True Crime All The Time - Evelyn Dick

Episode Date: December 11, 2023

John Dick was last seen eating lunch at the Windsor Hotel in Hamilton, Ontario on March 6th, 1946. He failed to show up to work and did not call in. An investigation into his disappearance quickly ensued. During the investigation, signs began pointing toward John's estranged wife, Evelyn, her father, and a man with whom Evelyn allegedly had an affair.Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Evelyn Dick. The murder trial of Evelyn Dick was one of the most high-profile Canadian trials of the 1940s. Evelyn, along with her father and alleged boyfriend, were accused of shooting and dismembering her husband, John. Evelyn was also accused of killing her infant son. How would the jury view the evidence against Evelyn and her cohorts?You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 362 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in True Crime, Mike Gibson. How are you? Hey, I'm doing good. How about you? I'm doing very well. That's good. You and I just got done talking on our weekly Patreon audio and video about, you know,

the fact that we're going to take the Christmas week off. Yeah. My wife booked a cruise. That's right. For the whole family. Not me. Not you. We're not paying for you.

Yeah. Which you were not happy about. But looking forward to it. Having a little time off. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Stephanie. Hey, Stephanie. Brenda LeBeen.

Well, what's going on, Labine? Canadian murder corner. Oh, got some murder in the Canadian corner, eh? Uh-huh. Jasmine Croy. Hey, Jasmine. Daniel La Presti. Oh, LePrestes.

Stephanie. Hey, Stephanie. Tiffany Duncombe. Well, thank you, Tiffany. Kathleen Kent. Hey, appreciate that. Kent. Michelle Walden.

What's going on, Walden? Sharon and Joe Stachio. I want to say like pistachio, but I know like, it's Stachio, but. It looks like that just without the PI. Yeah. Marie Larson. Hey, Marie. Kim Greenslate.

Thank you, Kim. Tabby Sanchez. What's going on, Tabby? And last but not least, Deb. Oh, thank you, Deb. So we appreciate all that new support. And then if we go back into the vault, this week, we selected Amy Wood. Look at Amy.

Yeah, appreciate that long-term support very much. We also had a PayPal donation from Kaylee Straw. Well, thanks, Kaylee. Yeah, thank you to everyone. Gibbs right now on True Crime All the Time Unsolved. We have an episode out on Rashim Carter. Risham was a 25-year-old man from Mississippi who went missing in October 22. Yeah.

But there's a lot that goes into this case. There's a whole lot that goes into this case. You know, the local sheriff's office has said that they haven't found any evidence of foul play, but you have a lot of people online commenting that this appears to be a modern day lynching. And so, you know, we unpack all the details. We're looking into it. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I am.

We are talking about Evelyn Dick. The murder trial of Evelyn Dick was one of the most. high profile Canadian trials of the 1940s. Evelyn, along with her father and alleged boyfriend, were accused of shooting and dismembering her husband, John. Evelyn was also accused of murdering her infant son and hiding his body for over a year. She sounds like a real winner. Yeah.

Accused of some pretty heinous things. Now, this case is, but let's say 80 years old or so, but like we always talk about. It doesn't matter how far you go back. You will find the same type of crimes, the same themes, as something that happened six months ago. Exactly. I mean, this story could play today. And does. Yeah.

Probably is. John Dick was born on May 25th, 1906 in Holbstad, Russia, which was originally settled by Mininites from Germany. Today, this area is part of Ukraine. In 1924, John moved to Ontario, Canada, with his mother, two sisters and grandmother. His father died in a famine. In 1921, the family was part of a group of German-speaking Mennonites who were fleeing the Russian Revolution. And there's a lot of Mennonites in Canada.

In Ontario, I know that. I've seen them. John moved to the city of Hamilton, Ontario in the early 1940s for work. In June 143, he got a job with the Hamilton. Strait Railway as a boss and streetcar driver. I know you drove a streetcar there for a while in downtown Dayton. Me and Marlon Brando street car named Desire. No. No, I get it. It's actually pretty good. I'm just happy that you knew somebody's name. Stella. And you got it right. Yeah.

In 1945, he met his future wife, Evelyn McLean. Evelyn was born on October 13th, 1920. She had grown up in Hamilton. Evelyn graduated high school and attended both the Canada Business College and Loretto Academy private school. Evelyn's mother would later testify that she didn't work. According to the Hamilton Spectator, Evelyn was a sex worker. She was an escort and always had money.

for nice clothes, parties and gifts. She also made a down payment on a house by herself, which, as you can imagine, was pretty uncommon for a woman at that time. Yeah. Evelyn reportedly had sex with wealthy men in Hamilton for her benefit. Well, it sounds like she did work. She did in the oldest profession. Yeah, because I would think that would be a lot of work.

I don't even know how to come back from that stage. statement. Sometimes you just got to let it. Yeah, sometimes you just got to roll on. Evelyn had a four-year-old daughter named Heather. Before she met John, she was living with her mother, Alexander McLean and her daughter in the house she purchased. They had moved out of her father's house because her father disapproved of her getting pregnant a second time when she was unmarried. Evelyn had her second child in September, 1944. But she told her mother, she was going to put the child up for adoption. And apparently she did so because the child was never seen with her again. Probably not all that uncommon for those times for family to disagree with someone, you know,

becoming pregnant out of wedlock. Yeah, I'm thinking it was probably pretty common. John and Evelyn got married on October 4th, 1945. He moved into the house with Evelyn, her mother and her daughter. Evelyn's parents weren't happy. And they disapproved of the marriage. Her father, Donald McLean, knew John because they both worked at the Hamilton Street Railway together. And according to the Hamilton Spectator,

it was not a happy marriage. John and Evelyn fought often about money and other partners. Evelyn later told the police that within days of getting married, she cheated on him with a 27-year-old Hamilton man named William Behozit, who worked as a steel worker and scholar. Well, you know what's going to ruin a marriage in most cases? Cheating two days in. Yeah.

