Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:00he choices mean for you, for Albertans,
00:00:04and for all Canadians, stay tuned to CBC News for full
00:00:07coverage. The Alberta referendum October 19th. Make
00:00:11an informed choice.
00:00:32We're back in Dawson Creek, the northern BC town
00:00:34where families continue to be torn apart by violence
00:00:37including two recent murders
00:00:39and a shooting at the historic Mile Zero Hotel.
00:00:42Who's going to clean up this town? You know, that's a good question.
00:00:46I'm very fearful for the future of this area. We investigate the violence
00:00:50to learn more about who is killing who and why.
00:00:54Why are so many people getting murdered in Dawson Creek?
00:00:57Because the drugs are rampant. Fucking rampant.
00:01:01Thirteen murders and counting,
00:01:02and a growing fear that comes with a warning:
00:01:05speaking out can get you killed.
00:01:08What message do you think this picture sends people in the community?
00:01:12Well, it's obviously a direct threat.
00:01:15That's the reality of living in Dawson Creek right now?
00:01:18Oh, yeah, I had to move residences 'cause I was afraid for my life.
00:01:23Scared for my life. I'm Mark Kelley.
00:01:26This is The Fifth Estate.
00:01:28[theme music playing]
00:01:37[tense music playing] This is the view from Dawson Creek.
00:01:41The RCMP searching a home on one end of town,
00:01:45and executing what's called a high-risk search warrant on the other.
00:01:49This spring, the Mounties were investigatig this town's latest murder,
00:01:5324-year-old Emily Ogden.
00:01:55This is her in better days back in 2022.
00:01:58Her parents called her "a little firecracker."
00:02:01Fast forward to 2025.
00:02:04Police released this photo of Emily after she went missing.
00:02:08She had descended into Dawson's drug trade.
00:02:14Dawson Creek is a crossroads community
00:02:16of 12,500 people in northeast BC,
00:02:20best known as Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway.
00:02:25Now ground zero to something more sinister.
00:02:29And while illegal drugs are nothing new
00:02:31to Canadian communities, take a look at this.
00:02:34Statistics Canada measures serious crimes
00:02:37reported to police in cities and towns.
00:02:40This is the national average.
00:02:42This is Dawson Creek.
00:02:44At its peak, it was more than three times higher.
00:02:51The Fifth Estate has been covering this story
00:02:53for more than a year, after a viewer urged us
00:02:56to dig into the wave of violent crime,
00:02:58disappearances, and unsolved murders.
00:03:03Eleven murdered or missing in three years.
00:03:06They're someone's father, or brother,
00:03:09someone's sister, someone's s.
00:03:15Laura Lambert is the aunt of two of the murdered women.
00:03:19Get some cops that care about the people here.
00:03:22Get investigators here that will do something about it.
00:03:25Get rid of the drug dealers.
00:03:28You want your town back.
00:03:31We want our kids back.
00:03:35[Mark] Last fall, we took the growing frustratin
00:03:37in the community to the RCMP,
00:03:39and the Mounties made a promi.
00:03:42I do feel that on some of these cases,
00:03:44we're going to have success and some answers will come for some of the families.
00:03:49I'll have to leave it at that. Soon?
00:03:54In my opinion, for some of the cases,
00:03:56I think, you know, within the next six months,
00:03:58we will have some level of success.
00:04:03[Mark] "Some level of success in six months."
00:04:07Well, it's been more than a year.
00:04:08Still no arrests in the first 11 murders.
00:04:11And early this year, two more.
00:04:14Johnny Joel Freeman was shot and killed in January of this year.
00:04:17A man has been arrested in that case,
00:04:20but no charges yet the death of 24-year-old Emily Ogden.
00:04:25This is a town where it seems everyone has a theory
00:04:28about who killed who, suspicions that fester with time.
00:04:32But knowing isn't the same as proving,
00:04:34leaving the suspects living free in the community.
00:04:38So we're back in Dawson Creek to investigate
00:04:40who may be behind the violence
00:04:42and why police are having suca hard time catching the killer.
00:04:47To better understand the wave of violent crime
00:04:49that has swept through Dawson Creek,
00:04:51you need to start here, at Mile 0 Trailer Park.
