00:00:06
hey weirdos I'm Ash and I'm Elena and this is morbid this is morbid and I bit my
00:00:14
[Music] lip she done bit her lip but it's okay actually it's bleeding but we we all
00:00:32
float on okay I tried to sound like the song but I just sounded cry cry you sounded
00:00:39
perfect we all float on all right oh and I almost just knocked over Caesar dressing this is just a mess I know
00:00:44
sorry I didn't cover that a mess we did a thing today and by we Elina did it yeah say it here's the thing I wasn't I
00:00:52
wasn't ready to share this with the world but I guess oh you don't have to to being a dick what if we just don't
00:00:57
say it that's it we're just going to talk okay so this no I'm just kidding so very quickly before we start this don't
00:01:03
worry course uh we just have to start off with like a fun little thing uh we're eating mozzarella sticks I uh I
00:01:09
fancy myself a connoisseur of mozzarella sticks I love mozzarella sticks I like dipping mozzarella sticks but not just
00:01:18
in marinara in fact I don't dip them in marinara you don't ever uh I would if like it was the last dip on Earth but
00:01:28
what yeah I never knew this I never noticed that yeah my favorite thing is dip it in blue
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cheese cheese I judged you before and I shouldn't have so I won't judge you about that you shouldn't because there's
00:01:40
many good dips in the world as we are all aware yeah do I will dip a mozzarella stick in most of those dips
00:01:49
just not marinara and I got Caesar dressing today and I said never done this before so I just dip dip right in
00:01:56
the right in the Caesar dressing and I said that's delicious and Ash said I'm judging you a little bit I said no I
00:02:02
actually said it with her eyes I did I said I'm not judging you but did you just dip that in Cesar dressing which is
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where the Judgment came out my eyes I know Ash so I know what judgment is actually coming through her words but
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she said do you want to try it I said try it and she tried it I said okay and then she said can you pass me that dip
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again and then she just scooped it like a [ __ ] spoon yeah I love Caesar dressing and he said I judged you a
00:02:27
little bit but yeah I admitted it after and you were like I know you did you know if you like two things try them
00:02:34
together who knows might be a great thing yeah chocolate chip cookies were a mistake and yeah so
00:02:40
that's with Ash and Elena that's weird snack food well I have a strange case today uh to just continue the weird
00:02:47
snack food yeah exactly weird snack food weird cases all of it m obviously it's a
00:02:51
tragic case because somebody loses their life but it's the the circumstances that
00:02:56
lead up to that are very very strange and this is one that I've heard before but I got to say Dave did a really good
00:03:02
job helping me find some new [ __ ] that I didn't know before oo so let's do it let's go today we're going to be talking
00:03:09
about the mysterious death of Christina kettlewell and we're going to start at the very beginning which is in
00:03:16
1925 oh when Christin Christina Cecilia um I believe it's mochen was born on August 7th 1925 in Toronto Ontario she
00:03:28
was one of three girls born to to parents Casmir and Mary according to her sister Helen the girls had a relatively
00:03:35
ordinary upbringing and she described Christina as quote a very nice girl everybody liked her uh when Christina
00:03:42
completed High School in 1943 she found work as a teller at a bank in Toronto and just settled into a pretty normal
00:03:50
routine just living life it was around that time that Christina met 23-year-old Ronald Barry a local professional
00:03:57
Ballroom dancer oh o casual who lived in the same Toronto neighborhood as she and
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her family he was formerly known as Ronnie sufo and he had immigrated to Canada from Italy years and years
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earlier hoping to establish himself in the construction industry but when that failed he moved on to selling Insurance
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until he actually started supporting himself as a professional dancer which is really cool wow that is cool so he
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and Christina they knew of each other you know they lived in the same neighborhood they head it off and they
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started seeing each other out and about socially but Ronald insisted there never
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anything romantic between them they were just friends okay he told a jury he would later tell a jury in 1947 there
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was definitely no feelings between me and Christina everything was strictly on Plain friendship basis that's nice yeah
00:04:42
you know guys and gals being friends yeah no expectations just friendship yeah Harry's wrong girls and guys can be
00:04:48
friends hell yeah have you ever seen that movie When Harry Met Sally yeah I just saw it for the first time this year
00:04:53
really yeah loved it wow [ __ ] loved it but the platonic relationship between rodal and Christina was likely due to
00:05:00
her interest in his best friend and roommate Jack kwell ah although he had recently enlisted in the Canadian Armed
00:05:08
Forces in May of 1943 Jack and Christina began dating and Ronald kind of acted as
00:05:14
a proxy companion while Jack was stationed elsewhere during the war okay uh Ronald said I wrote to him steadily
00:05:21
while overseas and definitely told him that as long as he was Christina's boyfriend I took her to the odd uh old
00:05:27
odd danc and show so he was like I'll take care while I'm taking holding down the for Fort back here in July of 1946
00:05:35
while Jack was still stationed overseas Christina went to Ronald and asked if she could borrow some money to buy
00:05:41
something she said but she was very vague and very avoidant when he asked what exactly she wanted the money for
00:05:48
but he did trust her by that point and he ended up giving her $2,000 wow which that's a lot of money I sorry I didn't
00:05:54
do the conversion I usually do but they had an understanding that she was going to pay this money back back however
00:06:01
after a month had passed and she still hadn't returned the money he pressed her for an explanation was like hey um
00:06:07
where's my money but according to Christina quote somebody was making it very hard for her to do some in uh
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excuse me somebody was making it very hard for her due to some incident that had happened the previous April of
00:06:22
1946 okay so still confused Ronald pushed further and was like what incident like what happened and
00:06:29
Christina explained that in April she had gone to a church dance in Toronto and after the dance she had been quote
00:06:36
unquote criminally attacked by five men who she said were now blackmailing her what and Ronald was like that's horrible
00:06:45
why didn't you go to the police or ask your father for help like why why is this the first I'm hearing of this like
00:06:51
this is a big deal yeah and when he started asking questions she became very emotional and claimed that she would
00:06:58
kill herself before telling her father wow now Ronald was worried that Christina really was having thoughts of
00:07:04
ending her life if put in that position so he agreed to keep her secret and he actually continued to lend her money
00:07:11
eventually advancing her more than $122,000 wow lot of money that's quite in advance mhm now he believed her story
00:07:20
at first to some degree but he definitely at the same time felt like some part of that seemed off and that
00:07:26
she wasn't being entirely forthcoming but still he continued to keep the secret particularly from her boyfriend
00:07:33
Jack despite his growing concern internally huh now things took an even stranger turn a year later in April
00:07:40
1947 when Christina came to Ronald and Jack's apartment that they shared and she asked Ronald to speak privately H in
00:07:49
a separate room and out of the apartment itself like they literally like left with Jack there yeah huh so and out of
00:07:57
Jack's uh earshot Christina handed Ronald an envelope that had $10,000 in cash inside of it in denominations of
00:08:06
$50 and $100 bills and when he was like where did this come from like how did you find the money to pay me back she
00:08:13
got really evasive and vague with him and according to him she said only that quote the persons that had been
00:08:19
blackmailing her had agreed to help her that's strange because why would five men attack you outside of a church event
00:08:28
steal money from you and then blackmail you and then to help you like what was the point of the blackmailing I don't
00:08:34
know now Ronald thought the explanation like us seemed highly suspicious but the
00:08:40
moment he said that Christina became very emotional so he didn't press her any further he said and instead he asked
00:08:47
that since she was going out already would she mind depositing the money into his account because she worked at the
00:08:52
bank oh okay she said she would and later she returned with his bank book which indicated that the money had been
00:08:58
deposited so so clean clean yeah in the months following her death because Christina does eventually die
00:09:05
unfortunately a lot would be made of her behavior and her emotional state during
00:09:10
her relationship with Jack kettlewell later speaking to the jury during the Corner's inquest one of the medical
00:09:17
experts concisely and somewhat politely referred to her emotional stability uh as that of a quote child
00:09:25
who takes Tantrums oh yeah you don't want to be described as that no uh Christina's requests to borrow money to
00:09:33
pay off unnamed blackmailers for vague reasons were enough to give Ronald uh pause and even make him somewhat
00:09:39
suspicious but they were also part of a pattern of behavior that should have been more concerning to anybody who knew
00:09:47
her yeah now like I know that was all clean in the end but it's like what happened there like I need to know what
00:09:55
happened here you can't just let it go that's the thing now many of Christina's quot quot Tantrums it seems came from
00:10:01
what sounds like a deep insecurity and fear that Jack would eventually leave her for somebody else well that's just
00:10:06
sad it's not entirely clear what made her feel that way but she had this suspicion that things weren't going to
00:10:14
end well between them and that he was going to leave her for some reason sad cuz she was beautiful gorgeous like look
00:10:19
up a picture of her cuz I'm telling you like stunning yeah she was really pretty
00:10:23