Cheating. It's pretty quick. Financial issues. I mean, those are normally the top reasons people get divorced, right? Cheating and. Well, but a lot of people have financial issues. That's pretty normal in a marriage, especially when you're starting out. Yeah.

I think what is probably less common is your significant other cheating on you like two days after the marriage. Pretty soon. When you're on the honeymoon-type bliss stage. Yeah. But obviously maybe she wasn't. John and Evelyn separated after just three months of marriage. He officially moved out of her home on February 3rd, 1946, and eventually moved in with

his cousins, Alex and Anne Kimmer. Not too surprised by that. That the marriage would end? Yeah. No, I'm not either. But it is quick. It's kind of hard to recover. when your spouse cheats on you that soon?

I'd be like... We literally just said I do. John was last seen eating lunch at the Windsor Hotel in Hamilton, Ontario. On March 6, 1946, he failed to show up to work that day and did not call in. No one saw or heard from John again after this. Evelyn came to the police station on March 12 to ask if her husband had been arrested. She reported that he had run off with company money and company tickets.

Those company tickets. Don't take those company tickets. Well, it'd be theft, right? Just like money, I guess. But it is kind of interesting, right? That this man goes missing. And then like six days later, his estranged wife goes to the police station and says, hey, have you arrested my husband?

then he ran off with some money from his company and some tickets as well. Yeah. Kind of strange. A little delayed reaction. Delayed for sure. And then you can almost get a sense that there's an ulterior motive. Yeah. For wanting to, you know, relay this information.

Right. On March 16th, 1946, a group of five children who were out hiking, found a torso missing the head and limbs on the side of the mountain, a half mile north of Albion Falls. The torso had two gunshot wounds to the chest that were non-fatal. The pathologist concluded that the victim was likely shot in the head. But this couldn't be proven since the head was not found. What a nice fine for those five kids.

Yeah, you know, we talk about that quite a bit. People are out enjoying their life or, you know, doing some type of recreational activity. when they stumble upon some macabre scene. Now, to me, it makes it even worse when you got a group of children. They're going to be traumatized probably even more so than maybe some adults would be. But let's also analyze the pathologists' findings. It is very tough sometimes to conclude how someone really died when you don't have an entire body. But on March 19th, 1946, the police announced that the remains had been identified as John Dick.

Back on March 6th, city employees on a mountain road found a bloody shirt and turned it in for examination. Additionally, Hamilton Street Railway officials called the police and asked officers to find one of their drivers to question him about funds provided by the company. They didn't know John was missing at that time. but he hadn't shown up for work. The police were looking for John when his body was found. So my first thought was, you know, three days after finding the body, they identify him, right? And I'm thinking, that must be tough in 1946. But now you have this information, right?

A shirt was found. And then his employer was trying to locate him asking for police help and doing that. it was reported that the police were looking into several cars to try to figure out which one transported John's body. They had questioned several suspects in the case already. You and I talk about cases that are three, four years old where the police don't act for weeks, a month. You know, when when people go missing, this is like three days in. They're questioning people. Suspects. They're on it. They're on it. On March 20th, John's 11-year-old niece. told reporters for the Hamilton Spectator that two weeks earlier, after they attended a family

funeral, John said he was leaving, adding, if you don't see me again, you'll know who got me. Okay. Pretty cryptic. I also wonder why an 11-year-old girl is talking to a paper. That's what I was thinking the same thing. That seems so strange to me. Now, really no one knew what this meant at the time. It was then reported that for about two months, leading up to the same.

to his death, John feared he would be killed. He reportedly told one co-worker, one of these days, if you find me lying in the gutter, you will know who did it. He said to another, if I'm bumped off, you will know who did it. Bumped off is a term you don't hear much anymore. You don't really, no. We found much more colorful ways we have to describe, you know, someone being killed. But that was a phrase that they used a lot back in the day. But just to think about what he was thinking, you know, he was thinking that he was going to be bumped off eventually. And he knew who was going to do it. Yeah. If it happened. Now, it sounds like he didn't come out and tell these people, though, who it was. But on March 26,

1946, Evelyn Dick was charged with murder. Back on the 19th, the police questioned her and charged her with vagrancy. The Hamilton Spectator didn't explain why she was charged with vagrancy, but the police most likely did this so that they could keep her in custody for further questioning and search her home. Evelyn was denied bail the next day. Is that a tactic that is still used today to try to charge someone with something so that they can be held while police are still looking into it? You know, you and I, we did that case on Todd Hodney last. week where he was convicted of a serious sexual assault and other charges and allowed to go back home. Yeah.

Where he committed more sexual assaults. Here, she's charged with vagrancy and they deny her bail. Right. No, you can't leave. Keep her where they can keep an eye on her. It was announced that the police discovered a meat cleaver, a butcher's knife, a hunting knife, and furnace ashes that contained evidence. Well, that's a lot of weapons right there.

Yeah, it sounds like they could have just as easily been at your house. I just kind of thinking that too. Most disturbingly, police also found the body of an infant filmed in concrete in Evelyn's attic, but said that the matter had no connection whatever with the charge laid this afternoon. This is what the Hamilton Spectator reported. This term filmed in concrete. I thought it was such a strange term for the paper to use, but it makes it sound like maybe encased in concrete.

Right. They tried to pick their words carefully, I think back then. I'm thinking, this is a big issue. Now, they're saying it's not connected, but okay,

even if it's not, we got a problem here. I'm with you. I'd be like taking that seriously. Well, I would hope that the police in any decade would take seriously a child found dead. Additionally, the police searched a 1938 Packard that had blood stains inside.

