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Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
this program contains subject matter that may be disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. There are over 100,000 cold cases in America. Only 1% are ever solved. This is one of those rare stories.
Detective Dave Bittman
It was a quiet morning. There wasn't much happening in the northeast district of Edmonton, which is the district that we were working. This call comes in. It was about 1022 that we were actually dispatched.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
It's 1992 in Alberta, Canada. Dave Bittman is a constable for the Edmonton Police service. On a Sunday morning, he and his partner are called to Rundle park village where a six year old named Corinne Punky Gustafson has gone missing.
Detective Dave Bittman
My first thoughts were come on now. It's a quiet morning. Perhaps this little girl went to the local convenience store with another friend and maybe there's trouble at home and she didn't want to go home right away. Unit 148 or correction 149 is the second unit in from the corner here. And this is the Gustafson residence.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Bittman arrives at the gustafson home around
Detective Dave Bittman
10:30am I could see people inside. I went up to the front door and knocked on the door and there I met Ray Gustafson.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Gustafson tells Bittman, Karine was outside playing with her friend Lindsay, who reported that a man had taken Carene. As Bittman takes Ray Gustafson's statement, his wife Karene's mother, Karen arrives at home.
Karen Gustafson (Karine's Mother)
I was really upset, I was bawling. I said, just go find her. I was always worried about them finding her.
Detective Dave Bittman
Between her mother coming home with the look of sheer terror on her face and the information that we'd gleaned thus far, I had thought in my own mind at that time that this was a bona fide abduction.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
To get a better idea of what he's dealing with, Bittman walks to the back of the house where the girls were playing.
Detective Dave Bittman
This suspect walks up, comes right up to them and essentially just grabs onto Corrine, takes her in his arms and then turns 180 degrees and heads directly back towards that walkway.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Lindsay is unable to provide a clear description of the abductor, but Bittman gets what information he can out of the five year old.
Detective Dave Bittman
We come around the corner and ask our witness, point directly the route that this fellow took. Point to us, tell us, show us. And she walks us again through this little walkway between the units 147 and 148.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
About 50ft down the walkway, Bittman notices a dampened patch of mud and a footprint.
Detective Dave Bittman
The most prominent footwear impression that was inlaid in this mud appeared to be that of a sports shoe, like somebody playing soccer or baseball would wear, like a cleat.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Bittman takes a sketch of the impression and a door to door search of the neighborhood begins. Corrine's family is staying pretty much shut in their townhouse now with the curtains closed. The media gets wind of the disappearance and by nightfall most of Edmonton, it seems, is searching for Corinne Gustafson. Meanwhile, her family waits.
Karen Gustafson (Karine's Mother)
I was banging my head on the walls. I thought it was my fault and all that and I was hoping that she would come home. Kept on looking outside. Maybe she went to a different friend's house or maybe she just went for a walk and I just kept on looking outside and she didn't come home.
Detective / Interviewer
RCMP were called to the Sherwood park industrial area at a quarter to five. A passerby found the body in this storage lot behind a Trucking firm. The owner of the company said the body was that of a young girl.
Detective Terry Alm
As we pull up out front, you know, there's a helicopter. I can't remember if it was landing or taking off. There were police cars everywhere. There was media everywhere.
Detective Al Sovey
A lot of things were going through our mind. We knew that the eyes and ears of the city were on this investigation, and we're going to demand answers.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Two days after Corrine Gustafson disappeared, detectives Terry alm and Al Sovey arrive at a trucking yard just outside Edmonton city limits. The body of a six year old girl lies on the mud near the back of the lot.
Detective Al Sovey
If I had to guess, I'd say Corrine's body was probably somewhere. I'd say right about here.
Detective Terry Alm
Well, we see the body of a young child laying face down in the mud with her head slightly turned to the side. There's a lot of mud over her clothing. You can't quite see her face, but you can see that she's turned to the side.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
It is not immediately apparent to the detectives how Corrine Gustafson died. It does appear, however, that she was killed somewhere else and then dumped among the flatbeds.
Detective Terry Alm
She had been redressed. The way in which her panties were on, the way in which her pants were on, the way the witcher coat was put on, all led us to believe that she was killed and raped somewhere else.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Not far from the body, investigators noticed tire tracks and cleat marks similar to those found at the Gustafson home.