and Jack's a really handsome guy yeah I immediately looked him up and I was like
00:10:27
okay yeah that's okay you can say that I know I mean I was like is he bad your face was like can I say that is he bad
00:10:33
guy please tell me now no the day after she secretly handed Ronald the envelope containing the $110,000 Christina showed
00:10:40
up again at Ronald and Jack's apartment a little before 9:00 in the morning she had a dozen eggs in hand and she told
00:10:47
them that she had taken the day off and she wondered if they would mind her hanging out around the apartment for the
00:10:51
day yeah girl now Ronald left to run some errands and when he came home around lunchtime uh excuse me he came home
00:10:58
around lunchtime and then he left again and then returned about an hour later so
00:11:02
it sounds like he was going off to work came back for lunch and then like uh ran
00:11:06
a couple errands yeah but then he came back and when he came back he told police later I was back within an hour
00:11:15
to find both of them unconscious at first I didn't know what happened and I tried to arouse them but to no avail
00:11:22
they were both definitely unconscious like not asleep no we're talking like unconscious for hours like he could not
00:11:29
wake them up this is very this is a strange case already like I don't know what's
00:11:35
happening well and it's so abrupt like say I'm very confused by what's happening right now she she borrows this
00:11:41
money she gives it back she comes over to hang out she's very worried that Jack is going to leave her all the time but
00:11:47
she's still hanging out at the apartment he comes back and everything's good and
00:11:52
then he is only gone for an hour and when he comes back the second time they're unconscious the two of them yeah
00:11:58
huh so so Ronald spent the next several hours instead of calling the police trying to revive Jack and Christina and
00:12:05
while they were both still breathing he was unse unsuccessful at getting either of them to come to like he could tell
00:12:12
that they were breathing but they weren't waking up or responding so on his way to the bathroom to get cold
00:12:17
towels to you know see if maybe that would make them wake up he noticed an envelope sitting on the on an end table
00:12:24
with his full name written on the outside of it in Christina's handwriting this is weird man in the envelope was
00:12:32
what appeared to be a suicide note written by Christina that explained she had killed Jack and herself in her words
00:12:40
quote if Jack didn't marry her she didn't want to live and she couldn't be Mrs Kettle uh she couldn't be Mrs
00:12:46
kettlewell no one else was going to be if she couldn't be wow this is escalating very quickly
00:12:54
very quickly so fearing what their friends or family might think if they learned the the truth of this situation
00:13:00
Ronald stuffed the letter in his pocket and spent the rest of the evening trying
00:13:04
to bring them back from the brink of death really so to be to be clear y they've been unconscious this whole time
00:13:14
yeah and he's just Milling about trying to wake them up and then he finds this letter and he reads it and he's like I
00:13:22
don't know what her family's going to think or what his family will think so I'm going to hold on to this but in the
00:13:27
meantime I got to try to wake them up this is so this is so weird it is like what's going on here what's going
00:13:36
on I'm dying to know like what is why are they unconscious are they going to wake up what's going to happen they wake
00:13:42
up okay so he spent nearly all night moving Jack and Christina's limbs for them to keep their blood moving and
00:13:49
applying cold towels to them never calling an ambulance okay no the next morning they were both still unconscious
00:13:56
so Ronald called a local pharmacy to ask their advice he later told police quote
00:14:02
they got too nosy and I hung up the second one told me to give mustard and warm water to induce vomiting I gave
00:14:08
some to Christina but all she vomited was the mustard and the water I wish I had like adequate
00:14:16
questions right now but I'm so confused by what is happening right now they've been unconscious since yesterday is
00:14:24
anyone going through active brain death right now like what is going on hope not
00:14:29
like he's just like well they're breathing I guess so I I'm what couldn't tell you why
00:14:36
isn't this man calling someone you'll find out later why he doesn't call anybody at least
00:14:42
or they there are explanations for why he doesn't call someone I guess you could say you don't find out
00:14:50
definitively I am confusion I bet but I was too this whole time and then I got to the end and I was like H oh good you
00:14:57
didn't end up confusion so that's it I I ended up with some confusion still but there are a couple things that made me
00:15:04
you know figure it out yeah yeah all right at least at least I won't end up completely confusion yeah you never know
00:15:12
you're like maybe maybe you might you're like like I'm not making any promises now Jack and Christina did finally
00:15:18
regain Consciousness by noon the next day but they both remained very groggy and very violently ill for the remainder
00:15:25
of the day the [ __ ] later in his statement to the police Ronald recalled that several times throughout the day
00:15:32
the phone and the door buzzer rang but he ignored it worried that he wouldn't be able to explain the scene in the
00:15:38
apartment now by the time Jack was finally alert enough to understand what was going on his immediate concern was
00:15:45
Christina's reputation and what he assumed would be her family's concern that she hadn't returned the previous
00:15:50
evening CU remember she doesn't live there she was just hanging out for the day and now she's been gone for like a
00:15:55
whole day a whole night and into noon the next day yeah now Ronald later said quote Jack seemed to think maybe if we
00:16:02
sent a telegram saying that they were married it would keep her people from worrying too much this is so extra like
00:16:11
what that the escalation that is happening here it's like what yeah so okay yeah so they going get married
00:16:21
they got married according to Ronald they they didn't get married they didn't get married let's tell everybody we did
00:16:25
though yep according to Ronald the telegram was only in intended to buy them all some time until Christina
00:16:31
regained her faculties and could decide for herself what she wanted to do and you know explain things to her family
00:16:37
yeah I mean it would be awesome if she explained things to me as well because I don't have any idea what the [ __ ] is
00:16:42
going on right now however when she did regain full Consciousness Christina could not be more pleased with the plan
00:16:49
of and rather than explain herself she convinced Ronald to call her sister Helen and tell her that she and Jack had
00:16:56
gone up to his Cottage Ronald's Cottage cage okay Ronald felt that the telegram had been enough notice but he was
00:17:03
worried that Christina might become hysterical or try to self harm if he didn't do what she wanted so he
00:17:09
reluctantly agreed to make the call there seems like there is just so much happening there's everything is
00:17:16
happening wow now by the next morning it had sunk in it had started to sink in for the both of them that in trying to
00:17:22
avoid a scandalous situation they had actually created a potentially larger problem for themselves by telling
00:17:28
Christina's family that he that she and Jack had gotten married yeah Ronald said
00:17:35
he really I supposed intended to get married someday but he said he wasn't rushing in into anything unprepared I
00:17:41
mean that's smart It Is by and by all accounts Jack cared really deeply for Christina but when it came to the
00:17:47
subject of marriage he always seemed to have an excuse for not wanting to fully commit okay but now he had not only
00:17:53
informed Christina's family of their supposed wedding but had also given Christina every reason to believe that
00:17:59
he intended to realize the scheme by getting married yeah when you're suggesting instead of just saying we
00:18:05
fell asleep I'm sorry oh man crazy us mhm when your first thought is let's just tell your parents we got married
00:18:15
that would give me the idea that you wanted to get married yeah 100% I think because of the time period yeah I know
00:18:23
20s or the 40s oh yeah yeah um the the we fell asleep thing everybody would start calling her names and saying that
00:18:30
she had done [ __ ] out of wedlock but I can definitely understand why she but yeah I don't know take that as like a
00:18:37
hint of like maybe he you know he came up with that idea yeah so he must be thinking about it like I can understand
00:18:43
that and especially when you really really like someone yeah and she really me she you can tell she like seems like
00:18:48
she like loved him yeah I mean to the point that she didn't want anybody else to be Mrs kettlewell yeah cuz was that
00:18:55
real I didn't know if that was real or not I didn't know what the the it's hard to even say it very fever dreamish I
00:19:03
think it all does that's the perfect way to describe it I think yes but like you don't really know
00:19:10
for sure because Christina ends up dying at some point she's not around to confirm to confirm or deny all right
00:19:17
interesting uhhuh okay either way we know she really loved him and was very invested DES in this relationship so
00:19:25
hearing him say let's just pretend we got married she's like or could Dre yeah you know now later that afternoon after
00:19:32
Jack and Christina appeared to be cover uh be appeared to be recovering from the
00:19:35
previous days events Ronald finally felt Comfort comfortable leaving them alone in the apartment while he ran out to run
00:19:41
some errands to be clear Ronald has not asked them what the [ __ ] happened no my first set question would
00:19:50
be I don't really know if he asked them any questions it sounds like from what I
00:19:55
read is that he read the seist of the suicide note or what was intended to be a suicide note and that answered his
00:20:02
questions and then to be clear here yeah to be clear y he read that yeah a note which says I
00:20:12
kill I'm like we're dying together I made him do this I killed him yep and then myself mhm he read that he found
00:20:20
them in that state yep and then when they woke up he didn't think to say like hey um about
00:20:28
like attempted murder do you want to talk about it like do you want to should we he might have he didn't should we
00:20:33
have a conversation what I read I don't if we want all live together and not like I'd be like I would like to move
00:20:38
out like I don't want to live here anymore like that's a this is all non [ __ ] chalant it's like it's true very
00:20:46
much stressing me out no it's very stressful cuz I keep having to be like am I hearing this correctly no I I'm
00:20:52
