All language subtitles for A.U.S01E26.1080p.WEB.h264-CASUALTY_track3_[eng]

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] Christine Wood,
a young Indigenous woman,

goes missing in a city
with a notorious reputation

for missing and murdered
Indigenous women.

- We've always gotta
push and push and push.

We've gotta find this girl.

- [Narrator] It's a
parent's worst nightmare.

- Without a lead, a
suspect or an arrest,

the trail can go cold fast.

- [Narrator] It's
months before detectives

get their first
clue in the case,

one that involves a
social media account.

As investigators piece
the clues together,

their search goes in many
directions and places,

both physical and virtual,
as they try to unravel

the mystery of what
happened to Christine Wood.

- The unsolved ones,
we have to stand up.

- And approach these cases
in a way outside the box.

- Let the world
know those out there

that did commit a murder,

there are people that
are coming after you.

- There's just a
lot of good people

trying to do the right thing.

- Because it's something

that you have to be
passionate about.

- Solve this, bring some
peace to the family, at least.

Just doing my job.

(unsettling music)

- [Narrator] The Woods
have just stepped out

to run an errand, leaving their
daughter Christine behind.

(tense music)

When they return and find
their hotel room empty,

they aren't concerned.

They recall her saying

she's going to meet
up with some friends,

and they expect
they'll see her later.

The next morning when they
wake, Christine isn't there.

On August 21st, two
days since the last time

they saw their daughter,

they call the police
and report her missing.

- Well, this is a
nightmare for any parent.

It's especially frightening
given the statistics

for murdered and missing
Indigenous women.

- Winnipeg has a
notorious reputation,

which makes her disappearance

even more of a
cause for concern.

- [Narrator] Christine
Wood and her family

are visiting the city
of Winnipeg, Canada
from Oxford House,

a First Nations Cree community
in Northern Manitoba.

Oxford House is an
incredibly remote

First Nations community
600 miles north of Winnipeg

and is only accessible by plane.

Christine is 21 years old,
and like most people her age,

she spends a lot of time
online using social media.

- For older generations, the
shock of coming to the big city

would be much greater, but
for someone like Christine,

she spends a lot of time online

and knows more about the world

than her parents
would have at her age.

But knowing about
the world from online

is not the same thing as
experiencing it firsthand.

(tense music)

- [Narrator] On the evening
of August 19th, 2016,

Christine Wood says
goodbye to her mom and dad

as they step out
to run an errand,

leaving Christine
alone at the hotel.

But shortly after
their departure,

Christine leaves and
isn't heard from again.

- A report from
Statistics Canada

shows that between the
years 1997 and 2000,

the national rate of
homicide for Indigenous

versus non-Indigenous women
was almost seven times higher.

(tense music)

Another report
from 2014 estimates

between the years
of 1982 and 2012,

there were approximately
1,200 murdered and missing

Indigenous women and girls.

The issue of violence against
Indigenous women in Canada

is endemic of a bigger problem

that reflects on the ongoing
colonialism in this country.

- [Narrator] In
2014, Tina Fontaine,

a 15 year old Indigenous girl,

is found in
Winnipeg's Red River.

Her body is wrapped in plastic

and discarded near the
notorious Alexander Docks.

Her murder remains unsolved.

- Her death is tragic,

but it did spark a conversation
that was long overdue.

- [Narrator] Following the
death of Tina Fontaine,

a January 2015 issue of a
Canadian national magazine

called out Winnipeg as the
most racist city in Canada

for the daily injustices
and indignities

suffered by the
Indigenous peoples.

On August 3rd, 2016,

a mere two weeks before
Christine Wood goes missing,

the Federal Government of Canada
finally launches an inquiry

into missing and murdered
Indigenous women and girls.

- It was an initiative by
the Canadian government

to impact that disproportionate
level of violence

that was being experienced
by Indigenous women and girls

and Two-spirited people.

- The inquiry is much
needed for a country

that is looking
towards reconciliation

and to deal with its
history of colonization.