00:04:54It was mid-January 2023,
00:04:57and what happened here would shock the community
00:05:00and leave a long trail of dead.
00:05:03[news anchor] Tonight, a double homicide.
00:05:05RCMP confirm the identities of bodies found in Dawson Cre.
00:05:11[Mark] And to understand the murder
00:05:12of one of those victims, Adam Roy Isley,
00:05:15is to understand how living in Dawson Creek
00:05:18can turn into a death sentenc.
00:05:20I never had the good fortune to meet Adam.
00:05:23Tell me about-- tell me about Adam.
00:05:25He's always been my little boy.
00:05:27He was so cute when he was little, and funny.
00:05:31[heartfelt music playing]
00:05:33[Mark] We met Adam Isley's family in Alberta
00:05:35where he was born and raised,
00:05:37spending his summers in places like this,
00:05:40along the picturesque North Saskatchewan River.
00:05:42Adam was...
00:05:44the best big brother.
00:05:48Honestly, when we were--
00:05:50when we were kids, we used to always think
00:05:53every kid should have a big brother just like him.
00:05:58[Mark] Then their big brother got his big break,
00:06:00a job in the oil patch,
00:06:02making six figures at the age of 20.
00:06:06He was makin' more,
00:06:08double, what I was getting paid.
00:06:10He was making, like, $180,000 a year, $190,000.
00:06:14-And he's a kid. -Yeah.
00:06:16[Mark] Adam got married, had kids,
00:06:19invested in rental properties.
00:06:21Then he made a decision that would change his life forever.
00:06:25He moved to Dawson Creek,
00:06:27following an oil and gas boom that's reshaped that region.
00:06:32What did Dawson Creek do to Adam?
00:06:35He met a woman there,
00:06:38and then that split up his marriage.
00:06:43And then he ended up staying in Dawson Creek.
00:06:46He went from making big money to making no money.
00:06:50Quinten, what did you see drugs do to your son?
00:06:53Oh, they took his life.
00:06:55What was your worst fear for your brother at that point?
00:06:59That he'd end up in drug overdose or murdered.
00:07:03Soon as the police-- as soon as the RCMP car
00:07:06pulled in the driveway, I knew.
00:07:08-[Mark] You knew he was gone. -Yeah.
00:07:14We begin tonight with breaking news:
00:07:16RCMP Major Crimes confirming to CJDC-TV News
00:07:20the two people reported missig last week in Dawson Creek
00:07:23have been found dead.
00:07:25Tina Nellis and Roy Isley had not been heard from
00:07:27or seen since last Wednesday.
00:07:30[Mark] In Dawson Creek, Adam went by his middle name, Roy.
00:07:34This is where he ended up living and dying:
00:07:37a rundown trailer he shared with his partner Tina Nellis.
00:07:42[sighs] It's been a while. It's been many months.
00:07:45What do you know now
00:07:48about what happened to your son and your brother?
00:07:52-Nothing. -[Stephanie] Absolutely nothing. It's over two years now.
00:07:56But-- Yeah, they're not telling us who, or why,
00:08:00or how, or even, like, how? What happened to him?
00:08:03[tense music playing]
00:08:06[Mark] Jan Atkinson knows plenty
00:08:08about the dark side of Dawson Creek.
00:08:10She's an outreach worker who moved here eight years ago
00:08:13after getting burned out
00:08:15bringing overdose victims back to life day after day.
00:08:19[Jan] Wanted a bit of a break,
00:08:21and I will tell you, in the first 15 months, I only did five doses of Naloxone,
00:08:25which is-- was significantly less
00:08:28than-- than Kelowna.
00:08:31And then how did it change after that initial period?
00:08:35It really spun out of control.
00:08:40[Mark] The drug epidemic followed her to Dawson Creek,
00:08:43and the violent crime wasn't far behind,
00:08:45reaching a new low with that trailer park double murder.
00:08:50[Jan] I think things were really set off with the first murders of Tina and Roy.
00:08:54I think that really--
00:08:57you know, I think after that it really spiralled.
00:09:00What do you know about the murders of Tina and Roy?
00:09:03There were a number of people in the trailer.
00:09:09You know, I've heard stories
00:09:11about the fish tank water being used.
00:09:14For what? For cleaning up blood.
