Original subtitles

Hey Mom, can we go to the pond?

I don't know. It's getting a bit late.

What's wrong with playing in the back yard?

It's boring. Come on, Mom. Please?

Hello! Who's your new friend?

Oh, that's Jackie.

Hello Jackie. It's nice to meet you.

Back before sunset.

Come on, Robyn.

Three young kids going out to the frog pound

to play on a Saturday night. That's how this story started.

How many did you catch in here?

I think maybe like one, two, three, four, five...

The frog pond that the kids were playing at

bordered a residential area where they all lived.

It's not like they were way out in the woods playing.

They were in their own neighbourhood.

Hello?

This is not a kid that just went out

after supper to play and didn't come home.

No. No, Matthew got home a little while ago.

When did Jackie's parents call?

Something was wrong. Deeply wrong.

Are you sure Jackie went home?

She just walked off into the woods.

It was a horrible case.

I'm not the only one that hasn't wanted to talk about it.

This is the most I've ever talked about it to anybody.

- Sync and corrections by ByDem - - www.addic7ed.com -

None of us had dealt with anything like this

and we'd all dealt with a lot of death and a lot of,

of, you know, what police work brings into your life.

But nothing like this. This was completely off the charts.

I was working in the barn with my horses and my wife came out

and said the office has called; they need you to go in.

It was nine or ten in the morning.

They had told me that there was a missing child

and that my help was required.

That my partner, Larry, was asking for me.

Where are we with the search?

I've set up a command post near an abandoned cabin.

There's a ground search in progress, RCMP helicopter

in the air. But that's not why I called you in.

It's about the kids.

Have we talked to them?

They both said that she wandered off into the woods,

- and then... - What's my sister doing here?

It's why I called you in.

One of the kids at the pond was your nephew.

That was a bit surreal.

To have your own family involved

in the worst case you've ever worked on.

Cath!

Mike! Oh, thank God you're here.

Hey. What's going on? Where's Matt?

He's here. Please. Please talk to him.

He was with Jackie last night.

Is he OK?

He said Jackie wandered off into the woods.

But then I heard them searching and I heard the helicopters overhead.

I knew something was very, very wrong.

So I went back up to see him.

Jackie didn't wander off, Mike.

She was taken.

Everything shifted then. Everything became more urgent.

I'll go talk to him.

This is not a missing kid at this point, right?

This is some sort of abduction.

Why don't you just tell me what happened?

Tell me about the man.

He was on an ATV.

Do you remember what he said to Jackie?

He said "come on and get a ride and we'll be right back."

She said yes.

So she knew him?

I think so.

Was he her uncle? Father? Brother?

I don't know, Uncle Mike.

I'm sorry. I don't know those people.

It's OK. It's OK, buddy.

Do you remember what he looked like?

He had a beard.

All right! He had a beard.

Look Matt, I want you to talk to someone for me.

He's going to come in here; he's going to draw a picture of the man.

But he needs your help, all right?

How long has she been missing?

- Since 8:30 last night. - God dammit!

He certainly felt that he was in the middle

of now something terribly important.

He became our single most critical witness,

especially at that stage.

Thanks.

You did good, Matt. Real good. I'm proud of you.

It's amazing the accuracy of memory

that an eight-year-old has.

Get some sleep, OK?

The detail that he gave was remarkable.

But you put a helmet on a guy with a beard

and they all look the same.

Jackie Clark was last seen on Saturday night.

Riding through the woods on an all-terrain vehicle

with the bearded suspect.

Hundreds of volunteers combed the woods

and still more fresh searchers piled into

the police command post this morning looking for clues.

The search leads into a vast wooded area:

miles and miles and miles of woods.

My job, with Larry, was to work the case,

work tips at a headquarters they had set up.

This one saw an ATV being driven through a culvert

under a highway last night about a kilometer from the pond.

The culvert's right here.

There was a girl out front. Says she was screaming

but he thought it was because she got splashed when they went through.

The guy was wearing a helmet and a beard.

Here's another one. Four kms out by the hydro line.

Third one from the hydro line.

There were not a lot of tips.

There was very few tips, actually.

The pattern of the tips were to the north of the city.

