Dark Poutine - True Crime and Dark History

Episode 374: On a frigid February night in 2020, the quiet streets of Calgary’s Bowness neighbourhood became the scene of a tragedy that would send shockwaves through the city and beyond. Melissa Rae Blommaert, a loving mother and devoted friend, was found fatally injured—her life stolen in a brutal act of violence. The investigation quickly turned toward someone heartbreakingly close to her: her husband, Ronald John Candaele. As the harrowing details of Melissa’s final hours came to light, so too did the story of a woman who had fought for hope and safety amid years of hardship. In this episode, we explore Melissa’s life, her struggles, and the devastating betrayal that led to her death. Sources: The History of Bowness [https://www.kenrichter.com/history-of-bowness.php] Melissa Rae Blommaert Obituary 2020 - Pierson's Funeral Service, LTD [https://www.piersons.ca/obituaries/melissa-rae-blommaert] 2021 ABQB 332 (CanLII) | R v Candaele | CanLII [https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abqb/doc/2021/2021abqb332/2021abqb332.html] 2024 ABCA 117 (CanLII) | R v Candaele | CanLII [https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abca/doc/2024/2024abca117/2024abca117.html] 2024 ABKB 521 (CanLII) | R v Candaele | CanLII [https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abkb/doc/2024/2024abkb521/2024abkb521.html] callitfemicide2020 [https://femicideincanada.ca/callitfemicide2020.pdf] Melissa Rae Blommaert - Search - Newspapers.com™ [https://www.newspapers.com/search/results/?keyword=Melissa+Rae+Blommaert] Ronald John Candaele - Search - Newspapers.com™ [https://www.newspapers.com/search/results/?keyword=Ronald+John+Candaele] Melissa Rae Blommaert homicide | News, Videos & Articles | GlobalNews [https://globalnews.ca/tag/melissa-rae-blommaert-homicide/] Family remembers victim of Bowness domestic homicide as loving mother of 2 who enjoyed the outdoors - Calgary [https://globalnews.ca/news/6544162/domestic-homicide-victim-bowness/] Calgary man who drove over wife with U-Haul guilty of manslaughter, not murder: court of appeal | CBC News [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/candaele-blommaert-murder-bowness-uhaul-appeal-manslaughter-1.7168279] Calgary husband who drove over wife with U-Haul should spend 15-18 years in prison for manslaughter: Crown | CBC News [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/candaele-blommaert-murder-bowness-uhaul-appeal-manslaughter-sentencing-1.7284037] ‘Benefit of the doubt’: Appeal Court downgrades conviction in moving van death [https://www.reddeeradvocate.com/news/benefit-of-the-doubt-appeal-court-downgrades-conviction-in-moving-van-death-7340678] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Episode 373: In the shadowy annals of North American crime, few names evoke as much dread as H.H. Holmes, a master manipulator, a conman, and a predator who thrived in the chaos of a rapidly changing world and the man often called America’s first serial killer. Born Herman Webster Mudgett, Holmes’s reign of terror began in Chicago, where he constructed his infamous “Murder Castle”—a labyrinth of hidden rooms, trapdoors, and secret passageways designed to lure and dispatch his victims during the bustling days of the 1893 World’s Fair. But Holmes’s evil did not respect borders; his murderous path would ultimately stretch into Canada. During his murderous career, in 1894, Holmes claimed the lives of his accomplice, Benjamin Pitezel, 38, and three of his youngest victims, Benjamin’s children: Howard Pitezel, 8, in Indianapolis, and, later in Toronto, Pitezel’s daughters, Alice Pitezel, 15, and Nellie Pitezel, 11. Their tragic deaths in a quiet Toronto neighbourhood forever linked Holmes’s legacy to both sides of the border. Sources: The Holmes-Pitezel case by Frank P Geyer | Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/holmespitezelcas00geye] H. H. Holmes: Master of Illusion — Swindler — Crime Library [https://www.crimelibrary.org/serial_killers/history/holmes/index_1.html] Holmes' Autobiogrpahy | Library of Congress [https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2015gen22698/?sp=1&st=slideshow] Holmes' Own Story by Herman W. Mudgett | Project Gutenberg [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64249] Depraved: Schechter, Harold | Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/depravedshocking0000sche] The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson | goodreads [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/397483.The_Devil_in_the_White_City] H.H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil | goodreads [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/33154631-h-h-holmes] Forensic-Scholars-Today-1.2-H.H.-Holmes-One-of-Americas-First-Recorded-Serial-Murderers [https://www.csp.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Forensic-Scholars-Today-1.2-H.H.