Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - "The Boozing Barber" Gilbert Paul Jordan Pt. 2

Episode Date: January 21, 2021

His victims’ deaths were often ruled “unnatural and accidental,” leaving Gilbert Paul Jordan free to perfect his M.O. — forcing Indigenous women in Vancouver to drink themselves to death. Unable to keep him behind bars, police surveilled the barber until they could catch him in the act. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder, rape, and assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. It was a late night in November of 1987. 55-year-old Gilbert Paul Jordan led Rosemary Wilson up to his room at Vancouver's Balmoral Hotel. The woman was already intoxicated from a night of hell. heavy drinking, but Gilbert took no pause. He pulled out a bottle of liquor and encouraged her to gulp it all down. But while Rosemary grew drunk on alcohol, Gilbert grew drunk with delight.

He got off on women drinking themselves to death, and Rosemary was nearing her end. To help things along, Gilbert gripped her by the neck, forced open her mouth, and poured the booze down her throat. Unbeknownst to Gilbert, however, police officers were stationed in the very next room, positioned along the bordering wall. They held up various pieces of audio equipment to their ears and listened to his every move in disgust. Although he wasn't pointing a gun or thrusting a knife, he was definitely wielding a deadly weapon, and he was using it to poison rosemary to death. Hi, I'm Greg Poulson. This is serial killers, a Spotify original

from Parkast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we're taking a look at Gilbert Paul Jordan, also known as The Boozing Barber. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Last time, we discussed Gilbert's early onset alcoholism, his insatiable sex drive, and his transition from Petty criminal to alleged rapist and murderer. Today we'll explore Gilbert's deadly reign as Vancouver's boozing barber detailing how the Canadian justice system failed to contain him for years on end. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by Shopify.

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Start selling on Deepop, where Taste recognizes Taste. On the night of December 13, 1984, 53-year-old Gilbert Paul Jordan ventured out into the cold and wandered around an area of downtown Vancouver, known as Skid Row. At some point, he met a 40-year-old indigenous woman named Patricia Thomas. Gilbert invited her to his barber shop. She agreed, expecting a night of booze-fueled fun. Unfortunately, Gilbert had something entirely different in mind. After getting Patricia good and drunk, Gilbert wouldn't let her stop drinking.

He coaxed her to keep going, plying her with cup after cup of vodka, encouraging her to take just one more sip. Whenever Patricia passed out, Gilbert likely shook her awake and forced to, to consume more. The following morning, Gilbert rolled over on the mattress that he kept in his shop and came face to face with Patricia's dead body. He wasn't remotely surprised. While December 13th may have been the worst and last night of Patricia Thomas's life,

it was a relatively normal evening for the boozing barber. He'd allegedly killed several women with alcohol before. In fact, years earlier, Gilbert has thought to be able to. have murdered 25-year-old Mary Johns in the exact location, wielding the exact same weapon, and faced no consequences. Because of his past success, Gilbert knew what steps to take to ensure his freedom. Perhaps he called his lawyer and spun a false tale, claiming that he had no idea how Patricia had passed away. After a night of innocent fun, he'd simply startled awake to find her dead on his mattress. Then he told the police the same.

same story. Patricia's blood alcohol level was a whopping 0.51%, a number fatal to almost any individual. As such, investigators concluded that she died from alcohol poisoning. Despite knowing that Mary Johns had died from the same cause in the same barbershop just two years earlier, the authorities were still loathed to claim foul play. There was no blood or gore to speak of, and yet the act felt even more personal. even more sadistic than killing someone with a gun or a knife. To the local police, murdering via alcohol poisoning just seemed absurd.

So the authorities ruled Patricia's death unnatural and accidental. Their decision was likely due to a psychological phenomenon called confirmation bias, which is defined as the tendency to favor information that confirms one's beliefs or values. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or a psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. Psychologist Peter Wayson coined the term confirmation bias back in 1960.