Evelyn often borrowed this car. Pathologist William Dedman concluded that the blood found in the car was typo, which matched Johns. You know where you can see a car like that at? The Packard Museum. Right here in Dayton, Ohio. Well, we don't have a lot here, but we have a packard. museum. Exactly. Be excited. Now we're talking about the 1940s, right? It's going to be 40 plus years

before DNA comes along. So what did they have to go on? Blood type. What was the problem with blood type? Is that a lot of people have the same blood type. Yeah, it's going to help limit some potential suspects, right? But not all. Narrow. You can narrow down or maybe you can exclude people, but, you know, it's not like somebody's getting on the stand and saying, well, there's a one in, you know, three trillion chance that it's somebody else. Yeah. No, obviously a lot of people have typo blood. He determined that bone fragments and teeth found in the furnace ashes at Evelyn's house likely belonged to John as well. It was thought that John's torso was too difficult to cut into pieces and wouldn't fit in the stove. So it was dumped in the,

the mountain. You know, I never really gave it a lot of thought about the old wood stove furnaces and the coal stove furnaces, but I guess it's a place you could have dispose of. Burned bodies. Yeah, I guess if you could get the fire hot enough for long enough. On March 28, 1946, William Bohosick was charged with vagrancy and possession of an unregistered revolver. However, the judge adjourned the hearing of his charges for a week because it was announced that he was most likely going to appear in court to face more charges soon. So it does sound like vagrancy was a pretty big charge back then. They were charging everyone with vagrancy. Sure enough, William and Evelyn were arraigned on March 29th on murder charges for the deaths of John Dick and the infant found in her house.

And if you remember, this William Behosec was the guy who she cheated on John with. Yeah. Just days after they were married. I mean, days. On April 15th, 1946, 64-year-old Donald McLean and 61-year-old Alexander McLean were charged with the murder of John Dick. Two days earlier, they were arrested for vagrancy and held for questioning. That good old vagrancy coming up again. It sounds like vagrancy was just a charge so they could get you in the door and talk to you.

That's right. Hold you for a little bit, maybe. We can't charge you with murder yet, but we can charge you with vagrancy and keep you for a while. That's right, you vagrant you. So now we have Evelyn, this guy that she was cheating with, and then her mom and dad. John Dick was shot with a 32 caliber handgun, a 32 caliber handgun. The 32 caliber handgun and ammo were found at the home of Donald McLean, Evelyn's father. Investigators also found an axe, a saw, a butcher knife, and a bloodstained pair of John's shoes in his home.

Okay. That last part, maybe a little more damning. I think so. Than the rest. I don't think they had much in the way of ballistics back then to try to match a gun. and the sheer fact that he had a 32 and John was shot with a 32. Is that going to do it? No, probably not.

And who in 1946 probably didn't have an axe, a saw, a butcher knife? Pretty common tools. I would think so. But the bloodstained pair of his shoes, okay, that's a little harder to explain away. At the hearing, prosecutor Harvey McCulloch asked the judge to drop the vagrancy charges. minutes later the McLean's were charged with murder. And I'm really getting the feeling this vagrancy thing was just a placeholder. It really sounded like it.

Like they just used it until they could charge you with what they really wanted to charge you with. The four defendants preliminary hearing took place on April 24th, 1946. The judge ordered William and Evelyn to stand trial on charges of the murder of the infant named Peter David, White McLean. Bill's counsel argued that there was no evidence against him besides Evelyn's testimony. The first witness was Detective John Freeborn. He went to Evelyn's home on March 22nd and searched her at it. He found suitcases and trunks in the corner. One of them was locked and they had to pry it open with a screwdriver. Once it was opened, they were hit by a really strong odor. Inside the suitcase was a burlap back. Under that was a wicker basket. Inside the basket was a small

cardboard box filled with cement with pieces of children's clothing protruding through it. I don't like where this is headed. Now, it's not headed anywhere good. And, you know, whenever we talk about a fine like this, it's hard for me not to put myself in the shoes of you know, a police officer or a detective or something like that who discovers this type of grisly scene. Okay, it's their job. But does that mean it's not going to take a toll on them? When you discover a dead infant, that's going to be, that's going to be tough to handle for anyone. Yeah. The cement was cracked open at the police station, which revealed a shopping bag with a paper bag inside.

inside this bag was an infant's body and a skirt with the name Evelyn McLean on it. The infant had a string wrapped around the neck. So number one, that is heartbreaking. It is. And number two, it doesn't look great at all for Evelyn. The body is found inside her home and in her attic. And the skirt has her name on it. And as we're going to find out, right, this was her child.

He had her last name. I think she's going to have a hard time combating these charges. Yeah, with the evidence that we know of so far, I agree with you. Dr. M.G. Brown, the superintendent of the Hamilton General and Mount Hamilton Hospitals, was called to the stand and produced Evelyn's medical records. She used the name Evelyn White at the hospital. Dr. Brown testified that Evelyn was admitted three times. Once in 1942, when she gave birth to a female child,

once in 1943 when she gave birth to a stillborn female child and on September 5th, 1944, when she gave birth to a male child. She left on September 15. It was determined that the infant didn't have any health problems. Prosecutor Harvey McCulloch presented the three birth certificates, which showed that the last child was named Peter David White. His father was listed as Navy Lieutenant. Norman White, it was later reported that Norman White was not believed to be a real person.

Okay. Some fraudulent paperwork, maybe? Well, why would somebody do that? Maybe because they don't want it to be on record who the real father is. Crown attorney Harvey McCulloch told the court that a knotted piece of string of the type used for tying up parcels had been entered into evidence. Dr. W. J. Deadman, a pathologist, testified that it was removed from the baby's neck. Again, absolutely heartbreaking. Dr. Deadman testified that he believed the baby had been dead for over a year and that it was a male baby. He could not determine the causes of death, but thought the cord was worthy of note, per the Hamilton spectator.

So, again, can't come out and conclusively say this was the core. cause of death. But when a baby is found with this type of cord or string wrapped around its neck, can you make an educated guess based off that? And I think that's what he was doing. Yeah, I think so too. What about this guy's name. Deadman. What a good last name for that. For a pathologist. Yeah. Dr. Deadman testified that the infant's body was squeezed into the bag, which was only 13 by 5 by 8. Okay, now I'm nauseated.

Yeah, I mean, that's a pretty small bag. I mean, those measurements are in inches. Yeah. Or whatever the equivalent is in Canada. Well,

they would use a metric system up there. I don't know if they had it back then. I don't either. It didn't say, but it's not, you know, you think 13 by 5 by 8, that's feet.