- You know the inquiry
is really important,

but you think about what
was happening in 2016,

and really it was
of little assistance

to Christine's parents who
were searching frantically

for their daughter and hoping.

I can just imagine
how worried they were

that she was gonna become
one of those statistics.

It would be heartbreaking.

I'm sure that the detectives
from the Missing Persons Unit

who were working on this case

were doing everything
they could to solve it,

and the timing of the inquiry
just added to the pressure

for them to find
Christine, hopefully alive.

- [Narrator] As detectives begin
their search for Christine,

a key component of
their investigation

is her online presence.

- In looking at Christine's
online footprint,

it's clear that she's very
active on social media,

but as of August 19, the
day she goes missing,

there isn't a single
post from her.

Detectives need to
explore the possibility

that Christine has left and
doesn't want to be found,

but there's no activity
from her bank account

and no witnesses who
have seen someone

matching her description.

The lack of her online
activity is cause for alarm.

- It would be quite easy
to let it lie and say,

well, she just doesn't
want to be found,

but there's no evidence of that.

That's not like this girl.

She's a young girl.

She's been on social media lots,

she's been on
Facebook quite a lot

and communicating with different
people, different things,

commenting on whatever it is,
and now there's dead silence.

- [Narrator] As time passes,

the likelihood of finding
Christine alive diminishes.

Detectives in the Missing
Persons Unit fear the worst,

though they continue
to work the case.

The police tracked down

Christine's friends
and acquaintances.

- Detectives learned
that Christine didn't
have a data plan

on her phone, so she didn't
communicate through texts.

Instead, when she
could connect to wifi,

she used Facebook
to send messages.

According to her friends,

this was her primary
means of communication.

- [Narrator] Detectives don't
have any kind of picture

of the hours leading up to
Christine's disappearance.

The last time she's
seen is by her parents

before they leave the hotel.

Following that is a huge gap.

- But in this day and age,

everyone with a cellphone
and online presence

leaves behind
digital fingerprints.

They can help paint a
picture of where someone was

and who they were last with.

If Christine was as active
online as her friends say,

then the best hope
the detectives have

of painting a picture of
her last day is online.

- [Narrator] But
acquiring records

and creating someone's
digital fingerprint

is easier said than done.

- At this time, Facebook doesn't
have any Canadian offices,

so the only way to
acquire these records

is to contact US
law enforcement.

- [Narrator] Eventually
the Missing Persons Unit

is able to get a record of
Christine's social media use,

but it's a lot of
data to comb through,

necessary work if they hope
to understand her final days

before her disappearance.

- A key piece of information

that comes from
accessing Christine's
social media accounts

allows detectives to see the
last wifi network she used

to log onto Facebook, and
that network leads them

to an address in
Winnipeg's North End.

- Missing Persons find out

that the last time she
used her social media

was August 20th at Burrows,

and it was used on a HTC
phone, not her own phone.

It was used on a HTC device.

This is something that
become very relevant

as the investigation goes on.

- [Narrator]
Detectives are hopeful

that whoever lives
at this address

has some information that will
help them locate Christine.

(unsettling music)

On the evening of
August 19th, 2016,

the Woods returned
to their hotel room

to find their daughter
Christine isn't there.

After two days
without word from her,

they contact the
Missing Persons Unit

at the Winnipeg Police.

The search for
Christine is extensive,

but no one has seen
or heard from her,

and she hasn't used social
media since her disappearance.

Four months go by,

but detectives are
hopeful they found a lead

when they obtain access to
her social media account

and discover she connected
to wifi at a Winnipeg address

on the night of
her disappearance.

Investigators get their
first break in the case

when they discover
that the last time

Christine used her
Facebook account,

she connected to the wifi
network at a North End address

using a phone that isn't hers.

- They interview the
resident at Burrows.

His name is Brett Overby.

Brett Overby has nothing,
no history with the police.

He's an ordinary person
living in that address,

goes about his daily
business and goes to work.

- [Narrator] Overby
tells detectives

that he doesn't know and
has never met Christine,

and he describes his place

as having a kind of
open door policy.

