Suspicion - S1 Death in a Small Town | E2 Suspicion

Episode Date: May 23, 2022

Detectives zero in on parents Rose-Anne and Kent McLellan, while their son clings to life. While their every action is called into question, police conduct unauthorized searches and interview Nathaniel’s three brothers in a basement room. Audio sources: Toronto Star, CTV News London

The Billionaire Murders is brought to you by Havelock Metal, the only roof and siding you'll ever need. The following content contains discussions of child injury and death, including frank discussions and displays of emotion surrounding that loss. Listener discretion is advised. From the Toronto Star, I'm Kevin Donovan, and this is Death in a Small Town, Episode 2, Suspicion. The human skull is made up of 22 bones, 8 cranial and 14 facial. Think of our skulls as a container that protects and holds the brain, easily the most important part of our body as it controls everything we do.

How we talk, learn, walk, breathe, eat, everything. The skull is a strong container, but it can only take so much. So clearly, you know, Nathaniel came in quite sick. He knew right off the bat, especially the story that was given to us. A story often third-hand. Ain't nobody... Because when you hear a story in that scenario, getting information is probably not the most important thing at that time. The most important thing is to do your best you can

and try to stabilize, try to resuscitate, try to manage. The recording here isn't great, but what the doctor is saying is that Nathaniel came to them quite sick. How it happened, that was not their initial focus. Keeping the 15-month-old alive was. In our first episode, you heard how Nathaniel's babysitter, Megan Van Hoof, called Roseanne, Nathaniel's mom, and told her the 15-month-old boy was unwell. Roseanne rushed to get Nathaniel, took him to the local hospital in

Strathroy. His condition critical, doctors there quickly transferred him down the road to the much better equipped London hospital. He wasn't quite sick. He had a severe trauma to his head, what looked like, based on the CT scan, skull fracture and hemorrhage in the different part of the brain. And when that happens, the pressure in the brain is very high. So you try to monitor the pressure, number one, and manage the pressure. Because there's some suggestion that if you manage the pressure, maybe you'll make a difference. These conversations with several doctors were recorded by Roseanne.

You can hear her sobs as she hears the news about her son's condition. Roseanne made these recordings surreptitiously. We'll get to why later. Here's another one of the doctors. To be perfectly frank, the injuries were so widespread on the MRI, involving so many parts of the brain, surface of the brain, deep part of the brain, brain stem, it was so extensive, I'm going to be just, that it was, that it's hard to know what was first, second, or third. I bring it up as the example, I saw

the evidence on the MRI of midbrain, of hippocampus, of deep gray matter, that to me say a lack of oxygen as one of the main mechanisms. I'm not sure if it was shaking first, lack of oxygen first, but I only bring it up to say that to me that's still the suspicion of non-accidental trauma. The London doctors and the Strathroy police had a mystery on their hands. Nathaniel remained unconscious, hooked up to life support, parents by his side. Other than a small bruise forming on his front left temple, there was no indication of an injury. The results of both the MRI and a CT scan came in. Though there was no visible mark under the boy's wispy blonde hair, the scan had revealed a nine centimeter vertical crack in the

back of his skull. The scans also found evidence of whiplash, stretched ligaments in his neck, which could be an indication the young boy had been shaken. In the PCCU, the Pediatric Critical Care Unit, Kent and Roseanne sat, crushed, surrounded by family members who raced to the hospital from all over the province as soon as they heard the news. Roseanne's father, Richard, was at home with his second wife, Veronica, when they got the call. Richard's first wife, Roseanne's mother,

died in 2010 following early onset of Alzheimer's. We were both home. Veronica and I were both home. The phone rang, and it was Kent on the phone, and he told Veronica that something bad had happened, and she couldn't believe it. She said, is this Kent? Is this really you? And it was, and he said, you got to come.

