Someone Knows Something - S9 E2: Ringel

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

A decade after her disappearance, a previously uninvestigated local man comes forward at a family gathering and confesses to killing Christine Harron. Chrissy's mother Mary Ann is told that the case is a "slam dunk". And the outcome of an upcoming trial could mean she will finally learn the truth. But this is just the beginning.

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Pretty thick. It's all wet and marshy. It's the first time I've been here. The OPP were going to bring me down, and then they never followed through. I don't think you would find anybody in here. Yeah, there's another blue one hanging there. See, there's all kinds of ribbons over in there. There's another one over there by the water. At the bend, yeah. water. At the bend, yeah. Yep. I'm with Chrissy's mom Mary Ann and her stepfather Sean Russworm in a wooded area of spruce and cedar across the river from Hanover Park. Ribbons of red,

blue, and pink hang limply from some of the trees and a few are mixed in with the dirt and leaves on the ground. OPP for Ontario Provincial Police in bold black letters is stamped on all of them. Signs of a search for Chrissy. Yeah, the ribbons will be the areas that they searched. Or we're searching just as markers. So they know where to come back to, where they searched and where they haven't, I guess. Yeah, there's water like a swamp right there too.

I don't know what that would be. Marianne has literally stumbled on a pile of green tinged bones on the ground. Probably deer, I imagine. I'd say deer. Yeah, because that's the skull there. Looks like the part of the spine. Yeah, it looks like the spine.

Where is that part of the spine? Wow. Just saw how fast they sink into the ground and start to decompose. And this is the side that I was more worried that even if Chrissy had come across on her own and climbed a tree and fell out and got hurt, and could have been laying here hurt, not even have someone to do something to her. When did you first ask them to search? The first week she went missing. The first few days, I wanted them to search this side of the park as well as the other side.

They refused to do it. They wouldn't look. These cold plastic search markers that we're seeing come from a time over a decade after that first week of Chrissie's disappearance. In fact, this area west of the Saugine River was never searched until after a man named Anthony Edward Ringle came forward and confessed. And if they would have searched that at the time, the gravesite would have been fresh. But now, it's been too long.

I'm David Rigeon and this is Someone Knows Something, Season 9, The Christine Herron Case, Episode 2, wrangle. It's leaving for a little bit. Let's have a seat over in that blue chair. In a blue chair in the corner of an interrogation room, sloaches a 35-year-old man. He's wearing a black Adidas shirt, about 5'6", with blunt features and long, though sparse hair.

This is Anthony Ringle, opposite two seated police in white shirts. This is the first interview undertaken by OPP investigators at the Walkerton station in August 2004, just hours after Ringle's confession at a family gathering. No questions, no comments, says Ringel, speaking low and looking down, arms crossed. Well, here's the thing, you've already told your cousin about this, and they've already talked to the officer about this. What we would like to do, and if you know where Chrissy is, we would like to get Chrissy away from there and I think she deserves that and only you can help us with that. And I promised her mother that we'd find out where she was so that we could get her a decent first scenario. I had been bothering her for a long time.

She didn't want to let it keep bothering me. Look at me. Anthony. She's in the ground somewhere. She needs her to be alone. She's the user of the oil. You can help me with that. I don't dare you anymore to get out of the car. No comments.

No comments, Ringel says again, here to the police. And yet, he had been talking quite a bit to them and others just a short while earlier. What the OPP told us was Anthony Ringel was at several parties and had confessed to other party members that he had done it. That he murdered Chrissy. Ringel's confession comes 11 years after Chrissy's disappearance. 11 years of police work that never pointed at Anthony Ringle.

Anthony was born on December 10th, 1968, one of six children. He had worked at a local Canadian tire, but was unemployed in May, 1993. Anthony would sometimes refer to himself as a slow learner. Records show Ringo experienced significant learning difficulties at school and had apparently suffered head injuries as a child.

Police would sometimes call him Tony. Hey, Tony? Tony, can you look over at me, please? Why not? No comments. According to court and police documents, the events that bring Ringel into the Walkerton station for questioning all begin at a family birthday party that Ringel attends, August 22nd, 2004, in the small crossroads community of Elmwood, Ontario. By evening, Ringle ends up at the home of a relative.