- He said that he often has
people over in his place

and anybody can use his wifi.

He displays the wifi password,

said he'd often have a
bonfire in his backyard

and people would come by
and they could use his wifi,

and could be any number of
reasons why his wifi was used.

Somewhat plausible.

- [Narrator] When Overby is
asked if he has an HTC phone

or device, he replies no.

As Brett Overby is not
a suspect at this time,

detectives release him.

There's still another
lead they need to explore.

- As detectives continue
their digital deep dive,

they find the only phone
connected to the wifi

the night Christine goes
missing is the HTC device

she used to log on to Facebook.

The theory that
Christine was one of many

to log on to the
network that night,

either at a house party or
a bonfire, isn't tracking.

- [Narrator]
Detectives interview

Brett Overby's ex-girlfriend.

She and Overby
are on good terms,

and she doesn't believe
he has anything to do

with Christine's disappearance,

but she does let one
major detail slip.

- She also said
that she did know

that he did at one
time have a HTC phone.

That's a big red flag.

Brett Overby has lied to us.

We do know that she
used a HTC phone,

and he's denied ever
having a HTC phone.

- [Narrator] Christine Wood
has been missing for months,

and the Missing Persons Unit
finally has some evidence

that there may be foul play.

It's time for them to
escalate the investigation.

- It's taken months
to get to this.

March 2017 is when Missing
Persons actually consulted us

and we decide that, me
as a homicide supervisor,

decide that it's time to get
more involved in this case

and let's look at it
now as a homicide,

and we've got somebody
here who's lying to us.

We decide that he is definitely
now more than a witness.

He's definitely a
person of interest

and heading closely
towards being a suspect.

- [Narrator] Detective
O'Donovan and the Homicide Unit

come to the conclusion that
Overby is hiding something.

- Christine's Facebook account
is used for the last time

at his address on a
device he denies having,

but his ex-girlfriend
says he still possesses.

This is enough
circumstantial evidence

for detectives to justify
investigating him further.

- It's not a search warrant
that we're applying for.

It's a general warrant,

and it's a very
difficult warrant to get.

Basically it can only
be issued by a judge,

and it gives police
the authority

to go and look for evidence
that may or may not be there.

It's almost at the point of
being a fishing expedition.

- [Narrator] At this point
of the investigation,

Brett Overby and the
acquaintance of Christine's

are likely the last two people

that spoke to her the
day she goes missing.

Investigators are confident
one or both of them

knows something that they
aren't telling the police.

- Canada is a massive country

with over 6 million
square miles of land.

In the past, if someone
wanted to disappear,

it would not be hard,
but in this digital age

to leave behind zero trace
is extremely difficult.

- According to the RCMP's

National Center
for Missing Persons

and Unidentified Remains,
even though about 85% of cases

are resolved within
the first week,

there are still approximately
500 cases left unresolved

each year in Canada.

- [Narrator] As time passes,

the likelihood of ever
finding Christine diminishes.

Detectives are racing the clock
before her trail runs cold.

Late in March,
Detective O'Donovan

gets the green
light to go ahead.

His warrant is granted
by a judge on March 22nd,

roughly seven months after
Christine's disappearance.

- We coordinate a search
of that residence.

We have enough to arrest
Brett Overby at that point,

but we certainly don't
have anywhere near enough

to charge him, but
we can arrest him

because he is a suspect.

I organize for the
Forensic Unit to be ready

to go into his house
to do an absolute,

complete search of his house.

By complete search,

I mean we're going to search
it from top to bottom.

We're not just going to
look for fingerprints.

We're going to
examine everything.

We're gonna look for bloodstain,

we're going to look
for blood spatter.

We're gonna look for any
technological evidence

that may be there
in his computers.

We're actually going to do
a complete, total search.

If we have to, we're
gonna look behind drywall,

we're gonna look in the floor.

We're gonna look
wherever we have to look.

- [Narrator] Detective
O'Donovan and the Homicide Unit

are now deeply involved,

which means the hopes of
finding Christine alive

have greatly diminished.