00:09:18You know, lots of people, after the Tina and Roy thing,
00:09:20there were a number of individuals who were scared for their safety.
00:09:25[Mark] That fear has spread through the community,
00:09:28prompting this local resident to request
00:09:30that we protect their identity for their own safety.
00:09:33They say Dawson Creek wasn't always like this.
00:09:36[community member] Well, you used to be able to
00:09:38leave your vehicle with the keys in it, your house unlocked.
00:09:41That kind of stuff. It's sad.
00:09:47It's maddening. Frustrating.
00:09:50People are going missing. Murders.
00:09:53And what keeps you fighting
00:09:54as opposed to packing up and just leaving?
00:09:57[community member] Family. Family's here.
00:10:00[Mark] This resident collects tips and passes them on to police,
00:10:04trying to help crack down on crime.
00:10:06And they say they spoke to someone who was in the trailer
00:10:09the night Tina and Adam were killed.
00:10:12[community member] Tina was handcuffed from the roof.
00:10:14They did whatever your imagination could-- could take you to.
00:10:18And Roy was handcuffed in the corner.
00:10:21And when they came, they brought the drug addicts into the room...
00:10:26they stabbed Tina.
00:10:28To show them what could happen to them.
00:10:31So they were made an example. [community member] They were made an example.
00:10:34-You know, pay your drug debts. -[community member] Yeah.
00:10:37This is what will happen to you. [community member] Yeah.
00:10:40[sombre music playing]
00:10:43[Mark] Whatever happened that night, the Isleys know one thing for sure:
00:10:47Adam's death was brutal.
00:10:49They said you couldn't have an open casket.
00:10:52That we wouldn't want to see. -It would be too disturbing. -[Quinten] Yeah.
00:10:55That the funeral people couldn't...
00:10:58put him back together again. Oh, lord.
00:11:05We haven't been able to verify the information
00:11:07about what happened in the trailer.
00:11:09That's because the witness the resident spoke to
00:11:12has since died from a drug overdose.
00:11:14But we're told there was another witness,
00:11:17and she confided in Jan Atkinson.
00:11:20[Jan] Just that she was very scared for her safety.
00:11:24And, you know, she offered some names
00:11:26of who would've been responsible if she went missing.
00:11:30Why was she afraid for her safety?
00:11:33Because she had witnessed some stuff
00:11:37that happened with Tina and Roy at the trailer that day. Yeah.
00:11:41[Mark] When we come back,
00:11:43what happened in this trailer becomes the spark
00:11:46for a deadly chain of events in Dawson Creek.
00:11:49Two of my cousins--
00:11:51one left my house, one was on the way to my house--
00:11:54go missing... and end up murdered.
00:11:58[Mark] And we meet a man who takes us inside Dawson's deadly drug trade.
00:12:02Did they point a gun at your daughter? Yeah, right at her head.
00:12:05I was on hands and knees.
00:12:14Hi there, Canada.
00:12:16Hi Siri,
00:12:19How are you holding up?
00:12:23It's been difficult to say the least.
00:12:27I intend to resign as party leader, as Prime Minister.
00:12:33The funny, not so funny thing about the
00:12:35world right now
00:12:37is the thing that can consume your thoughts
00:12:41is the thing you maybe didn't see coming.
00:12:45My favorite word? Tariff
00:12:48is going to be cracking down. Minimum 10% tariff on all
00:12:51imports. Some contracts are already getting cancelled.
00:12:54Facing a potential 25 or even 50% tariff on steel exports.
00:12:58We're already hearing about layoffs. Feeling the financial
00:13:01pain of Canada's 25% counter tariffs. He believes that
00:13:04Canadians would benefit greatly from becoming the 51st state
00:13:08when our sovereignty is threatened.
00:13:10You do what you can. He is trying to break us. So you have
00:13:14questions. How should Canadians be preparing for that next trip?
00:13:18What is your plan? How seriously are you taking
00:13:21this threat of 100% tariffs on foreign made films?
00:13:24A lot of questions. How is Hamilton bracing for tariff
00:13:28impact? When we talk about counter
00:13:30terrorists, do those affect you? How much does it cost to be
00:13:34patriotic when picking items at the grocery store?
