Canadian True Crime - The Murder of Helen Betty Osborne [2]

Episode Date: April 8, 2022

[Part 2 of 3] In 1971, Indigenous high school student Helen Betty Osborne was abducted and brutally murdered near The Pas, Manitoba. When Betty’s body was found hours later at nearby Clearwater Lake, it was clear she had been the victim of a heinous crime. But it would take many, many years for the truth of what really happened to Betty to come to light—ultimately exposing the depths of racial injustice in the small town.Crisis Line for Indian Residential School SurvivorsFor CRISIS SUPPORT 24/7 call 1-800-721-0066 Look out for early, ad-free release on CTC premium feeds: available on Amazon Music (included with Prime), Apple Podcasts, Patreon and Supercast. Full list of resources, information sources, credits and music credits:See the page for this episode at www.canadiantruecrime.ca/episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi everyone, this is part two of a three-part series. The final part will be available to everyone on April 15th. And if you subscribe to add free premium feeds on Apple Podcasts, Patreon or Supercast, it's still in production, but you'll be notified for slightly early release as soon as it's ready. Canadian True Crime is a completely independent production, funded mainly through advertising. The podcast often has coarse language and disturbing content. It's not for everyone. Just a quick reminder before we start that this series is based on historic facts established in the 1991 report of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba. Links to read the full report are in the show notes.

This episode includes graphic details around murder, sexual assault and indigenous trauma that may be difficult to hear. If you're a survivor of residential schools and you're experiencing pain or distress, please see the show notes for details of a 24-hour call. crisis line. Where we left off, the early investigation into Betty Osborne's murder was continuing, with the RCMP following up on rumours, false leads and several objects found during a search of the highway near where Betty's body had been found. They discovered a second screwdriver and this one had blood on it. And while the capacity for testing against Betty's DNA

was not available yet, this screwdriver was presumed to be the murder weapon. But Betty had also been beaten with blunt force trauma, and those drag marks at the crime scene suggested that there were two sets of footprints that dragged her body to the spot where she was found. Investigators would need to keep digging until they uncovered the person or persons responsible for the attack. But it was not going to be an easy task. Investigators started checking records for local perpetrators who committed similar violent attacks. They looked into people known to have left town shortly after the murders,

compiling lists from hotel registers and welfare records. They even looked at people who bought alcohol that Friday night, assuming that because the crime was so heinous, the perpetrator may have been intoxicated or impaired. They checked to see if any dangerous prisoners had escaped. from federal or provincial correctional facilities. They also contacted the owners of the holiday cottages near Clearwater Lake to see if they saw or heard anything.

By the end of the year, over a thousand names had been collected and checked for alibis, and every single one of them had been eliminated as suspects. But there were quite a few very helpful tips that came in. Perhaps one of the most useful ones came in later the same day that Betty's body was found, but unfortunately it wasn't handled very well. As you'll remember, Betty Osborne was last seen walking from the dance at the Legion at about 2.15 a.m. on that Saturday morning. At about 4 a.m., a local cab driver happened to be driving on the stretch of highway

leading away from Clearwater Lake towards the town of the Paw. which was about 25 minutes away. Suddenly, he found himself following a car that was zigzagging all over the road so erratically that the cab driver couldn't even find a way to safely pass it. The problem was solved when the car abruptly turned down a side road and narrowly missed going into a ditch. The cab driver concluded that the driver of the car must have been drunk and reported the incident to the RCMP later that same day.

The main question was if he remembered the license plate, but all he could remember was that the last two digits were 42, and the car was light in colour, maybe light blue. After that tip, investigators put out a bolow or be on the lookout. But there was a misunderstanding, and the RCMP described the car to look out for as being dark in colour. When the cab driver discovered this error a few days later, he contacted the RCMP to clarify that the car he saw was light, not dark. But for unknown reasons, the RCMP continued to describe it as dark.

