Uncover - S4 E7 Bonus: The Cat Lady Case - The Press Conference

Episode Date: July 9, 2019

Season 4 update: Detective Rob Matthews keeps his promise, and someone phones Zander with a tip.

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We have been very tight-lipped, as you know, about this investigation and I am going to release a significant amount of information. I'm going to tell the story to whomever wants to listen. In April 2019, Detective Rob Matthews told me he was going to hold a press conference. There is a lot of interest in the story. told me he was going to hold a press conference. There is a lot of interest in the story, so I think we are going to do something a little bigger.

We're going to probably do a media conference sometime. The conference would be about four Muskoka seniors who disappeared in the late 1990s. John Semple, Joan Lawrence, John Crofts, and Ralph Grant. A case I've been bugging him about for years. It was as a result of our discussion, I think it's just time now. My podcast came out just before Rob's press conference, so I wanted to give you this update and tell you some new information.

In 1995, I went up there on my motorcycle. My mom was half asleep. She was basically doped up. My mom was like a zombie in this room. And something was going wrong here. I'm Xander Sherman. This is Uncover the Cat Lady case. Just get a bit closer to the microphone here.

Good morning, everyone. On behalf of Commissioner Thomas Krieg, thank you for taking time to attend today. This is a public appeal to try to resolve the disappearance of... It's July 25th, 2019. The OPP Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, and Detective Rob Matthews are sitting down with reporters in the city of Vaughan, just outside Toronto. Because the exact date of the press conference is a surprise, I'm on holiday when it happens, tuning in on my phone.

Thanks, Deputy. Thank you to the media for attending and our social media audience for watching. After the initial introductions, it's Rob's turn to read a statement. In 1994, the first home called Cedar Pines Christian Retirement Home opened in Emsdale, Ontario. A second home was then opened called Fern Glen Manor in Sprucedale, Ontario.

These properties were owned and operated by four siblings named Catherine, Paul, Walter, and David Land. These individuals have never cooperated with police. For the first time in a public setting, Rob talks openly about Project Sexton, naming members of the Land family, and talking about the number of deaths at Cedar Pines and Fern Glen Manor. By 2002, the investigative team had identified 46 past residents who lived in one or more of the properties. I can confirm during the

operation of these homes, 16 persons died with 12 being reported to the authorities. The four remaining deaths that were not reported are the four missing individuals that we are seeking information on today. Rob says that only four of the 16 deaths are suspicious. So, a reporter wonders, why mention the total number of deaths in the first place? You brought up the 16 cases. Why did you bring up that number? You're only actually looking at four. Because during the operation of those homes, 16 people died under the care of the owners.

I think that is very relevant, and I think the public would want to know that. Another reporter asks how the 16 deaths are connected to the fraud investigation. You mentioned that the 16 people who died, the checks were being cashed by people after those people passed away. Can you give a number in terms of how many individuals were having checks cashed after they died? Twelve. It was all of them? Yes. Rob also hands out photographs and alleges for the first time that Joan Lawrence died on the Land Family farm.

We received information that she had moved off the property. We know now that Joan was moved 600 metres away to a nearby abandoned van where she lived among other derelict vehicles for another two months before she met her end on that property. Photos of the shed, the van, the farm property are included in your media kits and the slide presentation. Of course, Rob has asked why he's holding the press conference now, two decades later.

Why are you coming forward now? What's changed? This is a historic case. It's 20 years old. The OPP has been actively investigating this right from day one. It has never been closed. The time is right to come forward, report what you know to the police, and for us to make this appeal to the public. I wish I could say more, but I don't want to get into the evidence. In a follow-up question, the same reporter asks if the timing of the press conference has anything to do with the podcast. So there was a documentary done about this, the ITOs were released, there was also a podcast recently. Is that at all part of why you're coming forward now?

Well, certainly that is relevant now. I will say that the information that was released was based on information received in the first six months of that investigation. We have been actively investigating this for 20 years. What we know now is significantly more than what was depicted in those broadcasts. While it's true that Detective Aaron Burke's IDOs were based on the first few months of the investigation, I have other police documents that go well beyond that. Rob has asked if he has a message for David, Walter, Paul, and Catherine. Inspector, I'm sure the Lamb family is watching this with great interest right now.

Would you say to them? I would say the time is right. Come in, talk to us, tell us what you know. Rob also appeals directly to anyone who was in and around the Land's retirement homes. retirement homes. Witnesses that were in the homes, that were employed by the owners and operators of those facilities, anybody that might have knowledge.