00:13:37And while your elbows have been up, elbows up.
00:13:41For us, it's the sleeves rolled up.
00:13:44Because you need answers about your neighborhood, your world,
00:13:48your Canada,
00:13:50and what it means for all of us to say we are Canadian.
00:13:59Our journalists countrywide and all over the world are on the
00:14:02case.
00:14:04Do you think you're gonna have to close?
00:14:07I hate to think about that.
00:14:16I'm about 15 kilometers from the Russian border. Where are
00:14:19Canada's allies? Where are Canada's markets?
00:14:22What is this country's place on the planet?
00:14:25It's the uncertainty that's the
00:14:27this issue. What is the next thing to happen and what will
00:14:32it mean for all of us? We assume that it will be a
00:14:36difficult Rd. Canada. We got you and we are right there
00:14:40right beside you trying to make sense of it with you.
00:17:10[Mark] It was the spring of 2024,
00:17:13and local outreach worker Jan Atkinson
00:17:15received a panicked phone call to check out something suspicious
00:17:18in a ditch outside of town.
00:17:21So you were-- you were standing up here on the road.
00:17:23-Yeah. -And-- and what did you see?
00:17:27Well, you could see the outline of the skull, that's for sure.
00:17:31[Mark] It turned out to be the body of a Dawson Creek won
00:17:34missing for more than a year, Darylyn Supernant.
00:17:39The same woman who'd confided in Jan, worried for her life.
00:17:45We spoke to Darylyn's father, Brad Supernant, last year
00:17:48to see what he knew about her murder.
00:17:51I know she was shot...
00:17:54with a .22 in the head.
00:17:58She witnessed a murder. She told you that she witnessed a murder?
00:18:04Double murder. Yes.
00:18:05She-- double-- she witnessed both of them.
00:18:08And that's why she's gone.
00:18:11[dramatic music playing]
00:18:15[Mark] Weeks later, another body was found
00:18:17along this river bed north of town.
00:18:22It was Renee Supernant Didier, a mother of two.
00:18:25The Cree women were cousins.
00:18:29Renee went missing after organizing a series of searches for Darylyn
00:18:33and asking a lot of questions.
00:18:35Did that put her life at risk?
00:18:38Most likely it did, 'cause she was-- she didn't care what she said to somebody.
00:18:42She didn't-- Just said what she had to say.
00:18:46And I think she stood up--
00:18:47she did stand up to a lot of people, so, yeah.
00:18:52[Mark] People in town told us both women had a connection
00:18:54to a notorious drug dealer in Dawson Creek.
00:18:58[reporter] Tanner Murray was arrested last week. The 30-year-old has been chard
00:19:01with two counts of assaulting a police office.
00:19:04[Mark] Murray has been in and out of custody since 2021,
00:19:07convicted of a long list of weapons and drug offences.
00:19:11[reporter] Following his arrest, it led to the seizure
00:19:13of four guns, over 1,000 rounds of ammuniti,
00:19:17and drugs, including suspected fentanyl and heroin.
00:19:21[Mark] Jordyn Cornish is the stepsister
00:19:23of one of the victims, Darylyn Supernant.
00:19:26[Jordyn] The last time I saw her, she was really preoccupied, though, with her phone
00:19:30and talking to Tanner, and I don't know what was going on.
00:19:33And then a lot of people are pointing fingers at Tanner too.
00:19:36[Mark] Adding to the suspicions of people in town,
00:19:39Renee Didier was with Murray
00:19:40on the last day she was ever seen alive.
00:19:43That's according to her cousin Shyann Hambler,
00:19:46who spoke to Fifth Estate producer Timothy Sawa.
00:20:06[Mark] Shyann would only speak to us by phone last yea.
00:20:09When we returned this spring, she agreed to meet in person
00:20:13at a Dawson Creek cemetery.
00:20:15Tell me, Shyann, why-- why was it important for us
00:20:18to come here?
00:20:22For justice.
00:20:26For Renee. For Darylyn.
00:20:30I just don't understand how...
00:20:33two of my cousins--
00:20:36one left my house, one was on the way to my house--
00:20:39go missing... and end up murdered.
00:20:42[Mark] Since speaking to us in our first investigation,
00:20:45Shyann says she's paid a pric. [Shyann] I got...
