Uncover - S38 E6: Queen of the North | The Mile Zero Murders

Episode Date: September 7, 2026

A police wellness check reveals one of our key sources has been compromised. Aaron Linklater’s daughter comes forward. Were the people behind Cole Hosack’s murder the people who threatened her father too? Host Timothy Sawa speaks with new sources, who take him even deeper into Dawson’s deadly drug trade. Who killed Aaron Linklater and why?

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This is a CBC podcast. It's early September 2025, and I'm gearing up for another trip back to Dawson Creek. We have new leads to follow about the murdered and missing in the small northern community. That's when I get a call from Aaron Linklater. He's the local drug dealer I've been talking to. You might remember him. This town has one of the most atrocious appetites for drugs that I've ever fucking seen in my life.

As I've gotten to know Aaron over the course of six months, I've learned he is a man full of contradictions. And while Aaron comes off as tough and proud, he's also surprisingly vulnerable, even sentimental. Aaron talked about his indigenous roots and showed me the ink on his hands to confirm he was a family man at heart. Jade skulls are luck for my children. These are the birthdays of four children,

four beautiful humans I've carried as much as I could with my hands. So as it carries the First Nations Aboriginal from Naliwa Dan, these tattoos represent everything I've carried through my entire life. Acceptance is that I've failed someone. The truth is I love all of them. And on his 49th birthday, he called me

with some tragic family news. My daughter's Ashley McLeod. She passed away. She was hot dust that's bent on and she died. I'm so sorry. We spent more than an hour. talking about his daughter, how much he loved her, and how much he'll miss her. And yet, Aaron has a reputation for being a successful drug dealer and a dangerous guy.

He admitted to me that he was the prime suspect for the murder of 24-year-old Emily Ogden, a woman accused of being part of a violent home invasion to rob him. Then she was found dead in April of 2025 in Aaron's pickup truck. He says he had nothing to do with it, and that his truck was stolen days before. Aaron is the type of guy who often speaks with confidence, even bravado. He once told me the RCMP had reached out to warn him there was a credible threat against his life. He brushed it off then. But this call, in September 2025, was different.

I've been threatened last, I was threatened to, like, a bizarre level. It's the first time Aaron has ever told me he's been threatened directly. And it's the first time he appears to be taking it seriously. It also sounds like he's been drinking. Is this related to the Emily Ogden thing, though? Yeah, but that even isn't my responsibility either. That's not me. That's not, I don't...

I know, but does someone think it's you? Absolutely. When Aaron tells me he's worried for his safety, I ask him about his kids. I had to move them down to a place down and fell so that no one knew where they were, but somebody found them and threatened them. And threatened them?

Yeah. Like, over what? So what are you being threatened about? That's a bit. I don't know anybody's money. I pay cash for anything that I have. I'm financed. Aaron texts me a picture of three stacks of vacuum-sealed cash. He says it's $30,000 in total,

earned in two weeks of drug dealing. He wants me to know he's not short on money. I ask him if he's still in Dawson. He says he is. He's not living scared. I don't, if you're the choice. A week after that call, I'm back in Dawson Creek. My colleague Mark Kelly and I are following a tip

about where the remains of Cole Hosak might be. Cole is the man who, as we reported in the last episode, wasn't just some guy passing through Dawson. He may have been accidentally murdered for drug debts. As we're driving to the location of him, outside of town. My phone rings. A source tells me the police have Aaron's house surrounded. Mark and I decide to postpone the search for Cole and head back to Aaron's. We arrive to see police car stationed at the front and back of his house. Neighbors are coming out

to get a peek. My first thought, Aaron is being arrested. He was being investigated for murder after all. I approached the police officer standing watch, but he tells me nothing. A few A few minutes later, a van pulls up. Men in white suits gear up and head into the house. The whole time, a black cat is wandering around trying to get inside. It's Aaron's cat. I remember it from one of my visits to his house. We've been there for several hours now, watching the forensic technicians come and go, and still, there's no sign of Aaron. I'm starting to wonder if something else might be going on. So I make a phone call