What will they find
when they enter the home

in the West End of Winnipeg?

On March 22nd, 2017, two days
after the warrant is issued,

Detective O'Donovan and
his team are in position.

- We decide that
we're going to do this

first thing in the
morning at 6:00 a.m.

We set up at Burrows.

At 7:27, Brad Overby leaves
the house to go to work

and he's arrested
outside his house.

(tense music)

He's taken into custody.

He's told that he may
be charged with a murder

or a similar offense,

and he's brought into
police headquarters

where he's now going
to be questioned.

- [Narrator] With
Overby in custody,

the forensics team
enters the residence

to begin their thorough
search for any signs

that a crime was committed here.

Detective O'Donovan conducts
his interview with Overby.

Everything must be by the book,

as Overby is a suspect in
a potential murder case.

- We can't bring him in
and pretend that oh no,

he is not a suspect.

We have to give him his rights.

We have to tell him
what his rights are

and we have to tell him
what his jeopardy is.

- [Narrator] Brett
Overby once again

denies knowing or
having anything to do

with Christine
Wood's disappearance.

Detective O'Donovan then
brings up the HTC phone

that Christine used
to log on to Facebook

using Overby's wifi.

He gives him the opportunity
to retract his former statement

and explain why he lied.

- It's as much in
his best interest

if he's got
something to explain,

to explain to us and say
no, I lied about the phone

because of this or
for whatever reason,

and now it makes him,
okay, well maybe he didn't.

He's got nothing
to do with this.

- [Narrator] But Overby insists

that he doesn't
have an HTC phone.

Either he's lying or
his ex-girlfriend is.

Detectives will
need to keep digging

if they hope to learn the truth.

(tense music)

(unsettling music)

Investigators
interview Brett Overby,

who owns the home where
Christine last connects to wifi,

though he claims
he's never met her.

But when they interview
his ex-girlfriend,

they discover he lied
about the cell phone

Christine used to sign
into social media.

Fearful that they're
dealing with a murder,

the Missing Persons Unit
involves the Homicide Unit,

and Detective O'Donovan
gets a warrant

to search Brett Overby's house.

On March 22nd, 2017,
the warrant is executed

and Overby is brought
in for questioning

while forensics and
investigators search his home

for any signs of Christine Wood.

- We're going to search
it from top to bottom.

We're actually going to do
a complete, total search.

- [Narrator] While Overby
is being questioned,

investigators conduct
a search of his home.

- They spend the
entire morning upstairs

searching everything, and
this is a small house,

but it's got quite a
bit of clutter in it.

They take fingerprints,
they dust for fingerprints,

they search for blood,

they use all the equipment
available to them.

They use black lights and
they use the luminol spray.

- Luminol spray is a reagent
specifically formulated

for the detection of
blood at a crime scene.

Even if the blood is
invisible to the human eye

or someone has attempted
to wash the area,

under the black light,

the spray will illuminate
areas indicating blood.

- [Narrator] But so
far on the main floor,

investigators find
nothing to indicate

a crime occurred here.

Detectives have 24 hours

in which they can hold
Overby as a suspect

without formally charging
him with a crime.

If he won't confess
anything in the interview

and if investigators find
no evidence in his home

during this time, they'll have
no choice but to release him.

The clock is ticking.

- It's a very
difficult interview

because Brett Overby isn't
answering any questions.

He's basically telling us his
name and his date of birth

and his address,
and he's not saying,

everything else is no comment.

I'm also looking at
his past phone records,

and there's people
I want to speak to.

Who are the two people
he spoke to directly

after the HTC phone was used?

There's his friend and
there's his ex-girlfriend.

His ex-girlfriend
is also shocked,

but she tells us a
few different things

and she tells us that
he asked her to lie

about Plenty Of Fish
and who his friends are.

He asked her to lie
about the phone,

and she wasn't
gonna lie for him.

- [Narrator] Overby's
ex-girlfriend has
been told by him

to lie about the popular
dating app that he was using,

which connects him to Christine.