Nathaniel is hurt bad. They were in the hospital in Strathroy. And then, of course, just as we're leaving, Judy called and said, well, they've left the hospital. They're going to London. So then you know it's bad. I got in the car and we drove to London. Meanwhile, at the McClellan home in Park Hill, a rural community 30 minutes drive west of London, Kathy Webster was tidying and worrying, hoping to hear positive news from the hospital. Kathy lives across from the McClellans,

the last two houses on a dead-end road. It was late Wednesday afternoon, the day after whatever happened to Nathaniel happened. The McClellans, with four boys, had a cobbled-together childcare routine that will be familiar to most working parents. The three older boys, Gabe, Luke, and Noah, were school-age. Nathaniel, the youngest, was looked after by Kathy on Mondays and Wednesdays, another neighbor on Fridays, and in a new arrangement, Megan Van Hoof on Mondays and Wednesdays, another neighbor on Fridays, and in a new arrangement, Megan Van Hoof on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Today, with no Nathaniel to chase after, Kathy cleaned. Nobody had been home the night before, so there were breakfast dishes to wash, a high chair to wipe, laundry to do. Roseanne knows, too. Roseanne is not a housekeeper.

And I don't blame her. She's got all these boys running around and they're not neat and tidy. Like the house isn't dirty. It's just not neat and tidy. It looks like a hurricane goes through it. Wednesdays isn't as bad as Mondays because I was there Monday.

I'm only gone one day and I'm there again Wednesday. It's like Groundhog Day when you go. Nothing changes. It looks the same as when it did the day before. When Kent was little, Kathy had been his babysitter in the same house. She loved all the McClellan boys, but Nathaniel was her favorite. Kathy is petite with dark hair pulled back and a low ponytail. She has striking blue eyes. He wasn't quite like the other boys. He didn't like his nap time. You'd have to tire

him out to nap him. He was the most loving, and he was just a real cutie. He was like a little monkey. He was the type that when you picked him up, his arms were around your neck, his legs were wrapped around you. That's what I'd call him, the little monkey. He just clung to you. And then he would lay his head in your shoulder. He was just very cute. He wasn't interested in the toys. He wanted to learn how to make the stuff work.

He had no fear. It's a lot of work because you had to be on them all the time. He would walk from here. We'd go all the way to grandpa's house. Like that's a quarter of a mile. He would climb right up on the counter if you let him. He was very inquisitive. If he saw something, he wanted to investigate. All Kathy had heard was that something had happened at the babysitter's and it did not look good, that Nathaniel might not make it. She was just finishing up for the day when a police cruiser rumbled down the road and turned into the McClellan driveway. Police officers came to the door

and told Kathy she had to leave. She remembers at least one was in uniform, and she never saw a search warrant. Kathy went home. Grandpa Wayne, that's Kent's dad, picks up the story. He and his wife Judy live in a house across an open field, and they were looking after the other three McClellan boys. The car was in the yard down there, Strathroy, police car. So I jumped in the four-wheeler and went down. And I would not be able to recognize the officer. But he was a young

guy. And he said, well, we're just checking some things out. And I was very naive. I never dealt with the police. Okay, they're good guys. I didn't know what they were checking out, but that's fine. How many other cars were there? Just the one. Just the one car. Yeah. Okay, and you're not quite sure if it's marked or unmarked? No, I'm not.

Because even if it was unmarked, I would still have gone down as neighborhood watch. And I know it was getting near 4 o'clock because I came home. I had to get the boys off the bus. Two hours later, Judy sent Wayne back. The boys needed clothes for school. But an officer told Wayne he still couldn't go inside. When they finally left, Wayne called Kathy. It was pitch dark by then, and they had to use flashlights and walk

carefully. The McClellans were building an addition to the home, and the foundations had just gone in. It was a bit of a construction minefield. As Kathy helped Wayne select clothes, they tried to make sense of the police visit. Why were they so interested in Roseanne and Kent, given that Nathaniel collapsed at the sitters? Meanwhile, the news from London was not good. Nathaniel was still unconscious. A room for the family was made available at the Ronald

McDonald house, but Roseanne and Kent did not want to leave Nathaniel's bedside. We'll be right back. This is Kevin Donovan. I've been around building and renovation projects my entire life, so I can tell you it's important to make your next roof the last one your house, cottage, or building will ever need. Do it once, do it right, do it now. Have luck metal. Request your quote today.

