a pub not far from
12:51where leanna's vehicle was found they came in they asked if they could see the surveillance cameras for
12:57that evening they played them they're generally about six hours in length so they watched them for a few
13:04hours uh once they finished viewing them they asked us if they could take the tapes with them i got
13:12the
13:12impression that they that they've seen something there was no time stamp so that was a challenge
13:19for us and kind of knowing what portion of the videotape to look at so we methodically just went
13:25through that entire videotape so that suv what we believe to be the ford explorer enters the screen and
13:30drives through and if you notice there's a light color or white shirt on the person driving the vehicle
13:36and the video didn't capture the license plate of that vehicle no it was certainly not that kind of
13:42quality it was at a time in the morning uh just after sunrise where leanna would not have been going
13:47to work it would have been a couple of hours later where she would be going to work so uh
13:51that was
13:51strange in itself we concentrated our efforts on on the vehicle and comparing it and making sure that
13:57it was possibly that vehicle the next segment is where we tried to time the event of a video placement
14:05exercise we had a detective drive by with the same suv at various times in the morning just before
14:12sunrise again this is the detective driving by in leanna's ford explorer and again the segment slowed
14:19down here as well to be able to see the reason we used the same recording equipment was to give
14:26an apples
14:27comparison of the vehicle we believed was driving by that morning there's a lot of thinking like okay
14:36where where is she where could she be what happened to her like and people don't know and they're not
14:40inside the investigation they're not up on all the things that the police are up on so they don't their
14:45suspicions aren't building like they were at the police through that time there's just genuine
14:50concern for leanna where is she is she okay is there foul play and there's a huge search going on
14:56in many
14:56people are volunteering and participating in that five days went by and still there was no sign of
15:04leanna but the search for her pressed on it's a rural area that doesn't see a whole lot of traffic
15:13from the citizens of the city we just like to exhaust all avenues and we're hoping for anything at this
15:19point to help with the investigation michael white and his family said well we want to go out to
15:25the command post where the search and rescue people are and just thank them for all the work they've
15:30done this weekend after thanking the volunteers the family headed back out to search
15:39when michael white and his family left that parking lot they turned north on one of the rural roads
15:46michael's out i believe with his mom and dad and his brother and sister in another car
15:51and they meet up on that road 142 street and pound maker road they stop there and they're chatting
15:58and then the mother is what's that smell and gets out and goes and stands at the edge of the
16:04ditch and
16:05then starts crying and gets back in the vehicle michael's mother recognized that it was leanna
16:11because although she was covered with some loose brush and branches she could see her dolphin tattoo on her ankle
16:24i believe it was michael's brother who called 911 and the rcmp went there and then they they notified us
16:31it was gruesome you know advanced decomposition
16:49welcome back after leanna white's body is discovered by the side of a rural road
16:55the police investigation that has been going on in the background reveals their primary suspect
17:03here again is jamie doll with behind closed doors where was the body found in it would have been
17:12right kind of here at the edge of the trees edge of the bush but keep in mind this is
17:18all uh grass was
17:20about this high and there's some other willows and stuff like that
17:26you know you're not going to stop in that small of an area unless you know where to stop
17:36days before leanna's body was discovered police and even reporters started to question the
17:42demeanor of leanna's nearest and dearest her husband michael white it started after he gave
17:48this interview is there something you want to say uh leanna just hold tight this was strange it was a
18:00strange interview just coming walking out and making those uh you know thanking people and then breaking
18:06down but not really and having some tears come but it wasn't it didn't quite feel right it felt odd
18:12and it didn't quite understand what was going on talking to a lot of the other reporters that were
18:17there with me after the fact we were sort of saying the same thing that this was odd it didn't
18:22add up
18:23it wasn't what we had seen prior when talking to people dealing with grief dealing with loss
18:27what does that mean like who's who says that leanna stay put like what is what is that all about