Detective Terry Alm
The first responding RCMP members that responded here immediately saw the tire tracks and the footprints, the marks in the mud south of Corain's body. And they felt that they could be related to the crime. So right away they identified him. They knew they had to be protected.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
With the evidence preserved, Alm and Sovey take stock of the scene and tried to piece together the movements of a killer.
Detective Al Sovey
So it looked as if a suspect vehicle had come in on the west side of the lot, pulled in just south of where Kareen's body was, and did a kind of a 180, backed up and then started in a westerly direction again. And then as he got out of his vehicle, he left a bunch of footprints around the vehicle. That's why we, we theorized that he stopped the vehicle there, probably removed Corrine from the vehicle, dumped her underneath the trailer unit, and then back to the car.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
An autopsy establishes that Corrine was most likely smothered to death. The medical examiner also discovers a single pubic hair on karene's left ankle.
Detective Terry Alm
But it was such a small piece that the DNA technology at the time didn't lend itself to developing a profile from that. So the hope was that as DNA technology advanced, that we'd eventually get a profile from the partial root bulb on that pubic hair.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Corrine gustafson is dead, and the city of edmonton is stunned. Her family is left with nothing but its grief.
Karen Gustafson (Karine's Mother)
It was really hard. I just wanted to go and get the guy that done it. I just wanted justice to be. I wanted him caught.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
No words can take away the pain or erase karine gustafson's tragic ending from our minds. Her death has had a tremendous impact on the entire city.
David Staples (Reporter)
There's just this air of the surreal when you go and you see what was a beautiful, lively, vivacious six year old girl, pretty little girl lying in a coffin and she looks like a doll. It's just this very strange feeling to see something like that. It just doesn't make sense.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
David staples is a reporter for the Edmonton Journal. On Sept. 14, he covers the funeral of corrine punky gustafson.
David Staples (Reporter)
This case, it scared the hell out of edmonton. It changed the city forever. People altered their behavior. People in the city used to feel safe sending their kids to the playground and sending their kids to school on their own. And that changed after this crime.
Detective Terry Alm
From the car parked in the parking lot over here to coming around the corner to where lindsey and corrine were playing. You know, that just takes a matter of what, 30 seconds there and back if that's that.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
It's been eight days since Gustafson was taken from her home, assaulted and murdered. As a city watches, two rookie homicide detectives, Terry alm and al sovey, lead a team of detectives in the hunt for her killer. One of their first persons of interest is karine's uncle, ron davies.
Detective Terry Alm
Ron became the family spokesperson. And a lot of people, a lot of police officers didn't like the way that ron was reacting. And there were a number of detectives who really investigated ron to the nth degree.
Ron Davies (Karine's Uncle)
Then they showed up at the house and asked for DNA samples from everybody. So, you know, I gave them that no questions asked, not realizing that at that point I was their number one suspect due to the fact that she was in a trucking yard. I drove trucks.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Davey's possible link to the trucking yard is enough for investigators to bring him in and push him with some hard questions.
Ron Davies (Karine's Uncle)
After a while, it got to the point where I said enough was enough. Then the rcmp which is the royal Canadian mounted police. They took me in for an interview, and right away out of the officer's mouth was, you know, you killed your niece. Let's just sign this confession. Let's get it over with so everybody can get on with their lives. I said, the next time you say that I killed my niece, I'm gonna hit you. I'll drop you where you stand.
David Staples (Reporter)
In the city, in the newsroom, in the police station, Terry Alm's being bombarded. It's the uncle, isn't it? The uncle did it. In the newsroom, we hear, well, there's this uncle. He's probably the guy.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Speculation builds that Ron Davies might be the killer. Terry Alm, however, is not so sure.
Detective Terry Alm
I had a lot of dealings with the family, and I had seen Ron being interviewed. I spent a lot of time with him and the family, and I guess it was more than anything, it was just from looking at all the evidence we had, knowing, coming to know Ron. If I did, I just didn't feel he was involved.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Alm pushes the investigation away from Davies back towards a reexamination of the evidence and a growing stack of leads.
Detective Terry Alm
And the boxes here represent probably a third of the paperwork in this file. There were over 5,000 tips.
Detective Al Sovey
When you're faced with hundreds of tips coming in on a daily basis and you're looking for the needle in the haystack, as it were, it becomes very, very challenging, very daunting, almost overwhelming.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Detectives plow through literally thousands of tips, turning up nothing of substance. Meanwhile, Edmonton grows impatient.