Overby also asks her to lie
about who his friends are.

- She had a good
relationship with him still,

even though they had split up.

They texted every day.

- [Narrator] But
in spite of this,

Overby's ex-girlfriend is
forthcoming with detectives.

- She also disclosed that
during their relationship,

which went on for several years,

he had grown violent
during that relationship,

and she had been a
victim of domestic abuse,

and she said that was the reason

that they had split up.

She said that his drinking
had progressed over the years

that they had been together.

She described specifically

a couple of instances
of domestic violence.

These were things that
I couldn't ignore.

- [Narrator] As detectives learn

of Overby's history of violence,
they become more convinced

of his involvement in
Christine's disappearance.

- At this point, I was
certain that he was involved

in the disappearance
of Christine Wood.

- [Narrator] It's
approximately 3:00 p.m.,

and Detective O'Donovan
steps out of the interview

to take a phone call from
the forensic supervisor.

The supervisor informs
him that the reagent spray

that they're using has reacted,

indicating that there is blood
in a sink in the basement.

- To the naked eye, this
place will look perfect,

it will look clean.

It'll look as if nothing
has been done there.

When you put the ultraviolet
light on the Bluestar,

it lights up like a
blue Christmas tree,

and this is the
case of the sink.

This to me is telling me okay,
we got the right guy here.

We're in the right place.

- [Narrator] Detective
O'Donovan has just learned

that the forensics
team has detected blood

in the basement sink
at Overby's house,

and not 20 minutes later,

he gets another
call from the team.

They've discovered
more blood spatter.

From the small droplets
of blood that remain,

it's clear that someone has
made the attempt to clean it up.

- He's finding blood spatter,
and where he's finding it

is there's a weight
bench in the basement,

and he's finding
some blood spatter

on the legs of the weight bench

that hadn't been cleaned
up, and underneath.

What it's doing is
it's showing to him

that somebody was lying on the
floor and was being beaten.

- Given where forensics
is finding the blood,

it is unlikely that
Overby has cut himself

and the blood is
dripping downward.

- The blood is under the bench,

which means that it's
been spattered from
the floor upwards.

- [Narrator] The major question
now is whose blood is it?

- At this time, forensics
doesn't know whose blood it is.

It may or may not
be Christine's, but
given this trajectory

and where they're
finding the blood,

it's telling them the
story that this is a result

of a violent act.

- To the naked eye, he did a
fantastic job in cleaning up.

To the forensic eye, he
didn't do a good job.

He was sloppy and left
a lot of evidence there.

- [Narrator] But the
one piece of evidence

that isn't there is the body.

(tense music)

The circumstantial evidence
against Brett Overby

is piling up.

He lied about the cell phone.

He has a history of
violence against women,

and now there's been blood
discovered in his basement.

But even when confronted
with all of this,

he refuses to cooperate.

Without hard evidence,

investigators can't
hold their suspect

for more than 24 hours.

There's little chance
of getting a confession

from the silent Overby,

and while the blood found in
the basement can be tested,

it could take weeks
or even months

before the results come back.

The investigation's best
hope is to find some evidence

that Christine was in the home.

(tense music)

(unsettling music)

The Forensics Team carefully
search Brett Overby's house

for any signs that
Christine was here.

Meanwhile, detectives
are getting nowhere

with their tight-lipped suspect.

But when forensics
finds traces of blood

and the cleanup of a crime
scene in the basement,

detectives know they're
finally on the right track.

- Winnipeg has a rich black
topsoil, great for agriculture,

but beneath that is an
impervious soil or hard clay

that is often found in
older, unfinished basements.

The forensic team discovers
in Overby's basement

an area of the soil
that looks soft,

as if it's been recently dug up.

- The earth is soft in there,

which is different to what
you'd see in a lot of houses

this age where it's hard packed.

It was covered with
a sheet of plastic

and it was actually a
construction type of plastic

that would be used
as a vapor barrier.

There was very little dust
on top of this plastic.

