Dark Poutine - True Crime and Dark History

Road Trip: Los Satanicos — The Murder of Mark Kilroy

Episode 412: In March 1989, 21-year-old University of Texas pre-med student Mark Kilroy travelled to South Padre Island with friends for spring break. One night, they crossed the international bridge from Brownsville, Texas, into Matamoros, Mexico, for drinks and a night out. In the early hours of March 13, as the group headed back toward the United States, Mark was briefly left standing alone near the roadside. When his friends turned back moments later, he had vanished. At first, they assumed they had simply become separated in the crowds, but Mark never returned. His disappearance triggered an urgent search on both sides of the border that would soon uncover something far more disturbing than anyone imagined, a discovery that exposed a hidden world of violence and horror behind one young man’s spring break trip. The Work of the Devil | Texas Monthly [https://www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/the-work-of-the-devil/] Cult commits murder at Rancho Santa Elena | March 14, 1989 | HISTORY [https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/march-14/black-magic-voodoo-and-murder-occurs-at-rancho-santa-elena] "Spring Break Murders" Mark Kilroy (TV Episode 2025) | IMDb [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt36584606/] Mark Kilroy Murder - Arrests (1989) - KPRC-TV Collection [https://texasarchive.org/2021_00012] The Believers: Cult Murders in Mexico [https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/the-believers-cult-murders-in-mexico-53577/] Murder, Madness & Mayhem by Mike Browne [https://www.harpercollins.com/products/murder-madness-mayhem-mike-browne?variant=43711485247522] Kidnap, murder, ritual sacrifice | University Press [https://www.lamaruniversitypress.com/2021/04/kidnap,-murder,-ritual-sacrifice.php] Murder of Mark Kilroy | Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Mark_Kilroy] Mark Kilroy Foundation, Santa Fe, Texas [https://www.markkilroyfoundation.org/] Mark James Kilroy (1968 - 1989) - Find A Grave Memorial [https://web.archive.org/web/20170307035555/https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=73972660] Memory Mark Kilroy | YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLOUvc07XYdkoKuek9PZL8A] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

The Niagara Murder: The Tragic Death of Frederick C. Benwell

Episode 411: In February 1890, the body of 24-year-old Englishman Frederick Cornwallis Benwell was found in a shallow grave near Lundy’s Lane, just outside Niagara Falls, Ontario. Benwell had travelled to Canada after corresponding with John Reginald Birchall, aka Lord Frederick A. Somerset, a fellow Englishman who advertised opportunities for young men seeking work and advancement overseas. Within days of Benwell’s disappearance, suspicion fell on Birchall, who was arrested in Buffalo, New York, and returned to Canada to stand trial. What followed was one of the most closely watched murder cases in late 19th-century Ontario. Sources: The Swamp of death, or, The Benwell murder by Oliver Wendell Holmes | Canadiana.ca [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.93192/1] Catalog Record: The Swamp of death, or, The Benwell murder | HathiTrust Digital Library [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100314719] Newspapers.com | Search: John Reginald Birchall [https://www.newspapers.com/search/results/?keyword=%22John+Reginald+Birchall%22] https://www.themeister.co.uk/birchall/birchall_reginald.pdf [https://www.themeister.co.uk/birchall/birchall_reginald.pdf] BIRCHALL, REGINALD (Lord Frederick A. Somerset) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography [https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/birchall_reginald_11E.html] Frederick Cornwallis Benwell (1865-1890) - Find a... [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/26163812/frederick-cornwallis-benwell] John Reginald Birchall (1866-1890) [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108646376/john-reginald-birchall] Murder as a Fine Art by Alan Blytheway [https://www.amazon.ca/Murder-Fine-Art-Alan-Bytheway/dp/1910864099] The Trial of Reginald Birchall [https://archives.oxfordcounty.ca/blog-archive/the-trial-of-reginald-birchall/] John Reginald Birchall | The Canadian Encyclopedia [https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/john-reginald-birchall] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

The Legend of Agnus McVee: Murder at 108 Mile

Episode 410: In the final years of the Cariboo Gold Rush, between roughly 1875 and 1885, travellers moving along the Cariboo Wagon Road through British Columbia’s interior passed through a remote roadhouse known as the 108 Mile Hotel, about 108 miles from Lillooet on the route toward Barkerville. According to a long-told regional legend, the hotel was run by Agnus McVee, alongside her husband Jim McVee and her son-in-law Al Riley, who were accused of drugging, robbing, and murdering miners carrying gold through the region. The story claims that dozens of travellers disappeared after stopping at the inn, with some accounts later alleging that bodies were recovered from nearby lakes and that young women were held captive at the hotel. Sources: CARIBOO CALLING: The Legend of Agnus MacVee [https://www.100milefreepress.net/community/cariboo-calling-the-legend-of-agnus-macvee-7472355] The Cariboo Gold Rush Timeline [http://www.cariboogoldrush.com/timeline/] History - Gold Rush Trail - British Columbia Shaped by Nature [https://goldrushtrail.ca/history/] History and Timeline | Cariboo Gold Project [https://www.cariboogold.com/history-and-timeline] Agnus McVee – Habitual Runaway Tours [https://habitualrunaway.wordpress.com/tag/agnus-mcvee/] Sarah Leavitt's comic imagines the life of Agnes McVee | CBC Books [https://www.cbc.ca/books/sarah-leavitt-s-comic-imagines-the-life-of-agnes-mcvee-fabled-19th-century-serial-killer-1.5335120] Agnus McVee | Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnus_McVee] Agnes, Murderess | Goodreads [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/52001729-agnes-murderess] 108 Mile Heritage Site – Preserving the rich history of the Cariboo [https://historical.ca/] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