having to reread things I don't know if there was any kind of discussion once they woke up or if it was like we don't
00:20:58
want to like make her upset so we're just going to let this be what it is because now Jack wants to marry her so
00:21:07
like okay yeah it just seems like so much is happening and not enough questions are being asked to exactly
00:21:13
what's happening I'm pretty sure but so he what I don't agree with is that you know once they woke up from this failed
00:21:20
murder suicide attempt allegedly he was just like I have errands to run are you guys
00:21:26
good like you just left the apartment I mean but I mean hey he's I guess he's not responsible for either of them I
00:21:33
don't know yeah but as Ronald was leaving Christina asked him where he was going and he told her he was on his way
00:21:39
to the bank and she immediately broke down crying oh and when he was like why are you like I'm what's the problem she
00:21:46
explained that she had said that she deposited that money into his account a few days earlier but she had in fact
00:21:53
lied and never truly put the money in the $10,000 that she returned to him or the additional 15 or excuse me the
00:22:00
additional $5,000 he gave her to deposit into the account but she was able to produce the the book yeah saying that
00:22:08
she did right she worked at the bank wow MH it's a lot of power yeah she she messed things up oh man so as the
00:22:18
current Ledger Keeper at the local branch of the Bank of Nova Scotia cha had fraudulently entered the deposit
00:22:24
into Ronald's Bank book as having been deposited but then kept the money for herself Yik so she made a note looking
00:22:32
like oh yeah had gone in but it hadn't Oh no he recalled later Ronald I've never been so St I had never been so
00:22:38
stunned in all my life I had done everything under the sun to help her had placed myself heavily in debt to come to
00:22:44
her assistance and here I found out that i' had been living in a Fool's Paradise
00:22:47
thinking the money was in my account oh damn so he started pressing her for an explanation like why the [ __ ] did you do
00:22:53
that yeah because not only she owed him $10,000 and then gave him an envelope full of
00:22:59
$10,000 and he was like oh do you mind running that to the bank for me since you work there and can you take this too
00:23:06
yeah so he gave her more of his own money not as like a not as like a favor but as a hey can you also put this in my
00:23:11
account since you're putting and she took it all she took all of it oh damn so he was like why the [ __ ] did you do
00:23:17
that but she just started crying hysterically and begging him not to tell anybody so he dropped the matter a few
00:23:24
minutes later when Jack came into the room because remember Jack knows nothing about this whole money situation damnn
00:23:30
now after learning that Christina had once again manipulated him and taken his money Ronald had every intention of
00:23:36
getting an explanation for this behavior and this like you know screwing him over
00:23:41
this but given everything that had happened that last week of April you know the murder suicide plot the alleged
00:23:48
the alleged murder suicide plot he decided to wait for quote unquote more favorable circumstances before raising
00:23:55
the issue this man has a lot of Pati Ronald is patient potentially kind he seems kind yeah I hope he is he feels
00:24:05
like he is I'm like damn for you not to be losing your mind right now like the way that I would lose my [ __ ] and like
00:24:10
not telling Jack like he's thinking of everybody here that's pretty himself really yeah exactly everybody else now
00:24:17
by May 3rd 1947 the tension and the drama had subsided and somehow things returned normal between Christina Jack
00:24:24
and Ronald that morning May 3rd Jack and Ronald had planned to leave for a weekend trip to go to Ronald's cottage
00:24:30
in uh on the San River I think it is but first Christina and Jack were going to go get their marriage license in order
00:24:37
to make everything official cuz they were they were doing they really doing it but by the time they got everything
00:24:42
together for the trip the Licensing Bureau had closed for the weekend so they decided to wait until after the
00:24:48
weekend like go on Monday and Ronald and Jack were going to make their way to the
00:24:53
cabin but now Christina was coming along so they had planned to go go just the two of them but then she ended up going
00:25:00
oh okay yeah so the trio spent four days by the river and during the time that or
00:25:05
during that time Jack and Christina got along well and seemed to be having a good time they had you know put that
00:25:10
wildness behind them yeah and although he hadn't exactly planned on getting married Jack told Ronald he was Ming
00:25:17
willing to make a go of things if she was wow and for her part Christina was elated with his decision to go ahead
00:25:23
with the marriage she was insisting that that was what she wanted all along boy and when they returned to Toronto on
00:25:29
Wednesday May 7th she immediately began making plans for her and Jack's wedding now for reasons still unknown because
00:25:37
everything is unknown she asked Ronald if he would go to the parish priest father Markle and explain the
00:25:43
circumstances on their behalf he agreed and a few hours later returned to the apartment with the news that the priest
00:25:50
would like to see them immediately like to figure out this whole marriage thing yeah now although
00:25:55
he was hesitant to bring up the matter of the missing uh $155,000 now Jesus and he was you know hesitant to risk ruining
00:26:02
the good mood and triggering another suicidal homicidal episode Ronald claimed he did eventually get the nerve
00:26:09
to bring it up but they were either quote interrupted or she got hysterical and I dropped it finally on the morning
00:26:15
of May 11th he raised the issue again now determined to get an answer and after more than a little insistence
00:26:22
Christina claimed she had quote given it back to those fellows that she had or that had been blackmailing
00:26:28
her but I thought the fellows that okay they gave it to her and she said she gave it back to them no she
00:26:36
it's so they blackmailed her for money she borrowed the money from Ronald yeah she gave it to the blackmailers they
00:26:44
gave it to her they had a change of heart gave it back to her she gave it back to quote unquote gave it back to
00:26:48
Ronald but actually took it and then didn't actually just take it she gave it back to the blackmailers yeah okay I got
00:26:55
it yeah you do yep good for you that was impressive honestly thank you lots of just making sure this all doesn't make
00:27:02
sense lots of red yarn all over the [ __ ] uh this is like this this is I feel like I'm serpentining through this
00:27:11
you are you are I am we all are yep so she said she gave it back to them and he was like okay why but she seemed deeply
00:27:21
upset and spent the rest of the day sulking so he didn't really know what he was to do about all of this now the next
00:27:27
morning May 12th Christina woke up early and left the apartment without saying a
00:27:32
word to Ronald or Jack about where she was going she literally just dipped so Ronald stuck his head out the window and
00:27:37
called after her and he was like hey where are you going and she was like I'm going for a walk I'll be back soon after
00:27:44
several hours had passed both of them you know became concerned that Christina hadn't returned and their land lady Mrs
00:27:52
Barger reluctantly informed them that over the weekend Christina had asked her her to borrow a large sum of money from
00:28:00
the land lady oh [ __ ] quote to go to Hamilton Ontario where some boyfriend of hers lived what yes now she comes back
00:28:10
though later when she returned to the apartment the only explanation she offered was that she had gone to see her
00:28:17
parents where she quote had a sort of favorable reception of telling them about the
00:28:22
wedding okay among other things she which like she said she had a sort of favor sort of favorable reception but
00:28:31
then she explains it and it doesn't sound favorable at all what's happening because the family was disturbed by her
00:28:39
behavior and the unexpected announcement that she was marrying Jack all of the sudden Casmir and Mary her parents
00:28:46
didn't fully object to her relationship with Jack but they were flatly opposed to the idea that she was going to marry
00:28:53
him because he was not Roman Catholic like they were so that was out of the question that they get married they
00:28:58
could date and have a good time but they could not get married this is the the problem it was the 40 going on all right
00:29:07
now there was also the matter of his relationship with his roommate and best friend Ronald Barry it's unclear whether
00:29:14
Christina's family had actually met Ronald by this point but she must have at least told them something about him
00:29:19
because they quote couldn't understand the relationship between he and Jack they thought it was strange yeah
00:29:25
Christina's sister Helen said when Jack and Christina got married we thought it was very strange that Barry went along
00:29:30
on the honeymoon uh Ronald's Barry that uh that's what made us wonder if Ronnie was also in love with
00:29:39
Chris okay okay you follow okay yeah absolutely I am so later that evening when Jack Christina and Ronald had
00:29:47
joined some friends for dinner like after she tells them about how everything went with her parents they
00:29:51
had some friends over for dinner the group was surprised when their meal was interrupted by Christina's two sisters
00:29:58
showing up on announced to the apartment and their names were Helen and Sophie and they were quote quite mad and
00:30:05
antagonistic what's so who knows this is so chaotic it's the most chaotic story that I think I've ever heard just real
00:30:13
quick before we get into the next bem that's I'm sure about toold no this is good that we have to keep explaining it
00:30:19
along the way are so the landlord story just just moving on past that it like sort of comes back l
00:30:27
okay I was just wondering I was like okay so the landlord is like hate to break it but gave her money so she could
00:30:34
go see a boyfriend in Ontario and she comes home and is like no no no I saw my parents and they're like okay yeah like
00:30:40
what does Mrs burger or Burger have to do with any of like she's not lying for any reason I would assume no I don't
00:30:46
think she's lybe not who knows okay I think all right and now her sister show up out of nowhere they're [ __ ] pissed
00:30:52
they're [ __ ] pissed yes they were quite mad and antagonistic so mad but reports of this encounter vary widely
00:31:00
depending on who's telling the tale of course but Ronald insisted he tried to talk to Christina's sister to find out
00:31:06
what they were so upset about but they quote kept shouting something about giving Christina opium and trying to
00:31:12
