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The Strange Death of Cindy James (Part 1) | Morbid | Podcast

September 16, 2024 / 52:16

This episode covers the experience of Ash and Elena attending a Something Corporate concert, meeting Andrew McMahon, and discussing the mysterious death of Cindy James.

Ash and Elena share their excitement about attending a Something Corporate concert, highlighting their long-time fandom and nostalgia associated with the band. They recount how they managed to get tickets and the thrill of meeting Andrew McMahon, the band's frontman, backstage.

The hosts express their gratitude towards Connor, the tour manager, for facilitating the meeting and share their memories of past concerts. They reflect on the emotional impact of the concert and how it felt to relive their teenage years.

After discussing the concert, they transition to a true crime case about Cindy James, whose mysterious death in 1989 remains unsolved. They outline the details of her life, her reported harassment, and the circumstances surrounding her death.

The episode sets the stage for a deeper exploration of Cindy's case, hinting at the complexities and unanswered questions that will be addressed in the next part.

TLDR

Ash and Elena attend a nostalgic Something Corporate concert, meet Andrew McMahon, and begin discussing the mysterious death of Cindy James.

Episode

52:16
00:00:06
hey weirdos I'm Ash and I'm Elena and she refuses to answer in SpongeBob terms but this is
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[Music] morbid this is morbid I asked her I said are you ready kids and she said yep and
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I said nope the correct answer is I I captain and she said yep which is also incorrect but it shows that I am
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ready not I answered in the affirmative which means I am ready whatever whatever
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whatever guys it's spooky season it's spooky season and our spooky season is off to the most glorious start because
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the other night we got to go see something mother [ __ ] corporate guys this I mean I my the first tattoo I ever
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got when I was 18 is the Something Corporate little C like Copyright symbol yes on my
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wrist nobody can copy Elena she one kind one first tattoo uh I literally lived and died by Something Corporate lived
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and died by Andrew McMahon can attest I started listening to Andrew McMahon when
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I was about 5 years old because Elena was 15 and she said we're listening to this she said I have no choice I she
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said we're going to the grocery store let's listen to Constantine and I like you bet you kid so they obviously
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haven't tour in a while and I think the last I mean the last time I saw them was
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I've never seen something I can't even remember we used to see them all the time in high school like we went to
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every single they used to play in like random gymnasiums and [ __ ] we go see them auditoriums and like we would see
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them all the time so I've seen them countless amounts of times in high school and then After High School they
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got back together we saw one I saw one with John and then they just stopped and they wering see Jax like all the time
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yeah but it's like something about and Jax is amazing but just like something about something corporate just the
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Nostalgia yeah and so they were coming back around we immediately got tickets I got tickets I'm not kidding you the day
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they went on sale second they went on sale within seconds yeah and it was me Ash and uh my nephew Aiden who's awesome
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shout out to Aiden Aiden and and we got to go and we we so we gotten uh I'm too excited I'm still like
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coming I'm still dealing with it it was like a what was it a week ago yeah and I
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still feel like it's in my veins yes it oh it is it lives there it lives in me yeah their tour manager Connor shout out
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to [ __ ] Connor and his girlfriend Molly Molly and Connor absolutely forever Molly and Connor forever guys
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two of the nicest people we've ever met in our lives Connor reached out and was like Hey like I'm going to get you in
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and like to meet Andrew cuz he wants to meet you and we said I'm sorry what and I said Connor say it again what do you
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mean what the [ __ ] does that mean and he was like oh yeah so we're walking in with Connor who's a sweetheart and we I
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was just in shock that we were like I was like I'm sorry what he we like you know we'll get you to to meet Andrew and
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I was like holy [ __ ] so I'm thinking after the show cuz we just thought we were going to our seats we're like it's
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like a backstage like tunnel sort of yeah like to get up to this like balcony area so I thought he was taking us there
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he takes us into a room I wish that it was on camera the face I gave to Ash it is in my mind it's in Ash's mind because
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we walked into a room and I just looked over and I go oh that's Andrew [ __ ] McMahon's back like the back of his head
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like that's just he's right there we walked right into a room and he was just like oh here's Andrew I had no idea that
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we were no I lo the last also just for everybody one of the last times that I met him was
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when I was I think I met him once when I was like 18 at a concert and I was very
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like normal and I was like oh like I love your music BL when I was 14 was cool guys I was cool then but when I was
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14 I met Andrew McMahon and I was not very cool and he had lost his voice after the show it was like the I think
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it was the Guster yeah it's when they played with Guster yeah and he lost his voice and we got to meet him after the
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show and he was like signing tickets and I walked up to this man and I just screamed in this man's face I love you
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she went I love you I liter I didn't know what the [ __ ] else to say I was it was one he was so nice if somebody did
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that to me I would probably be so nice but I'd be so overwhelmed and he did not seem overwhelmed at all so this time I
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said you got to play a cool [ __ ] be cool girlfriend you got to you got to just nod and smile he is so kind so ni
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he said he gets hit up con instantly when we mention him or something corporate or Jack mannequin on the show
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why you guys are the [ __ ] tit shout out to you anybody who has reached out to HCM and told him and I mean I'm
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forever in your debt because when he brought that up I was like that's my f [ __ ] listeners right there like
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that's those are my homies right there those are the boys doing the Lord's work getting me to be in Andrew McMahon's
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orbit so that was Bonkers bananas like truly Bonkers bananas he was so sweet that was before the concert even started
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so I was already like in a place like we got to chat for a minute he was like oh
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come back after the show come hang out and I was like I'm what we like threaten us for the good time me what do you mean
