S9 E1: Chrissy

Summary

Someone Knows Something: Season 9, Episode 1 – "Chrissy"

Introduction

In the premiere episode of Season 9 of the acclaimed CBC true crime podcast Someone Knows Something, host David Ridgen delves into the mysterious disappearance of Christine "Chrissy" Heron from Hanover, Ontario. This episode revisits the haunting case, exploring the enduring pain of Chrissy's family, the initial investigation's shortcomings, and the resurgence of hope through a confession that ultimately unraveled. Through intimate interviews and meticulous storytelling, Ridgen seeks to uncover the truth and bring closure to a case that has lingered for over three decades.

Background: The Life and Disappearance of Christine Heron

Christine Heron, affectionately known as Chrissy, was a 15-year-old book-loving teenager from Hanover, Ontario. On May 18, 1993, just a week after her 15th birthday, Chrissy left her home in the springtime to attend school but was never seen again. Her disappearance has since remained one of Ontario's most perplexing unsolved cases.

Initial Investigation and Family's Struggle

From the outset, Chrissy's disappearance was met with frustration and disbelief. Her mother, Mary Ann, vividly recalls the day Chrissy vanished:

"She walked out, saying, 'See you later,' and slammed the door."
— Mary Ann Heron ([06:15])

Despite Chrissy's known struggles with direction and her occasional tendency to skip classes, her family and friends rarely considered her running away. The local police, however, were quick to suggest that she might have simply left home, discounting the possibility of foul play. This dismissive attitude left Mary Ann and Chrissy's younger brother, Sean, grappling with uncertainty and the constant hope that Chrissy would return.

Interviews and Personal Accounts

Ridgen conducts heartfelt interviews with key figures connected to Chrissy, shedding light on her personality and relationships:

• Mary Ann Heron describes Chrissy as a "loner" who didn't invest much in appearances or social activities but had a deep love for reading and outdoor activities like frog catching and fishing.

• Sean Heron, Chrissy's brother, shares the complexities of their relationship. Despite occasional strains, he remembers Chrissy helping him with tasks like replacing spark plugs in his car:

  "One of his last memories of Chrissy is her helping him replace the spark plugs in his car."
  — Sean Heron ([10:20])

• Phyllis Sacks, Chrissy's grandmother, reminisces about their close bond:

  "We always had a good relationship. If she just wanted to talk, she'd call me."
  — Phyllis Sacks ([10:59])

• Cindy Galen McPherson, a school friend, provides insights into Chrissy's social interactions and potential vulnerabilities:

  "I think somebody picked her up because she would have gotten into a car with somebody."
  — Cindy Galen McPherson ([27:40])

These personal accounts paint a picture of Chrissy as a shy but spirited individual, deeply connected to her family and a few close friends.

Interaction with Police and Investigation Challenges

The Heron family's relationship with the local Hanover police was fraught with tension. Mary Ann recalls the dismissive attitude of the authorities:

"Nobody had seen her or heard from her... They made us go in the opposite direction."
— Mary Ann Heron ([13:34])

Efforts by the family to conduct their own searches were met with resistance from the police, who were concerned about disrupting local events such as an antique car show. The lack of effective collaboration and the initial reluctance to treat Chrissy's disappearance as a potential abduction hindered the investigation's progress.

In 1999, six years after Chrissy's disappearance, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) were finally brought in to assist with the case. However, despite renewed efforts, including DNA analysis and the establishment of a reward fund, no significant breakthroughs emerged.

New Developments: Confession and Reopening the Case

A pivotal moment in the case occurred when a man named Anthony confessed to killing Chrissy at an August 2004 party. This confession initially seemed like a breakthrough, with the Crown attorney expressing confidence in securing a conviction:

"It was a slam dunk. At one point he was 90% sure he was going to be convicted."
— Crown Attorney ([33:42])

However, further investigation revealed inconsistencies and raised doubts about the validity of Anthony's confession. David Ridgen shares how this development complicated the family's pursuit of justice, especially after delineating that the confession didn't lead to a clear resolution.

Confronting the Confessor

In a powerful and emotional segment, Ridgen confronts Anthony, the man who confessed to Chrissy's murder. This confrontation underscores the enduring trauma and the intricate web of emotions surrounding the case. The confession, though seemingly definitive, left more questions than answers, highlighting the complexities of the criminal justice system and the challenges faced by families seeking closure.

Conclusion and Current Status

As of the episode's release on November 6, 2024, the Christine Heron case remains unresolved. The Heron family continues to seek answers, holding onto hope that the truth about Chrissy's disappearance will eventually surface. Ridgen emphasizes the ongoing nature of this investigation, promising listeners a comprehensive exploration of all facets in future episodes.