force her to marry Jack this can't get more bizarre no it does it will every paragraph gets more and more crazy so um
00:31:21
confused and rather frustrated by the situation Ronald turned to Christina and was like listen make up your mind do you
00:31:29
want to be with Jack or not like what's going on here uh and Jack was like yeah like what's going on he was equally
00:31:37
confused now in Helen's her the Christina's sister Helen's version of events Christina quote was nervous and
00:31:46
she wouldn't listen to anyone you couldn't get any sense out of her but what both versions agree on is that
00:31:52
Christina clearly stated she did want to marry Jack and at that point they called
00:31:57
a cab so that they could leave the S the tent situation okay Ronald said Sophie tried to stop them and kept crying that
00:32:04
Christina was being kid kidnapped which was ridiculous as Christina was walking ahead of jack
00:32:11
what now once they had left the scene at their own apartment tensions escalated as Helen and Sophie continued to accuse
00:32:19
Ronald and Jack of drugging and manipulating their sister when it was clear that there was nothing more they
00:32:25
could do Helen left the larger apartment house and went to the police station to
00:32:30
enlist the help of the authorities to stop the marriage but she was informed that because Christina was an adult
00:32:35
there was nothing that the police could do to intervene now the other sister Sophie meanwhile continued escalating in
00:32:42
her emotional accusations until Ronald actually had to call the police to have her escorted out of the
00:32:48
apartment this is a fever dream no truly okay so given the fact that Jack kettlewell never made a formal public
00:32:57
statement about his marriage or the death of his wife he didn't no never the only accounts of this altercation on
00:33:05
record come from Ronald Barry who gave his statement to the police and Helen the sister who told the story to a jury
00:33:12
during the coroner's inquest and during subsequent interviews with press so uh it's difficult to establish
00:33:21
what exactly happened at the apartment that night but it sounds like during her visit to her parents house to inform
00:33:28
them of the marriage Christina may have given an inaccurate account of the suicide homicide attempt maybe
00:33:35
presenting herself as the victim and Jack and Ronald as the villains and that's where they were talking about
00:33:41
drugging and opium and all that so she went to her parents house to be like hey I'm let's let's talk about me marrying
00:33:48
Jack and they were like yeah that sucks we're not cool with the fact that he is not Roman Catholic and she was like well
00:33:53
this is really going to blow your [ __ ] top because he also drugged me with opium like is that how that went
00:34:00
that's what some people Helen and Sophie were like wait a second like a day later
00:34:06
like or later they were all of a sudden just like wait a [ __ ] second and they just showed up at the house and were
00:34:12
like we just realized what you said maybe they were at home and then the parents told them I don't know why would
00:34:17
she just go and tell her parents that she was drugged with opium couldn't tell you but that she's
00:34:25
marrying one of them I don't know I'm confused maybe I'm missing a giant part of this puzzle but like this we all are
00:34:33
this makes no no we literally all are missing like the biggest part of this puzzle yeah so um we'll never really
00:34:40
know which which version of the events is true but it seems like Christina was trying to hedge her bets weaving a story
00:34:46
that would absolve her of her responsibility for the murder suicide attempt if her family found out about it
00:34:53
without her compromising her impending marriage to Jack but like feels like it would compromise it a little bit feels
00:34:59
like that to me too like I'm I'm going to go out on a limb here and say if my child told me that their future husband
00:35:06
drugged them unwillingly with opium yeah that's G to that's going to compromise the marriage in my in my mind I wonder
00:35:16
and in my heart I think I wonder though if she said it was Ronald and not Jack but she got it seems like she was saying
00:35:24
Jack and Ronald's are like the villain of this story here yeah I don't know it's very confusing damn okay so that
00:35:33
happened hedge those bets I guess but after satisfactorily uh explaining himself to the police Ronald returned to
00:35:39
the apartment cuz the police were like yeah I think this is all a big mess but like did you drug anybody with opium and
00:35:44
he was like no way the police were like we don't know what's going on either so so he went back to the apartment where
00:35:49
Christina and Jack had returned and told him told him that they didn't want to wait any longer to get married to
00:35:56
because they didn't want to risk further interference of her family the ones you
00:35:59
told that he drugged you with opium yep okay or or Ronald who knows and they decided they wanted to get married that
00:36:05
very evening wow okay so Ronald was like okay should I call the priest like this
00:36:11
is for real zies Ronald you can have an opinion at some point like you can step in and be like friend to friend can I
00:36:18
just like both of you like I don't think this is the time I would say that probably to my friend like I know you're
00:36:25
trying to not ruffle feathers here but ruffle time to ruffle some [ __ ] feathers ruffle a few feathers he didn't
00:36:30
he called father marle who agreed to see them all that evening uh and they all were like oh my god let's go get married
00:36:36
so they all left to go to the priest's house that evening in markle's living room father marle there Jack and
00:36:42
Christina were married before a wedding party that included of course Ronald Barry of course uh the land lady Emma
00:36:47
Barger I'm obsessed with that the couple's friends the Thomases and they used Emma barger's wedding ring as proxy
00:36:54
for the ring that Jack had yet to buy and Christina was wearing a borrowed dress they did the damn thing they got
00:37:00
Mar okay they did it if that's how they wanted to do it then they did it yeah this is very chaotic like the most
00:37:06
bizarre story of all time you know tend your own garden that's all that's all on
00:37:12
you she says if she eats a mozzarella stick di in Caesar exactly she just keeps moving away from the microphone to
00:37:17
eat I don't want you guys to hear it that's that's like so thoughtful but it's funny to watch you crouch you're
00:37:22
just like home Caesar home mozzarella oh in order excuse me in Ronald Barry's version of events the
00:37:30
three of them decided as a group that it would be best for Ronald to join them at
00:37:34
the cabin on their honeymoon because quote they had so much stuff to Take Along okay Drew and I had a lot to bring
00:37:45
on our honeymoon like we each had a suitcase that we had to check and to carry on like that was that's four bags
00:37:50
right there it was just you didn't need me to come with you no love you so much but like I'm not inviting you I'm not
00:37:55
inviting my best friend like what yeah I don't know I don't know Different Strokes for
00:38:04
different fols yeah it's I don't know so on the morning of May 16th 1947 all three of them drove down to the cabin in
00:38:11
a car that they borrowed from a friend okay have fun you guys yeah have the best time the first few days of the trip
00:38:17
were casual and uneventful but on the morning of Sunday May 18th Ronald entered the kitchen to find Christina
00:38:23
sitting at the table crying and he was like what's wrong like why are you so upset and Christina said she quote
00:38:29
didn't know whether Jack had married her because he loved her or on account of you know the murder suicide
00:38:37
attempt I feel bad yeah of course sad that's I think the realization is hitting her yeah that like this was was
00:38:45
gone about in the wrong way it's very like Twisted Romeo and Julia kind of you know what I mean like that whole
00:38:54
story where like I know of that one you were just BL for so long that I was I don't know I don't even see it
00:39:05
like that I kind of just see it like she kind of forced this to happen so it's like and now she I think it's
00:39:13
hitting her that she kind of forced this whole situation and now she's like well
00:39:18
I thought what's sad about it is she thought she was going what by getting what she wanted it wouldn't matter how
00:39:24
she got it she got it she got Jack she got to marry him but I think all of a sudden she woke up in the morning and
00:39:31
it's like okay but it's still bothers me like I got what I wanted but like now I'm really thinking about it and I would
00:39:39
rather have the love attached to this yeah and have it be his decision or like or her decision at that point like like
00:39:47
get it girl that like nobody pressured anybody two were just so in love that you wanted to get married and not
00:39:53
because something had pushed you to having to do this you know and it's just really sad that she that she did come to
00:40:01
that realization because that's a hard realization I imagine to hit it's sad which is you got exactly what you wanted
00:40:07
but you still didn't get exactly what you wanted like a careful what you wish for moment yeah but Ronald said he
00:40:14
reassured her that Jack did indeed love her and she seemed to accept that fact but there were several points throughout
00:40:20
that day where Christina seemed to be just lost in her thoughts and Ronald became concerned that she might try to
00:40:27
hurt herself or you know somebody else again I mean yeah this is not there's no way you're going to trick
00:40:34
yourself into into believing that everything is hunky dory here it's just simply not yeah so the following morning
00:40:41
Ronald left the couple alone and went out for a long walk I think he was like I need to like remove myself from the
00:40:46
situation for a minute and things seem okayish right now and when he returned he found Christina at the table writing
00:40:54
a letter and Jack seemed like he was sleeping on the couch now he tried to like talk to them like he was like oh
00:41:00
hey how are you guys but Christina ignored him and Jack was deeply asleep so rather than repeat himself he just
00:41:06
went to the couch to make Jack more comfortable he said not wanting to intrude any further he left again and
00:41:12
told Christina that he was going to go lay out in the sun for a bit and that he'd be back in a few hours but that he
00:41:17
would come back and check on them periodically throughout the afternoon to see if they needed anything okay when he
00:41:22
returned later that afternoon he found Christina still sitting in the kitchen and Jack still on the couch where he had
00:41:28
last seen him several hours earlier still asleep huh but this time Ronald noticed that the pillow under Jack's
00:41:37
head was covered in blood oh so assuming he had a nose bleed Ronald took a closer look and realized