In addition to favoring information that confirms our beliefs, humans also tend to avoid looking for evidence that contradicts them and sometimes ignore it altogether. Evaluating evidence takes a lot of energy, and our brains are constantly on the lookout for, strategies that can solve problems and save us time. These mental shortcuts are called heuristics, but while they help us make decisions quickly, they can also lead us to draw inaccurate conclusions. The existence of confirmation bias also proves that our desires have a real ability to affect our

beliefs, and that once we have a particular view of a situation, it's difficult to change our minds. So even after the police discovered yet another dead body in Gilbert's barbershop, they still couldn't believe that he could commit such a crime. But Gilbert was worse than they could have ever imagined. Patricia Thomas's death potentially brought his kill count to five, and he was eager to make it to six. So in June of 1985, he lured 45-year-old Patricia Andrew back to his shop for a late-night dalliance. Like Gilbert's previous victims, Patricia was an indebted.

indigenous woman with a known alcohol problem. He likely let Patricia drink until she passed out, then woke her up and forced her to keep going. This continued well into the night until Patricia closed her eyes for the very last time. The next morning, Gilbert once again alerted police of her passing. Authorities tested Patricia's blood alcohol level and discovered it was a staggering 0.79 percent. To get that kind of reading, Experts asserted that Patricia would have had to consume at least 40 ounces of hard liquor all at one time. Although this was the third woman found dead from booze in his barbershop, the idea that Gilbert was murdering them was apparently still too ridiculous to accept.

The authorities continued to believe that these women were unintentionally killing themselves, and Patricia Andrew was no exception. Her death was deemed unnatural and accidental. Despite the favorable ruling, Gilbert knew that he was playing with fire. If any more women turned up dead in his shop, he would surely become a suspect. So it seems he decided to curb his deadly addiction and waited as long as he could before striking again. At some point on September 24, 1986, Gilbert crossed paths with 38-year-old Velma Gibbons. She was an indigenous woman who'd been living at the Balmoral Hotel after separating from her husband Ken. The two had split because of

Velma's excessive drinking, which made her the perfect target for the boozing barber. Early that morning, Velma made a call to her estranged husband. She assured him that she was working on her sobriety and asked him to pick her up the next day. It was their son's birthday, and she wanted to give him his present in person. Velma sounded sober on the phone, so Ken agreed to her request. Had Velma never met Gilbert Paul Jordan, she might have remained sober throughout the rest of the night. She would have woken up refreshed, met Ken in the lobby of the hotel, and ventured out to the suburbs to hug her son on his birthday. Unfortunately, none of that happened. The details of Gilbert and Velma's night are largely unknown, but on September 25th,

Velma was found dead in one of the hotel's rooms. She had a dangerously high blood alcohol level and was naked from the waist down. Considering the room had been cleared of any booze, there was good reason to suspect foul play. However, due to Velma's established unhealthy relationship with alcohol and the overall lack of evidence, the authorities ruled her death as accidental due to acute alcohol poisoning. Gilbert was ecstatic. He had successfully gotten away with another murder, and the high was altogether intoxicating. Unfortunately, it was also fleeting.

Within two months' time, Gilbert was aching for another fix. He returned to downtown Vancouver's Skid Row and met 33-year-old Veronica Harry. Whether Gilbert felt invincible or whether he just got sloppy, we'll never know. But after going on a bender with Veronica, he invited her back. to his room at the Clifton Hotel and helped Veronica drink herself to death. On the morning of November 19th, Gilbert placed a call to his lawyer and told him a familiar tale. Then the two of them told the police the same story that Gilbert had already used multiple times. They claimed that Veronica had died of alcohol poisoning while Gilbert was fast asleep.

Incredibly, the police believed the tragic story and ruled her death as unnatural and And accidental. But after seeing Veronica in her casket, the attendees at her funerals started to whisper. They found it suspicious that she had cuts and bruises all over her face and body. Unfortunately, their voices were drowned out by the loud reminders of Veronica's hard partying ways. Drinking like she did, in a dangerous neighborhood like that, she was bound to get hurt. Veronica certainly didn't deserve to die, but to many of the people who knew her most, it seemed like an inevitable outcome of her lifestyle. According to local indigenous groups, Gilbert counted on that very

limited point of view. To ensure his freedom, he selected vulnerable, marginalized women who the police were less likely to investigate due to their race and their drinking habits. From his perspective, the authorities simply didn't care much about the fate of indigenous women, and they cared even less about indigenous women with alcohol problems. He also believed that the friends and family members of his carefully selected victims were more likely to accept their untimely deaths as long-overdue accidents. Apparently, Gilbert had thought of it all. Not only had he discovered the perfect means of murder, he knew how to pick the perfect victim.

