Bill.com Host (18:41)

One of the rarest. The last one I needed for my set.

Narrator (Canadian True Crime Podcast Host) (18:43)

Shiny like the designer handbag of my dreams. One of a kind. Ebay had it. And now everyone's asking. Ooh, where'd you get your windshield wipers? Ebay has all the parts that fit my car. No more annoying, just beautiful. Millions of finds, each with a story. EBay. Things people love.

Adam Grant (19:03)

I sold my car in Carvana last night.

Narrator (Canadian True Crime Podcast Host) (19:05)

Well, that's cool.

Adam Grant (19:06)

No, you don't understand. It went perfectly. Real offer, down to the penny. The they're picking it up tomorrow. Nothing went wrong.

Narrator (Canadian True Crime Podcast Host) (19:12)

So what's the problem?

Adam Grant (19:14)

That is the problem. Nothing in my life goes as smoothly. I'm waiting for the catch.

Paige Desorbo (19:17)

Maybe there's no catch.

Adam Grant (19:19)

That's exactly what a catch would want me to think.

Narrator (Canadian True Crime Podcast Host) (19:21)

Wow. You need to relax.

Adam Grant (19:23)

I need to knock on wood. Do we have wood? Is this table wood?

Narrator (Canadian True Crime Podcast Host) (19:25)

I think it's laminate.

Adam Grant (19:26)

Okay. Yeah, that's good. That's close enough.

Narrator (Canadian True Crime Podcast Host) (19:28)