00:41:44
that the blood was actually coming from Jack's head what the [ __ ] so concerned
00:41:48
he started cleaning his friend's head in face looking for a cut he told police I
00:41:52
asked Christina what happened but she just looked up at me and didn't say a word what the [ __ ] so he's wiping Jack's
00:41:58
face and head and he begins to notice the faint smell of coal oil and fearing that there might be a a leak somewhere
00:42:04
he said he lifted jack off the couch and carried him outside to get fresh air W this is a good friend I know honestly
00:42:10
after getting Jack situated on the ground by the river and when he turned to start back towards the cabin to you
00:42:16
know figure out what what Christina was doing he saw smoke billowing from the exterior door leading to the kitchen
00:42:23
what is so he ran he ran back into the cabin yelling out for Christina but by the time he made his way back into the
00:42:30
front part of the cabin he could barely see anything through all the smoke but still he was yelling making his way to
00:42:36
the front room calling up for Christina but he wasn't getting any response so he
00:42:39
was like I is she not in here anymore cuz the fire had started but he he had to get out of there he couldn't tolerate
00:42:46
the smoke filling the cabin so he made his way back out the front door leading outside and he grabbed a couple small
00:42:53
items on the way including one of Jack and Christina's small suitcases man he's a good friend I know damn now he'd only
00:43:00
reached the shore where Jack sat when he looked back and saw that the cabin was now engulfed in flames and mind you this
00:43:06
is his cabin this is his yeah this is his so he later claimed that he dragged Jack further from the house to a safer
00:43:13
location and then went in the direction of the woods calling out for Christina but he didn't see her and he didn't hear
00:43:20
her anywhere so after about 30 minutes of searching for Christina Ronald returned back to Jackson location and
00:43:26
managed to flag down a passing boat he explained to the men in the boat what had happened and that he still been
00:43:32
hadn't been able to find Christina anywhere so one of the men volunteered to stay behind and look for Christina
00:43:38
while the other men took Jack and Ronald to meet the nearest car to go and get them to the hospital so after checking
00:43:44
Jack in at the hospital Ronald went straight to the Provincial Police to report what had happened and that was
00:43:50
when he learned that Christina's body had been discovered near the shore of the River about 200 yard from the
00:43:58
cabin what the [ __ ] is going on so she made it out of the house before the fire
00:44:04
started but she's dead holy [ __ ] so authorities were able to locate Christina's body lying face down in a
00:44:11
9in pool of water adjacent to the riverbank what still dressed in the floral print pajamas that she'd been
00:44:19
wearing the night before there were no burns on her body no evidence to suggest that she had been in the fire there were
00:44:25
no signs of violence or indications of what had caused her death Jack remained hospitalized where he claimed to have no
00:44:32
memory of the fire or the events leading up to it what so he was of little help to the
00:44:38
investigators now given the wildly mysterious circumstances under you need to make up a new word for mysterious
00:44:45
truly under which Christina had died authorities opened an investigation to determine whether or not she'd been
00:44:51
murdered what the [ __ ] because this is all so bizarre they're like was she murdered what happened this makes no
00:44:56
[ __ ] sense on the morning of May 22nd 1947 an autopsy was conducted by the chief coroner Dr Smur laon following his
00:45:05
examination he confirmed there were no signs to indicate that Christina had been in a fire there was no smoke in her
00:45:11
lungs she wasn't burned nothing to indicate that she'd been in the fire what and he deemed that her cause of
00:45:18
death had in fact been drowning what she drowned in a 9 in pool of water with no
00:45:23
smoke in her lungs like she wasn't really affected by the fire no she got out in time somehow and like and and
00:45:31
right before that according to Ronald's Jack has like a head injury he found Jack lying unconscious with a head
00:45:37
injury and said it to Christina and was like what happened to his head and she just looked at him and didn't answer him
00:45:42
like what was happening here all I can say Lawson told reporters that's the corner is that Mrs cat uh Mrs
00:45:50
kettlewell was definitely drowned to make sure that she wasn't drugged or poisoned specimens of her body body are
00:45:56
being examined while the contents of her stomach and other material have been sent for chemical analysis what a short
00:46:02
time later when the uh when the lab results came back Lawson learned that there was codine in Christina's stomach
00:46:09
at the time of her death oh okay on its face Christina's death and the circumstances leading up to it were
00:46:16
the most suspicious thing anybody had ever heard of in their entire [ __ ] life why had she been so quick to marry
00:46:23
Jack why had they done it so Secret what the [ __ ] was going on why was Ronald Barry always around yeah why
00:46:31
would a newlywed couple bring a third party with them on their honey exactly and how does somebody ostensibly escape
00:46:37
a roaring house fire without a scratch only to drown in what was more or less a pudle of water this is the most bizarre
00:46:44
thing I think I have ever heard me as well so those unanswered questions LED investigators to suspect Foul Play and
00:46:52
what they learned next did little but make them more suspicious oh no the statement given by Ronald to the police
00:46:59
was sus but it only got more so when he got to the subject of money there was of
00:47:04
course the $15,000 he claimed Christina had stolen from him over the course of the previous year and refused to return
00:47:11
but there was also the matter of insurance money between having bought the cottage the previous year in the
00:47:17
fire he had procured insurance on the home for $3,000 now that wouldn't have been
00:47:22
unusual in and of itself but in his statement to the police he mentioned that he had become quote unquote
00:47:28
financially embarrassed due to the large sums of money that he'd lent Christina and he was unable to pay many of his
00:47:35
bills as a result okay so they were like are you trying to cash in on the $3,000
00:47:40
to like make up for some of your bills that feels like it would be but it's like a lot it's only $3,000 and
00:47:48
you're out like ,000 and I'm not saying only 3,000 obviously that's a lot of money but if
00:47:53
you're out 15,000 like is that really really worth all of that right exactly that's what I'm saying now given that he
00:48:01
you know had become financially embarrassed and needed money it did seem plausible to investigators that the fire
00:48:06
could have been set intentionally in order to collect on the insurance yeah and also Ronald had sent to and received
00:48:13
a telegram from an unknown person in the United States which just added to the mysterious uh which just added to the
00:48:20
mysterious facts of the kettlewell case and given all the talk of large sums of money led the investigators to wonder
00:48:27
whether there was some kind of illegal business being operated by Ronald Christina and
00:48:32
Jack so in a statement given to the police Ronald Barry flatly rejected the possibility that he had burned down his
00:48:38
own cottage for insurance money he said we lost everything when a thing like this happens one does not think of
00:48:44
insurance it is something that cannot be replaced it is like a life lost we had planned on staying here all summer away
00:48:49
from everybody the flowers were beautiful we were going to plant so many more but I guess I shouldn't say
00:48:54
anything else I've said too much what investigators found his statement to be quote unquote fantastic
00:49:02
like like fantastic like whoo not like fantastic like amazing like fantastic like little hard to believe yes Fant
00:49:11
exactly yeah I mean it's yeah I mean he with the thing is he's saying everything
00:49:15
he that you want to hear yeah from somebody but they either doubted or at the very least were very suspicious of
00:49:22
many of his claims but just a few days later Chief Inspector Albert Ward formally announced that there were no
00:49:29
signs of Foul Play and No suspects but emphasized that they the case would remain
00:49:36
open okay Ronald talked to reporters after Ward's statement and he doubled down saying there was no foul play on
00:49:44
that I would stake my life I mean I I'm not saying Ronalds has anything to do with it because I
00:49:52
honestly nothing up to this point would lead me to believe that he would hurt her
00:49:57
no but but like this play looks pretty foul it's just wild it just looks strange like what happened I have no
00:50:06
idea it's like a Riley Sager novel it's it literally is you were explaining that
00:50:11
one to me the other day and it sounds like this it does like I'm just I'm just so confused I'm
00:50:17
so confused I'm so confused how this woman how she was sitting there and Ronnie's asking her like hey Jack's got
00:50:26
a massive head injury and is bleeding all over the the pillow and has been out for several hours and she's just like do
00:50:33
you know what happened here and she's just like and then just a fire starts and he carries Jack out and she somehow
00:50:39
makes her way out and then toots a 200 yards or so and drowns in tin of water yeah it's wild I've never heard
00:50:50
anything like it in myti I can't come up with I'm I'm gonna have to think on this
00:50:54
one so hard well we're not done yet curly so meanwhile shocked it's it is shocking meanwhile reporters were
00:51:01
attempting to get their own statements from Jack and Ronald with the latter having promised to make one in the days
00:51:07
immediately following the fire but the statement however was never given and Ronald did seem to be avoiding the Press
00:51:12
at that point so they turned to their next best contact his brother Mario Ronald's brother Mario and Mario told
00:51:18
the Press Ronnie has always been a secretive fellow according to his brother the family had always found his
00:51:23
closeness with Jack somewhat unusual usual okay he said we often remarked on the close friendship between Ronnie and
00:51:29
jack it seemed they were always together both worked for a box Factory and when one was discharged the other quit so he
00:51:37
was like they were just very close yeah now as far as Jack kettlewell was concerned investigators were very clear
00:51:43
that he was never a suspect and at no time was he detained for questioning okay an inspector told the Press he is
00:51:48
not under arrest nor in any kind of custody as far as I'm concerned anyone can see him but the problem was that
00:51:55
