Canadian True Crime - The Gaspé Murders

Episode Date: October 2, 2026

Three hunters head deep into the rugged wilderness of Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula for a 10-day trip, but fail to return home. A search turns up their abandoned truck, followed by something far more disturbing.As investigators try to piece together what happened, attention turns to a local man named Wilbert Coffin, one of the last people known to have crossed paths with the missing men. This case would go on to trigger years of controversy with questions about police tunnel vision, political interference and the nature of justice itself.More information:Listen to The Coffin Affair: A Miscarriage of Justice Revisited by Kathryn M. Campbell.The intention of this episode is to revisit a criminal case that became a major chapter in Canadian legal history, examine how the investigation and prosecution unfolded, and explore why the questions surrounding it have endured for generations. ---------------------Separation Anxiety: The Alberta Referendum A five part investigative series wherever you get your podcasts. Episode 2 available now.---------------------Canadian true crime donates monthly to those facing injustice. This month we have donated to the Association for Families of Persons Assassinated or Disappeared (AFPAD).Look for early, ad-free release on CTC premium feeds: available on Amazon Music (included with Prime), Apple Podcasts and Patreon.Full list of resources, information sources, credits and music credits:See the page for this episode at www.canadiantruecrime.ca/episodes/222 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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And with that, it's on with this episode. It's early July and two families in the US state of Pennsylvania are waiting for news of their loved ones from the remote wilderness in Quebec. Nearly a month has passed since 45-year-old pipe-fitter Eugene Lindsay left on a hunting trip with his 17-year-old son Richard, who'd just graduated from high school. The trip was something of a graduation present, and the father and son had been joined by their 19-year-old family friend, Fred Clare. The Lindsay and Clare families both live near Holidaysburg, a small community of a few thousand people about two hours drive east of Pittsburgh.

They knew that their three hunters had driven about 60. 100 kilometres northeast across the U.S. Canada border and up to the Gas Bay Peninsula in Quebec, a long finger of land that juts out where the St Lawrence River opens out toward the Atlantic Ocean, just north of New Brunswick. The Gas Bay Peninsula is a stunning coastal region known for its dramatic mountains that meet the sea, an isolated region of thick forests, mountains of mountains of. and rough logging roads, the very definition of the wilderness, the perfect place for hunting. The journey would have taken roughly two full days in Eugene's green pickup truck, and they did not

plan to stop. The truck had a rudimentary bed in the back of it so that one person could sleep while the others took turns driving. Their families in Pennsylvania knew at least that they'd successfully made it to the village of Gas Bay. They'd received a postcard from 17-year-old Richard mailed from the village. He said they planned to head into the forest following the St. John River. They would have a 10-day adventure hunting black bear and then they would drive the two days back to Pennsylvania. That was early June of 1953.

When the trio didn't return home on time, their families weren't especially concerned at first. Eugene is an experienced hunter, and he's been known to extend his trips before. Communication from the wilderness is limited, and it wasn't the first time they'd been to the area. Eugene knew there was good basic shelter there, a series of four old camps with wooden cabins once used by lumberjacks.

There were any number of reasons why the hunters might be delayed. Their families wait and hope they'll hear from them soon. But the days and weeks pass with no word. By July 5th, it's been a month since they left on a 10-day hunting trip and their families can no longer ignore the possibility that something has gone wrong. They contact police in the village of Gas Bay and report them missing. Police send out search parties to see. if they can find the American hunters. The Gas Bay Peninsula is a large area of land roughly

the size of Vancouver Island, but it has a relatively small population, only about 115,000 residents, and they mostly live near the coast because the rugged interior has limited farmland. The searches have a pretty good idea where the missing hunters might be, because they'd told their families that they plan to travel the St. John River, a waterway that flows east into Gas Bay Bay. As a search team travels a logging road in the general area, they spot a green pickup truck parked ahead. There are no signs of any occupants or anyone around. It looks like it's been abandoned. The location is not far from one of the old camps with wooden cabins, once used by lumberjacks. Maybe they're there.

They're not. Another search team near a different campsite, Camp 21, comes across something extremely grim, a body, or the decomposing remains of one, in very bad shape. The head is completely missing. There's bear tracks all over the area. Animal scavengers have gnawed on the remaining bones. A rifle is discovered near the body. It's got matted bits of human hair on it, shreds of skin and blood.

Not far from that, there's other objects strewn about the site, a sleeping bag, food, jackets, and a camp stove. The police have no way to tell who the body belongs to, but they operate on the assumption that it must belong to one of the missing hunters from Pennsylvania, likely the older man, not one of the teenagers. As the search continues, the local coroner, Dr. Ryu, is tasked with identifying the body and figuring out what happened. Local residents are told to come forward if they encountered the American hunters or knew anyone else that did. An old Gaspe Logging Road gatekeeper comes forward to say he saw them as they were entering the woods.

He didn't interact with them, but he did see a local prospect. and woodsman, Wilbert Coffin, in the area at around the same time. 38-year-old Wilbert Coffin lives in Montreal with his spouse and son now, but he was born and raised on Gas Bay Peninsula, in York Centre, a small, mostly English-speaking neighbourhood in the village of Gas Bay. Wilbert is the third of 11 children and most of his family and friends still live there, so he returns often. He's reportedly well-liked in the area, known for his generosity and always having a smile on his face.

Slim, dark-haired and of medium height, Wilbert never graduated from high school, but became a skilled outdoorsman, a jack-of-all-trades. He started prospecting in the Gas Bay Woods 20 years earlier when he was 18 years old, searching for valuable mineral deposits to earn money, It's something he always returned to. When the Second World War broke out, Wilbert enlisted in the Canadian Army and served overseas, sometimes as a cook.