That is, until the night of October 11, 1987. Gilbert assumed that 27-year-old Vanessa Buckner was just like all of the others. She was a mixed-race sex worker with an addiction to drugs, and he felt certain that no one would miss her. But as he followed Vanessa up to her room at the Niagara Hotel, Gilbert was walking toward the first steps of his undoing. The two plowed through bottles of vodka, and Gilbert left the hotel several times to run to the liquor store

and pick up more booze. Whenever he returned, he often found her passed out in bed, in which case Gilbert would revive Vanessa and force more alcohol down her throat. He also sexually assaulted Vanessa, though it's unknown whether she was awake or not. In all likelihood, she was unconscious, but Gilbert made Vanessa drink far more

than any other woman previously. By the early hours of October 12th, Vanessa was suffering so badly from alcohol, poisoning, that black bile started oozing out of her nose and mouth. Gilbert sensed that Vanessa was not long for this world and left her to die alone. He returned to his hotel and placed an anonymous call, alerting the police to the dead body at the Niagara Hotel. After examining Vanessa, authorities declared that her blood alcohol level was at 0.91%, more

than 11 times the legal limit for driving. it was also enough to kill a large man twice over. To reach such a high level of toxicity, it didn't seem like an accidental overdose. Vanessa Buckner had likely been murdered, and whoever had reported her death was most likely the culprit. As the police traced the source of the anonymous phone call, Gilbert Paul Jordan's time was running out. Coming up, Canadian police listen in on their killer. Listeners, this month marked 60 years since John F. Kennedy became the 35th president of the United States, ushering his already prominent family into the highest enclaves of political power.

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You can binge all 12 episodes, of this limited series starting on Tuesday, January 19th. Follow the Kennedys free and exclusively on Spotify. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zepbound terseptitide may be able to help. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with obesity or some adults with overweight who also have weight-related medical problems

to lose excess body weight and keep the weight off. Zepbound is approved as, a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection. Zephound contains terseptide and should not be used with other terseptide containing products or any GLP1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Zepound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pens or reuse needles. Don't take of allergic to it. Or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer, or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type to tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you

have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia if you're nursing pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zep bound with a sulfonel urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting which can cause dehydration and worsen kids. any problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-9979 or visit zepbounds.lily.com. Now back to the story. On the morning of October 12, 1987, 55-year-old Gilbert Paul Jordan left 27-year-old Vanessa Buckner to die alone in her hotel room. He had been the one to ply her

with so much vodka that her blood alcohol level reached a staggering 0.91 percent. He was also the one to anonymously call the police and direct them to her body. After tracing the call, authorities discovered that it had come from a room in the nearby Marble Arch Hotel, a room booked by the barber Gilbert Paul Jordan. Gilbert was immediately questioned by police, but due to a lack of evidence, they were unable to charge him with a crime. In fact, while Vanessa's death seemed entirely suspicious, investigators were now reticent to label it a murder at all.

Murder via alcohol poisoning seemed just too ludicrous, but they couldn't completely deny the suspicious circumstances. Nonetheless, they said that Vanessa had died of an overdose of booze. Vanessa Buckner's parents were livid. While they acknowledged that their daughter was a sex worker with a drug problem, they insisted that she'd never been much of a drinker. There was no possible way she'd done this to herself. Vanessa's parents knew in their bones that the man who'd made the anonymous call

had to be responsible for her death. As such, they pressured the authorities to look deeper into Gilbert Paul Jordan. Finally, in early November of 1987, the police department, the Crown Council, the coroner's office, and several forensic pathologists gathered together to open up an investigation

into Gilbert's past and to begin monitoring him as soon as possible. Unfortunately, while they were waiting for the authorization to start surveillance, Gilbert attacked yet another woman. On November 8th, Gilbert met 53-year-old Edna Shade, an indigenous woman of Cree-Soo descent. Unlike his previous victims, Edna wasn't known to have any vices.