Then, the cab driver noticed that as well as number 42, the Bolo had started to include two other numbers and a letter. So again, he clarified with the RCMP, saying those additional characters didn't come from him. He stated that all he could remember was that the car was light blue and the last two digits on the license plate were 42. By that point, more than two weeks had passed since Betty's body had been found. The error was rectified, but when they plugged this information into the system,

they got a list of over 5,000 vehicles with similar numbers. Too many. But perhaps there was another way. On December 12th, a month after Betty's murder, investigators sent the cab driver to Saskatchewan for a hypnosis session. They hoped that when he was relaxed and focused, he might be able to recall the rest of the license plate number. It worked. He couldn't remember any of the letters, but he was able to recall all four numbers at the end of the license plate.

The RCMP plugged this new number in, 5342, and the list that came back contained only 28 vehicles, and of these, only one was registered in the poor. It was a white 1967 two-door Chrysler with a number plate BN 5342, and it belonged to a local family man named Harold Colgan. Normally in this situation, the first action taken would be to seize and examine the vehicle and find out who was driving it. But there was some miscommunication between the rural RCMP detachment that covered the Clearwater Lake area and the detachment in the Paw.

There was some collaboration in the investigation and the rural detachment would later claim that they received information from the Paw Detachment that the vehicle in question had already been checked on a night around the same time that Betty was murdered. The constable also said he knew the drive, of the vehicle and could vouch for him. So the car was cleared.

There was no official record of this check, though, no information about what actual date and time it was conducted on as compared to the timeline of Betty's murder. All that was said was that the vehicle was checked one night at around the same time. It could very well have happened the night before, meaning the search would have been irrelevant, Without double-checking the details, the RCMP decided they didn't need to search the car again and preemptively cleared it.

This would prove to be a mistake. So to recap, Betty Osborne's body was found the morning of Saturday, November 13, 1971. A month later, after the hypnosis session, the RCMP had a partial plate number which they narrowed down to one car in the paw. Satisfied that particular car wasn't involved in Betty's murder, nothing more was done, and the investigation stalled for the next five months. But in May of 1972, the police received an anonymous letter in the mail. The postmark revealed it had been mailed from somewhere in Michigan in the US, a good 1600 kilometres away from the pole.

The letter writer stated that not long after Betty's murder, They were socialising with a group of people that included a man named Lee Colgan. This was some tip. Lee Colgan was the son of Harold Colgan, the local family man who owned the 1967 White Chrysler. The letter went on to say that Lee was in a state of intoxication and close to tears that night. When he announced he'd been driving the car the night of Betty's murder, and he also mentioned two or three others riding as passengers. The writer of the letter could only remember two of their names,

James Houghton and Norman Manger, but all men were locals from the poor. A notable part of the letter read, They had forced the girl into this car where it was then driven to the murder site, the girl being raped by all. She had threatened police action. She was then murdered,

using a screwdriver, punch or similar instrument. The writer stated the reason the letter was anonymous was because Lee Colgan was clearly in constant fear of being found out and had threatened them not to tell anyone. This anonymous letter was very compelling, but it wasn't able to be used as evidence. Investigators may have been able to convince the writer to testify in court, but their identity was a mystery.

But what it did do was provide a direct link to that white Chrysler, finally prompting investigators to do what they should have done months earlier. And it didn't take long before they realized their mistake and relying on that information that the Chrysler had already been checked. It had, but it was only a spot check, where an RCMP investigator outside the vehicle literally takes a cursory look inside. and not only was it unrelated to Betty's murder, but there was no record of exactly when it happened.

Realising they'd dropped the ball, investigators needed to figure out the best way to approach this situation, and they started by looking into all three names listed in the letter, Lee Colgan, James Houghton and Norman Manger. Lee Colgan was 18 years old, and he actually went to the same high school as Betty, that'd even been in the same class. But since there was racial segregation at the school,

it was unlikely that they actually knew each other. Lee worked part-time in a local clothing store and came from a well-liked and respected middle-class white family. His father, Harold Colgan, known to everyone as Bud, managed the local government liquor store and was of course the registered owner of the White Chrysler, a car that Lee and his friends had access to. And not only that,

but the Colgan family owned one of those cottages at Clearwater Lake, an indication that Lee was likely familiar with the area where Betty was murdered. While he was considered by some to be a quiet, polite young adult, at least when he was sober, he had a different side. an RCMP officer who knew him would later state that he seemed to be calculating, as if he was concerned about what he might be able to get away with. And when Lee drank alcohol, he became impulsive and violent, someone who would do the first thing that came into his mind with no regard for the consequences.