After the war, he found jobs cooking in various hotels, which led him to Montreal, where he met a young woman named Marion Petrie. They began a relationship, and Marion gave birth to a son, James, although the couple didn't get married, which was unusual in Quebec at that time. Marion worked in a factory, but Wilbert chipped in for household expenses whenever she asked. He earned most of his income from prospecting or from being hired to stake mining claims on other people's behalf.

And he was away a lot, mostly in the Gas Bay Peninsula, leaving Marion in Montreal with Little James until he returned. By the time the Quebec provincial police learned that Wilbert Coffin has been spotted in the same area as the three missing hunters, he's already driven the more than 900 kilometres back to Montreal, a journey that would take nine or ten hours today. So he turns back to Gas Bay so police can speak to him about the three missing hunters. Wilbert Coffin sits down with Sergeant Henri Doyle, who was leading the investigation. By this point, it's July 20, about six weeks since the Three Hunters left Pennsylvania.

Wilbert confirms he did come into contact with them about five days after that on June the 10th, and in fact he's got quite the story about it. He tells the investigator that he was driving along a rough logging road when he came across a green pickup truck stuck in the mud blocking his own way. He got out to see what was happening and ended up chatting with the three men in the truck, who introduced themselves as Eugene Lindsay, his 17-year-old son Richard and a slightly older teenager named Fred, all on a hunting trip from Pennsylvania. Unlike the hunters, Wilbert Coffin says he was unarmed, but he wasn't afraid they just needed

some help, so he offered to use his own truck to pull theirs out of the mud. The operation was a success, and the green pickup truck was free. But that didn't solve the problem. Wilbert tells the police that the truck wasn't in working order. The American hunters told him they believed the truck's fuel pump was defective and needed to be replaced. Wilbert offered to give them a ride back to. the village of Gas Bay to get the replacement part. Young Richard Lindsay would go along with

Wilbert while his father Eugene waited at the pickup truck with Fred. Getting to the village wasn't going to be easy or fast. The old logging roads were so rough. It was a bumpy ride of a couple of hours, but once they arrived in the village, they visited various retailers and soon purchased a replacement fuel pump. 38-year-old Wilbert told the investigator he bonded with 17-year-old Richard during the journey back, to the point where the youth noticed him admiring his hunting knife and he handed it to him, saying he wanted him to keep it. Wilbert was grateful for the gift.

When they arrived back at the green pickup truck, there was another vehicle next to it, a yellow-colored jeep with American license plates and some kind of plywood finish. And there were two new men in their 30s. Wilbert Coffin told the police that Eugene introduced these men to him as some friends from the States. But he couldn't remember their names. All seemed good and well, and he said the six men sat down by the campfire and had a meal together. Wilbert tells the police that afterwards Eugene Lindsay took him aside and opened up his wallet

showing a huge wad of cash that Wilbert estimated to be at least 650 American dollars worth more than $7,000 today. No wallet had been found with Eugene's remains and certainly no cash. Wilbert says Eugene took 40 American dollars out as a thank you for all his help. He was grateful and said he had a copper claim to stake deep in the bush,

but promised to come back in two days to see how the hunters were doing. True to his word, Wilbert says he did come back two days later, pulling up behind the green pickup truck once again. Now it seemed abandoned. There was no sign of anyone, anywhere. The two new visitors and their yellow colour. Jeep were gone as well. Wilbert tells the police he waited around for hours, but no one returned to the pickup truck.

So he visited his parents, repaid a debt to his friend, caught up with some other friends, and then drove back to his family in Montreal. Once Wilbert Coffin's police interview is over, he joins one of the search parties looking for the two remaining missing teenagers. But before long, he decides to head back into the wilderness for more prospecting, stopping in at his parents' place to retrieve a rifle he'd left there. Wilbert has to be a little sneaky about this rifle, because he's not legally permitted to carry a weapon.

He'd recently lost his gun license for poaching deer, the result of his first and only run-in with the law at that point. Before his recent prospecting trip to gas, Bay. He borrowed the Marlon 324 rifle from a friend named Jack Eagle, just for extra safety for prospecting in the wilderness. But he accidentally left that rifle at his parents' place when he stopped in. So that's where it was when he met the three American hunters. He decided not to mention it to the police. He didn't want to get in trouble. But now he wants that rifle back to continue prospecting, so after he leaves the search, he retrieves it from his parents' place.

Then he heads back into another forest camp about 20 kilometres from the village. He'll need to keep this Marlin rifle hidden at his campsite. In the meantime, the coroner's inquest confirms that the remains discovered near Camp 21 do belonged to 45-year-old pipe-fitter Eugene Lindsay. The father of missing hunter Fred Clare had already traveled from Pennsylvania to Quebec to help with the search. It was he who positively identified the remains as belonging to his old family friend. But the coroner is reluctant to provide an exact cause of death. He would only say that it wasn't natural. The evidence showed the body of the body of the body of the child. The evidence showed the body of

Eugene Lindsay was scavenged by bears and other animals afterwards. The Gaspé woods are known for a population of black bears which rarely attack humans and typically avoid them. And in the unlikely event an aggressive bear did attack them, they were three hunters with rifles. They would have been able to defend themselves. Eugene Lindsay's son Richard and their family friend Fred Clare are still missing. Their families are distraught, desperate for answers. The searches are pushing

on, but it's rough terrain. It's going to take some time. On July 23rd, about seven weeks since the hunters first left Pennsylvania and about eight days since Eugene's body was found, searches at logging camp number 26 make another grim discovery near the hot buggy forest. Decomposing human remains scattered around and emmeshed with a sweatshirt that reads Holidaysburg Tigers. It's a reference to a high school sports team. These remains belong to 17-year-old Richard Lindsay.