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what do you mean what are you talking about what H so we went the show was [ __ ] amazing guys if you were at that
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something corporate show like how [ __ ] awesome was that when he crowd surf oh my God it was at the road run R
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it was so good he crouched every single one of us in that room returned to a 16-year-old Andor six like Andor six if
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you are ash and Aiden uh at one point he said like I want you to like rock out like you are whatever age you are when
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you heard us for the first time so I was like 16 and Ash goes I'm going to rock out like I'm six and a goes I'm gonna
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rock out like I'm three Elena really indoctrinated us great did but yeah we got to talk to him
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after he wants to be on the show and I lost my mind I love that he wanted to be on the show and was like I shouldn't
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have asked that yeah we like I was like oh no I was going to ask you to be on the show he's like no I shouldn't I
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shouldn't have said that we're like no you absolutely should have guys he's so nice like Meet Your Heroes because it
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was so lovely he might be on the show in the he might be on the show that would be great hit him up some more I want to
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I feel like we could do something like fun with him oh absolutely we could we could do spooky thing with him I think
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it would be a lot of fun talk about the inspo for me in the moon I need to know what the inspo is for that it's Andrew
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McMahon and Something Corporate is very much the only other time besides ghost that I felt that way about music which
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is so funny because very app and oranges zebras and and apples they just they both hit the same way yeah and Tobias
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and Andrew both both hit in similar ways it's true it's it was a it was great so
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Andrew McMahon's really really kind Conor and his girlfriend Molly are beautiful humans they're our favorite
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listeners at the moment so step it up everyone just kidding but we really really appreciate it it was just such a
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cool experience and it was really fun to be able to be 16 again and belt out songs about angst oh my god when they
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played if you see Jordan oh my God felt right iconic felt right so yeah that was
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awesome and and again thank you guys for you know letting him know when we mention him like you're the real ones so
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we appreciate you we're so thankful for you yeah you rock it's it's a cool life walking into that room and seeing Andrew
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McMahon just sitting there I was unprepared it's the an understatement it's it's not lost on us how lucky we
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are it is not lost on us no when he said Andrew wants to meet you I said that's not real said qu that's not real Connor
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excuse me I literally when he said I was like what the [ __ ] are you talking about
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like what Conor you shut your mouth what are you talking don't you allow to me boy
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and he was like what like I'm not he's like he's right there and then we got to see our friend Jessica who we used to
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like go we used to we met Jessica and Kristen and Tanya at a Jack's Mannequin concert years and years and years ago it
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was the one when I was like 14 and I screamed I love you and Andrew McMahon's face and we went to concerts with them a
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bunch like Jack mannequin concerts like it was our thing like we would go every year to one or something like that and
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then we got to see our friend Jessica see her so it was great hi Jess hi Jess so oh it was just it was such a good
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night it really was like start to finish I'm surprised I didn't cry yeah it I'm still I'm not over it I'm not gonna I
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don't know that we ever think I'm going to be over it was a very very cool experience yeah and we just had to gush
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about it because we like to tell you about fun things and we wanted to say thank you because cuz you guys are the
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ones that are hitting them up every time we mention them which is just [ __ ] wild all right well I have a very very
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strange case today I remember I know it really did I'm sorry but I I remember hearing this case like
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years ago for the first time on my favorite murder shout out to Georgia and Karen shout out to Georgia and Karen
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it's the mysterious slver strange death of one Cindy James I know you know this one yes and if you if you are like a
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true crime fan True Crime afficianado I'm sure you've heard of this but I haven't listened to this case in a while
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I haven't like looked into it in a while and then I decided I wanted to and me and Dave were just like what the [ __ ]
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happened here yeah this is a very distressing case yeah and I'm sorry there's no answers yeah but it's still
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it fascinates me and I want this case to be solved and again it's very horrifying
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you always say there's always there's always hope there is always hope we're going to do this in two parts otherwise
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it would be like mind-bogglingly long yeah um so that I'm going to give you part one today and then part two will
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follow up uh what is it Thursday Friday Thursday Thursday right I don't I don't know where where I am what planet do we
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live on um who knows I'm I'm in outer space right now retweet all right well let's get into it so on June 8th
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oh June 8th 1989 so I was not alive yet not here and it this isn't good on June 8th 1989 a municipal worker discovered
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the body of 44 year-old 4 so Cindy James in the backyard of an abandoned home in
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Richmond British Columbia her body was found hog tied and she had a woman's stocking wrapped around her neck sorry I
00:11:02
sneezed everybody okay bless you thank you uh two weeks earlier friends of Cindy had reported her missing when she
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failed to show up for a game of cards that they had planned and when authori searched her car they found blood and
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other signs that indicated she probably met with some kind of Foul Play yeah she's found hog tied hog tied and
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withing around yeah like what the fu how horrifying so after opening an investigation into Cindy's death
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investigators learned that for almost 10 years years leading up to her death Cindy James had been repeatedly
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reporting to Richmond police that she was a victim of harassment stalking assault even she actually even gave
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police threatening letters that had been sent to her and answering machine messages as evidence of what was
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happening but local police could never verify her story and they never really intervened much to protect her and it's