even once Jack had been released from the hospital for a head injury and quote the apparent effects of a drug which
00:52:01
left him in a dazed condition had wear wore off he had said little to investigators or reporters so nobody
00:52:08
knew what the [ __ ] had like they were like did anything happen before but he wasn't he didn't remember allegedly what
00:52:15
in his initial statement to the police he insisted he remembered nothing from the morning of the fire until he came to
00:52:20
in the hospital I need to know like got to rack the deepest parts of your brain Jack I
00:52:29
got to know but it seemed like he was in a dazed condition I said like from would
00:52:34
which I was like did she give you Codine too well that's what I'm wondering I'm like what what's happening here cuz also
00:52:40
I'm still wondering what happened at the apartment oh yeah I mean everybody's wondering I'll never like never forget
00:52:46
what happened at the apartment I will not so it's like I'm still wondering what happened there like what drug was
00:52:52
used what's going on over there and now this happens and it seems like there's more drugging happening y possibly
00:52:58
allegedly yep and it's like by whom I do not know nor me yeah I wish I had ideas or I got
00:53:08
nothing well the wreckage of the cabin also yielded few Clues to an explanation oh good among the debris investigators
00:53:15
found a gallon jar of coal oil which Ronald claimed he had bought uh brought along for cleaning pots and pans and
00:53:21
they also found a 5 gallon can which a neighbor claimed was using to power the generator okay otherwise there was
00:53:28
nothing at the scene that could have explained Christina's death or the fire having ruled out the foul play and
00:53:33
potential that the death was the result of drug trafficking uh a drug trafficking operation between the can
00:53:39
between Canada and the US they ruled that out the only Theory investigators were left with was that Christina had
00:53:45
indeed taken her own life after setting fire to the cabin okay in fact among the
00:53:51
only physical evidence in the investigation was the couple suitcase that Ronald grabbed on his way out of
00:53:57
the burning building oh [ __ ] which contained the letter Christina was writing on the morning of the fire oh
00:54:04
which turned out to be yet another suicide note again addressed to Ronald because remember the other one was too
00:54:10
when yeah uh she allegedly had tried to end her life and Jack's allegedly this time Christina stated that she did not
00:54:18
believe Jack's proposal of marriage was genuine and that he instead made it out of fear that she might harm herself if
00:54:24
he didn't go through with it she wrote this will be the best way out as I cannot bear to see another girl
00:54:29
have him this is like heart-wrenching it is it really is it's it's sad she was so
00:54:36
sad like she needed someone to just talk to her yeah so Ronald turned both suicide letters over to the
00:54:43
investigators which appeared to corroborate at least part of his story particularly his account of the murder
00:54:49
suicide attempt in April and Christina's behavior on the morning that she died in
00:54:54
the third suicide note written on the morning of the fire and addressed to uh Mrs Thomas Christina wrote Ronnie is in
00:55:01
the boat outside somewhere by the time he gets back everything will be all over with he must have been afraid something
00:55:07
would happen because he's staying an extra day to make sure we go back to Toronto with him I actually wondered if
00:55:13
that's why Ronnie was hanging around so much yeah because either he jack or both
00:55:20
of them were worried about not having a potential third person to watch over things yeah it kind of seems like I
00:55:27
wondered if that was part of it I think that's part of it especially when Ronnie
00:55:30
was coming in being like you guys need anything yeah just going outside for a little while like I'll I'll come back
00:55:35
and and I can bring you something if you need it like it seems like he was there
00:55:38
to be like just keeping everything keeping tabs on it yeah I think so too yeah and I especially think so when you
00:55:46
find out details later so nevertheless the suicide notes didn't explain all the unanswered questions so a Coroner's
00:55:52
inquest was scheduled goodness I was like someone get me in a Coroner's inquest doesn't really do much to be
00:55:57
honest the primary motive for the coroner's uh inquest was to identify the circumstances of Christina's drowning
00:56:03
sorry I was just shifting there and definitely or defin definitively I can never say that rule out Foul Play but
00:56:11
from the perspective of the public it was the mystery surrounding Ronald's involvement that more people wanted to
00:56:16
learn about this aspect of the case was significantly Amplified by Christina's sister Helen who was always heavily
00:56:23
suspicious of Jack and Ronald and especially now she believed full-heartedly that they were
00:56:29
responsible for Christina's death wow yeah CP hope the special counsel to the crown was also suspicious of Ronald's
00:56:37
involvement in the drowning at one point just before the inquest began hope told
00:56:41
reporters Ronald was a liar of the most blatant kind whose Sinister figure permeates the whole of this tragedy but
00:56:48
whose purpose and design are shrouded in mystery whoa yeah the inquest began on June 19th 1947 with the jury hearing
00:56:58
from several medical experts including RC Wade the Doctor Who treated Jack at the hospital and the coroner himself SML
00:57:04
Lawson Dr SML Lawson Wade explained to the jury that Jack had indeed been treated for a head wound but when it
00:57:11
came to his Dazed and Confused State Wade said I suggest he was not ill he was upset he did not act like a normal
00:57:19
individual what so like he was he was upset because he had been drun and do and I don't think you've
00:57:28
mentioned it but they don't know what kind of head wound this is no like what it's
00:57:35
from he was bed is That's So he was bleeding from his wild but according to Wade he said Jack was more likely
00:57:44
suffering from shock in the after effects of trauma but he was unable to explain the head wound that he arrived
00:57:51
with he did have a head wound but he did not know how had no idea where it came from from what kind of head wound like
00:57:56
no wow no idea this is very strange so the second witness called was Helen um Christina's sister thank you and her
00:58:04
testimony would do little to exonerate Ronald or Jack she told the jury that Christina was always a happy girl before
00:58:11
Jack and Ronald came into her life and that she had never ever suffered any bouts of depression moreover she refuted
00:58:18
Ronald's claimed that her sister had been sexually assaulted or blackmailed and emphasized that Christina had never
00:58:24
talked about or been in possession of a large amount of money she said if she had that kind of money I would have
00:58:29
known about it or so you think that's the thing you know like I I understand thinking that
00:58:35
but it's like you you can never know people act strangely especially when they're like in a new relationship or
00:58:42
something's different like it can change way or they're suffering Mally they suffering you know yeah mentally with
00:58:48
something it's like I can understand why she would think that she would know that
00:58:52
but it's like there is a small chance that you would would well it's like sometimes you lie to your sister like
00:58:57
exactly I mean Ash never lies to me and I never lie to her but that's true that's actually very true yeah never Li
00:59:03
when I was younger I lied to you like but you always got the truth out of me but the real problem Helen claimed was
00:59:09
Ronald Barry she said anytime Jack went out with Chris Christina Barry was with them and in fact contrary to what
00:59:16
anybody had heard it wasn't Jack that their family objected to but Ronald according to Helen Ronald Barry
00:59:24
was a generally bad influence on Jack and her sister and Helen said that Ronald had even convinced Christina to
00:59:31
try drugs on at least two occasions oh in this case Helen was referring to the incident in which she confronted the
00:59:38
trio at the Barger apartment and attempted uh to convince Christina not to marry Jack she had no evidence to
00:59:44
support her belief but she claimed that Christina had been doped up when she agreed to marry
00:59:50
Jack there's so much happening everything is happening because like in the the reality of the situation is it
00:59:57
see from like what you can tell from the whole story is that like that murder suicide thing happened uhhuh and that's
01:00:06
where the marriage was born out of yeah so it's like I I think everybody was under an influence of many different
01:00:14
kinds of stress yes stressors yes at that point absolutely I think the problem here is like that marriage never
01:00:22
should have happened well I I think yes I think that and I think one of the other bigger problems is that nobody
01:00:29
really knew what Christina was going through I think that's the thing Christina was going through some kind of
01:00:34
she suffering alone it sounds like it sounds like it big time and it sounds like she had a lot of Secrets
01:00:42
maybe things she was going through that well and it sounds like she like she clearly loved Jack uhhuh
01:00:51
but it sounds like it was it got to be a little bit of an unhealthy love a bit of an obsession to yeah for
01:00:58
lack of like like when when it comes to the I'd rather you die than be with anyone else it's like that's when it's
01:01:04
crossed over into a little bit unhealthy and it's like love can make you do crazy
01:01:11
things it can make you feel what you know un unorthodox things and it's like that's why you need somebody to talk to
01:01:17
you about it to kind of bring you right out of that it sounds like she didn't have that or didn't think she had that
01:01:23
yeah cuz I I honestly think she could have talked to Ronald Ronald seemed like a very sounds like there was people
01:01:28
around her that that would have talked to her exactly but maybe she just didn't know it and then what was the money well
01:01:35
that's the other thing I just can't wrap my brain around this money thing why did
01:01:38
she need that that's a lot of money to need yeah and back to me like there was there was I think she was in some kind
01:01:45
of trouble she was in trouble whether it was being blackmailed by these men it's
01:01:51
possible yeah maybe she got roped up with the wrong people somehow like was something else completely that she was
01:01:56
in trouble with she was in trouble she was in trouble you don't need that much money when you're not in trouble so like
01:02:01
that's a that's a huge part of this thing is like what the [ __ ] was going on uhhuh that nobody knew about yeah and
01:02:10
now I want to dedicate my entire life to figuring out what the [ __ ] she was doing
01:02:13