When he was caught, Lee Colgan was always quick to utter an apology for his actions, but there was no visible effort to change. It seemed he was only sorry for being caught. The childhood home where Lee Colgan lived with his parents was across the road from the home of James Houghton, also known as Jim. They had grown up together and both families had a cottage at Clearwater Lake. James used to babysit Lee as a child,

but by 1971 their five-year age difference was irrelevant, an 18-year-old Lee and 23-year-old James were firm friends. In 1971, James was living at home while he attended a technical school. The third name on the letter was Norman Manger, who turned out to be an unemployed 25-year-old who was known for being a heavy drinker. Norman was originally an acquaintance of James Houghton, which is how he came to know Lee Colgan. Norman had a completely different childhood to Lee and James, though.

His father was reportedly from Norway but fled to Canada after he somehow disgraced his family. He settled in Creighton, a town in northern Saskatchewan. He married a Cree woman and had at least two children with her. But sadly, when Norman was only a few years old, his mother died of breast cancer. After that, his life became increasingly unstable. His father hung around for a time, but according to reporting by the Leader Post, he became a carpenter and took off for long periods of time

to chase construction work wherever he could find it. When Norman was six years old, he was left with his 15-year-old sister for a year. And then he was sent to live at a Catholic convent, where he would stay for seven years attending school, and spending every summer with the nuns and their families. His father had essentially abandoned him. Despite attending several different schools,

Norman completed grade 12 and went straight into full-time work, going through a series of dead-end jobs until he found himself in a stretch of unemployment at about 24 years old. Norman was lost in life. He had almost no family connections, ties to who he was, basically a lone tumbleweed blowing down the street. Before long, he was experiencing homelessness, sleeping at laundromats or couch surfing with whoever would put up with

him. The night of Betty Osborne's murder, Norman Manger had been unemployed for about a year and was now drinking heavily. Investigators looked into the criminal histories of all three men and found nothing indicating that they may have been capable of committing such a crime. So now they had cursory knowledge about the three men named in the letter, although the letter also suggested there may have been a fourth. In any event, investigators had nothing linking the three men to Betty Osborne, other than the fact that Lee Colgan attended the same high school. The first order of business was that Chrysler.

It had been placed near the scene where Betty's body was found, and even though five months had passed, it still needed to be examined thoroughly. But investigators also wanted the element of surprise, so before they seized the car, they decided to casually question the three men first and get their initial comments on file before they could realize the police were on their tail. While they knew where they could find Lee Colgan and Norman Manger,

investigators soon discovered that James Houghton had left town, and coincidentally, it was shortly after Betty's murder. The RCMP was still going for the element of surprise, so they didn't go straight to his parents. They asked around subtly, but no one was able to tell them where James had gone. In the meantime, they approached Lee Colgan and Norman Manger to see what they had to say about their whereabouts the night of Betty's murder. It wasn't a proper interview or interrogation.

It was just to get their preliminary responses on the record. Both men denied any knowledge of or involvement in Betty Osborne's murder. In fact, Norman Manger claimed he spent the night passed out in the washroom of a local hotel. The RCMP asked both men to take a polygraph to back up their stories and both declined. At the time, investigators. considered this an indication of guilt. But it's important to remember that polygraph machines don't reveal or prove deceit. They only indicate a change in stress levels. The decision on whether to interpret these changes in stress levels as lies or deceit is completely at the discretion of the

person operating the machine. Scientifically, they've been debunked. The evidence is not admissible in court, and no one should ever say yes to taking one. So speaking with Lee Colgan and Norman Manger was not very helpful. But just over a week later, another tip came in that was. A local man contacted the police to say he'd been with the three men the night of Betty's murder, and they were drinking together at the dance at the Legion. The same dance that Betty was seen walking away from at 2.15. The man said he didn't see them interacting with him.