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like why isn't any like again I always say like I I feel like it's better to overreact that's the thing just
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overreact I think if it ends up being nothing yeah you've expended some time and some resources for sure that's
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that's not lost on me and that's not a small thing but it I mean there's a chance that you're going to save
00:12:12
someone's life yeah exactly and I mean if it goes the other way that's a lot of bad press for your your agents there
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yeah but at first Cindy's death appeared to be the inevitable and obviously tragic conclusion of this yearslong
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series of harassment that she'd been going with through with an unknown doer but when investigators started digging
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into her personal history they found evidence that completely contradicted their initial assumptions and pointed
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toward a much stranger explanation for her death interesting I don't know here's the thing I know the very like um
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and this Happ a lot with me I know like the the generalized version of this I don't know a lot of the detailed details
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so I'm interested to see I don't know how I think it's just like my mind trying to preserve itself I had forgot
00:12:57
about some of the details in and there something there some details in this Cas that are just like but let's
00:13:06
back up a little bit and talk a little more about Cynthia's early life she was born uh Cynthia Elizabeth hack on June
00:13:12
12th 1944 in Oliver British Columbia Canada she was the second of six children born to Otto and Tilly hack
00:13:20
Otto and Tilly aren't those great names that's adorable and a like great couple name yeah just Otto and Tilly over there
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yeah so Otto grew up in a rural farming family his childhood was particularly hard he didn't really grow up with a lot
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of opportunities and as a pioneering family in the Peace River uh country of Alberta the hack family suffered some
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serious hardships including the loss of several children not one of the hack girls survived infancy oh that's so
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tragic not one of them because of that Cindy's birth was an especially exciting event for AO and Tilly she was the first
00:13:55
hack girl to survive infancy since the beginning of the 1900s oh my god look what she went through I
00:14:02
know that's awful it I hate to get like Paranormal and like Supernatural here but it makes you think that there's some
00:14:08
kind of like Cur or something all I could think it's like that's not try like that really it's like holy [ __ ]
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just that many years and then the first girl to survive infancy like dies in such a tragic manner after an know that
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really is awful a year long ordeal too but after leaving the Army in uh November of 19 1945 Otto and Tilly moved
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to Richmond British Columbia where Otto attended University and Tilly ran a small Corner Store Tilly would later
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describe this period of their lives as difficult especially after the birth of two more children at the end of the
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1940s after Oto graduated with a degree in 1948 he took a job teaching English in Vancouver but just one year later A
00:14:51
friend told him they pretty much convinced him to reinlist in the military luckily during the time that he
00:14:57
reenlisted there weren't there was more like peacetime opportunities available because there wasn't like a ton of war
00:15:02
going on yeah and once he reenlisted Otto took a position teaching at military training facilities in Canada
00:15:09
and in Europe it turned out that he really loved his position and he turned it into like pretty much a lifelong
00:15:14
career he'd spend the next 25 years committed to this until he retired in 1975 wow Auto yeah good for him but his
00:15:22
career in the military meant that the hack family usually traveled from one place to another pretty often and a lot
00:15:28
of times with very little notice yeah they could there was probably not a lot of time to sit the kids down and explain
00:15:34
every single time you no not at all and sometimes they would only get to stay in
00:15:37
one place for as little as one year before having to move on that's tough yeah in some cases the kids would stay
00:15:43
in one location with their mom or a nanny while Otto lived somewhere else but in all cases like we were just
00:15:49
saying it was a pretty destabilizing existence for the kids and the lack of Parental supervision prompted Cindy to
00:15:56
take on more responsibility than she probably would have otherwise yeah she became really really protective over her
00:16:02
brothers and sisters and a lot of times she would take blame or she would take on punishments for things that they did
00:16:08
wrong so that they didn't have to face it yeah outside of the home she was a really good student took a lot of pride
00:16:15
in her grades she was also very stubborn very driven to succeed her father said I
00:16:20
don't know whether it's stubborn or determined she always wanted to be a nurse from the time she could crawl she
00:16:24
had a gentle kind of attitude feeling personality oh she s sounds lovely she really does so while Otto and Tilly
00:16:31
looked back on their family's early years as you know relatively normal for a family in the 1950s
00:16:37
1960s Cindy felt a little bit differently oh she told a psychiatrist that there was a quote strong
00:16:43
discouragement to even have friends at all oh she said we weren't allowed to bring them home or go to their place huh
00:16:50
and in her memory her early life was overshadowed by all that responsibility that she had to take like constantly
00:16:56
taking care of her younger siblings keep up with housework she was kind of like a
00:17:02
kind of like a little mom at like a really early age and it wasn't low stakes chores like you know doing the
00:17:08
dishes taking out the trash she said my father would run his fingers along Ledges to check if I had done the job
00:17:14
well enough oh that's very military it feels like it's super military and it's like leave that in the military I feel
00:17:21
like you don't need to bring that home to your kids like that's a lot of pressure yeah obviously a very different
00:17:26
time especially when they're moving around so often it's like that's added pressure to keep like that all like prim
00:17:32
and proper yeah and it's also like kids are messy man let kids be kids it's just
00:17:37
the way of the world you got to let them be a little messy you teach them how to
00:17:40
clean up after themselves yeah and that's the way it is things are going to spill accidents are going to happen
00:17:45
eventually you're going to have your clean house back right you know but enjoy the messy house while you can and
00:17:50
it shouldn't all be on like the oldest girl to clean everything know like that's stupid you teach them to clean up
00:17:55
after themselves to the best of their ages ability yeah you know but again very different time yeah but in addition
00:18:03
to all that the transient lifestyle of growing up in the military family made it really difficult for Cindy to make
00:18:08
friends so she grew up feeling really lonely especially when both or one or both of her parents were gone cuz
00:18:15
sometimes it was just Auto and the mom would stay back to kind of like finish out until they could go on to the next
00:18:20
place sometimes both of them but sometimes the mom had to go and then it was they were just with a nanny and that
00:18:25
must be tough yeah you know yeah another prominent feature of the hack household
00:18:29
was ot's anger and occasionally explosive temper which got even worse when he was drinking heavily no and he
00:18:37
usually was here I was being like good job I know not so good not so great Cindy's Brothers had a little bit of a
00:18:44
different opinion on their dad's drinking they just felt like it was one of those things that was like of the
00:18:49
time and a part of military life which I guess I can see that sort I can see why they thought that like they just
00:18:57
yeah they felt like it was of those things that was just like part of it all yeah her brother Doug said it's
00:19:03
something in the military the thing to do I didn't make a value judgment out of it but Cindy on the other hand always
00:19:09