Mary Ann Heron poignantly summarizes the family's plight:

"I want it solved. Justice is solved."
— Mary Ann Heron ([23:51])

The episode concludes with Ridgen's commitment to uncovering the truth, inviting listeners to join him in the quest for justice for Christine Heron.

Notable Quotes

• Mary Ann Heron: "She wasn't someone who was hung up on appearances, who was doing what with whom." [04:47]
• Phyllis Sacks: "It's something you can't never forget. No matter what, you can't forget about it." [12:28]
• Sean Heron: "Do I wish anyone to ever go through a process like that? No, it's hell." [20:00]
• Cindy Galen McPherson: "If she was still alive, like, for sure she would have phoned me." [27:38]_

Closing Thoughts

Season 9's first episode of Someone Knows Something sets a somber and reflective tone, engaging listeners with the tragic story of Christine Heron. Through meticulous research and compassionate storytelling, David Ridgen honors Chrissy's memory while persistently seeking the truth. This episode serves not only as a recounting of a missing person's case but also as a profound exploration of the impact such a disappearance has on a community and a family.

For those seeking to understand the depths of unresolved true crime cases and the relentless pursuit of justice, this episode is a compelling and essential listen.

Transcript

[Kathleen Goldthar]

Between 1973 and 1986, the Golden State Killer terrorized Californians. He scoped out the homes he would enter. Police would find cigarettes under a tree by a window. So he was frequently there at the window, in the backyard, in the dark. I'm Kathleen Goldthar and this week on Crime why it took police more than 40 years to identify the Golden State Killer. Find Crime Story wherever you get your podcasts.

[David Ridgeon]

This is a CBC podcast. I'm at another river, this one flowing through a southwestern Ontario town on a clear but darkening springtime evening. I recorded these nature sounds well over a decade ago for a TV documentary using the same microphone I now use for the podcast. This thing always seems to be standing between me and the unknown, somehow oddly comforting, just crouching at the riverside here in a park in Hanover, Ontario. This is the Soggine river, which the mouth of the sogging actually empties out into Lake huron. That's about 60 kilometers downstream. I think the river's flowing clear, but there's lots of debris kind of pushed against the shoreline. There's obviously a pretty high floodplain here. There's an old gazebo, a swing set. There's an old gate. I remember focusing on the sounds these things made here. Chains on a swing, muddy logs at the high water mark, brushy grasses along the path, and that metal gate. I wonder if these objects or the sounds they made ever held any actual comfort for anyone. At one time, this park was Christine Heron's favorite place in the whole world. I have been told if I'd been here before May 18, 1993, I might have seen her down here catching frogs or fishing. Nobody here today, just this path next to the river. The sounds I recorded here don't reveal any secrets, but I feel pulled back to places like this again and again, pulled back into long term investigations, their grief and the hope. Even after some questions have been answered, there's always more and more difficult ones. Over 30 years ago, just one week after her 15th birthday, Christine Heron disappeared. And her full story has yet to be told. I'm David Ridgeon and this is Someone Knows Something Season 9 the Christine Heron Case Episode 1 Chrissy I first learned about Christine in the late 2000s as I was scanning through some of the many unsolved cases out of Ontario. I was preparing to make a documentary series for CBC Television's news program the National. I sorted Chrissy's case into a much smaller pile, a short list of sorts, cases that for some reason spoke to me. We gathered here this morning for A celebration of life, the life of Christine Hero I'd learned that a memorial service was being held at a church 17 years after Christine disappeared. So I traveled west to Hanover in the springtime of 2010.

[Minister]

Let us pray.

[David Ridgeon]

Loving God, look with mercy on those who mourn for Christine, who has died by the violence of our fallen world. Be with us as we struggle with the mysteries of life and death. Framed photos of Christine in curly dark hair and glasses sit on a small table at the front of the church next to the minister. There are others sad people whom I assume are her family standing close by, including the woman that I know is her mother, Mary Ann.

[Minister]

Described by her mom as a bit.

[David Ridgeon]

Of a loner, Christine didn't have a lot of close friends in our culture. Her loner mentality meant that she was viewed as being different.

[Minister]

She wasn't someone who was hung up.

[David Ridgeon]

On appearances, who was doing what with whom. She had other things to do, other things. This minister's words, his impressions of Christine, fill me with a chill of sadness. Tears suddenly roll down my face for this young person I'd never met. And right there I decide that I'm going to do this case.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

This is the last place Christy had lived.