-Holmes-One-of-Americas-First-Recorded-Serial-Murderers.pdf] Benjamin Freelon Pitezel (1856-1893) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree [https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pitezel-1] The Toronto link to America's bloodiest serial killer - Spacing Toronto [https://spacing.ca/toronto/2015/07/22/toronto-link-americas-bloodiest-serial-killer/] HOLMES - PITEZEL CASE: A History of the Greatest Crime of the Century and of the Search for the Missing Pitezel Children. [https://www.higginsonbooks.com/products/local-history_miscellaneous-history-misc0011-h] H. H. Holmes | by Rebecca Frost [https://rebeccafrostwrites.com/tag/h-h-holmes/] A Book of Remarkable Criminals, by H.B. Irving [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/446/446-h/446-h.htm] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Episode 372: In the spring of 2007, Glen Douglas Race’s violent odyssey escalated from a regional nightmare in Nova Scotia to an international manhunt that spanned two countries and left a trail of devastation in its wake. After the murders of Michael Knott and Trevor Brewster, Race fled Canada, later claiming that he was driven by delusions of a supernatural war against “demons” and “vampires” that only he could see. His flight would lead him to yet another murder at a hunting lodge in upstate New York, that of Darcy Manor, 35. He was eventually arrested in Texas after a violent confrontation with U.S. Border Patrol, and ultimately faced justice in two nations. Psychiatric experts grappled with the question of whether he was a cold-blooded killer or a man so consumed by mental illness that he could no longer distinguish reality from fantasy. Ultimately, justice on either side of the border looked very different. Sources: 2014 NSSC 6 (CanLII) | R. v. Race | CanLII [https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2014/2014nssc6/2014nssc6.html] Glen Race Hearing's Agreed Statement of Facts | PDF | Psychosis | Psychiatry [https://www.scribd.com/document/181440456/Glen-Race-hearing-s-agreed-statement-of-facts] Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia: 2007-05 Murders [https://gay.hfxns.org/2007-05_Murders] Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia: Michael Paul Knott [https://gay.hfxns.org/MichaelPaulKnott] Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia: Trevor Charles Brewster [https://gay.hfxns.org/TrevorCharlesBrewster] Halifax LGBTQ2S+ history: Cruising Citadel Hill - Nova Scotia Advocate [https://nsadvocate.org/2020/07/24/halifax-lgbtq2s-history-cruising-citadel-hill/] Before the parade [https://www.thecoast.ca/arts-music/before-the-parade-5523368] Michael Paul Knott | Obituary [http://www.forposterityssake.ca/CTB-BIO/MEM002449.htm] Man charged with murder of Halifax-area gay men [https://xtramagazine.com/power/man-charged-with-murder-of-halifax-area-gay-men-39143] Nov 2013: Details of Halifax stabbing deaths told [https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/2013/11/04/not-criminally-responsible-hearing-set-to-begin-for-man-accused-in-murders] ‘I will always need you, Daddy’ [https://www.saltwire.com/newfoundland-labrador/i-will-always-need-you-daddy-125817] Nov 2013: Details of Halifax stabbing deaths told [https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/2013/11/04/not-criminally-responsible-hearing-set-to-begin-for-man-accused-in-murders] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Episode 371: In early May 2007, Nova Scotia was shaken by a series of brutal murders that would eventually be linked to a single man: Glen Douglas Race. Over the course of just over a week, two well-liked men — Paul Michael Knott and Trevor Charles Brewster — were killed in separate, violent attacks. The case would expose not only the horror of the crimes but also the tragic intersection of untreated mental illness, the vulnerability of marginalized communities, and the failures of the system meant to protect both the public and those suffering from severe psychiatric disorders. This episode will delve into the lives of the Nova Scotia victims, the chilling details of their deaths, and the complex psychological landscape that shaped Glen Race’s descent into violence and his subsequent flight across the border into the United States, where he killed again before being caught. Sources: 2014 NSSC 6 (CanLII) | R. v. Race | CanLII [https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2014/2014nssc6/2014nssc6.html] Glen Race Hearing's Agreed Statement of Facts | PDF | Psychosis | Psychiatry [https://www.scribd.com/document/181440456/Glen-Race-hearing-s-agreed-statement-of-facts] Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia: 2007-05 Murders [https://gay.hfxns.org/2007-05_Murders] Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia: Michael Paul Knott [https://gay.hfxns.org/MichaelPaulKnott] Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia: Trevor Charles Brewster [https://gay.hfxns.org/TrevorCharlesBrewster] Halifax LGBTQ2S+ history: Cruising Citadel Hill - Nova Scotia Advocate [https://nsadvocate.org/2020/07/24/halifax-lgbtq2s-history-cruising-citadel-hill/] Before the parade [https://www.thecoast.ca/arts-music/before-the-parade-5523368] Michael Paul Knott | Obituary [http://www.forposterityssake.ca/CTB-BIO/MEM002449.htm] Man charged with murder of Halifax-area gay men [https://xtramagazine.com/power/man-charged-with-murder-of-halifax-area-gay-men-39143] Nov 2013: Details of Halifax stabbing deaths told [https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/2013/11/04/not-criminally-responsible-hearing-set-to-begin-for-man-accused-in-murders] ‘I will always need you, Daddy’ [https://www.saltwire.com/newfoundland-labrador/i-will-always-need-you-daddy-125817] Nov 