before this because I'm so invested but I haven't found anything that gives you any kind of clue because we're about to
01:02:19
get murkier awesome so despite testifying that their family had no objection to Jack kettlewell Helen went
01:02:26
on to explain that the time Christina left the apartment and told Ronald she was going for her walk she actually had
01:02:33
gone to visit another boyfriend just like she told the land lady she visited her boyfriend Eddie Cura whom the family
01:02:39
preferred over Jack cutwell so the family did have a problem with Jack cutwell and what she was so in love with
01:02:49
Jack like an obsessive love yeah that she was willing to go through all that but she's also dating another guy and
01:02:57
she not only told the land lady that but her sister knew about it too which leads
01:03:03
me to believe was she going and it just leads me to question not to believe anything it leads me to question was
01:03:10
Eddie some like was he related to the trouble that she was in that's the thing I'm like who the [ __ ] is Eddie bring me
01:03:17
Eddie that's the thing bring me Eddie and also it's like so she didn't go to her parents that night she I think she
01:03:24
went to both places oh she went to both place cuz I was going to say cuz then the sisters came over all up in arms and
01:03:29
it's like but did she even see you today did she even tell you like I think she went to see the boyfriend and I think or
01:03:34
the the the previous boyfriend and and told her parents that she was getting married was she going to see the prevest
01:03:40
boyfriend to tell him that she was getting mared break things off and be like I'm actually getting married now
01:03:47
right where's Eddie where's Eddie I don't know but according to Helen the sister Christina was quote quote unquote
01:03:55
afraid of Ronnie and Jack so she said she that like Helen said she came to me and my sister Sophie and she had Sophie
01:04:04
buy her a ticket to Hamilton where Eddie Kira lived at the time so she Helen is saying my sister
01:04:12
bought her a bus ticket to go see or a ticket but the land lady also said she gave her money but she gave her money
01:04:19
she didn't give her a ticket so maybe she needed a ticket and money money for did she owe any money and she asked for
01:04:26
more money from this landlord got the money and then went to her sister and asked for a bus ticket what the [ __ ] was
01:04:34
that money for and why do she need all this money and Helen claims that that she said that she was a she said
01:04:41
according to according to Helen Christina was afraid of Ronnie and Jack did she explicitly say that she was
01:04:47
afraid of Ronnie and Jack or what did she seem afraid to you when she was going to visit this Eddie car
01:04:55
character and did they know about like they said they preferred Eddie over Jack but does and then I'm thinking I'm like
01:05:02
does do Jack and Ronnie know about Eddie is there like some complete farce happening right now and this wasn't a
01:05:08
honeymoon at all but what would it be if not a hone like do were you all there for some
01:05:14
other reason and you masked it as a honeymoon maybe and there was that weird telegram that nobody ever figured out
01:05:21
and it's weird that Ronnie was there even though we did come up with a this is what I mean there's so many different
01:05:26
explanations you can kind of explain away anything uhhuh cuz it obviously we explained away like Ronnie being on the
01:05:32
honeymoon is maybe you know like they felt like they needed somebody else there because she was kind of going
01:05:37
through it at the time and they wanted to make sure everything was okay right but but it's also weird that Ronnie was
01:05:41
at the honeymoon so it's like maybe it wasn't a honeymoon at all maybe I mean this this marriage is strange and it's I
01:05:47
mean yeah and it came to be in came to be in a strange way and she keeps questioning it and worrying about it and
01:05:53
it and I just I'm not hearing anything about them I don't know this is just weird
01:05:59
well it gets weirder oh Lord so Sophie the sister bu said she bought her the ticket to go visit Eddie and she went to
01:06:06
go visit Eddie and Helen continued the story and said although Christina gave no explanation as to why she feared
01:06:13
Ronnie and Jack she did say the men were at the apartment quote unquote fooling around with handwriting and said let's
01:06:20
see you write your name to Christina okay so Christina went and told Helen allegedly that the that Ronnie and Jack
01:06:30
were fooling around with handwriting and made her write their her name for them okay now Helen believed her sister had
01:06:37
quote discovered Ronnie and Jack were a bunch of crooks and intended to do something nefarious which is why she
01:06:43
went to visit Eddie that afternoon but if she discovered that they were a bunch of crooks and she did indeed go to visit
01:06:50
Eddie that afternoon why did she go back to the house that very night what I don't get or like the next night and
01:06:56
then get married to Jack this is what I'm not understanding unless she was kidnapped and like forced into it but
01:07:01
then the priest said that everybody was happy that night yeah I don't know so Helen's story
01:07:08
fed into the prosecutor and the Public's belief that Ronald was somehow responsible for Christina's death but it
01:07:14
was based purely on her own interpretation of events that Not only was unsupported by the facts of the case
01:07:21
but also contradicted direct directly cont icted the testimony of others for example like I just said father marle
01:07:28
the priest who performed the wedding ceremony told the family told both the family and the jury at the inquest that
01:07:35
quote he had not observed anything unusual about Christina's appearance or her behavior on the day of the wedding
01:07:41
he went on to explain that though he understood the family opposed the marriage both Jack and Christina were
01:07:46
clear that they wanted to be married and entered into the marriage of their own free will okay and remember that night
01:07:54
she looked at her sisters and said I want to marry Jack yeah and Helen was like No and went to the police and the
01:07:59
police were like we can't do anything and this is what's making me even more just wild and out over here because I'm
01:08:05
like her sisters were so serious they were so upset that they to the police like what the [ __ ] is going on
01:08:15
cuz that leads me to believe that maybe Christina did say to them I'm scared of Jack and Ronnie maybe and they thought
01:08:20
okay we got to get her out of there and then it's like did she just say to double down on the story that she had
01:08:26
nothing to do with the to again try to preserve her innocence in the story of the murder suicide allegedly thing the
01:08:35
alleged murder suicide yeah I don't know wow but as for Helen's comments about Jack and Ronald quote
01:08:42
unquote fooling around with handwriting that might have been an attempt to dismiss the inevitable issue of the
01:08:47
suicide notes supposedly allegedly written by Christina Helen insisted Christina never experienced depression
01:08:54
or mental illness and that she would have never taken her own life however Toronto handwriting expert Steven Le uh
01:09:01
testified that he examined the letter supposedly written by Christina and determined or and confirmed that the
01:09:07
handwriting was undoubtedly that of Christina which it's a shaky it's a shaky Science question mark But many
01:09:16
times when someone takes their life y the people around them say they were never depressed would have done that
01:09:23
never would have done that right so it's one of those things where you just don't
01:09:27
realize that some people suffer silently yeah absolutely which is not anybody's fault that they don't know that you know
01:09:32
what I mean like it's not her sister's fault for being like I never saw her depressed I never so it's like but that
01:09:39
is absolutely something that could have been happening without your knowledge and the handwriting expert was not the
01:09:44
only person who believed that the letters were indeed written by Christina Dr CS Tennant a local psychiatrist also
01:09:50
testified as to the content of the letters telling the the jury he believed Christina quote belong to a group of
01:09:56
people who are abnormal in certain ways they are abnormal habitu habitually abnormal and their emotional reactions
01:10:04
from childhood or early adulthood he went on to say that people like Christina quote demonstrate rather poor
01:10:11
judgment often had tantrums and in their emotional outbursts they may commit acts
01:10:16
which may be a crime in which they would not ordinarily commit and hadn't she been described before as having t
01:10:24
yes so whatever it is he's describing seems to seems like something she might be suffering from that at least around
01:10:33
something like that yes now going into the coroner's inquest Helen was confident that the proceedings would
01:10:38
clear up the mystery surrounding Christina's death but with just a few within just a few days the conflicting
01:10:44
testimony from Helen and the other Witnesses really only seemed to further confuse things ultimately and somewhat
01:10:52
ironically it was testimony from Ronald Barry and Jack kettlewell that would prove CL or provide Clarity around many
01:10:59
of the more confusing matters oh time kind of in his statement given to police shortly after his discharge from the
01:11:06
hospital Jack kettlewell admitted that uh admitted to the police that in addition to his three-year relationship
01:11:12
with Christina he had also been engaging in quote unquote unnatural sex relations
01:11:18
he says that because of the time with Ronald Barry Oh and that the two had been quote unquote lovers for many
01:11:25
years okay so when hope confronted Jack with this statement during the inquest Jack actually tried to walk back his
01:11:33
admission telling the jury that he had been pressured into that com that confession by the police which maybe he
01:11:40
was pressured into that confession or maybe he just wasn't willing to admit in front of an entire room full of people
01:11:47
in the 40s that he was a gay man exactly the problem with his recantation was that it had already been confirmed by
01:11:54
Ronald Barry in his own statement to the police but nevertheless when he was called to testify Ronald Barry still
01:12:01
tried to corroborate Jack's assertion telling the jury that they had only engaged in sex a few times and it had
01:12:06
been over a long time ago this makes me really sad it's really sad that they're both like they both clearly like each
01:12:14
other and it's like and it's like they and it it's making me really sad that they're having to like run it backwards
01:12:20
like like no nope it was just one like it happened a long time AG go and it's like it's okay man it's really sad like
01:12:26
but it's like the 40s and it's like [ __ ] that's the thing and still convinced of