18:34stay put what there was no like i will find you
18:41every person operates differently when they're under stress and so you have to be careful to not
18:48leap to conclusions because people are acting a little bit different than you think you would act
18:54under the similar circumstances it really sounded like he didn't know how to behave
19:03michael asked some questions and they did catch us off guard he asked when should i go back to work
19:09he
19:09asks how long will you be looking for her and how long will this investigation take and those are sort
19:18of
19:19upside down questions it was around that time police were dialing in on the surveillance footage of leanna's
19:26vehicle passing by the pub and they discovered there was more on that tape there we go brian
19:34robertson was getting on my nerves we're partners we're partners in homicide he said just go away you're
19:40driving me nuts i know we have to do things but so i told him to go down to the
19:43audio visual place
19:45and watch the rest of that tape so he went down there about 45 minutes he phoned me he said
19:49mike you got
19:49to come up i see the ford explorer go through the screen and driving down 161 avenue i watched
19:56afterwards really nothing happens 12 minutes later from the left side of the screen a person
20:02is jogging along the sidewalk back towards warwick crescent and the white residence that person comes
20:10into view and actually looks up towards the richards pub roof line where the video is
20:16and there was no doubt in my mind that it was michael white the quality wasn't sufficient enough to
20:23identify the person but the height the the gate the white colored shirt again surfaced of a man running
20:33by either it's yeah a man out for a jog or it's michael white running back home again so he
20:39can get back
20:40before his his child woke up that was the first time that he became a legitimately strong suspect between
20:465 30 and 6 30 in the morning for the next three four days and also look for anybody that
20:52looked like
20:53michael white walking in the area just in case it was somebody you know not related so now we've got
21:01michael white lying about what he did we've got michael white running back from the area where the
21:06ford explorer was discovered towards the area where he lives
21:12i went to our bosses and said we need 24 7 surveillance on michael white
21:17i knew we had him in a bunch of lies and i knew that he was good for liana's disappearance
21:23we still
21:24don't know what happened to liana on the evening of july 14th undercover police officers followed white
21:32and watched as he walked into a field and came back with garbage bags
21:38when he came out he was carrying two garbage bags full of unknown things put the garbage bags in his
21:45truck and then drove back to his house into the garage closed the garage door not long after that
21:53he brings the garbages out to the curb because it's garbage day the next day on the 15th
21:59we put one of our undercover operators on the back of the garbage truck operating as a garbage collector
22:09he picked up the two garbage bags put them beside him away from all the other garbage drove away and
22:14then he gave them to our forensic guys and brought them to headquarters
22:22i went holy crap look at this stuff it was a gold mine it's every homicide detective's dream get a
22:28bag of
22:29evidence that the bad guy actually got for you like he brought it back to his house and put it
22:35out
22:35there you go it was unbelievable it's something that that probably happened the only time in my career
22:42there was bloody towels there was bloody shirts there was blue nitro
22:46rubber gloves there was blood on everything there was a broken lamp hordes of paper towel full of blood
22:52cleaning bottles like bleach bottles and stuff all in these two bags that broken lamp matches a partner
23:00lamp that was in the second bedroom in the house so we could connect that lamp to the white property
23:06there was also a paper sheaf of a knife that was just the sheaf it's probably a foot long there
23:13was also a
23:13some kind of army t-shirt it was his regiment and it had blood on it and the broken lamp
23:18would come
23:19into play because where he took those two bags out of the field there was a lampshade on one of
23:24the
23:24posts right beside where he went in to get the two bags of stuff so that eventually said the broken
23:30lamp in the bag was all from his house because the matching lamp and shade was in his house i
23:34think
23:34was afraid that the garbage was good the bag was going to be found by the searchers
23:40michael white was brought in again for questioning but this time not as a witness as a suspect
23:46are you involved in mayana's disappearance i love her i still am i'm talking past tense now we had to
23:55caution him like it's a caution statement you know you're at risk you can call a lawyer no no i'll
24:00talk