So the direction of this search grid was all predicated on that.

This is weird.

Steve Carbonneau.

He says he saw a girl crying in his back yard.

He swears that it's Jackie Clark.

The guy with the car dealership? The guy lives all the way

- over here. Doesn't make sense. - But why would a guy like that

make something up?

Yeah. It's so far from the other sightings.

It says here it's at 6 a.m. in the morning.

All the other sightings were at night.

The tip that threw the investigation off.

The person called 911 dispatch

because he was woken by a child crying.

But in a different direction of the search.

But such a credible tip from a very well respected

businessman in our community. A stand-up guy.

We need to go talk to him.

I was standing right over here in that window.

And I hear someone crying. Out here. So I come outside...

And that's where I saw her.

What was she doing?

Just sitting there. Holding her legs.

Rocking back and forth. She looked terrified.

Did you try and help her?

Yeah, of course. But she was so scared.

She wouldn't come in the house. She wouldn't even tell me her name.

So I went inside to call you guys.

Before I go in, I look back... She's gone.

Hey, you guys know me. I wouldn't make this up.

I dealt with witnesses all the time.

The demeanour of him when asked about this is nothing

but truthful, 100 percent.

No reason not to believe him whatsoever.

How do you know it was Jackie Clark?

He's describing a young child

dressed exactly like Jackie. He shouldn't have known that.

There was facts of the case hadn't been released

to that point. For example, her description.

And that's the last place you saw her?

Yeah.

There was a huge sense

of relief when that call came in, right?

Oh my God, somebody's seen her!

Everybody was convinced

that was her and that she was gonna be found.

She is missing, presumed abducted and presumed alive.

The entire search moved based on that tip.

Instead of going north, they went west.

Hundreds of people in Fredericton have pulled together

in the search for Jackie.

But that area was totally searched.

And it came up with nothing. She wasn't there.

I have no explanation for that.

But it happened.

The search team moved back to the original grid north of the city.

Jackie's mom was worried, scared, devastated.

Like any parent would be.

It doesn't make sense.

She wouldn't go off with a stranger.

We have witnesses that say otherwise. I'm sorry.

- Is this Jackie's? - Mm hm.

Before I met Bruce, it was just me and Jackie for years.

- Bruce? - Her step-dad.

He's the only father she's ever known.

He's out looking for her.

How's their relationship?

They're both stubborn but they get along.

So he was here when Jackie went missing.

Uh, yeah.

What did you two do that night?

I was here watching my son.

With Bruce?

No. He was out.

Oh God!

She's such a sweet, shy girl.

She's never been gone this long!

Where... where is she?

I had to stay emotionally detached from the family.

It's not easy to do but you have to satisfy yourself

that there's no family connection to this.

- Who is that? - That's Bruce.

Who the hell are you?

When I first saw Bruce?

He resembled the suspect as described by our witness, my nephew.

Where were you last night, Bruce?

I was out searching. What do you think?

No, I mean before Jackie went missing.

Went for coffee.

With who?

Alone.

Does this look familiar?

You think this is me?

You think I took my own step-daughter?

We're not saying that.

We just want to cross as many names off the list as we can.

Listen. Do you mind if I take a picture of you, Bruce?

This is crap.

Yeah. Make it quick.

I gotta get back out there.

Do you remember anything the man was wearing?

OK.

How about this?

Is this the man you saw?

No. I don't know.

No? Or you don't know?

I don't know, Uncle Mike.

Come on, Matt. This is important.

He was frightened... worried.

His uncle, the detective, coming to the house

showing him pictures.

It was all over the news. That's a big deal.

Maybe it's time for a break.

Yeah. I'm sorry, Matt.

You're doing a good job. I'm proud of you. We all are.

Hey! What was that Polaroid all about?

We need an ID.

Then show a few photos of different people.

Or do a line-up.

We don't have time for a line-up!

Jackie's still out there. Her life is at stake.

Showing a single Polaroid to a kid

won't hold up in court. You know that.

As long as there's a chance she's still alive,

that's a risk I'm willing to take.

Look, I know it's not ideal. But...

what other choice do we have?

Showing the single photograph was risky,

but the reason it was done was because she was still missing

and the focus was to find her.