The Toronto 18 — Radicalized in the Suburbs

Episode 409: In June 2006, police carried out coordinated arrests across southern Ontario and charged 18 young men under Canada’s anti-terrorism laws. The case quickly became known as the Toronto 18. It was described as a homegrown plot, not directed from overseas but organized in suburban communities around Mississauga and Toronto. Most of the accused were in their late teens or early twenties. Many were Canadian citizens or long-time residents. Their backgrounds varied, but research and court records show no pattern of hardened criminal histories or severe mental illness. What drew them together, investigators argued, was a shared sense of grievance over global conflicts and a growing embrace of militant ideology. Sources: Prime Minister comments on terror arrests | Canada.ca [https://web.archive.org/web/20180519101151/https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2006/06/prime-minister-comments-terror-arrests.html] Seventeen Arrested on Anti-Terrorism Charges | Canada.ca [https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2006/06/seventeen-arrested-anti-terrorism-charges.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com] 2006 Ontario terrorism plot | Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Ontario_terrorism_plot] Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day Issues Statement on Canada's National Day to Remember Victims of Terror | Canada.ca [https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2006/06/public-safety-minister-stockwell-day-issues-statement-canada-national-day-remember-victims-terror.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com] Toronto 18: Key events in the case | CBC News [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto-18-key-events-in-the-case-1.715266] Manitoba Law Journal, vol 44 no 1, 2021 CanLIIDocs 787 [https://www.canlii.org/commentary/journals/16/3272] R. v. N.Y., 2008 CanLII 51935 (ON SC) [https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2008/2008canlii51935/2008canlii51935.html] R. v. Gaya, 2008 CanLII 24539 (ON SC) [https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2008/2008canlii24539/2008canlii24539.html] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

The Murder of Taylor Samson

Episode 408: In August 2015, 22-year-old Dalhousie University physics student Taylor Samson walked into an apartment on Henry Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia, carrying 20 pounds of marijuana. He never walked out. What followed became one of Nova Scotia’s most closely watched murder cases. William “Will” Sandeson — a former university track athlete and incoming medical student — was arrested days later. Surveillance footage showed Samson entering Sandeson’s apartment. Blood and DNA evidence tied the scene to a fatal gunshot. Samson’s body was never recovered. This is the story of Taylor Samson’s disappearance, and the long road to justice for his killer. Sources: Statement from Dalhousie University regarding charges laid in Taylor Samson case [https://www.dal.ca/news/media/media-releases/2015/08/20/statement_from_dalhousie_university_regarding_charges_laid_in_taylor_samson_case.html] William Sandeson | Global News, Videos & Articles [https://globalnews.ca/tag/william-sandeson/] How a Drug-Dealing Med Student Was Convicted of Murder | VICE [https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-a-drug-dealing-med-student-was-convicted-of-murder/] Murder trial told of evidence found in ice-cream truck at Sandeson farm | CBC News [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/william-sandeson-1st-degree-murder-trial-1.4116960] Police search for Dalhousie student's body as track athlete faces murder charge CityNews [https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2015/08/21/police-search-for-dalhousie-students-body-as-track-athlete-faces-murder-charge/] R. v. Sandeson, 2025 NSCA 86 (CanLII) [https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nsca/doc/2025/2025nsca86/2025nsca86.html] R. v. Sandeson, 2024 NSCA 72 (CanLII) [https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nsca/doc/2024/2024nsca72/2024nsca72.html] R. v. Sandeson, 2023 NSSC 130 (CanLII) [https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2023/2023nssc130/2023nssc130.html] R. v. Sandeson, 2023 NSSC 64 (CanLII) [https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2023/2023nssc64/2023nssc64.html] R. v. Sandeson, 2022 NSSC 387 (CanLII) [https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2022/2022nssc387/2022nssc387.html] R. v. Sandeson, 2022 NSSC 254 (CanLII) [https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2022/2022nssc254/2022nssc254.html] R. v. Sandeson, 2022 NSSC 151 (CanLII) [https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2022/2022nssc151/2022nssc151.html] R. v. Sandeson, 2022 NSSC 111 (CanLII) [https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2022/2022nssc111/2022nssc111.html] R. v. Sandeson, 2020 NSCA 47 (CanLII) [https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nsca/doc/2020/2020nsca47/2020nsca47.html] R. v. Sandeson, 2017 NSSC 193 (CanLII) [https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2017/2017nssc193/2017nssc193.html] R. v. Sandeson, 2017 NSSC 146 (CanLII) [https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2017/2017nssc146/2017nssc146.html] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]