24:00to you i'm good are you telling him at this point that he's a suspect yeah we have to because
24:05we know
24:05he is we can't try and spoof him in a interview room what did he say when he finds out
24:10he's actually
24:11a suspect but i don't think it offended him that much of course i am i'm the husband so of
24:15course you're
24:16looking at the closest people to her he's just chalking it up to that correct we knew we had
24:21evidence but that would come into play on the last interview we let him go investigators needed more
24:28evidence before they could lay charges later that day they returned to michael white's home with a
24:34search warrant michael was there we told michael we're not talking to you we're not answering any
24:40of your questions we're having a conversation with your family we can't make you leave they wanted
24:45to know things like have you checked for um any neighborhood break and enter suspects
24:50that are around the area any um car thieves that are operating in the area any serial sex offenders
24:57that have been released from jail recently all of now these things are things that normal people ask
25:05michael white's family was staying there so when the house was being searched they were removed
25:11and put up in a hotel when we go to leave michael asks one question and he asked will you
25:18be searching
25:18at the dump now we already know that we've got his garbage forensic officers have been in and out of
25:27the white's house for most of the day now police declined an interview with us today but when we stepped
25:34on the property we were told we had to leave because this is being treated as a crime scene
25:39it was obvious that the house was the crime scene absolutely no indication that anybody else is involved
25:45with him when the family went back out to search after thanking volunteers the police surveillance team
25:52had been following them when detectives arrived on scene they said michael white was distraught at the
25:58discovery of his wife's body we've got the body we've got him we don't want him in case he does
26:04something else dumb like take his own life or hurt somebody else white was detained and put in the
26:10back of a police cruiser and brought to headquarters they had the whole game plan on how to interview
26:16them we had pictures up on the wall the crime scenes the house the truck and by that time we
26:22had
26:22luminoled the back of the suv the house luminol fluoresces when the iron in the blood you spray
26:29the luminol on and it turned the lights off in black light you can see the drag all the way
26:32through
26:33the house out to the back into the back of the suv and when you shone it in the back
26:37of the suv the luminous
26:38was outstanding as well it looked like someone was just laying there and he wiped it up but
26:45you're going wow and on the bumper you can see some of the swipes there too so he tried to
26:51clean it all up
26:52so how can how can you achieve no killing my wife no murder weapon was ever found he just wouldn't
27:01admit to any part of hurting her the most unemotional person i've ever met in my life had no emotions
27:17hello and thank you for joining us a major break late tonight in the case of missing edmonton woman
27:21leanna white police suggesting for the first time the four-month-old pregnant mother of two-year-old
27:26has been the victim of murder and issuing a statement this evening that her husband michael
27:32white has been charged with second-degree murder and a dignity to a body these startling developments
27:37coming a day after a body was discovered in a north edmonton ditch just about two kilometers
27:42northeast of the home he shared with his wife her body was found with very few clothes on and while
27:47the medical examiner is still searching for an exact cause of death police say that the remarks
27:51found her body that indicate she was involved with some sort of struggle we can also tell you that
27:56police did not find any evidence of premeditation which is why michael white has been charged with
28:00second-degree murder but police say they found plenty of other evidence that made them suspicious of
28:04white from tuesday till now our forensics team have received over 150 exhibits so i can't say that we
28:11found exhibit we found evidence at the suv the explorer in the parking lot we've discovered evidence at the
28:17house we've discovered evidence at where the body was recovered it's devastating it's a tragic day it's
28:21not a it's not a victory for the police service it's just a tragic day for two families the medical
28:27examiner determined caused the death to be homicidal violence they found two stab wounds one fairly deep
28:33stab wound and one more shallow stab wound on liana's hip and they found defensive knife cuts on her left
28:43hand at the autopsy
28:45there is a 98 gram male fetus found in her womb it's horrible i i still don't understand his mindset
28:54with
28:54the that's the other story where was ashley during this night that ignited the 11th morning of the 12th