00:20:50so many death threats.
00:20:51That's the reality of living in Dawson Creek right now?
00:20:54Oh, yeah, I had to move residences. Why?
00:20:58And I even had to leave out of town. Because I was afraid for my life.
00:21:02Scared for my life.
00:21:06[Mark] But she won't back down from her claim
00:21:08Tanner Murray was with her cousin the day she disappeared.
00:21:13[Shyann] The true facts were, yes,
00:21:16Tanner Murray did answer Renee's phone,
00:21:18and I'm not gonna back down from saying it.
00:21:22He answered the phone.
00:21:24[heartfelt music playing]
00:21:28[Shyann] I wear this regalia today for Darylyn and Renee,
00:21:33and for all the missing women out there
00:21:35and all the families that don't have justice.
00:21:38I wear this proud and loud for them today.
00:21:45[tense music playing] [Mark] We tried to speak to Murray and his lawyer,
00:21:49but they refused to comment.
00:21:54Indigenous women and girls are six times more likely
00:21:57to be murdered in Canada than non-Indigenous women.
00:22:01Their families feel their murders
00:22:02aren't getting attention from the RCMP,
00:22:05reduced instead to collateral damage
00:22:08in Dawson's deadly drug trade.
00:22:14Well, if it's drugs that drive the violence in Dawson Creek,
00:22:17then we wanna meet somebody who can take us inside the drug trade.
00:22:21So we're heading to a remote location now
00:22:24to interview a man who says he's been selling drugs
00:22:27on the streets of Dawson Creek for the past 30 years.
00:22:37His name is Arron Linklater.
00:22:40[Arron] I know this is not your guys' normal cup of tea here,
00:22:43but I'm just gonna loosen up and relax for a minute and just do what I do.
00:22:49[Mark] He agreed to speak to us on his terms.
00:22:53[Arron sniffing]
00:22:55[Arron] And people think that--
00:22:57I get this a lot, and I don't know why--
00:23:00"You make life look so easy."
00:23:02Like, you know what the fuck life isn't?
00:23:05It's anything but easy, even when you learn a good education.
00:23:09[Mark] Then we sat down to talk. You want a glass?
00:23:12No, straight out of the bottle works. All right. You've been dealing drugs for 30 years?
00:23:16-30 years. -[Mark] Holy smokes.
00:23:18Yeah, it's like, first time I got busted was two years ago.
00:23:21-[Mark] Yeah. -In 30 years. [Mark] That's unbelievable.
00:23:24In 2024, Linklater was charged
00:23:26with five counts of drug trafficking
00:23:28as part of a sweeping two-year police investigation.
00:23:32Nineteen people were arrested in total.
00:23:34The RCMP seized ten kilograms of cocaine
00:23:37and two kilograms of meth,
00:23:39along with $165,000 in cash
00:23:43and 34 guns. So tell me this, what I'm trying to understand,
00:23:47we've been trying to understand for more than a year now:
00:23:49why are so many people getting murdered in this small town?
00:23:53Because the drugs are rampant. Fucking rampant.
00:23:56Where are all these drugs coming from? I would love to answer that, but I can't.
00:24:00Because?
00:24:02Because I know where they're coming from. [chuckles]
00:24:05They always call Dawson a gang war,
00:24:07and that makes me-- cracks my ass right up. Why?
00:24:10It's because there's only one gang.
00:24:12And they love to shoot at each other. [laughs]
00:24:15Why are they shooting at each other?
00:24:16I don't know, 'cause one group does better than the other.
00:24:20-But it's one gang. -Yeah.
00:24:22Not everybody gets along, right? [laughs]
00:24:25You put a gun into a fetal alcohol, Down syndrome's kid
00:24:28who's never fucking had to earn his penny in his life,
00:24:30but he's fought from every corner he's ever been in,
00:24:33and he has no chance and never did...
00:24:36you get the worst criminality.
00:24:39You get crazy, crazy criminality,
00:24:42[Mark] And in a town known for crazy criminality,
00:24:45there's one incident that Linklater remembers intimatel:
00:24:48a home invasion here at his house,
00:24:51where he was living with his daughter back in 202.