There was a bunch of
household components

like small appliances stacked
on top of this plastic,

and none of them
had dust on them.

The forensic unit thought
that this was odd.

I thought this was odd.

I said well, okay,
let's try and find out

what's under this plastic,

so they meticulously
moved all the components

that were on top, cut back
the plastic and took it away.

I arranged for a
cadaver dog to come

and to assist in the
search of the basement.

- [Narrator] Investigators
suspect that the earth

may be tampered with because
a body might be buried there,

but the cadaver dog
won't be able to assist

until the following day.

In the meantime, they'll
either have to charge Overby

with a crime or be
forced to let him go.

- It was a judgment call
and a decision that I made

that I need to get this
guy off the street.

I don't know if
this girl is around.

I don't know if he's going
to interfere with witnesses

that we don't know about yet.

I don't know what he's going
to do or what he's capable of,

so the safest place for
him right now is locked up.

- [Narrator] O'Donovan makes
the call to use the testimony

of Overby's ex-girlfriend
against him.

- Once we found out about
the domestic violence,

I authorized my investigators
who were interviewing him

to charge him, arrest
him and charge him

with the domestic
violence incident.

- [Narrator] Overby is taken
to a pre-trial detention center

to be held.

- The next day, the
cadaver dog is brought in

to search the house.

- Cadaver dog didn't find
anything in the basement.

There was no
reaction whatsoever.

I'm still not satisfied,

and we arrange for
ground-penetrating
radar to come.

- [Narrator] The radar arrives
and the team goes to work.

- We run the
ground-penetrating radar,

and there is definitely some
anomalies under the ground.

We're thinking, oh my
goodness, what could this be?

It could be anything, because
the radar doesn't tell us.

It just tells us that
there's an anomaly.

We've got nothing
left to do except dig.

These guys never
questioned that.

They said okay, well,
there's only one way

we're gonna find out
what the anomaly is,

and that is to dig it, and
we'll have to dig it out.

They just picked up these
short little shovels

and they're on their
hands and knees

digging through this clay.

Winnipeg clay is hard.

It can be like concrete, and
you can't swing a shovel.

You can't swing a pick axe.

You literally have to
pick away inch by inch,

and they're doing this
because there's a victim.

We need to find this victim.

- [Narrator] Investigators dig
down four feet into the earth

and come up empty handed.

There is no body.

- There isn't a body
in the basement,

but there are signs that
lead detectives to believe

that a crime was
committed there.

The samples of blood collected
will tell the full story.

- We've got the presence of
human blood in the basement.

We've got a massive sign of
a cleanup in the basement.

Is this Christine Wood's blood?

We don't know that for certain,

because her DNA is not on file.

Christine is just
an ordinary girl.

There's no reason for
us to have her DNA.

I assign the Missing Persons
Unit to get hold of her family

and to get her parents' DNA,
and we'll do a familial match.

- [Narrator] To request DNA
from Christine's parents

is a harrowing thing.

- This is upsetting.

I mean, now they know
that we know something.

We can't really tell
them what we're doing

because we don't do that.

We don't share too much early
on in the investigation.

Even though we're
months into it,

it's still early in the
homicide investigation.

- [Narrator] All these months
they've held onto the hope

that their daughter
may be alive,

but the Woods know
what this means.

In spite of their fears

that the worst thing
imaginable may have happened,

the Woods want to know the
truth about their daughter.

They provide DNA samples
to see if the blood

found in Overby's
basement is Christine's.

For now, both Christine's
parents and investigators

will have to wait to see
what the results tell them.

O'Donovan has arranged
to have the blood samples

from Overby's basement tested
against the DNA samples

provided by Christine's parents.

Unfortunately however,

there are a limited
number of labs in Canada

that do this kind of testing.

- It's not CSI TV stuff

where they can have
it in half an hour.

Here, it takes a lot longer.

In real life,
things take a while.

- [Narrator] But given
the nature of the case

and the ongoing
search for Christine,

the lab promises a remarkable
seven day turnaround

for the results.