David Staples (Reporter)
It was the biggest, most expensive, most intensive homicide investigation in the history of Edmonton, and also the most anguished. And it was anguished because of this tidal wave of information coming in. And some of the homicide detectives are looking at this guy saying, he's just sitting there shuffling papers, like, get out there on the street, Alm, and solve this thing. There was a lot of internal criticism of Terry Alm.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Terry alm is under scrutiny in the hallway of the Edmonton detective division. He earns the nickname ofer as it
Detective Al Sovey
was Terry's first file as the primary investigator. Someone at one of the meetings mentioned the fact that he was OFER1 having been assigned one file and zero SOLs
David Staples (Reporter)
and kiddingly, they called him over. But it stung because he's also a sensitive guy and it hurt his feelings.
Detective Terry Alm
You know, as the days and weeks and months go by, you often wonder, you often doubt, you know, have self doubt as to whether you're up to the challenge or not. And, you know, you look inside yourself and say, you know, it's just too much for me to handle.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
In the weeks immediately after Karine Gustafsson was killed, 50 detectives worked the case. Two years after that, the number is down to just a few. Then in 1996, Sovey leaves Homicide.
Detective Al Sovey
The only thing that made me regret leaving the unit was the fact that the file was unfinished and leaving Terry behind, obviously, because I knew he was never going to give up.
Detective Terry Alm
Eventually the team was pared down and pared down and pared down again so that eventually I was the only one
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
working on the case by January of 2000. Terry Alm has been working the Gustafson case for more than seven years, nearly the last four by himself.
Detective Terry Alm
We had so many tips and so many suspects that required more work, but how could you separate the wheat from the chaff as far as these tips went? So we decided to have all of Corrine's clothing and the swabs re examined.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Alm hopes new technology will be able to identify and develop a usable DNA profile. In the case of. He sends items of evidence to a private lab in North Carolina. And one year later he gets a call.
Detective Terry Alm
You know, he had asked me, he says, well, you know, does Corrine have any boyfriends? And I said, well, she was only six years old. And then he said, well, then, you know, then I've got your guy.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
The unknown profile is uploaded into Canada's national DNA databank and matches a man named Clifford Sleigh, a convicted sex offender and a name Terry Alm is familiar with.
Detective Terry Alm
Clifford Slay had come to our attention in May of 93 when he had sexually assaulted a young teenage girl and he was investigated. At the time, his family had alibi'd him and he was sort of put on the back burner.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Slay was one of thousands of suspects looked at during the 10 year Gustafson investigation. Now he becomes Alm's main focus and is asked to explain why his semen was found on the clothes of a six year old.
Detective / Interviewer
We're not here to pass judgment on you.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
We're only here to deal with the truth.
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Detective Al Sovey
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Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
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Clifford Slay (Suspect)
You're not. You're not a stupid man, Cliff. And it's a tough situation.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
In March of 2003, at 10:20pm the questioning of Clifford Slay, a suspect in the murder of six year old Karine Gustafson begins. The man who built the case against Slay, Detective Terry Alm, has retired. Detective Ralph Godfrey handles the interrogation.
Detective / Interviewer
We knew from our background research that once Clifford was put into or painted into a corner where he thought the gig was up and the deck was stacked against him, that he would tell the truth.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Slay is informed that DNA testing has matched his genetic profile to semen found on Karine's clothes. The next day Sleigh decides he wants to talk.
Detective / Interviewer
He is cold and calculated. It's almost a matter of fact at that point with us there are no tears, there is no emotion.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
I looked at what I've done. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. I'm really prepared for what's gonna happen, but done a lot of things. I've come to terms with something I have to hold on to.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Slay tells Godfrey that In September of 1992 he was having marital problems with his common law wife.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
It was a combination of a lot of things going on. I started drinking. This was my common wife got into a bit of a fight and he
Detective / Interviewer
wanted to punish her and potentially he wanted to locate her daughter and assault her.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Slay could not locate his wife's daughter. Instead he left, left the apartment and got into his brother in law's car.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
I had plans of just going down to the Mohawk station just for. Fantastic.