After drinking about five beers and inhaling what he says is some second-hand marijuana, Ringle becomes upset with his family for some reason and proceeds to tell relatives and others present that he murdered someone named Christine. He dials 911 but then hangs up without saying anything. His relatives try to calm him down. Do you remember talking to a police officer last night? Remember talking to what? Oh my god. You want your lawyer? Yeah. Remember talking to one? Oh, I don't remember.

You want your lawyer? Yeah. You want a lawyer here? Before I say anything, Ringel says. And they've already talked to the officer about this. After Ringel's aborted emergency call from his cousin's place in Elmwood, an OPP constable named Brad Lipsky is alerted by police dispatch around 10.30 p.m. that there had been a 911 hang-up call at the Elmwood address. Now Tony, look. Earlier tonight you phoned 911, anyone who sought for an officer. Lipsky arrives at the apartment gathering in his squad car and climbs some stairs to speak to one of Ringel's cousins.

At some point, Constable Lipsky turns and sees someone walking up toward him. It's Ringel, and he's holding his hands out, palms together, seemingly as if to be handcuffed. And he said that he were responsible for Christine Harren disappearing. Ringle then says to Lipsky, I did it. Take me away. Then a short time later, Ringle tells him, I killed Christine. Christine who? says Lipsky. And Ringle replies, Christine Harris, Christine Harren.

I can show you where I buried her. I need to get this over with. Keep going straight, I'll show you where he confessed to the cop. You may know. Actually, no, I know. Let's keep going. Is this Elmwood?

Yes, it is. Keep going straight. You don't know, did your man hand man where Anthony come fast at the time? No. Officer Lipsky arrests Rangel for murder and places him in his cruiser. Soon thereafter, around 11 p.m., Rangel's mother Loretta arrives after being called in by the worried relatives. Lipsky explains to Rangel's mother that Loretta, arrives after being called in by the worried relatives. Lipski explains to Ringle's mother that Ringle had just told him that he killed a girl named

Christine. The mother tells Lipski that years earlier a girl named Christine Herron went missing, whereupon Ringle, who has been listening through the cruiser door, speaks to his mother saying remember the girl named Christine there was a party I believe in that house mm-hmm that one there this one yeah yeah you got her that's these are the addresses in the documents he confessed to his mother there mm-hmm and he went in there and that's where the cop cuffed him near those stairs there. Constable Lipsky then drives Ringel to the Walkerton detachment.

Ringel urges Lipsky to take him to Hanover only ten minutes away because he wants to show him something. Instead, Lipsky takes Ringel to Walkerton and reads him his right to counsel, advising him he can speak to a lawyer if he wants to. Ringel replies that he does. Lipsky then calls legal aid for Ringel and then after that his OPP superiors. This call brings in several police investigators. Okay, my name is Mark Ratt.

I'm a detective inspector with the OPP. Make sure you speak, Anthony. See up on the roof there? Those are microphones. So we gotta make sure that we get your voice or there's no point in this, okay? Detective Inspector Mark Wright, a 24-year veteran with the OPP,

is the officer in charge of the Heron investigation at the time. He begins this second police interview with Ringel around 5 a.m. By now, Ringel has been given a blanket, and he sometimes speaks into it, muffling his answers. Right now you're under arrest for the murder of Christine Herron because you told that police officer that you killed her. Remember that? Is that correct? Yes.

And then at some point you say, and I'll take you to where she is or something like that. Is that right? What exactly did you just say? I'm going to show you where she is. That's what you said, right? OK, so this is pretty serious stuff, right? So you grabbed the phone to dial 911, right? And why did you do that?

Hm? Because I didn't want to be around my family anymore. Because he didn't want to be around his family anymore. No. All right. What were you going to say? Anthony? I was probably going to say the same thing. I said I murdered somebody. So what did you think was going to happen when you make, when you say something like that? What I probably knew, I just want to get arrested.

So you got arrested, you got what you were looking for, right? Huh? Okay. Why don't we turn off the tape? It's about 20 after 5. We're gonna check something out. The interview eventually ends and Wright escorts Ringle out. Today's date is a Monday the 23rd August 2004. My name is Detective Sergeant Martin Graham.