struggled with her father's presence in their life to her it felt like he was really detached and really aloof when he
00:19:14
was around and when he wasn't it was just like kind of more peaceful but also she missed him yeah it was one of that's
00:19:22
really that's hard cuz it's such a a catch 22 it is exactly and the day her sister Melanie got got married Cindy
00:19:29
wrote in her diary the tension in the house was unbelievable dad put on his affable host act and everybody
00:19:34
congratulated him on having done such a good job oh that's really sad and she probably felt like oh yeah like he did
00:19:40
such a good job meanwhile like I'm the one that really like raised these kids you know yeah as they grew older Cindy
00:19:46
and her siblings they found ways to cope with their dad's drinking and sometimes
00:19:50
abuse but it was still a big part of their lives and a frequent topic of discussion among them a few of them like
00:19:57
Cindy's older brother Doug kind of found ways to justify or excuse 's Behavior which in and of itself is a coping
00:20:04
mechanism yeah for sure but Cindy and her sister kind of slowly put these emotional and eventually physical walls
00:20:11
up between themselves and their parents and mulg who wrote who killed Cindy James said Cindy had built an emotional
00:20:18
wall to keep her parents at Bay and never demolished it the rift between Cindy and her parents opened in her
00:20:23
adolescence and became unbridgeable in her adulthood oo that is really sad yeah I wrote so that's
00:20:30
good but the biggest shift in Cindy's relationship with her parents came in 1962 during two life-changing Events
00:20:38
first Otto was given the opportunity to move the family to Europe for a long period which was something that he had
00:20:44
actually dreamed of for a really long time but right before they were about to start prepping for this move Otto got a
00:20:51
telegram letting him know that his father brother and four nieces and nephews of his had been in a car
00:20:57
accident and not one of them survived oh that's awful so he lost multiple incredibly important family members in
00:21:07
an instant the news was obviously devastating and it made Otto pull away from his family even more and I'm sure
00:21:15
you know drink a little bit more yeah that's oh and that's really that's awful cuz they probably just wanted to help
00:21:20
him through it yeah exactly but I think he the only way he knew how to deal with
00:21:24
that was by isolating himself but then not long after the end uh the accident Cindy graduated from high school and she
00:21:31
told her parents she was not going to move to Europe with them she didn't want to go her brother Doug who was in
00:21:36
college at the time was planning to stay in Canada so Cindy saw no reason why she
00:21:40
shouldn't be allowed to do the exact same thing yeah but this decision that she made caused a huge argument between
00:21:46
her and her parents they absolutely refused to let her stay in Canada the fighting went on for months about this
00:21:52
topic until Otto and Tilly finally relented and agreed to let her stay behind on the condition that she and en
00:21:58
roll in school for the fall semester okay so she agreed she enrolled in the nursing program at Vancouver General
00:22:05
Hospital's nursing program but by the time she enrolled the program had filled up so she was placed on a wait list a
00:22:12
little bit of a loophole there oh and you wish you want to know though like would things be different if she had
00:22:18
gone to Europe I wonder would she have liked it there would she have stayed there yeah you know would this whole
00:22:24
thing have happened I know that's honestly a really good point yeah I don't I just always wonder those things
00:22:30
because I still don't know exactly what happened here I'm not it's my mind goes like back and forth to so many different
00:22:38
possibilities of what could have happened but in the meantime the hospital offered Cindy a nurse's aid job
00:22:43
until she was able to begin classes so at least she would get a little bit of experience in the industry yeah it
00:22:48
seemed like a pretty reasonable compromise for everybody involved but Cindy still resented her parents for
00:22:54
trying to control her life especially when they weren't really trying to control her brother yeah I know that's
00:23:00
hard yeah so she started cutting off a lot of communication with them despite that distance she did still check in
00:23:07
occasionally in the years that followed usually through letters and through phone calls Tilly recalled one letter
00:23:13
that she got in early 1965 that made her question if Cindy was actually doing as well emotionally as
00:23:20
she said she was doing in the letter Cindy said she met a young man at the hospital and they had gotten engaged but
00:23:26
he recently found out that he had terminal cancer Tilly said the letter was just strange in its detail and went
00:23:33
on she said uh there must have been 10 pages to the letter she wrote saying that one day they were skiing he went up
00:23:40
into the Mountain skiing and didn't come back what according to Cindy a search party eventually found her fiance in an
00:23:47
abandoned cabin on the mountain where he had shot and killed himself holy [ __ ]
00:23:52
yeah so Otto and til he found this letter not only disturbing but remarkably strange first of all they had
00:23:58
never heard Cindy mention a fiance before and they had just seen her a few months earlier during the holiday season
00:24:05
Otto said whether they were even engaged or not we don't know Cindy's brother Doug visited her in Vancouver a lot and
00:24:12
actually even hung out with her and some of her friends and he had never met or heard of this supposed
00:24:18
fiance that's interesting now years later he would he would say he never met the man but he did eventually hear the
00:24:24
story about the man's supposed suicide and all Doug remembered was Cindy telling him about the incident and quote
00:24:30
discussing suicide as a legitimate option for escaping an exential crisis interesting which is important to
00:24:37
remember yeah so if Cindy had been engaged to be married in the winter of 1965 she did manage to get over the loss
00:24:45
of this mysterious fiance pretty quickly when she met one Roy make piece in the summer of
00:24:51
1965 he was almost 20 years older than her he had come to Canada from South Africa where he left behind a wife and a
00:24:57
career as a psychiatrist oh yeah okay so that's something oh boy uh Cindy and Roy
00:25:04
dated for about a year before they got married in December of 1966 just after she graduated from the nursing program
00:25:11
at Vancouver General Hospital when Otto and Tilly received Cindy's letter about the marriage the letter about the
00:25:19
marriage oh they immediately disapproved of their daughter marrying someone almost twice her age Otto later said he
00:25:26
took advantage of her he saw this pretty girl and even though he was married with
00:25:29
two kids yeah he zeroed in and made it his principal objective to get her oh that's really upsetting yeah and they
00:25:37
were also pretty pissed about the fact that Cindy had gotten married so quickly first of all but hadn't even invited
00:25:43
them to her wedding told them after just told them afterwards they didn't know she was even dating this guy wow the
00:25:49
lack of invitation was just obviously another blow and really emphasized that growing distance between the family and
00:25:55
Cindy and the family was still living in Europe at the time so there was physical
00:25:59
distance and there was emotional distance definit emotional distance Otto wrote in a letter to Doug never before
00:26:05
in our 25 years together have I seen your mother so Disturbed and heart sick what really hurts us is the fact that
00:26:10
our own child decides to get married without seeking our counsel and most significantly without sharing with us
00:26:16
the joy of the monumentous moment let me tell you when that happens it is a blow
00:26:22
we had that happen in our family something very similar happened in our family it's [ __ ] up I don't know how
00:26:28
you do that to your your parents m i mean i didn't invite my mom to my wedding but that's very different but
00:26:35
when you have like actual like an actual relationship with your parents communicative relationship yeah I mean
00:26:41
we are only seeing this from what we can gather and from a side where she cannot
00:26:49
say mhm all the details so I will take it with a grain of salt that way and say I don't know all the ins and outs of
00:26:57
their relationship so perhaps there's more to that St something that is valid there yeah I I can only speak from the
00:27:06
experience of being on the other side of it when there wasn't a valid reason for
00:27:10
it and when it was like holy [ __ ] that's actually funny like not funny but you
00:27:14
know that you've experienced it one way and I've sort of experienced it the other with the same
00:27:19