Car selling without a catch Sell your car today on Carvana. Pick up These may apply. Investigators had been working around the clock on the case. They'd been speaking to neighbours of the Wilsons who either knew each other or knew of each other as well as what cars they drove. And several of them reported seeing two suspicious looking cars. One in the days leading up to Joanne's murder and another seen around the same time that she was attacked. In the days beforehand, one neighbour reported seeing a dark blue car parked near the Wilson residence with a man sitting in the driver's seat. He noticed that the man rarely moved his head except when people were walking past and he would visibly turn his head in the other direction. This neighbour noticed the man's face was either heavily tanned or olive in colour, which contrasted with his hands, which were stark white, as though he was wearing tight rubber gloves. He was also wearing a toque. And this neighbour's housekeeper had also seen the car parked with a man sitting in the driver's seat. She described it as a blue Oldsmobile and she first saw it three days before Joanne's murder, between 3 and 5pm in the afternoon. She didn't think much of it until she saw it again the next day at the same time, again with the driver just sitting inside the car. She said the man had a neatly trimmed dark moustache and beard, dark collar length hair covered by a toque and was possibly wearing sunglasses and a dark coloured jacket. This new description would prompt the police to revise the composite sketch which previously described a man with a more scraggly beard and hair. The third time the housekeeper saw the suspicious car was Thursday, January 20, the day before Joanne's murder. The housekeeper was leaving the home she worked at and the car was parked in front of her. So she took the opportunity to look at the number plate. It was mostly obscured by mud, but she was able to make a note of the last three numbers on the plate. 2, 9, 2. On January 23rd, two days after Joanne was murdered, investigators went to Colin's home in the town of Moosejaw. They spotted a car parked just down the street, a blue four door 1981 Oldsmobile, which looked suspiciously like the car Joanne's neighbours had reported seeing parked on the street. Police noticed the licence plate was partially obscured, but they saw that this one ended in 292 as well. As it turned out, the car had been checked out of the government's Central Vehicle Agency by Colin Thatcher on January 10, the day after he returned from Palm Springs after Christmas vacation with the boys. The police took photographs of the car, noting that the interior was Clean. They left it there for the time being, but would return five days later to seize it. The neighbours who saw the car parked outside the Wilson home would confirm that this car was the same car they had seen, or that they were confident it was. But the blue Oldsmobile was only seen in the days leading up to the attack. In the afternoons, no one reported seeing it. The day that Joanne was murdered. There was a different suspicious car spotted by neighbours that day parked near the Wilson home. At around the same time that Joanne was murdered, the police would announce that this car resembled a 1975 two tone green Chrysler Cordoba, although a Ford Mustang was also mentioned in some of the media reports. But no green car was ever located, perhaps because the car had only been spotted once when it was dark outside, whereas the blue Oldsmobile was seen on three different days during daylight hours. The police may have been diverted looking for a green Cordoba, but Gary Anderson knew that the only other car in play was the brown 1974 Mercury V8 that he had delivered to Colin's home in Moosejaw the day of Joanne's murder. After he saw the news that Joanne had been murdered, he went back to get the Mercury V8 from the same location he parked it. The car's licence plates were clean when he left it there, but now they were smeared with mud. He drove the Mercury back to his mother's farm to clean it up and would later tell police what he found inside the car. A black ski type jacket, a pair of blue jeans, sunglasses, grey work socks, a receipt and a tuft of hair which appeared to come from a wig. He burnt the items in a barrel on the farm, cleaned the plates, vacuumed out the car and left it at the farm. Gary Anderson and Colin Thatcher wouldn't speak again for 18 months. But Gary did speak to the police. Before then, investigators had been looking into Colin's known associates and saw that he leased some of his land from Gary Anderson's family. So investigators spoke with Gary, but he was uncooperative and deliberately vague. He denied any knowledge of what had happened to Joanne Wilson. A funeral for Joanne K. Wilson was held on January 25 of 1983. The leader post published a photo of her second husband, Tony Wilson, walking in with his nine year old stepdaughter, Stephanie. But absent from the service was Stephanie's older brothers, Gregory and Regan, as well as their father, Colin. The murder of the ex wife of Colin Thatcher, only five days after his sudden resignation as Minister of Energy and Mines had made massive headlines. That alone would have been shocking to people across Saskatchewan, but in this case even more so because of the prolonged and very public custody battle. Not to mention the fact that Joanne had been shot in the shoulder in her own home less than 18 months earlier. Her husband, Tony Wilson, would tell the media, quote, we were very much in love. She was very beautiful with a lovely smile and she was extremely loyal. Joanne's friends and family all agreed that the two years she was married to Tony were the best of her life, describing him as just the kind of husband that she needed and deserved. Tony would sign a sworn affidavit that Colin Thatcher, Progressive Conservative mla, orchestrated the death of his former wife. Colin's account of his whereabouts on the day Joanne was murdered included him driving between his home in Moosejaw and his ranch near Karron. He said he arrived home at about 5:45pm and then sat down to eat dinner with his sons, Greg and Regan, as well as their longtime babysitter, Sandra. Dinner was at 6pm as you'll remember, Joanne was seen driving into her garage in Regina a few minutes before 6pm and Regina is 70 kilometres from Moosejaw, about a 45 minute drive. According to today's Google Maps. Colin said that after dinner he received a phone call from his lawyer, Anthony Merchant, with the news that something had happened at the Wilson home in Regina, but he didn't know for sure. Anthony promised to call again when he found out more. At about 7pm, Anthony called again with the news that Joanne Wilson had been fatally shot. Colin told the police that this is how he learned that his ex wife was dead. He then made a phone call to his girlfriend in Palm Springs, California to let her know the girlfriend's name was Lynn Mendel, and when investigators tracked her down, she denied having any knowledge of what happened to Joanne Wilson. The police looked at what they had. There was quite a bit of interesting evidence, but most of it was circumstantial. They needed more. Fortunately, there were three more prime witnesses that knew things about Colin Thatcher. They hadn't come forward to police yet, but they would. One of them was Gary Anderson. After Joanne's murder In January of 1983, investigators were trying to locate the two cars that witnesses had seen near the Wilson house. And one of their tactics was to contact car rental companies to see if any cars that matched those descriptions had been rented out at the time. Obviously, the blue Oldsmobile seen the days before Joanne's murder had been checked out by Colin from the government Central Vehicle Agency and the Mercury V8 had been