The next day, Thursday. Police were back at the McClellans, the second search of their house. Still no search warrant, but Strathroy police maintained they had Kent's permission to search the place and do what they were about to do, interview their children. That's when the police showed up at 4 o'clock here. Two officers and a children's aid woman. I don't remember the officer's last name, but the guy that stayed with us was Gilles. Wayne is in his early 70s, wispy white hair, deep smile lines, looks a little like the late actor Ed Asner. He's worn many hats over the years. Football referee at $20 a game, pig farmer, planted cash crops, owned an appliance repair business, and a 150-seat restaurant. He and Judy, he calls Judy a city girl because she's from London, raised two boys, Kent and Craig,

in what is now Roseanne and Kent's house. There's a giant solar panel beside the house Wayne and Judy built, a remnant of a government program that Wayne says, with a wink, was a better deal for him than the government. Wayne and Judy had no warning the police were coming. Judy had just cooked a big dinner, spaghetti. Detective Sergeant Gilles Fillon explained that they would interview Wayne and Judy separately in a room off the kitchen, and the other detective, Chris Haskett, and a children's aid worker, would interview each of the boys separately down in the basement.

We went in there, away from Judy, and he asked me all sorts of questions about how things were down there and if there was any history of being rough with the kids and all that. I said, absolutely not. And was there ever anything amiss? No, everything's fine. The questions police were asking Kent's father, and Kent himself earlier that week, indicated police had suspicions about the McClellans, that Nathaniel had been injured on their watch, and even that they stood to gain financially from this horrible situation.

This is Kent a year and a half later, recalling how Strathroy detective Gilles Fillion ended the interview at the London hospital while Nathaniel was steps away in critical condition. And then he said, do you have a life insurance policy on your son? And I said, no. Oh yeah, he asked if I owned a four-wheeler, which I do.

I don't know if I told him, but pretty sure I would have said, I can't say it, but it would have been obvious that he would never have been on the four-wheeler, driving on a four-wheeler. We are not parents like that. Like, the kids do not get on the four-wheeler. Detective Fillion asked Wayne how often he saw the kids. Wayne said daily. He had a particular connection with Nathaniel, whose middle name was Wayne. Even though Nathaniel had only been walking a couple of months, they would often kick a soccer ball around in the side yard. Just a few days ago, the family

had celebrated Wayne's 70th birthday at a local banquet hall, and Wayne said it was simply a wonderful day for him and for his grandson. He was in his glory, because everybody fawned over him. He was so cute, and he was running around there. He was with Grandpa a lot. When I gave my speech, thanking everybody and so on and so forth. He was in my arms. I was holding him. It was just a good day. The other detective, Haskett, and the children's aid worker called up from the basement. They were ready. A video recorder on a tripod was set up. The oldest McClellan boy, Gabe, he was 10, was called down.

Years later, it still bothers Wayne that police interviewed boys who were 10, 8, and 6 without a family member present. As Gabe headed downstairs, Detective Fillion pulled up a chair at the table and Judy, well, she served him a big bowl of spaghetti. Judy was recovering from a massive stroke three years before, but steadily improving. I was very naive and very trusting of the police at the time because I'd never had any dealings with the police except one time when Arkona Appliances was robbed and the guy came in and said, well, we'll never find anything, and that was it.

The McClellan boys look and behave as if they walked out of a 1950s television sitcom, or maybe an episode of Little House on the Prairie. Roseanne gives them short, smart-looking haircuts. They're all good students and athletes. Hockey, track, you name it. The boys are allowed one hour of gaming on the weekend. They all have to do chores. Gabe wants to be an architect, Luke an engineer, and Noah a farmer.

Detective Haskett asked some background questions. Then he took each of the boys through their day. Police refused to release the audio of these interviews, by the way, so I had to ask the boys to reconstruct them to the best of their abilities. I also have the police audio of these interviews, by the way, so I had to ask the boys to reconstruct them to the best of their abilities. I also have the police notes of these interviews. It starts with the morning, just a few hours before Nathaniel was rushed to hospital. So we woke up in the morning, and I came down and said hi,

and we had oatmeal, and then we got ready for school, and then we went out that door and and I said bye and then he waved and said goodbye in like a really good tone. And he was really really excited like when he went outside he ran to the window and was like really really happy. I asked the boys what it was like being interviewed by the police. This is Gabe. They tried to make us not feel scared, but they kind of did. Like they tried to say it was like a normal hockey interview, but it isn't because like you're with a policeman. Police would ask

each boy to tell them about the incidents where Nathaniel could have been hurt. You'll hear me a bit in these interviews. I explained to the boys I wanted to be careful not to lead them. I just wanted their recollections. Gabe, the eldest, he went first. I think that they asked me what was one thing that he climbed on and that like what was he like in the morning? And how... And if we were at home or at school. Yeah, if we were at home or at school. Well, they kind of scared me, but I don't remember what I said. Luke, the middle boy, was next.

