Why are people vanishing in Dawson Creek, B.C.? | The Fifth Estate

[Music] the following program contains course language viewer discretion is [Music] advised welcome to the 50th season of The Fifth Estate I'm here in what's known as peace country Northern British Columbia where a deadly Turf War over drugs has left citizens on edge and left a trail of dead including a body found below this historic bridge what's happening to our town where 12,000 people why was there six driveby shootings in 4 days a wild car chase on Sunday morning leading to shots fired in Dawson Creek people in Dawson Creek find themselves caught in the crosshairs as

big city violence comes to small town Canada after a body was found down this Rural Road on Sunday police were calling the death suspicious and then one by one people here started to go missing Vanishing without a trace my worst fear has always been that one of my sisters was going to go missing and I wouldn't be able to find them the town is scared he was the fourth person to go missing and there was seven murders that year as questions Mount about the RCMP and their effort to stop the violence you want your town

back we want our kids back how do you explain to them that in the last couple of years there's 11 either missing murdered or suspicious deaths with no arrests no charges no answers given the shrinking media landscape in this country we asked you what story deserves more attention and that brought us here as we investigate with you I'm Mark Kelly this is The Fifth Estate [Music] tucked away in northeastern BC not far from the Alberta border you'll find the town of Dawson Creek it may be best known as mile zero of the Alaska Highway attracting

Travelers hungry for adventure from across Canada and the US but the community finds itself at a different kind of Crossroads these days Mike Bernier is the former mayor of Dawson Creek now the MLA for the area in the BC legislature I moved up here in 1993 on a 2-year plan uh to come up here and work uh in the oil and gas sector uh and never left uh what an amazing Place uh that's really Community uh great place to raise your family at least it has been for years but as the community grew along with

the oil and gas indust industry so did the threat that is tearing families apart right the yeah about 12 and a half thousand people live here in Dawson Creek and this is the kind of place where people just don't know each other they support each other it's a social fabric that's held this community together for decades but that social fabric is now torn tattered and frayed after a series of violent incidents this is an almost daily reality in Dawson Creek paramedics at the scene of a drug overdose since 2016 overdose calls have exploded from 48

a year to more than 230 tonight possible shooting police look for a suspect and a victim as drug use and Drug Sal soared in town so did violent crime well as you can see it's a it's a beautiful quiet little town that [Music] very often becomes not so quiet in a spectacular way Michael papov is one of the few journalists left in Dawson Creek we got the word there was a a body that had been found and that it was someone who was murdered with a car set on fire we see now what's happening with

what's going on in Dawson Creek with the importance of local media he hosts the local newscast for CTV covering a huge swath of BC in Alberta sometimes on his own welcome back and happy Monday hope everyone had a great weekend in the last three years the media landscape has changed dramatically the two newspapers have gone after almost 100 years in business so I've spent most of this year with one reporter or with no reporters at all as local media dries up so does the public pressure on all levels of government and the police to find

solutions to what is tearing towns apart we decided to investigate after we received an email from a Fifth Estate viewer urging us to shine a national Spotlight on the crime plaguing Dawson Creek a quick scan of RCMP news releases in Dawson Creek revealed a troubling portrait 11 people either missing or murdered in the last 3 years in the relatively remote once quiet community in BC violent crime had come to town several of those cases have been handed over to RCMP investigators who work at a Detachment 5 hours away I can't even get a email returned

from a police officer or an investigator outside of Dawson Creek that are taking over these files when our investigation began this spring there were four missing people in Dawson Creek all the cases suspicious darl and supernet has been missing since March the 15th and police are once again asking for the Public's help in finding her in the spring of 2023 the 29 year-old cre woman disappeared Without a Trace all I could think was no [ __ ] way that's that's my my worst fear has always been that one of my sisters was going to go