That's obviously not. what we're talking about here. This was a small back. Yeah. After this hearing, Donald and Alexander McLean joined the court for the second preliminary hearing for the murder of John Dick. And Camer, one of John's family members, testified that John came to live with her and her husband on February 3rd. She also identified bloody clothing and shoes as belonging to John. He was wearing some of the items on March 6th. And I think this type of testimony is important to the jury because they're not going to have the same type of forensic science evidence that we would have today. So, you know, bloody clothes, bloody shoes are found at Donald's house. And you have a family member saying,

or identifying them as, yes, these were Johns. Sergeant Carl Farrow testified about finding a detective magazine in Donald McLean's home with a story about an abortion ring and a story about a doctor who sought off a deceased patient's head and limbs and burned them. Fascinating yet disturbing. Both, but I'm assuming that they're making the connection. Okay. found this magazine with this story, and it turns out this is pretty much exactly what happened to

John Dick. Raymond Castle, superintendent for Hamilton Street Railway, testified that in November 1945, Donald told him that John and Evelyn's marriage was not happy. Castle received reports about squabbling between John and Donald. He told Donald, it had to stop on company property. And we really even haven't talked about that dynamic where your daughter's husband didn't last for long, but he was your daughter's husband. Yeah. Worked at the same place that you do. Yeah.

Yeah. That's right. So it's going to be a little awkward in the break room or the lunch room. I think it would be extremely awkward. I mean, if you can imagine what it was like when he found out days after they were married that his wife had an fair. Maybe he went into the break room and vented about her and, you know, here comes her dad, you know, happened to hear the story about his daughter. I'm sure it wasn't a happy place. Castle testified that Donald referred to John as that Russian and said Evelyn had to give him

money because he never had it. In November 1945, Evelyn came to the HSR office asking to see an operator named Van Avery, who she claimed sent an anonymous letter about her to her husband. Castle asked how it was anonymous if she knew who sent it. He also said she couldn't speak to him while he was working. He warned her there had been enough trouble and all three men. Van Avery, McLean, and Dick would be fired if it didn't stop. He claimed that Evelyn then told him her father was stealing from the company. He said he didn't believe her at first. He read the letter and testified that it said disparaging things about John Dick. The next day, John and Van Avery came to see him and said their differences had been resolved.

Castle testified that he didn't hear anything else until March 4th when John didn't show up for work. So what do you think they resolved their dispute? Well, my first question is, did they really resolve it? Or is one of the parties just saying it's resolved because, they know something is about to happen. That is clearly a possibility. Castle then said that in January, he received a call from an inspector, informing him that John complained.

He was afraid of Donald McLean and feared McLean was carrying a gun. McLean said he was not. John showed up for work on March 5th and explained that someone was supposed to have called in to excuse him the day before. And obviously, we know he didn't show up again on the next. day, March 6th, that's when he disappeared. On March 7, Superintendent Castle asked Donald McLean how he could get in contact with John, but McLean said he didn't know anything. Castle called the police on the 15th. The next day, he called Donald and said he sent the police out to look for John

at one of John's last addresses. McLean said, is quoted by the Hamilton Spectator, for God's sake, don't send the police down there. I'll find out where he is. Okay, well, I just asked you and you said you don't know anything and now all of a sudden I mentioned the police and you're panicking. It's a little skittish. Next, Dr. Deadman testified that John's head and limbs appeared to have been sawed off. In addition to the two gunshot wounds to the torso, there was an incision across his abdomen that looked like it was made by a saw. Pretty rough. Well, I was kind of thinking from the get-go that however, this man lost his abdomen, that, however, this man lost his abdomen, that he was his head, legs, and arms, it was going to be rough.

Yeah. Now, it might have been post-mortem, but it's still nasty. According to the Hamilton Spectator, Dr. Deadman testified as to the cause of death. There is nothing that I've found, but the amputation of the head and limbs that would account for death. So obviously that would do it, but he doesn't know if he was already dead or if that caused his death. There's just really no way to tell. The judge heard that a bloodstained necktie and sweater were found on the floor of a 1938 Packard owned by William Landegg from Grafton Garage.

It had typo blood on it that matched junk. And again, today, it sounds so strange to talk about blood type because we know how many different people have, you know, the same blood type. But back then that's that's all they had do you know your blood type no i don't either i'm sure i probably should william landaig allowed evelyn to borrow the car which he purchased from her three years earlier recently she borrowed the car six times in six weeks on march sixth evelyn borrowed the car and returned it late with a note explaining that her daughter had cut herself and that was why there was blood in the car She promised to pay for new slip covers. Landegg saw the blood on the front seat and also noticed that the car was muddy. So William's pretty observant.

Well, yeah. I mean, how hard is it to spot the fact that there's blood in your car? I don't think you got to be Sherlock Holmes to catch that one. No. I don't think so. But if you're the person who borrowed the car, in this case, Evelyn, you have to come up with something. right you just can't return this car with blood in it and not have some type of explanation so hers was that you know her daughter cut her finger william land egg looked at the car the next day and that's when

he found the sweater as promised evelyn did replace the slip covers the police seized the car on march 19 that day dr deadman found the bloody necktie inside detective clarion Preston said that he found two photos of Bill Behozik inside Evelyn's home. When searching the cellar, he found a container of ashes. In the ashes, he found what he thought was pieces of skull bone. Upon further examination, investigators found more pieces of bone that they thought came from fingers or a hand and some teeth. Teeth.

Yeah, you've always heard about teeth, right? how hard they are, how hard they are to burn completely. Now, can they conclusively say that, you know, any of these bone fragments belong to John Dick? No, obviously they didn't have the technical capabilities to do that. But just look how damning it would appear. Why would you have a container of ashes that contained human bone fragments in teeth? Yeah, good question. You better have a good answer. Yeah. Three out of the four defendants would go to trial for the murder of John Dick, excluding Evelyn's mother, Alexander. She was held on bond as a material witness and testified for the prosecution. Probably not that hard to get her to testify. I don't think so. You know,

if you're charged with murder and the prosecution comes along and says, you know what, testify for us, will drop that murder charge. Now, you're going against your family. Yeah, but you're going to stay out of jail, right? Or tough decision for some, but maybe not that tough for others. I still don't understand, you know, why keep things? Why keep that bucket with the fragments in it and things like that? Why wouldn't you just get rid of that?

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I think by and large, when we do some of these stories, we're not talking about, people with a, you know, large background in criminal activity. Maybe they don't have the street smarts. Also, in 1946, you didn't have true crime podcasts and CSI and, and all of the different things that we have today that not only inform us about, you know, what's gone on throughout history in terms of true crime, but also kind of helps inform,

sometimes criminals as to why others have gotten caught. So, hey, I better not do that. Evelyn went to trial first on October 7th, 1946. At trial Alexandra McLean testified that on March 8th, Evelyn told her, yes, John Dick is dead and you keep your mouth shut. Okay, this is her mom on the stand saying this. It's going to carry some weight. It's going to carry a lot of weight, I would think.

Alexander explained that she went out for a walk with her granddaughter, Heather. They wanted to wave to John when he passed by on his streetcar. When Alexander remarked that they hadn't seen John, Evelyn told her he was dead. She went on to testify that she and Evelyn got into an argument when she found out she had married John. According to Alexandra, John and Evelyn often had fights about women and money. and John would sometimes stay out for two nights at a time. Well, when you get in a fight with your spouse, that's one way to say, I'm the boss.

I'm out, two nights. I'll be back when I come back. Or that could backfire on you as well. Yeah, you could come back to find that the locks have been changed. Yeah, that would be the case here. And all your clothes are out in the yard. Yeah. You mean here is in my house?

Yeah. Oh, yeah, that would never fly here. I would never try that. Next, the prosecution presented Evelyn's statements made to the police from March 19th to the 26th. And her final statement made on April 12th. On March 19th, Evelyn took the police on a tour after she claimed that on March 6th, she received a phone call from a gang member in Windsor. She accepted a bag with what she said was part of John in it from the gang member.

Okay. That's an elaborate story. I mean, she's just trying to set it up, right? That it wasn't her. It was these gang members that did something. Well, what is it that I always say? You know, if you're on trial for your life and you see the evidence that is stacked up against you, don't you have to come up with something to try to refute all these different pieces of evidence? Why do you have these ashes? You know, why do you have this? Why did you do that? Well, I got the bag with parts of John in it from a gang member. Yeah, that's where it came from. Now, she later said her statement was false, but the prosecutors noted that she had knowledge of where John's torso was thrown out and where his shirt was thrown. However, her defense argued that she could have gotten the location if she read the Hamilton Spectator published the day before. Then Evelyn claimed that an Italian man returned to her home in a borrowed car with a part of the face, which was all smashed and that he disposed of the body. Okay.

So we have gang members in Windsor. Yeah. Now we have a mysterious Italian man. Probably part of the mob. Mafia. Yeah. And her final statement from April 12th, Evelyn said that John was shot on a remote road, 15 miles from Hamilton. and that Bill Behosec shot him from the backseat of the car while John sat beside her in the front seat.

She claimed her father supplied the murder weapon. Evelyn went out for another drive with detectives after she made this statement and took them to where John's shirt was thrown out. It was within 50 feet of where the shirt was found by city employees. So they made a big deal about that, right? how if she was not involved, would she have known the location of, you know, where John's shirt was thrown out?

Okay, was it in the paper? Maybe so. Maybe. Yeah. But this is a third story. And this story is nowhere near as far fetched. She's very close to home. It involves people who she knows very well.

Yeah. So she's implicating Bill. She's implicating. her father. But she's just trying to save herself now. So Evelyn's defense presented no evidence at trial, but argued that the torso may not even be the body of John Dick. The defense also noted that Evelyn was a young pretty woman who never had to work in her life. She had a temper, wanted to raise her station in life, and she practiced escapism by reaching out for a life other than her own, which could explain her various statements to the police.

Okay. It's a little bizarre. It is. But they got to come up with some. They do. As quoted by the Hamilton Spectator, the defense also told the jury, the cutting up was a task unequal to this little girl. There is nothing presented to show that this little woman could do it all herself, although

she may have known something of it afterwards. She could neither carry the body nor cut it. up. And I thought the words that they chose were very interesting. They called her a little girl. At one point, they said, this little woman. They were really trying to emphasize the fact that, you know, she's smaller. She wouldn't, you know, be able to do this. Not a bad tactic, but I think we've seen many times. Size, age, gender doesn't seem to mean, you know, all that much when it comes to someone being capable of murder. Yeah.

Dorothy. Dorothy. Dorothea Plente comes to mind. Now, she had someone, you know, helping her with the heavy lifting, but I think you could make the case here as well. Okay. Maybe she wouldn't have been able to cut up the body, but does that mean that she wasn't a part of it?

And I don't think it does. But I understand why the defense is trying to portray her that way. Yes. As though she wasn't capable and therefore shouldn't, you know, be convicted or found guilty. Shouldn't pay the price for it. On October 16th, 1946, Evelyn Dick was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Her execution was set for January 7th, 1947. And that's actually, you know,

not far off, but not quite three months after she was convicted. Yeah. But we've, you know, seen executions carried out same day. Evelyn smiled, thanked the sheriff's officers who were kind to her and said, I want my case appeal. On October 19th, Evelyn refused to testify in the case against her father and Bill Behozik at their upcoming trial. The prosecutor requested that the jury be discharged.

A new trial was. scheduled for early 1947. And my thought about that was why would she testify? What was in it for her? She's already been sentenced to death. Right. Unless you're taking that away,

why get up on the stand and implicate, you know, some of your family members if it doesn't benefit you whatsoever? Right. No reason to do something like that. On December 9th, Evelyn was granted a one month stay of execution to allow the hearing of her.

her appeal at her appeal hearing on January 9th, 1947, Evelyn's attorney argued that she was only an accessory after the fact. They argued that Donald McLean was the real killer based on what was found in his home. And we mentioned it, right? An axe, saw, butcher knife, all of that was found in his basement, a 32 caliber revolver, an ammo were found his home, and a pair of John Shoes with blood on them was also found in his home. On January 17th, Evelyn's conviction was set aside and a retrial was ordered. And I kind of see why an appeals court would rule this way. Right. There's some damning evidence against her, but there's a lot of damning evidence against other people as well. There is. So how do we know that she was the killer? When there's evidence pointing to

her father, Bill, maybe she was an accessory, you know, after the fact. It was announced that the prosecution had new evidence from a young man named Frank Boler. He said he was within 200 yards of the murder and helped pull the car. Evelyn was driving out of the mud. On January 21st, the Ontario Court of Appeal announced their reasons for ordering a new trial. They found that the prosecution failed to show sufficient motive for why Evelyn wanted John death. The court also ruled that Evelyn's statement from April 12th was inadmissible. Well, that might be a big blow in a second trial. I would think so because really if you look at those three statements, that third and last one,

the one they ruled inadmissible, seemed to make the most sense. It also incriminated some of the other people who were on trial. Sure did. Evelyn's retrial started on February 24th, 1947. Similar evidence was presented at this trial with a couple of exceptions. 19-year-old farmhand Francis Boulder testified for the prosecution. He said that Evelyn was the woman driving the car that he dragged out of the mud on March 6, 1946. Earlier that afternoon, he heard three shots coming from the direction of the car.

He was asked for help about an hour later. He noticed that a woman was in the front seat and a revolver was protruding from her handbag. So we mentioned that not, you know, having that statement could be tough at trial. Right. What we didn't talk about is having this new witness might be really good at trial. It was reported that on November 12, 1946, a spent 32 caliber bullet was found in Evelyn's garage during a search of her home, the bullet had small white fragments on it, which a pathologist concluded were bone, but he could not say whether it was human or animal. And again, that was just the

times, right? Today, they would be able to test that bullet and that white fragment and probably could conclusively determine that it was John Dick. Yeah. Who was shot with that bullet. It's amazing how far advance we are and things like that. Yeah. And it also makes you wonder how they convicted anybody back in the day. And I'm sure they convicted a lot of people on bad testimony, bad science. Right. But it was what they had. Once again, the defense argued that Evelyn was an accessory, but not the killer.

The defense also called the testimony from Bowler a fantastic story and suggested that he was a quote, imaginative teller of untruths. Basically a fancy way of calling him a liar. Yeah. It's what that is. On March 6th, 1947, Evelyn was acquitted of murder, but she still had to face trial for the murder of the infant. Her third trial started on March 24th, 1947.

She pleaded not guilty to murder. The judge granted the prosecution's application to separate Evelyn's trial. from Bill Behozix. The prosecution argued that within two years prior to April 24th, 1946, Evelyn murdered her son, Peter David White, McLean. The prosecutor told the jury that in 1944, Evelyn lived with her four-year-old daughter and her parents, but in August of that year, she signed a lease for an apartment.

Soon after that, she was admitted to the hospital. It was noted that Evelyn, her daughter, and her mother moved out for what was termed unhappy reasons. Oh, the old, unhappy reasons. We weren't happy. We weren't happy. I've been there. I've been there. Yeah, I think everybody's been there.

On September 5th, 1944, Evelyn gave birth to a healthy son. She left the hospital 10 days later, but no one saw the baby. The infant's body was found. in March 1946, as we talked about when investigators were gathering evidence in the John Dick murder case. Alexander McLean was the first witness. She testified that she moved in with Evelyn in June 1945. After leaving her husband's home, at the end of October of that year, John Dick was living

with them in the house Evelyn purchased. Alexandra testified that Heather was born in July 1942. and a second child was born in September 1944. She only saw the baby once at the hospital when he was a week old. She testified, per the Hamilton Spectator, the baby was taken by the children's aid, I thought. Evelyn told me before she went to the hospital, she made arrangements to have the baby sent to the children's aid society

the day she would leave the hospital. Evelyn came home via taxi, but Alexandra didn't see the baby with her. She confirmed that Donald said the new baby couldn't come into his house because he thought one baby was enough. So again, this is kind of coming full circle. We talked about it early on. Her father was not happy about this second baby.

Probably wasn't real happy about the first. The first. But he definitely wasn't happy about the second one and said that the baby wasn't allowed in his home, you can kind of see where this story is going. Alexandra went on to testify that Bill Behousa once called the house and spoke to John, John seemed nervous afterwards. Bill also came to Evelyn's home once at the end of February, 1946, after John moved out. Evelyn told her he had been there.

When questioned about the materials used to hide the baby's body, Alexandra said she didn't know where the shopping bag came from. She confirmed that there was a bag of cement in Donald McLean's home. She also said that some of the clothing found in the suitcase was clothing purchased for the baby by Evelyn and that the suitcase was Evelyn. Alexandra said that she last saw the suitcase in January, 1946, and it had books in it. All right. So this is mom testifying.

And I think you can see if she's telling the truth. truth, you know, she's not pulling any punches. No. She's implicating her daughter. She's also implicating her husband saying, well, you know, he had a bag of cement. Under cross-examination, she conceded that the clothing may not be the exact clothing purchased by Evelyn, but it was similar. She testified that on the day the police found the suitcase, Evelyn was in home because she'd already been arrested. Interestingly, her husband, Donald. went into the attic a few days after Evelyn was arrested and was breaking open the locked suitcase with a hammer and screwdriver. He told her to, quote, get the hell out of here when she asked what he was doing.