person so that's even funny wow imagine that history repeats itself but well Cindy's parents may have been excluded
00:27:27
from her life at that Point Doug her brother still lived close by and he saw Cindy pretty often he actually got a
00:27:33
good impression from Roy makepiece and he said he was a quote real neat guy he was easy to talk to he really enjoyed
00:27:38
life he had a curious mind and was into everything I was into we hit it off right from the beginning well that's
00:27:43
nice that her brother liked him yeah at least there was that you know so to Doug
00:27:47
Roy seemed like a pretty good match for Cindy too he was stable he seemed happy and most importantly he wasn't at all
00:27:53
like their father that was one of the things that they noted like aof or detached was alof yeah exactly he didn't
00:28:00
seem to have any kind of like issue with alcohol I think that was a big thing that Cindy didn't want to get involved
00:28:07
in Cindy only had a few close friends so a lot of nights she and Roy spent together were also like she would play
00:28:14
cards with Doug and his wife Barb like that was kind of their friendship or they'd have a quiet night alone at home
00:28:19
so she didn't they didn't have like a lot of social group or anything like that exactly when Roy talked about the
00:28:25
early years of their marriage he said we were tramping around Cloud n together all right that's adorable I know I I
00:28:31
mean I'm I'm having trouble I know because of how this all began but like that's a cute statement it it's kind of
00:28:39
like a roller coaster that's like woo okay yeah cuz I was like o and I'm like a and then you might
00:28:47
go again brother because unfortunately that happiness that they had early on in their relationship didn't last very long
00:28:55
Roy said eventually that quote we were gross in debt at that stage of the game and obviously that took a toll on their
00:29:01
relationship when things did start to improve for them financially it was when Roy found uh work as an assistant
00:29:07
professor at the University of British Columbia but it also seemed that the Financial Security didn't do a lot to
00:29:14
improve their relationship he said when we only had each other we had a wonderful life as we started to get
00:29:20
solvent and acquire some possessions and things we had time and money for recreation and our interests
00:29:25
unfortunately were slowly shown to be 100 80° apart isn't that interesting yeah that like when they were
00:29:33
only the two of them everything was fine but as soon as like and it's like you never discussed your interests yeah well
00:29:41
I mean they only dated for one year before they got married like what were you which like I mean that happens and
00:29:48
it works out but that's the time to like discuss what you like what you don't like what you're into what you're not
00:29:53
into like but even the amount of stories that we've covered where like a couple gets married and one of them wants
00:29:59
children and the other doesn't yeah and you're like why didn't you discuss that I feel like that's a that's a big thing
00:30:04
before you get married but again everybody's different so yeah exactly but Cindy and Roy's social life had
00:30:10
always like I said been limited by Cindy's inability to make close friends because remember she didn't really grow
00:30:15
up learning how to make friends because one it's a skill yeah it is a skill and it's one thing she wasn't encouraged to
00:30:22
in fact she was kind of discouraged and like we know she was always moving from place to place before she really even
00:30:27
had a chance to make friends and was taking on more of like a caretaker role at a young age than being you know like
00:30:35
yeah it's important yeah definitely so Roy hoped that that wouldn't be a problem once they were able to get out
00:30:41
into the world and enjoy the money that he was making he thought it might come a
00:30:44
little easier but Cindy didn't really seem interested in outdoor activities or any of the other things Roy liked like
00:30:50
skiing and swimming yeah and the conflict and their social priorities only increased the tension that was
00:30:56
growing in their marriage anytime Roy would comment or criticize Cindy's housekeeping she would literally just
00:31:01
walk out of the house and disappear for hours instead of actually communicating why she felt so criticized and probably
00:31:09
triggered to when she lived at home I was going to say and I think she was also it's it sounds like that that was
00:31:15
kind of like her parents way of dealing with things was very aloof very detached
00:31:19
very if I'm mad about it I'm just not going to tell you why I'm going to move on and you know I'm going to like or I'm
00:31:25
going to remove myself from the situation yeah so it sounds like that's just what she knew exactly you know but
00:31:31
never leave during a fight never leave mad that's my that's my motto like never go to bed angry never leave angry cuz
00:31:39
you never know what could happen you don't you get hit by a car and then the last thing you have with somebody that
00:31:43
you love so much and they love you is a fight yeah and I know there's like there's some people that [ __ ] hate
00:31:48
when I give advice like life advice they hate it really um but if that life advice bums you out like you're the
00:31:55
problem I feel like that's pretty good life advice you're the problem so that's life advice from both of us it is that's
00:32:00
from Ash too you're the problem it's you but we love you anyway exactly but if but it I think that's pretty decent
00:32:06
generalized life advice don't go to bed or angry I feel like a lot of people like live by that advice right people
00:32:12
have [ __ ] that says that over their bed don't they always always kiss good night
00:32:16
oh okay you know don't go to bed angry that's the subtext don't go to bed pissed over my bed when you're still mad
00:32:24
anyway before long tensions turned into arguments obviously arguments turned into yelling fights [ __ ] was getting
00:32:31
Bleak Roy realized that Cindy was triggered though and he said in her mind I was being like Otto I thought I was
00:32:37
arguing my with my otherwise rational Provident wife my other adult but actually I was arguing with an
00:32:43
irrational little girl who had been terrified and I simply couldn't get her to listen to any reason at all that's
00:32:48
really sad it is after almost 10 years of marriage the tensions finally spilled over between them one evening after
00:32:54
Cindy had been antagonizing Roy he recalled that he probably said you stupid [ __ ] shut up oh [ __ ] you and
00:33:02
then hit her yeah [ __ ] you Roy yeah like straight up [ __ ] you I can see why things spoiled over at that point that's
00:33:09
so [ __ ] up yeah you stupid [ __ ] shut up I can't imagine hearing either of those
00:33:18
things that people I don't know if I've talked about this before people say shut
00:33:23
up so flippantly I think shut up is like one of the meanest things you could say
00:33:28
to somebody like if you're being like Oh my God shut up like like in Mean Girls that's one thing but when you're in a
00:33:34
fight or like you don't want to hear what someone is saying and you say shut up oh I think it's so degrading it it's
00:33:40
such a nasty way to shut someone down yeah and I I grew up hearing shut up so I think I specifically have like a like
00:33:48
my nervous system has a response where I like want to fight immediately [ __ ] up
00:33:52
but then to add you stupid [ __ ] onto that like what you're I can't imagine my husband ever calling me stupid or a
00:33:59
[ __ ] and definitely can't imagine the combination of both the Earth would swallow me like I the Earth would follow
00:34:06
someone yeah like that's I can't imagine that yeah how awful that would be to hear no I some care about and really
00:34:14
that was when Cindy was pretty muchy hit her done with the marriage that's the thing when he hit her yeah she never
00:34:20
forgave him for hitting her which I wouldn't either I wouldn't either and from that point forward their
00:34:25
relationship was just in a downward spiral of accusations and anger and finger pointing it was it was toxic
00:34:33
throughout the late '70s Cindy wrote about her rapidly evolving feelings toward her husband and her diary one day
00:34:39
she wrote woke up with a pounding headache and feeling very listless I hate Roy for destroying that for me too
00:34:44
he destroyed everything that was important to me just like he said he would if I left oh in that same diary
00:34:50
Cindy accused him of violent abuse and actually sexual assaults accusation she would later repeat to the police among
00:34:57
other claims that she would make against him including murder holy [ __ ] Yeah by
00:35:02
1980 any love between Cindy and Roy had completely evaporated at least as far as
00:35:07
Cindy was concerned she wrote for some reason images of Roy's face contorted in Anger keep intruding on my thoughts by