In the meantime,
O'Donovan is concerned

that the charges against
Overby for domestic abuse

aren't going to stick and
that he'll be released.

O'Donovan talks
with the prosecutor,

who doesn't think the judge
will oppose Overby's bail.

O'Donovan's fear
has come to pass.

The domestic abuse charges
against Overby don't stick,

and he is released from the
pre-trial detention center.

- So this is between
the week or 10 days

I'm waiting for the DNA,
and him getting released

under domestic violence charges,

so I authorize
surveillance on him 24/7,

and that's a huge undertaking.

It means that we have to
have undercover people

follow him around,
follow his every move

for seven days a
week, 24 hours a day,

and see where he goes.

I am hoping that
he's gonna panic

and go back and
check on the body.

- [Narrator]
Undercover detectives

keep a 24 hour a
day watch on Overby.

After a couple of
days of surveying him,

they follow him by car
as he leaves his house.

- This is odd.

It's a dead end street.

He drives in and he
parks at this pond,

and he's parked
there for 20 minutes

and the Surveillance
Unit are watching him,

and it's just strange.

What is he doing there?

Of course I'm thinking,
why is he here?

What's he looking at?

This pond is still frozen.

It's still early April.

We keep looking at it,

keep thinking maybe
she is, maybe she is.

He goes to that pond
twice, two nights,

not two nights in a row,

but two nights within a
few days of each other.

I'm thinking, oh my God,
is Christine in the pond?

(tense music)

(unsettling music)

- [Narrator] Detectives believe
they may have found a grave

dug in Overby's basement.

They try many things, but
the results are inconclusive.

The only option left is to
manually dig up the basement.

When the search
yields no results,

detectives rely on blood
samples taken from the scene,

but they must keep round
the clock surveillance

on their prime suspect while
they await the DNA results.

John O'Donovan of
the Winnipeg Police

wants to search the frozen
pond for Christine's body.

- I consult with my dive team

and the Underwater Recovery Team

in the Winnipeg Police Service,

and they say they can't get
into the water right now.

It's frozen, and they've got
to wait until the end of April

before, the earliest
they can get into it.

- [Narrator] In the meantime,
the DNA results come back.

- The results show
that it was a match.

The blood found in
Overby's basement

belongs to Christine Wood.

- Once we get confirmation
that Christine's blood

is in the basement, the Crown
attorney authorizes a charge

of second degree murder
for Brett Overby.

This is good, this is positive.

- [Narrator] Overby is
arrested on April 7th, 2017.

- [John] The Crown
attorney is confident

that he's got a good case

with the evidence
that we've given him,

and he authorizes the
charge and we bring him in.

- [Narrator] But
O'Donovan is worried.

Without a body or
Overby's cooperation,

the investigation is going
to have to rely heavily

on the physical evidence
found in the home.

- Brett Overby says nothing.

He will not make a comment.

He will not engage the
investigators in conversation.

He just keeps saying
no comment, no comment.

During the search
of Overby's home,

we find some blood
stains under the stairs

which appear to be blood drops.

We find a massive sign
of blood and a cleanup

at the end of the stairs.

The stairs in their
house are sheer.

They're almost
like a cliff face.

It looked like Christine
was thrown down these stairs

and something happened
at the end of the stairs,

and then she was dragged to
the middle of that basement

where something else happened
and she was attacked again.

We now have some blood
spatter on the weight bench.

We have blood
spatter on the stairs

and we have the massive
signs of clean up.

We have a good case, but
we don't have a body.

- [Narrator] By mid-April, the
dive team is able to get into

the 10 foot deep retention pond.

They find nothing.

They then perform an expensive
sonar search from a boat.

They're unable to find anything,

but they do detect
some anomalies.

- I've always had a motto

that you can ever
have enough evidence.

That's always been my motto.

We've always gotta
push and push and push.

We've gotta find that body.

We've gotta find this girl.

So we drain the lake and
we find an old car in there

that's been there for 15
or 18 years or something.

That was pretty much all
that we found in there.