That doesn't make Donald look good. Doesn't make Donald look good at all. It does. It makes it seem to me Gibbs as though, if this is true, Donald knew exactly what was inside that suitcase and that he needed. to get it the heck out of there. Yeah, before somebody else found it. Evelyn's defense emphasized her lack of motive. And they also emphasized how she prepared for the baby by buying clothes and arranging

for a doctor to attend the birth. It was also noted that Evelyn was affectionate towards her daughter, Heather. The defense argued that the prosecution didn't prove the body was that of Peter David White McLean telling the jury that's a shopping bag in which the infant was found. didn't belong to Evelyn. So it must have been someone else's. They also brought up the fact that Donald McLean said he wouldn't have the child at his home. Cement was found at his house. And he was caught trying to break into the suitcase in the attic. Finally, the defense suggested that Bill Behoza was the father and didn't want the baby around. So you can see what their strategy is.

Evelyn had no motive. She loved her kids. She was affectionate. towards Heather. Right. It had to have been either her father, Donald, or, or Bill. They both would have reasons. She, according to them, would have no reason. On March 25th, 1947, Evelyn Dick was found guilty of manslaughter. The next day she was sentenced to life in prison.

At her sentencing hearing, Dr. R.A. Finlayson, the psychiatrist, listed her mental age as 13. Ouch, man, that has to hurt. It's rough. It is rough. He determined that her memory was normal, but her reasoning and judgment were not good, and she lacked feeling for others. So empathy. We talk about that quite a bit. She had little to know empathy for other people. Bill Behozik's trial for the murder of Peter David White McLean started on March 26, 1947, the same day, was sentenced. The prosecution told the jury that Bill was married but separated from his wife and that he knew Evelyn and allowed her to use his car. At Bill's trial, Alexandra testified that Evelyn's house cost $6,300 and she put down $2,500. Evelyn paid her anywhere from $5,000 to $6,000

over a period of time. The money came more rapidly after Heather was born. She didn't know where this money came from because Evelyn didn't work. But we've already talked about where we think the money came from. Yeah, we know where it came from. But that is a boatload of money, right? In the 1940s and also look at the ratio that your house costs $6,300 and you're putting down $2,500. So the equivalent of, let's say, a $300,000 home and you're putting down $100,000.

Yeah. And people around you are saying that you don't really work. And you're like, whatever. Here's the money. I've got the money. Evelyn's preliminary hearing testimony was given behind closed doors the previous year, but it was finally presented in court at Behozik's trial. The prosecutor demanded that Evelyn name all the men she had ever slept with who could

be the father of her son. She aimed Bill as the father, but also said the judge could be. one of the fathers, according to CBC. Okay, that's a rough day in court for the judge. I would think so, just to throw that out there like that. Well, that could happen if you pay for sex and that person ends up on trial and you're the judge for that trial. Yeah, it could. Or she could have just been trying to throw him under the bus and he didn't do anything at all.

I don't know. Either way, if this guy was married, he had some spraining. to do. Oh yes. I'm sure the news got back to his wife very, very quickly. The judge issued an order that prevented papers from publishing the names and only seven names were presented in court. One of those names was Norman White, whom she claimed was Heather's father. As mentioned, prosecutors did not believe Norman White was a real person. So do you think that the judge issued the order preventing the names from being? published because his was one of them?

Probably. It had to have affected his decision making, right? I think he probably did. To me, it seems as though that was a conflict of interest, and he probably should have recused himself from the case and somebody else should have came in, but I don't know if they did that as much back then. Bill Bohosik was a surprise witness at his trial.

He testified that he first met Evelyn in the summer of 1944, when he was out driving with his wife. wife Helen. He stopped because his wife wanted to talk to her. He believed Evelyn was a widow. He said he didn't first speak to Evelyn until spring of 1945. He saw her again in October of that year and asked her to go out for a few drinks, then asked her for another date the next Sunday. When Evelyn spoke about her husband, she said he was killed in service in the Navy. She didn't mention that she was recently married to John Dick. And I guess that's how you end up cheating within days of your marriage. Behozik testified that Evelyn went to his home with him after he took her on a date

in October 1945. The next day a man approached him and asked if he had loaned his car to Evelyn, then explained that she was married. Bill said he wouldn't go out with her anymore and was in shock to learn she was married. He called Evelyn to ask her for his keys back. He said he loaned his car to her because hers was stolen. He claimed that he last saw Evelyn in January, 1946, to thank her for allowing him to borrow money. Finally, Bill denied being the father of Peter David White McLean or killing him. Bill Behozik was acquitted of murder on March 29, 1947. That was a good day for him.

Yeah, it was. I really don't know how much evidence they had against him, though. it certainly didn't seem to be, you know, to the same level of Evelyn and maybe even Donald. On March 31st, Evelyn refused to testify at Bill and Donald's upcoming trial. So the prosecution announced that it was futile to proceed with Bill's trial. He was acquitted and released from jail. But the prosecution chose to proceed with the trial against Donald McLean, even with Evelyn's testimony.

According to the Hamilton Spectator, the prosecutor said the facts of the case were so well known. By this point, it would be futile on my part to bore you with the recital of them all. Okay, that seems like a strange move. It does. Basically saying, hey, you know, you know what's going on. I don't need to sit here and, you know, dredge up all these things, you know, that would make this person look guilty.

after the opening of Donald's trial, the grand jury was recalled to consider a new indictment of accessory after the fact. We talked about it, right? There was a pair of John's shoes found at Donald's home. A detective asked who they were, and Donald said they were his. But when they told him there was blood on the shoes,

he said, if that's blood, they're not mine. Hey, those are my shoes. There's blood on them. Oh, those are not mine. Those are not mine. detectives also found a box of 32 caliber ammo and a revolver and addresser in his home. On April 1st, 1947, Donald's trial concluded suddenly, after several conferences between the judge,

prosecutors, and defense, the judge directed the jury to acquit Donald of murder. He then stood to hear a new indictment of accessory after the fact and pleaded guilty. on April 2nd, Donald McLean was sentenced to five years for accessory after the fact. So let's break this down. You're on trial for murder. And maybe it seems to me that the prosecution didn't think the trial was going their way. And that's why they were, you know, having a lot of conferences. The next thing you know, he's acquitted of murder and pleads guilty to accessory after the fact.