But soon another officer comes into the picture named Martin Graham, a detective sergeant with the OPP's behavioral sciences unit. Did you kill Christine Herron? No. Are you telling Christine Herron? No. Are you telling me the truth? Here Officer Graham also tries to get Ringle to repeat his statements from the night before, but Ringle seems of a different mind. One of the most important things is to make sure that you tell me the complete truth,

all right? Yes. Do you understand how truth, alright? Yes. Do you understand how serious this is? Yes. I don't think you're being 100% honest with me. And as I said to Anthony, that's what we need. For your sake. Well see, that's what I mean actually.

I said things that I should know, sir. That's what I mean. I'm saying I said things I shouldn't have said, Ringle says. Graham pushes into the location Ringle was trying to get Officer Lipsky to take him the night before. Last night, when you and the officer were talking, you really wanted to take that officer to somewhere in Hanover. I think it's down by the water, isn't it? Can you hear me? Yeah? down by the water. Isn't that keen? Yeah? Here Ringel agrees that the location is by the water. The whereabouts he kind of believed in taking us.

Unfortunately for you, he couldn't help you last night. But I can do that now, because I've got a bit of time. It has now been 17 hours since Ringel was taken into police custody and he has not yet appeared before a judge. In police video, Ringel can at times be seen huddling in his blanket and slouching in his seat or drinking coffee. Detective Sergeant Graham tries hard to present a sympathetic embrace to Ringel's situation and he continues to circle back to the evening before at the party where Ringle made his confessions. I felt compelled to tell people that know you that you were done something.

And eventually, about an hour after Graham urges Ringle to be truthful, there appears to be something of a breakthrough. Because I'm always in these matters. Anytime something like this happens, there's always a reason why it happened. You were then so overcome because you had finally said it to help yourself out. And let's understand those things. Not going to help me out, Ringel says. Of course it's going to help you out. Of course it is. Do it, why not? Is it no good in every? Because then I'll lose everything, Ringle says, head in his hands.

What, you're not going to lose everything? Yes I will. No. You're sorry though about what happened, aren't you? You didn't mean it, did you mean it to happen? What happened? How did you meet her? Because that day she was late for school. How did you meet her? Because that day she was late for school.

How did you meet her? Probably down at the park. This is the first admission from Ringel during any police interview in custody that he had met Christine Herron on the day she disappeared, May 18, 1993. Down at the park. And why did you meet her down at the park? Had you been seeing her?

No, that was the first time. And what happened? You met her at the park in Hanover and then what happened? Where did she go from there? Across the river. The location in Hanover Ringle had apparently wanted to show Constable Lipski the night before. A location next to the Saugine River across from the town park. Well, across the river there is the Hanover Park, and that's where Anthony says he met up with Chrissy. And from what I understand, Anthony says he brought Chrissy across.

See, even now the water is pretty high. Wouldn't have been too easy coming across back then. I don't know how Ringle willingly even got her across the water. She would have been afraid to have come across. Installing a TV on a wall sounds simple, right? That was easy. Did you find the Thanks for watching. Certain conditions apply. Whether your business is just starting out or starting to expand, Monaris delivers a full suite of commerce solutions for mobile, online, and in-store payments. To learn more, visit monaris.com forward slash commerce. Monaris, powering Canadian commerce. By this time in the Ringle interview process, it is end of day, but police take Ringle to Hanover anyway.

Wearing suits and dress shoes, they make attempts to follow Ringle through the thickets, slipping and sliding their way in the mud, but to no avail. Alrighty, it's 10 to 10 on the 23rd of August. We're at the Walkerton OPP detachment. Police find nothing and return with Rangel around 8.20 p.m. to the Walkerton OPP station where he's offered pepperoni pizza and a drink. And Anthony, you're under arrest for the first degree murder of Christine Herron, correct?

You're aware of that, right? Yes or no? Yes. With no evidence of Chrissy's remains found, Detective Inspector Wright interviews Ringel again and presents himself as worried that Ringel may be making a false confession and that he wants to give Ringel an opportunity to make an exculpatory statement, one that might serve to absolve him of guilt. Okay, you've been cautioned about talking to the police and they've given you your right to counsel, told you you could speak to a lawyer, and as a matter of fact you've spoken to duty counsel three different times today, right?