00:35:14
then she had come to see him as this like domineering force that was actually even worse than her father yeah and that
00:35:21
perception of him would only twist and degrade as time went on damn that's horrible now it should be said that
00:35:28
despite what what Cindy ended up writing in her in her diary about Roy and what she told police and her family about
00:35:33
them it's hard to know what's based in 100% truth he did hit her like he he he admits that he admits that which you're
00:35:41
done in my book but there are some things that seem to have been exaggerated based on some people's
00:35:47
beliefs I don't know necessarily if that's my belief because I don't know enough about their relationship but some
00:35:53
people felt that way okay according to Ian mgre there's no doubt that Roy loved Cindy very much he said but Roy carried
00:36:01
emotional baggage that weighed him down and made normal relationships difficult throughout his life I mean he left a
00:36:06
wife and two children yeah in a completely separate country he's got some emotional baggage that we don't
00:36:13
even know about exactly he also was an enthusiastic gun collector and was paranoid sometimes to the point of being
00:36:19
delusional and his interest in like Fringe psychology and bizarre beliefs tended to make him an outsider not only
00:36:26
in his personal life but in his professional life too and like we were just saying he also had a lot of guilt
00:36:33
and regret for leaving his ex-wife and children back in South Africa yeah and those feelings would only get worse once
00:36:39
his relationship with Cindy started to disintegrate cuz then it's like he left them and what for for for what this
00:36:45
situation exactly obviously not saying he was a great guy not saying he was innocent when it came to the abuse no
00:36:53
because he literally admitted hitting her but just highlighting that Roy's history and sometimes bizarre behavior
00:36:58
would make it easy to believe everything that Cindy said about him and eventually
00:37:03
it would muddy the facts with what happened next yeah I can see that so in the summer of 1982 after an especially
00:37:09
bad fight between Roy and Cindy they decided to separate temporarily with the hope and intention of working to repair
00:37:15
the marriage just a few months after separating though Cindy became preoccupied because she started getting
00:37:21
these obscene phone calls right around early October I just want to like trigger warning ahead of time some of
00:37:27
these get like very sexual in nature and kind of like upsetting disturbing yeah disturbing upsetting definitely so just
00:37:33
be forewarned she told the police sometimes the caller breathed heavily sometimes he spoke of sex sometimes M of
00:37:40
Mutilation and the caller who always sounded like a man always referred to her by her first name and spoke like he
00:37:46
knew her so Cindy reported these calls to Vancouver Police on October 12th but there wasn't really a lot they could do
00:37:52
remember this is the 80s yeah so the phone calls just persisted and one she received after she reported the
00:37:59
harassment the caller said so you think the police will keep you safe you wait I've got my zipper open ew yeah like I
00:38:06
told you obscene but Cindy hung up before he could go any further on October 13th just one day after
00:38:13
reporting the obain phone call she called the police again and she reported that she had gotten even more of these
00:38:18
phone calls since the previous night and now she actually believed that there was
00:38:22
a Prowler outside of her house holy [ __ ] according to Cindy she woke up when her
00:38:27
dog started started barking and she heard the knob on the back door rattling oh [ __ ] that like somebody was trying to
00:38:32
get into the house so this time two patrol cars were dispatched to the house and officers searched the area but they
00:38:38
didn't find anything unusual and didn't find any sign of a Prowler whatsoever but Cindy was still terrified so that
00:38:45
night she packed a small bag and went to stay with her friends she was like [ __ ]
00:38:48
that I'm not staying here now there were several more reported incidents of harassment in the days that followed on
00:38:55
October 15th she reported to Vancouver Police that somebody had thrown a rock through her kitchen window holy [ __ ] on
00:39:02
the 19th officers were again dispatched to Cindy's home this time for a report of somebody actually having broken into
00:39:08
the house they searched the house and the only evidence they found was a pillowcase of some sentimental value
00:39:15
that had been slashed with either a knife or scissors which is so bizarre yeah when officers asked if there was
00:39:21
anybody she could think of that would be targeting her for this harassment she mentioned that she just separated from
00:39:26
her husband but she did say she couldn't imagine Roy breaking in just to do something that trivial like and Petty as
00:39:33
destroying a pillow in the report the responding officer noted there was no indication of forced entry and no dust
00:39:40
has been Disturbed on window sills apparently the only possible entry would be with a key or by slipping the front
00:39:45
lock nothing Disturbed or taken which I wouldn't say nothing's Disturbed cuz the
00:39:50
pillowcase is hella Disturbed it's just very weird it's also very chilling yeah isn't that it's like a Sentimental one
00:39:57
it's like somebody knows that yeah exactly that's somebody who knows you and knows that that pillowcase is
00:40:03
sentimental to you like that's so specific yeah so according to Ian Mulgrew the responding officer on the
00:40:09
break-in call Pat McBride was quote Smitten by the shy timid woman who had obviously who was obviously Shattered by
00:40:15
the Breakin in fact a few days later MC Brad returned to Cindy's house this time
00:40:20
on a social visit where he installed uh new dead bolts on the doors for her he returned to check on Cindy several times
00:40:27
s in the days that followed and in no time they started dating oh McBride was careful to keep a low profile obviously
00:40:33
given the circumstances of their first meeting but one week after the alleged Breakin Cindy found the first of many
00:40:40
notes waiting for her on her back porch when she got home from work one night the note read and it doesn't really make
00:40:47
any sense but it's gross it says us you love want rotten love silence hot sex whoa yeah that's a lot of different
00:40:56
feeling all at once the rotten part of it is rotten and silence huh rotten and silence stick out to me a lot yeah
00:41:04
forensic investigators checked the note for and the envelope for fingerprints but there were none to be found after
00:41:11
discovering the note Pat McBride asked Cindy if he could quote stay a few days with her until he found a place and she
00:41:16
agreed okay they had only been seeing each other for a few weeks at that point but things had been going well between
00:41:22
them and if nothing else she figured she'd have somebody there to protect her if the prowler was going to return and a
00:41:28
cop at that so yeah I get it it's probably good but it turned out that Cindy and Pat McBride wouldn't have to
00:41:34
wait very long for another suspicious event just a few nights after he had moved in McBride found Roy makepiece
00:41:40
sitting in his car in an alley behind Cindy's house with two loaded guns what Cindy had told Roy about the harassment
00:41:48
that she was going through so he had come by in the hope that he might catch whoever was harassing her this wasn't
00:41:54
the first time that he had tried to catch whoever was doing this to Cindy a couple weeks earlier she woke up in the
00:41:59
middle of the night to find Roy knocking at her bedroom window armed with a rifle
00:42:03
and a large hunting knife according to him he was quote unquote on guard and planed to protect her should anybody be
00:42:10
Ling around the house McBride told Roy to go home and to not come around with gun guns anymore but the incident
00:42:17
actually just made him think that it was Roy who was responsible for the notes and phone call yeah I mean I can see why
00:42:22
that would be a little concerning yeah absolutely me too yeah so for the first few weeks Cindy alone experienced the
00:42:29
harassment but eventually there were I guess you could say like witnesses to her ordeal at various times in late 1982
00:42:37
and early 1983 neighbors recall seeing unfamiliar men in the neighborhood and one neighbor saw a man enter Cindy's
00:42:45
yard but none of them reported seeing the men do anything like suspicious Beyond lurking men like several yeah
00:42:53
several several unfamiliar men in the neighborhood and one man enter her yard weird and they said like they didn't see
00:43:01
them doing anything suspicious but lurking is suspicious in my opin suspicious now similarly Pat McBride was
00:43:08
at home when one of those harassing no talk calls came in later he suggested that quote the call may have come from