Betty, but confirmed that all three men were still at the dance when he left at about one or two a.m. By this point, investigators were certain that Lee Colgan, James Houghton and Norman Manger were involved in Betty Osborne's murder. As they applied for the search warrant needed to seize and examine the Colgan Chrysler, investigators contacted the parents of James Helton to find out where he was. He was. He was apparently in British Columbia and it would take a while to locate him but in the meantime the search warrant was approved.

Despite the fact that it was now almost six months after Betty's murder, there were several pieces of evidence found in the car. On the back seat of the car, there was a small spot of blood. Under the backseat they found a clasp from a bra that was a match to the bra found near the crime scene. And they also found some human hair that was determined to have very similar characteristics to Betty's hair.

If the technology had have been available, DNA testing would have either cleared the men or solved the case. And it would have been the same if there were fingerprints found, but there was no helpful fingerprint information left at that point. There was no reason for Betty to have been in Lee's car. and while investigators now had evidence that confirmed their suspicion that she was, none of it was linked conclusively to her murder. There were quite a few anonymous informants in this case. People who contacted the RCMP to report various things they had seen or heard, but didn't want to reveal their identity out of fear of retaliation,

or because they'd been threatened. And one came forward just three days after the search of the car to confirm that there was a fourth person who was in the Chrysler that night. The person named was Dwayne Johnston, an 18-year-old who had dropped out of high school to work for the Canadian National Railway. Like Betty, Dwayne was also boarding with a local family in the poor, except he wasn't indigenous. In fact, at school, Dwayne was known as the guy who bullied indigenous kids.

The reason he was boarding with a local family was because his parents had split up and he needed a place to live. Unlike the other three suspects, Dwayne Johnston was known to the RCMP because he was a member of a motorcycle gang that frequently clashed with the police. But also, investigators realized they had to be. already spoken with him earlier on in the investigation after his name had popped up on two lists. Dwayne had purchased alcohol that night and he was also on the welfare roles. When investigators had asked him about his whereabouts the night Betty was murdered,

the 18-year-old knew exactly what to do. The usual response when a motorcycle gang member was picked up was to shut up and let a lawyer handle it. So Dwayne told him. told the police to go through his lawyer, Darcy Bancroft. As with refusing a polygraph, lawyering up and refusing to speak with police is often incorrectly perceived as an indication of guilt. But investigators knew that this was standard practice for motorcycle gang members,

so didn't ascribe any particular meaning to Dwayne's actions at the time. But after this new informant came forward and placed Dwayne Johnston in the Chrysler with the other three men, investigators picked him up again for more questions. This time he simply played dumb and acted like he had no idea what they were talking about. So at this point, investigators had gathered some key pieces of evidence that showed Betty Osborne was likely in the Colgan Chrysler, but it was largely circumstantial. There were no direct links found between any of the four men and Betty's murder specifically.

Investigators searched the Colgan and Houghton family cottages at Clearwater Lake, but came up empty-handed. Next, they decided it was time to bring in Lee Colgan for a formal interview. Now, Lee was 18 years old, legally an adult, so police were not required to get permission from his parent or guardian to question him. But for some reason, investigators decided to extend the courtesy to Lee's father Bud Colgan, asking for his permission to formally interview his 18-year-old son. It's important to highlight by comparison how this approach was unique.

As you'll remember, when the RCMP were first questioning Betty's indigenous friends to trace her final movements, they picked up her 18-year-old friend Annalise, drove her out to a little. an isolated location on the outskirts of the woods where no one would be looking and aggressively questioned her there. And of course, the same approach was also used on Betty's boyfriend, 17-year-old Cornelius Bigotty. The RCMP had no evidence that Cornelius had been involved in Betty's murder. All they had to go on was word that the couple had been in a brief argument earlier. But not only did officers take Cornelius, without permission, but they didn't even give the courtesy of telling him or his guardian what was

happening. But when it came to 18-year-old Lee Colgan, a man from a respected white family, even though there was considerable circumstantial evidence to suggest he was at least present for Betty's murder, and even though he was legally an adult, investigators still asked for his father's permission to interview him. and Bud Colgan did not give permission. He also denied knowing anything about where his Chrysler was the night of the murder. So the evidence that the RCMP had so far against Lee Colgan was this. That anonymous letter writer who heard him confessing to parts of the crime.

He was seen at the same dance at the Legion and Town that Betty was at. There was the cab driver's tip that had led to the Colgan's white Chrysler being placed near Clearwater Lake at around the same time as Betty was believed to have been murdered there, and Lee Colgan was known to frequently use his father's car. And in that car was a bloodstain, hair that was consistent with Betty's, as well as the piece of bra that matched to the one found at the crime scene. A later inquiry would determine that this circumstantial evidence alone should have given the RCMP reasonable grounds to arrest Lee Colgan.

And not only that, but investigators could have used that early arrest as a tactic to get people talking or provoke further information that could lead to a murder charge. But Lee Colgan was not arrested, and before too long it would be a moot point anyway. Lee soon signed up to be represented by Darcy Bancroft, Dwayne Johnston's lawyer. And then Norman Manger signed up. All three men refused to talk. A month or two later, in August of 1972, James Houghton returned to the poor. He had apparently been in British Columbia looking for work,

and before he even returned, his father had hired Darcy Bancroft. to represent him. There was some question over how ethical it was for one lawyer to represent all four suspects, given that they all had competing interests, but there wasn't a lot of criminal defence lawyers in the small town. James Houghton consented to being questioned by the RCMP, but like the others, he denied involvement in Betty's murder. Acting for all four suspects, Darcy Bancroft wrote letters to the RCMP,

This is a CMP demanding that they cease harassing his clients. This marked the official start of what would be referred to as the wall of silence between the four suspects and the RCMP. From this point on, it would be exponentially more difficult for investigators to dig up anything useful. Not that they didn't try though. The next month, September of 1972, the force sent four additional. investigators to the paw to see if they could get a breakthrough in the case. Two of them did a kind of undercover operation. They found where Norman Manger was, told him they were off-duty cops looking for good hunting spots and asked him if he knew of any. They started drinking with him, hoping he would mention

something about Clearwater Lake or the pump house area, but they got nothing useful. So the next day, they dropped the act and deferred to what was apparently the standard treatment for questioning an indigenous person. They took Norman out to an isolated spot, this time directly to Clearwater Lake to the bush near the pump house. It should be noted that none of the other three suspects had been questioned this way, nor would they be. The special Out to the Woods isolation treatment was reserved for indigenous people only, regardless of their suspected level. of involvement. At this point, Norman would not admit to knowing anything about the murder, but he did confirm that he was in Lee's car that night. Before taking him back home, the investigators

persuaded him to sign written consent to take a polygraph. Norman would say he only signed it because he was afraid they were going to beat him up. But because this was rural Manitoba, it took two days for a polygraph machine operator to arrive. When they were ready, officers went to grab Norman and bring him back to the station. They located him at a bar with some members of the motorcycle club, but he was somehow able to slip out the back of the establishment without them knowing. Norman Manger went straight to his lawyer, Darcy Bancroft, who sent another tersely worded letter to the RCMP,

advising them that his client was officially withdrawing consent for the polygraph. It was accompanied by another warning to stop harassing him. On to the next strategy. Investigators discovered that Lee Colgan had a warrant out for violating the Wildlife Act. It was a minor infraction that only required him to pay a fee, but it presented an opportunity. Lee was the only one who had been heard speaking about the events of that night. so they could use this Wildlife Act violation as an excuse to approach him again,

and perhaps he might inadvertently open up about Betty. Lee was arrested and agreed to pay the fine. As that was being arranged, an officer took him outside and tried to speak with him in a police cruiser. Lee seemed open to discussing some of the events, so the officer kept pressing. When asked if he knew what had been found in his dad's Chrysler, Lee said yes. He knew that found a piece from a bra and a spot of blood on the back seat. But quote, well, that doesn't prove anything. Lee went on to say he'd been a bit mixed up lately and he was scared he would go to jail for 20 years.

But while he confirmed he was along for the ride that night, he maintained that he didn't murder Betty. The officer was hopeful he would continue to open up more, but the conversation was cut. short. That same day, two other RCMP officers arrived at the house where the fourth person, Dwayne Johnston, was living at the time. Again, Dwayne refused to talk and told the officers to leave. The next day, they tried the same with James Houghton, who refused to be interviewed without his lawyer, Darcy Bancroft present. Investigators knew nothing would come of that, so two days later they went to the government liquor store where Lee Colgan's father Bud worked. Catching someone by surprise and getting an initial off-guard comment before they can clam up is a frequent

tactic used by police and Bud confirmed that he knew his son had been present the night Betty was murdered but maintained Lee had not laid a hand on her. This was further confirmation that there was definitely fire where the smoke was. While Lee Colgan had seemed open to the idea of talking to the RSCMP about what had happened, they would get no more information from him, not directly anyway. Over the next years, though, Lee continued to talk a lot to anyone else who wanted to listen, and he couldn't seem to stop confessing, although many of the conversations wouldn't come to light until years later. One of the people Lee spoke to was his boss, the owner of the clothing store where he worked,

and other employees there heard bits and pieces of the story too. In most versions, Lee told people they had picked up Betty for sex, a quote gang-bang, but she refused to get in the car. But there was one thing Lee was very consistent with. In every version of the story he told, it was Dwayne Johnston holding me. the screwdriver, the one responsible for her death. In 1974, three years after Betty Osborne's murder, the lawyer Darcy Bancroft passed away. Investigators seized the opportunity to try and target the suspects before they could find another lawyer. Because they knew Lee Colgan was more

likely to talk than the others, they deemed him the weak link, they decided to target him first. By this point, the 21-year-old was living in British Columbia with his wife Arlene, who was pregnant with their first child. It would later come out that his mother insisted he tell Arlene about his involvement in Betty Osborne's murder before the marriage, so she knew at least that he was involved in some way. When investigators located Lee, Arlene had literally given birth the night before, and they found Lee hung over from celebrating the birth. He became hysterical when they started asking him questions about the case.

Clearly, it was bad timing, and investigators would try again later. The RCMP also went to Winnipeg when Norman Manger was living, but when they located him he was drunk and passed out. They tried again at a different time, and while he did agree to be interviewed, he refused to discuss anything related to Betty's murder. It was proving very difficult for investigators to find new cracks in the wall of silence. In the meantime, Lee Colgan's marriage was not going well.

After three years, his wife Arlene left him and filed an assault charge against him. But that wasn't all. At the same time she filed the report, she disclosed that at multiple times, during their marriage, Lee had confessed to being present when Betty Osborne was murdered. This information was noted, but the officer taking the report about her assault wasn't involved in the murder investigation in Manitoba and no one followed up with Arlene to find out exactly what Lee said to her. In 1977, six years after the murder, the Crown Prosecutor in The Polar,

reviewed the file and decided that there was just not enough evidence to press charges. The investigation seemed to be going nowhere fast, but still, people kept coming forward to say that Lee had also confessed to them that he was there that night. He spoke about different parts of the story to different people, and while these witnesses could give evidence about what Lee told them about his direct involvement, when it came to what he said about the others, like the fact that Dwayne reportedly held the screwdriver, this would have been considered hearsay and inadmissible as evidence. And it wasn't just local townspeople who Lee told.

At about the same time, the then 25-year-old told a civilian employee of the RCMP that he was in the car that night. When the employee was asked later why she didn't report it, the answer to the answer. was that she, quote, wasn't a constable. That may have been so, but there were others Lee told at this time who definitely should have reported it. For example, it would later come out that Lee was having a drink at the Legion with his good friend Gerald Wilson, the local court sheriff who was off duty. By this point, RCMP investigators had started a sort of prank. When they saw Lee drinking, they would anonymously send a sco.

screwdriver cocktail over to his table to spook him. And that day at the Legion, Lee received one when he was drinking with the court sheriff. He was upset and suggested he and the sheriff go somewhere else to continue their drinking. And during this conversation, Lee gave some details about how Betty Osborne was abducted and confirmed the identity of the other men in the car when she was picked up. But he was quickly cut off. The sheriff told him he didn't want to hear it because it could get him into trouble. He too did not report what Lee had told him. By 1979, the case file had expanded even more, but there was still not enough to press charges. In 1983, nearly 12 years after Betty Osborne's murder, the file was

given to an investigator named Robert Urbanowski to conduct a final cold case review. He spent a year reading and making sure he understood all the file notes, locating all four suspects and all key witnesses and informants. One of the informants was sent for hypnosis to see if they were able to recall any more details about what was said to them, but nothing came of it. Constable Erbinowski submitted evidence for testing to see if anything new came up with technological advances, but nothing did. This was still the early 80s after all.

He requested that he start a new investigation and it was approved. The new investigation would start with wiretaps that were set up in Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia, locations where three of the suspects were living at the time. Lee Colgan couldn't stop talking about Betty Osborne's murder, so they hoped to catch him or someone close to him in action. Monitoring the wiretaps required 12 full-time investigators and while it led to some new avenues to explore, there was no smoking gun confession.

For example, a woman named Annette told the RCMP that Lee had spoken to her about the murder, claiming he was there but had not participated. The RCMP followed this line of questioning, which led them to interview four other people, but they didn't offer any additional, information that could have advanced the investigation. Finally, in May of 1985, Lee Colgan's ex-wife Arlene was interviewed about what she said nine years earlier as she filed the assault charge

against him. Again, she relayed to the RCMP that Lee had confessed to her that he was there at the time of the murder, but it didn't result in any more lines of investigation or new information. It was time for a new approach. The next month, June of 1985, Constable Erbenowski placed an article in the local weekly newspaper produced in the poor. The piece went over the basics of the crime and said this, quote. An RCMP spokesman said yesterday, police have had a terrific response from the public on the case to date,

but they are looking for more help from people in the poor and the surrounding area. Behind the scenes, this wasn't quite true, but it was strategic. Constable Erbenoski suspected that the reason why people hadn't come forward was out of fear, so if they could be assured that everyone else was talking, they would feel safe to come forward. And four more people did come forward to give statements after the article. One of them was Sheriff Gerald Wilson. It was almost a decade since that conversation where he,

he told Lee Colgan to stop talking or he'd get in trouble, but finally he decided to come forward. When asked why it took him so long, he said that he thought the police already had the information. Another person who came forward had seen Dwayne Johnston at a party the year after Betty's murder. The witness was only 14 years old at the time of the party, And even though another 14 years had passed by the time she came forward, she was still very scared for her safety. Under the cloak of anonymity, she recounted that Dwayne stood up at the party, made stabbing motions and said, I picked up a screwdriver and I stabbed her and I stabbed her and I stabbed her. And then he laughed.

The witness heard him say, do you know what it feels like to kill someone? It feels great. She was immediately threatened with consequences if she told anyone what Dwayne had said. Constable Urbanowski was authorized to lay charges against Lee Colgan and Dwayne Johnston, but he didn't want to charge them just yet. Dwayne Johnston was only speaking in general terms. He didn't mention Betty by name or give any other information about a date or a place. They still wanted that smoking gun evidence, a confession or eyewitness testimony.

Constable Urbanoski decided to arrest both men but not lay charges just yet. And before he made those arrests, he wanted to set up more wiretaps, hoping that the news would inspire someone new to talk and provide information that would lead to more charges. Wiretaps were set up at the time the end of September 1986, and 33-year-old Lee Colgan was arrested first, five days later.

The arrest quickly made national news and inspired the person who wrote that anonymous letter to come forward and identify herself. This was a big deal, because it was the information in this letter that first named Lee Colgan, Norman Manger and James Houghton as being involved in the case, prompting them. to investigate that angle. The problem was they couldn't use the letter itself as evidence because the writer hadn't identified themselves. The woman who wrote the letter was named Catherine and at the time she heard the news about Lee Colgan's arrest, she was living in Saskatchewan.

The reason why the letter was posted from Michigan was because she was on a trip with her brother and made a snap decision to send an anonymous letter. Catherine told investigators that she was prepared to testify that the weekend after Betty's murder, Lee said he was driving the car that night and two or three others were passengers. He said they all forced Betty into the car

and drove her out to Clearwater Lake, where she was raped by all of them and then murdered using a screwdriver or similar instrument. This would be a huge breakthrough in the case. About three weeks after Lee Colgan's arrest, the RCMP arrested 33-year-old Dwayne Johnston and investigators kept the wiretaps running to see if there was any more conversation involving the last two suspects, James Houghton and Norman Manger. More people were interviewed but again, the elusive smoking gun confession evidence alluded them.

It was clear that the wall of silence was large. intact, but Lee Colgan had always given investigators the impression that he might crack under pressure, and when he was arrested, his lawyer had confirmed as much to the RCMP. Not long after that, Lee told them that he hadn't laid a finger on Betty Osborne, but he was there, and he was willing to tell investigators everything he knew and testify against the other suspects, but what he wanted in exchange was full immunity from prosecution. The Crown prosecutor had a difficult decision to make. There wasn't much physical evidence, a scrap of a brass strap that seemed to match the one

found at the scene, some hair that looked like it came from Betty's head. There was also that drop of blood on the car seat that may have been hers, but they didn't know. Even though it was now 1986 and 15 years, had passed since Betty was murdered. Forensic DNA testing was still at least a year or two away in Canada. And while these pieces of evidence and the cab driver's statement may have linked Lee's car to the crime scene, that was it. Everything else consisted of rumours and vague stories.

It seemed that Lee Colgan's testimony might be the best bet for securing a conviction, but the prosecution had to consider what his chances were of telling them the truth about what had happened. It was evident that for 15 years, in almost all the times Lee had been heard talking about that night, he had consistently told the same basic story, that he was there but didn't kill Betty. The only deviation to this story came from Catherine, the anonymous letter writer who came forward 15 years later. But even if Lee wasn't involved in her murder, he still shared some responsibility for her abduction, though. So was it right to just let him walk? When it came to the other three suspects, investigators had nothing implicating James Houghton, except that letter and some other witnesses

that placed him in the car. Same with Norman Manger. And when it came to Dwayne Johnston, while he'd been named as the fourth person in the car, and the other witness had essentially heard him confessing at a party, it wasn't the same as actual eyewitness testimony, which Lee Colgan was willing to give. So they approved the deal. Lee Colgan agreed to tell the whole story and testify against the other men,

and in exchange he would not be charged with any crime related to the abduction, assault and murder of Betty Osborne. That's where we'll leave it for part two. Part three will be released to everyone in a week on April 15th and starts with Lee Colgan finally telling his version of what happened the night Betty Osborne was brutally murdered. But while this story would be enough to go to trial with, some of the details he gave would change

once he was on the witness stand. For Betty's family and her community, the fight for justice was not going to be easy, but they would never give up. For full credits, resources and anything else you want to know about the podcast, visit canadian truecrime.ca. While you're here, I have some exciting news. The True Crime Podcast Festival is back for 2022 and is being held in Dallas, Texas from August 26 to 28th. I can't make it this year, unfortunately, but I did attend the first year before the pandemic hit, and it's an excellent opportunity to mix and mingle with your favorite true crime and paranormal podcasts, and even find some new ones. Many of my favorites will be there, including Charlie from Crime Lines, Lainey from True Crime Fan Club,

Robin from Canadian Favorite, The Trail Went Cold, and many, many more. For more information and to buy your tickets, head to True Crime Podcast Festival, Thank you so much for all your messages, ratings, reviews and general support. I really appreciate it. Thanks also to the host of True for voicing the disclaimer and also to We Talk of Dreams who compose the theme song. I'll be back in a week with Part 3. See you then.