Camp 26 is about four kilometers away from Camp 21 where his father Eugene's remains were found. And the sweatshirt he was once wearing contained a bullet hole. The garment is now so deteriorated that it's difficult to make out, but it's clear that Richard Lindsay has been shot. His own rifle is found nearby, buried muzzle first in the ground, which seems to suggest either the killer deliberately placed it there, or it could have fallen from Richard's hands and dug into the soil. There's more. About 60 metres away from Richard's remains is another set,

belonging to 19-year-old family friend Fred Clare, who was described as a gentle giant type. His rifle is also nearby, along with clothing and a camera. Like Eugene Lindsay, both sets of remains have been chewed on by animals and are surrounded by bear tracks. While all three hunters are now accounted for, investigators are baffled by the lack of spent bullets or cartridge casings near the bodies or the general area. This suggests to police that the killer or killers either tidied up after themselves, or maybe they used a firearm like a revolver that needs to be manually opened to remove the cartridge casings. And curiously, it's determined that none of the rifles belonging to the three deceased hunters have actually been fired. Whatever happened there was looking more and more like a targeted ambush,

that they were taken by surprise and attacked before they could even react. Quebec authorities are now treating the case as a serial murder investigation, prompting front-page headlines across Canada and the United States. Three Gas Bay Hunters slain by Rifle Fire reads a July 24th, 1953 front page headline in the Montreal Star. Another newspaper out of Pennsylvania describes Gas Bay as a desolate, bare-infested peninsula filled with mysterious ancient forests that do not give up their secrets easily. With all of this new information, a new coroner's inquest is launched to determine the likely cause of the deaths of all three of the hunters. Wilbert Coffin is one of the people who testifies, recounting how he met the three hunters from Pennsylvania, helped them get a new fuel pump, met their two mystery friends with the yellow Jeep, and then left.

Then he returned two days later, as promised, to find an abandoned green pig. pickup truck and no sign of anyone. The inquest concludes that the teenagers Richard Lindsay and Fred Clare were murdered by gunshot wounds by person or persons unknown. Richard Lindsay was shot in the chest and the remains of Fred Clare suggest he'd been shot in the hip. Eugene Lindsay's cause of death remains a mystery. That's the end of the inquest. Police have not identified any suspects or people of interest. But another major discovery is just around the corner. In the weeks after the remains of the three American hunters were found, Eugene Lindsay's wallet

is discovered near the bed of the stream not far from where his headless remains were located at Camp 21. The wallet that Wilbert Coffin had described as bulging with banknotes is now empty. This suggests robbery as a motive. But why did Eugene have so much money in that wallet? The police would learn that while his official job as a pipe fitter brought in a decent living, Eugene's real income came from multiple side gigs. Described by his friends as an energetic hustler, Eugene once launched his own private bus line to transport blue-collar laborers to their workplaces,

and then offered a service where they could sign their paychecks over to him in exchange for instant cash. It saved them from having to wait for a bank, and Eugene got to charge a small fee for this service. In the book, Roads to the North, author Michael Rooney suggests that Eugene was also involved in less savoury activities like loan sharking. All this to say,

Eugene Lindsay was known to carry a stucing, duffed wallet, and he also liked to play the big shot. His friends had warned him not to flash his cash while he was travelling, but he reportedly laughed and said, If anyone ever gets my wallet away from me, it will be over my dead body. Turns out that's exactly what happened. The police believe robbery might have been the motive here. They have no idea who killed the three hunters, and the pressure to find out is building quickly. Because they are American, their murders are attracting attention across the border. The Montreal Star reports that American sportsmen's groups have begun putting pressure on the U.S. government to demand

arrests, and American consular officials based in Quebec have been constantly checking in about the investigation's progress. There's internal pressure as well. There's internal pressure as well. The Quebec Premier at the time Maurice Duplassi once results ASAP. The province relies heavily on American hunters and tourists, and three visitors murdered in the Gas Bay Wilderness with no one held responsible, is hardly good publicity for the province or its premier. Duplice is a polarising figure known for his dominant iron-fisted leadership. The pressure is on.

Police quickly turned their attention to one of the last people known to have spent time with the hunters, Wilbert Coffin. Maybe it was time to take another look at him, or more specifically, check in with his common-law wife in Montreal. Marion Petrie is open and honest with the investigators. She tells them she was happy to see Wilbert arrive home from his latest adventure to the Gas Bay Peninsula, and he brought back some items that he said were gifts from hunters he had just met, a hunting knife and a pair of binoculars. Marion also noticed that he had a new suitcase filled with towels and clothes and a fuel pump still in a box.

Investigators note that Wilbert told them about the hunting knife but never uttered a word about being given binoculars as a gift. And while he told them that Wilbert told them, them all about helping Richard Lindsay purchase a replacement fuel pump, hearing that he had it with him in Montreal was a surprising development. There was something else. Marion mentions that Wilbert had no money when he arrived in Montreal. He had also brought a pistol back with him, which he sold to her brother for a quick $15. The existence of this pistol was news to investigators as well. Why didn't he tell them about that? Wilbert's common law wife, Marion, is only trying to be

transparent and helpful. But with investigators under pressure to solve the case, and no other persons of interest, her account gives police a reason to focus more heavily on Wilbert Coffin. There's a couple of other odd things as well. Investigators had spoken to a series of witnesses who recounted coming across Wilbert coffin just as he was about to drive back to Montreal, and he seemed flush with cash. They saw him purchasing drinks and fuel, ordering rounds for the table, tipping generously, and on several occasions, he was specifically seen spending American $20 bills. So Sergeant Doyle picks Wilbert up again to get his explanation for all of this. The 38-year-old readily admits that he did omit some piece of information, but he had a very good explanation.