00:43:15
the airport since he heard a woman's voice on a public address system in the background oh interesting but the caller
00:43:20
never said a word huh the calls and notes continued for about a year while Cindy and Pat were continuing dating
00:43:27
until that point it hadn't occurred to him that dating a woman who was regularly making reports of crimes to
00:43:32
the police um might be a conflict of interest could be but eventually it became impossible to ignore and it
00:43:40
became impossible to ignores the ways where his personal and professional lives were having a negative effect on
00:43:46
one another yeah for example every time Cindy would report a harassing phone call or a new obscene or threatening
00:43:52
letter he couldn't help but notice the lack of evidence or specific in the harassment according to Ian Mulgrew
00:44:00
whenever MC Brad would point out the lack of evidence to support her claims Cindy quote acted like a petulant little
00:44:05
girl at the slightest insinuation he didn't believe her okay which I mean I get cuz if you're dating
00:44:13
me and I'm telling you this is happening and I'm terrified and I don't really have any answer as to why there's no
00:44:19
evidence but I still feel like it's happening and you're telling me it's not or it's weird what the [ __ ] are you
00:44:25
doing to help the situation other than just making me feel bad about it that's the thing like I feel like it's I feel
00:44:31
like sexism is a is a theme in this story yeah like call like like calling her a petulant little girl I don't think
00:44:38
that's fair I don't think that's it I think she's pissed that you don't believe her and I think she's a woman
00:44:42
who's scared yeah and if you're dating her especially yeah you should be like you know what I believe you first and
00:44:48
foremost until there's reason not to and I'm sorry but you signed up for this knowing full well what the [ __ ] was
00:44:55
going on you were the responding officer yeah so you know what you like you knew
00:44:59
what you were getting into that's shitty so in December 1982 a little over two months after meeting Cindy asked Pat to
00:45:05
move out telling him the relationship was quit unquit becoming more than she was ready to deal with he was
00:45:10
heartbroken but he respected her decision and he moved to his own apartment but he did keep a key to the
00:45:15
house so that he he could check the mail when she was out of town or working or something even though they weren't
00:45:21
living together they did keep dating and at the same time Cindy did also carry out casual relationship with her husband
00:45:29
Roy makepiece oh boy because they were still married yeah forgot about that it's complicated so the obscene calls
00:45:35
and letters continued into the new year when according to Cindy the harassment escalated to violence oh um this is
00:45:44
very dark and Trigger warning okay in her statement to the police she had been at home on the night of January 27th
00:45:51
when there was a knock at the door she thought it was Pat coming by for a visit so she opened the front door and was
00:45:57
immediately grabbed by a man who dragged her into the garage where there was a second man waiting she said that she
00:46:02
struggled with both men during which her hand was slashed with the knife once they knocked her to the floor one of the
00:46:08
men wrapped a black stocking oh around Cindy's neck and started choking her she said until she passed out she told
00:46:16
believe she really couldn't remember what happened because she was kind of slipping in and out of Consciousness oh
00:46:20
[ __ ] and this is specifically rough so just so you know she remembered quote one of the men inserted what she thought
00:46:26
was a knife into her vagina and threatened to slice open her abdomen holy [ __ ] yeah and she passed out after
00:46:36
that happened and when she came to they were gone and she was just lying alone on her garage floor is there was there
00:46:43
evidence that that's what happened okay so when the report was made my God that's yeah dark unb dark and awful when
00:46:53
the report was made to police Cindy was asked to be evaluated by a physician to collect any evidence of sexual assault
00:46:59
like you were just asking but the doctor later reported finding no evidence of assault or injury at all to her vagina
00:47:06
oh but still the escalation in the harassment gave the case more priority within the Vancouver Police Department
00:47:13
and the assault case was assed to detective David Boer Smith a veteran detective with the
00:47:19
force he was immediately suspicious of Cindy's reports including the assault due to the fact that they all lacked
00:47:26
evidence and none of them could be verified yeah it's very interesting that there's no evidence no evidence
00:47:32
whatsoever espe I mean when when somebody is violated in that way when they when she said a knife yeah what she
00:47:39
believed to be a knif sh that's I it's hard because it's like well was it something else yeah but then it looks
00:47:46
like there was no evidence of that but then there's no evidence of anything and I don't really
00:47:50
know like what other thing you could not leave injury you know well no injury right if you're yeah it's just awful all
00:48:02
that is awful but that's the thing and even the violent assault which should have left more than a superficial
00:48:09
scratch on her hand was missing any physical evidence of having occurred so uh Bower Smith trusted Pat McBride who
00:48:16
vouched for Cindy so he was willing to set aside his own skepticism and proceed like the reports were all genuine claims
00:48:23
which is I guess how you should go about it you definitely I think so there was also the matter though of Cindy's very
00:48:28
believable fear of another attack in fact she was actually so terrified of anything else happening that she refused
00:48:35
to return to the house and she actually moved back home to where she lived with Roy where they shared their house
00:48:40
together and he moved into the basement oh so unfortunately the move to Roy's house didn't improve the situation
00:48:47
within a few weeks the threatening notes began again they said all kinds of [ __ ] up things and Cindy reported this
00:48:53
new batch of notes cuz there was more than one they were coming like every every couple days it sounds like Jes so
00:48:58
she reported the new batch of notes to Bower Smith who was again suspicious and unable to shake the feeling that
00:49:05
something about Cindy's story just wasn't quite right the thing that he couldn't get past was her unwillingness
00:49:11
to even consider that Roy makepiece could be the perpetrator because to him and nearly everybody else she talked to
00:49:17
about the harassment Cindy's ex-husband wasn't just the most likely suspect but he also had the means and he knew her
00:49:24
schedule well enough to perpetrate these crimes without being seen and he wouldn't have been like like it wouldn't
00:49:31
his presence wouldn't have been alarming to the neighbors he they know him yeah the alternative though was that Cindy
00:49:36
had been targeted by an obsessed psychotic stranger which even in 1983 law enforcements knew was unusual yeah
00:49:43
so they didn't really know where to go with this oh my God and that's where we're going to wrap up for part one part
00:49:50
two gets absolutely [ __ ] Bonkers please hold on to your butts it get this is already like what the
00:49:58
hell's going on here and I still don't know it's it's a case I remember the first time I heard it it was I was
00:50:06
listening to my favorite murder it was like it was years ago it was like when I first started listening to them and this
00:50:11
case has just stuck in the back of my mind for so long I was like oh my God we've never covered that one yeah it's
00:50:18
just interesting and I'm I'm I'm interested to see like what people have to say about it listening to our
00:50:23
coverage I want to I want to I wonder what people think yeah I just want to know what the weirdos like what their
00:50:28
theories are cuz I am just flabbergasted I'm flabbergasted I have no idea what to
00:50:34
think I'm horrified and I remember when I first when I first heard about this I was like well it's probably your
00:50:39
ex-husband but then I remember at a certain point I was like I don't know yeah I don't know it's just it's too
00:50:46
weird yeah this is a strange one and a very upsetting one it is very upsetting I'm sorry luckily um I think this one is
00:50:52
going to be followed by a fun guest collab and then a listener tale so yeah so there you go yeah it'll be ni little
00:50:59
bre for a minute yeah so with that being said we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird but not so weird
00:51:08
that you don't believe somebody when they tell you that you're being attacked or that they're being attacked yeah just
00:51:13
believe them yeah and don't hit your life yeah don't do that [Music] [Music] [Music]