To me, that only happens if the prosecution is worried that they're going to lose the case. Yeah, why else would they go that route? I see no other reason. Now, if you're Donald McLean, do you take your chances on being found guilty of murder and either put to death in two or three months or spend the rest of your life in prison? Or do you take this five years and say, that's the best deal for me? Yeah, they could take that five years. And that's what he did.

A psychiatrist described him as senile and suffering from a heart condition. The judge accounted for his age, health, and the fact that he'd already spent a year in prison when sentencing him. On April 29, 1947, McLean also pleaded guilty to stealing from the Hamilton Street Railway for more than 15 years and received a five-year concurrent sentence. So it's concurrent. I might as well confess to it. Yeah.

I'm going to be doing that time anyway. It doesn't make any difference. I never understand the concurrent sentences. It's almost like saying, oh, you did it. That's okay. We're not going to really punish you. We just want to hear you say you did it. Evelyn's case faded from the spotlight over the next decade.

She was granted parole on November 10th, 1958. according to the Hamilton Spectator, Evelyn went into hiding after she was released. In 2021, the Spectator reported that Evelyn would be 100 years old if she was alive. So she'd be 102 now if she were still alive. It's pretty old, man. Yeah, I mean,

not a lot of people live to be 102. I'm shooting for it. There are some. You will definitely not make it. not the way you live, but does it surprise you at all that, you know, she kind of went into hiding. She went incognito after she was released. Doesn't surprise me at all. No, no, that's what I was thinking.

Number one, you were thought to have murdered possibly your husband and you were found guilty of manslaughter in the death of your son. What I didn't understand was that she was sentenced to life in prison. And she did what? 11, 12 years? Not many. Not enough. No, I think if I got out after that, I would want to live in the shadows as much as I could.

Yeah, I wouldn't be out there. No, not where people would know who I was. So as we wrap this one up, gives, you know, so many years later, this case continues to fascinate people all over the world because, you know, when you look at all of the complexity, that are involved. There's a lot going on. There's a lot of people potentially involved. I think this would be a much different outcome if this was being tried in

2023. You know, with the technology that we have today, I think there are a lot of things that could be proven that they weren't able to prove in the 1940s they could surmise. They could put forth a theory, but, you know, are those things enough? And in some cases, they're not. And really, they shouldn't be if you think about it.

No, I get that. But you know, the one aspect of this case that remains unclear is Evelyn's potential motive for killing John. By all accounts, she was the one with the money. Investigators didn't discover any valuable life insurance policies taken out on his behalf. they weren't together anymore. They weren't. So why would she want John dead? Now, you can make arguments maybe for Donald, her father, maybe Bill.

Yeah. I do think the case involving the death of her son, Peter David White McLean, is a bit more clear. It seems like Evelyn killed her child because she didn't want to or she felt like she couldn't take care of him. But instead of putting him up for adoption, like she said she was going to, according to her mother,

she killed him. The part that I am unclear about is what role, if any, did her father play? Because he seemed to have a lot of ties. I feel like he did have a... Play some part. Yeah, for sure.

The cement. The testimony by his, wife that he was trying to break into the suitcase and said get the hell out of here. Okay, we don't know what's fact and what's fiction, but he seemed to be linked. Pretty suspicious. Or very suspicious at the very least. It's just a real head scratcher of a case, even though there's a lot of aspects that are solved. There's still a lot of questions that remain unanswered.

And I don't think they can be answered because of the technology that was available at the time. They just couldn't do it. So while there's some finality, there's a little bit of the unsolved nature where people can make up their own minds about whether this person or that person was involved or was the murderer on their own or, you know, when it comes to John for sure. And I think a lot of our listeners have just made that decision. Probably. They probably have. But that's it for our episode on Evelyn Dick. We've got some voicemails.

You want to check those out? Yes, hear them. Hi, guys. I was just listening to your podcast on William Palmer. And you were talking about how the rope maker sold the rope from his hanging. It was actually very common. And in the UK, we have a saying, money for old rope, which basically means like you've had a bad deal or a bad bargain. It's like, oh, it's basically just money for old rope.

So that's where the saying comes. from, yeah, we did love our hangings. Anyway, I hope you guys are all well. Keep your own time ticking. You know, you've used that saying towards me. You're like, your old rope? Yeah, I'm like, now I know what you're trying to say. Now, I've never actually heard that saying in my life,

but I'm assuming it means that you didn't get what you paid for. Like somebody said it was rope from the hanging and you paid for it and it actually wasn't? I don't know. Or you're just paying. For some bad rope. For rope that's already been used to kill somebody? I don't know. But I've never heard that saying at all.

But I'm also not, brish. As you would say. But we appreciate that voicemail very much. We do. Hi, I'm Alice. And I'm Sydney. We love listening to you guys. Mike is so far delicious, but give me better.

I disagree. But basically, there's this guy at our school who gives us total rapist like serial killer vibes. And we're telling you now. So in 20 years, when you have an episode about him, you will know we warn you. Anyhow, we love your guys' podcast. And we can't wait for the next episode. Bye.

Okay, I was very coordinated. It was very skillfully put together. And I'm very glad they didn't name this. Or you hear a big beep. Or I would have to bleep it out. But, you know, what I will say is keep your head on the swivel is what I always say. Absolutely. It's not that it's.

guaranteed that this person is bad. Yeah. But if you're getting bad vibes from somebody, do you want to go out of your way to be near them or do you want to kind of, you know, maybe distance yourself? Maybe distance yourself a little bit. Carry a K bar? What? Gibby can't tell people that are in school to carry a K bar.

Oh, that's true. That would be very bad. Just get one of our whistles. If that, you could definitely care. Yeah. I'm assuming. I don't know nowadays. That's true too.

What's, uh, what, did you know what? just drop out of school now. You're giving the worst advice ever today. Do not listen to Gibby. All right, everyone. We had no mailbag. So that's it for another episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike and Gibby,

stay safe and keep your own time ticking.