I wasn't all that scared. I was kind of scared. Noah, just six at the time, had the clearest recollection. They asked if he climbed on anything and when did it happen on the butt. It happened at a house because he was getting babysitted. And I think that was his first time being babysitted. No. No, it wasn't.

It was his first year. Oh, his first year being babysit. I remember I said that he climbed on the table because he was watching everybody climb onto the chairs. But we never made it up. We never made it the chair chairs but we never made it up he never made it oh he never made it up he could get onto the chair like he would put his foot and then he would sit down and then he'd try to get up but we'd always be with him since we never let him out of sight why do you think they were asking about the climbing and the table and stuff i think that it was to see if something before had caused his reaction later, if he'd just bumped it.

The notes of Detective Haskett, complete with quotes, fill in some of the details of the interviews with the boys. Keep in mind they were 10, 8, and 6 at the time. When I spoke to them, two years later, they did not have a complete recollection of what they had said. And given that their little brother was in the hospital fighting for his life, they can be forgiven, I think, for having less than perfect memories. According to the police notes,

Luke told the detective he did not know how Nathaniel cracked his skull, but he said it happened at the babysitter's. Remember, Gabe, Luke, and Noah were all at school that Tuesday. It was only Nathaniel who was at the babysitter's. Luke was asked if Nathaniel liked to climb. Luke told the officer that Nathaniel knows how to climb onto the table. He did it last week, on the weekend. Mom got him off the table.

Noah, six, told two stories, according to the detective's notes. First, that Nathaniel fell on hard cement at the babysitter's and fell and cracked his skull. Second, that a long time ago Nathaniel fell back on the wood floor and hit his head. Noah would later complain to his parents, and to me, that the detective was pushing him to say Nathaniel fell and injured himself at home. In the notes, the two younger boys, Luke and Noah, said the information they related to police about the injury came from their grandparents, and Noah added the detail that Grandpa Wayne received his information from Roseanne. The police interview's over.

The two detectives and the children's aid worker left. Just as Wayne and Judy were getting the boys ready for bed, the news came. Got a phone call from Kent, and Nathaniel's not going to make it, and bring the boys in. So we hightailed it right into London. Well, we get to the sick children, or the hospital there,

and we parked the car, and we take the boys in, and then the boys go with mom and dad. And Judy and I are out in the hallway, out in the waiting room. Roseanne's cousin, Pam was there and their sister, Joanne. And they took the boys in to see Nathaniel and then Judy and I went in. I said goodbye to Nathaniel.

And then we stayed for a while and then brought the boys home. Had a big cry. Put them to bed. And duty night eventually went to bed. Don't remember sleeping a whole lot. And lost my grandson.

I never wanted to outlive my children. And I outlived my grandson. It's not right. In the hospital, down the hall from where Nathaniel had just been removed from life support, detectives were speaking to doctors and nurses. A nurse who sat with Roseanne and Kent told police she found it odd that none of the family were overly curious at how Nathaniel could have been injured. Another nurse told police she saw Roseanne, a defout Catholic, kneeling and praying in the hospital waiting room, which the nurse thought was unusual.

And a senior doctor, the resident expert in child abuse, passed on comments that made it to police, informing them that ICU staff in the hospital found Roseanne's behavior to be bizarre. When the injury or injuries had occurred was unknown, and that mystery would become a matter of intense scrutiny in the days to come. Next time, on Death in a Small Town. What the Strathroy Police Department has put them through, they were determined that Kent and Roseanne were going to be found guilty.

I mean, she was very distraught. You know, she was showering him with kisses and, I love you, come back to us, you know, like... But I also remember thinking, too, how do you behave when your child is on life support and it doesn't look like he's going to make it? I thought she was doing remarkably well, was all things considered.

This woman judged us in our darkest hour. Death in a Small Town was researched, written, and narrated by me, Kevin Donovan, and produced by Raju Mudder, J.P. Fozo, and Sean Pattenden. Additional production was done by Andrea MacDonald, Kelsey Wilson, and Brian Bradley. Photography by Lucas Olenek. Music and sound design for the series created by Sean Pattenden.

From the Toronto Star, I'm Kevin Donovan, and this is Death in a Small Town.