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Episode Highlights

  • Spooky Season Excitement
    The hosts celebrate the start of spooky season with enthusiasm.
    “It's spooky season and our spooky season is off to the most glorious start!”
    @ 00m 48s
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  • Meeting Andrew McMahon
    An unforgettable moment when they unexpectedly met their idol, Andrew McMahon.
    “I was just in shock that we were like, I'm sorry, what?”
    @ 03m 24s
    September 16, 2024
  • Bonkers Bananas Concert
    The concert experience was described as truly bonkers bananas, filled with nostalgia and excitement.
    “That was bonkers bananas!”
    @ 05m 32s
    September 16, 2024
  • Cindy's Emotional Walls
    Cindy and her siblings built emotional walls to cope with their father's behavior.
    “Cindy had built an emotional wall to keep her parents at bay.”
    @ 20m 16s
    September 16, 2024
  • Tragic Family Loss
    Otto's family tragedy leads to increased detachment from his own family.
    “He lost multiple incredibly important family members in an instant.”
    @ 21m 01s
    September 16, 2024
  • Cindy's Marriage to Roy
    Cindy marries Roy, who is nearly twice her age, against her parents' wishes.
    “They immediately disapproved of their daughter marrying someone almost twice her age.”
    @ 25m 22s
    September 16, 2024
  • Tensions Rise in Marriage
    Cindy and Roy's relationship deteriorates due to unresolved issues and arguments.
    “After almost 10 years of marriage, the tensions finally spilled over between them.”
    @ 32m 51s
    September 16, 2024
  • Cindy's Disturbing Phone Calls
    Cindy begins receiving obscene phone calls that escalate in nature, causing her distress.
    “Some of these get like very sexual in nature and kind of like upsetting.”
    @ 37m 27s
    September 16, 2024
  • The Break-In Incident
    Cindy experiences a terrifying break-in, leading her to seek safety with friends.
    “Cindy was still terrified so that night she packed a small bag.”
    @ 38m 45s
    September 16, 2024
  • Cindy's Assault
    Cindy is violently attacked in her garage, escalating her fear and the urgency of her case.
    “She was just lying alone on her garage floor.”
    @ 46m 40s
    September 16, 2024
  • Detective's Skepticism
    Detective David Boer Smith expresses doubts about Cindy's reports due to lack of evidence.
    “He was immediately suspicious of Cindy's reports including the assault.”
    @ 47m 18s
    September 16, 2024
  • A Shocking Conclusion
    The case takes unexpected turns, leaving everyone baffled and horrified.
    “Part two gets absolutely [ __ ] Bonkers.”
    @ 49m 50s
    September 16, 2024

Episode Quotes

  • I was just in shock that we were like, I'm sorry, what?
    The Strange Death of Cindy James (Part 1) | Morbid | Podcast
  • It was a very, very cool experience!
    The Strange Death of Cindy James (Part 1) | Morbid | Podcast
  • That's awful.
    The Strange Death of Cindy James (Part 1) | Morbid | Podcast
  • That's really upsetting.
    The Strange Death of Cindy James (Part 1) | Morbid | Podcast
  • Cindy was still terrified so that night she packed a small bag.
    The Strange Death of Cindy James (Part 1) | Morbid | Podcast
  • It's just awful all that is awful.
    The Strange Death of Cindy James (Part 1) | Morbid | Podcast

Key Moments

  • Spooky Season00:48
  • Concert Excitement05:32
  • Childhood Memories16:42
  • Emotional Walls20:16
  • Deteriorating Relationship32:51
  • Obscene Calls37:21
  • Violent Assault45:51
  • Detective Doubts47:25

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown