Canadian True Crime - 47 Jane Hurshman - Part 2

Episode Date: June 1, 2019

BANGS FALLS, NOVA SCOTIAThe continuation of the story of one Canadian woman's life living with domestic violence.Learn more about:Sheltersafe.ca - services to support women trying to leave an abusive relationshipWarning signs you might be in an abusive relationshipWant to support my sponsors? Here's where the discount codes are:www.canadiantruecrime.ca/sponsorsLive shows this summer:True Crime Podcasts - Live in Toronto | August 18, 2-5 pmTrue Crime Podcast Festival - Chicago | July 13, all day Podcast recommendations:Mugshot PodcastCorpus Delecti Credits: Research and writing: Haley GreyWriting, narration, music arrangement, mixing: Kristi Lee Audio editing: Erik Krosby Disclaimer voiced by the host of Beyond Bizarre True Crime Other credits and sources can be found on the page for this episode at www.canadiantruecrime.ca/episodes 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. Listener discretion is advised. Hi there. This is part two of a two-part series. If you haven't listened to part one yet, please go back and listen to that now. It'll all make sense a lot better. Thank you. Where we left off, Jane Stafford's oldest son, 16-year-old Alan, had been getting in trouble, so had been sent to live with the Staffords, Jane, Billy, their son Darren, and the house guest Ronnie. Before long, Alan found himself incorporated into Billy's extremely violent episodes.

One day, Alan stole Jane's car and tried to drive it off the wharf, but he was pulled over by the cops first. He said, quote, Around this time, Jane lost a lot of weight. She was already slim, but now she was gaunt and frail. She would later say, quote, One night, Jane decided she'd had enough. She got up in the middle of the night, loaded a shotgun, and then put it against Billy's head. But she stopped. She didn't want Darren, now four years old, to see the mess. She felt the urge again another night, and again something stopped her from pulling the trigger. She thought about killing herself, but didn't want to leave Darren.

She even considered killing Darren and Alan first, but she quickly dismissed that idea. She thought about hiring someone to kill Billy for her, a hit. She offered a local fisherman $20,000 to do the job. The fisherman asked why she wanted Billy dead, and she told him about the domestic violence. But he said he wasn't interested and told her to call a lawyer instead. She asked him a few more times if he would do it, but he always said no. Back to February of 1982, after Billy had been found shot in his jeep, pathologist Dr Rowland Perry found that of course Billy died as a result of a gunshot wound to the head. The entrance wound was at the front of his left ear, and the muzzle of the gun was approximately six inches away from his skull,

when the single shot was fired. Ten officers had been assigned to the case to try and find out who shot Billy. The more they looked at the evidence, they realized that the most likely suspect was his wife Jane. They had of course heard many rumours of Billy's abuse, and had heard rumours of Jane trying to hire a hitman. And what's more, they also found out that Billy had a $20,000 life insurance policy, the exact amount of money she promised to the fisherman to kill him. Just before midnight on March the 13th, the day after Billy's body had been found, police showed up at the Stafford residence with a warrant to search the premises. Jane was taken to the precinct, and a photographer took photos of her bruised left arm. She also had older bruises all over the side of her body, which was black and blue from a beating she'd received from a vacuum cleaner hose.

But for some reason, this extensive bruising wasn't photographed. Jane was questioned about what she thought had happened to Billy. She said that he was involved in drugs, and that he must have been killed by the mafia. Another officer, Corporal Pond, came in next. He told Jane that they knew she'd tried to hire someone to shoot Billy. Jane would not admit to it. After the next few hours, the officers tried different tactics to get her to confess, but all she would say was that she wanted to see Lamont Stafford, that's Billy's father, and that she wanted to go home because she was afraid the men who had killed Billy would come back to kill her children. At no point did Jane say she wanted a lawyer, and at no point did police tell her she was a suspect or that she was under arrest. Billy's father, Lamont, had now arrived. In front of an officer, Lamont asked his daughter-in-law if she killed Billy, and Jane said yes. She then told the police the stories of her years of abuse. A police officer wrote furiously while she talked. Jane's confession was the following. She said that on March the 11th 1982, Billy had already forced her to have sex with him, he'd raped her, before getting back to a project he was working on, setting up a pig pen in the barn on the property.

He'd previously gotten into an argument with their neighbour Margaret over that pig pen. Once Jane got back to her housework, Margaret came over adamant that she wanted to speak with Billy again about the pig pen. Margaret didn't want it next door because she knew that the smell would be strong. But when she brought it up with him, he yelled and cursed at her, threatened her, and then decided to go ahead with it anyway. So Billy was in a foul mood. He told Jane to give him some money, but she said she couldn't because he only had enough to pay the insurance for their truck. In retaliation to this news, Billy took Jane's fresh load of laundry, threw it in the mud, and then brought the muddy clothes back in to present to her. He slapped Jane, spat on her, took her money, and then left with his friend Ronnie, who still lived with the family and was of course a victim of Billy's violence too. Once Jane saw the back of the truck, she got back to re-washing that laundry load. Billy and Ronnie came back at about 6.30pm, drunk and high on marijuana.

Jane said that after a while, Billy told her to drive them to a friend's house down the road. Halfway there, he told her to pull over so he and Ronnie could smoke another joint. As the men were smoking beside the car, Jane says she reflected on the state of her marriage. She thought about how she'd never escape Billy, and neither would the children. She recalled the pleading eyes of her three sons flashing before her eyes. She recalled Alan's failed suicide attempt. Billy and Ronnie got back in the truck, and Jane continued driving them to Billy's friends where the two men played cards and drank while Jane waited for them. After several hours, they came out, ready to leave, and she drove them home. Billy would not let up about the argument he'd been having with their neighbour Margaret over the pigpen. He said he'd bought some gas to light up her home, and he said he was going to watch it burn. He then started laughing, turned to Jane, and said he'd taken care of Alan while he was at it.

Billy then proceeded to pass out in the car. When they arrived home, Ronnie hopped out and ran inside. He was severely inebriated, he was wasted, and it was time to pass out. But Jane just waited in the truck, because Billy had a rule that she wasn't allowed to get out of the truck until he woke up or gave her permission. She didn't want to chance him waking up. So she sat there, in the truck next to her passed out husband, reflecting on her life again. This time, she decided that enough was enough. She honked the truck's horn to get Alan's attention. From inside, the 17-year-old chose to ignore it because he thought maybe his mum and Billy were fighting again, and the horn got hit on accident. But on the second honk, Alan headed outside to see what was going on. Jane rolled down the window of the truck and told Alan to get a gun from inside and load it.

Without knowing what exactly was going on, Alan just did what his mum asked. He went inside, got a 12-gauge shotgun from Ronnie's bedroom, loaded it, and brought it back outside to his mum, who was now standing beside the truck. Jane told Alan to go back inside. Once her son was safely indoors, she approached the window of the driver's side, put the barrel of the gun in, turned her head away, and pulled the trigger. Alan paced around the kitchen. He heard the shot. 30 seconds later, he went outside and saw his mother by the car, with the gun in her hand covered in blood. She told him to get her a clean change of clothes and put them in a garbage bag. She gave him the gun and told him to take it to Margaret's, the neighbour, because her housemate, Roger, would help him get rid of it. Jane then instructed Alan to tell Margaret that everything was okay, that Billy wouldn't hurt her now.

Next, Alan was instructed to call his grandfather, Jane's dad Morris, to tell him that Jane wanted to meet him and give him the location and time. At this point, Jane didn't know whether Billy was dead or not. She looked away when she pulled the trigger and didn't look back again, she just didn't want to. All she knew was that she was covered in blood, the truck was covered in blood and she needed to get away from the house, so four-year-old Darren wouldn't see anything. She drove about 15 kilometres down the country road and stopped the truck at the location where she'd asked her father to meet her. She put the truck in reverse and backed it up until she couldn't anymore. She got the garbage bag full of clothes out of the back and started walking down the road. It wasn't too long before her parents drove up as she'd asked them to. She got in the car and they asked what was wrong, but she told them not to ask her anything about it. She then asked them to take her to her house so she could get cleaned up. Once there, Jane took a bath, put all her dirty clothes into the trash bag and then asked her parents to drive her back home.

Once inside the house, she saw a note from Alan saying that he was at Margaret's, the neighbour. Jane went to the bedroom and flicked her lights on and off, signalling to Margaret that she was home. Alan came back to the house along with Margaret and her roommate, Roger. As Alan burned the garbage bag full of bloody clothes, he told his mum that he and Roger had broken the gun into three pieces and tossed them into the river close by. At around midnight, everyone went to bed, but Jane couldn't sleep. She just lay in her bed, her mind racing, wondering if Billy was really dead. Because she had decided not to look at him after she pulled the trigger, she had no idea that she'd decapitated him with that shot. The next morning, Jane was still in damage control. Ronnie, the house guest, had passed out soon after he went inside the night before and had been asleep the whole time. Jane was pretty confident he didn't know anything about what happened just after he went inside, but she wanted to make sure, so she innocently asked him if he knew where Billy was.

Ronnie said he had no idea. Then Jane went next door to visit Margaret, and when she walked back, the police were arriving. Jane fainted when the police told her that Billy was dead, but she wasn't faking. She was so completely exhausted not to mention utterly relieved. It was that final confirmation she'd been looking for. Billy couldn't hurt her or her children anymore. When Jane had finished her full confession, Constable Williamson asked her to repeat the story while he took notes, but he completely left out the details of the years of abuse at the hands of Billy. When the confession was over, Williamson remarked to another police officer that Jane deserved a medal. They were all a bit relieved. Of course, they all knew of Billy and his hatred of police officers, and thought there was a chance he might one day kill one of them. After her confession, the police took Jane to the scene of the crime, so she could show them everything she'd done. It was now noon the next day, 12 hours after she was taken to the station. She was beyond exhausted. The police took her home to sleep in her own bed. Before your old Darren came to lay down with her, she told her son that she'd killed his father, and that he wouldn't be coming home again. Darren replied that he was glad.

Jane was charged with first degree murder, but she wasn't arrested or jailed, not yet. The investigation was ongoing, and police knew that she wouldn't go anywhere. Jane was very scared and confused during this time. Her lawyer wanted her to see a psychiatrist, and she did, but she was immediately triggered by the fact that her therapist was a man. She never went back. Everyone was being extremely sympathetic towards her. In fact, she was emerging as a hero, but the fact that she'd been charged with first degree murder weighed heavily on her mind. All she could focus on was the fact that she might be sent away and separated from Darren. The other boys were older and still had their father Milfy, but Darren was still little. His father was now dead, and Jane was all he had. She made a snap decision to recount her confession so she wouldn't go to jail. She told police that what really happened was that Billy was beating her, and then her 17-year-old son, Alan, shot Billy as he was beating her in the cab of the truck. Police went to arrest the unsuspecting Alan from his grandfather's house. He immediately told police that, yes, it was true, it had been he who shot Billy. The funny thing is that Jane and Alan never discussed this new confession. Alan just assumed that this would be what his mum would want. Jane and Alan were both charged with first degree murder and remanded in prison. Little Darren went to live with Jane's sister Mona. But the police didn't believe her new story. The evidence also told a different story. Jane agreed to do a lie detector test. It concluded she was lying.

At the end, the polygraph operator said to her, quote, you pulled the trigger, didn't you? Jane broke down and said yes, her original story was true. She did pull the trigger. She profusely apologized. Jane and Alan were released on $5,000 bond each, and two months later, Alan's charges were dropped. Jane's lawyer expected her to be able to plead guilty to manslaughter instead, allowing her to bypass a trial. But the Crown had other ideas. They still wanted to go ahead with the trial for first degree murder. Jane Stafford's trial started on November 2, 1982, and lasted for 18 days. The Crown argued that her actions were planned and deliberate, and even though Billy was a bad person, she had no right to kill him just because of her tough situation. Quote, we may sympathize with Jane in her situation, but the law is the law. The defense argued that Jane acted in self-defense and in defense of others. Her lawyer asked the jury to return a manslaughter verdict on the basis that Jane was provoked by Billy. There were 46 witnesses, including 17 police and medical witnesses. Both of Billy's ex-wives, Pauline and Faith, testified to their experiences with Billy, recounting multiple examples of his abuse. The court heard from various friends and family members who also testified to their experiences with Billy. Their neighbour, Margaret, the one at the centre of the pigpen argument, testified at the trial. The book Life After Billy detailed how Margaret had since turned against Jane for getting her involved in their fight, and then Billy's death. On the stand, Margaret claimed that Billy wasn't abusive and that Jane was lying.

Constable Williamson was asked why he didn't include Jane's account of the physical assaults in his report. He said it was because he felt they had nothing to do with the murder. He added that he was also not surprised to hear of Jane's abuse and that he had sympathy for her. Medical professionals and psychologists testified that Jane was nervous and tense, but she wasn't a violent or aggressive person. They didn't believe that she murdered Billy deliberately in cold blood. They said she did it to protect her children, and because she was stressed and confused, she didn't realise what she was doing when she changed her confession and blamed her teenage son. Jane was diagnosed as extremely depressed and anxious. According to psychologists, the night of the murder, Jane's stress was at a peak and she only saw one way out. And she was now completely guilt-ridden about it. Jane herself took the stand, talking about her childhood and first marriage to Milfy, and then about her relationship with Billy. She spoke at length about his abuse. She talked about why she lied to police. She said she didn't want to be away from Darren. She had no idea that Alan was going to falsely confirm to police that he shot Billy. In fact, they hadn't even discussed it. During the trial, media outlets were misreporting trial facts to paint Jane in a different light to how she was in reality. After Billy was shot, Jane had a large bruise on her left arm, and it was falsely reported as fact that the bruise was from the gun recoil, not from the abuse she said Billy gave her. The judge got angry at these kinds of reports, warning the media that he would seek a publication ban if that type of speculative reporting continued.

The jury came back with a verdict. They found Jane not guilty of first-degree murder. Everyone in the courtroom stood to their feet and applauded the verdict. Jane was, of course, elated, but her lawyer warned her that the crown would appeal. She left the courthouse and went to pick up Darren. She and the kids would be moving to Ontario. They left not much later, on December 2, 1982. Two weeks after the move, the crown, of course, appealed the verdict. Jane started feeling extremely depressed in Ontario, so she moved back to Bangs Falls, Nova Scotia, just a few weeks later. She was still smart and driven, and she started a nursing assistance class at Lunenburg Regional Vocation School. In October of that year, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia heard the crown's appeal. They argued that much of the defence's evidence about Billy and his abuse was intended to bring on sympathy for Jane, but that didn't mean it was relevant to his murder. The court agreed. A new trial for Jane Stafford was ordered. Do you have a passion project that you're ready to take to the next level? Square Space 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 Square Space 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 Square Space's wide selection of clean and modern templates. They can be easily customised with pre-built layouts and flexible design tools to fit your needs, and you can even browse the category of your business to see examples of what others have done. I use the built-in blogging tools to create a new page for each episode, and there are so many intuitive options from embedding an audio player so listeners can stream episodes to scheduling posts to be published on a certain date, an easily moderated comment section and automatically displaying recent episodes on the homepage. Every Square Space website and online store includes SEO tools to help you maximise your visibility in search engines, and I love the powerful insights I can get from the analytics tools, 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. Again, for the second trial, Jane's lawyer suggested that the Crown allow her to take a plea deal. Instead of her first degree murder charges, meaning the murder was planned and deliberate, she would plead guilty to manslaughter, meaning the murder was not planned and unintentional. The Crown did admit that it seemed clear at the beginning of the first trial that first degree murder was appropriate, but as the trial unfolded, it became clear that the lesser charge of manslaughter would have been more appropriate. The Crown allowed Jane to plead guilty to manslaughter. At sentencing, the Crown suggested that she serve some jail time to discourage others from following in her footsteps. The defense asked for a suspended sentence, meaning she'd effectively be on probation, citing the reason that Jane would carry the abuse she'd suffered for the rest of her life.

The judge said that Billy Stafford was still a human, no matter how terrible he was. He called Jane the judge, jury and executioner, but he believed she was not a threat to society. Jane was given a sentence of six months in jail and two years probation. During jail, she was allowed to attend her nursing assistant classes, escorted. Jane only served a third of her prison sentence at Halifax Correction Centre and then became eligible for parole. She was now 35 years old, and as she left prison, she thought about her goals, get herself and seven-year-old Darren into therapy, then find a job, reunite her family and help other abused women. Jane changed her name and Darren's name from Stafford back to her maiden name, Hirshman, and they both undertook extensive psychotherapy. In June of 1984, a few months after her release from prison, Jane graduated as a nursing assistant, and two months after that, she was officially off parole with just a year of probation left.

She moved into an apartment in Dartmouth with all three of her boys, Darren, Jamie and Alan. She found a job and quietly started working with different organisations who helped women survivors of domestic violence. She began counselling women who were in the same situation that she'd come from. She recalled that when she was going through the worst of her own abuse, it was one of those things that women just didn't talk about. It's because of this that Jane didn't know that there were women shelters and services to help women in abusive relationships. She wanted to spread awareness and help others like her. So she teamed up with author Brian Valley to write a book about her experiences. She would say it was a really difficult time because she had to relive the graphic details of every single horrific incident involving Billy.

But she did it because she felt a duty to let other domestic violence survivors know they're not alone. She believed there was an acceptance of domestic violence as being part of many normal relationships, and she spoke about how awareness needs to be raised. Quote, doctors and lawyers could be made more aware of the signs. The change in attitudes should start in schools. When the book Life with Billy was released to critical acclaim in 1986, the shocking details of Billy's abuse and Jane's experiences put her in the public eye in a big way. The book quickly became a bestseller, and Jane was asked to travel to attend book signings and speaking engagements. She said that she finally felt happy. Quote, the fear is gone. I think that's the biggest thing.

Jane continued to want to raise awareness of what happened to her, and when it was suggested that a movie be made based on the book, she replied that she wholeheartedly supported the idea. She thought it might help abused women who didn't have access to her book, and she felt that the more her story was publicised, the harder it would be for people to ignore the issue. But despite her mission to raise awareness of domestic violence, she really struggled with her life story being in the public eye. Jane Hirschman had a hurricane brewing inside of her. Through her therapy, Jane was diagnosed as a kleptomaniac.

Whenever a smell or a face triggered memories of Billy, she got the uncontrollable urge to steal. She would go on to have multiple shoplifting convictions, more than 10 spanning a few years. She was often given probation and ordered to receive more psychiatric help. One psychiatrist postulated that a part of Jane's subconscious couldn't stand to see her getting better and living a better life, just like Billy couldn't. She was also diagnosed with dissociative disorder, a condition that was previously referred to as multiple personality disorder. This diagnosis didn't come as a surprise to those who knew her. She exhibited frequent mood changes and odd behaviour.

Suicide was frequently on Jane's mind. Every time she was caught shoplifting, those thoughts would rise to the surface. The embarrassment of shoplifting weighed heavily on her. She wrote at the time, quote, When I mess up, it's because I can't believe that I deserve to be happy, or that I'm worthy of good things or good people around me. She felt embarrassed and was worried that she would lose everything. She also felt enormous guilt because she was not able to protect Darren from those years of Billy's abuse.

Understandably, she found it hard to trust men, although she did date here and there. On July 6th, 1989, almost five years after her release, Jane decided she couldn't take it anymore. She got a hotel room in the afternoon and recorded an audio message saying goodbye and sent it off in a taxi to be delivered to her boyfriend, Tynes. Jane then took an overdose of sleeping pills and waited for the final end to her life of pain. At 7.30 that night, her boyfriend, Tynes, was surprised to receive the mysterious tape delivery, and he asked the taxi driver where he'd picked it up from.

The driver gave Tynes the name of the hotel that Jane was at. Tynes listened to part of the tape, and then when he realized it was some sort of suicide message from Jane, he called the police. When the police located the room that Jane was in, she was literally minutes away from death. As she recovered, she received psychiatric care at the Nova Scotia Hospital. She said she wanted to kill herself because she couldn't deal with her problems and she didn't want to discuss them with anyone. After more therapy, Jane continued on with her life.

She had no choice. Eventually, she was able to find a man that she trusted. In 1990, at age 41, she met a licensed mechanic named Joel Corkham through a mutual friend. There was an instant mutual attraction. According to Jane, it was destiny. Quote, I came alive. Just months later, Joel moved in with Jane and her family and they quickly got engaged and bought a house. On the first anniversary of the time that they met, Jane wrote Joel a letter.

Quote, I no longer take life for granted and because of you, I have a very special appreciation of its beauty. But old baggage tends to cling. One of Jane's close friends observed that as she and Joel's wedding day approached, Jane became more aggressive and agitated. Jane and Joel got married on October the 10th, 1991 and Jane seemed happy on the day. But those close to her noticed that her eyes were widening and bulging. It was if she was dissociating or having a flashback. Throughout all of this, Jane was still in the public eye as an inspirational survivor of domestic violence.

She still gave speeches and inspired women. But after one of her speeches just six weeks after she got married, a message was left at her therapist's office. It said, you tell that bitch Jane Hirschman that if she doesn't stop speaking out on violence against women, I'll shut her up permanently. Jane was terrified. She didn't know who left the message, but she asked Joel to get her a gun carry permit because she was scared for her safety. Jane's mental health started to spiral.

A week later, Jane met her friend Donna. She said she had a friend who was dying of cancer and asked if Donna could help her plan and assisted suicide. Her plan was to shoot her friend. Donna said she'd think about it, but told Jane a week later that she wouldn't do it. Jane was angry with Donna, but later told her not to worry about it because the plan had been taken care of. Just a week after that, Jane confided to a close friend, Carrie, telling her that she was in a dark mood and couldn't shake it. She'd been feeling acute depression for about a month, feeling that no one could help her to stop shoplifting and that she was going to end up in jail.

She kept saying to her friend, quote, I won't go to jail and I won't live like this, but I won't kill myself. Jane confessed to a shocked Carrie that since she couldn't kill herself, she had hired someone to do it for her. She'd gone to meet him on a deserted road and he put the gun to her head and fired it, but the gun didn't go off. Jane was devastated that it didn't work. She said the man she'd hired was going to have the gun fixed to try again, but he ended up being arrested on unrelated charges. Jane told her friend that she was glad she didn't die that day. Her friend was worried though and contacted Jane's husband Joel and told him to keep an eye on her. On December 19, 1991, just a week later, Jane got herself a gun.

There was no serial number. She asked Joel to test it to see if it worked properly. Just two weeks later, another threatening message came, this time to Jane's work. A few days after that, she received a threat to her home. Then someone loosened the nuts on her car wheels. Luckily, Joel saw them before she drove the car. And two weeks after that, on January 19, 1992, Jane found an envelope on her car windshield that said, Hi bitch, I want you to know I haven't forgotten. And then another threat came in on February the 4th, again to her workplace,

and then on February 14th, via a phone call to her parents' house. The person on the line said, quote, I just want you to know that I'm always aware of where you are at. Jane was beyond terrified for herself and for Darren. She made arrangements for Darren in the event that something happened to her. He would go and live with a friend. On February 19th, she met with police about the threats to discuss their next course of action. And that night, Jane taped an audio message for Joel and her family. She said that just in case something happened, she'd reported the threats to police.

She hinted that she expected to die soon. She talked about the financial matters that would need attention if she passed away suddenly. She went to work that night and wrote two letters to friends. She then took Darren over to the friend she made arrangements with. She warned her friend that if the people making the threats did make good on them, they would make it so no one would even find her body or they'll make it look like a suicide. And then she left. Three days later, 43-year-old Jane said she was going to the shopping mall

and then she said she was going to meet a domestic violent survivor in Halifax. She told her kids she would call them at lunchtime. As she was leaving, Jane realised she left her purse and her car, but Joel had taken her car to her parents' house around 120 kilometres from her house. When Joel arrived, Jane's father Morris told him about the purse and he said he'd turn back soon to bring it back to her. He kept trying to call Jane before she got into work, but she wasn't picking up. A winter storm was approaching and Joel decided to stay at Jane's parents

and wait for it to be over. But when Jane didn't show up at work and no one could get hold of her, police arrived at her house. When Joel got home, he couldn't find her and drove her normal path to work to see if he could see anything, but there was no sign of her. Police were now in investigation mode, trying to find the identity of the survivor Jane said she was meeting in Halifax. While police were at her house, an unlisted number kept calling and hanging up.

Jane's friends called around to see if anyone knew where she was. One got a hold of Donna, the friend that Jane asked about helping her with a euthanasia plan for a friend dying of cancer. Donna asked what Jane had been wearing the last time she'd been seen. When Donna heard that Jane was wearing a jogging suit, she immediately thought that Jane was dead. The reason why is that Jane always dressed professionally when she went to meet with survivors.

She never would have worn a jogging suit. It suddenly dawned on Donna that when Jane was talking about her friend with cancer, she actually meant herself. Donna told the police. The following day, February 22, 1992, in the morning, Jane's body was found inside a car on the Halifax waterfront. She was in the driver's seat but slumped over toward the passenger side door with a gunshot wound to the chest.

The police immediately investigated the scene. They noticed that icicles had formed from the car to the ground and while there was snow on the ground, there were no footprints. It was obvious that the car had been there for a while. The car had four doors, all of which were unlocked except the front door on the passenger side. That was locked. No purse or ID was found and the keys were in the ignition. In the left pocket of Jane's jacket, police found a sealed envelope with a letter saying,

quote, no more talk from you, gotcha. There was a folded flannel sheet draped partially over Jane's lap, her right hand and the seat. The gun that was lying in her lap was the same gun she'd bought in December, the one without the serial number. In the passenger seat, there was a plastic sandwich bag containing three 38 caliber bullets and there was no evidence of a struggle. Jane had specified that she wanted a private viewing of her body for family only. She was cremated and her funeral was held on February the 28th.

The female reverend said that Jane was relentless in her help of others but everyone took from her and she never got to heal her own wounds. The reverend said that Jane's example inspired her to leave her own home domestic violence situation and become a minister. Two days later, a candlelit vigil was held. At this point, Ellen was 27, Jamie was 19 and Darren was just 15 so he went to live with his grandparents. Autopsy results noted the bullet entered the front of Jane's chest near the centre

and injured her heart and right lung. Although suicide could not be ruled out, the idea of a murder seemed far-fetched. The reason why the passenger side door was locked was because it was broken and it couldn't be opened from the inside. So the killer would have had to climb over the back seat or over Jane herself in the driver's side to get out of the car. Because of the angle of the gunshot wound, if the killer wasn't in the passenger seat then they would have had to be on Jane's lap or crouch down

and then shot with their left hand. This was pretty improbable so Jane's death was determined to be consistent with suicide but did not rule out homicide. This determination sparked a raging debate among all of the women's support groups Jane had been working with. Many people who knew Jane refused to believe that she would give up on life especially after all she'd been through and fought for. They worried that her message of raising awareness about domestic violence might suffer

because of the circumstances of her death. Police interviewed 60 people to determine if Jane died by suicide or whether she was murdered. They came to the conclusion that it was suicide and the medical examiner agreed. The lab test results indicated that there were powder burns on the blanket that was in the car as well as burns on her hand. The gun was in contact with her shirt and pressed against her chest. Also police found that $1000 cash was missing.

They came up with a theory that it was suicide but Jane paid someone money to come afterwards and remove the gun and bullets from the car just like her plan for her friend with terminal cancer. When they got close to the scene they saw the snow and didn't want to leave footprints that might implicate them. Police also discovered that if Jane had been murdered instead of dying by suicide her life insurance policy would pay over $300,000 and her new mortgage would have been paid off.

It seemed to be to Jane's advantage to make her suicide look like a murder. When her lawyer Alan Ferrier was asked what he thought, he agreed with the police. He also believed that Jane concocted the entire suicide to look like murder including staging multiple death threats all orchestrated by her. Jane was likely to have reasoned that she'd be letting people down if she killed herself but if she was murdered then she wouldn't be letting anyone down. Police continued to look into the threats but were unable to figure out who sent them nor were they able to prove that Jane herself sent them.

In June 1992, four months after her death, it was marked as a suicide and the case closed. But to this day there are people who still believe that Jane was murdered and want police to reopen the investigation. The following year, 1993, Jane Hirschman's flame burned bright as ever. The made for TV movie called Life with Billy aired on CBC TV directed by Paul Donovan and starring Nancy Beattie as Jane Hirschman and Stephen McCatty as Billy Stafford. And that same year, author Brian Valley released a sequel to his first book

titled Life After Billy, Jane's Legacy, Lived On. And legally, Jane's case and the way in which she chose to speak publicly afterwards paved the way for significant historical impact. Just two years after Jane's second trial, where she was allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter 22-year-old Winnipeg resident Angelique Lynn Larverly ended up in a similar situation to Jane. Angelique Lynn had been in a physically abusive relationship with her common law husband, Kevin Rust which the court described as volatile and punctuated by frequent arguments and violence. Angelique Lynn had even been hospitalized to be treated for injuries she'd sustained during one of his violent attacks.

In 1986, she and Kevin got into an extremely heated argument and as he turned to leave the room, she picked up a gun and shot him in the back of the head. At her trial, a psychiatric expert witness testified about the existence of battered wife syndrome telling the court that Angelique Lynn had been terrorized mentally and physically during her relationship with Kevin and she felt like she had no way out of the relationship. His violence towards her had escalated to such a point that on that night, after their intense fight, she expected that he would actually kill her. So her act of shooting him first was in desperation and self-defense.

The jury delivered a verdict of not guilty to second degree murder on the basis of self-defense. But just like Jane Hirschman, the verdict was overturned on appeal and Angelique Lynn was sent back to be retried. The case ended up in the Supreme Court of Canada where careful consideration was given as to whether the testimony on battered wife syndrome given by the psychiatrist should have been allowed. In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court decided the testimony was appropriate with Justice Bertha Wilson saying that when it comes to matters that the average person doesn't know much about, the court relies on expert witnesses who can provide insights and knowledge into these matters. The famous judgement was written by Justice Wilson who stood as the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

In her judgement, she wrote that in this case, it was difficult for the average person to understand the inner workings of an abusive relationship and that the concept was subject to a large group of myths and stereotypes. An example of one of these myths is the belief that if the abuse was really that bad, surely they would have left the relationship. Another myth is that they actually enjoyed being treated that way and perhaps even asked for it. Justice Wilson said that expert testimony would help dispel myths like these, helping the jury to assess how reasonable Angelique Lynn's belief was that the only way to save herself was to kill her husband. It was Jane Hirschman's high-profile domestic violence case that paved the way for Angelique Lynn Larverly's case to broaden the definition of self-defence. It led to what was called the Battered Wife Syndrome, becoming a legitimate legal defence in the Canadian court system.

That cumulative abuse from a partner can be used as a defence. Quote, A battered woman should be allowed to use a plea of self-defence as a reason for killing her abuser, even if an attack against her was not in progress or imminent. After writing Life with Billy, author Brian Valley was inundated with messages from Canadian women who wanted him to tell their stories of domestic violence. So many of them. He was struck by its prevalence. Before then, not many people had been talking about it. So in 2007, he published another book called The War on Women.

He told several more Canadian domestic violence stories and pushed for action on approaches to domestic violence by the criminal justice system. Shockingly, every year, Canada spends $7.4 billion to deal with issues related to domestic violence. In 2018, a report was released called hashtag call it Femmicide understanding gender-related killings of women and girls in Canada. The report confirmed that the most dangerous place for women and girls is in their own home. Last year, more than 148 Canadian women were killed because of gender-based violence, meaning that they were killed by someone just because they are female. Included in this count is of course victims of gender-based attacks like the Toronto Van attack. But of this total, more than half of these women were murdered by their current or former intimate male partners. They were shot, stabbed, strangled and beaten to death, often as they were trying to leave the abusive relationship.

That's one woman killed every six days in 2018 and an untold more who survived their attacks. And we know that violence against women is even more prevalent in minority groups, including Indigenous, disabled and LGBTQ women. Yes, men experience domestic violence too, but the statistics show that the problem is significantly larger for women. In fact, in 2017, all domestic homicides in Canada were examined and 84% of them were women murdered by their intimate partners. 84%, that's wildly disproportionate. So, what can be done? According to the Canadian Women's Foundation, education works. For example, high school violence prevention programs.

Their research showed that even years after attending a school program, students experience long-term benefits such as better dating relationships, the ability to recognise and leave an unhealthy relationship and increased self-confidence, assertiveness and leadership. If your local school doesn't offer a teen violence prevention program, consider suggesting it. But this whole thing is not just about helping women. Australian author Clementine Ford says, quote, Everyone's afraid that their daughters might be hurt. No one seems to be scared that their sons might be the ones to do it. If you're like me and you're a parent raising a son, we have a big responsibility.

Consider pushing back on the notion that boys will be boys, that boys can't cry, that they need to be tough and brave, that their toys should be focused on power, strength and destruction. It's actually okay for boys to be sweet, sensitive, gentle, kind and nurturing. It's when our sons are boys that we lay the foundation for how they will be as men. If you think you might be in an abusive relationship, there is someone you can reach out to any time of day or night. If you're in Canada, women's shelters Canada provide some excellent resources and are ready to help you whether you stay in a shelter or not. Just go to Sheltersafe.ca to find out their great tips on how to stay safe, crisis lines for each province and how to put together an action plan. That's Sheltersafe.ca.

If you're worried that your relationship might be heading down that road and want to know more, I've also linked to an article with a list of warning signs that you might be in an abusive relationship. Just look in the show notes or go to the page for this episode at canadiantruecrime.ca. Thanks for listening and thanks again to Hailey Gray for researching this case for me. Today I have two podcast recommendations. Corpus Dilecti and Mugshot. Take a listen. Who are the fraudsters, arsonists, stalkers, hackers and more? I'm Lindsay, the host of Mugshot.

Mugshot is a true crime podcast bringing you stories of the non-murderous crimes you didn't know you needed to hear. Be sure to find Mugshot on your favorite podcatcher and on all social media outlets at the handle at Mugshot Pod. But until then, stay out of trouble or you may end up pictured in your very own Mugshot. Hey everyone, it's Jen and this is Lindsay and we're the hosts of Corpus Dilecti. If true crime is your thing, it's ours too and we do it with a dash of lightheartedness and a hint of southern charm. We cover both well and lesser known cases and have also started a series where we spend weeks at a time covering cases from certain topics. Ever wondered why there are so many cruise ship deaths and disappearances? How about how crime has affected history? What about lesser known serial killers? Corpus Dilecti has you covered.

Episodes are released every Tuesday and can be found on your favorite podcatcher. That's C-O-R-P-U-S-D-E-L-I-C-T-I. Hope you'll join us soon. Just you listening is a huge support to me. Thank you so much. This month I'm saying thank you to these patrons. Christy A. John R. Jamie M. Helen R. Kirsten L. Rebecca B. Sam S. Stacey M. Carolyn B. Amanda P. Weston T. Renee B. Jessica N. Nancy B. Wendy Lindsay. Becky H. Elizabeth F. and George S. This episode of Canadian True Crime was researched by Hailey Gray, written by me and audio production was by Eric Crosby. The host of the Beyond Bazaar True Crime podcast voiced the disclaimer and the Canadian True Crime theme song was written by We Talk of Dreams.

I'll be back soon with another Canadian True Crime story. See you then. Thanks for watching. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel.