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Park Predators
The Beach
00:40:35
Two young people are found brutally shot to death on a remote Canadian beach in 1972, and one man quickly becomes the center of the investigation. However, he manages to elude capture for nearly 40 years and leaves a wake of devastation and other violent crimes in his path.
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- [00:01]
Crime Junkie Host
There's a story I think you'd be interested in if you just skim the headlines. You'd think Police have always had a strong suspect for the decades old disappearance of Don Mozino, a convicted serial killer who knew our victim. They just couldn't prove it. Case kind of closed, right? However, with the help of Dawn's sister, the Crime Junkie team got access to Dawn's diary where for three months leading up to her disappearance, dawn detailed not one but two love triangles that she was in the middle of. And the diary's final entry might hold the key to what really happened to her. You do not want to miss this latest episode of Crime Junkie. Listen to the episode titled Missing Don Muzzino right now only on Crime Junkie, available wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:52]
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- [01:21]
Delia d'Ambra (Park Predators Host)
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- [02:26]
Delia d'Ambra (Park Predators Host)
Hi park enthusiasts. I'm your host Delia d' Ambra and the case I'm going to tell you about today takes place in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve in British Columbia, Canada. This is an area of the Canadian coast that's fairly difficult to get to. Radar Beach Trail, which leads to where this crime occurred, isn't marked well and is known for being steep and oftentimes muddy. Some visitors find themselves having to crawl or climb over fallen trees just to access the beach. And really, I should be saying beaches plural, because something that's unique about this landscape is there isn't just one beach, there are several, and the further you walk, the more you find Some are flat sand, others are home to huge rock outcroppings, and a few even butt up against small channels of water. And trust me, all the hard work that's required to get down there isn't without a reward because the views are stunning in June 1972, though, a terrible crime marred this region's beauty in an unforgettable way. The investigation that unfolded in the years following was full of ups and downs and ended in an unforeseen twist nearly 2,000 miles away from the original crime scene, which caused many people to wonder just how far would a human predator go to try and cover up his crimes? And how many other murders was he willing to commit? This is Park Predators According to reporting by the Times Colonist On Wednesday, June 21, 1972, a man camping at Radar beach in British Columbia was just hanging out when he noticed a makeshift shelter in the trees about 200 yards from the beach. The structure was a lean to style shelter and looked like it had been assembled recently, but the guy didn't see anyone coming or going from it, which to him probably felt a bit unusual, but not necessarily alarming. Seeing a shelter in the bush like that at that time wasn't strange because Radar beach is a fairly secluded area and people would often visit and camp overnight. In General in the 1960s and 70s, the beach was known as a quote unquote hippie hangout. Droves of people from all over would come there and live out of tents as part of the cultural revolution happening at the time. But the following afternoon, Thursday, June 22, the male camper returned to the same section of the beach and ventured into the woods to find water. He clocked the lean to again and noticed that it still looked like no one had been around it because backpacks were sitting next to it, exactly where they'd been the previous day. So naturally curious about what was going on, the camper went over to investigate. As he got closer, his suspicion that something wasn't right grew and when he peered into the lean to, he stopped cold because there, still tucked into a single sleeping bag, were the partially dressed bodies of a young man and a young woman. They were wearing T shirts spattered with blood and showed no signs of life. Right away, the guy who found them Hightailed it through the bush and made it to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police office about six miles north of the beach to report the discovery. Because Radar beach is isolated on the western side of Vancouver island and difficult to get to, two local officers who took the report from this witness went back over to the scene with him on a lifeboat. When the group arrived, the officers secured the area and camped out overnight while they waited roughly 12 hours for more backup with the RCMP to arrive via helicopter. When those additional units got to the scene, they found exactly what the camper and the local officers had described. A man and woman who appeared to be in their twenties, dead in a sleeping bag next to the lean to. A closer examination of the bodies indicated they'd both been shot several times with a small caliber rifle, most likely while asleep. Right away, the RCMP utilized search dogs to look for the possible murder weapon in the surrounding woods and fanned out to try and find witnesses to speak with. But there wasn't much to go on because few people who'd been at Radar beach at the time of the crime were still around. Most folks who came and went from that area were living transient lifestyles. But according to some of the coverage, there were a few alternative type folks who'd hung around and were described by one RCMP investigator as living on the beach. So I imagine officers interviewed those people on Saturday, June 24. Within two days of the bodies being found, authorities announced they officially identified the deceased young woman as 20 year old Ann Durant, who was from Vancouver. The pathologist who conducted her autopsy along with her male companions determined she'd been shot in the arm, leg and several times in the head with a.22 caliber firearm. Authorities made the strategic decision not to publicly release the name of her 21 year old friend because they'd determined from, I imagine going through his things or possibly speaking with Anne's friends and family that he was from Europe, not Canada. So detectives withheld his identity until they could confirm who he was with his next of kin. Unfortunately, though, his autopsy showed he'd suffered a similar fate as Ann. He'd been shot four times in the head with the same small caliber rounds that had killed Ann. Another important detail from the couple's postmortem exams was that it appeared they'd been murdered anywhere from 24 hours to a few days before they were found. The suspected murder weapon was believed to be a German made Gevarm semiautomatic rifle that had been produced in Saskatoon. It had a rather uncommon magazine that could hold either eight or 20 rounds of.22 caliber ammo. And as far as disassembly went, the firearm itself could come apart in two pieces and break down rather easily at the crime scene. Authorities continued to look for that style of weapon in the surrounding landscape, but didn't find any trace of it. By Tuesday, June 27, five days into the investigation, authorities were able to notify the male victim's family overseas about what had happened. And after that, they publicly identified him as Leif Carlson. He was from Sweden, but had been traveling in Canada as a student for several months. The Calgary Albertan reported the RCMP had used diplomatic channels to get in touch with Swedish police, who then broke the news to Leif's loved ones. As authorities continued to work the case, they pleaded with the public to help them find fresh leads. Based on everything they'd gathered so far, it was unclear what the motive for the crime was. The only real clues they found were some articles of clothing that had been tossed over a cliff about a mile from the crime scene and several random items, including a Bible, a roach clip, a shoe, glasses, a guitar, and a torn up photo of a young man with dark hair strewn on a trail not far from the beach. In the meantime, while they followed up on those clues, they also worked to piece together Ann and Leif's timeline leading up to the murders. They learned the couple had departed Vancouver on Monday, June 19, and taken a ferry to Nanaimo. Then they hitchhiked their way to the coast and ended up in the village of Tofino, which is just a few miles north of Radar Beach. After the RCMP spoke with people there, they learned that Ann and Leif had been spotted in town sometime on Tuesday, June 20, which wasn't long before they were killed. But the big question investigators needed to answer was who had come across their path once they made it to the beach? A lead that emerged fairly quickly was that police said they wanted to speak with three people who'd reportedly been at Radar beach between June 19 and June 22. Two of these folks were described as a man and a woman with long hair who were in their early 20s. They had two dogs with golden colored fur and had been accompanied by a woman who was also in her 20s, who police believed went by the nickname Chris. This Chris woman was also said to have a young son named Dylan. Now, as far as tips go, this one felt very specific to me, but I couldn't find anywhere in the coverage that explains where this information came from. But regardless, investigators doubled down and told the press that they wanted to talk with these three individuals in case they'd seen something that might be important. Not long after law enforcement's request about them went public, the young man and woman with the dogs came forward to speak with detectives, but unfortunately they couldn't provide them with any useful information. The couple was described as living a transient lifestyle and they said they hadn't seen anything related to the double murder. A few more days passed before the third woman, who went by the nickname Chris, was tracked to Aspen, Colorado, but it doesn't seem she was spoken with at length or provided much useful information. So for the next two weeks the case sort of floundered. During that time, Anne's parents and siblings laid her to rest and mourned their loss with few answers as to who had taken her life. At the time of her death, Anne was a first year student at the University of British Columbia. Her father, Jeffrey, was an English professor for that same institution and had previously worked for the University of Manitoba and another university in South Africa. In 1961, 11 years before the crime, Ann's parents moved their family to Canada from South Africa and it's where she'd spent most of her teen years and young adulthood. One of her former teachers told the Vancouver sun that she was a well liked, quiet young woman who was extremely bright. She excelled in writing and was an all around warm person to those she interacted with. According to one overseas forum I found online that one of Leaf's younger sisters posted on a few years ago. He was the second oldest of eight children who was very into music and poetry, and on the more reserved side in the post, the woman who claimed to be his sister described his trajectory in early 1972 to North America as something he was very much looking forward to. He'd worked at a cemetery as a caretaker for a year prior to the trip to save up enough money, and when he departed he took only his backpack and guitar. He'd initially gone overseas with a friend, but By June of 1972 that friend had returned home and Leaf stayed behind in Canada to spend more time with Anne. The tide of law enforcement's investigation took an abrupt turn about two weeks after the slayings when a strong person of interest emerged. In early July, authorities announced that they were very interested in Speaking with a 25 year old American named Joseph Henry Burgess, who was known to camp on the west side of Vancouver island in the vicinity of Radar Beach. He would frequently approach people at random and quote things from the Bible. Investigators had learned who he was after speaking with Several people who lived transiently near Radar beach and finding an identification card with his name on it not far from the crime scene. The Alberni Valley Times and other newspapers, as well as one RCMP corporal, characterized Joseph as a quote unquote, Jesus freak who lived as a hermit in the woods of Vancouver island for anywhere from several months to one to two years. The RCMP told the Vancouver sun that he was from New Jersey and would sometimes use the alias Job week. In the weeks prior to the crime, he'd spent time in Vancouver and Port Alberni. He was described as being 6 foot 2 inches tall, between 140 and 160 pounds, and had a trimmed beard, blue eyes, and dark brown hair. Investigators didn't mince words when it came to their suspicions about Joseph. They emphasized to the press that he was wanted for questioning in relation to Ann and Leaf's murders and encouraged anyone who knew his whereabouts before and after the crime to contact police. According to reporting by the Times colonists, he was the only camper known to be staying in the Radar beach area at the time of the crime who authorities had been unable to interview. In 1972, Joseph had been a member of a religious group known as the Children of God. In May and June of that year, he'd been living in a commune with a sect of that movement in Port Alberni. However, after about a week or so of being there, he left the group to live on the beach. And just a quick side note about the Children of God. It was a splinter of Christian evangelicalism that was founded in the late 1960s in Huntington Beach, California. In the 80s and 90s. Some sources quoted in the Washington Post and other news organizations, including the BBC, described it as a cult that was rife with sexual abuse against victims of all ages. Over the decades, it's rebranded itself several times and is currently known as the Family International. But it never quite got away from its dark past. There are several documentaries about this religious movement on Netflix, Apple tv, HBO Max, and other streaming platforms if you really want to go down the rabbit hole. But for our purposes, I'm not going to go too far into the weeds because I just wanted to give you the high level backstory so you'd understand that this was the kind of thing Joseph was connected to in 1972. Now, immediately following the RCMP's first announcement about him, detectives told the Alberni Valley Times that Joseph had most likely changed his appearance since late June. They surmised he'd likely shaved and probably didn't look anything like he had while camping on West Vancouver Island. They suspected he might still be living with people on the island or had possibly moved to the mainland, but Honestly, they weren't 100% sure. They got ahold of some of the other Children of God followers in Port Alberni who'd known him. And those folks were, to investigators surprise, fairly cooperative, but unfortunately, not super helpful. Because by the time investigators visited the home that many of the local members lived in, they learned the group had split apart abruptly on June 29. About a week earlier, several followers had moved and gone to other Children of God colonies, with only a handful remaining in Port Alberni. Much to detectives dismay, no one in the group was able to tell authorities why that colony had disbanded so suddenly. And even more frustrating, no one seemed to know where Joseph Burgess was. A law enforcement bulletin about him was circulated within Canada and sent to authorities in the United States, but his whereabouts remained unknown. A few witnesses who'd visited Radar beach prior to the crime told police that they'd seen Joseph in that general area trying to teach people to pray, carrying survival manuals, and cleaning a.22 caliber firearm. About two days before Leith and Ann were found, he'd had a run in with a woman who was sunbathing. And that witness remembered Joseph specifically lamenting how he disapproved of a young unmarried couple he'd seen together in the woods, which very well could have been him referring to Leif and Ann. In addition to that circumstantial evidence, the RCMP had confirmed that all of the random items like the Bible, the glasses, guitar, and torn up photo that officers had found on that trail not far from the crime scene belonged to Joseph. The Bible had Joseph's alias, Job Weeks, written inside of it, and the shredded photo was a picture of him holding up his fingers in a peace sign. Amy o' Brien later reported for the Vancouver sun that some of Joseph's fingerprints had also been discovered on documents that belonged to Ann and leaf. So on July 11, almost three weeks into the investigation, the RCMP and the Attorney General's office held a formal inquest about the case in front of a coroner's jury, which featured testimony from the pathologist who'd conducted Leif and Ann's autopsies. Another man who knew Leif rented a room at a house in Vancouver near the UBC campus took the stand, too. The residence he referred to Leif living in was a place Ann visited regularly and was seemingly how she'd met or gotten to know him. However, after only 10 minutes of the inquest being underway. It ended, and officials announced that it would be up to the Attorney general to reopen the proceeding again. I assume once more information was discovered. I know it's kind of strange the way the reporting about this part of the story is delivered. It's honestly a bit confusing to me. But the coroner later told the Vancouver sun that the sole focus of the inquest at that time was to present medical evidence and identification information about the victims to the jury, not to get into everything else in the case. So that's why the inquest had ended so quickly and remained on pause indefinitely until the attorney general said otherwise. The day after that, the RCMP issued an arrest warrant for Joseph in relation to the murders. At that point, he was their prime suspect, and law enforcement agencies throughout Canada's provinces and the United States were made aware that he was a wanted and dangerous man. Trying to find him, though, was going to be tricky because he had a variety of different aliases that he used. And throughout his life, he'd worked in many different jobs, including being a cashier, a bush pilot, and. And a painter. So he was well versed on how to get around. Plus, he'd previously lived in a commune and then camped in the Radar beach area, which meant he knew how to lay low and live somewhat undetected if he wanted to. Authorities characterized him as a highly intelligent individual, who they discovered had initially traveled to Canada to avoid being drafted into the US military in the 1960s, two years before Leif and Ann's murders, he'd been arrested in the US Fingerprinted, and eventually pleaded guilty to evading the draft, but fled to eastern Canada before he could be sentenced. Following the issuance of his arrest warrant, authorities released two distinct portraits of Joseph to news publications. One image showed him with a thicker head of hair and a beard, while the other presented him clean shaven with a more tame haircut. But unfortunately, even with those pictures being distributed far and wide, the manhunt stalled. Joseph remained in the wind, and by late August, investigators still had no new leads as to where he was. What investigators couldn't quite piece together, though, was why he'd committed the crime. They knew he was a man of great zeal when it came to his religious beliefs, so that made them wonder if his staunch Christian convictions were somehow connected to the murders. From people they'd interviewed, investigators learned he often talked about things like the wrath of God. So I think law enforcement couldn't help but speculate if perhaps he'd killed Leaf and Ann as part of Some sort of sacrificial slaying because they'd perhaps been intimate together on the beach while unmarried. But of course, that was just a theory police discussed behind closed doors. It wasn't something the RCMP shared publicly until many years later. Another theory was that the crime was personal. You see, Joseph and Ann had briefly dated prior to the murders. And I know that probably feels like an important detail that I'm just dropping on you out of the blue, but if it's any consolation, it felt the same way to me when I first read it in the research material. According to reporting by John Hudsinski for the Asbury Park Press, the RCMP revealed in 1977 that Joseph had gone out with Ann prior to the murders, but she'd broken things off with him before starting to see leaf. Now, exactly how long Ann and Joseph were involved, or like, how he'd even been able to time targeting her and her new boyfriend in the remote landscape of Radar beach on the specific day they were slain is unclear. But the point is, there was reportedly a romantic history there between Joseph and Ann, which might have prompted some investigators to suspect that was the true motive for the crime. Especially when you consider how many times each victim had been shot in the head. It was, in essence, a slaughter. Very much overkill, in my opinion. Eventually, though, as the years dragged on with no sign of Joseph, he was added to the RCMP's most wanted list and stayed there year after year after year. There were initial suspicions that he might have died by suicide somewhere in the vast woods of Vancouver island not long after the crime. But without proof of that, like a body or his rifle, his whereabouts remained a mystery. Some reported sightings of him trickled in from across parts of Canada and North America over the years, but none of those leads ever materialized into a positive id. For three more decades, it appeared as if he'd never be caught. But then an eerily similar crime occurred a little over 1,000 miles away in Northern California that reignited the RCMP's search.
- [23:53]
Park Predators Host or Narrator
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- [24:59]
Delia d'Ambra (Park Predators Host)
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Delia d'Ambra (Park Predators Host)
On August 18, 2004, a young couple named Lindsay Cutshaw and Jason Allen were found dead on a remote beach just outside of the town of Jenner, California. Peter King reported for the Los Angeles Times that they'd been working as camp counselors at a Christian camp several hours away, but had taken a few days over the weekend to visit the coast when they were discovered in their sleeping bags. Investigators determined they'd both been shot at close range with a rifle. I'll be diving much more into their case in a future episode, but for right now I want to stay grounded in Leif and Ann's story because the location and basic circumstances of the Jenner beach murders were extremely similar to what had happened to Leif and Ann. The RCMP had to at least look into whether or not Joseph Burgess could be behind those crimes. Police had long suspected that he'd fled Canada and returned to the United States at some point after the radar beach slayings. Because, turns out, in 1977, US President Jimmy Carter granted full amnesty to all citizens who'd evaded the draft in the 1960s, which meant that if Joseph had come home at any point after 1977, he was no longer facing criminal charges for dodging the draft. His record for that specific offense had been expunged, in other words. So really, all he needed to do was lay low, not get arrested again, and he'd stay off Canadian law enforcement's radar. Unfortunately, within a few years of Lindsay and Jason's murders in California, investigators there fell into a similar slump as the RCMP had in Leith and Ann's case. They'd exhausted most leads and couldn't solve it. By 2005, the television program America's Most Wanted had taken interest in both the Radar beach case and the Jenner beach murders and was in the process of producing episodes about them. An RCMP constable told reporter Shane Morrow. That's when his agency really began to take a closer look at a possible connection between Leaf and Ann's murders and the double slaying that had recently occurred in California. He explained that it was hard to deny the uncanny similarities between the two crimes, remarking, quote, you could take our crime scene in Tofino and set it right down in California, end quote. The problem was, it was a long shot. 32 years had passed since the Radar beach murders in 2005, Joseph would have been in his late 50s. So I think the RCMP's logical question was what were the chances he'd strike again, seemingly at random, in northern California after being on the lam for so long? The statistical likelihood was low, but not impossible. So the RCMP moved forward with America's most wanted and created an age progressed image of what Joseph would have looked like as an older man and distributed that when the segment aired. The broadcast sparked renewed interest in Ann and Leif's case as well as Lindsay and Jason's. For a little while, there was rampant speculation Online that the two double murders were definitely connected. But by 2007, authorities in California weren't as convinced. They were open to the possibility that it could be the work of the same killer. But when it came down to it, there just wasn't anything tangible that linked the crimes other than the similarity of their circumstances. Not to mention, the gun used in Lindsey and Jason's case was a.45 caliber Marlin brand rifle, which was a completely different type of weapon than what had been used to kill Ann and Leif. The Los Angeles Times reached out to Joseph's two surviving sisters when their article was published in 2007, and each woman had interesting responses when Asked about their brother, one sister told the news publication she didn't have anything to say about Joseph and was more focused on why the paper was even still talking about him or the Radar beach murders. She suggested that the story was old news and needed to just go away. His other sister said that she was really close with Joseph before He fled the US in the late 1960s. At the time of her interview with the LA Times, she said she still loved him dearly and wanted him to be alive wherever he was. She explained that she didn't like the use of the word caught regarding her brother, but only wished for him to come back home. Neither woman confirmed or denied if Joseph had ever contacted them or their late mother before her death in 2001. A former Canadian investigator who'd originally been assigned Leif in Ann's case told the LA Times in 2007 that he always suspected Joseph had reached out to his family at some point while on the run, but could never prove it to this investigator. It seemed almost impossible that he wouldn't try to contact them for assistance or check in. For that same article, the Times interviewed Anne's father, Jeffrey, who at that point was in his early 90s. His wife Barbara, Ann's mother, had passed away several years prior to that, but he still lived in their home outside of Vancouver. He told reporter Peter King that losing Anne had been very difficult for the entire Durant family and changed everything about their lives. For example, his other daughter had a particularly hard time with it, and family relationships had suffered over the years as a result. Ann's brother eventually died of heart failure, and Ann's mom lived for a long time with regret because she blamed herself for choosing to move the family from South South Africa to Canada in the years prior to the crime. The gist of Jeffrey's explanation to Peter King about the emotions Barbara wrestled with was that his wife felt guilty for unknowingly putting Anne on a trajectory of being in Vancouver, which led her to meet Leaf, and then they'd ended up at Radar Beach. I know it's heartbreaking to think Ann's mom dealt with such tormenting thoughts, but loss and grief do wildly unfair things to people who are left behind and experience trauma like this. Jeffrey went on to explain in his interview that shortly after Ann was murdered, the two of them had disagreed about the people she was hanging out with and the alternative lifestyle choices she was making, but thankfully they'd been able to reconcile before she was ripped from his life. In his old age, he reflected on the fact that the case had never been solved and remarked to Peter King that it was both devastating and astonishing to know that law enforcement had been unable to close it. When Jeffrey gave that interview, he was 93 years old and I imagine probably convinced that his daughter's killer would never be caught. But the universe had different plans. Plans that would come to fruition just two years later.
- [32:47]
Park Predators Host or Narrator
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Delia d'Ambra (Park Predators Host)
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Delia d'Ambra (Park Predators Host)
Free $60G around 4:30 in the morning on Thursday, July 16, 2009, a sergeant with the Sandoval County Sheriff's Office in New Mexico named Joe Harris and his partner, Teresa Moriarty, were hunkered down inside a cabin in a rural part of the county. They were actively investigating a string of burglaries that had been happening for about six to possibly slightly more than 10 years at homes in the Jemez Mountains. The sheriff's office suspected many of the thefts were being perpetrated by the same man. In most of the cases, the thief had stolen survival supplies, liquor and food from people's pantries, which had earned him the nickname the Cookie Bandit. But in a few instances, he'd stolen firearms and even menaced homeowners. The thefts had become so regular, nearly 200 in total, that law enforcement in Sandoval county had decided to step up their efforts to find him. So they sent Joe and Teresa undercover to try and catch the elusive bandit once and for all. Prior attempts to identify him through surveillance photos and fingerprint collection had failed, so putting officers in some of the cabins in plain clothes was the department's next logical move. As Joe and Teresa sat and waited for trouble to arrive, they fell asleep in the home they were staking out, but were suddenly awakened to the sound of a man breaking into one of the cabin's windows. Joe and Teresa jumped into action, and when the suspect got inside, they confronted him and tried to place him into handcuffs. But after about 20 to 30 minutes of him fighting against them, gunfire erupted. In the ensuing blur of scuffling and muzzle flashes, Joe's partner Teresa heard him call out to her to shoot the suspect. And that's when she realized Joe had been hit in the torso. When the dust finally settled, both Joe and the unknown man who'd broken into the cabin were dead. Turns out the perpetrator had somehow managed to get a.357 revolver out of the back of his pants and fired it at Joe. In his final moments, Joe had shot his service weapon twice and killed the intruder. Teresa was unharmed, but very stunned. Emergency responders arrived to the cabin and rushed 46 year old Joe to a hospital in Albuquerque. But his prognosis was Grimm. He was officially pronounced dead. At 6:45am a few hours after the shootout, the sheriff's office held a press conference and released the basic details of what happened and announced that Joe was the first officer from their department to be killed in the line of duty since 1903, when the county became a county. So it was truly a tragic and historic loss for everyone. In the aftermath of the incident, the sheriff's office called in the New Mexico State Police to handle the investigation. And one of their first actions was to determine who exactly the perpetrator was. They transported the man's body to the office of the medical examiner to make copies of his fingerprints and, I imagine, also conduct an autopsy. The prints were sent off to the FBI for analysis and comparison, but the results didn't come back right away. Meanwhile, at the crime scene, state agents collected three handguns as evidence and worked to determine who each of the weapons belonged to. I think it's safe to assume one was likely Joe's, the other was possibly Teresa's, and the third belonged to the burglar. But because this was an officer involved shooting, the state police were making sure they did everything by the book. And so they seized all of the firearms as evidence. In the meantime, Joe's loved ones prepared to lay him to rest in the town of Rio Rancho, and a memorial fund was set up in his honor. I want to pause here for just a beat because I know we've covered a lot of ground, but Joe Harris sacrifice in confronting the man inside the cabin that fateful morning should not be overlooked. He did his job bravely and heroically. A woman who knew his family well told the press that Joe had made it his mission to catch the burglar in the Jemez Mountains who'd been terrifying people for so long because it's just the kind of determined protector he was. He'd only been working for the Sandoval County Sheriff's Office for about six and a half years when he was killed. But before becoming a deputy with that agency, he'd spent two decades as a police officer for the city of Rio Rancho and had an impressive law enforcement career to show for it. He was dedicated to serving in area schools and spearheading community safety programs which benefited kids and adults. One area he shined bright in was working alongside his K9 Harley and visiting children with disabilities. Outside of his job, he ran a private security business and did concealed carry instruction classes. Above all, though, he was a dedicated dad and husband to his wife, Tanya, two adult sons, two adult daughters, and one young daughter who all loved him deeply. His family wrote in his obituary how passionate he was about his family, faith and community. They described him as a legend and an irreplaceable lover of God and people. Also, according to his obituary, he and his partner, Teresa Moriarty, considered each other brother and sister who'd been Separated at birth, she'd retired from the New York Police Department and somehow entered Joe's life, which resulted in him asking her to be his partner at the sheriff's office. Over time, they eventually discovered they had many things in common. Teresa, Joe's family, and thousands of others mourned him at his memorial Service on Tuesday, July 21. It was a public event that celebrated his life and the many ways he would be missed by his loved ones and community. Around that same time, results from the fingerprint comparison the FBI had done on his killer came in, and the findings confirmed that the murderer was 62 year old Joseph Henry Burgess, the same man who'd been at the center of the RCMP's double murder investigation for more than three decades. The FBI had managed to track down copies of fingerprints from evidence that was already on file in the Radar beach case and realized that Joseph had a long, outstanding warrant for his arrest in Canada for murder. After Joseph was formally identified, the RCMP began to wrap up its investigation into Leif and Ann's murders. There was paperwork that had to be done and ongoing communication with officials in New Mexico. But for the most part, it was determined that Joseph was responsible for the infamous double murder at Radar Beach. However, there would be no prosecution since he was dead. A big part of the RCMP's task to close the case was to track down Leif and Ann's surviving family members. It had been more than 37 years, and making those notifications was not going to be easy, especially when the reality was Joseph would never see the inside of a courtroom. It's unclear from the source material when or how law enforcement connected with Leaf's family, but eventually word of Joseph's death got to Ann's father, Jeffrey, who was in his mid-90s and seemingly still living in Vancouver. Jo Harris, widow Tanya spoke with Jeffrey over the phone about a week after her husband's murder, and they bonded in a very touching way. She wanted to make sure Jeffrey knew that Joe had avenged Ann's death, and Jeffrey thanked her