Uncover - S38 E3: Dawson’s bad boy | The Mile Zero Murders

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

Verna Cardinal recounts the last hours she had with her granddaughter, Renee Didier. She also offers a new lead – a person who knows who Renee was with the night of her disappearance. Different people then point to the same person as someone who connected with the missing and murdered before they vanished.Host Timothy Sawa connects with the RCMP to see what they know. If so many people in town suspect the same person, why haven’t charges been laid?

Between tariffs, trade battles, and an ongoing war in the Middle East, the lazy days of summer seem to have skipped Washington this year. So our podcast, Two Blocks from the White House, is here to keep you caught up, even if you're in vacation mode. Join me, Katie Simpson with correspondence Paul Hunter and Willie Lowry and other journalists from our D.C. Bureau for a front row seat and what this all means for Canadians. Find and follow two blocks from the White House with new episodes every Wednesday in your favorite podcast app, including YouTube.

This is a CBC podcast. I first visited Dawson Creek in the summer of 2024. At that point, at least nine people had gone missing or been murdered in the previous year alone. With very little in the way of official answers, we began to dig into some of those cases ourselves. We heard about Tina Nellis and Adam Roy Isley, both brutally murdered in Tina Slee. trailer. And then there was Daryland Supernet, missing for months before her remains were found by a roadside. We could connect every one of those cases to the local drug trade, but it was too soon to say if they were collateral damage in a violent turf war. Now, we're looking for answers

about Daryl's cousin, Rene, Supernant, Didier. That search has led me down a series of gravel-back roads with my colleagues from the Fifth Estate. We head towards the Cascatinaw River. It's about a 30-minute drive northwest of Dawson Creek. And the further we drive, the more rugged the terrain. The road eventually turns into more of a dirt path, barely wide enough for our vehicle. Eventually, we arrive at the river. Crystal clear water rushes through a deep canyon, surrounded by kilometers of untouched wilderness. Here, Mark, I think we're right here right now. So she's up there.

Fifth State host Mark Kelly and I are looking for the spot where a body was discovered. A worker testing the river water stumbled across it roughly two years ago. A little further up, there's a set of tire tracks leading to the water's edge. At the end of the tracks, a lonely stack of black river water. rocks, marks where Renee was found. This is where her family came to say goodbye. We don't know exactly how or why Renee's body came to be here. But with every question we ask, a picture begins to emerge.

But there's not a day that I won't go by until we find justice. I'll keep fighting. Even if it costs me my life, so be it. But the people that did it, hate to say it. I hope they're out in hell. I'm Timothy Sawa, and from CBC's Uncover and the Fifth Estate, this is the Miles Zero murders. Episode 3, Dawson's bad boy.

Renee was a really happy, cheerful little girl, me and who were always together, because she was the first grandchild I raised with Renee, eh? That's Verna Cardinal. She's Renee's grandmother. But Renee called her mom. The two of them spent a lot of time together. living in the peace region.

I mean her went everywhere together when I went shopping and everything. She was always laughing and having fun. Everyone who knew Renee describes her as full of life, strong-minded, and someone who would do anything for her family. She was born in Dawson

and met a man she wanted to settle down with. They had two kids, now teens. Yeah, and then she moved to Fort St. John when she had gotten married, and then they split up. And she was kind of back and forth, and she was like kind of hanging around here

when whatever happened. By late autumn of 2023, Renee was struggling to keep her life together. She was back in Dawson, living with Verna. After they split up, Renee, she lost her kids. And her daughter was on Vancouver Island with her grandma,

and then Joe had her son, eh? She had nothing, and I guess, except to drink. On Thursday, November 30th, Verna and Renee planned to have an early night in together. Renee put on a pot of chili. But plans changed. Some guy coming off, and he said, as Renee did he are here,

so Renee went, he handed her envelope. The man handed her an envelope with divorce papers. So she just kind of broke up. She said, Mama, I know I told you I was going to stay home, but I can't now. So after supper, she cleaned up the kitchen, and I put that best of that chili in a jar, put it in a fridge. It was on a Thursday, and it was that weekend. Sunday after that, she went missing. Missing and now dead.

Verna is having trouble letting go of her granddaughter. That chilly from Renee's last night, Verna still has it in her freezer, in a jar. She can't bring herself to throw it away. I'm hoping at least that, you know, somebody pays for it, like what happened to her. Verna never saw Renee again after that night. But she told me about someone who did.

Another granddaughter, Cheyenne Hamler. 12-ish. Late noon or midnight, noon probably? Now we're on noon yet. Yeah. I called her via Facebook video call. She didn't answer. Someone else answered, which I knew the individual and asked where Renee was.

He said, and I could hear Renee in the background laughing saying, fuck off, give me my phone in your joking voice. Mm-hmm. And she got on the phone where it was video call. So I seen her physically on the video call, on the video chat. I asked her if she was still going to come home me back. Two hours went by. I phoned her again and asked her to pick me up a bottle for me.

Got you my girl. But Renee never showed up with that bottle. Where she was left, not even a five minutes. By now you're probably wondering about that video call. The one where a man answered Renee's phone. I was wondering too. Now, if our timeline is correct, he might have been the last person to have seen Renee Didier before she disappeared. And where was she when you talked to her there?

She was in a hotel room. Tanner Murray. Remember at the end of last episode, that woman who called me over in the bar to show me a photo on her phone? The person we should be focusing on? She was showing me a picture of Tanner. Tanner was born in 1994 and grew up in Courtney B.C. a coastal town on Vancouver Island. One source described him as a normal kit.

He played football. In 2012, when he would have been about 18, he moved to Dawson Creek. And since then, he's been strongly connected to criminal activity in the region, which is why Cheyenne was so concerned he was one of the last people to see Renee alive. You can ask almost anyone in town, and they'll know who Tanner Murray is. including Verna. Well, he's Dawson's bad boy from what I understand. Is he dangerous?

People seem to think so. Tanner followed in the footsteps of his older half-brother, Jesse Ray Stevens. We don't know what attracted Jesse Ray to Dawson, but we know this. His criminal record dates back almost 20 years, with charges including breaking and entering, robbery, and attempted murder. Tanner's record starts in 2021. In 2023, Tanner was charged at least 11 times. By 2024, he was on the run, eventually caught by the police in a local hotel in Dawson Creek. In 2024, he faced a total of 24 new charges.

Following his arrest, a search warrant was executed. It led to the seizure of four guns, over 1,000 rounds of ammunition and drugs included suspected fentanyl and heroin. That's what Verna means when she calls Tanner Murray Dawson's bad boy. And again, this may have been the man who was with Renee the last time she was seen alive. All of that would be concerning enough, but there's more. Tanner was Daryland's really good friend. That's Jordan Cornish. She's Daryland's Supernette's step-sister.

Darylind is Renee's cousin, who went missing eight months before her. He's well-known in town. and the cops have been looking at them for a long time for a few different things. Daryland's body was found in a ditch on the edge of town just weeks before Renee's body was discovered. And then a lot of people are pointing fingers at Tanner too. The last time I saw her,

she was really preoccupied though with their phone and talking to Tanner and I don't know what was going on. Like we were close but we had our own separate lives. Darlin's mother, Shelley Supernant, also mentioned Tanner. She was actually supposed to be doing painting for this guy, Tanner, Tanner, Murray. And she was supposed to be painting arts last place. I remember her supposed to be going. Dawson Creek is a small town, so maybe it's all just a coincidence.

But people in town are suspicious. Tanner Murray was one of the last people seen with Renee Didier on the day she went missing. We also have two people telling us that Tanner and Darylind were connected around the time she was last seen alive. There's also another link that added to the suspicion. Tanner and Robert Gerbov are well known to be connected through the drug trade. And we've been told Gerbov helped dispose of Darylind's body. Now, all of that doesn't necessarily mean Tanner had anything to do with either of these women's deaths. But it raises a lot of questions.

And frankly, it's more than we've heard from the police so far. Cheyenne says she's given the police all of the evidence she has, but it's all led nowhere as far as she can tell. I wanted to give them my cell phone. I gave them my home security. I signed over everything for them to listen to the Daryland's conversation that she had with the individuals she went to go meet. I let them on my Facebook to read the messages as I took pictures

and investigators coming to my house from Vancouver. I've been questioned over and over the same questions. I have nothing to hide. A bunch of rookie cops that don't even know what they're doing or talking about. For as long as I've been covering this story, one thing has been consistent. That ongoing frustration with the police, especially as local coverage of the town's crime was ramping up, framing what was going on as a potential drug war.

In the early morning hours of Wednesday, shots were fired near the 95, 500 block of 96th Avenue, wounding one person. They say it's part of the ongoing gang-related conflict across the peace region. In 2022, members of a group called Citizens Take Action took their frustrations to city council. We are writing this letter as a group of residents on behalf of the community who have lost confidence in the local RC&P's detachment's ability to address acute crime in the area. In a small community where people were used to leaving their friends, front doors unlocked, they were feeling unsafe. Their primary concern was the uptick and property crime. Things were being stolen from yards, quads, bikes, tools, even vehicles. They were blaming it

on drug users. Citizens are sleeping with bats and bear spray and guns at the ready. The group formed that year, claimed to have 200 members at its peak. They patrol the community looking out for crime. And the group has had some success. At one point, the RCMP praised them for helping recover more than $150,000 in stolen property. But it has also been controversial. There were accusations of vigilanteism. Then, in 2023, after more gun violence, the RCMP deployed their uniform gang enforcement team based in Surrey near Vancouver. A show of force arrived on the streets of Dawson Creek. It was supposed to help residents feel safer,

like something was happening. But it did nothing for the families of the murder victims. People like Renee's grandma, Verna. I'm not sure. I think that one time that when a cop come there and I think asked a few things, but they didn't really seem to bother with us. Nope. I haven't heard nothing since.

We had so many questions of our own for the RCMP. I spent weeks calling and emailing the press person in Prince George, getting nowhere. Losing patients, we showed up at the detachment in Dawson Creek with our fifth-of-state camera rolling. Hello there. Hi there. My name is Mark Kelly. We're doing a story about the crime here in Dawson. We've been going back and forth with Corporal Sanderson.

Finally, that seemed to have gotten someone's attention. Now, the Dawson RCMP still wouldn't talk to us. but in September of 2024, we got a call from a senior police officer at the headquarters for the BCRCMP. They would do an interview. I should note, it's nearly a 1,200-kilometer drive away from Dawson Creek. As a superintendent, I'm Mark. Mark Kelly. Good to meet you. Great to meet you. Thank you.

Along with my fifth estate colleague, Mark Kelly, I sat down with Sanjayo Ojeakun. He is the superintendent of the RCMP's major crime unit for British Columbia. So I think the concern in the community, it's warranted in that at this point in time, we haven't charged anybody and we haven't convicted anybody. With Jayakun oversees all of the major crimes investigations outside of the lower mainland in BC. His investigators often assist local detachments with serious crimes. If they're having difficulties, if they don't have the requisite skill set at that certain time, we'll come in and help them. And in some cases, his investigators will take over, which has been the case for many of the murdered and missing in Dawson Creek.

What Jayancud wouldn't say who the RCMP were investigating for which murders, but he was able to give a high-level assessment of what was happening in Dawson. I think there's about 50 people in that area, and extends into Alberta a little bit, who are involved in the street-to-mid-level drug trade. And they're all known to each other. I think there's a lot of people who are involved in that circle, and it's that circle who are constantly involved in these kind of acts of violence against each other.

He also wouldn't comment on what exactly was behind the murders and disappearances in Dawson. But he did say one thing pretty confidently. The spike of violence in Dawson Creek was not an issue of competing gangs. I wouldn't quite use a turf war. I'd say there's been a string of homicides or missing persons where foul plate is suspected, really dating back to January of 2023. January 20203 was the month and year of Tina and Adams murders. And we've heard several times from local residents. That's when things really escalated. The RCMP doesn't know what changed and what caused the escalation. I think that there are just certain people who are around who they don't have a lot of self-control. I think that they're involved in crimes that they shouldn't be involved in.

And I think they've just, for whatever reason over the last year or two, have become a little bit emboldened. When we sat down with Superintendent Wejeiakun, there were 11 people who were either murdered or missing in Dawson Creek. That's since 2021. And at the time, zero charges. How could he explain that? I would tell the community, yes, I understand your concern. It does not look great. But there are teams of investigators working on these investigations.

Some of them take time. These investigators really are having to follow a lot of very complex legal rules, whether it's how they seize items and keep them, how they download digital forensic information, and sees that, there's a whole host of things on a homicide investigation that take a long, long time. That all may be true, but we've heard from families that they weren't seeing some of the most basic due diligence. Daryland's step-sister, Jordan, for example. So I phoned them for an unrelated reason, and they showed up, and I asked them how things were going with my sister's case,

And they asked me, well, who's your sister? And so I told them Darylind. And they're, oh, that's your sister. And Gabby, you know, our baby sister. She's like, yeah, because we're her immediate family. And no one's been to talk to us yet, like, at all. And so they sent officers a couple days later to come take statements from us. But I remember the cop who did take my statement.

He just seemed bored. Well, that's very unfortunate. It kind of blows my mind to hear that. One of the first things the conscientious investigator is going to do is talk to the family. And they won't just say, hey, you're the father, tell me your story. They'll say, hey, do you have other people we can talk to? And then they will always talk to all of those people. So I don't know if there's a disconnect.

I don't know if something's getting lost in translation. But if there was a lag for those people, I apologize. But I do know that my investigators make that a priority speaking to all. the family members. And whatever particular challenges the investigators face, what Jayakun wants to reassure the people in Dawson Creek, he believes they're safe. It's one thing to have a series of homicides

where it's, let's say, connected to the local drug committee. And it's not some hitters coming in from out of town, spraying bullets everywhere. It really is targeted, or it's related to a certain conflict that is not spreading throughout the community. That's the difference I'm saying that exists here. But people in Dawson Creek don't feel safe. And they don't feel safe because everybody knows who the bad actors are

and they see them walking free. This Dawson area resident has seen it happen over and over again in their community. For their safety, we've used an actor's voice. They describe a cycle, charges involving drugs and violence, leading to a court date, followed by release back into the community, often on bail, ending up with more crime. It's called catch and release. They want the big fish. This is the same resident who told us about the murders of Tina and Adam, or Roy, in the last episode.

They said someone who was in the trailer when the murders took place told them the killings were a message. This is what will happen to you if you don't pay your drug debts. You would think that would give the police a pretty clear direction. The guy that keeps getting busted for drugs, people need to start looking at him. Tanner Murray. And there's that name again, Tanner Murray. And he's no stranger to RCMP superintendent with Jayakoon either. We certainly know of Tanner.

I'm not going to comment any further on that. My investigators have dealt with him in the past. So I'll just leave it at that. And it's not as though police are ignoring Tanner Murray altogether. In 2024 alone, he faced 24 new charges, ranging from illegal possession of firearms to drunk driving and assaulting the police. But he's never done any serious time. Most of those offenses don't carry big maximum penalties, unlike, say, murder.

But it does still take up considerable police resources to make him. even those charges stick and to get a conviction. Despite all of that work by police, by 2024, Tanner had been arrested and released a total of four times, each time, ending right back in Dawson Creek. Many people in Dawson Creek think the RCMP should focus on Tanner Murray in connection to the murders of Renee, Darylind, Adam, and Tina. But there's a big gulf between the rumors on the street

and the kind of evidence and testimony that you need to be. build a solid murder case. I think for the Dawson Creek cases and many of the other cases that I oversee, we do need public help. So it's one thing to go to a reporter and saying, hey, I know all about it. This is what happened. It's another thing to talk to the police

and then allow us to obtain an admissible statement that's very clean and usable in court. On these cases, if you're asking what's specific about these, you'd think on one of these there would be a situation where somebody has come forward with really good, information. And that's what we need. We need the help of the citizens of Dawson Creek to ultimately, you know, solve these and get some charges. Despite the challenges, Superintendent with Jayakoon made a promise to the people of Dawson Creek. And he offered a timeline.

In my opinion, for some of the cases, I think, you know, within the next six months, we will have some level of success. Between tariffs, trade battles and an ongoing war in the Middle East, the lazy days of summer seem to have skipped Washington this year. So our podcast, Two Blocks from the White House, is here to keep you caught up even if you're in vacation mode. Join me, Katie Simpson, with correspondence Paul Hunter and Willie Lowry and other journalists from our DC Bureau for a front row seat and what this all means for Canadians. Find and follow two blocks from the White House with new episodes every Wednesday in your favorite podcast app, including YouTube. In spring of 2025, I went back to Dawson Creek. It had been several months since our conversation was superintendent with Jayakoon.

Our first Fifth Estate documentary had gone to air. People in Dawson Creek find themselves caught in the crosshairs as big city violence comes to small town Canada. And the town was buzzing with people talking about one of the big revelations about who is behind much of the violent crime in Dawson. And one name came up over and over again. Tanner Murray, along with his stepbrother, Jesse Ray Stevens. In fact, shortly after our TV documentary aired, Jesse Ray changed the profile photo on his Facebook page. It was a picture of him wearing a mask, a bulletproof vest, and pointing a Beretta pistol

at the camera. The message to the people in town was clear. Keep your mouth shut, or else. Which got me thinking about one of the people who came forward to me with information about a connection between Tanner Murray and one of the murdered women. One of my missions, now that I was back in town, was to track down Cheyenne Hamler in person. She's Renee's cousin. She's the one who saw Renee in a hotel room with Tanner Murray before Renee went missing.

Cheyenne had only spoken to me over the phone before. I wanted to see how she was doing. Hi, is Cheyenne? This is Sean Hamler? Yeah, yeah. So we spoke, it was been a few months ago now. For the story on the Fifth of State, we did, CBC story, the documentary about Dawson Creek. Yeah, and I just, I'm back in town, and I was really hoping we could just connect in person, because we never did meet.

Are you here now? Yeah, I'm in Dawson Creek, yeah. At first she agreed to meet for coffee. But then she asked us to pick her up instead. She wanted to take us somewhere. When I pulled up to her house, she came out dressed head to toe in stunning indigenous regalia. with intricate beadwork and a colorful woven belt. And most strikingly, a bright red handprint on her face.

Cheyenne is Cree. She got in the car and gave us directions. Her today, considering it's Easter. I brought her to these feathers. By her, she means Renee, her cousin who was murdered. So we just start by maybe because people won't see this. Yep. Where we are?

We're at Brookside Cemetery. And why did you want us to come here today? To have awareness and knowledge and to get awareness out there about what happens to indigenous people sometimes. I'm wearing my regalia and it's all in red for missing and murdered indigenous women to show my pride. My shawl has... Canadian flight on the back and a picture of Renee.

This is her picture from her service. Yeah. Which I find it amazingly beautiful. So I made this regalia. I just, I haven't finished it yet because there's also going to be Darland on there. It's a windy but sunny day, and she starts walking towards the end of the cemetery. She points out the people who have died and left her life. So this one is also, this is my cousin Curtis.

This is Renee's cousin also. He also died of an overdose. This is my grandmother's, Elizabeth. And this is another overdose, Cheyantistovich. So these all have been within months of each other. Three people near and dear to her, all gone. And there's more. So this is where Renee lays.

This is Renee. Yeah. And I brought her these hoops because hoop dancing is what she liked to do. And also my shawl I made especially for her. You have been generous with us and standing up for your family. taught saying what you know, looking for the truth, and what's the impact been on you since then? I relapsed on my alcoholism

because I got so many death threats from the last one. Death threats for speaking out. Since the Fifth Estate TV documentary aired, we learned the RCMP has told Cheyenne not to go out alone at night. She's also increased her security at home. The police haven't identified the source of the threats, but Cheyenne is convinced they're because she identified Tanner Murray in that hotel room with Renee. Because they don't like to know the truth.

And that me and Renee were ones to stick up and stand up and speak for our family, for this is for Daryland first. And we said what we have to say to everybody. and the people that are behind this didn't like it. Who's telling you not to talk? People. You're talking today now. Yeah.

Why are you talking today? Because I want my name to be cleared that I'm not a rat. I'm here just for justice for my family. What does justice look like? The justice system not being so corrupted. How is he walking free on these streets today? And as I say he, you know who we're talking about. I don't want to say his name, but we all know who we're talking about.

After more than a year of reporting on the violence in Dawson Creek and several visits to the small northern community, it was becoming clear to me that the biggest obstacle to uncovering what was really going on was fear. Dawson residents believed they were seeing the people behind the town's violence walking free day after day. However, slowly but surely, we were learning more and more

about several of the disappearances and murders and about Dawson's bad boy, Tanner Murray. His name came up repeatedly from family members and people in town. And despite thinking Tanner's behind the threats on her life, the cousin to two of the murdered Cree women was refusing to back down. She wants people to know what she saw and heard.

She wants justice. That wall of fear in Dawson Creek was starting to crack. Coming up on the next episode of the Mile Zero murders, trying to speak with Tanner Murray. My name's Timothy with CBC, and I was looking for someone who was staying in room 125. And we get an insider view of the drug trade in Dawson Creek, from someone so close to it,

we never dreamed he would talk to us. This town has one of the most atrocious, appetites for drugs that I've ever fucking seen in my life. You've been listening to the Miles Hero murders from CBC's on cover and the Fifth Estate. If you want to hear another series by me, you can check out Evil by Design. The show is reported and hosted by me, Timothy Sawa. Our producer is Tiff Lamb. Additional reporting from Mark Kelly, Grant LaFleche, and Lisa Ellenwood at the Fifth Estate.

Sound Design by Graham McDonald. Emily Connell is our coordinating, producer. Our senior producer is Jeff Turner. Additional audio from CTV, CJDC News. Alia Davidson is executive producer of the fifth estate. Emmanuel Marchant is the senior producer. Executive producers for CBC podcasts are Cecil Fernandez and Chris Oak. Tanya Springer is the senior manager and RF Nirani is director of CBC podcasts. Thanks for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to CBC podcasts. cbc.ca slash podcasts.