00:24:55-I had a knock at door, just... -[knocking on table]
00:24:59"RCMP, open the fucking door."
00:25:01Five people that were the most heavily armed
00:25:03I've ever seen in my life, masked, gloved, and...
00:25:06they came in and lacerated my face.
00:25:08That's this scar right here. That was a shotgun barrel.
00:25:11They pushed me down a flight of stairs. Didn't cry, didn't moan, didn't bitch about none of it.
00:25:14I had an idea that, "Okay, I signed up, bro.
00:25:18This isn't-- you're not gonna whine about it now."
00:25:20My daughter and her boyfriend were home.
00:25:23And they had guns on all of us immediately.
00:25:26They came to get drugs and money. They brought my daughter beside me
00:25:30and they said, "We're gonna kill your daughter if you don't give us your drugs."
00:25:33Did they point a gun at your daughter? Yeah, right at her head.
00:25:36And I was on hands and knees. [Mark] What did you think in that moment?
00:25:40Grab two of their shotguns, "Come on. One of you guys gotta pull the trigger.
00:25:43You're a pussy, you're a pussy, and you're pussy. Come on, pull your fucking--"
00:25:46Pull all their guns in to distract the fact that they had a gun to my kid's head.
00:25:50[dramatic music playing] [Mark] Linklater says he didn't have
00:25:53any drugs or money in his hou,
00:25:55so they stole his truck insted and left.
00:25:58But there's one thing he says always stayed with hi.
00:26:02There was a girl in the situation.
00:26:04She was laughing at me. I'll never forget her laugh.
00:26:07Why do you say you'll never forget that laugh?
00:26:10What would you do if it was your daughter,
00:26:13and all you can hear is a person laughing at you over your shoulder?
00:26:16And you can look over and it's this stupid-ass person
00:26:19who thinks they just--
00:26:21they can laugh at you for threatening
00:26:23to kill your daughter for-- over a few ounces of drugs?
00:26:28What kind of town do you live in?
00:26:30This community has turned into a drug-filled craze.
00:26:35[Mark] Do you consider yourself lucky to be alive today?
00:26:38Fucking blessed. Absolutely blessed.
00:26:41Hundreds of blessings around me. Thousands of them.
00:26:44I get to open these every day. That's a beautiful start.
00:26:49[Mark] When we come back, murder strikes Dawson Creek again.
00:26:53And guess who the prime suspect is? Do you walk around now
00:26:57-with a bulletproof vest? -I do. -Somebody wants to kill you. -Yeah.
00:27:01[Mark] And the RCMP finally get an arrest in another murder,
00:27:04but at what price? I had written a letter to the judge.
00:27:07And what was your fear?
00:27:09My fear is that he would murder somebody.
00:27:19Hi there, Canada.
00:27:22How are you holding up?
00:27:26The funny, not so funny thing about the
00:27:28world right now
00:27:30is the thing that can consume your thoughts
00:27:34is the thing you maybe didn't see coming.
00:27:38My favorite word, tariff, minimum 10% tariff on all
00:27:41imports. Some contracts are already getting cancelled.
00:27:45We're already hearing about layoffs. Feeling the financial
00:27:49pain of Canada's 25% counter tariffs. He is trying to break
00:27:53us. So you have questions. How should Canadians be preparing
00:27:57for that next trip? What is your plan?
00:27:59How seriously are you taking this threat of 100% tariffs on
00:28:03foreign made films? A lot of questions. How is
00:28:06Hamilton bracing for tariff impact?
00:28:08How much does it cost to be patriotic when picking items at
00:28:12the grocery store? And while your elbows have been
00:28:15up, elbows up.
00:28:18For us, it's the sleeves rolled up.
00:28:21Because you need answers about your neighborhood, your world,
00:28:25your Canada,
00:28:29our journalist countrywide, and all over the world are on
00:28:32the case. Do you think you're going to have to close?
00:28:36I hate to think about that.
00:28:45Where are Canada's allies? Where are Canada's markets?
00:28:49What is this country's place on the planet?
00:28:51It's the uncertainty that's the biggest issue. What is the next
00:28:55thing to happen and what will it mean for all of us?
00:29:00We got you and we are right there right beside you trying
00:29:05to make sense of it with you.