missing Jordan Cornish is daryn's stepsister the first day we met I remember thinking I was so excited cuz she actually liked me and we got matching shirts and and I was yeah it was nice I was so excited to have another sister Jordan says darn became her protector trying to make her street safe in an increasingly dangerous place she was always there to you know like hate don't don't hang out with these people don't go there you know she always she always kept me safe keep it locked up or else but they didn't stay safe

both drawn into the Trap of Dawson Creek's drug scene how long have you been in Dawson most of my life Brad supernet is daryn's father he wears the scars inside and out of a life lived hard in Dawson Creek there's always drugs here ever since I can remember there's been drugs here but now the drugs are killing people yep she was using heroin all the time she wouldn't stop did you try to get her to stop I was at the same place for Goose indigenous women and girls are six times more likely to be murdered

in Canada than non-indigenous women 15% of Dawson Creek's population identifies as indigenous and daryn's family felt her appearance wasn't getting the attention it deserved from the RCMP I started going around town and talking to everyone and I went on trips to Grand Prairie I'd walk around the streets there you know show as you showing everyone her picture telling everyone her name her story all that Jordan's search for her stepsister began to yield some disturbing clues that came with a warning one of the big rumors I heard too was that that she was just in the

wrong place wrong time and I had friends coming to me and telling me you know you know there's people like looking for you they don't want you looking for darn Jordan's fears may not have been exaggerated in this video obtained by The Fifth Estate Dern's cousin Renee super an djay can be seen searching as well pushing for answers 3 weeks after that video was filmed Renee was the next to disappear Austin Creek RCMP are asking for the Public's help in finding a missing woman police are looking for Renee Didier who was last seen Saturday Renee

is 40 the mother of two after splitting with her husband her family says her life took a turn for the worse Leanne gry eyes is her a what do you remember about the the night that Renee disappeared we were actually she was out here on her phone she came in and I said why don't you why don't you why don't you just stay in spend the night and we'll watch movies and she no I'm going to go out so last that was the last I talked to her it's really scary out there right now in

Dawson it's really changed over the years and what what's changed why why has it changed drugs drugs drugs mostly and was Renee getting mixed up with the drugs yeah unfortunately yes but like daryn's disappearance there were no answers for Rene's family tell me what it was like as you're not hearing from her days are turning into weeks what was the what was the really hard on my mom CU she cuz she raised her and you know we're all such a close family so we were all so worried we didn't know where she was or what

you know but we all knew she had to been missing when you heard that she was missing what was the first thing that crossed your mind like what did who did what to her like you know like that's how bad this town is okay lifelong Dawson Creek resident Laura Lambert is the aunt to both Renee and darn she's raising her own daughter's son calling herself the community's mother Mother Bear you doing and what were you trying to do with Renee with her life I was trying to get her stop to to be safe this is

a safety zone here I didn't want her being out in the boat and she would always call me when she wasn't here I'm here I'm okay and I'm coming home and and then after a while there was no calls where are the police they don't care that that's the way I look at it they've been given so many tips about these people missing you don't see them doing anything you don't hear nothing nobody's invested we feel like nobody gives a [ __ ] because they're natives that's the way um a lot of people are looking

at it when we come back a young man arrives in town to celebrate New Year's Eve and another name is added to the list of the missing in Dawson Creek it's December 2023 and Cole hosak hit the highway from Prince George BC hoping he could leave his troubles behind the 24-year-old desperate for a fresh start after a painful year winding his way through BC's Northern lakes and mountains he was bound for a job opportunity in Alberta but first he make a quick stop in Dawson Creek to ring in the New Year it's a decision that

would change his life and the lives of those who love him forever let's start with Cole big big sigh yes tell me about Cole Cole is I want to say a big personality so when you meet Cole you know you've met Cole Julie hosak is Cole's mother she says her son has always lived life large and on its own terms his greatest passion being a dad but when his second child was born last fall Cole's life Came Crashing Down Hendrick came 7 weeks early he was just little guy um with severe heart issues a team