He says that after he returned to the abandoned green pickup truck, he waited for hours drinking beer. Like many prospectors, Wilbert is known to be a heavy drinker, sometimes consuming as many as eight bottles of beer in one day. When no one showed up, Wilbert thought the hunter, must have abandoned their camp or taken off with their two new friends in the yellowish jeep. At the time, it was a common practice for prospectors in Gas Bay and other remote areas to salvage items they believed had been abandoned. Everyone did it. And that's what Wilbert did. He started poking around their belongings and decided to take a few items with him,

items that he didn't consider particularly valuable or useful. Still, Wilbert says he was foolish and drunk at the time. But perhaps his most foolish move was emitting this information when he first recounted his version of events to police. It would come back to haunt him and his entire family. As for the hunting knife and the cash, he maintains they were actual gifts. Investigators ask him about those witnesses who saw him spending up large just before he returned to Montreal,

including some American dollar bills. Wilbert tells the police that, yes, Eugene gave him 40 American dollars. The rest of the money came from payments from people who would hire them to stake mining claims on their behalf, as well as small loans from family members. He sheepishly admits that he blew all that money in just a few days getting drunk and partying before he returned to Montreal flat broke. So what about the P-38 pistol Wilbert had with him when he arrived? He had told the police he was unarmed when he met the hunters,

so where did this gun come from? Wilbert had already explained to Sergeant Doyle that before leaving for the drive-back to Montreal, he visited his parents and stopped to repay a $10 debt to a friend. That debt was where the pistol came in. He says that he'd left the P-38 pistol as collateral three months earlier when he borrowed the money. That night, when he repaid the debt, the pistol was returned to him. Wilbert admits again that he omitted the truth about that, but it didn't change his story about being unarmed when he met the hunters. Once again, he denies he did anything wrong

and he categorically denies murdering the three hunters. There's no evidence tying him to the murders, but to some members of the police service, the circumstantial evidence is starting to add up. They detain Wilbert Coffin as a material witness in a Quebec jail while the investigation continues. At this point, Wilbert decides to tell Sergeant Doyle about the other rifle,

the Marlin 3242 he'd previously borrowed from his friend Jack Eagle and left at his parents' place. He sheepishly explains that he didn't want to get in trouble with the police for not having a gun license, but things have gotten serious. He tells the sergeant that he retrieved the rifle from his parents' place and he gives instructions about where it can be found at his most recent campsite. Within the police ranks, suspicion has risen that the lead investigator, Sergeant Doyle, has been overly sympathetic towards Wilbert Coffin.

In this case needs to be solved yesterday. So Captain Alphonse Matt, a high-ranking Quebec provincial police officer, replaces him as lead investigator. and that's where things really narrow in on Wilbert Coffin. It's quickly decided, with no evidence, that the P-38 pistol is the likely murder weapon. This information is released to the Montreal Star to publish. As soon as he can, Sergeant Doyen tells Captain Matt that Wilbert had disclosed the existence of a second firearm, the Marlin rifle,

and he suggests they should bring Wilbert to the camp to show. them where he hit it. But the captain refuses to authorise a search. He's worried that Wilbert will run off. Besides, it seems they have their murder weapon, the pistol. They don't need the Marlon rifle. As for the hunting knife, Captain Matt is starting to believe that Wilbert stole it from Richard Lindsay or maybe threatened the teenager to give it up. And that missing cash and Wilbert's spending spree before he returned to Montreal, that was starting to look like a motive for murder. With Wilbert now in custody, his family hires a local lawyer to represent him, a big financial drain for a family that doesn't have much money. So they're devastated when

police won't allow that lawyer to meet with his client. The police's logic is that Wilbert hasn't been arrested as a suspect, he's technically only being held as a material witness, so they felt no obligation to give him access to legal counsel. It would be more than 25 years before the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into force. Wilbert's frustrated lawyer tries to send a telegram to his client at the jail, urging him not to speak to the police, but the message is intercepted by Quebec officials. Wilbert never sees it. It's official. Police have now set their sights on Wilbert coffin as they're leading and only suspect. But they have a problem of their own. All they have to go on is loose circumstantial evidence. There are no witnesses to the shootings. There's no physical

evidence tying Wilbert to the murders. And it's 1953. So forensic evidence is a really a thing yet, but they did test a number of items for fingerprints, including Eugene's rifle that had his hair and blood on it, but they couldn't find a single one. The only thing they can prove Wilbert did wrong was stealing those items and lying to the police about it. So they set out to get a confession from Wilbert. He is interrogated more intensively, relentlessly,

by his account, up to 18 hours at one point. He's denied water. He's forced to sit under a 500-watt light that leaves him dazed and temporarily blinded. Wilbert Coffin is subjected to 16 days of intensive interrogation, repeated attempts to get a confession, but he doesn't change his story. He did not kill anyone, and he has no idea who did.

The police are getting desperate, so they invite Wilbert's father Albert to come and visit him, listening in. Wilbert tells him, Dad, they are not man enough to break me. Instead of being interpreted as the words of a man refusing to make a false confession, this comment would later be presented as evidence of a guilty man's defiance. Wilbert is taken back to his jail cell as yet another coroner's inquest into the Gas Bay murders begins. This time, Wilbert has a new lawyer.

The original defence lawyer didn't make much headway and his family couldn't afford to hire someone else. But fortunately, someone else stepped in to represent him, Raymond Maha. He's only been practicing law for a few years, but he has a reputation as a man with a big heart who took on cases of those less fortunate who couldn't afford to pay.