to find out if our growing fears are true. Okay, so I just got off the phone with the police source and he's in there and he's dead. He's dead. He's dead. So what they don't know yet is if it's a murder or if it's a suicide. And that's what they're trying to figure out. Mark and I wait until dark

when finally the coroner arrives and heads into Aaron's house. About half an hour later, the front door opens. Several people slowly and carefully come out holding a stretcher that's carrying a large black body bag. Aaron is a big guy, and they struggle to get him down the stairs into the back of a waiting vehicle.

As the black van with Aaron's body pulls away, Mark and I stand there quietly. There isn't much to say. I'd only known Aaron for about six months, but while doing research for this investigation, we talked and texted a lot. He talked about his VIP drug service. He took pride in his drugs being the cleanest and best,

and he boasted about his high-end clients, nurses, doctors, and lawyers. And during my last phone call with Aaron, he also told me he wanted out of the game, to become an addictions therapist of all things. He is and will remain that man of many contradictions. He died without making any apologies for who he is and what he does. I'm tearing the society down. I do not care how you feel about it.

My BMW does not care how you feel about it. Money is power. As we pull out from Aaron's house that night, the last thing I see is the RCMP officer loading up Aaron's cat into a vehicle and driving away. I didn't know it at the time, but Aaron's death would open up brand new doors in my investigation, leading me to two incredibly important sources, who would take me even deeper into Dawson's deadly drug trade. We wanted to know who killed Aaron Link later and why.

I'm Timothy Sawa, and from the CBC's undercover and the fifth estate, this is the Mile Zero murders. Episode 6, Queen of the North. The local RCMP found Aaron while doing a wellness check. Aaron hadn't been seen for several days. And given Aaron's lifestyle and all the enemies he'd made in his nearly 50 years, a lot of people, myself included, assumed that Aaron had been the victim of some kind of foul play. So I was surprised when the official word came down.

Police did not consider Aaron's death suspicious. I even got a rare phone call from the local RCMP confirming Aaron's death was not a homicide. Something about that didn't add up. Aaron was prominent in the local drug trade, had recently been the victim of a violent home invasion, and was the prime suspect in an unsolved murder case, and he was being threatened.

And then he just dies suddenly? Come on. About two weeks later, I got a phone call from another source. RCMP homicide investigators were at Aaron's house conducting a new search. They had changed their tune. police now believed he was murdered. That made me want to dig deeper.

It felt like the first step was to reach out to his family, and that's how I got in touch with Aaron's daughter. For her, her dad's death had been suspicious all along. When my dad came home drunk, the house was broken into. He was held hostage for a very long time, and now my dad's dead. We're not using her real name because she has a real reason to be concerned for her safety. We're going to call her Angie. He was, it was a ball of energy, that's all I can say.

He was a, I know lots of people in Dawson didn't see the really intelligent smart man he was. And it's very heartbreaking because all they did was hate on him for being the guy. Yeah, he is. Well, I'd like to hear your story first, if you don't mind, as much as you want to tell me. Well, my story was just about health stuff. Angie goes on to tell me how she struggled with chronic health issues, bad allergies, kidney disease, pain, and seizures. And she says her dad was there to support her through it all. There was times where I almost died in his arms, and I wouldn't be here without him as I would,

always tell everybody was he was my superhero. Everyone hated how I was so close with my dad. Me and my dad were two peas in a pod. And so it's understandable that public perceptions of her dad don't square with her own. She did not like the version she saw on local TV. I just hated to see how it ended for him, to be honest. I hated to hear it. I hated to to hear from CJDC and them trying to make my dad out as a murder. And I know damn well my dad was not a murder. I was one of the closest people in his life. So he just, he was something else, my dad.

He was my backbone. He picked me up when I couldn't pick myself up. One thing is true about Aaron. For all his tough gangster talk, it was clear his kids meant a lot to him. He was a very positive man until things started to get a little crazy since the home invasion. Aaron told us the harrowing story of how his home was invaded by five people looking for cash and drugs. Angie was there too. Me and my boyfriend were staying with my father at the house

And me and him were hanging out downstairs where my room was And all of a sudden we just hear a big crash out of nowhere At this point her boyfriend gets her out of the house through a bedroom window It's a pretty small window forced her through it and told her to go hide underneath one of the vehicles or go She was in one of the neighbor's house on 911. Her boyfriend has asked not to be named as well. For the rest of this series, we will call him Brian. Angie remembers diving under a truck in her driveway,

the only place she could find to hide. I like to always say that that was my deceased grandpa's truck. My grandpa saved me through that. And I don't know what to say about that. When I was hiding underneath the truck, and I was watching a whole bunch of feet just run around. I literally prayed to go out underneath that truck. Literally, I was covering my mouth so they couldn't hear me breathe. I was holding my breath.

All I could find was, where is she? Where is she? We're going to fucking find your daughter and we're going to fucking shoot her right fucking fucking in front of you. Meanwhile, Brian was inside the house with Aaron. Yeah, that is one of the things they're threatening the most, is that they're like, if you don't give us what's in the safe when we find her daughter, they're like, we're going to shoot your daughter. It was very traumatic time, and I suffered PTSD through it.

I'm pretty sure my boyfriend also was pretty suffering from a little bit of traumatic stuff from that. I had to seek therapy for weeks. I had to be put on medications to help me sleep. I'm just very upset that my childhood home is not a home anymore. It was never a home since that happened. It broke our family up. It broke mine and my dad's relationship up. I lived in terror every fucking day.

And that's the story. After the home invasion. After the home invasion, Angie and Brian understandably didn't feel safe living there. But they also didn't have a lot of options. They found another place to live, but... That place wasn't a good idea either. Yeah, we didn't realize how that of a house we ended up going and staying at afterwards. They say the house they moved into was also very much part of the Dawson drug trade.

I'm just going to say it was my dad's ex-girlfriends. and um is jasmine's house jasmine hut yes the name jasmine isn't new to me jasmine hut used to work at the local dive bar sources have told me she's involved in selling drugs at the time i didn't think much of the information but i've since learned jasmine is a big time player in the dawson creek drug trade nowhere near the level of tanner murray but big enough to have a reputation around town and Angie doesn't trust her. Jasmine, she's a very two-faced, bitch.

Angie and Brian remember a lot of different people would come by for drugs. The more time they spent at the house, the more they got to see Dawson Creek's drug trade up close. They got me to do stupid stuff for them, like, weigh their drugs, and, you know, like, keep count of, like, certain stuff was being sold or stay at their house while people stopped by. kind of my only way of making my dues or making my ends meet. But Brian says ultimately it wasn't a game he was interested in playing.

They wanted me to basically try and get into all of their other stuff, and I wasn't about that. I didn't want to have anything to do with their drug game at all. But living in Jasmine's house, that's where there was a lot of things that were said and had happened that I overwitness because of just being in the vicinity of, It became clear one day how deep in the drug trade Jasmine really was when three men with guns kicked in her door. I hid in the closet with a really young girl waiting to be told that I could come out. And that took like maybe a half an hour to an hour. And there was chairs thrown.

That's all I could hear from where I was hiding. The men were there to kidnap Jasmine. over what appeared to be some kind of drug business dispute. But lucky for her, she had protection that night. Her boyfriend, Jasmine's boyfriend, was there, and he had a gun as well, and he kind of ran them off out of the house. So it's safe to say that Jasmine's house saw its fair share of trouble. Trouble with other people involved in the local drug trade,

including a familiar name, Matt Lawton. Yes, the same Matt Lawton who has been linked to Cole Hozack's disappearance. The same names keep coming up over and over again in different criminal contexts. It's a constant reminder of how small of a town Dawson Creek really is. According to my sources, Matt and Jasmine were working together in the drug trade. And it was Brian who overheard the confession about Cole's disappearance. He openly admitted in front of a bunch of people that he had a big part in Cole's disappearance, and that it was an accident.

Brian was standing outside the door when Matt spilled the beans. And while I was outside listening to that, somebody opened the door and came out, and we're like, what the fuck? What do you want? You're told not to be down here. We only have Brian's word to go on, but he told us, at this point, Matt knew that he knew. They were threatening to take me out, like, basically take me out to a field, and they're like, you're never going to be seen again. I got kicked out at her house. I ended up going to Aaron's house for a night. I already knew I felt unsafe.

And we basically overnight left. And literally the night that we left and we're gone, Matt and a bunch of his guys showed up at Aaron's house looking for me. Angie and Brian tell me they're safe now. One of the last things Aaron told me was that he had set them up at a secure location far away from Dawson Creek. But even from a distance, they've kept in touch with what's going on in their hometown. And they have a hunch about who wanted Angie's dad, Aaron, dead. Matt was a man that I'm talking daily death threats to my dad.

My dad would call me and he would be breaking out and he would be just being like, no matter what kid, I'm going to protect myself. If someone walks through that door, I'm going to protect myself. I don't fucking care what it takes. And Matt was one of the people that always threatened my dad. We can't confirm what Aaron told Angie. But Aaron told us he was being threatened by Tanner Murray and his half-brother. Something to do with the death of Emily Ogden.

But if Matt was threatening him too, he was facing pressure on multiple fronts. Now remember, we also know Matt and Jasmine were connected in the drug trade. And we know that Aaron was questioned in connection with Emily Ogden's death. But so was Jasmine. In fact, police executed what they call a high-risk search warrant on her home in early May 2025. In footage from that day, police have the house surrounded, including a black armored tactical vehicle that looks like a small tank. Black-clad officers carrying automatic weapons can be seen creeping up beside the house.

No charges were laid that day. But did the police believe Jasmine had something to do with Emily's murder? I've already looked at some of the stuff my dad sent me, and it is involving Jasmine trying to throw my dad and another person underneath the bus for Emily. But Brian raises another possibility altogether. I don't know if that kind of stuff makes it to news, but there was a gang in Fort St. John that had recently put, I think it was like a $35,000 hit on Aaron. Angie says there was a hit on Jasmine, too. And Brian says he knows why.

I think that a lot of people, if they thought that they were talking to, well, media and or the police. When Brian says the media, he means me. They originally put a, I think, I'll like $25,000 hit on your dad. And within a week, it was a $35,000 hit. And within two days after that, that's when he was. had who found deceased in his home. We haven't been able to independently verify whether either of these hits were ordered

or by whom. But one thing was becoming clear. There was more to Jasmine's story. I made some more phone calls. That's when I was told Jasmine was more than just a small-time pusher working at the local bar. She was a pretty serious cog

in Dawson's drug supply machine. Jasmine even had a nickname, Queen of the North. I needed to speak with her to see what, if anything, she knew about Emily's death and Aaron's murder. When building a business, you need tools that work as hard as you do. With Shopify.com, you can create a stunning site with no coding necessary, a seamless checkout process that gets customers to actually buy, and the support of our AI assistant, sidekick,

who can help you troubleshoot along the way. all you need is the idea. Shopify handles the rest. Start your free trial at Shopify.com. Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Georgetown invites you to a quiet and compassionate free seminar on supporting those who struggle with substance use. On Saturday, September 12th at 10 in the morning, we will gather to listen, to learn, and to offer hope. Robin Griller of St. Michael's Homes and Reverend Robert Crestick Lutheran Church, Canada

will share a gentle guidance on medical, practical, and spiritual, virtual care. If you are someone you love is seeking understanding, please call to register 437-297-0056. Hi, Jasmine. Yes. It's Timothy calling from the fifth of state. Hi. How are you doing? I reached Jasmine by phone in Dawson Creek. So what is this about? First, her nickname. Has she heard that people call her Queen of the North? Not to my knowledge. Somebody's laughing there. That would be my boyfriend. That's not something you've heard? No. Sorry, it's not funny. I shouldn't be laughing. The things people come up with, holy fuck.

Yeah. I had so many more questions for Jasmine, starting with the accusation that she's a major drug dealer in town. And one thing that we've continued on digging into is who's involved in the drug trade in Dawson Creek. And one of the names that has come up is yours, actually. Yeah, because I lived with Aaron. Well, more specific than that, actually. Yeah. And your ties to Matt Lawton, you know...

Yes, I was Matt Lawton's neighbor. So when you were living in that duplex next to Matt, were you dealing drugs out of that house? No. You weren't. I actually don't have anything to do. I just... I have nothing to deal with.

I just am always in the wrong place at the wrong time. Huh. Not her, she says. It was all Aaron and Matt. she just happened to be living with or near both of them. And of course, now Aaron is dead. Like, what do you think happened to Aaron? Aaron has a big mouth.

Yeah, and that got him in trouble? Aaron talked him in trouble. Oh. Aaron's big mouth. She's referring in part, at least, to his conversations with me. When it comes to Emily Ogden's murder, I ask her about something I've been told by multiple sources. that it was her who forced Emily into the back of her vehicle in nearby Fort St. John,

and delivered Emily to Dawson, where Erin and a third person killed her. I'm not going to answer that question. I'm not going to get myself in trouble. I'm not going to see stuff that's going to get anyone else in trouble either. But you don't want to answer the question about whether you picked Emily up in Fort St. John and brought her to Dawson? No, I don't want to talk about any of that at all, because I don't think that's an open taste. Well, I just want to be super clear that we've had people. tell us you were involved in Aaron's murder, you were involved in Emily's death, and that you are a significant drug dealer in Dawson Creek.

Oh, fuck, that's hilarious. No, it's not true. I just happened to be involved with Matt and Aaron, but I'm definitely not involved in Aaron's death for sure. freaking, nobody even knows when Aaron died. He wasn't talked to you for three days. So when did he die over those three days? Like, there's no, nobody even knows how he died. The police never said. Yeah, there are questions for sure. So how can people be speculating when they don't know anything?

That's just stupid. That's how people get killed. Besides, how could she have killed Aaron? She says they cared for and trusted each other. Aaron was my friend. I lived with Aaron. Aaron took, like, we took care of each other. The only reason we moved out was because Aaron was getting too far into it,

and I couldn't watch it anymore. He just made some bad decisions that were dangering his life, and I didn't want to end up dead. We moved out three days prior to that. That was it. So you had nothing to do with his death? No, are we probably dead too. But if Jasmine really has nothing to do with murder or drugs in Dawson Creek, Why does she keep telling me she could be the next person to die?

Police have told her as much. They came to me and told me that somewhere along their investigation, they have found that my life is in danger, and they'll put me in protective custody if I want. I see. So they've warned you that you might be in danger? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Aaron was warned as well, right? He said that.

Yeah. Yeah, and then they warned me again after his death. Which still left me with a big question. Who killed Aaron Link later and why? One important thing I learned about Aaron's murder. There was no forced entry at his house. That's one of the reasons police initially believed his death wasn't suspicious. Which means whoever killed him was able to get into his house without a struggle.

Because I know that Aaron kept his doors locked and he told me he always kept a gun nearby. So this might have been someone he trusted, or at least knew. As for what happened next or how he died, I have no idea. But back when I spoke to Aaron, he explained how gangsters in Dawson Creek get rid of people they consider to be a problem. Is there a salt take in the room? I'm going to show you something about how much carfentil it takes to kill a human body. Carfentanyl is a synthetic opioid used as a tranquilizer for elephants and rhinos. It's a thousand times more potent than regular fentanyl,

and 10,000 times more potent than morphine. So this is great because this is really, it's mind-blowing. Now, this would be too much, so that's way too much. So if we go like this, that's enough to kill three people. In his demonstration using salt, Aaron shows how a tiny little pinch can kill three people. It's an assassin's drug. It's not a drug of recreational choice. That is an assassination of three people.

One of those grains mixed in with cocaine, which Aaron used regularly, would kill him. He said it could go something like this. Guy will come over and party, make like you're your best fucking friend in the world. Hey man, here's a ground for you, here's a gram for you, and here's a ground for you. But this ground, it's just for you.

Hey, man, have a line. Everybody I want. So, honey, I like to pay for the party. The person does it. Toast every packs up a leaves. It's usually called a hot shot. When someone you think you can trust gives you a lethal dose of drugs without you knowing,

and then you're dead. On the surface, it looks like just another overdose. We have no idea if Aaron was killed because there was a price on his head because people believed he was talking to the police. Or because he was talking to me, or because Emily's criminal friends wanted him dead as retribution for her death, or because Aaron's death would mean one less potential witness in Emily's murder.

But one thing is for sure, Aaron's death could solve a lot of problems for a lot of people. Which would explain why, in that final phone call with me, just a week before his death, he seemed so worried. But there's also a portion of it of people who don't really, really, believe that my integrity is as strong as it is. And as put it this way, success has enemies, if that makes sense. Today, the only thing Angie wants is justice for her dad, the man she calls her superhero,

and for the others who have lost their lives in Dawson Creek. My last call with him was, I love you, my kid, no matter what happens to me, make sure that it's going to be brought to justice. and that it's going to be all okay and don't worry about me, I'm going to be all right. That was the last few things he said to me and that he loved me

and my little sister and his other kid and what happens, it's going to be okay, I'm going to be okay. For now, Angie and her boyfriend, will remain in hiding. So far, they've been too afraid to tell the police what they know because of the threats they've received. Yeah, I'm not sure what I can trust, and I don't know what's going to go back and or get myself in shit or have somebody all of a sudden show up in my door where I'm at, you know,

looking for me because I know that they are not a small organization. I want to make one final thing really clear, especially to anyone who might want to target Angie and Brian for speaking out. Just because it's their voices you hear in this episode doesn't mean they're the only ones talking to me. Several others spoke to me confidentially too, confirming, double sourcing, and filling in the details you just heard. Angie and Brian are just the ones who made the courageous choice to smash down that wall of fear surrounding Dawson Creek and tell their stories here.

Behind them are many others helping out, who, like Angie and Brian, desperately want the cycle of violence to come to an end. Next time, on the final episode of the Mile Zero murders. Having these charges under our belt, and yes, it's just one case out of many, but there's significant charges. So you made a promise, you said, results in six months. It's been 17. And people in Dawson Creek, we've had them tell us that was hard for them.

What's your response to that? Well, my response for that is, I'm sorry. You've been listening to the Mile Zero murders from CBC's uncover and the Fifth Estate. The show is reported and hosted by me, Timothy Sawa. Our producer is Tiff Lamb. Additional reporting from Mark Kelly, Grant LaFlesh, and Lisa Ellenwood at the Fifth Estate. Sound design by Graham MacDonald. 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 Marchand is the senior producer. Executive producers for CBC podcasts are Cecil Fernandez and Chris Oak. Tanya Springer is the senior manager, and R.F. Mirani is the director of CBC podcasts. If you're enjoying the show, consider checking out another series from CBC.

One I really like is called Forged. It's the tragic story of celebrated Canadian Indigenous. indigenous artist, Norval Moro, and an international fraud ring, considered the largest of its kind in the world, involving thousands of forged paintings. It's a sad and powerful story worth your time. Thanks for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.