procured by Gary. Neither were Rented. But while investigators were checking those records, they decided to also look into cars rented out. The first time Joanne was shot in May of 1981. You'll remember that witnesses said they saw a late model rust coloured car with a lot of chrome around the taillights speeding away from the scene. The police had never located that car or the person driving it. They didn't even have an official suspect. But after Joanne's murder, investigators found a rental car contract for a car that matched the description released by police. Rented just before Joanne was shot the first time. And the contract was signed by Gary Anderson. This was the first time that Gary had been instructed to rent a car and park it in Moosejaw, just a few blocks away from Colin's home. With the keys hidden in a designated spot, the police approached Gary for a second time and found him to be just as uncooperative as the first. But afterwards, he got to thinking. He decided he had to do the right thing and come clean. But he was afraid for his safety. Gary was acutely aware of Colin Thatcher's public profile in Saskatchewan, and he had a unique vantage point to see what the man was like in private as well. Gary Anderson decided to hire a lawyer, and over many months, he negotiated an agreement for immunity in exchange for his testimony at trial. This immunity covered both. Both times that Joanne was shot, Gary told them all about the original meetings with Colin, bringing Charles Wild into the scheme, as well as Jack Gold, and all the times Colin thought Joanne was going to be murdered, but arrived home to find out she was still alive. The police would question Charles Wild and Jack Gold, whose real name was Cody Crutcher. Both would back up Gary's story. Gary told the police that the reason for all the different vehicles was in case one was spotted by a witness. It would make it difficult for the police to tie Colin to the crime. Gary also told investigators about Colin asking him to make a silencer for the revolver he purchased in Palm Springs. He directed them to the location behind his brother's home, where he threw out the doomed silences. He told the police that while he was willing to help Colin arrange things, he refused to commit the murder himself. And eventually, Colin gave up trying to hire a hitman and decided to just do it himself. So the police had one key witness to testify against Colin Thatcher and people to back him up. But a confession from Colin himself would be even better. They convinced Gary to wear a wire and meet with Colin to try and get him to say something incriminating. By this point, it had been 18 months since. Gary had spoken to Colin the morning of Joanne's murder. But Gary came up with a ruse to contact him and arranged another abandoned farm meeting. On May 1st of 1984. Gary was kitted up with the wire as well as a bulletproof vest before heading off to meet Colin. After the two caught up, Gary started talking about their previous business together in an attempt to elicit an incriminating statement from Colin. The following quotes have been slightly edited for clarity and brevity. Gary told Colin that after he picked up the 1974 Mercury, he, quote, got rid of the stuff out of the car. Good, replied Colin. Gary then spoke about cleaning out the car, quote, had a bitch of a time getting blood and stuff off. Colin asked if there was ever a chance that it would surface and Gary said no. They spoke about how the car story was confusing to police because they had two cars to track. Colin commented that investigators had been diverted looking for a two toned green Chrysler Cordoba seen parked near the Wilson home on the night of the murder. That car was actually the brown 1974 Mercury V8. Gary continued talking about the crime. You kind of gave me a scare there. I found the stuff laying in there and then I wondered what the hell, I don't know what the hell you done with the gun. Colin replied, don't even talk like that. Now there are no loose ends at all and you know they've gone at every which direction. Was there any way a loose end from a couple of years ago can ever resurface? This may have been in reference to the first time Joanne was shot and the involvement of Charles Wilde and Jack Gold in the lead up. Colin then asked if there was a chance of any problems surfacing and Gary implied there wouldn't be. They spoke about the fact that the police had already questioned Gary, but he said it wasn't an interrogation. Colin then gave him some advice. If the police approached him again, he had to remember his rights. You don't even have to talk to them. He cautioned Gary that they should be careful about not being seen together, but told him not to worry about being caught. It ain't coming to that. Cause they have no way of. There's only two places to put the connection together and they've got zero else. Zero else. And you know what there is to put together and it's not possible and it's not coming from me. I mean, just always remember that if they ever say I did this or, or that, it's a crock of garbage. It's always just deny, deny Deny. So Colin did say several things that implied he was involved in the crime, but nothing that amounted to a smoking gun confession. He mentioned several times during the conversation that he was paranoid that the police were listening to his conversations and that he may have been bugged. At one point, Gary had mentioned that he was low on cash and Colin asked him, do you need some bread? This is a colloquial term for money. Gary said he could use some since he'd purchased that Mercury V8. Colin said he'd leave a payment for him at an agreed upon location and time. As they parted ways, Gary yelled back at Colin, calling, quote, I'm glad you got her. Colin's response was ok, so he didn't give any statements that were directly incriminating. But his responses and evasiveness in conjunction with the other circumstantial evidence convinced investigators that he was the mastermind. After this recorded conversation, the police went to the location where the money was supposed to have been left for Gary. They returned several times before finding a green plastic bag with an envelope in it containing $500, proof that Colin had paid Gary to do something. So the police had now spoken with one important witness. The second would be Colin's girlfriend in Palm Springs, 33 year old Lynn Mendel. She was 12 years younger than Colin by this point. Almost 18 months had passed since Joanne's murder and investigators circled back to Lynn to ask her for another interview. This time they found a completely different Lin. She and Colin had long since broken up and she'd remarried. Lin told investigators that the reason she pleaded ignorance last time was was because she was afraid of Colin and she feared for her own life. But now she was ready to talk. Lynn told investigators about the history of their relationship. They met in Palm Springs in October of 1980, which was around the time that Colin and Joanne's divorce went through and their custody over Regan was becoming extremely contentious. Colin was making a lot of trips to California where he had that vacation condo and that's where he met Lynn after a mutual friend set them up on a blind date. Lin said that she found him charming and fun at times. Early on, she noticed that he seemed to be fixated on how his ex wife had wronged him. But after he asked Lynne to move into his condo, she put that out of her mind. After they'd only been dating a month, Colin invited Lynn to visit him in Moosejaw. And while she was there, she attended a parliamentary event with him in the city of Regina and met members of his family. She told the Police that she got to know the Thatcher family quite well. Lynne described her relationship with Colin as committed and serious, but also explosive. Quote, collin could be very charming, but he had some dramatic mood swings. On several occasions he hit me. She said his volatile personality made him strangely attractive at times and extremely dangerous at others. There was a little boy quality about him, but in a willful sort of way he can't imagine not getting his own way. Lin described a Jekyll and Hyde Persona which she chalked up to stress from his ongoing custody battle. But soon she started to think he was completely obsessed with his ex wife. Colin always referred to Joanne as that bitch. And because Lyn had only heard his side of the story, she did sympathise with him. She would later testify that, quote, much of his conversation was taken up with his bitterness about his ex wife and the entire proceedings that had gone on before the divorce. And a lot of hatred, a lot of bitterness. Many times he mentioned he wanted to kill her and it went on and on and on. He wanted to arrange for someone too. It was highly on his mind all the time. Lynn knew exactly when Joanne had been shot the first time in May of 1981, because Colin had spoken to her about it. He told her that he'd met someone that he wanted to hire to kill Joanne. But eventually he told her the plans had fallen through and he would have to go about it himself one way or another. After Joanne had been shot in the shoulder, Lynn said that Colin told her that he drove to Regina in a car someone else had rented for him and he put on a disguise consisting of a wig, a long shaggy beard and overalls. He told her that he approached Joanne's home with a high powered rifle and shot her through the triple glazed glass. Afterwards, Lynn remembered him saying with a laugh, quote, gee, I didn't gauge the thickness of the glass, so the bullet obviously deflected because I only got her in the shoulder. Colin told Lyn he drove back to Moosejaw, avoiding roadblocks by taking back roads and when necessary, winding through fields. He said he got rid of the gun, the wig and the overalls in a field somewhere. Before he arrived home, he told Lin that, quote, the only thing that saved me is that the police didn't go actually go physically to my house to see that I was there. You'll remember that both times Joanne was shot, Colin's alibi included his children. In the aftermath of the first shooting, Lin Mandel reported that Colin told her Joanne and Tony Wilson were very scared now and he expected that they would compromise on the property and custody settlement, which they did. Lynn would say that she took all of his talk with a grain of salt. But she happened to catch Joanne's press conference on tv, where she set the record straight about why she felt she had no choice but to abandon her fight for custody of Regan. Joanne described being personally terrorised, but didn't name the person responsible. Lynn was watching with interest and told police she could see how scared Joanne was. Her attitude about the situation started to change after that, especially in light of the fact that Colin's obsession with his ex wife didn't seem to be dying down. Lynn would tell the Leader Post that he spoke often about doing away with Joanne. When Colin talked about getting rid of his wife, his big justification was getting Stephanie. He was ticked off because he wanted Stephanie. Lin Mandel was the one who told police that Colin had purchased the Magnum revolver in January of 1982 in Palm Springs. She told him the exact shop he purchased it from, and the police attended the store to corroborate that purchase with the store's owner. Lynn said she saw Colin practice shooting with the revolver and she watched him pack it up to take back to Canada with him because he didn't want to declare it at customs or register it under Canadian firearm legislation. So he wrapped it in newspaper and packaged it up in a Barbie doll shower box. Lynn told the police that in May of that same year, she was visiting Colin in Moosejaw, just after he'd been appointed Minister of Energy and Mines. It was an exciting time. She would say that over the years they were together, Colin had asked her to marry him multiple times, but she couldn't get him to make any actual plans. And he still seemed fixated on his ex wife. But now that he was divorced and a government minister, she assumed that everything was in place and they were finally headed toward marriage. She told the police that when she tried to speak to him about it, the conversation devolved to a point where he physically assaulted her. Lin was so upset that she took an overdose of painkillers, which landed her in hospital in Moosejaw. She would later tell the Leader Post that, quote, it was embarrassing to admit I was beaten up that night. I was embarrassed. He told me we were going to get married. Relationships marred by domestic violence typically flow through a sequence commonly called the cycle of abuse. Tensions build, leading to an incident, whether it be verbal, emotional or physical abuse. Then there is reconciliation, where the abuser charms and love bombs the survivor back into their good graces. There's Apologies and promises not to do it again. But it's often accompanied by gaslighting and victim blaming, where the abuse is downplayed or the survivor is told they were somehow responsible for making the abuser behave that way. Once the survivor has been suitably convinced to stay in the relationship comes a period of calm. But because it's a cycle, it doesn't take long before tensions are building again. Lin told police that after Colin beat her up that night, he wheeled out his charming side and convinced her to stay in the relationship. After that, Lynn continued to split her time between California and Saskatchewan. But she was starting to grow wary of their stormy relationship. Lynn would say that about a month before Joanne's murder, she started to realize that their relationship was a and shame sham. And Colin didn't even know who she was other than a tanned little blonde, a nice prop. Lynn had much more to say and agreed that she would come to Canada to testify against Colin if need be. So Gary Anderson was one prime witness. Lynne Mandel was a second. There was one more prime witness yet to come forward. But the police had enough evidence to arrest Colin Thatcher. A week after Gary Anderson's recorded conversation, Colin Thatcher was arrested without incident at his Moose Jaw home and charged with the murder of his ex wife, Joanne Wilson. The next day, a pack of news photographers were waiting outside the courthouse when he arrived for his first bail hearing. Despite a number of his supporters submitting sworn affidavits in support of his release on bail, it was denied. The same day, the Regina police got a search warrant for Colin Thatcher's Moose Jaw home. In a small closet off the main bedroom, they found a Barbie doll shower box with a label on it that indicated it had been purchased in Palm Springs. There was also some old newspaper from the Los Angeles Times. This finding lent a great deal of credibility to Lynn's version of events. The Leader Post would describe the police investigation and subsequent trial as the most spectacular in the history of Saskatchewan. A case that received international press coverage and mesmerized the entire province. So much so that the trial was meant to be held in Regina. But Colin Thatcher's lawyer argued he wouldn't receive a fair trial there. So it was moved to Saskatoon. In October of 1984, the 46 year old pleaded not guilty to murdering Joanne Wilson. If convicted, he would get the mandatory sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. No one was ever charged. For the first time, Joanne was shot in the shoulder and Gary Anderson had immunity as part of his testimony. But this incident would be referenced several times by witnesses during the trial.