I felt it was more important to try to find her

than it was to follow some sort of judicial procedure.

So, that's what I did.

Throughout the day, these tips are rolling in.

Not as many as we'd hoped but a tip came in about checking a guy

who lives in a trailer park outside of Fredericton.

Now this trailer park, if you would draw a straight line

from the frog pond and where she was last

seen by this witness that was fishing,

if you drew a straight line more or

less, that's where you're gonna end up.

And while there, we notice an ATV outside of a trailer

that was similar to what we were looking for.

Good morning, ma'am.

Is that your ATV out front?

Murray! What's this about?

We're in the neighbourhood looking for a missing child.

The girl from the news?

That's right.

Hello, sir. I'm Detective Mike Richard.

Murray Lyons.

She calls for Murray; Murray comes to the door.

Hm. Murray has a beard.

Is that your ATV out front, Mr. Lyons?

Yeah.

When was the last time you took it for a ride?

A while ago. It don't work.

Well listen, we're knocking on doors,

canvassing the neighbourhood.

You mind telling me what you were doing last night?

Working on the ATV.

Oh, yeah? What's wrong with it?

It doesn't work right. Breaks down.

Listen, while we're canvassing the neighbourhood,

we're taking photos. Do you mind?

Nah. I don't think so.

Come on, Murray, it's for the girl from the news.

All right.

Now you're sure you didn't take your ATV out last night?

Maybe even for a test drive?

I stayed in last night. I didn't go out.

OK. Thank you.

OK, Matt. Is this the man?

Matt?

That's him!

His eyes wide open and he starts to shake.

"That's him! That's him!"

Once that positive identification was made,

Larry and I returned immediately to the trailer

to arrest Murray Lyons.

Get up!

Murray Lyons, you're under arrest for the abduction of Jackie Clark.

Where is she? Hey! Where is she?

Hey! Stay right there! Don't move. Where is she?

She's still missing.

The clock was ticking. The more time that went on,

the more urgent this got.

Jackie!

And he's been identified as the guy

who took her from that frog pond on an ATV.

Jackie!

Have you ever been in trouble before?

Nah. Nothin'.

This Murray Lyons guy was unknown to police.

No criminal record; they never heard of him before.

I'm still relying on an eight-year-old witness.

That identification was going to be highly,

highly questioned in court.

Do you recognize this girl?

No.

The first hour and a half or so, he completely denied

all of it. We've got 24 hours to get him in front of the judge

or release him.

That clock's ticking as we are talking to him,

plus Jackie Clark is still missing. And we have no idea

what's happened to her. None.

We have absolutely no evidence whatsoever at this point.

We have witnesses who saw you riding your ATV last night.

Someone said that?

More than one. Do you know the number of calls we've gotten?

The number of people out there looking for her?

Maybe I took it out last night. To see if I can get it working.

Maybe you took it out last night? You don't remember?

You don't remember seeing kids playing?

Down by the pond? You don't remember seeing Jackie Clark?

No, I was never there.

He was literally stone-cold, like a rock.

We know that she was on your ATV

and that you went through a culvert. You were seen.

And she was seen screaming because she got splashed.

Now think about it, Murray.

How do we know all those details if they weren't true?

I picked her up. I dropped her off. And that's all I did.

What do you mean you dropped her off?

What did you do with her? She's still missing.

Where is she?

I let her off. The ATV was acting up.

Where? In the middle of the woods? Show me!

It's nine o'clock at night; she's eight years old.

So you want us to believe that you drove her out

in the middle of the woods and let her off and drive home.

That's what you want us to believe.

Yeah, that's what happened.

Please, Murray. We need to go out there

and we need to find her.

Think of that poor little girl all alone in the woods.

Think of her family.

Detective. Can I have a sec?

He's about to crack!

We found a girl's body in the woods.

Between the pond and Murray Lyons' place.

The murder of eight-year-old Jackie Clark

has evoked anger and shock in this small city.

An exhaustive two-day search turned up her battered body

in the woods near her home.

The little girl was strangled to death.

That was the worst-case scenario.

Right? It was the absolute worst-case scenario.

And there it was right in front of you.

Surreal is what it was, completely surreal

to see this scene.