of doctors tried to save Hendrick to no avail what did that do to Cole oh he was devastated he was the smallest thing I'd ever seen in my whole life so tiny and he looked just like his dad yeah Morgan Crawford is Hendrick's mother and Cole's partner she says their trauma spiraled into a dark place heavy drinking and conflict it's one of my biggest regrets because if we didn't have that fight he probably would have never left and that's how Cole ended up on the highway to Dawson Creek last winter he arrived at sunrise in

the dying days of December and sent this photo to Morgan promising her this is going to work a friend invited Cole to join her at this bar on New Year's Eve he ended up sharing a table with Laura Lambert and of the two missing women in town very nice well behaved young man like very nice he sat here and talked about his son and the loss of his baby that like it was heartbreaking to hear his story and stuff Lambert says later in the evening the celebrations took a dark turn these guys walked in and

one of the guys coming through 10 bucks at Cole in front of them were taking over the pool table and Cole said no you're not were you worried at any point that Cole after getting into a beef I was worried cuz I didn't know who those guys are I had didn't know if they're capable of capable of everything because I've never seen them before mhm and it's just the way they were acting like you could tell they're obviously I don't know if they're drug dealers or what they were but they're intimidating you could see it

but Cole wasn't scared at 12:18 Cole headed outside for a cigarette and a phone call he facetimed me on New Year's Eve from the bar that he was at and uh just I love you Happy New Year the phone call ended I love you I'll see you tomorrow or the next day what Cole hosak may not have known is he' walked into a town on edge and people were scared we are writing this letter letter as a group of residents on behalf of the community who have lost confidence in the local AR and peace detachments

ability to address acute crime in the area this meeting at City Hall sealed the fear and frustrations in Dawson Creek especially with drug rated crime so citizens banded together to fight back we're just headed out we're going to and do a bit of a patrol they call themselves citizens take action saying 200 plus volunteers Patrol the streets and shifts like how do we make a difference this isn't what our town was four or 5 years ago the patroller didn't want us to show his face fearing reprisals from criminals in town I mean these guys are

just doing driveby to do Drive buys it it seemed like so you didn't want to be even perceived as following somebody cuz you could get shot you could get shot yeah the RCMP praised the group for helping the mounties recover $150,000 in stolen property hidden at a farm but the group has been controversial we were told they were attacking people on the streets but I've heard some people in town who call you guys Vigilantes yeah you've heard that yeah I'm not telling you anything you haven't heard how do you respond to that I response saying

we're not we're Vigilant we've got our eyes open all the time and we we don't we don't uh action stuff when we see stuff happening we we call the the RCMP in November 2023 the RCMP responded to Residents concerns by calling in members of the anti- gang unit to rein Force the local Detachment fast forward to January 2nd that's when Julie hosak says she started getting frantic phone calls and text messages Cole was missing when you're told that he's missing what what is going through your mind I knew from the beginning that something was wrong

Julie drove 10 hours from Calgary to Dawson Creek and did what any mother would she searched for her son why were you searching for Cole cuz if I didn't who else would the police right that was a nightmare at the beginning so when I went there they told me essentially not to search Julie did anyway organizing four two-day searches joined by the families of Renee Didier and darn supernet I had asked the RCM if they were going to come to the sech and they declined that clearly their CMP are not doing their job at all

Mike Bernier took those frustrations to the BC legislature 58 days that's how long Cole hosac has been missing after stopping in Dawson Creek for a quick visit on New Year's Eve imagine being his mom Julie or his friends and family having no answers no clues and no substantive communication from Authorities on what's going going on to find him but none of that brought answers in The Disappearance of Cole hosac Cole's partner Morgan Crawford came to Dawson Creek to start her own investigation she retraced his final footsteps visiting a restaurant where he had eaten this CCTV

footage some of the final images of him this was right beside the bar where he would last be seen alive Morgan then crossed the Street to a tire shop after noticing they had several security cameras and I said my fiance is missing from here I need to know if the RCMP came and got footage from you the guy at Fountain Tire said they came and got it he said I actually reviewed it with them and I said what did you see and he looked at me and he said if you saw what I saw you