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Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas) (50:18)

Howdy, howdy ho, and welcome to Fantasy Fan Fellas. I'm Hayden, producer of the Fantasy Fangirls podcast and your resident lover of all things Sanderson.

Stephen (Fantasy Fan Fellas) (50:26)

And I'm Stephen, your bookish Internet goofball. But you can call me the Smash Daddy.

Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas) (50:30)

And we are currently deep diving Brandon Sanderson's fantasy epic Mistborn. But here's the catch. Stephen here has not read Mistborn before.

Stephen (Fantasy Fan Fellas) (50:38)

That's right.

Adam Grant (50:39)

Hey hey.

Stephen (Fantasy Fan Fellas) (50:39)

So each week you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions to every single chapter.

Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas) (50:44)

And along the way we'll do character deep dives, magic explainers, and Steven will even try to guess what's next. Spoiler alert. He'll be wrong.

Stephen (Fantasy Fan Fellas) (50:51)

News flash. I'm never wrong. Episodes come out every Wednesday, and you can find Fantasy Fan fellows wherever you get your podcasts.

Narrator (Canadian True Crime Podcast Host) (51:08)

The Crown's case was that Colin Thatcher likely killed Joanne Wilson intentionally himself, but that didn't exclude the possibility that he arranged to have someone else kill her and aided or abetted them in doing so. Either way, it was murder. But the jury wasn't tasked with deciding if Colin Thatcher himself actually murdered Joanne. The only decision they would be making was if Colin was ultimately responsible for her murder. In opening statements, Crown prosecutor Serge Cujava compared Colin to the infamous fictional character JR Ewing from the Dallas TV series, played by Larry Hagman. The character's Wikipedia page states, quote as the show's most famous character, JR Ewing has been central to many of the series biggest stories storylines. He is depicted as a covetous, egocentric, manipulative and immoral oil baron with psychopathic tendencies. The Crown's circumstantial evidence included Colin's purchase of a Ruger Security 6.357 Magnum revolver in Palm Springs a year before Joanne's murder. The gun shop's owner, Ron Williams, testified about remembering this transaction, as well as a subsequent visit Colin made to the shop, where he purchased two boxes of ammunition to go with the revolver, a special kind that had only been on the US market for less than a year. He also purchased a holster. Collins, Executive Assistant, testified that in the fall of 1982, about three months before Joanne's murder, Colin had asked him to pick up a government vehicle from his home and return it to the Central Vehicle Agency in Regina. The assistant told the jury that he did as instructed and was surprised to find a gun holster under the front seat. When he mentioned it to Colin, there was no indication that it caused him any concern. The assistant ended up keeping the holster and handed it over to police. Weeks after Joanne's murder, the owner of the gun shop testified that this holster, found under the seat, was consistent with the holster he sold to Colin Thatcher. The court heard evidence about Joanne Wilson's cause of death. The autopsy determined that her most significant injury was the gunshot wound to her head, a massive disruption of the brain that caused her death. About 14 bullet fragments had been recovered and sent for ballistic analysis. The jury heard that they were consistent with the same kind of special bullet that Colin had purchased in the United States and likely fired from the same Magnum revolver that he purchased. The court heard that the revolver was never found. There was some debate about whether this special ammunition was sold in Canada, and the judge would conclude that it wasn't readily available but could be purchased in Canada if needed. The jury also heard about the brutal beating that Joanne sustained before the gunshot. The fact that she'd been brutalised and cut with a heavy instrument, with a shot, sharp, curved blade. Whatever this weapon was, was never found either. The court heard that the extent and severity of the beating strongly suggested that this attack was not the work of a hitman. This was presented as circumstantial evidence of Colin Thatcher's personal involvement. As you'll remember, one of the first pieces of evidence found by investigators was a credit card receip found on the ground just a few feet away from the garage. The receipt was for the purchase of gas from a Shell station near Karen, located 100 kilometres from Regina, in an area where the Thatcher ranch is also located. And the receipt itself had part of Colin's surname printed on it, as well as the scribble of his signature. Investigators visited the owner of the gas station, who testified that he remembered Colin Thatcher purchasing gasoline from him on January 18, 1983, three days before Joanne's murder. There appeared to be no reason for that receipt to be at the Wilson home in Regina the same night that Joanne was murdered. Colin would provide an answer for this when he testified in his own defence. Gary Anderson was the Crown's star witness. But he was a no show on the first day he was supposed to testify. The following day he explained that he was afraid and felt like the police weren't protecting him enough. So he took an overdose of a headache medicine. The night before he was due to take the stand. The 38 year old testified about supplying Colin Thatcher with guns, ammunition, cars and cleanup services. He told the jury that he'd introduced Colin Thatcher to Charles Wild, who connected them to Jack Gold, AKA Cody Crutcher. Gary said he helped Colin plot an attempt on Joanne Wilson's life in 1981 when she was shot in the shoulder, and again in 1983 when she was murdered in her garage. He testified that Colin had driven him into Regina and showed him how easy it would be to kill Joanne, showing him the house that she lived in, where to enter the yard and where to stand to get a good view of the house and then how to leave. Gary told the jury the reason he participated in Colin's plans was because I was a fool. In a later special feature on the case published by the Leader Post, several of Gary's acquaintances described him as a person who was lost in life but always wanted to be a big player in something. And Colin Thatcher was a big player in Saskatchewan. But according to one former associate, it was on brand for Gary to refuse to be the one to pull the trigger. He was a criminal, but he was described as having a sense of honour and ethics, a line that he wouldn't cross. Gary testified that he didn't speak with Colin for more than a year after the first time Joanne was shot and how. When they met again, he asked Colin how he'd managed to miss killing Joanne at that close range. Colin responded that he did not know. Although Gary helped Colin with the planning and organisational tasks for the two times that Joanne was shot in Regina, he told the jury that it was Colin himself who fired the firearms. Gary Anderson also testified about the recorded conversation where Colin advised him to deny, deny, deny and said there were no loose ends when it came to his own alibi. The jury heard the full recording on cross examination. The defence suggested to Gary that there was nothing in the recorded conversation resembling a confession and the comments Colin Thatcher made were generalised and could refer to any number of things. But Gary didn't agree. He pointed out parts in the conversation where Colin said he was paranoid about phones being bugged and the fact that Colin often spoke in code. When the cryptic conversation is considered in that context, it still pointed to Colin's role in Joanne's murder. The defence also accused Gary of making the entire story up to try and collect the $50,000 reward, which Gary denied. Charles Wild also testified and corroborated Gary Anderson's story. Charles told the jury that he brought Jack Gold, AKA Cody Crutcher into the group as the proposed hitman. Charles testified about the first direct meeting with Colin Thatcher himself at the abandoned farm. After one of the planned shootings didn't go ahead. Colin demanded to know what had happened and offered Charles a large sum of money to do it himself himself. Colin's plan was for Charles to travel to the United States and kill Joanne when she was visiting her family for Easter. Charles told the jury that he agreed to the contract, but he never intended on actually carrying it out. In fact, neither did Jack Gold. They just wanted the easy money. The whole thing had been a scam. Lin Mandel testified about her three year relationship with Colin, his obsession with Joanne and quote, how many times he mentioned he wanted to kill his wife or arrange for someone to kill her. Apparently it was a lot of times. Lin told the jury that he spoke with her about his negotiations with the men back home to get it done. Although he never gave her any of their names. She confirmed she did not know Gary Anderson or any of Colin's other associates and had never even met them. She knew about each time the plans had fallen through and testified that eventually Colin told her he was going to have to go about it in another way. She told the jury about the first time Joanne was shot, how Colin joked about the fact he'd only managed to hit his ex wife in the shoulder. Lin Mandel also testified about Collins purchase of the Magnum revolver which was wrapped up in newspaper and a Barbie doll shower box to be taken to Canada. An investigator would testify about finding that Barbie doll shower box and LA Times newspaper at Collins home in Canada. Lyn testified that By December of 1982, the month before Joanne's murder, Colin told her to be available by phone at certain times every day in case he called. And because he was very paranoid about the police listening in, he spoke to Lin encoded messages in those calls. Over the next few weeks they spoke on the phone frequently, she said, with him feeding her bits and pieces of coded information that she knew was about Joanne and his plans for her. In one call he implied he'd been going to Regina every night to find out how long the drive took and also to find an opportune time to kill Joanne. Lynn testified about receiving two phone calls from Colin on the day that Joanne was murdered. January 21st of 1983. There's no indication that she gave the specific times about when she received these calls, other than the fact that the first one was earlier in the evening. In that call, she said that Colin told her, quote, well, I'm going out now. This might be the night. Stick around. In the later call, Lyn said he told her, quote, oh, my God, I've just been called. Apparently Joanne has been shot in her home and has been killed. Lynn testified that this was a coded comment that she understood to mean that Colin had gone into Regina and had been instrumental in Joanne's murder. When Colin returned to Palm Springs a few days later, Lynn said she told him, well, you really did it, didn't you? She told the jury that Colin nodded a yes, but scowled as he pointed to the walls of the condo. It was a reference to his paranoia about bugging. The most damning part of Lynn Mendel's testimony was about a conversation they had when they were outside the condo, and Colin was no longer worried about listening devices. Lyn told the jury that he shook his head and told her, quote, I have to admit it is a strange feeling to have blown your wife away. Over the next few days, Colin read the Los Angeles Times and the Desert sun, the two newspapers they got delivered to the condo. Lynn would say he told her, quote, I don't know why they said Joanne was beaten. I didn't beat her. Lynn didn't know whether that comment was for her benefit. She told the jury that they broke up. Not long after that, Colin returned to Saskatchewan and she moved out of his Palm Springs condo. Several months later, she married someone else. But she said she did continue to maintain some contact with Colin after that. When Lynn was asked why she didn't speak to police much earlier, like after Joanne was shot the first time, and