To see that girl dead... at that spot.

Not only had he killed her, he violently raped her.

She was only eight.

It's OK. You can go home now, Reilly.

I'm not leaving her.

I don't think that's such a good idea.

I don't care.

I put Randy Reilly in charge of the scene

and the body.

And Randy had kids of that age.

This is like a bomb went off.

The closer you were to Ground Zero, the worse it was.

He was guarding Ground Zero.

And he never left her.

At the autopsy, they had no way of weighing a body that small.

And Randy stepped right in. He said "No, stay away from her."

And he picked her up and he weighed her.

I'll never forget it. He was just standing there shaking,

crying.

Holding her uh, her dead body on those scales. Very sad. Yeah.

Cause of death appears to be manual strangulation.

We found some possible DNA, but we'll need a sample

from him for comparison.

The charges were actually drafted up as abduction,

but when she was found dead, it was changed to second-degree murder

and when it was very obvious that she'd been raped,

then it was changed to first-degree murder.

I had been in a room with men who have killed other people.

But not an eight-year-old. And not raped them.

We found her.

Jackie Clark.

I saw what you did.

Now things are gonna go a lot easier for you if you cooperate.

You guys think I did something I didn't.

I just dropped her off.

OK, well?

We're just gonna need a blood sample so we can clear your name.

I don't think so.

In June of 1995, there was no legal way

to get samples from an accused.

It was unbelievable, the frustration.

I never felt that before.

The sun was coming up. We interrogated him all night.

We got a knock on the door from our boss and said

"You need to step out."

You had to have anybody taken into police custody

in front of a judge within twenty-four hours.

That's all we had at that point: a bunch of circumstantial evidence.

That is a far cry from a good murder case.

It was a horrible case. It was enough to hold him

is all it was. Enough to charge him and hold him.

Nothing more.

He won't confess.

Without consent from a DNA sample...

We might not need him to.

The DNA warrant legislation

changed during the middle of our case.

So we drew up the first DNA warrant in Canada from scratch.

Never been done before.

And we got a judge's permission to take the samples.

We were very confident that DNA was gonna save us in this case.

Cause remember, we don't have a confession.

All's we got is denial.

Got the DNA results.

That was too fast.

Yup. It was contaminated from being in the ground.

Don't tell me. Do not tell me.

"No readable results."

We've got nothing.

Yeah.

The fact that she had been buried in this wet ground,

it ruined the DNA. We had no DNA.

No physical evidence whatsoever.

Without a confession, there wasn't a hope in hell

we were gonna get a conviction.

I don't wanna be the guy that works a case,

that gets of this type and gets in front of a judge and-or jury,

and the guy's let go. Can you imagine?

The more serious the case you're taking to trial,

the more tight your case has to be.

We had no DNA. We had no trace evidence.

We had Murray Lyons lying

and then giving us a ridiculous, unbelievable story

about leaving her in the middle of the woods.

Without a confession, this case was going nowhere.

I want another crack at him.

We can't talk to him.

We'll need another charge now that he's in the court system.

He's been charged. He's in jail.

We have no more access on this charge to Murray Lyons.

So no way to get a confession unless we talk to him

and I can't talk to him.

He's a thirty-five-year-old pedophile.

There's no way this murder is his first attack.

There's gotta be other victims out there.

Victims that will come forward and press charges.

How are we supposed to find them?

We get the word out. We put his face all over the news.

We beg people to come forward. I mean someone's gonna recognize him.

Yeah, if they press charges, we'll get another shot at Lyons.

Yeah.

He had no criminal record,

but we knew very well that a guy like this,

that did what he did to Jackie,

would've had to have done something along these lines before.

Lyons was arrested early Monday morning

here at his home in the Apple Blossom Trailer Park

just north of Fredericton.

This was all over Canadian news.

His neighbour remembers when he was arrested.

It was a shock.

My wife kept all our kids home. I have three girls:

eight, seven, six. And I got a little boy who's three.

And my wife's just terrified.

Just the anger that there are these types of people out there

that would hurt a small child.

When his picture hit national papers with a, you know,

a storyline that he was unknown to police on top of that,

but yet charged with first-degree murder,

rape of a eight-year-old girl,

that got the attention of two women.