She was beloved in her community and spent her spare time helping sex workers from Skid Row returned to school. She lived in a single room at the Beacon Hotel, and it was there that her lifeless body was found on the morning of November 9th. Edna was naked, and her blood alcohol level was at 0.12%.

Although no witnesses ever saw Gilbert enter the room, police suspected that the boozing barber was behind her demise. When they dusted for fingerprints, they found Gilbert's at the scene. Unfortunately, the existence of Gilbert's prince was not enough to charge him with a crime. For the rest of November, police monitored Gilbert's every move.

They watched him, him Prowl Skid Row, striking up conversations with indigenous women on the street and buying them drinks in bars. On the night of November 20th, Gilbert met Rosemary Wilson in the bar of a Vancouver hotel. Rosemary thought Gilbert looked like a school teacher and trusted him instantly. She agreed to follow the mild-mannered barber up for drinks over at the Balmoral Hotel. Police followed the couple back to Gilbert's room and stationed themselves in the room next door, lined up against the wall, investigators held audio equipment to their ears and listened in on a

disturbing conversation. Even though Rosemary was clearly inebriated, Gilbert coaxed her to keep drinking. Authorities heard Gilbert say, Down the Hatch Baby, 20 bucks if you can drink it right down. You want another drink? 50 bucks if you can take it. But as long as Rosemary was talking, as long as she was still conscious, there wasn't much that investigators could do without giving away their position.

And so they stood by as Gilbert continued to ply Rosemary with alcohol. It was unbearably excruciating, but they had strict orders not to intervene unless she was in real danger. At some point, Gilbert's room fell silent, and the officers assumed that the couple had gone to sleep. They started to pack up their equipment ready to head home. But just as they opened the door to the hallway, Rosemary, led out a piercing scream.

Police scrambled into Gilbert's room and removed Rosemary from the premises, rushing her to the hospital. After she'd recovered, Rosemary learned that she'd nearly died. While she could barely remember anything from her night with Gilbert, one moment stuck out in particular.

Despite her objections, Gilbert had shoved a bottle of vodka into her mouth and made her gulp it all down. He never even gave her a chance to breathe. It was apparent that Gilbert had nefarious motives, but paying a woman to drink herself sick wasn't necessarily a criminal offense. Unable to keep him behind bars, Gilbert returned to the streets of downtown East Side to feed his deadly addiction. Over the next week, police saved three more women from being killed by Gilbert. The final time they intervened, the authorities entered Gilbert's hotel room and found him lying on top of an unconscious woman.

He was gripping her by the neck, forcing her mouth open, and pouring alcohol down her throat. Gilbert may not have wielded a traditional weapon, but he was more than likely attempting to murder this woman. According to Dave Grossman, a law enforcement trainer who specializes in the psychology of killing, murder at close range is the most psychologically destructive way to end someone's life. Grossman asserts that some killers choose intimate methods of murder because it were, reminds them of rape and brings them sexual gratification. In his book On Killing, Grossman explains that the concept of sex as a process of domination and defeat

is closely related to the lust for rape. Thrusting the sexual appendage deep into the body of the victim can be perversely linked to thrusting a knife or bayonet into the body of the victim. Instead of a knife, Gilbert used a bottle. He took part in an intensely perversely personal process, thrusting an unwanted object into a woman's body in order to kill her. The image was jarring. Up until this point, authorities hadn't been able to picture how Gilbert

was actually killing these women. But that all changed when they walked in and witnessed the act for themselves. Now the idea of murder by vodka didn't seem ludicrous at all. Investigators took the woman to the hospital and arrested Gilbert for the murder of Vanessa Buckner. The officers on the scene noted that Gilbert seemed unworied about his future. In fact, he was acting rather cocky. They figured that if Gilbert was that sure of himself, he would probably brag about his crimes in lockup. So on their way to the jail, they threw an undercover detective into the back of the paddy wagon.