29:00i still don't know ashley the white's little girl was believed to be home the night her mom disappeared
29:08this is total disbelief
29:12i don't have too much information at this time but uh what we hear is uh it's very sad news
29:18so we're all
29:19distraught everybody was hoping in the city that you'd be found alive it's sad to just find out that
29:24you know one of your neighbors or something like that can happen to them shock and grief staff at
29:29royal alexandra hospital talk about losing someone they love she's a friend and a colleague and um
29:36very well liked and respected for the work that she did in the neon program so we miss her everybody
29:42certainly knew that leanne was was pregnant because she shared it she told everyone yeah very dedicated
29:47mother very her child was everything to her and very excited to be with the prospect of having another
29:54child michael white grew up here in marr ontario a farming community on the shores of georgian bay
29:59about three and a half hours northwest of toronto he worked like many rural children on the family farm
30:05his former classmates calling him an all-around nice guy many in the small community say they are shocked
30:11and saddened by the news and they say out of respect for the whites a family who has been here
30:16for
30:16generations they do not want to speak publicly about michael or this tragedy there's a number of
30:24people that definitely thought that he was a victim in all of this that maybe the police were just
30:29looking for the easy answer and maybe not looking for the right answer that they maybe they should look
30:35a little bit deeper details started to emerge about michael white's past in march of 2002 he was
30:42court-martialed for theft and possession of stolen property he pled guilty he was given a severe
30:48reprimand and was fined three thousand dollars and there was more about what was possibly going
30:54on in michael and leanna's personal life behind closed doors what people didn't know though was
31:01stress was slowly building as the young couple struggled with money a 36 000 accident settlement had
31:06hit them hard finances were strained even more when the couple moved into this 170 000 home
31:12with a huge mortgage and additional car loans the couple's debt kept growing but to the outside
31:17world including leanna's mother everything seemed fine as far as maureen was concerned they were in a
31:22very very healthy and loving relationship two months after being charged michael white was granted
31:28bail and released from custody nothing at all nothing right now no comment right now please no comment
31:38white's bail release angered some edmontonians to the point thousands of signatures were gathered on
31:44a petition demanding it be revoked they felt personally invested in trying to find her they felt betrayed
31:51probably by a husband who is now charged with his wife's murder and to then see him get bail forget
31:59the
31:59legal reasons for it forget any of those sorts of questions about whether it's the right thing legally or not
32:04morally they felt wronged by that it was an outrage to the people
32:09senior doctor i cannot make a comment i'm sorry i think the street line is out here
32:14works all right mike if you didn't do it you did
32:19have you been trying to find a job i can't make a comment now family and friends of leanna white
32:28said
32:28goodbye today the 29 year old was laid to rest more than two weeks after she disappeared from her north
32:33edmonton home she had a magnetic personality and drew people with her striking smile and sparkling eyes
32:41she was a dedicated nurturing mother who was selfless in her love with for her family
32:47as an employee and co-worker she was outgoing reliable and compassionate
32:52when maureen counts her blessings leanna tops the list as her center and joy of her life
32:58michael and daughter ashley did not attend the funeral
33:02my top priority is leanna and putting her in god's hands and ashley that's our top priorities right now
33:13more than a year after his wife's death in november of 2006 michael white's second degree murder trial
33:19began before a jury today on day one of the trial the crown told the court that it has overwhelming
33:26evidence against michael white it said the court will hear that two days after leanna's disappearance
33:31michael white returned to a field where he picked up two garbage bags and placed them at the end of
33:36his driveway those bags were found to contain clothes and paper towels covered with blood
33:41with dna that matched leanna white's and there was more evidence on the rubber gloves found in the garbage bag
33:49the inside of the gloves uh are his dna so the inside of the rubber gloves is the outside is
33:56her blood
33:56so he had he was wearing gloves when he touched her blood there was also some kind of army t
34:00-shirt it
34:01was basically his regiment and it had blood on it they found a pair of jeans with blood on it