They told me I'm supposed to go get a room. Okay. They told me not to talk. Okay and you appreciate that that's the advice they give you but you can choose as to whether or not you're going to take that advice right? Now just so everybody knows you're tucked under a blanket there because you're tired right? No it's cool. Okay and again you know there was no more serious charge than the criminal code of canon in that charge. You're aware of that, right? Yeah. Okay. Okay, Anthony, I want you to listen very carefully to me. My job is to get to the truth. And there have been times in my career

where people have said they did things that they didn't do and I want to make sure that you're not admitting to something that you didn't do. So I'm just gonna ask you straight up, was what you told Martin the truth? Yes. So you killed Christine Herron. I need an answer. Yes. Okay. So how do you feel after you've told, do you feel better that you've got this off your chest? A little. Okay. Are you prepared to go to jail for the rest of your life for a crime you didn't commit? Do you know that that could happen? You know that could happen, right? But you killed Christine. Yes or no? Yes.

How come we didn't find her then? I can't remember where. Where? Where what? Where this part was. Do you think I said that though? Where you killed this girl and you left her? Yeah. Where you killed this girl and you left her. Yeah. Ringo is definitive here, but then switches gears again.

He'd like to go home. And they told me, they swore attention. You just wanted attention. Well, how come Sunday night at 11 o'clock you decide to say, I killed Christine here? What switch flipped on there? I don't know. Maybe you are a killer and you're just lying to me. You a killer?

Look at me. You a killer? No. Anthony, I don't know what the heck to do with you. I don't know if you're a killer or not. You're a confusing young man. What am I to do with you? What do we? What am I to do with you? Charge me mischief.

Charge me with mischief So Martin came in here and talked to you all over again. He talked you in the same way you killed that girl How why did you pick Christine's name? They don't know that Talked him. Yes Or did you think was coming out like you're gonna dazzle your family that you're you're a killer What were you looking to accomplish? I know what did I throw kind of where are you looking to accomplish? Huh, I don't know that's not good enough I

Think maybe you're still killing Maybe you need to spend the rest your life in jail What do you think about that? What has the bright hair Maybe you're still a killer. Maybe you need to spend the rest of your life in jail. What do you think about that? Would that surprise you? Would that surprise you if I told you I think maybe you're lying to me, rise out and you killed that girl? Yeah.

Yeah, what? Are you a killer? Maybe, eh? No. Are you? Maybe. You might be a killer. Okay. Then's a big idiot.

At this point, police believe that Ringle might be a killer. Detective Sergeant Graham takes another crack at trying to prove to themselves that Anthony Ringle is the real deal. I want you to try to picture exactly what she looked like. Alright, everything you can remember about her. Everything. Sometimes it's really... Her long hair. Long. Yeah.

Getting glasses. Okay. Just that day though. Skinny. Yeah. Ringle says bad. What message could I give to Christine's mum? That I'm sorry. That I'm sorry. I'm sitting in front of the person that killed Christine Heron, aren't I? Yeah. What message do you have for your mum?

Just wait for all day and day. Yeah. I'm sorry for what I've done. And thus in all probability, by his own admissions and actions, Christine's killer had been found in Anthony Ringle. Justice can soon be served. After this series of police questioning, Ringle appears before a judge and is then taken to a succession of Ontario Provin provincial jails to await trial. Police used this period to conduct the searches that left the plastic OPP tape

that Mary Ann, Sean and I saw on the other western side of the Sagene River. The OPP had let me know that Ringle had confessed to murdering Christine and that he was being held and there would be a trial. that Ringle had confessed to murdering Christine, and that he was being held, and there would be a trial. The pretrial finally comes in April 2006. Everything seems to have fallen in place and set to move forward with the successful prosecution of a man who voluntarily came forward

to admit to his family and police that he murdered Christine Herron. The Crown Attorney told us it was a slam dunk at one point. He was 90% sure Ringle was going to be convicted. But that's not what happened. They screwed up. I've got more anger towards the OPP and the town cops than I do Ringo. Nobody understands that. Someone Knows Something is hosted, written, and produced by me, David Rigeon. The series is also produced by Katie Swires.

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