Detective / Interviewer
He went out and it would appear he went out on the prowl or on the hunt.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
I was so very angry. I was pretty drunk. I was actually going to turn around, I turned into these apartment townhouses.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Slay says he pulled into Rundle park village and noticed 6 year old Karine Gustafson playing With her friend.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
I see these two rivers bank in this fence area. I made up my mind that I was going to grab one and it just happened to be the one closest to the fence.
Detective / Interviewer
And he tucked her under his arm and put her in his vehicle and took off.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
I taped him, you know, there's no girl to. I don't know. There was this road that I followed as I drove down this road. I mean, thoughts were there but I didn't want to do anything and I just wanted to come, drive as far as I could on this road, drop off and just leave. But when I realized that there was no traffic in Syria, it's very secluded, you know, I just took the bomb in songs. I just had on sense of him.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Slay says he raped Karine for 10 minutes. When he finished, Slay claims Karene was still alive and that he let her go.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
I take her to the car, took her and I put her on the back end of this part of the trail. I guess the vendors with me covered the tires. I sat her on there.
Detective / Interviewer
We know how she was. That's very clear how she was found. And that was not. That's not true.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Slay fails to take responsibility for Karine's murder and Godfrey believes it to be a calculated move.
Detective / Interviewer
I think he tried to minimize his involvement. I think he knew the difference between first degree murder and second degree murder and potentially manslaughter so that his explanation was made to try and fit something less than a first degree murder conviction.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Slay is arrested and booked on a charge of murder. News spreads quickly throughout the city.
Detective Terry Alm
It's an announcement that took 10 years to make.
Detective / Interviewer
Police have finally made an arrest in
Detective Terry Alm
the murder of six year old Corrine Punky Gustafson. Today a judge of order was issued for 40 year old Clifford Matthews Slay.
David Staples (Reporter)
There was jubilation in Edmonton. I mean, people were so relieved that this person had been caught. But we were also left with that age old question, who could do such a crime? Who is this guy?
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
On May 12, 2005, the people get an answer.
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Clifford Slay is charged with first degree
Detective / Interviewer
murder, kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault. Punkey's family is hoping to finally find out exactly what happened 13 years ago.
Jason Track (Crown Prosecutor)
It was every person within the city of Edmonton who saw a six year old child, an absolutely innocent little girl who was playing just a few feet from her back door and was abducted by a total stranger, raped and smothered to death. For that reason. It hit you, it hit me and it hit every one of us on a Personal level.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Jason Track is the crown prosecutor for Alberta and responsible for trying Clifford's slave, Slay for first degree murder.
Jason Track (Crown Prosecutor)
He made the admission of abducting this child. He also made the admission of sexually assaulting her. We looked at all of the evidence and we believe that to a degree of 100% certainty, not beyond a reasonable doubt, but to 100% certainty, she was dead when he left her.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
As part of his case, Track plays Slay's confession in open court.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
I guess I raped her, but I didn't kill her. I was very surprised when I heard that she had died.
David Staples (Reporter)
It was putrid to listen to the tape of his confession and to hear this stuff coming from his mouth and trying to downplay his culpability in this crime.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
The tape plays exactly as the prosecution had intended, with Slay's words appearing to be both callous and calculating.
David Staples (Reporter)
If he was capable of empathy and remorse, he never would have committed such a crime. But he's such a botched human being that he was able to do such an act.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
The jury deliberates for one day and returns the verdict Track requested. Slay is found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to life in prison. Under Canadian law, however, he will be eligible to apply for parole in 25 years. Clifford Slay's arrest and conviction is front page news in Edmonton. And the man most responsible for putting Slay behind bars is Detective Terry Alm.
David Staples (Reporter)
This was a case of someone dedicating more than a decade of his life to solving this crime. And it was in the end, it was his dedication that solved it. It was his sticking with it, going back over the evidence that allowed the police to figure out, we better take another look at this DNA evidence or we'll never solve this thing. That was Terry Alm.
Detective Terry Alm
You couldn't ask for, you know, a better result. I mean, I would have liked to have come a lot earlier, not just for myself, but for everybody concerned. And if in some way that my work that I did on this file contributed in the end result, I guess I can take some comfort in that.
Ron Davies (Karine's Uncle)
Thank you all for coming here today with us. It's been 13 years since we, we said goodbye to Punkey. It's been hard on all of us and on a city who took Punke in as their own.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
On September 4, 2005, detectives Alm and Sauve attend a memorial service for Karine. Her family sends up more than 300 balloons in memory of the 6 year old.