certainly after she was murdered, Lynn said she was extremely afraid. After all, Colin was the high profile Minister of Energy and Mines for the Saskatchewan government. What was I supposed to have done? There were a couple of times when I said, I've got to call Joanne, but I didn't. If I'd phoned the Regina city police and Colin found out, I'd be dead. Lyn said she didn't really want to know what had happened with Joanne, and she was scared. So she didn't ask Colin any questions about it. Lynn Mandel was a US citizen who lived in the States, and as such, she couldn't be compelled by Canadian courts to testify. She chose to testify, but she told the jury about several threatening phone calls. In the lead up to the court proceedings, one anonymous caller warned her as a friend not to get involved in something that was none of her business. Another caller told her, quote, you're safe and you'll remain safe as long as you don't go up north. On cross examination, the defence suggested that Lynn fabricated her whole story because she was just very bitter that Colin wouldn't marry her and that her overdose on painkillers after being beaten by him meant she was mentally unstable and therefore couldn't be trusted. She denied these suggestions. The defence also asked her, what kind of woman sleeps with a man knowing he committed murder? Linh answered, someone who is very afraid that if she doesn't, she would get smacked around. The court also heard testimony from Tony Wilson, who testified that his wife Joanne also feared for her life before she was murdered. He said he wouldn't mind at all if Colin Thatcher was convicted of murder. Neighbours gave evidence about the apparent surveillance of Joanne Wilson's home for a number of days leading up to her murder, specifically the bearded man spotted sitting in the blue Oldsmobile with a number plate that ended in 292. Investigators testified that it was the same car that Colin had checked out from the Government's Central Vehicle Agency almost two weeks before Joanne's murder, making it a key piece of circumstantial evidence. But the identity of the bearded man sitting in the car was less clear. He was described as having dark hair, a toque, white gloves and skin that was either heavily tanned or olive in colour. One neighbour testified that the man he saw did not look like the accused, Colin Thatcher. Now, it should be noted that the Leader post described Gary Anderson as, quote, a hulking, bearded figure. But Gary's testimony never mentioned anything about conducting surveillance outside Joanne Wilson's house in the days before her murder. He did testify that Colin Thatcher told him he'd been stalking Joanne's house for about a week and the morning of the murder when they met up, Colin lamented that he didn't get Joanne the night before. The identity of the person sitting in the blue Oldsmobile in the days before Joanne's murder was never confirmed. But it didn't really matter. The Crown wasn't trying to prove who murdered Joanne, only that Colin Thatcher was ultimately responsible for it. Gary Anderson also testified about the day that Joanne was murdered, how he arranged the Mercury V8 and parked it near Colin's home in Moosejaw as instructed, and waited. How, when Colin arrived, Gary handed him the Magnum revolver and they drove off. According to a court Document Colin dropped Gary off at the bus depot in Moosejaw and he caught a bus to Regina. For reasons that weren't explained, it's assumed that the police knew what those reasons were, but decided it wasn't relevant for the trial. Gary was still in Regina two days later when he saw the news of Joanne's murder. He asked a friend to lend him a truck so he could drive back to Moosejaw and pick up the Mercury V8 as instructed. Gary testified about the car's license plates being clean when he left it there and now they were smeared with mud. And when he got the car back to his mother's place, he found a black ski type jacket, a pair of blue jeans, sunglasses, grey work socks and a tuft of hair which appeared to come from a wig. He destroyed these items by burning them. Gary was asked if he saw a fake beard or anything similar with those items. And he told the jury that he did not see anything like that. When it came to the man seen walking away from the murder scene, the only person who saw this man was Craig, the man walking home from work at the nearby legislative building. He testified that he only saw the individual for just a moment at a distance of about 30 to 40ft away. He didn't even look directly at him because at that point he didn't know there had been a murder and was focused on identifying the source of the screaming. Craig said it was only after he saw Joanne's body that he realised the man he'd seen was a suspect. But Craig said he was never confident of the accuracy of his description of the man leaving the garage or the composite drawing that came out of it. He had described a man with dark hair and a scraggly beard. He may have been about 30 years old, with a medium build and height, wearing dark trousers underneath a dark jacket that seemed to be either leather or pleather. There's no public information about Colin Thatcher's height and weight at the time, but photos depict him as being of average height and weight. At 45 years old, he was quite a bit older than 30 and he was clean shaven, with foppish brown hair that was greying parted at the side during cross examination. Craig agreed that the description he gave police didn't resemble Colin Thatcher as he knew him. He emphasised that if he had have seen Joanne's body first, he would have paid much closer attention to the person he saw leaving the garage. Gary Anderson had testified that he helped Colin with the planning and arranging, but it was Colin himself who fired the firearms both times that Joanne was shot. Shot. The problem was Colin had an alibi for them both. The first time, when Joanne was shot in the shoulder In May of 1981, Colin said he was at home with their middle child, Regan. You'll remember this happened during the most contentious part of their custody battle. And when it came to