2013: Details of Halifax stabbing deaths told [https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/2013/11/04/not-criminally-responsible-hearing-set-to-begin-for-man-accused-in-murders] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Episode 370: In this episode, we journey into the chilling case of Jesse Imeson—a man whose troubled past and violent crimes left a deep scar on Southwestern Ontario. In the summer of 2007, Imeson's name became synonymous with fear as he embarked on a deadly spree, taking three innocent lives. The victims were Carlos Rivera, 25, of Windsor and Helene Regier, 72, and her husband, Bill Regier, 73, near the community of Grand Bend. The discovery of the murders sparked a 12-day nationwide manhunt and led to the capture of the killer in Portage-du-Forte, Quebec, near the Ontario border. However, behind the headlines lies a story of trauma, addiction, and claims of childhood abuse that may have shaped the path to his horrific acts. Sources: ⁠Man who killed elderly couple and bartender has appeal rejected by Supreme Court | CBC News⁠ [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/man-who-killed-elderly-couple-and-bartender-has-appeal-rejected-by-supreme-court-1.5129542]⁠ [https://www.newspapers.com/search/results/?country=ca&date=2007&keyword=Carlos+RIvera] Carlos Rivera - Search - Newspapers.com™ [https://www.newspapers.com/search/results/?country=ca&date=2007&keyword=Carlos+RIvera] ⁠ [https://www.newspapers.com/search/results/?country=ca&date=2007&keyword=Carlos+RIvera]⁠Family of victims lash out as smirking killer gets life sentence⁠ [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/family-of-victims-lash-out-as-smirking-killer-gets-life-sentence/article1350382/]⁠ [https://www.scc-csc.ca/cases-dossiers/search-recherche/38467/] Supreme Court of Canada | 38467⁠ [https://www.scc-csc.ca/cases-dossiers/search-recherche/38467/]⁠ [https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/windsor-murderers-claim-of-sexual-abuse-hits-legal-setback] Windsor murderer's claim of sexual abuse hits legal setback⁠ [https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/windsor-murderers-claim-of-sexual-abuse-hits-legal-setback]⁠ [https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2021/2021onsc5289/2021onsc5289.html] 2021 ONSC 5289 (CanLII) | Imeson v. Maryvale | CanLII⁠ [https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2021/2021onsc5289/2021onsc5289.html]⁠ [https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/2018/2018onca888/2018onca888.html] 2018 ONCA 888 (CanLII) | Imeson v. Maryvale (Maryvale Adolescent and Family Services) | CanLII⁠ [https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/2018/2018onca888/2018onca888.html]⁠ [https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2017/2017onsc1906/2017onsc1906.html] 2017 ONSC 1906 (CanLII) | Imeson v. Maryvale | CanLII⁠ [https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2017/2017onsc1906/2017onsc1906.html]⁠2016 ONSC 6020 (CanLII) | Imeson v Maryvale | CanLII⁠ [https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2016/2016onsc6020/2016onsc6020.html]⁠ [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/murder-suspect-jesse-imeson-captured-in-quebec/article1085944/] Murder suspect Jesse Imeson captured in Quebec⁠ [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/murder-suspect-jesse-imeson-captured-in-quebec/article1085944/]⁠Suspect in 3 Ontario slayings appears in Windsor court | CBC News⁠ [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/suspect-in-3-ontario-slayings-appears-in-windsor-court-1.639470]⁠ [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ont-man-pleads-guilty-in-3-savage-slayings-sentenced-to-life-1.694840] Ont. man pleads guilty in 3 'savage' slayings, sentenced to life | CBC News⁠ [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ont-man-pleads-guilty-in-3-savage-slayings-sentenced-to-life-1.694840]⁠ [https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/lfp-archives-the-hunt-for-and-truth-about-spree-killer-jesse-imeson] LFP Archives: The hunt for, and truth about, spree killer Jesse Imeson⁠ [https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/lfp-archives-the-hunt-for-and-truth-about-spree-killer-jesse-imeson]⁠ [https://www.lawtimesnews.com/practice-areas/personal-injury/inadmissible-evidence-could-lead-to-new-trial/263438] Inadmissible evidence could lead to new trial⁠ [https://www.lawtimesnews.com/practice-areas/personal-injury/inadmissible-evidence-could-lead-to-new-trial/263438]⁠ [https://hoffmanfuneralhome.com/tribute/details/786/Helene-Regier/obituary.html] Obituary of Helene Marie Regier | T. Harry Hoffman & Sons Funeral Home⁠ [https://hoffmanfuneralhome.com/tribute/details/786/Helene-Regier/obituary.html]⁠ [https://www.grandbendstrip.com/2008/11/so-why-did-he-do-it/] So, why did he do it? - Grand Bend Strip community newspaper⁠ [https://www.grandbendstrip.com/2008/11/so-why-did-he-do-it/]⁠ [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/america-s-most-wanted-joins-hunt-for-ontario-fugitive-1.682087] America's Most Wanted joins hunt for Ontario fugitive | CBC News⁠ [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/america-s-most-wanted-joins-hunt-for-ontario-fugitive-1.682087] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]