Karen Gustafson (Karine's Mother)
When everybody's at work, if I'm at home by Myself, I'll come out here and then I'll sit with her for a while just to be beside her, so she could know that now I still love her and I'll see her soon. She's our angel watching over us.
Deputy Jean McManus
We're going up Howlin Hill Road, heading up into the Jedediah smith's date.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
It's October 30, 1994. Things are quiet in Crescent City, California, on a Sunday morning until a call comes in to police dispatch. A woman's body has been found lying in a ravine. Deputy Jean McManus responds, well, I saw
Deputy Jean McManus
what appeared to be some kind of a blanket, but I saw the, the head of a young woman with pretty, bright red hair and a lot of exposed cut tissue. She'd been brutally beat. There was a lot of trauma.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
The victim has a rope tied around her neck, severe lacerations on her face, and her left arm is almost completely stripped of flesh. It's a scene that hits the deputy hard.
Deputy Jean McManus
And I realized that, you know, this could have been my daughter. The tragedy of it struck me and I actually made her a promise that I would find whoever did this.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
As McManus continues investigating the girl's murder, he calls for backup. And Detective Bill Steven arrives.
Detective Bill Steven
I think everybody agreed that evening that it was a dump site, that more than likely the crime had not occurred here. It was her backpack and her shoes and some other items that were kind of strewn along the hillside here.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Inside the backpack, detectives find a diary and an ID. Their victim is 18 year old Camilla Randall. As the body is transported to the morgue, detectives track down Camellia's family in Washington and prepare to break the news.
Marjorie Reynolds (Camilla's Mother)
I had two police officers come to my door.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Marjorie Reynolds is Kamila's mother. On October 31, she gets a knock on her door. And the visit every parent dreads.
Marjorie Reynolds (Camilla's Mother)
All I could say was many times was, please, please don't tell me my daughter's dead. And then my body just shook.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Reynolds tells police her daughter was a free spirit hitchhiking her way to California. The family had last heard from her on October 26 when Kamilia arrived in Crescent City. Wendy Whiteman is her aunt.
Marjorie Reynolds (Camilla's Mother)
She said, aunt Wen, I just wanted to call and tell you I made it here all right. And she said she was going to sleep on the beach that night and she said she'd call me.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
That phone call gives detectives a starting point. Camelia may have run into trouble. Sometime that evening, Detective Steven checks Camelia's last diary entry.
Detective Bill Steven
Her diary referenced a ride that she had Gotten from a couple of guys that live in Brookings, Oregon, which is just north here by about 30 minutes. And so we contacted them.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Detective Steven brings the men in for questioning. They deny any wrongdoing and are eventually alibi'd out. Meanwhile, a team of detectives reaches out to residents trying to find the killer in their midst.
Detective Bill Steven
We had a person that was basically passing through town, through a town that they didn't know anybody in, and there was little or nothing to grab hold of as far as an investigation.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
With leads quickly drying up, investigators turn to the body of the victim, hoping it might hold a clue as to the killer's identity.
Dr. Ken Falconer (Medical Examiner)
There were all these little pocket knife like shallow incisions over her arms and her face.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
On October 31, Dr. Ken Falconer begins an autopsy on the body of Camilla Randall.
Dr. Ken Falconer (Medical Examiner)
So I decided that she probably was being tortured while she was being sexually molested.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
In addition to torture and rape, the medical examiner also discovers that Camelia's heart and lungs are missing.
Dr. Ken Falconer (Medical Examiner)
There was a big hole in the left side of her chest with a lot of jagged broken ribs there. I don't know if there's ritualistic. Even the nasty thought of cannibalism came to mind, but this was the most brutal thing that I'd ever encountered.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Falconer performs a rape kit and sends samples to the crime lab for analysis.
Criminalist Kay Belchner
This is the main examination area of our laboratory.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
On November 4, criminalist Kay Belchner opens the kit.
Criminalist Kay Belchner
What I did find was semen present in the vaginal sword taken from her, and more significantly, semen taken in the oral swabs. And that there was a large number of sperm there meant that she was not swallowing, that saliva was not being washed through the mouth, and that therefore she was most likely dead.
Deputy Jean McManus
None of the incisions were bite marks, either human or animal. It was a edged weapon that that trauma to her.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Detectives review the forensic reports and try to get a handle on what appears to be the work of a sexual sadist. A genetic profile is developed from the semen left at the scene, but no genetic match is found.