for Joe's service in eliminating the man who'd killed his daughter so many years earlier. He told Tonya that the pain of losing a loved one in such a violent way would likely never go away. But he believed she was a strong person who would remain strong for her and Joe's children. A few years after that phone call, Jeffrey passed away. People who owned several of the cabins Joseph Burgess had burglarized in New Mexico over the years told the Albuquerque Journal that they always suspected the cookie Bandit was a man who had some sort of survival training and most likely a violent past. Over the years, various residents had bumped into him or found him in their homes and gotten bad vibes. They described him as a reclusive, dangerous and bold individual. They suspected he was likely on the run for something, but never knew what. Interestingly, Jo Harris wife Tanya told Koat News that even though her husband didn't know at the time of his murder who Joseph Burgess was or that he and the Cookie Bandit were one and the same, Joe had an unexplainable feeling deep down in his gut that whoever the Cookie Bandit was, they were bad news and needed to be taken off the streets. Tonya explained Joe's apparent sixth sense to Koat like this, quote, people kept telling him, you know, why are you going after this guy? He steals groceries and why are you trying so hard? And he kept saying, I'm going to get him. There's something about this guy, he needs to be gotten. There's something about him. And he was right, end quote. A remark Joe's partner Teresa made to Koat News after his death that I found myself thinking about a lot had to do with how she felt when she and Joe realized the Cookie Bandit had entered the cabin they were staking out. She said, quote, I believe the person who came into that cabin was evil, an evil entity. We could feel it when he came in, end quote. Unfortunately, because Teresa passed away in 2014, I can't ask her exactly what she meant by that statement. It feels self explanatory. And perhaps in some ways, maybe it is the perfect way to describe the aura Joseph Burgess carried around with him. I mean, the man was for sure a serial killer. And it's almost certain that he committed other violent crimes while he was on the run for nearly 40 years. According to more reporting by Koat and the Sacramento Bee, the gun he used to kill Joe Harris was later determined to belong to a 50 year old man named David Ely, who'd been reported missing in the Jemez Mountains in 2006. In August 2009, nearly a month after Joe Harris was killed, David's remains were discovered at a campsite in the mountains and positively identified through dental records. An autopsy later concluded he'd been shot in his torso. His manner of death was ruled as a homicide, and Joseph Burgess is considered the prime suspect. Unfortunately, though, we'll truly never know more than that because Joseph is deceased and can't be interviewed. Upon learning that, David was no longer considered a missing person, but rather a murder victim. His family released a statement that said, quote, david was a wonderful son, brother and uncle, and a devoted family member. We loved him and we miss him. We grieve for Sergeant Joe Harris family. We appreciate the work of the authorities to bring the case to resolution. End quote. Additional coverage by NBC News stated that after Joseph's death death authorities from several different states got in touch with New Mexico investigators inquiring about him and his known movements. Law enforcement believed he may have kept a diary with people's names in it that he'd come across during his nomadic life, and they wanted to compare that list with known cold cases. The Albuquerque Journal also reported that officers in New Mexico took to the woods after Joseph's death to try and locate a hideout he was suspected of staying at. They wanted to recover items he'd stolen from cabin owners and search for other possible firearms he'd used in crimes. Whether or not they found that hideout is unclear from the available source material. But speaking of unresolved questions, I know a question many of you probably have for me is, wait, what about Lindsay Cutshaw and Jason Allen's unsolved murders in California? Was Joseph Burgess responsible for those, too? The answer is no. He was posthumously cleared in that case. And you'll find out exactly why next week when I cover their story right here on the Park Predators feed. Park Predators is an Audio Chuck production. You can view a list of all the source material for this episode on our website parkpredators.com and you can also follow park predators on Instagram arcpredators. I think Chuck would approve.
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