Finally, Rob hands out a one-page document about Joan Lawrence. It's unsourced, but Rob later tells me the information comes from his investigation. It says, quote, Joan achieved her grade 13 education and worked as a reporter with the Ottawa Journal and the Montreal Standard. She wrote short stories for magazines and enjoyed cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, and cycling. When Joan was 26 years old, she moved to Toronto with her parents and worked with various advertising firms until she was dismissed for trying to write a book while she was supposed to be working. In 2017, it felt like drugs were everywhere in the news.

So I started a podcast called On Drugs. We covered a lot of ground over two seasons, but there are still so many more stories to tell. I'm Jeff Turner, and I'm back with season three of On Drugs. And this time, it's going to get personal. I don't know who Sober Jeff is. I don't even know if I like that guy. On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts.

Half an hour later, the press conference is over and I call my producer, Graham McDonald. Graham is standing next to Rob, and hands him the phone. Hello. Hey, Rob. How you doing? Good. So how are you feeling about the press conference? How did that go?

Well, I think it went very well. Hopefully someone out there will see it and come forward with information that might be the missing piece to the puzzle. I tell Rob something people have been telling me, that Catherine lost her battle with cancer. Catherine's son, among others, posted about it on Facebook. I'm not sure if you've heard, but apparently Catherine Land has passed away in the last few days. I am aware of that, yes. Has that changed anything for the investigation? No, this is an unsolved homicide,

and the OPP will not rest until we bring closure to the families of the victims. Rob says he knows this already, so I move on to other subjects. This is the first time that there's been a press conference about the case. I'm curious why 20 years ago the decision wasn't made to do this. And do you think if it had been that things would have turned out differently? I don't think things would have turned out differently. When you're dealing with any historic case, in the beginning, you keep all the evidence very close to your chest. But over time, when you're dealing with an unsolved case, sometimes you have no choice but to release certain pieces

of evidence in the hopes that it might spur something in the public. You mentioned David, Walter, and Paul and Catherine by name, but you didn't mention Uncle Ron Allen. Was there a reason for that? Yes, because Ron Allen was not involved in the operation of the homes. He was not an owner. But he was at one time a first degree murder suspect in the case of John Lawrence. When you made application to unseal that search warrant that was based on information received essentially in the first

six months of the investigation. This has been ongoing for 20 years, and what we know now is significantly different than what we knew then. Rob seems to be saying that police only initially suspected Ron Allen of murdering Joan, and may have eventually shifted their focus onto other members of the Land family. So is Ron Allen no longer a murder suspect? I don't know if you heard the press conference, but I mentioned that generally we put people into three categories, witness, person of interest, and suspect.

It would be inappropriate for me to tell you what category each person lies in. For now, that's about as much as Rob is willing to say. But when I get home, I see I have a new voicemail message. First unheard message. Hi, Mr. Sherman. It's Matty Crowe. Matty sent me an email back in 2018, telling me his mother had been a resident at Cedar Pines and that she'd been, quote, drugged and, quote, burned. I tried getting back in touch with him, but didn't hear back. Now, I find out why. I had your number blocked, but I just unblocked my number.

Now that I'm unblocked, I call Matty back, curious to hear his story. It's Xander Sherman with CBC Podcast. Hi, Mr. Sherman. How are you today? Over a series of phone calls, Matty tells me his family and the Lans go way back. My mom knew the Lon family from Estonia when the Russians came in. family from Estonia when the Russians came in and well first the Germans came in then the Russians came in and we all became refugees from World War II. So that's why I know... Matty seems worth talking to, but I wonder why he was so cautious about speaking to me before now. You said that you had unblocked my phone number.

I was just wondering why you had blocked it in the first place. Because I was afraid I shouldn't be involved with the lawns. I'm struggling, you know, for my own life here in Oshawa. I have my own apartment. I have a nice life now, right? Matty tells me the press conference changed his mind about speaking out. But I'm also wary he could be now parroting information back he's seen on TV. But Matty says things that haven't been in the news before.

Small details like how the Lans had a sauna and lived for a time without running water. And I remember going up there. I was probably like three years old, and they had this sound. You know, so many of us have this sound, right? They didn't have any water up there. He also says the Lans had a connection to Novar, a place I've been told Catherine lived. I haven't mentioned Novar anywhere else, so it seems legit. But Matty gets other things wrong.

He says the land's grandfather was named Edward, not Eric, and that Ron Allen never rode a motorcycle, though police documents suggest otherwise. And Matty admits a few times that he's been drinking, and tells me he's beginning to suffer from memory loss, just like his mom. Was she ever interviewed by police? No, she had Alzheimer's really bad, and what kills me, Mr. Sherman, is that I'm beginning to feel the effects of Alzheimer's too. After talking to Matty multiple times, I start to see him like one of the land's former residents, a marginalized senior who has his challenges but who still matters and might have important things to say. So we keep talking.

Matty says because his family knew the lands, his mother ended up living with them at Cedar Pines. During a visit one time, Matty says he found his mother, quote, doped up and in poor condition. My mom was half asleep, but she was basically doped up. I forget the dope they gave her. My mom was like a zombie in this room, and something was going wrong here. She had a burn on her leg. She fell asleep on this heater. She burned her

leg and, you know, thank goodness my brother took her out of there. Maddie says he called his brother John and they removed her from the property. Maddie and John are now estranged and my attempts to reach John weren't successful. According to an obituary, their mother, Lili, died of a stroke at an unrelated retirement home in 1996. We reached out to the Lans and their lawyer about Maddie's allegations, but didn't hear back. A few days after he first reached out to me, Maddie abruptly stops responding. Eventually, he sends me a one-line email. It reads, quote, digging up the past with my mother is making me ill. During our last phone call, Matty tells me one more thing. He says he used to do construction

work for the lands and helped build Joan's 8x10 shed. When Joan went missing, Matty says he was told she had run away. David Lon told me that the local police didn't like Joan Lawrence and drove her away. So she ran away because she was a cat lady and the local police were threatening her. Even though Maddie didn't know Joan very long, she clearly made an impression on him. She was a nice lady. She was a nice lady, man. She was a nice lady. She was a nice lady, man. She was a nice lady.

I'll bear with me. I'm a little overwhelmed to share it. And I just looked up the story on CDC. It's like, this is Joan. Okay, take your time. She deserves justice. Someone has to find out what happened to her. She was a nice lady, man.

She was a nice lady. After hanging up with Maddie, I called Detective Rob Matthews. So I just wanted to tell you about someone that I've spoken to recently and see if you've heard of him as well. His name is Maddie Kraut. I want to see if Rob knows about Maddie and can confirm a Cedar Pines resident named Lele Kraut. Does that sound familiar to you? Yeah, we've interviewed Mr. Kraut. Oh, you have?

Yes. So was his mother a resident at Cedar Pines? We are still trying to determine that. Yeah, you better appreciate the records that the lands kept were not exactly stellar. Rob says he's assessing Matty's stories, just like me. Do you take him seriously? Is he a credible person to you? What are your thoughts on that? I tell Rob some of my concerns, and Rob tells me his. The next step is tracking down Maddie's brother.

Yes, we are looking for, I will say this, we're looking for John as well. Unfortunately, Maddie did not have his address, so we have not located him yet but he is someone that we would like to speak to okay so we're both in the same position yes I guess it's a race I wasn't sure after the podcast came out where Rob and I stood, but it's nice to find common ground again and to share this moment of levity.

I think we're both after the same thing. We want closure. We want the truth in this investigation. Yeah. oh, we want the truth in this investigation. Yeah. You know, I want to hold the people responsible. I want to hold them accountable. So this thing has followed me for a number of years, and I just want to work as hard as I can for the victims of these incidents

and hopefully put this to bed. Yeah, I mean, I think after the press conference especially, there are a lot of people who are really paying close attention to this and really keeping their fingers crossed. Yes, yeah, I think you're quite right. Has the press conference been good for you in terms of tips? It has been very good, yes. It's amazing what comes out of the woodwork.

You think that everybody knows about this, but it has generated a significant number of tips. That's great to hear. Yes, yes. After Rob and I hang up, I wonder if the press conference, 21 years in the making, will be the turning point we've been hoping for, bringing new witnesses forward and leading to that final piece of the puzzle. If you have any information about this story, please reach out to me on my website or at

XanderSherman at gmail.com. And if something else major happens, I'll be sure to let you know. Uncover the Cat Lady Case is hosted, written, and reported by me, Xander Sherman. Thanks to Graham MacDonald for producing this update, Chris Oak for script consultation, and Varad Mehta for transcribing the interviews. The voice of Aaron Burke is Lauren Donnelly. The senior producer of CBC Podcasts is Tanya Springer.

The executive producer is Arif Noorani. And Leslie Merklinger is our senior director. Original music for this series by Larch and Sarah Spring. Uncover is a CBC Podcast. You can find out all about this series at cbc.ca slash uncover. Thanks for listening. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.