Detective Bill Steven
It was frustrating in that there was nothing much to grab ahold of locally. So as time went on, things just kind of got colder and colder.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Weeks turn into months, and Camilia Randall's case slips into the cold files, where it will stay for almost seven years until Detective McManus IDs a suspect and decides to confront him.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
Please show me the right death that you're aware of. The crime is. Let me take it back to Jill. The same.
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Deputy Jean McManus
This is the evidence storage area for the Del Mar County Sheriff's Department where we hold the evidence for cases that are pending trial.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
In August of 2001, in a room where the walls are lined with evidence from hundreds of homicides, there is one File Detective Jean McManus returns to the 1994 murder of Camilla Randall.
Deputy Jean McManus
She was so gentle and so innocent and she was so brutally murdered. It was absolutely necessary to find out who did this and to keep him from doing it again.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Over the past seven years, McManus has kept the case alive, but has never been able to get the break he needs. Then on August 16, he takes a phone call.
Deputy Jean McManus
There was a hit on the DNA evidence. I mean, I felt the blood rush to my head and I had a very emotional response.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Codis, California's DNA data bank, has returned a match from semen found at the scene to Robert Wigley, a convicted sex offender.
Deputy Jean McManus
First of all, I needed to find him. I needed to get him into custody before he found out that we knew who he was.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
McManus runs a background check and finds Wigley living in Oregon. The suspect is picked up on probation violations and transported to Crescent City for questioning.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
You have the right for your name to sign up. Can you understand that? Anything you say can and will be used against your Court of law. Do you understand that?
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
On November 6, 2001, Detective McManus sits across from the man he believes killed Camelia Randall.
Deputy Jean McManus
He's a very calm individual. He tries to be very casual, and he attempts to be pretty personable when he's talking to you.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
McManus asks Wigley if he ever met Camelia.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
I'm gonna come back to that red haired girl. Do you know anything about that girl?
Investigator A.C. Field
No.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
You ever meet her or figure out her picture is in the pictures by the. You sure about that? Pretty sure.
Deputy Jean McManus
And he denied it? He said no. And I was trying to give him more than enough rope to hang himself with. As far as catching him in a
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
lie for 30 minutes, wiggily sticks to his denials. Then McManus cuts to the chase.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
Bob, I have DNA evidence on you, all right? On this murdered girl.
Deputy Jean McManus
And it shows he was calm. He said no, how could that be? And he was exceptionally calm.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
McManus needs to shake up Wiggly. So he pulls out a crime scene photo and slides it across the table.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
This right here, girl.
Deputy Jean McManus
I am telling you that that's what the evidence shows.
Clifford Slay (Suspect)
Why are you showing me like that? Once you're aware of what the crime is. Let me take you back to the jail. Are you just being an id? Yes, I am. I'm telling you, I'm going to prosecute you for it. Let's go.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Wigley's statement locks him into a lie. And the crime scene photo gets him thinking. It's a good start, but McManus needs more.
Deputy Jean McManus
You need to get a timeline on his actions, his movements and his associates. And there's no one better than a spouse.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Marie Biggers is Robert Wigley's ex wife. At the time of the murder, the couple was still married and managing a local motel in town. On November 27, McManus tells Biggers he suspects her ex is a killer.
Deputy Jean McManus
Her initial reaction was shock and fear, and you could see it on her face.
Marie Biggers (Robert Wigley's Ex-Wife)
I remember his first question is, do you think he's capable? And I said, oh, yeah. I said, yeah.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
No doubt in my mind, Bickers has not seen Robert Wigley in more than two years. Still, she's scared her ex husband might hurt her if she talks to police.
Deputy Jean McManus
When I assured her that he was not going to be getting out of custody, that he was in custody at that time and that she would be safe. Then she started talking to me about what they were doing back at that time in their lives.
Marie Biggers (Robert Wigley's Ex-Wife)
Hitting me, pushing me across the room, throwing me across the room. He choked me until I passed out. He held a gun to my head.
Deputy Jean McManus
It shows his violent background. It showed his need to dominate, and it showed a progressing amount of violence.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
For Detective McManus, Marie Biggers is the voice he has been looking for, the voice of a victim. On November 30, McManus arrests Robert Wigley and charges him with the murder of Camellia Randall.