01:12:30
Ronald Barry's guilt and and that's the sad thing I think I think Ronald Barry was always around because he loved Jack
01:12:36
and he was worried about Jack's safety with I think he knew that that obviously he and Jack had been involved in some
01:12:43
way MH and I think he knew that this seems like you know like it's a bad idea yeah this this
01:12:51
marriage chrisa because this is isn't for the kind of love that you are looking for exactly and that's really
01:12:58
sad it is and it's really sad too that everybody thinks that he has something to do with this woman's death if he
01:13:04
didn't I still have no [ __ ] idea one way or the other but it just doesn't feel like it from it doesn't totally I
01:13:11
wouldn't say like 100% I'm unconvinced but I wouldn't say I'm 100% convinced oh no at all no now but but that's the sad
01:13:19
thing is that most people did suspect him and one of those people people convinced of Ronald Barry's guilt was
01:13:25
the was hope there and he rejected his attempts to Shield Jack and pursued this angle as one of the driving forces in
01:13:31
the case and actually act do asked Dr tenant the psychologist his opinion of the men's
01:13:38
relationship this is the 40s remember according to tenant quote the case of homosexual is a case of Arrested
01:13:45
Development many matured slowly but they did mature he said others told him that
01:13:50
women nauseated them so we cannot tell what the girl found out or experienced emotionally that is some 40s ass
01:13:59
backward [ __ ] absolutely and that was said with his whole chest like that was right out in public being like I am a
01:14:07
doctor and this is true and at the same time was he saying we cannot tell what the girl found out or experienced
01:14:13
emotionally because did she find out that's the thing that they were together and that's what she was so upset about
01:14:19
this and that's what had you know triggered this entire thing potentially but then you wonder too cuz
01:14:28
in her notes she says another girl she says another girl does she say that to save Jack or does she say that because
01:14:33
she believes it who knows yeah because I would think she would say another person
01:14:38
you know at the same time in her emotional state would she possibly and this is just a question have used that
01:14:44
to her advantage and outed him because this was a time where you know you could do that and people could have suffer
01:14:52
serious consequences so did she know yeah that's the that's what makes me think she didn't know yeah
01:14:58
but then again I don't know Christina I don't know if that would be something she would do you know yeah she didn't
01:15:05
know I don't think really I don't think anybody really knew Christina oh man at this point anyways now after several
01:15:11
days of testimony the coroner's inquest came to a close on June 25th 1947 when the jury returned an open verdict
01:15:18
meaning that while they didn't believe Christina had died as a result of murder they nonetheless still found the
01:15:23
circumstances very suspicious and re recommended further police investigation yeah in their statement they said due to
01:15:29
the fact that the postmortem examination disclosed codine in the stomach of the deceased and the suspicious fact that
01:15:34
she was found drowned in 9 Ines of water the jury is unable to decide from the uh
01:15:40
evidence given whether or not there were foul means employed in her death because
01:15:43
I mean Codine will knock you out yeah so it's like if she staggered away from that that fire the stress of a fire
01:15:50
that's an adrenaline rush you get an adrenaline crash with codine in your stomach you fall down flat unconscious
01:15:56
in 9 in of water you're still breathing and you breathe that watera I don't know but it just doesn't
01:16:04
explain anything else the Jack of it all well did she did she drug Jack and where
01:16:10
did his head wound come from I don't know about the head wound the head why was he just laying on the on the couch
01:16:15
he was laying on the couch that's what I mean like why was he just laying on the
01:16:18
couch with a head did he like stumble and fall after ingesting some kind of coating whether not she drugged him or
01:16:24
he took it I have no idea and then she took some too like and what was the reason for
01:16:29
that if it did happen the only thing that I can think of and this is again alleged and just a a thought a theory
01:16:38
did did was she upset because remember she was upset that morning saying to Ronald like he I don't know if he
01:16:44
married me because he wanted to or if because you know the alleged murder suicide yeah did she get to a point of
01:16:51
like deep deep sadness again and realized that he didn't love her and maybe he was going to leave and she
01:16:57
ingested some kind of coding herself and gave him some and somehow he stumbled and hit his head and then climbed up
01:17:05
onto the couch and fell asleep I mean maybe I don't know that's a possibility absolutely the head wound of it all is
01:17:12
the part that kind of yeah is strange to me but without any suspect leads or even evidence of a
01:17:21
crime the police declined to pursue the case as a murder and Christina's death to this very day remains a mystery now
01:17:29
obviously the coroner's inquest was intended to provide answers for many of the lingering questions in the case of
01:17:35
Christina's death and to determine whether Foul Play was involved and although many felt like those lingering
01:17:41
questions were never answered or an explanation was provided it's more likely that they just didn't like or
01:17:47
couldn't accept the explanations they were given yeah this was a time where mental illness was a very taboo subject
01:17:53
and was very poorly understood and in addition to that the type of illness described by Dr tenant is essentially a
01:18:00
personality disorder yeah was hardly what anybody had in mind when they considered a mentally ill person back
01:18:06
then so they were like no she didn't she wasn't mentally ill and it wasn't something that they would apply to a
01:18:11
quote unquote seemingly normal young woman but the suicide notes corroborated by Dr tenant and Ronald Barry's
01:18:18
descriptions of Christina confirm that she was emotionally unstable yeah impulsive when it comes to the marriage
01:18:25
and potentially dangerous with what she had done allegedly who had already shown
01:18:30
herself as willing not to just end her own life but Jack if they couldn't be together yeah if all that is true so if
01:18:35
all that is true it is entirely plausible that Christina did take her own life and tried to take Jax a second
01:18:41
time but we'll never know if that happened or not thing and as for the suspicious behavior of Ronald Barry that
01:18:49
was more or less explained in his statements to the police and the jury not in a way that they would have been
01:18:54
able to understand at the time though as a closeted gay man his entire life was ruled by secrecy and ambiguity in order
01:19:01
to protect his privacy and his relationship with Jack and realistically both of their personal safety yeah
01:19:07
absolutely but unfortunately in this case that drive for secrecy made his behavior seem more inappropriate
01:19:14
suspicious or malevolent yeah even if it was really innocuous right for example in hindsight his attempts to revive his
01:19:21
friends after the first suicide attempt rather than call a doctor or a hospital seems suspicious because it implies that
01:19:27
he's trying to do something but instead according to his own statements what he was really concerned about was
01:19:33
protecting his relationship with Jack and not wanting to put Christina in a scandalous situation should the truth
01:19:39
about her actions come to light that's true now what confirms this even further for me is that three years after
01:19:47
Christina died Jack remarried and had a son uh but he did uh separate from his wife and in 19 1969 in 1969 excuse me
01:19:55
and he never remarried and when he died in 1998 he left his military pension to Ronald Barry wow so they absolutely were
01:20:06
in love at some point I just got like chills I know I know I did too wow Jack's family never knew about Christina
01:20:14
or Ronald and they only learned about the case after his death when his daughter-in-law discovered something
01:20:20
about it in an old newspaper shut up so he just went on to live life alone without Ronald
01:20:26
even oh that like shatters my heart yeah alone in the way of not having a romantic partner is what I mean cuz
01:20:34
obviously he had like family and a son and everybody but but like never really it seems like never really like getting
01:20:41
what he wanted needed because I mean still 1969 damn he was still closeted at that point you know wow so to me I do
01:20:53
come out of this leaning toward that it was a second suicide murder attempt murder suicide attempt
01:21:02
yeah it kind of seems that way and that the coding in her system made her fall into that puddle after she escaped the
01:21:09
house fire yeah it kind of seems that way and who knows if the house fire was just an accident I don't know if I
01:21:14
believe that she intended to set fire to that house I don't know if it was an accident with the Cole um and what
01:21:19
happened to Ronald Ronald stayed in I think it's about 10 for about 10 years after the
01:21:25
inquest but in 1956 he left Canada for New York uh for New York and dropped out of sight he left his peany dog Ling for
01:21:34
Jack's then 2-year-old son Richard so Jack leaves his military pension for Ronald Y and Ronald Leaves
01:21:42
his like beloved dog for Jack's 2-year-old son yep like I'm sorry like they were in such love that's a love
01:21:49
story that is a very tragic love story the most tragic love story and you feel bad because Christina's like chrisa lost
01:21:59
in here somewhere yeah in the confusion and the Mystery surrounding all of it yeah because we don't know no if she if
01:22:08
that's really what happened if she did try you know a second time or well I mean we really don't know if she tried
01:22:13
the first time it's like this is all just she's not here to say wow but it truly is one of the most confusing and
01:22:23
just unclear tragic cases I've ever heard of and the fact that it's still unsolved is just like what I'm that I
01:22:32
truly think that might be the most bizarre story I've ever heard right I don't think I've heard anything that
01:22:37
shocking and confusing in forever like I'm my brain will not stop just like trying to piece these things together
01:22:46
can on compute wow but yeah that is the tragic death of Christin kettlewell and the
01:22:54
tragic and mysterious death of Christin mysterious and with all of that we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep
01:23:01
it weird but not so weird that someone out there someday doesn't solve this because wow I really need answers I'm
01:23:06
going to solve this man you got this keep it that [Music] weird [Music]