The extent that we went to
to try and find this girl,

it's just, can't do enough.

We're gonna follow
every single thing.

- [Narrator] But without
Overby's cooperation,

there's no telling where
Christine's body is.

Several months later,
on June 1st, 2017,

Detective O'Donovan gets
a call out of the blue

that a body has just been found

outside the city of Winnipeg.

- Right away, I
know it's Christine.

Right away, I just knew it.

That's the only one
that it could be,

and that was without
hearing any of the details.

A farmer passing
on his narrow road

driving through his property,
checking on his crops,

noticed some plastic blowing
in the field on the ground,

and he went to investigate
it and take a closer look.

He was absolutely
distraught and devastated

to find that it's
actually a body

that had been buried
on his property.

He knew right away that he was
staring at skeletal remains

and called the police.

Once Christine's remains
were removed from the ground,

she was wearing the clothing,

the same clothing that she
had been reported missing in.

Again, I'm certain that
this is Christine Wood.

The clothing is a match.

- Early in their investigation,

Missing Persons obtains
the dental records

of Christine Wood,
which they now use

to compare against the remains.

They come back a match.

This is the body
of Christine Wood.

- [Narrator] Further
investigation into
Overby's computer

reveals a photo of
him with Christine.

- There was three
pictures of Brett Overby

sitting with Christine Wood

in the clothes that
she went missing in,

and the clothes
that she was wearing

when her remains were found,
and he's holding the camera,

taking a selfie of
the two of them,

his other arm around her
as he's taking a selfie.

No doubt they were taken
in the minutes or hours

before she was killed
in his basement by him.

- [Narrator] With all the
evidence stacked against him,

Brett Overby finally admits
that he did kill Christine,

though he claims that
it's self-defense,

that she went crazy
and attacked him,

that he blacked out and
doesn't remember killing her.

Overby argues in court

that he kills Christine
in self-defense.

- He tried to
justify it somewhat.

Killers, they always
go to self-preservation

and to try and justify
things and make things easier

and better for themselves.

I think Brett Overby was
looking for the lesser charge

of manslaughter, which wouldn't
have made it any better,

but the jury saw through him,
the court saw through him,

the system saw through him,

and no, this was a
murder all the way.

- [Narrator] On July 2nd, 2017,

Overby is sentenced
to life in prison

with no possibility of
parole for at least 15 years.

Detectives worked
the case diligently

and didn't give up hope
of finding Christine.

They also knew that they had
a little luck on their side.

- It would never
have been resolved

if the Missing Persons
Unit hadn't followed up

on her last communication
on Facebook,

where it came from and
what device was used.

Her body might have been found,

but we would have never
known who killed this girl.

- [Narrator] Christine
Wood's case is a tragedy.

Unfortunately, in this country,

it is only one amongst
many cases of violence

being perpetrated
against Indigenous women,

Indigenous girls and
Two-spirited people.

This injustice has been going on

far too long in this country,
and it's a stain on Canada's

human rights record.

In 2016, a national
inquiry commenced.

Recently the commission
published their findings

in the final report of
the National Inquiry

into Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women and Girls.

The final report is
comprised of the truth

of more than 2,380 family
members, survivors of violence,

experts and knowledge keepers.

It delivers 231 individual
calls for justice.

These calls are
directed at government,

institutions, social
service providers,

industries and all Canadians.

Fortunately in this case,
the police acted immediately

upon Christine being
reported missing,

and that resulted in
the case being solved.

- Christine Wood
was somebody's baby.

She was once a child, a baby,

and her parents
deserve that closure.

- There are far too many
Indigenous women, girls,

and Two-spirited people that
don't get the same result

as Christine Wood, and
that has to change.

- She didn't deserve to die,

and her parents didn't deserve
to go through the anguish.

They deserve the closure.

It's just our job to
put that effort in,

and why wouldn't we?

I mean, we've gotta do
this for these people,

and hopefully, if
it was ever me,

somebody would do it for me.

It's our job and we're
serious about it.

(unsettling music)