So when did you first notice him?

I was cutting through an alley on my way home from school

when this guy on a dirt bike comes riding beside me.

He asks if I want a lift.

Says he knows where I live so... I said OK.

Then what happened, next?

He said we'd just go around the block.

Where did he take you?

Into the forest.

Then he said he needed to stop...

that the engine was getting hot and he didn't want to burn it.

When we got off the bike, he started to undo his pants.

When it was over, he got back on the bike and took off.

And he just left you there in the woods?

Yeah. It was getting dark.

It took a while to find my way home.

I followed the power lines.

And how old were you?

I was eight.

I was eight.

We can interview Lyons in two weeks

on those additional sexual assault charges.

Good.

I'll be ready.

With these other two victims coming forward,

we get to talk to him again about these two new cases.

But it had to be carefully done. In a way that didn't show

our true intention, which was really to talk to him about Jackie Clark.

Most pedophiles were abused when they were kids.

If I can convince him that I understand his pain,

maybe I can gain his trust.

Maybe he'll talk.

He's not just a pedophile. He's also a murderer.

Which is why I'm hoping to get some help.

The Atlantic Canada Law Enforcement Conference.

The keynote speaker is Dr. Robert D. Keppel.

Robert Keppel got Ted Bundy to confess

to murders that they didn't even know about before

he was executed and was the inspiration to

The Silence of the Lambs.

Get all the help you can. Bring anybody in.

All hands on deck, right?

So how do I get a confession?

My professional opinion? You'll have to blame the girl.

Excuse me?

He's a homicidal pedophile.

They very rarely blame themselves for their crimes.

And you shouldn't, either. They'll blame their abusers;

they'll blame their victims.

But she's an eight-year-old girl.

Doesn't matter.

I was almost in shock.

What are you talkin' about? She's eight!

"No. This is what you need to do. Do your job."

He'll believe the girl was responsible for her own death.

By going off with a stranger.

Exactly. If you want to get him to confess,

you'll have to convince him that you blame her, too.

I got this dirty piece of garbage I gotta deal with

and this young girl.

And here I have to go in and blame her in an interview, um,

as a technique to get him to confess.

And that was very distasteful. Very difficult.

I don't know if I can do that.

If you can't do it, I suggest you find someone who can.

I needed to stay emotionally detached

from both Jackie and from her parents

and to focus 100 percent of my energy on Murray Lyons.

In the meantime, Larry's focus was with Jackie's Mom and Dad.

Jackie's teacher brought that by.

It's a poem she wrote in class.

Give it to Mike.

In case he ever loses hope,

remind him who he's doing this for.

I will.

The Wind.

The wind rustles through the leaves.

Like angry ghosts on a stormy night

It sings and stings...

It talks and walks.

It screams and howls.

On a night of dark.

But it sighs and cries.

Tells a joke or two. Make it run.

We play till it's time to say good-bye.

I like to be alone myself at a crime scene.

You can get a feel for things...

you can see what the person saw.

I got on one of the ATVs that we still have left over from

the search and rescue and I drove the whole route.

I wanted to understand what made him tick.

I was trying to find a way to connect with him,

but what happened instead, was I connected with her.

I saw what happened to her.

She was alone... with this guy.

He stunk. He was a human piece of shit.

He did that to her alone in those woods.

The closer I got to the crime scene, I just felt fear.

The fear that she must have went through has always haunted me.

I still had to do the interview.

I didn't want to be that police officer that was blaming Jackie

for her own rape and death. This is a complete sickening tactic.

Knowing this could be played in open court bothered me.

So what I did was turned to the camera and said...

Murray Lyons is a pedophile and a murderer.

He needs to face justice.

So I'm going to have to say things

that uh, disgust me. Sickening things.

I think this is the only way to get him to confess

so if you're watching,

please know that many of the things I'm about to say

I don't believe.

We have this final chance to interview him.

One more time, one more crack, that's it.

We ready?

Yeah...

You know? I think we can do away with those.

I don't think Murray is as dangerous as people make him out to be.

So that was the strategy.

I need to become his best friend.

Do they look familiar?

They should.

They both said you touched them, sexually.

