True Crime Byline

After Amanda Zhao was reported missing in October 2002, Vancouver Sun reporter Lori Culburt went to Zhao's apartment to interview Zhao's boyfriend, Ang Li. She'll never forget the conversation she had with the seemingly grief-stricken man. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2006, when the RCMP arrested 18 young men who were planning a series of attacks on Canadian soil, it forced Canadians to face the idea of homegrown terrorism. National Post reporter Adrian Humphreys spent years following the stories and transformations of the men who were part of the terror cell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Kevin Mitchell first heard the Humboldt Broncos bus had crashed on its way to a playoff game, he assumed it was a fender bender. But the Saskatoon StarPhoenix sports editor soon realized an unthinkable tragedy was unfolding. He would spend much of the next year in the community, observing the grief and resiliency of those connected to this shattered hockey team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brandon Truaxe built the hugely profitable cosmetics empire Deciem — and then plunged it into chaos. From a psychiatric hospital in England he reached out to National Post reporter Joseph Brean to share his side of the story.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One call, then another, then a third. Ottawa Citizen reporter Aedan Helmer vividly remembers what it was like in the newsroom on Sept. 22, 2015 when the police scanner crackled with the news that three bodies had been found in cottage country – and the killer was still on the loose. In the days and months that followed Helmer would come to understand just how tragic — and preventable — the killings were.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There had long been stories in Saskatoon's Indigenous community about police taking Indigenous people out of town and leaving them there in the dead of winter. But it wasn't until one young man survived the ordeal that it created a public reckoning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nearly 30 years after David Milgaard was wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of Gail Miller the real killer — Larry Fisher — was charged and tried. Then-Saskatoon StarPhoenix reporter Les Perreaux kept tabs on Fisher before he was arrested and covered his trial in the small community of Yorkton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the RCMP prepared to seize millions of dollars worth of cocaine and ecstasy moving across the Canada-U.S. border, they made a curious decision: to bring a journalist inside the fold of the operation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brad Hunter was a reporter with the New York Post when the Twin Towers fell on Sept. 11, 2001. Covering the tragedy and its aftermath did more than define his career — it defined the rest of his life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Bosma disappeared in 2013 after leaving home with two men to test drive a truck he was selling online. Police eventually charged Dellen Millard and Mark Smich with murder. Not long after, they discovered this wasn't Millard's first time killing. National Post reporter Adrian Humphreys followed the story for years, including interviewing Millard in prison. He reflects on the systemic failures that saw Millard evade justice for years, and how the Bosma family changed his own outlook on life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One winter day in 2013, nearly 250 members of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish group called Lev Tahor vanished from the remote town of Saint Agathe, Quebec. As Montreal Gazette reporter Jason Magder investigated, he heard concerning stories: of child abuse, of children taken away from their parents, and of people being sedated with antipsychotic drugs. In many ways, the story of Lev Tahor is one with more questions than answers: How has the group managed to evade the authorities for so long? How can authorities better work together across provincial and state lines to protect the most vulnerable? And, despite a series of criminal convictions, why does the group continue to attract followers? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

National Post reporter Tom Blackwell has tried to block out many things about the murder trial of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, but what he doesn't want to forget is what he learned from the victims' families. Years later, his understanding of how his words can resonate with the loved ones of victims still shapes his outlook on covering crime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1983, the murder of JoAnn Wilson shocked Canadians. But looking back on it today, what's most surprising is that we were surprised it happened at all. Wilson was killed by her ex-husband, former Saskatchewan cabinet minister Colin Thatcher, amidst a prolonged battle over the custody of their children, and the division of their financial assets. All these years later, Regina Leader-Post reporter Barb Pacholik grapples with whether anything has changed in the province to better protect victims of domestic abuse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we'd do it without even thinking about it. But back in 2005, Googling a person — even the star witness in a murder trial — wasn't commonplace. But as National Post reporter Joseph Brean settled into covering the murder trial of Kevin Madden, a teenager charged with killing his 12-year-old brother Johnathon, he did exactly that – and ended up in a place all journalists try to avoid: right in the centre of the story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It started with a tip from a police source: The number of women reported missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside was much higher than publicly reported. A dogged investigation by a team of journalists at the Vancouver Sun told the stories of these missing mothers, daughters and sisters — and created a sense of urgency to find out what happened to them. With the public demanding action, the police eventually zeroed in on Robert (Willy) Pickton, Canada's most prolific serial killer.  Editors Note: There is a quote in this episode that states first-degree murder is premeditated and second-degree murder is not intentional. In fact, second-degree murder is not premeditated. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Behind every crime headline is a doggedly determined reporter whose job it is to hit the street, knock on doors and ask hard questions. Because of their work, we often know every little detail about the crimes they cover — but what we don't hear enough is what it was actually like to report on those stories, to sit in courtrooms, chase down leads, get to know family members and talk to witnesses. True Crime Byline is a new podcast from Postmedia and Antica Productions that sets out to share those untold stories. Hosted by Kathleen Goldhar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices