Canadian True Crime - 31 The Crimes of Peter Woodcock: Canada's youngest serial killer

Episode Date: September 15, 2018

TORONTO, ONTARIO. The story of Canada's youngest serial killer, Peter Woodcock, and the wrongful conviction of Ron Moffatt. In the mid 1950s in Toronto, a black-haired teenager on a bicycle terrorized downtown neighborhoods. How long would it take the police before they caught him? And who would get caught in the crossfire? Learn more about:The Boy on the Bicycle: A Forgotten Case of Wrongful Conviction in Toronto book by Nate HendleyTrue Crime Podcast Festival 2019Subscribe to:Impact Statement Podcast (for Ron Moffatt interview episode coming soon)Court Junkie Podcast (for Episode 6 - Richardson Family Murders)Steven Truscott: Decades of Injustice book by Nate HendleyHamilton Public Library True Crime Meetup details - September 18  Support my sponsors! Here's where the discount codes are:www.canadiantruecrime.ca/sponsors Podcast recommendations:The Enthusiasm EnthusiastHong Kong Confidential Join my patreon to get early, ad-free episodes and more: www.patreon.com/canadiantruecrime   Credits:Research and writing: Nate HendleyAdditional script editing / podcast story structure, narration and music arrangement: Kristi LeeAudio production: Erik Krosby All credits and information sources can be found on the page for this episode at www.canadiantruecrime.ca.Support the show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast contains course language, adult themes, and content of a violent and disturbing nature. This episode also includes crimes committed against children, although no graphic details will be given. Listener discretion is advised. With nearly six million residents, Toronto, Ontario is the largest city in Canada. A huge metro area consisting of several different cities and towns, all built back from the shoreline of the massive Lake Ontario.

But that is now. And this story takes place in 1956, when Toronto had nearly 700,000 residents and was only the second largest city, after Montreal. Despite the city being a fraction of the size it is today, it was still a major metropolis for the Millette family, who had come for a visit from near Kingston, Ontario, a much smaller city about two and a half hours drive east of Toronto. The Millette family consisted of mother Irene, aged 43, father John, who was 49, and their five children who ranged in age from 7 to 21.

The family had travelled to Toronto to visit Irene's mother Hazel, who lived in the neighbourhood of Southern Parkdale. Parkdale is a trendy neighbourhood that's near the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition, also referred to as the CNE or the X. Your town or city probably has one. It's that annual show that comes to town each summer that features carnival type rides, a sideshow alley, music, agricultural displays, lots of food and more. Although the CNE had closed for the season and the exhibition grounds were empty, this

location will come to be an important part of the story. But back to the grandmother's house. The date was Saturday, September 15th, 1956. Earlier that day, the Millette family had arrived in Toronto and after visiting with their grandmother, the older boys decided to go to the movies early in the evening. The youngest Millette child, seven-year-old Wayne, asked to go with them, but his brothers didn't want the youngest sibling tagging along, so they left for downtown without him. Just about to enter grade two, Wayne Millette was a cute little kid with blonde hair, brown

eyes and a cheeky smile. After his brothers left, he wandered outside to the front lawn of his grandmother's house to play and then disappeared into the grounds of the CNE. This is Christy and you're listening to Canadian True Crime, Episode 31, Wayne Millette, Gary Morris and Carol Voice. Later that night, night watchman George Sinclair was beginning his rounds at the CNE grounds. A teenager on a bicycle rode up to him. George had amazing attention to detail and saw that the teen was about 14 to 16 years

old with a slight build, over five feet tall but still short, with dark looking hair that was combed and parted to one side. He had horn-rimmed glasses, a pimply face and was wearing a dark windbreaker. The teen asked George if he was a police officer, George shook his head no, but the teen started to ask some strange questions. Did you ever find any bodies in the bushes? George was perplexed and skirted around responding to the question. The teen asked if he did happen to find a body, what would he do?

Before going on to mention, he'd seen another teen running away from the area who was, quote, a perfect double for me. George was deeply unsettled by this conversation and tried to change the subject, but the teen kept bringing the conversation back. Eventually, he took off on his bike. Meanwhile, back at the grandmother's house, mother Irene noticed that her youngest son Wayne was missing and went outside to call out for him. He didn't come.

Irene became frantic and her husband Jack said that the likely explanation was that little Wayne had just gone to the movies with his brothers. Irene had her doubts, but at least it gave her a little bit of hope. When the older boys returned from their trip without Wayne though, the police were called straight away. Soon, 30 constables were searching the C&E grounds. At 2.30 am, the searchers found the body of a little boy. He was fully dressed but had dirt smeared on his clothes.

His cheeks were still pink. Jack Millet was asked to come and identify the body to see if it was his son. After the confirmation, he was the one to break the devastating news to his wife Irene. She collapsed in shock. As he told a news reporter the next day, quote, it was the hardest thing I've done in my life. Wayne's body was taken to be autopsyed while his clothes and other evidence was passed on to the Ontario Attorney General's Laboratory. Preliminary examination saw that he had marks on his legs that suggested he'd been kicked

and there were also vicious bite marks on the little boys' legs. That same evening, a double feature was playing at the Metro Theatre at Bloor Street West. The first movie was Ulysses with Kirk Douglas, followed by a western called The Last Hunt with Robert Taylor. Both movies were screened between 5.30 and 9.15pm. One of the people in attendance was a 14-year-old named Ron Moffat who was there with some friends. The teen enjoying the movies was blissfully unaware that he would soon be accused of Wayne Millet's murder.

Ron Moffat was born in 1942 and had two brothers. His father, Omar Moffat, was a punch-press operator. Both Omar and his wife, Bette, enjoyed boisterous nights of heavy drinking, which would often lead to quarrels and other disruptions to family life. By the mid-1950s, the Moffat family had settled into an apartment at 39 Vanorley Street in what was then a rough downtown Toronto neighbourhood, now known as the Kensington Chinatown area. Ron got along with his classmates and his peers in the neighbourhood, but he generally recorded low marks at school, except in art in which he always received A's and social

studies. When Ron was around 12 or 13, he and another boy were caught stealing money from the St Lawrence Market, a centre that sold food and crafts and still does today. Ron received probation and a furious reception from his parents. By 1956, 14-year-old Ron had smartened up. That summer, he took a job at the CNE, working at a ride called The Rotor, one of those gravity rides that spins around and pins everyone to the side. Ron held this position until Labor Day in early September, then went back to school,

where he was enrolled in 7th grade. At 14 years old, Ron Moffat was relatively athletic and around 5'9 in height, so lanky for his age. He loved to play hockey, but he couldn't skate well because he was hampered by a poor sense of balance. He also couldn't ride a bicycle, a fact that would become pertinent to this story. On the Saturday night of September 15th, 1956, after the movies at the Metro had finished, Ron helped the theatre owner change the lettering on the marquee outside.

Instead of returning home, he stayed at a friend's house that night. Ron returned back home the next day, the Sunday. And the day after that, he woke up and went to school, but skipped class for the afternoon. His father found out and angrily said they would speak later on that day. Ron didn't want to stick around to bear the brunt of his father's wrath, but he didn't really have anywhere else to go. In desperation, he gathered up some clothes and supplies and scurled himself into a hiding spot in a closet under a stairway in his apartment building.

When his mother discovered he hadn't gone to school and didn't show up for dinner, she called police and reported him as missing. Ron still couldn't bring himself to face his father, so he just established a pattern. He would hide in the cubby hole during the day, then work at a bowling alley from 4 to 11pm. He ate at local restaurants with the money he'd earned and went back to his hiding spot to sleep, bringing food with him. Still afraid to face his father, Ron didn't contact his parents and remained in hiding,

a decision that would be fateful. As part of their hunt for Wayne Millet's killer, Toronto police were checking reports of runaway teenage boys. Authorities believed the suspect might have gone into hiding. They came across the missing persons report for Ron Moffat, who was still hiding in the closet during the day to avoid seeing his father. The more the police looked into his background, the more he seemed like a prime suspect. Ron was roughly the same age as the mystery teenage cyclist that had the strange encounter

with the CNE Watchman. And because Ron had worked at the show over the summer, he was familiar with the fairgrounds, and the timing of Ron's disappearance seemed suspicious. The early morning hours that the body of Wayne Millet was discovered was also the day that Ron Moffat was reported missing by his mother. On Friday, September 21st, Inspector Payne and Detective Simmons of the Toronto Police interviewed Bette Moffat in her apartment. While she clearly had no idea where her son was, police had been tipped off by a local

shopkeeper that Ron had been seen in the area. The two policemen searched the apartment building and discovered Ron Moffat in his hiding place in the cubby under the stairs. Ron didn't know that they were there in connection with the murder of a little boy. He thought they were just there to reprimand him for playing truant. Not even telling Ron's parents that he'd been found, the police placed him in an interrogation room at the College Street police station. Without a lawyer or parent present, Ron was questioned by Inspector Payne and Detective

Simmons. He was badgered insistently and told he was a murderer. He wasn't physically abused, but the threat was in the air. Ron recalled that they played good cop, bad cop. Inspector Payne was the bad cop and he would grab Ron and say quote, you better start talking or things are going to get rough in here. The 14 year old runaway was terrified. He wanted it to be over.

The police started asking him leading questions, so he just gave them the information they clearly wanted. He recalled they walked him through a confession, feeding him the correct information when he answered a question incorrectly. According to police, through questions they asked, Ron confessed to stealing a bicycle and rode to the C&E grounds on September the 15th to hang out at his old stomping grounds, even though he couldn't actually ride a bike. He encountered little Wayne Millett who apparently started annoying him.

He told Wayne to go away and the little boy kicked him. The two got into a fight and Ron accidentally put too much pressure on Wayne's neck. He got up and the little boy wasn't moving. Ron said he was scared so he moved Wayne's body, grabbed the bike and rode off. He said he met the C&E watchman and asked him about finding bodies in the bushes. He then ditched the bike, had a snack in a restaurant and then went back to the Metro Theater to see if one of his friends was still there. On the surface, Ron Moffat's confession was lurid and convincing.

Once the interrogation was over, police drove him to the C&E grounds where they claimed he walked them through the crime scene. Ron told a different version of the story, saying police pointed to various spots and fed him details to fit the narrative they were constructing. Finally, after all that, Ron was allowed to see his mother who was understandably very upset. As you'll recall, Wayne Millett's legs had multiple bite marks on them. Two days after the interrogation, Ron Moffat was taken to a dental college to have casts made of his teeth and then, back at a police station, he allegedly made another confession.

The police officer asked him point-blank why he bit Wayne. According to the officer, Ron replied, I just get a feeling it seems I like to bite flesh before making a biting motion twice. Ron would later say his admission of guilt was all nonsense, the product of a very scared boy pushed into making a false confession. The authorities were convinced they had the right suspect, though. Ron Moffat was brought before juvenile court judge Lorne Stewart on Monday, September 24, 1956, where he was officially charged with the murder of Wayne Millett.

Despite his confession, he pleaded not guilty, which meant there would be a full trial. He was remanded in custody and taken to Toronto's juvenile detention centre. The blinkered vision of police, the fact that they set their unwavering sights on Ron Moffat as their guy, can be explained in part by the fact that they had very little experience in dealing with murder. In 1956, there were a total of nine recorded murders in Toronto, down from eleven the year before. In a front page story in the Toronto Daily Star newspaper, now just called the Toronto Star, Ron's parents, Omar and Bette Moffat, accused police of making a huge mistake. Their family life may have been largely dysfunctional, but his parents stood by their son.

In the article, Bette Moffat said Ron once lost a part-time job because he couldn't even ride a bicycle properly. Do you have a passion project that you're ready to take to the next level? Squarespace makes it easy for anyone to create an engaging web presence, grow a brand and sell anything from your products to the content you create and even your time. When I launched this passion project six years ago, I needed some kind of online hub to manage all the non-podcasting tasks that come with podcasting. I chose Squarespace because it's an all-in-one platform that seamlessly helps me achieve multiple goals. It's important to have a website that looks good and I was inspired by Squarespace's wide selection of clean and modern templates.

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helping me better understand who's visiting the site, where they came from and how they're interacting with it. Do you have a passion project or business idea or something to sell? Go to squarespace.com.ctc for a free trial and when you're ready to launch use offer code CTC to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com.ctc with offer code CTC and get your passion project off the ground today. Music Within weeks of the murder of Wayne Millet, on the afternoon of Saturday, October the 5th, 1956

9-year-old Gary Morris went to see a movie with his friend, 8-year-old William Christie at the Regent Movie Theatre. After leaving the theatre, the two friends went back to Gary's house on Queen Street East and hung around at the front eating apples. At about 3.30pm, a teenager on a bicycle approached them. Gary went over to talk to him. Gary and the teenager spoke about shooting pigeons at Cherry Beach, then a rough part of the downtown Toronto shoreline. The teenager asked Gary if he wanted to go there now.

Gary said yes and hopped on the handlebars of his bike. His friend William watched as the two rode off, noticing that the teen looked like he was between 14 and 18 years old and wore a windbreaker with blue jeans. He had dark hair and glasses and his bike was a red racing bike. Later that night, after 8pm, Gary's mother Irene reported her son missing. The police took the eyewitness information from Gary's friend William and went to Cherry Beach to see if they could find any sign of the boy.

The next morning, a constable found Gary's body in the bushes. He'd suffered terrible injuries, including a ruptured liver which was deemed severe enough to have eventually caused his death. But this wasn't the way he died, he was asphyxiated. One conclusion was that the assailant had smothered him by lying on top of him so hard that he couldn't breathe. Gary also had multiple bite marks on his neck. The City of Toronto grappled with the grim reality of a second child murder

in under a month. Police went to local schools to inspect bike racks. On October the 11th, the Toronto Daily Star reported, the boy on the bicycle is the last one known to have seen Gary alive. The police department's lack of experience with homicide led to some strange conclusions. One source suggested that Wayne Millett and Gary Morris had been murdered by two different teenagers,

both of whom happened to ride bicycles. It hadn't dawned on anyone that a single bike riding killer was responsible for both deaths and that the killer was not Ron Moffat who was languishing in detention. Ron Moffat's trial began that fall in 1956 in juvenile court with Judge Lorne Stewart presiding. Because Ron was tried as a juvenile delinquent, there was no jury. Whether he was guilty or not would be solely decided by the judge.

As a juvenile delinquent, Ron couldn't be hanged but faced a long term in detention with the label of child killer. Not exactly a more desirable fate. During the trial, a series of witnesses testified they had seen Ron in the Metro Theatre between 5.30pm and 9.30pm the night Wayne Millett was murdered. The crown followed the story the police had previously pitched. They said Ron had indeed gone to the movies

but snuck out, stole a bike and peddled it to the CNE. There he killed Wayne Millett and chatted with a night watchman even though he did not match the description that the night watchman gave. The teen he saw was shorter with dark hair and glasses. Ron was taller with light hair and no glasses. And after this, Ron was said to have ditched the bike, ate a snack at a restaurant and then rejoined his friends at the Metro. Initial reports indicated the night watchman met the mystery bike rider at 9pm.

This didn't give Ron much time to walk to a restaurant, eat then travel several miles to the theatre when the feature finished at 9.15pm. Other reports suggested the encounter occurred earlier in the evening which would give more time to commit the murder. But that would suggest a sociopathic sadist who could kill a child, consume a meal in public and then go to the movies without his friends noticing any signs of panic or fear at 14 years old. Ron spent most of the trial in adject terror, intimidated by the Crown Council.

There was barely any evidence entered beyond Ron Moffat's confession. Dental experts testified that the bite marks on Wayne's body matched Ron's teeth. A shaky assumption for addubious forensic science. Even by today's standards, bite mark comparison can only be useful as part of a thorough forensic examination but is not considered definitive on its own. For example, DNA testing was still decades away but would have compared saliva left by the bite marks to that of a suspect. This comparison would have exonerated Ron Moffat.

Also, video security cameras which might have tracked the real killer's movements were also non-existent at the time and there were no eyewitnesses who saw the crime. Even police would later concede there was very little corroborative evidence to link Ron Moffat with Wayne Millet's death. But none of this helped in the end. Ron's confession doomed his case. In the 1950s, no one could grasp why anyone would admit to a crime they hadn't committed or that the police could have made a mistake.

Ron says his lawyer, quote, did a decent job of trying to defend me but that ultimately his guilt was a foregone conclusion. He was right. On December the 4th, 1956, juvenile court judge Lorne Stewart announced his verdict. Guilty. Ron was not sentenced and instead sent for psychiatric evaluation. Once the evaluation was completed, Ron faced probation, foster care, or a term in a so-called training school, a reform school for juvenile delinquents.

As an adult, Ron would have faced much stiffer punishment. Unfortunately, that did little to alleviate his fear. When escorted from the courtroom, the 14-year-old felt suicidal and beyond despondent. Ron spent Christmas at the Toronto Psychiatric Hospital, located near the Ontario Legislature, also known as Queen's Park. Ron was in hospital for roughly a month and then returned to the juvenile detention centre to await sentencing. His family desperately hoped for a new development in the case that might free their boy. That development came in mid-January but at a terrible price to another family.

On Saturday, January 19th, 1957, two kids were playing outside on a front yard in East Toronto. Carol Voice and Johnny Old were both just four years old. Their mothers were inside chatting over coffee. It was the middle of winter so both kids were rugged up with their snowsuits on. It's important to remember the social norms of the time. The era of helicopter parenting was still in the future. In the mid-1950s, parents thought little of leaving young children to play outside, largely unsupervised. A black-haired teenager on a bike approached the two four-year-olds.

He spoke to them both for a minute and then took Carol on his handlebars for a ride and the pair disappeared from view. Carol's mother came out of the house and saw only Johnny there. She asked where her daughter was. He said she'd gone for a ride with a high school boy. Frantic, Carol's mother called police who immediately launched a search. Police focused on the Don Valley where a yard men reported seeing a dark-haired teenage boy pushing a bicycle. At 11pm, a policeman found Carol lying face down in a puddle of congealed blood near the Bloor viaduct. One of the men searching the area was Carol's father Raymond, who had to be held back from his daughter's body.

Little Carol had been badly beaten and sexually assaulted. Her cause of death was a massive hemorrhage. Four-year-old Johnny Old, Carol's little friend, gave a description of the teenager to police, along with a couple of other witnesses who had seen the boy on the bicycle in the area where Carol was found. It was the middle of winter, so seeing a teenager on a bike was fairly unusual. A composite sketch was released to the media, showing the teen with dark hair parted at the side and horn-rimmed glasses. The media described him as a pimply-faced sex maniac who probably killed Gary Morris under similar circumstances four months ago. The police had also made this connection and offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the teenager.

More than 2,000 police officers started questioning teenagers who resembled the drawing, honing in on those who owned red bicycles. A police stationed at North York was looking at the file when suddenly something jogged his memory. Didn't they handle a very similar case in the Don Valley year before, involving another young girl and a weird teenager? It was several months before the murder of Wayne Mallette, and a 10-year-old girl was reported as having been kidnapped. After hours of police search, she ended up phoning her parents from a pay phone and telling them to come and get her. Police went to the phone booth and found her there with a pimply-faced teenager with dark parted hair and glasses. The girl was unharmed, so after questioning the teen and giving him a severe lecture, they released him. Could this be the same teenager involved in the murder of Carol Voice?

Police checked and they found his details. The teenager's name was Peter Woodcock, and he was 17 years old. In contrast to Ron Moffat, who was in the detention centre, Peter Woodcock could ride a bike. It was one of his few athletic endeavours. His choice of wheels was a red racing bike he used to travel all around the city. It was said to be his pride and joy. Peter was short at around 5'6 and slight, weighing only around 100 pounds or 45 kilograms. He was enrolled in grade 11 at a private school and lived in North Toronto with his wealthy foster parents. In a book about Peter Woodcock, crime author Mark Burry described him as

a strange, fussing baby born out of wedlock in 1939 to a teenage mother who was also said to have been a sex worker. As an infant, Peter was surrendered to children's aid. Quote, He screamed constantly and wouldn't eat. The baby's crying never stopped, so the children's aid moved him from one set of foster parents to another. He never slept, he never ate, and no one could stand to be near him. Peter Woodcock was unloved and unwanted. Amazingly enough, when he reached 3 years old, he was placed with Frank and Susan Maynard, a loving upper middle class couple. While they never formally adopted Peter, the Maynard showered their foster child with affection and creature comforts.

That Peter grew up to be eccentric and unsociable. He had no friends and was ignored or bullied by the other kids. He was small, weak and non-athletic. The Maynards noticed Peter's struggles and took him for assessments at doctors and placed him in a variety of specialist schools. None of these interventions helped. Peter frequently ran away from home, slashed his clothes and likely killed his mother's pet canary. The bird was found lying dead on the piano with candles around its lifeless body. In the early 1950s, Peter spent three years in the Sunnyside Children's Centre in Kingston, Ontario, a facility for problem children.

He was released back to the Maynards' care in 1954, but things hadn't changed. Classmates at school regularly began harassing and bullying him. Even though he was a social misfit, Peter Woodcock was smart and precocious. He preferred news magazines to comics and classical music over the popular music of the time, rock and roll. Sometimes as he rode his bike around Toronto, Peter fantasised about being head of what he called the Winchester Heights Gang, an imaginary collection of 500 youths willing to do whatever he told them to do. Like most adolescents, Peter thought at length about sex. Only his sex fantasies revolved around sexual assault, murder and children.

In 1956, he began sexually assaulting kids. He would approach them on his fancy bike and offer to give them a ride on his handlebars. As mentioned previously, the 1950s were a more trusting era when kids typically played outside unsupervised, something Peter used to his advantage. He would take children into secluded areas where he would assault them both physically and sexually. Peter Woodcock spent the summer of 1956, the same summer that Wayne Millet was murdered, working at Casa Loma, a Gothic revival style mansion and garden in midtown Toronto. Peter directed cars in the parking lot of the popular tourist attraction, and in his spare time, he circled around the city looking for kids.

On Monday, January 21st, 1957, after North York detectives had put two and two together, they picked up Peter Woodcock at his school to ask him about the murder of four-year-old Carol Voice. The 17-year-old claimed innocence at first. He said he had been in the Don Valley, but saw a boy who looked just like him racing away on a bike. After further questioning, Peter admitted to killing Carol. He freely gave a full confession without any of the probing and leading questions that were asked of Ron Moffat. He was arrested and charged that same day. Police retrieved his red bicycle and questioned him about other sexual assaults on children.

They also asked him about the murder of nine-year-old Gary Morris. He confessed to that murder and was taken down to Cherry Beach to walk police through the crime scene. He said that in each of the cases of the murders of Wayne Millet, Gary Morris and Carol Voice, he removed their clothes, examined their bodies and then put the clothes back on again. Only Carol Voice was sexually assaulted. Psychiatrists were brought in to probe his mind to see how a teenager could commit such depraved acts. As for Ron Moffat, Peter Woodcock's arrest had been one bright spot in the darkness that had surrounded him for months. But Peter hadn't been arrested for the murder of Wayne Millet, only Carol Voice.

But still, it was hope. Another development occurred around the same time that would be equally significant. Ron Moffat got a new lawyer named Patrick Hart, a tough man with a passion for justice. He would prove to be a dogged defender of Ron Moffat, just when the despondent boy needed all the support he could get. An appeal was launched, but meanwhile, Ron still needed to be sentenced for the murder of Wayne Millet. On February 1st, 1957, Ron was committed to the Ontario Training School for Boys based in Bowmanville, Ontario. The training school had a machine shop, greenhouse, paint shop, auto shop and laundry room as well as courses in various endeavours including woodworking, sheet metal and shoe repair. In their spare time, boys could also indulge in various sports.

While being escorted to religious instruction, Ron and a friend tried to run away. They were quickly caught and punished. Ron had to stand all day in bare feet on a cold slab wearing only underwear and sleep on the floor at night. He decided to pretend he had mental health issues in the hope of being transferred back to Toronto Psychiatric Hospital, but instead, to his horror, he was sent to the psychiatric wing of the Guelph Reformatory. The facility was shut down in 2002 and lies dormant now, but in the 1950s, the Guelph Reformatory typically housed between 1500 and 1700 men and boys at any time. The place had industrial and agricultural facilities, a gym, classrooms and more.

As with most prisons, sex offenders and anyone causing harm to children ranked near the bottom of the prison hierarchy. Ron continued to be terrified that his status as a convicted child killer put him at risk. As Ron was assigned to cleaning floors in the hospital building with a heavy waxing machine, Peter Woodcock went on trial for murdering four-year-old Carol Voice. The trial began on April 8, 1957 in the Ontario Supreme Court in Toronto. Peter Woodcock was then 18 years old and entered a plea of not guilty despite having admitted to his crimes. His confession was read aloud, where he admitted to murdering Carol Voice and sexually assaulting around a dozen other boys and girls.

He was said to look pale, but otherwise showed no emotion as the confession was read out. Peter's lawyer argued that he was criminally insane and called four psychiatric experts who had examined Peter and determined he was mentally ill. They noted that he was a social pariah and was probably schizophrenic. His foster mother, Susan Maynard, testified that he was a social misfit, a poor, lonely child who longed for friends but never had one all his life. He was beaten up by other children. She said that on the day he had abducted and murdered Carol Voice,

he, quote, came home a normal sweet child, his hands and face clean, his clothes spotless. The jury found Peter Woodcock not guilty by reason of insanity. Under the rules of the day, he could be held indefinitely in a psychiatric facility until authorities saw fit to release him. While Peter Woodcock faced lifelong institutionalization, Ron Moffat was on his way to freedom. After reviewing his appeal, the judge quashed the conviction and ordered a new trial. Now aged 15, Ron Moffat's second trial began on May 13, 1957, in the juvenile court on Jarvis Street in Toronto before Judge Harold Fuller. Once again, there was no jury because the defendant was tried as a juvenile, not an adult.

This time, the star witness was Peter Woodcock himself. On the stand, Peter calmly confessed to the murder of Wayne Millett, a testimony that carried much weight. He said he tried to engage in some kind of sex game with Wayne, but the little boy didn't want to play and became scared. Suddenly, Peter turned from friendly to angry and attacked him. He removed Wayne's clothes and put them back on again. Wayne wasn't sexually assaulted. At Ron Moffat's first trial, dental experts said the bite marks on Wayne Millett's body definitely came from him. But now, they said exactly the opposite and said Ron had clearly not bitten the boy.

The most likely explanation for this new conclusion was bad science. Today, bite mark analysis is regarded by many as highly unreliable. Ron had spent much of the first trial in a state of fear. But the second time around, he was considerably more poised and confident, responding confidently to tough questions from the crown. On May 16, Justice Fuller issued his verdict. The judge announced he had substantial doubt as to the guilt of Ron Moffat. Ron was ordered to stand up.

Quote, I have found you not guilty of the charge laid against you, the charge to which you confessed to the police. And with that, Ron Moffat was told he could leave the courtroom. Ron's acquittal was front page news and a delightful shock to him. There were a stream of interviews at his parents' apartment. His parents were happy at their son's release, but understandably still angry over his conviction. Ron himself was also bitter about the lack of a formal apology and lack of compensation.

His parents were too broke to afford a lawsuit to win money for his wrongful conviction. They had already sold pieces of furniture to get money to pay his legal bills so far. A few months after his release, Ron was walking down Toronto's College Street when he was spotted by Inspector Payne, the officer who played bad cop in his interrogation. The inspector recognized Ron, calling him over and asked how he was doing. In conversation with true crime author Nate Henley, Ron recalled, quote, I wasn't interested in talking to him and just wanted to get away, and yet he kept going on about how sorry he was about what happened, blah blah.

I was cordial, but underneath I was very upset that I was being confronted by the SOB who was to blame for my nightmare. Ron would later say, quote, I was mad at the world and very resentful of any kind of authority. I developed a short fuse and tried to be a tough guy. He didn't return to school and began committing burglaries with a group of friends who called themselves the Joker Gang. The gang was caught, Ron got probation, his mother gave him hell and that was the end of his involvement in the burglary ring. Not surprisingly, he suffered enduring mental and emotional problems, including intense anxiety, guilt, anger and stress, which put him into psychiatric care just a few months after his acquittal. By today's standards, he likely would have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

After about nine months in care, he was released aged 16. After that, he found jobs in various positions, including a job at the Film Library of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, or CBC. He met a girl named Dolly Marie and ended up marrying her in 1961. Ron's difficulties didn't decrease, however, and he spent more time in hospital in 1967 than 1972, coping with mental and physical ailments. His life was not entirely negative, though. He and Dolly had three children together, daughter Kathy and sons Vernon and Bradley. Ron and Dolly ended up divorcing in 1972, but remain on good terms today. After the divorce, Ron was again troubled by depression and anger, which led him to abuse alcohol.

But with time and professional help, he gathered the strength to climb out of the tailspin he was in. He eventually earned his Grade 12 high school equivalency and then worked for years as a caretaker at schools in Sault Ste. Marie, a city northwest of Toronto. In 1980, Ron married a second time to Debbie Spears, a registered practical nurse. The two are still together today. In his spare time during his working life, Ron visited family and friends and read avidly. As you remember, he got good marks in art as a child, and he never gave up that childhood interest. The Sault Ste. Marie school board frequently relied on his talents for various art projects, and he's well known as the cartoonist for a local newspaper in the city. Today, Ron Moffat is 76 years old, and he and his wife Debbie are enjoying their retirement. Ron is proud of his family and remains active in the lives of his children.

In an interview with Nate Henley, author of The Boy on the Bicycle, A Forgotten Case of Wrongful Conviction in Toronto, Ron observed how his own parents, dysfunctional as they might have been, came through for him after his arrest. Quote, they lost just about everything to pay for the legal part of it. His parents died in the mid-1990s within six months of each other. After his acquittal, Ron says his mother and father put the incident behind them and didn't talk about it again. Ron can't begrudge their silence, however. Quote, I love my parents. They went to bat for me. It made up for everything. Back to Peter Woodcock. He was only ever tried for the murder of Carol Voice. The murders of Wayne Millet and Gary Morris went without trial, despite his confessions. During his time in psychiatric care, he was diagnosed as a psychopath and was administered many so-called revolutionary treatments in the 1960s and 70s,

including LSD treatments and several other personality-breaking drugs and therapies. The belief was that these kinds of therapies could cure him of his psychopathy. They didn't work, but because he was articulate and intelligent, he was able to convince authorities that he was getting better and was transferred from the Penitanguasheen Mental Health Centre to the Medium Security Brockville Psychiatric Hospital in 1989. In 1991, while out on a day pass, he promptly murdered fellow patient Dennis Kerr with help from another patient and then calmly walked into a police station and confessed to all. Needless to say, Peter Woodcock was never released on any kind of pass again after that. In the 1980s, he changed his name to David Michael Kruger and went on to talk openly about his crimes with a variety of interviewers, including Mark Burry, who wrote the book By Reason of Insanity, The David Michael Kruger Story.

On one occasion, the author asked him point blank whether he killed Wayne Millet, quote, oh yes. When asked why he testified at Ron Moffat's second trial to help him get out of jail, he said, quote, I was really angry that he was taking credit for something I did. It had bothered me since he was arrested, but I couldn't exactly come forward, could I? After having spent more than 50 years in prison or psychiatric facilities, Peter Woodcock died of natural causes in 2010, aged 71. A strange, fussy baby turned into a strange, fussy killer. After Ron Moffat's acquittal, the Toronto Daily Star ran an editorial with the headline Confession is not proof of guilt, quote, Confessions given to police should be viewed with some caution and not taken as absolute proof of guilt. That is the danger about confessions. They represent the easy way to get a conviction.

As the Ron Moffat case shows, the easy way can also be the inaccurate way, giving rise to a grave miscarriage of justice. The editorial, printed in 1957, underlines something many people today still don't understand, why anyone would confess to a crime they didn't commit. In fact, it happens with alarming regularity. According to University of Michigan law school professor Samuel Gross, the rate of false confessions skyrockets when the suspect is a juvenile, mentally handicapped, or both. Suspects under 18 are more gullible and less mature than their adult counterparts, making them vulnerable to interrogation pressures. Professor Gross examined 873 exonerations that took place between January 1989 and February 2012 in the US. He found 135 cases in which suspects had made false confessions, only to be cleared of any wrongdoing. Law professor Alan Young of Osgood Hall in Toronto states other reasons for making false admissions include low self-esteem,

being mentally challenged, psychosis, and attention seeking. In a recent academic paper, he estimates there have been roughly 28 documented wrongful convictions in Canada since the late 1980s. A book called How the Police Generate False Confessions by former cop James Trainham explains how police tactics can lead to phony admissions of guilt. He points out that by their very nature, police interrogations can be deeply unsettling, questioning can last hours, even days, and be exhausting and terrifying. Some suspects confess just to bring the process to an end, even if they're innocent. Suspects can be tricked into confessions by being asked leading questions or being fed details about the crime in question. Ruffer interrogation techniques include denying a suspect food, water, sleep, or bathroom breaks, or making threats. Physically beating a confession out of a suspect is fortunately rare in North America today, though it does occasionally occur.

The so-called read technique, a popular protocol for police interrogation, has been criticised for inducing false confessions. The procedure involves leading questions, forceful accusations, often including outright lies, and a presumption of guilt. The goal is not necessarily to elicit the truth, but a confession. And surprisingly, things have not changed since the 1950s in that it is not a legal requirement to have a lawyer or adult present when police interrogate a young offender in Canada or the United States. Young offenders have the right to request a lawyer or parent be present during interrogation, but it's not an automatic requirement. Decades after his ordeal, it is this fact that still enrages Ron Moffat. He says, quote, police should never be allowed to interrogate underage persons without the presence of either a parent, guardian, or legal counsel. While Ron Moffat's case was extensively covered by the media of the day, his name was kept out of press coverage because he was tried as a juvenile.

This means few people know who he is, much less the ordeal he went through. Now a senior citizen, Ron is eager to get his story out. He hopes to receive recognition for his unjust punishment. And more than anything, he also hopes no one else ever has to go through the very same legal nightmare he experienced as a young teenager. His wife Debbie says she's tried to get him on a bike several times, but to this day, he still can't ride one. In the mid-1950s, the actions of one teenager ruined the lives of many families. Seven-year-old Wayne Millette, nine-year-old Gary Morris, and four-year-old Carol Voice tragically lost their lives. Countless other children were sexually assaulted, and 14-year-old Ron Moffat endured senseless hardships that had lasting effects on his life.

And to this day, Peter Woodcock remains Canada's youngest serial killer. Thanks for listening. Ron Moffat has told his story to the Impact Statement podcast and the episode will be released in the next week. I think this is extremely important because his whole life was displaced and he never received any public acknowledgement or compensation. Finally, he gets to give his personal Impact Statement. If you haven't yet subscribed to the Impact Statement podcast, pause right now and go and do it so you can catch Ron Moffat's episode as soon as it's released in the next week. Charlie has covered other Canadian cases too, and they're all extremely worthy stories. There's a link in the show notes.

For further reading on this case, I wanted to recommend Nate Henley's new book, The Boy on the Bicycle, a forgotten case of wrongful conviction in Toronto. Nate also wrote the book on Stephen Truscott called A Decade of Injustice. They're both riveting reads. I've included links in the show notes and on my website. Just a reminder for those in the Hamilton, Ontario area. I'll be at the Hamilton Public Library at Stony Creek this Tuesday, September 18th from 6.30pm to 8pm for their monthly True Crime Meetup. There's a link in the show notes and also on my website in the news section. CanadianTrueCrime.ca I'm on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Just search for CanadianTrueCrime. Thank you all so much for your follows, likes and comments as well as any reviews you leave. I really appreciate it.

This episode I have two podcast recommendations, and neither of them are true crime, but both are shows that I like and I'm guessing many of you might like too. The first one is Hong Kong Confidential, an Aussie living in Hong Kong. And the second one is The Enthusiasm Enthusiast, a feminist podcast from the lovely Katie Ward. I guested with her on a music podcast called Playlist last year and loved her. Hey everyone, this is Katie Ward from The Enthusiasm Enthusiast. Thank you so much to Kristi and the CanadianTrueCrime team for sharing my show with your audience. On The Enthusiasm Enthusiast, I talk with influential feminists about their greatest passions. At the heart of every interview is the essential question, what are you really enthusiastic about right now?

I've spoken with some incredible people, people who have made history, people who are doing incredible things right now, like astronauts, actors, activists, and authors. I even had the privilege to interview a few Canadians along the way, like Terry McBride, who co-created Lilith Fair and runs the largest independent record label in Canada. So, I hope you'll check out the show and let me know what you think. You can find it on every podcasting platform or you can listen at TheEnthusiasmEnthusiast.com. Thanks again CanadianTrueCrime for everything you do. Hong Kong Confidential, a podcast with Jules Hannaford, is designed to educate and entertain my audience. It's an interview style show where many topical social issues are discussed and personal stories are shared. The podcast can be inspiring, confronting, harrowing, and at times hilarious. All of the stories have uplifting messages. We all need to be heard to heal, and listening to the experiences of others can often help the rest of us deal with whatever life has to throw at us.

Find Hong Kong Confidential on AusCastNetwork at www.auscastnetwork.com. Hong Kong Confidential is also available on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube, and anywhere that you can find your podcasts. This episode I want to say thanks to these patrons. Christine H. Vanessa S. Brett T. Meredith D. John S. Stephanie G. Bobby B. Stephanie D. And Bonnie from the Whining About Crime podcast. Thank you all so much. This episode of Canadian True Crime was primarily written by Nate Henley based on his new book The Boy on the Bicycle. Audio production was by Eric Crosby. The disclaimer was voiced by the host of the Beyond Bazaar True Crime podcast. The Canadian True Crime theme song was written for me by We Talk of Dreams.

I'll be back soon with another Canadian True Crime story. See you then. Thank you for watching. you