The detective, a man named William Fulton, ingratiated himself with the barber and pretended that he was a disgruntled criminal who didn't understand why he was under arrest. Gilbert commiserated with the man. He too questioned why he was being taken to jail. He'd already signed a statement regarding the death of Vanessa Buckner. When the two were placed in a holding cell, the undercover detective divulged that he'd overheard officers saying they'd just locked up a guy who committed ten murders.

Then he'd turn to Gilbert and asked, I gotta guess that's you, eh? Gilbert grinned and replied, well, geez, I didn't think it was that many. Gilbert clearly wanted to tell William the truth about what had happened that night. He wanted to boast about how he'd killed Vanessa and gotten away with it. But he was too smart. Whenever William showed interest in how Gilbert had murdered Vanessa with alcohol,

Gilbert insisted that she'd done it to herself. He even told William that, though it may have seemed like he was forcing a bottle into her mouth, he was actually trying to take the booze away from her. When William pushed back on the authenticity of his statement, Gilbert shrugged and said, Well, all they got is my story and her story, and dead women don't talk. His word, however, no longer had merit. Gilbert was officially charged with first-degree murder and was held without bail. When his trial began in October of 1988, the Crown Council worried that they didn't have enough evidence to successfully get a conviction.

So Gilbert's charge was reduced to manslaughter. Gilbert remained calm and collected throughout his trial and didn't bother to show any remorse for what had happened to Vanessa Buckner. He admitted that he'd provided Vanessa with excessive amounts of alcohol, but took no responsibility for her death. Perhaps he should have attempted to charm the court in some way, because on October 21st, the presiding judge sentenced Gilbert to 15 years in prison. Vancouver's boozing barber was,

finally off the streets, but he wasn't content to stay behind bars for long. Coming up, Gilbert falls off the wagon. Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right, so I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong. Bro, Skycoin, way better than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full moon. Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice. Start comparing hundreds.

of sights with Kayak and get your trip right. Kayak, got that right. Now back to the story. In October of 1988, 56-year-old Gilbert Paul Jordan was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years behind bars for the death of Vanessa Buckner. But the boozing barber wasn't content with staying in jail for long. Gilbert appealed the ruling and got his sentence reduced to nine years. And thanks to his good behavior, he was released from prison in six, when Gilbert

was 62 years old. The police department and the parents of Vanessa Buckner issued objections in August of 1994, but they were ignored. When the news hit the public, the people of Vancouver were also extremely upset. The Vancouver Sun published an editorial, expressing concern that the decision to let Gilbert go free would ruin the parole board's good record. The province ran an article warning indigenous women to be on high alert for the predator. The parole board defended its position by saying that Gilbert was getting what they called a

one-chance statutory release. Although he was allowed to live life as normal during the day, Gilbert was required to spend his nights in jail for the next three years. He was also not allowed to drink. If he violated any of these terms, even once, he would be put back in prison. No one outside of the parole board believed Gilbert could do it. He was bound to fall off the wagon. Surprisingly, Gilbert lasted two years without violating his parole, but that all changed on Sunday, August 4, 1996, when he didn't return to the correctional facility in time for his curfew. As soon as the clock struck 12, authorities issued a nationwide warrant for his arrest.

Gilbert, however, returned later that Monday on his own accord. He explained that he'd been dealing with the passing of a close friend and had fallen asleep in his car due to emotional exhaustion. He appeared to be sober and passed a urinalysis test that proved he hadn't been drinking during his absence. Considering his clean test results and his model behavior as an inmate, corrections officials decided that Gilbert's walkaway was a singular event and didn't reprimand him in any way. Then, in November of 1997, Gilbert was officially released from parole. Using the money he continued to make from investments, he opened another barbershop in Abbotsford, a city located about 44 miles southeast of Vancouver.