the day that Joanne was murdered, Friday, January 21st of 1983, Colin told police that he spent the day driving between his home and Moosejaw, about 70 kilometres or 45 minutes drive away from Regina and his ranch at Caron, which is even further away, an additional 20 minutes drive. According to today's Google Maps. He never mentioned anything about driving to or from Regina that day. We know that Joanne Wilson was murdered in regina just before 6pm at that same time in Moosejaw, Colin said he was just about to sit down to eat dinner with his kids and the babysitter. He said he took the first phone call from his lawyer 15 to 30 minutes after dinner. And then he called his girlfriend, Lynn. After that, the court heard testimony from investigators who wanted to find answers to some logistical issues that didn't quite sense. If Colin Thatcher did murder Joanne Wilson in REGINA Just before 6pm, they wanted to know how fast he would have had to drive to make it back to Moosejaw in time to take the call from his lawyer. They decided to conduct a driving reconstruction to find out Joanne had been murdered in January when the roads were a little snowy and the reconstruction was done in October when the roads were clear. But it was conducted on the same day of the week, Friday evening at the same time. The jury heard that at 5:50pm an investigator parked his police car around the street from the Wilson residence and Regina. He went to the garage and then set a stopwatch running back to the police car and then saw speeding back to Moosejaw on the highway at about 100 to 110 miles per hour, which is the equivalent of at least 160 kilometres per hour. The leader post would describe it as a high speed race. The investigator told the jury he completed the drive in 28 minutes. By this point, Gary Anderson had confirmed that he'd procured the brown Mercury V8, that very fast car that he said he parked near Colin's Moose Jaw home. The investigator told the jury that the Mercury was a heavier car than the police cruiser and it would drive very well on the highway. The police concluded that it was tight, but it was possible for Colin to murder Joanne and Regina just before 6pm and then be back in Moose Jaw within 30 minutes to take and make phone calls. The problem was his alibi placed him at home in Moose Jaw sitting down for a family dinner. Colin Thatcher was capable of many things, but being in two places at the same time was not one of them. So if investigators were to consider the possibility that he had driven to Regina, murdered Joanne and then spotted bed home, they would also have to assume that Greg, Regan and their babysitter Sandra all lied to the police about Colin being home for dinner. Or perhaps they had an incorrect perception of time. They would all testify for the defence. So there was a lot of circumstantial evidence against Colin Thatcher. His credit card receipt found metres from the garage. And the apparent surveillance of the Wilson residence by a person in a blue Oldsmobile in the days leading up to Joanne's murder. There was the fact that that same blue Oldsmobile was found near Colin's house and that it had been checked out by him from the government's Central Vehicle Agency. There was Colin's purchase of a revolver, special ammunition and a holster in the United States and the Barbie doll shower box an LA Times newspaper found at his home in Moose Jaw. As per Lynn Mendel's statement to police, other circumstantial evidence included the highly acrimonious custody battle, the fact that Joanne had been shot in the shoulder 18 months before she was murdered, and the fact that that assailant had never been identified. And the savage nature of the brutal beating Joanne sustained before the gunshot that killed her was circumstantial evidence that suggested it wasn't just an ordinary hit. It was deeply personal, a crime of passion. The direct evidence presented by the Crown included the statements Colin gave to various people, including Gary Anderson, when arranging the Colonel contract, as well as the recorded conversation 18 months after Joanne's murder. There were the statements Colin made to Charles Wild and money paid to him regarding the Easter hit in the United States, as well as statements Colin made to Lin Mendel both before and after Joanne's murder. But there was one more important witness that hadn't yet come forward. That's where we'll leave it for part two. For more information and for the full list of resources we relied on to write this episode, visit canadiantruecrime.ca thanks to Gemma Harris for research in this series. Audio editing and production was by We Talk of Dreams, who also composed the theme songs. Production assistance was by Jesse Hawke with script consulting by Carol Weinberg. Writing, narration, sound design and additional research was by me and the disclaimer was voiced by Eric Crosby.

Adam Grant (79:27)

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Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas) (79:59)

Howdy, howdy ho, and welcome to Fantasy Fan Fellas. I'm Hayden, producer of the Fantasy Fangirls podcast and your resident lover of all things Sanderson.

Stephen (Fantasy Fan Fellas) (80:07)

And I'm Stephen, your bookish Internet goofball. But you can call me the Smash Daddy.

Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas) (80:11)

And we are currently deep diving Brandon Sanderson's fantasy epic Mistborn. But here's the catch. Steven here has not read Mistborn before.

Stephen (Fantasy Fan Fellas) (80:20)

That's right.

Narrator (Canadian True Crime Podcast Host) (80:21)

Hey.

Adam Grant (80:21)

Hey.

Stephen (Fantasy Fan Fellas) (80:21)

So each week, you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions to every every single chapter.

Hayden (Fantasy Fan Fellas) (80:25)

And along the way, we'll do character deep dives, magic explainers, and Steven will even try to guess what's next. Spoiler alert. He'll be wrong.

Stephen (Fantasy Fan Fellas) (80:32)

News flash. I'm never wrong. Episodes come out every Wednesday, and you can find Fantasy Fan fellows wherever you get your podcasts.