34:06that turned
34:07out to be leanna's blood found a pair of sandals the evidence now shows that he killed leanna in the
34:13house
34:13and transported her away from the house you've got the body you've got the bloody clothing you've got
34:20the blood in the scene you got him on the camera the morning that she's gone missing her vehicle
34:26being driven at the scene where the vehicle's left the driver's seats pushed all the way back
34:32so clearly she wasn't driving it the shoes are placed kicked out of your vehicle i mean everything just
34:37added up and it's all pointing in one direction right at him michael white a tired thinner version of
34:43his former self sat in the prisoner's box today his lawyer says white will later testify that he
34:49loved his wife he didn't kill his wife and that he's an innocent man the defense says there are too
34:55many unanswered questions suggesting police made assumptions shutting doors early on in the
35:01investigation after seeing this pub security video you can't convict anybody on the strength of
35:08that image it's poor the defense says if leanna died from a stab wound to the neck as suggested
35:15where is the blood police used luminol and detected traces in the couple's bedroom if she had died in
35:22this house and lost the amount of blood they said she did that place should have lit up like a
35:27christmas
35:28tree white told the jury the blood was from his wife's nosebleed if he is lying it should have been
35:35better than that he loved his wife he gained nothing from this he has lost everything but crown
35:42counsel troy couillard says white is guilty and he lied to the jury the story of leanna's nosebleed is
35:49just incredible i suggest you reject it a story he didn't tell police the morning he was charged with his
35:56wife's murder couillard says white killed leanna in their bedroom dumped her body stashed garbage bags
36:03full of bloody evidence left the suv in a parking lot staged a robbery scene ran home then cleaned up
36:11madam justice moreau will read her charge to the 12 member jury wednesday morning once that is complete
36:18it will begin deliberating and the fate of michael white rests in the jury's hands i don't think he had
36:24a motive i think they got in a fight circumstances were such that he just lost it and ended up
36:31killing her
36:45in a fight
36:46welcome back michael white is on trial for second degree murder accused of killing his pregnant wife
36:5329 year old leanna white he's denied any involvement and pleaded not guilty and now his fate rests in the
37:01hands of the hands of a jury here is jamie doll with the conclusion of behind closed doors
37:11maureen kelly's only child is gone leanna white murdered by her own husband how could you and why
37:22what happened maureen held hands with her friend while the jury read its guilty verdict
37:29michael white closed his eyes tilted his head back but he didn't cry in court until his mother hugged him
37:35goodbye michael white was sentenced to life in prison for the second degree murder of his pregnant wife
37:41leanna with no chance of parole for 17 years i'm sad that my daughter's gone you know he's got a
37:50sentence but
37:51my my daughter's gone ashley's mom is gone and uh you know because of his mistake his life is ruined
38:0020 would have been better i think 17 seems kind of short for kind of the offense that occurred that's
38:07not going to bring her back nothing's going to change that so you still are going to have that going
38:11through our lives forever he took two lives that day and still tries to deny it
38:17so i hope we never see him around here again ever maureen says the day leanna disappeared was the
38:22day her world fell apart she described her agony to the court at michael white's sentencing hearing
38:28while he sat listening in the prisoner's box in her victim impact statement she said i'm tortured by the
38:35way she died the suffering and fear she must have endured as well as the sense of betrayal michael white
38:41lowered his head when maureen talked about ashley but then he stood to speak directly to leanna's
38:47mother maureen i don't know what to say to you i'd like to start off first with ashley you are
38:53in
38:53charge of her life raise her well like you raised leanna make sure she knows all about her every little
38:59detail tell her about the man i used to be if you can ever find it in your heart too
39:04it may be too much
39:06to ask i'm sorry for everything that you've gone through from day one to now i'm sorry he said he
39:12was sorry that maureen was in pain but he never said he was sorry he did it carol forbes and
39:17white
39:18stepfather would say little as they left the court but are obviously upset with media here you've done
39:24the dirty work in the beginning and it was you that helped convict him michael white went on to serve
39:3017
39:31years in prison in 2023 he was granted full parole according to parole documents white has maintained