For several months, Gilbert maintained his good behavior, and it appeared that he had turned over a new leaf. He'd finally managed to curb his addictions and had become a law-abiding citizen, but by the summer of 1998, Gilbert was back to his old ways. On June 23rd, he chatted up a woman at a woman at a woman. local park. To protect her identity, we'll refer to this woman as Susan. At some point, Gilbert invited her back to his apartment, where Susan claimed he held her against her will and sexually assaulted her. Gilbert was thrown back in jail and remained there until his trial in January of 2000. Susan, however, was an admitted heroin addict, and Gilbert's defense attorney questioned the validity

of her allegations. Due to her shaky testimony and overall lack of evidence, Gilbert was a acquitted of the sexual assault charge. Once again, Gilbert evaded justice by choosing a disadvantaged and disenfranchised woman as his victim. Recognizing that the courts were always in his favor, he continued to disobey the terms of his probation. In June of 2000, 68-year-old Gilbert was charged with administering a noxious substance to a woman and sexually assaulting her. The substance, of course, was alcohol. Unfortunately, in late October, the charges against Gilbert were stayed with little hope of reinstatement. The Crown simply didn't have enough evidence to prosecute.

After spending almost four months back in custody, Gilbert was allowed to go free. Around that same time, final rehearsals were taking place for a new play called The Unnatural and Accidental Women. The play was written and directed by a Métis woman named Mary Clements. After seeing so much coverage about Gilbert Paul Jordan, Mary wanted to give a voice to his victims, who were all indigenous women like her. The play opened to critical acclaim and thrusted Gilbert back into the spotlight to face public scrutiny. In response, Gilbert agreed to his first face-to-face interview with a journalist. Jim Beattie profiled Gilbert in the November 4th issue of the Vancouver Sun and provided insight into the notoriously private criminals' personality. Jim wrote that when he met Gilbert for lunch at a local restaurant,

the elderly criminal boasted that he'd already sucked back around 16 shots of vodka. But Gilbert barely seemed buzzed and ordered a couple of beers. When the beers didn't do anything for him, Gilbert ordered the most expensive vodka at the bar. He grinned at Jim and reminded him that the newspaper was paying. Jim wasn't sure how to react. He knew the terms of Gilbert's release precluded him from drinking in the city proper or drinking with women. While Jim was a man, they were definitely within the restricted

city limits. However, in hopes to gain Gilbert's trust and glean as much information as possible, Jim chose to ignore the infraction. Unfortunately, Gilbert refused to admit to any crime. He denied or minimized most of the misdeeds he'd been accused of and blamed every wrong he'd ever done on his alcoholism. Whenever Jim confronted him about the death of Vanessa Buckner, or one of the other deceased indigenous women linked to him, Gilbert insisted that he was innocent. He pointed out that he'd been the one to report all of their deaths to the police, as if that absolved him of any offense.

Gilbert also didn't express any remorse for his victims, nor did he seem to view them as victims at all. To Gilbert, these women were addicts who got what they had coming. Throughout their lunch, Gilbert's moods shifted at the drop of a hat. One minute he'd be yelling, incredulous that anyone believed he could commit murder, and the next he would sit quietly, contemplating his next words. He cried, he laughed, and he leered at the waitress attending to their table. Whenever his hands started shaking, Gilbert ordered yet another drink. Jim Beattie's interview with Gilbert presented a bleak picture of a man who not only suffered from

debilitating alcoholism, but several personality issues. When asked about his future, he said, future. Gilbert wasn't sure what lay in store. He figured he'd either open another barbershop or drink himself to death. It appeared that, in addition to a myriad of possible psychological problems, Gilbert was also dealing with depression. The relationship between depression and alcoholism is a complicated one. Psychologists disagree on whether depression causes alcoholism or if it's the other way around. When a patient presents symptoms of both a psychiatric disorder and an addictive disease, they can be given what's called a dual diagnosis. In a 1988 article for alcoholism treatment quarterly, Patricia Rose Atea writes that the best way