wouldn't expect to find your fiance alive shortly after the RCMP reviewed that footage they appealed to anyone with with dash cam video of this lonely stretch of highway to contact them it was the road leading out of Dawson Creek were're the mounties now looking for a body when we come back The Fifth Estate investigation yields important new information and even more questions do you have anything to do with Darin's death do you have anything to do with Rene's death have nothing to do with anybody's death darn supernet had been missing for 15 agonizing months the

initial RCMP report said the mounties believe she was still in the Dawson Creek area this past June that was confirmed in a tragic way the BC coroner service confirms the human remains found in April are those of darn supernet I remember the day they said they found um her skeleton I felt like such a weight was lifted off of me and I felt like I could breathe again but why was her body dumped in a ditch her father Brad started asking questions and what he learned was stunning I know she was shot by had 22

in the head how do you know [Music] that my uh friend of mine was picking bottles she found the B body why would somebody want to shoot your daughter in the head she might have wait for something or done something or I have no idea do you remember the last time you spoke with her yeah a little [Music] bit what was she telling you about she witnessed a Murder She told you that she witnessed a murder I'm not saying another word [ __ ] leave me alone all [Music] right and that's what got her killed

double murder yes she was double she witnessed both of them that's why she's gone we were slowly starting to connect the dots in Dawson Creek's violent crime spree there was a recent double murder here and TV journalist Michael papov covered it we are headed to the mile zero trailer park that's where Tina Nellis and Roy elay were thought to be shot mile zero trailer park is kind notorious for Crime darn steps in Sister Jordan Cornish knew both the victims so did darn I have no clue why no clue and I mean there they there's there's

so many rumors about darn there's even less about Tina and Roy darn went missing 2 months after the double murder the last rumor I'd heard about her where she was in someone's house and wasn't supposed to be there when these people showed up um heard something she wasn't supposed to hear saw something and and they shot her in the face for that during our investigation we asked who may have more information about violent crime in Dawson Creek and one name came up over and over again Tanner Murray was arrested last week the 30-year-old has been

charged with two counts of assaulting a police officer Tanner Murray is well known to police last December he was arrested after being on the run from police wanted for robbery and uttering threats then he was released in the spring of 2024 he was arrested again facing 11 new charges police say a search of his vehicle yielded ammunition a loaded firearm and support gear for organized crime he was released once again our investigation has revealed he was in contact with Darin on the day she disappeared the last time I saw her she was really preoccupied though

with her phone and um talking to Tanner and I don't know what was going on police have started asking questions about Tanner and Darin they all seem more interested in Tanner and what he was doing than anything else and then a lot of people are pointing fingers at Tanner too and then Renee organized those couple of searches we wanted to know could Rene DJ's disappearance be connected to daryn's murder remember Renee was pushing for answers about her missing cousin did that put her at risk most likely it did she didn't care what she said to

somebody she didn't just said what you had to say and I think she stood up she did stand up to a lot of people so yeah probably got her into trouble quite a bit last may a worker was taking water samples from this remote section of the kcat river when they made the Grizz discovery of what police would call human remains 6 months after she went missing police used a distinctive arm tattoo to make a positive identification it was the body of Renee Didier according to the RCMP the last time Renee diday was seen alive

was in the early morning hours of December 3rd at this local gas station but The Fifth Estate is learned learned she was seen hours after that by her cousin the last time I seen Renee is when I was on a video call with her that's the voice of Cheyenne hambler Fifth Estate producer Timothy Sawa spoke to her recently on the phone and where was she when she you talked to her there she was in a hotel room she was in the hotel room with Tanner Murray and who was it who answered the phone initially Tanner

it was Tanner it was Tanner on the video call he answered the phone and um and he he was just laying in a hotel bed Cheyenne could see they were in a room in this hotel along with another man Brian money a couple of hours later Cheyenne and Renee again spoke on the phone Renee promised to meet up with her that's the last time she ever heard from her cousin we uncover no evidence either man was involved in the murders but we still had questions we learned Mooney has since died of an overdose Tanner Murray's

lawyer wouldn't speak to The Fifth Estate so we went to Murray's home we were told he lives here above this garage no one answered the door when we went calling after our visit the RCMP arrested Tanner Murray once again at this hotel for assaulting a police officer the possession of weapons 1,000 rounds of ammunition and plenty of drugs this time he's being held in custody during our trip to Dawson Creek we also continued to push for answers in The Disappearance of Cole hosak we wanted to know what was on the CCTV footage from these cameras

recording it after Cole got into a dispute in the bar across the street The Fifth Estate has learned crucial details about the night Cole went missing security camera footage shows he came running from the parking lot of the Lone Star Bar in this direction he tried to find a way between these two buildings only to learn it was a dead end at that point he ran in this Direction Moments Later a truck was seen in Pursuit and that was the last time Cole hosac was was seen alive actually ni part of the Bush but there's

older camps there from other people there is another person with a long criminal history in Dawson Creek who our sources say is connected to Tanner Murray recently released from prison he now lives in an encampment in the woods his name is John omniac hey John I'm Mark this is Mark Kelly John nice meet you nice to meet you he's 41 years old and he's been in and out of jail for violent assaults and weapons offenses his brother is in prison for shooting a woman in the face Omak says he can't outrun their past I can't

because of my last name tell me about that what's wrong with your last name omniac it's a name we we've heard a lot of yeah omniac well basically it's cuz uh cuz of what what happened in the past with me and my brothers right basically what happened murder charges my brothers right and then I got accused murdering you know a couple people in TR court and you know and then couple people recently I went missing theirin and stuff like that right but they got no no proof for me doing any of that did you have

do you have anything to do with daryn's death do you have anything to do with Rene's death I Haven have nothing to do with anybody's death I would just keep my nose clean and just stay out of trouble basically it another sign that tensions are high here four officers showed up at the encampment concern for our safety after they were told we were there with John umnak oh so it's like just like a wellness check yeah okay well we appreciate that people need to know what's going on here and they need people to come here

somebody needs to come here and clean it up here when we come back we take take Dawson Creek's concerns to the officer leading the investigations into the missing and murdered I think the concern in the community it's warranted in that at this point in time we haven't charged anybody and we haven't convicted anybody it was a Fifth Estate viewer who urged us to come to Dawson Creek a town of 12,000 people to bring its struggles to the country's attention to help find a way forward following a long trail of dead Lance Patterson found in 2021

murdered his car set on fire a yet to beamed victim shot and found in his vehicle in 2022 Tina Nellis murdered at the m zero trailer park along with her partner Roy El in 2023 Chris engman his body found under the cascat bridge in 2023 Dave Domingo one of the four people to go missing in Dawson Creek believed to have been shot at a farm outside of town but so far no body's been found Byron horn found murdered inside a local residence darn supernet went missing in 2023 8 months later her cousin Renee diday also

went missing both later found dead Robert gerbo found murdered on New Year's Eve in 2023 and then Cole hosac missing on New Year's Eve of 2023 as well so far no tra of him that's a total of 11 murdered or missing in 3 years all the cases unsolved get some cops that care about the people here get investigators here that will do something about it I don't know I just I'm just shaking you start talking about stuff like that it's it's um s cuz you've seen all the the damage that's been done yeah and it's

still doing you want your town back we want our kids back there's frustration there's absolute frustration Michael papov one of the last journalists left in Dawson Creek says the lack of transparency from the r CMP has fed that frustration it's been a complete disaster we've been able to get no information it's just been closed door slam doors hi Corporal serson this is Mark Kelly calling from The Fifth Estate how are you it took us weeks of calling emailing and eventually showing up at the Detachment in Dawson Creek before the RCMP finally agreed to an interview