Those girls never said anything before.

I don't know why they didn't.

I kinda wish they had. Maybe things would be different for you.

We would have come and talked to you sooner.

The understanding, the empathetic.

Blame everything but him for what happened.

If only you guys knew about me.

That's just it, Murray. I do know about you.

Something terrible happened to you when you were a kid, right?

Someone taught you the wrong type of sexual behavior.

- It changed my whole life. - Sure it did.

And I bet whoever did it to you

had it done to them.

How old were you?

Six or seven.

I don't know how anybody could deal with that.

No one can.

I mean this is the kind of stuff that stays with you your whole life.

Whoever did this to you, they set you on the wrong path.

Once he agrees to

"Yes, I was molested when I was a kid.

That explains my behaviour." Perfect.

Let's move on to the next thing.

You combine that with the fact that you run into these

two beautiful free-spirited young girls.

Acting all inappropriate. I mean that puts you into a real bind!

It's like putting fuel on a fire.

I bet you they even consented to some of the stuff.

They never said nothing.

Nah, they didn't. But they should have.

I bet you it's because they felt guilty for bringing it on.

But now? They have talked. And they let it out.

And I'll tell you, Murray; I've seen it in their eyes.

They feel better.

And you will, too.

They'll hate me now.

Using the two victims that came forward,

slowly but surely, we just started

to eke back into the Jackie Clark case.

I'll bet you it was the same thing when you met Jackie, right?

Just like the other girls?

She got on your ATV.

All her friends, right?

They knew better than to take a ride with a stranger.

But not Jackie. She got right on.

It's the same thing every time, right?

Come on, Murray.

It's just going to haunt you unless you let it out.

Here. When I got to the culvert,

I thought to myself,

you know, if I were you, that's where I would go.

Is that where you took her, Murray?

No? Was it before that? By the stream?

It was after, I think.

Can you show me on this map?

Not on this map.

You know what?

Sometimes these maps are hard to follow.

Can we just go out there today?

Just you and me.

Can you show me?

I wanted him to take us to where

this all happened and show us what happened.

Larry and I were in the car with Murray and uh,

we just basically said "OK, Murray, tell us where to go."

He took us right out to the murder site on his own,

walked into the woods, walked up the trail. He led the way.

There's no way anyone would've known exactly where and how,

what would happen, unless it was him. So it was great evidence.

So this is where you took her?

I bet you the minute you got here,

that old switch just turned right on again, didn't it?

I bet you just couldn't control it. Huh, Murray?

You know you don't want to be that way.

I get it.

You know what, Murray?

It's not your fault.

It's not your fault.

It's that guy that hurt you when you were a kid.

It's his fault.

It's all those little girls

teasing you. It's their fault, Murray.

Listen to me; it is their fault.

And here you are: alone in the woods with Jackie.

She starts screaming at you.

She should know better than to scream at you. Right?

She should know better than to get on that ATV.

She should know better than to talk to a stranger.

She should know better!

Than to talk to you that way. All precocious.

Murray's body language changed

when we started blaming Jackie.

He's almost nodding. He's agreeing.

His demeanor was agreeable as opposed to defiant.

What were you expected to do in that situation, huh Murray?

So you strangled her.

Is this where you strangled her, Murray?

And what did you use to strangle her, Murray?

A bungee cord from my ATV.

A bungee cord.

And I can remember the relief when he confessed.

It was a surprise that he did.

Larry and I were basically crying.

We got him. We absolutely nailed him.

I couldn't understand that. It was so far beyond

what I'd ever dealt with before so the last thing I said to him

when we were in the woods was uh,

That was his advice.

Basically admitting he's a monster.

The court ruled today that Murray Lyons

killed Jackie Clark while sexually assaulting her.

That means Lyons is guilty of first-degree murder.

The automatic sentence is life in prison

with no chance of parole for twenty-five years.

After the verdict, Jackie Clark's parents did issue

a written statement which read

"No matter what sentence Murray Lyons is given,

it will never be enough."

Jackie was a young child. Very bright.

Articulate. Friendly.

I have carried the scars of this case my whole life.

It haunts me today.

- Sync and corrections by ByDem - - www.addic7ed.com -