To the Coffin family, he seems quite capable. It's well known that Raymond Maha and his father are both vocal supporters of Quebec Premier Duplacé, who has made it clear he wants the case resolved quickly. Whether those political ties will have any bearing on Wilbert's defence remains to be seen. The inquest hears testimony from Wilbert's common law wife Marion and her brother. He testifies about buying Wilbert's P-38 pistol when he returned to Montreal

and says that Wilbert pointed to the fuel pump and told him to just take it if he wanted to. The coroner, Dr. Riu, would detail several issues about how this inquest went in a later interview with the Montreal Gazette. Dr. Ryu knew Wilbert Coffin personally, since they were from the same area, and described him as someone who was always smiling, who would order a round of drinks for everyone with just 50 cents in his pocket. He described him as a good time Charlie. He had made some petty mistakes, but wasn't known to be violent, and Dr. Ryu did not believe he was capable of murder. As the coroner, he was doing his utmost to be fair, but deep down he believed Wilbert's

version of events. After the last inquest, Dr. Ryu had Wilbert's testimony typed up and sent it over to the Attorney General's office to put on file, but by the time the next inquest begins, it has disappeared. So Dr. Ryu decides he needs to question Wilbert Coffin again. But the Crown prosecutor, Noel Dorian, immediately takes charge, refusing to let it happen. This is highly unusual. So Wilbert's version of events is not heard at this inquest.

Still, the coroner's jury signals that there isn't enough evidence to implicate him in the murders. The jury has concluded that Eugene Lindsay died of natural causes. and the teenagers Richard Lindsay and Fred Clare were murdered by a person or persons unknown. But the Crown prosecutor Noel Dorillon tells them to reconsider their conclusion using strong, threatening language, according to Dr. Rieu. It's a small town jury and they're easily intimidated. So on August 27th of 1953, the jury finds Wilbert cough, responsible for killing Richard Lindsay and Fred Clare.

With that, Sergeant Doyon decides to sneak off to the camp Wilbert mentioned to look for the Marlin rifle he hid there himself. He combs through the items he sees at that camp, but he can't find the rifle. Wilbert Coffin is officially arrested and charged with the murder of 17-year-old Richard Lindsay but not Fred Clare. This is a strategy to narrow the focus which will hopefully make it easier for the prosecution to secure a conviction.

Wilbert's arrest is a shattering blow to his family. His sister, Marie Coffin-Stewart, would later recall she was living in Toronto at the time and heard the news for the first time in her car on the radio and she was in terrible shock. quote, My brother was never capable of anything like that. He was railroaded.

Because of multiple delays, Wilbert waited in custody for almost a year for his trial to start, a very long time back in the 1950s. When it finally began in July of 1954, he was again represented by Raymond Maha and the Crown prosecutor was Noel Dorillon. The proceedings put Canada's linguistic divisions in the spotlight because Wilbert did not speak French. Remember, his family was from a small, mostly English-speaking neighbourhood in the village of Gas Bay.

His lawyer requested an English-speaking jury, but the judge did not agree. The jury was mixed and translations were made when necessary. While Wilbert was only charged with murdering 17-19. year old Richard Lindsay, he remained the prime and only suspect in all three deaths. But the prosecution's evidence was entirely circumstantial. There were no eyewitnesses to the killings and no evidence linking Wilbert Coffin to the murders. The prosecution's case was that robbery was the motive, that Wilbert saw the 650 American dollars cash in Eugene Lindsay's wallet and got greedy. He then killed them all and hoped bears would finish off the job, then stole their remaining items.

Some of the evidence the prosecution relied on heavily related to Wilbert's spending spree after leaving the woods and the evidence that he arrived back in Montreal with the hunter's belongings and lied to the police about it. The defence tried to have the testimony of Wilbert's spouse Marion Petrie barred on the grounds of spousal immunity, because a married couple cannot be compelled to testify against each other in court. But the judge dismissed it because they never actually married. So Marion Petrie testified about the suitcase, towels, clothes, fuel pump and binoculars, now determined to have belonged to 19-year-old Fred Clare, a gift from his father.

But the P-38 pistol that Wilbert also brought home, the pistol that generated so much suspicion during the investigation, barely featured in the prosecution's case at trial. They were now focused on the other firearm, the Marlin rifle Wilbert said he'd borrowed from his friend and accidentally left at his parents' place. The rifle he said he retrieved in the weeks after the hunters disappeared and stashed away at his new campsite because he'd lost his hunting license.

the rifle that Sergeant Doyon could not find. It was technically still missing, but the prosecution was relying on a new witness who'd come forward in the lead-up to the trial, identifying himself as a former employee of Wilbert's defense lawyer, Raymond Maha. This witness claimed that he had accompanied Maha to Wilbert's campsite to recover the missing rifle,

and his timeline suggested that this happened before Sergeant Doyon arrived to search for it. The witness testified that the defense lawyer then dismantled his client's rifle and threw the pieces from a bridge into the St. Lawrence River. It was a very serious accusation because, if true, it meant both men had helped conceal evidence. When police asked this witness at the time why he would incriminate himself, he said Mahar had fired him and he wanted revenge. He was prepared to testify. Mahar would flatly deny the entire story.

But that rifle was no smoking gun. Wilbert consistently maintained that he had been unarmed when he met the American hunters. The prosecution believed that this situation, surrounding his rifle would look highly suspicious to a jury and potentially inferred that Wilbert had instructed his lawyer to destroy the evidence. But at trial, this new witness abruptly withdrew his story. The prosecution was shocked. Just to be sure, police arranged to search the river around the bridge he had specified.

No components for a rifle were recovered. Adding another layer of uncertainty, a second witness testified that he had seen Wilbert's truck coming out of the woods and he believed he saw the barrel of a rifle inside it. But this witness couldn't say for certain exactly when he saw it. This isn't the end of the story about this particular witness, but it should be stated that by modern trial standards, a witness who could not reliably put a witness who could not reliably placed the citing on the crucial date might still be allowed to testify, but the evidence would be far easier for the defence to challenge. The jury also heard from all the witnesses who encountered

Wilbert partying and spending money, including some American bills, after he met the hunters, and just before he returned to Montreal. Put together, the Crown estimated from these witness reports that Wilbert spent about $70 to $100 total, far more than your average prospector would be spending. On the other hand, it was far less than the $650 Wilbert himself estimated he saw in Eugene Lindsay's wallet. So if he did steal it, where did it all go? The defense argued that the American bills were just the $40, Eugene Lindsay gave. him as a thank you gift, and the rest of the money came from legitimate sources. Also, if robbery was the motive, it seemed odd that the hunter's expensive rifles were left behind at the crime scenes.

And what about that yellow-coloured Jeep with American license plates and plywood finish? Part of Sergeant D'aigne's testimony included Wilbert's statement that when he returned to the green pickup truck with a replacement fuel pump, there were two new men in their 30s talking to Eugene Lindsay, who introduced them as some friends from the States. The prosecutor inferred that Wilbert had made that story up and announced that there was no other evidence of a yellow coloured Jeep matching that description in the area at the time. The Crown told the jury that the case rests on one thing, quote, The man who robbed them is the man who killed them, Wilbert Coffin.

Now it was the defence's turn, Wilbert's chance to fight back. His lawyer, Raymond Maha, had told people he had dozens of defence witnesses lined up, and after weeks of sensational testimony from the prosecution, everyone was waiting to hear them. But what happened next would become one of the most controversial parts of the entire trial. The Crown had finished presenting their case and now it was time for the defence. It had been a very high-profile sensational trial and people were scouring the daily papers for a rundown. But the person they most wanted to hear from was Wilbert Coffin himself.

Defence lawyer Maha stood up to begin. calling his witnesses, but he then said something that surprised everyone. My lord, the defense rests. He didn't call a single witness to testify, including his own client. Of course, the crown carries the burden of proof. The defense doesn't have to call any witnesses, but this was a strange decision, given Mahar had told people about all the witnesses he had. And as it turned out, Wilbert Coffin was desperate to testify and tell the jury his side of the story.

Mahar wouldn't allow it. He said the accused has the right to silence, so they were going to avail themselves of that right. Raymond Mahar's actions in court, or lack thereof, would fuel more questions about how the case was handled and the potential political influence, given he and his father were known supporters of the Quebec Premier. Questions would also be raised about the defence lawyer's drinking during the trial, with multiple records stating he appeared drunk. Years later, prominent criminal lawyer Edward Greenspan

would describe Mahar's performance as a defence lawyer as, Incompetence with a capital I. And for this, there would be profound consequences. On August 5th of 1954, Wilbert Coffin was found guilty of the murder of Richard Lindsay. He was sentenced to hang three months later on November 26. He launched an appeal and a stay of execution was granted. The defence argued that his conviction should be overturned

because the Crown's evidence was entirely circumstantial, but the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the guilty verdict. After this, defence lawyer Raymond Maha left the case and he was replaced by a defence lawyer from Toronto named Arthur Maloney, helped by associate Francois Gravel. They applied to the Supreme Court of Canada, who refused to hear the case. This was another human.

huge blow for the defence. Once more, Wilbert faced the prospect of being hanged. Four days later, Wilbert Coffin carved a block of soap into a look-alike pistol and used it to break out of prison. He threatened the prison guards with it and locked them up, and then he walked out of Quebec City Jail and hailed a cab. But he didn't know what to do next, so the taxi just drove around for a little while. Wilbert eventually told the taxi driver to take him to the home of his former lawyer. Raymond Mahar urged Wilbert to turn himself in, otherwise a manhunt would be launched, and as a convicted killer, police wouldn't hesitate to shoot him. Sure, the prospect of hanging wasn't much better, but at least Wilbert could still fight his case behind bars, even though his options

now were limited. Wilbert didn't know it at the time, but members of his own family were hoping he wouldn't turn himself in. His sister, Marie Coffin-Stewart, would later recall that she stood at the window of her house all night, praying he would escape into the bush where he would never be found, and therefore his life would be saved. But Wilbert decided to turn himself in. He was transferred to Bordeaux prison in Montreal for execution. His family and supporters saw his decision to surrender as further proof of his innocence. Their thinking was simple. If Wilbert was guilty and destined for the gallows, why would he voluntarily give up his freedom? Instead, he appeared to believe that returning to custody was the only way to keep fighting his case.

While Wilbert was back behind bars and his lawyers continued fighting his conviction, there was a new development. After the trial, several witnesses came forward with accounts that appeared to support Wilbert's description of two Americans traveling in the area in a yellowish jeep. The prosecution had accused him of making this detail up so he could claim he wasn't the last person to see the murdered hunters alive. But since the trial, new people were coming forward to report things they saw but didn't realize the significance of at the time. A Toronto doctor and his wife reported seeing a similar vehicle with similar occupants, although their sighting was about five days before,

Wilbert said he encountered the men. A gas bay garage owner signed an affidavit that two Americans in a Jeep with plywood sides had come into his garage a few days after that. He said they'd asked him how to get to the St. John River and mentioned wanting to find the Lindsay Hunting Party. And then two brothers from Moncton New Brunswick came forward, one of them a police officer, describing an encounter in Gas Bay with two men in their 30s

dressed in U.S. Army clothing and a similar Jeep. The two men said they were hunters from Pennsylvania. When that Jeep detail was first made public, the brothers did report their encounter to police, but they never heard anything further. It was only after the trial, when they read about the Jeep sighting by the Toronto Doctrine, and his wife, that they contacted Wilbert Coffin's defence team.

None of these accounts established that the witnesses had seen the same men, or that those men were involved in the murders. But these accounts certainly raised questions about the prosecution's claim that Wilbert Coffin had invented the story. There were also reports of unidentified tire tracks at both crime scenes, which suggested another vehicle, perhaps a jeep, had driven between them both. And remember that trial witness who testified about seeing what he believed was the barrel of a rifle sticking out of Wilbert's truck? Now he admitted he was less certain of that,

and he believed it might have actually been a piece of iron that he saw. The problem was that Wilbert Coffin had already been. convicted, and by this point, his ordinary avenues of appeal had effectively run out. His lawyers could gather all the new statements they wanted, but there was no straightforward way to put that fresh evidence before a court and ask for a new trial. His new defence team tried one more approach with the Supreme Court of Canada. The original decision not to hear Wilbert's appeal had been made by a single judge, so defense lawyer Arthur Maloney asked the other Supreme Court justices to reconsider it,

but they ruled they had no legal authority to overturn that earlier refusal. They could not consider the merits of Maloney's arguments, let alone the new evidence his team had gathered. It was another dead end. So the defense decided to go public, releasing the new witness evidence at a press conference, along with a statement from Wilbert acknowledging for the first time publicly that he did take some of the hunter's belongings, but he categorically denied killing them or having any knowledge of who did. This new material was also presented to the federal government.

Three days later, the government intervened in an unusual way, asking the Supreme Court to answer a hypothetical question. If Wilbert had been granted an appeal, how would the court have ruled? But there was one major limitation. The Supreme Court was reviewing the original trial record. It couldn't consider the new witness evidence that it helped prompt the government to intervene in the first place. And this was just a question.

The court's answer could not overhaul. return Wilbert's conviction, but a finding in his favour could influence the federal cabinet to commute his death sentence or take further action. By then, this was literally a matter of life or death. In December of 1955, both sides returned to the Supreme Court to argue their case. Defense lawyer Maloney attacked aspects of the original prosecution, including comments Crown prosecutor Noel Dorillon had made, suggesting if the jury were to find Wilbert Coffin not guilty of murder, it would be a disaster for Quebec tourism, which relied heavily on American tourists and hunters. But the Crown defended its conviction and offered its

theory about what happened. Wilbert had offered to help out the two younger teenagers at the old logging camp 26, the Crown suggested. by driving a black bear towards them. The teens would be waiting in position with their rifles. But the Crown suggested Wilbert then flipped the script and circled behind the teenagers with a firearm of his own. After shooting them dead, Wilbert returned to Camp 21 to kill Eugene Lindsay,

according to the Crown, and steal all that money in his wallet and their belongings. Then, over the next few weeks, bears and other animals came across the bodies. There was zero evidence for this theory. It was entirely speculation. And it begged the question, if robbery was Wilbert's motive, why did he need to murder the two teenagers four kilometres away? The following month, January of 1956, the Supreme Court delivered its answer to the government's question. Five judges said they also would have dismissed Wilbert's appeal. But the remaining two judges identified several serious errors in the original trial,

and they concluded that they would have allowed the appeal, quashed the conviction, and ordered a new trial. But the majority five judges prevailed. Wilbert Coffin's conviction stood. and his execution date was fast approaching. Next month. In desperation, Wilbert and Marion decided to finally get married so that their son James would be legitimate. But Quebec Premier Duplasi stepped in again. He also served as Attorney General

and he refused to allow a prison wedding. He said it wouldn't be decent. The news was devastating. to the couple. There was absolutely nothing they could do. Wilbert Coffin spent his final hours alone with no visitors and no last requests. The only words he uttered were a final declaration of his innocence. In the early hours of February 10, 1956, Wilbert Coffin was hanged at Bordeaux Prison in Montreal. He left behind a grieving widow, even if not,

not in law, a young son devastated parents and siblings. His mother accompanied his body from Montreal back to York Center in the Gaspe region, where he was born and raised. More than 500 people attended his funeral, with a long procession of more than 100 cars following him to his grave. The case had greatly affected locals in the Gas Bay region and beyond, and many turned up to pay their respects. They believed a serious miscarriage of justice had happened, and now a man was dead. Years later, eight-year-old James Coffin would recall that his mother told him his father had died, but he didn't offer any specifics. He would only learn the truth when he was about

12 years old. Wilbert, in his last will and testament, wrote, I am innocent of the deaths of the three American hunters and know nothing of them. I would like to say to the families of the deceased that I had nothing to do with this affair, and I do sympathise with them. Wilbert's execution only intensified the public doubts surrounding his guilt and conviction. His defence team joined with legal exercise. He was a legal executioner. and other advocates to form a committee that believed Wilbert had been wrongfully convicted. Journalist Jacques Herbert published a series of books arguing that Wilbert had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice and accusing Quebec officials of putting the province's tourism industry

ahead of the truth. The growing controversy led Quebec to establish a commission of inquiry in 1964, headed by Judge Roger Broussard. The high-ranking police officer he named to lead the new investigation just happened to be one of the police on the original investigation. So this officer was effectively investigating his own conduct, as well as that of his boss, Captain Matt, now Inspector General Matt. Wilbert Coffin's defense lawyer strenuously objected to this on the basis of a clear conflict of interest,

but Judge Broussard dismissed it. The commission heard from more than 200 witnesses over four months. Broussard slammed Jacques Hubert's book as an unfounded attack on the reputations of Quebec officials and concluded there was no evidence that former Quebec Premier Du Placie launched a personal vendetta against Wilbert Coffin under pressure from American sources.

The judge also addressed a significant development a few years after Wilbert's execution. Bridge workers on the St Lawrence River had discovered parts of a rifle and called the police. A local gunsmith identified those parts as consistent with the Marlin 3240 rifle Wilbert had borrowed from his friend Jack Eagle and hidden at his camp. the same rifle that defence lawyer Raymond Maha denied tampering with. The judge was scathing in his assessment of Maha. But the fact that the rifle story now checked out did not prove that it was used to kill the hunters.

Lawyer Catherine M. Campbell, also University of Ottawa professor and advocate for the wrongly convicted, analyzed this case in recent years and traveled to Gas Bay to conduct a series of interviews. In her 2003 podcast series, The Coffin Affair, A Miscarriage of Justice Revisited, Campbell suggests there are multiple reasons to explain why the rifle was thrown in the river. While Wilbert always insisted he was unarmed when he met the hunters, he might have worried that its mere existence would seem damning to a jury,

especially given the details he'd neglected to tell police at first. Why defence lawyer Mahar would risk it is anyone's guess. But perhaps this is all a moot point. Catherine M. Campbell also suggests that the murder weapon might not have been a rifle at all, but in fact a revolver, a 38 special, based on the size of the hole and the lack of an exit wound. The 1964 Brassard inquiry ultimately concluded that Wilbert Coffin had received a fair trial and that no misconduct had occurred. A final devastation for his family.

After that, the Quebec government went after Jacques Herbert and convicted him of contempt of court. This did not reflect so well on the government and further increased doubts about Wilbert Coffin's guilt. Herbert's conviction was overturned on appeal in 1966 with the help of lawyer and future Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. So if Wilbert Coffin didn't kill Eugene Lindsay, Richard Lindsay and Fred Clare, then who did? The two unidentified Americans in the Yellow Jeep remain one of the biggest unanswered questions in the case. Lawyer Catherine Campbell believes, they are the most likely culprits. Author of Roads to the North, Michael Rooney, went even further, suggesting Eugene Lindsay

may have been deliberately targeted because of his criminal activity and the way he flashed around large amounts of cash, telling everyone he was taking it on his hunting trips. Eugene had an abrasive personality and might have rubbed some underworld characters the wrong way. And if they were looking for the ideal place to kill him and take the large amount of cash he was known to carry, the isolated woods of the Gas Bay Peninsula fit the bill. Author Rooney suggests the killers might have stolen the cash in Eugene's wallet, then escaped via one of the little traveled roads leading north from the Gaspe Wilderness. But there is little indication that Quebec police made any serious evidence.

effort to find and identify the two men in the Jeep, let alone determine whether they were connected to the hunters. Wilbert Coffin's execution became part of Canada's growing debate over capital punishment. His case was cited as an example of the irreversible risk of executing someone who might later be found innocent. In 1976, 20 years after Wilbert was hanged, Canada abolished the death penalty for ordinary criminal offences. But for Wilbert's family, that did nothing to change the conviction that remained attached to his name. In the early 2000s, his sister, Marie Coffin-Stewart, began campaigning publicly to clear his name, raising more than $10,000 to support a re-examination by the Association in Defense of the Wrongly Convicted, now known.

as Innocence Canada. Wilbert's son James eventually joined her advocacy efforts. By 2006, the Federal Criminal Convictions Review Group had agreed to examine the case, and in February 2007, the House of Commons adopted a motion urging the government to act quickly on the coffin file. Despite all these efforts, Wilbert's family has never succeeded in getting his conviction overturned and his reputation restored. And as the years passed, the practical difficulties only grew. Most of the original witnesses and investigators are now dead. The surviving testimony is now more than 70 years old,

and a lot of government records have been sealed. In her podcast, The Coffin Affair, Catherine M. Campbell points out that unlike many modern wrongful conviction cases, there is no DNA evidence waiting to be tested and no obvious new forensic breakthrough that could settle the question. Overall, Campbell concluded the prosecution relied entirely on circumstantial evidence. The defense's decision not to call any witnesses or allow Wilbert Coffin to testify in his own defense was damning. The investigation and trial had significant shortcomings, including the police's failure to investigate evidence that potentially

supported Wilbert's version of events, like those two Americans in the Yellowish Jeep and the unidentified tire tracks at both crime scenes. Then, in December of 2024, David and Joyce Milgaard's law received Royal Ascent, creating a new independent commission for miscarriage of justice, to examine possible wrongful convictions. When the commission is finally established, it might offer Wilbert's family at least the possibility of another avenue for review. Whether that will ever lead to Wilbert's conviction being overturned

remains uncertain. But Marie and James have continued to try. Today, Marie Coffin-Stewart is 95 years old, the last remaining sibling of, Wilbert Coffin. Last year, she and James were both honoured for their advocacy at a gala event hosted by Innocence Canada. In a recent interview with Toronto true crime author Nate Hendley, Marie said she was realistic

about the slim chance of getting her brother's conviction overturned, but she's pleased that his story hasn't been forgotten. Quote, When this case keeps coming up year after year, it's a little bit of the same. It tells you that there was a terrible injustice done in its time we correct it. Thanks for listening. This episode was adapted for audio from a script researched and written by Nate Henley, pieced together primarily from court documents, interviews with Marie, James and lawyer Catherine M. Campbell, as well as the news archives.

For the full list of resources and anything else you want to know about the podcast, visit canadian truecrime.ca and follow us on the Canadian True Crime Facebook and Instagram pages. The podcast donates monthly to those facing injustice. This month we have donated to the Association for Families of Persons Assassinated or Disappeared, or AFPAD, a Quebec-based organization that offers resources and tools to victims and families to help them rebuild their lives. Eric Crosby voiced the disclaimer. Our senior producer is Lindsay Aldridge.

Additional research, script editing, narration and sound design was by me, and the theme songs were composed by We Talk of Dreams. I'll be back soon with another Canadian true crime episode. See you then.