to determine treatment for patients with a dual diagnosis is to figure out which came first, the addiction, or the disorder. Meanwhile, patients are encouraged to stop drinking regardless of the order of events, as the presence of alcohol can worsen any psychological issue, and potentially trigger other psychological problems. Unfortunately, the most significant treatment Gilbert received for his alcoholism occurred when he was incarcerated, and almost every time he was released,

he immediately returned to the bottle. Gilbert continued to drink, despite knowing the legal ramifications he might incur. And his booze-fueled interview with Jim Beattie proved that as he got older, he became even more brazen about breaking these rules. Shortly after Jim's piece was published, Gilbert was arrested for drinking with the writer in the restricted part of the city. In May of 2001, 69-year-old Gilbert received a 15-month sentence to be followed by a strict three-year probation. He served two-thirds of his punishment before he was released in February of 2002.

Less than two weeks later, Gilbert was arrested again for consuming alcohol with a woman in the woman. in Vancouver's downtown east side neighborhood. He was sentenced to another year in jail for breaching the conditions of his probation. In August of 2004, 72-year-old Gilbert was allowed to re-enter society. Instead of staying in Vancouver, where he knew he would be recognized,

Gilbert traveled about 900 miles east to the city of Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Gilbert posted up at the York Hotel, where he met a woman will call Judy. Judy was reportedly a long-time resident of the hotel and a serious alcoholic. The details of Judy and Gilbert's night together are largely unknown, but we do know that Judy drank so much that she required hospitalization upon being found in her room. Just as before, Gilbert didn't stick around to see whether she lived or died.

As soon as she fell unconscious, he booked it out of swift current and traveled east, landing in the city of Winnipeg. Gilbert knew he was breaching the terms of his probation. In addition to being forbidden from drinking, Gilbert was required to stay on Vancouver Island. He chose to ignore all of these mandates. The moment the authorities got wind that he'd left town, they issued a nationwide warrant for his arrest. About a week after getting his freedom, police officers found Gilbert drinking at a Winnipeg hotel and took him into custody. Over the next two years, Gilbert continued to break the terms. of his probation and spent numerous stints behind bars.

Finally, in July of 2006, Gilbert Paul Jordan passed away, allegedly from cirrhosis of the liver. According to his obituary, he died peacefully at the ripe old age of 74, a luxury that was not afforded to any of his victims. While the women he heard and killed are, of course, the people truly worthy of our compassion, It's important to recognize that Gilbert was also a victim. He suffered from a very real and very deadly disease that went ignored for decades on end. The Canadian justice system treated him only as a delinquent, instead of also as an addict. If the court had mandated that Gilbert get treatment for both his alcoholism and counseling for his psychological issues,

he might have had a chance at recovery. Instead, he was locked in a destructive cycle forever. tearing apart the lives of women he came in contact with. There were those who regularly requested that Gilbert be placed in a psychiatric facility instead of a prison. They believe that, with proper care, he could be reformed. There is, of course, the very real possibility that Gilbert Paul Jordan was beyond rehabilitation, that there was nothing anyone could do to stop this predator from destroying his life and the lives of others. But we'll never know, because no one.

one ever gave him the opportunity and assistance to change. During his interview with Jim Beattie in 2000, Gilbert said that when it came to his future, he'll either sink or swim. No one offered Gilbert a life preserver, and he sank hard. Gilbert's story and the story of his victims also speaks to the importance of helping anyone who is struggling in life. Whether they're struggling at the hand of an attacker or crumbling under the thumb of a disease, the simple act of reaching out and offering support could very well save a life. Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. We'll be back soon with a new episode.

For more information on Gilbert Paul Jordan, amongst the many sources we used, we found the reporting done by the Vancouver Sun and the province newspapers, extremely helpful to our research. You can find all episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast, for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler,

sound designed by Carrie Murphy, with production assistants by Ron Shapiro, Carly Madden, and Bruce Kitovich. This episode of Serial Killers was written by Ellie Reed, with writing assistance by Abigail Cannon, fact-checking by Bennett Logan, and research by Brian Petrus and Chelsea. Wood. Serial killers stars Greg Paulson and Vanessa Richardson. Fiction, fame. Discover the real

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getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hixed. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.