39:38his innocence and is working to clear his name and there are others out there hoping to do the same
39:45the whole of alberta was very emotionally charged and very quite hateful towards michael because of the
39:52way the media had portrayed him as i got to know him i'm going this is not making sense the
39:59details are
40:00not making sense marilyn burns is an edmonton based lawyer who has worked with the white family on a
40:06number of civil suits to this day she is still pouring over the evidence used to convict michael white
40:13the police were there that day and the house was pristine they couldn't see blood anywhere it
40:20wasn't until the luminol test was done that they found the blood splattering on the floor
40:27luminol basically tests for iron blood of course has iron in it so do many other substances vegetables
40:35cleaning substances fluids lots of materials would test positive for luminol the police theory
40:44is that he not only murdered his wife he cleaned the entire bedroom he had managed not to wake up
40:53his
40:54daughter or his dog there was obviously not a lot of noise maybe the the throat slash was first so
41:01she couldn't make a lot of noise you would think she would scream if she could he managed to get
41:06her
41:06body into the vehicle all the way down to dropping it off in the ditch dropping off the garbage driving
41:16over to the location where the vehicle was found with the door open and then he ran back home when
41:25i
41:25look at all that you'd have to be a mastermind to do that that's not the kind of human that
41:30michael white
41:30was according to marilyn michael claims his daughter accidentally hit liana in the nose with this
41:38clothing hanger and this is how the nosebleed happened
41:42so there was blood in the garbage bin on his clothes and from the cleanup what he didn't tell
41:47anybody and what i extracted from him was that he had been collecting garbage from his neighbors and
41:54they would pay him to go to the dump but instead of going to the dump he dumped those bags
42:01in a field
42:03but he felt really embarrassed about having been dumping
42:09innocence canada says michael white's case is on an active list and it's currently being reviewed
42:15burns believes there is another story about what really happened to liana white
42:19she's determined to share one day something i can let go of and it's one of those projects i have
42:27that
42:28ultimately one day i will go word by word through the trial transcripts
42:33improve that way that michael could not have done what it's alleged he never admitted to doing it
42:40you know you got volumes of evidence it could only be him and he's doing the oj simpson i'm gonna
42:47keep looking until i find her killer just take a look in the mirror buddy it's right there
42:54we always have to be mindful of tunnel vision and that's something that's always in the back of
42:59our mind we looked at other vehicles that had driven by um we had uh in terms of the video
43:05but
43:06in terms of the the investigation itself um we we have to avoid being um you know focusing on one
43:14particular thing uh and having a ton of tunnel vision so uh and i i remember uh those discussions
43:20occurring with the homicide team um that we we can't have tunnel vision there's no doubt in my mind that
43:26michael white killed her this is probably one of three cases that i remember for the rest of my
43:30life one of the ones that stick with you because the pregnancy still is probably the worst thing
43:35mind-boggling what goes through these people's minds what a human being can do to another one
43:47a young mother she's pregnant murdered in her own home
43:51by her husband you know like that by the safest guy she should have been worth and the safest place
43:57she should have been this is just awful like we're all family guys in the homicide section you
44:02know like you just can't oh anybody could do this to their family member to know that ashley is
44:08continuing on without her mom it's it's really sad and it really does affect us all and i think it
44:14affects most of edmonton too we will take her memory and all what she stood for and we will make
44:20sure that
44:20goes on and just make sure ashley knows where she came from according to parole documents michael white
44:30has remarried has stable employment and has a close relationship with his family including his daughter
44:38ashley he has also been granted permission to travel outside of canada on recreational trips other
44:44than visits with his daughter he is not allowed to contact members of liana's family as part of his
44:50release thank you for joining us tonight on crime beat i'm anthony roars want more episodes of crime beat
45:00listen to the crime beat podcast now for free on apple podcasts spotify or wherever you find your
45:07favorite podcast and for past episodes of crime beat go to the global tv app visit global tv.com
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