Investigator A.C. Field
This is basically a map of Southern Crescent City.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
A.C. field is an investigator with the DA's office. His job is to develop a timeline that provides Robert Wigley with a window from murder.
Investigator A.C. Field
The purpose of this was to show the jury that Wigley had opportunity that night by his own admissions of working at the Super 8 motel.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Camelia Randall was last seen alive at a mini mart less than a mile from where Wigley worked. Field plots Camellia's movements. Based on eyewitness accounts, we know she
Investigator A.C. Field
was seen at the Redwood Mini Mart by the clerk to. We believe she continued traveling southbound on Highway 101 toward Crescent Beach. About a quarter of a mile from where she was last seen is the Super 8 Motel at 685 Highway 101. And so we believe at that point, Wiggly saw her and came out and made contact with her.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
The map and timeline place Camellia just steps away from a convicted sex offender. It appears to be the final piece in the state's case. That is until Wigley fires his lawyer and decides to represent himself.
Investigator A.C. Field
Once he decided to represent himself, he started getting our evidence as we were producing it. And so he had a good year of collecting evidence by the time he decided to give us an actual statement. So what we found was when we spoke with him, it was a story crafted to the evidence that he had received up to that point.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Wigley now admits he knew Camelia Randall, that he met her on the night she died and had threesome sex with her and his wife at the time, Marie Biggers.
Investigator A.C. Field
It basically becomes a sexual escapade that gets out of hand and Marie and ends up strangling Camelia.
Marie Biggers (Robert Wigley's Ex-Wife)
I was pretty horrified, but I was also, you know, I knew I was innocent.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Robert Wigley's story is interesting, but it has a rather large hole.
Investigator A.C. Field
Camellia Randall showed up in Crescent City on October 26, 1994, and Marie Biggers went into the hospital for severe abdominal pains October 25, 1994. So that put a big hole in Wigley's entire statement at the time.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
On the eve of his trial, Robert Wigley is left with no credible alibi and no way to explain a DNA match that could put him in prison for the rest of his life.
District Attorney Michael Reese
When we pitched it to the jury at the beginning on our opening statement, we told them, expect a conclusive proof, but expect to sit here and hear one of the most horrifying deaths of a young lady that you could ever imagine.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
District Attorney Michael Reese presents the state's case against Robert Wigley. After 10 weeks of testimony, the jury returns its verdict. Guilty of murder in the first degree. Wigley is sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.
District Attorney Michael Reese
I remember the family looking at him, waiting, waiting to see any response. Mr. Wigley was standing up, staring at the jury as if to taunt them. And then as the verdicts were read, he turned over his left shoulder, staring at the family as if to say, it didn't matter.
Marjorie Reynolds (Camilla's Mother)
Look at her face here. She was always so full of life.
Narrator / Cold Case Files Host
Marjorie Reynolds is present when the guilty verdict is read. But afterwards, she leaves the courtroom just as she came in, very much alone.
Marjorie Reynolds (Camilla's Mother)
When I walked out of the courtroom, I didn't walk out with my daughter. She was still gone. And he'll never suffer, never suffer like he made her suffer.
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Detective Al Sovey
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A&E / PodcastOne | Released June 2, 2026
Narrated by Marisa Pinson
This episode of Cold Case Files explores two haunting cold cases: the 1992 abduction and murder of 6-year-old Corinne "Punky" Gustafson in Edmonton, Alberta, and the 1994 brutal killing of 18-year-old Camilla Randall in California. The stories delve deep into the emotional fallout for the victims’ families, the relentless commitment of detectives refusing to give up, and the game-changing role of forensic advances in finally identifying the killers—years, even decades, after the crimes. Through firsthand accounts, interviews, and investigators' perspectives, the episode underscores themes of loss, justice, community trauma, and the unyielding pursuit of truth.
The episode maintains a matter-of-fact yet empathetic tone, with honest, raw reflections from detectives, family members, and journalists. Emotional moments—grief, self-doubt, and relief—are candidly shared, underlining the human cost of violent crime and the emotional toll on both the investigators and the families involved.
This episode captures both the immense pain cold crimes inflict on families and communities and the profound, lasting determination of those who pursue the truth. Through patience, technological advances, and dedication, investigators offer justice and a measure of closure—demonstrating the rare but powerful impact of solved cold cases.