we arrived at the provincial headquarters outside of Vancouver with questions for the man who heads up major crime investigations for Rural BC hi superintendent Mark Mark Kelly good to meet you great to meet you thank you superintendent San with J aun people are afraid they're I mean they're they're telling us that they are afraid to go out at night that they are afraid that one of their children could be next mhm I I totally understand that sort of mentality but when I say that if there were a public safety risk we would come forward we'

do the appropriate um warnings if there were a public safety risk tell that to Cole hosak's Family how could someone who's never been there just disappear that's the question two months into Cole's disappearance his mother Julie says the RCMP stopped communicating when I was calling the RCMP and I was not getting any responses from them I finally lost my mind and made a Facebook post and tagged the BCR CMP the RCMP are failing Cole they're failing me and they're failing the community she posted it's been over 15 days since I've heard from them I am

done being silent how were you feeling during those 15 days I feel like definitely angry frustrated not knowing where to turn like what do you do how do I go through this without them it's got to feel pretty lonely too yeah when you're at your lowest well for Cole's mom I I apologize if if that's truly what happened I'll definitely look into that the RCMP is now questioning Julie's version but she's adamant that's how it happened do you believe Cole hosak is alive um I I do not I I believe foul play um is at

work here I want to ask you about the police what's your sense of what they did not a whole lot Jordan Cornish is darn super nand stepsister she says the RCMP never interviewed her until she finally called them I asked them what was how how things were going with my sister's case and they asked me well who's your sister and so I told told them toin and they're they're oh that's your sister and I remember the cop who did take my statement he just seemed bored why do these people have frustration that they're trying to

help the police and the police aren't listening to them that's the impression that they have mhm mhm well that's very unfortunate it it kind of blows my mind to hear that um one of the first things the conscientious investigator is going to do Mark is talk to the family my teams make it a priority to speak to the families Dawson Creek Mother Bear Laura Lambert is the aunt of both murdered women Renee and darn here they are together in happier times at Rene's wedding why because they're native girls they went missing they've been hundreds and

thousands of tips and it seems like the cops ain't doing a damn thing about it I know the history that the indigenous Community has had with the police um I know how hurting the families are and I understand why that Aunt would think that way I can assure her that nobody in my section nobody in the Dawson Creek RCMP feels like that ultimately people in the community want to know what happened to their friendly small town is there a a a Turf War over the drug sales drug trade in Dawson Creek I think there's about

50 people in that area and ex and extends into Alberta a little bit mhm who are involved in the street to midlevel drug trade and they're all known to each other and it's that Circle who are constantly involved in these kind of acts of violence against each other and they're causing a lot of the trouble how do you explain that in the last couple of years there's 11 either missing murdered or suspicious deaths with no arrests no charges no answers how do you explain that to these families well it's a tough one uh but I

can explain it this way that these investigations sometimes take very very lengthy periods of time but for me and my teams the goal is an arrest it really is arrest laying charges and then convictions for a town desperate for justice and healing for the first time the RCMP is offering hope I do feel that on some of these cases we're going to have success and some answers will come for some of the families I'll have to leave it at that soon in my opinion for some of the cases I I think you know within the

next 6 months we will have um some level of success another sign of Hope violent crime in Dawson Creek has started to Trend downward as people are looking for their own Solutions like more drug treatment facilities more citizens on patrol more people fighting for their town I'm speaking up I'm kind of I'm leery but I don't care because if it's going to recognize people come forward and start saying stuff all the power to them all the power to Dawson Creek to stick together and get rid of these people with every death in Dawson Creek like

darn superet and her cousin Renee superet Didier every disappearance in Dawson Creek like the case of Cole hosak the promise of somebody's son or daughter dies in the darkness that's why Leanne grey eyes left a candle at her niece Rene's grave site a ray of light to keep Rene's young cousin safe these broken families hoping their pain their loss can be a catalyst for change and you don't want Cole to be forgotten no I don't want Cole to be forgotten and but I also don't want anybody else to be forgotten not Renee not derin not

the other people that have gone missing or the people that have been murdered and nothing has been solved in but I would like it if this helped the town so that someone else going through town doesn't disappear [Music]