[David Ridgeon]

I would take several more months of information gathering before I contacted Chrissy's mother, Mary Ann.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

That front window was the living room, and that's where her and I had spent the morning together, watching television with her laying her head on my lap.

[David Ridgeon]

I've got Mary Ann framed up in my documentary camera. On a cool, windy day, pale skinned in glasses with meticulous makeup and shorter hair, Mary Ann stands in front of the small brick two story she'd been renting back in the spring of 1993, at the time Chrissy disappeared. Mary Ann gestures to where she says Chrissy walked away from home that day.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

And then she left to go to school. She walked down the other side of the street and around the corner and that was the last I've seen of her.

[David Ridgeon]

Marianne says she watched from an upstairs window as Chrissy turned the corner. On the way, Marianne thought, to grade nine classes at John Diefenbaker High School, not that far away. It was sometime between 1:30 and 2pm Chrissy had not felt well that morning, so stayed home. She'd been known to skip classes and didn't want to go to school that afternoon either. She and her mom had argued about it, and Mary Ann suggested that perhaps Chrissy should get a job instead. Chrissy walked out, saying, see you later, and slammed the door. She was Wearing blue jeans, a jean jacket, black running shoes, plastic glasses with a broken nose piece on one side, and possibly a silver bracelet.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

She was in a good mood that morning, but she was mad that she had to go to school. She even we were in the process of packing and moving to another place, and she says, well, even let me stay home and I'll pack all the time instead of going that day. But I said, you can't. Truant officers waiting.

[David Ridgeon]

There were other tensions in the household at the time as well. Chrissy had been deeply troubled by her parents divorce years earlier. Her father, Lorne, lived in western Canada at the time of Chrissy's disappearance and has since passed away. Chrissy got along with her younger brother named Sean, but did not always see eye to eye with her stepfather, who was also named Sean. Sean Russworm, who was then age 26.

[Minister]

Well, she didn't like keeping her room clean. She's kind of a tomboy.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

Yeah.

[David Ridgeon]

Russworm is a large man in a T shirt sporting a mustache and smudgy blue line tattoos on each shoulder. Back at their current home, he and Marianne are settled into a couch. Two Chihuahuas named Chloe and angel sit on their laps.

[Minister]

As long as they behave, then maybe they can stay.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

You know, the best thing to do is to hand her to you and let you hold her there. Angel. See?

[David Ridgeon]

Marianne hands me angel, the extra small one so she can get used to me and stop barking. I walk around the room a bit with the dog in hand, looking at some photos of Chrissy spread out on a coffee table with a yellow lunch pail on her first day of kindergarten. Blowing out birthday candles in red ribboned pigtails and Christmas tree moments. I was gonna try something with that light behind you.

[Minister]

Okay.

[David Ridgeon]

Okay, good. Yeah. The dogs seem calm. And we start talking about Chrissy.

[Minister]

She liked to take stuff apart when.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

Her and I put it back together to see what made it work. She loved kids, real bookworm. Loved going for walks into cricks, catching frogs and what have you.

[David Ridgeon]

I see Chrissy seeming to watch me through her big glasses in the photos. I love those glasses.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

She hated them.

[Minister]

There was times where other people would pick on her younger brother Sean, and then Chrissy be right there sticking up for her brother. Chrissy was right there and punched out a couple of boys that were picking on Sean. This was in public school already, so she could hold her own. She was feisty and when she needed to be.

[David Ridgeon]

Sean admits that his relationship with Chrissy was sometimes strained. And he says that he is bipolar and sometimes can Be aggressive. But he says that one of his last memories of Chrissy is her helping him replace the spark plugs in his car.

[Minister]

When we started to get closer, she'd come out to the garage and asked me if she could use my tools. Yeah, they're right there. If I go to help? No, no. She wanted to do it herself, but.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

She wasn't one to go out to parties or anything like that. Like, she'd come home a couple times and said, well, they're drinking. So I laughed.

[Minister]

She left.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

She was against smoking, she was against drinking.

[Minister]

Told her we were really proud of her for that.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

Yeah, she was close to her grandma, my mom.

[Minister]

Very close.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

Yeah, they spent a lot of time together.

[Phyllis Sacks]

We always had a good relationship. For any reason. If she just wanted to talk, she'd call me. She used to spend a lot of.

[David Ridgeon]

Time out there with me, Grandma Phyllis Sacks at her home.

[Phyllis Sacks]

And then 1 93, we moved to Guelph. That's what upset me so bad, because I felt she. If she's out there, she's going to try and reach me. Yes, she always did if she wanted something or other. And I thought when I move away, she won't have my phone number. And that's upset me. And once I moved away, I couldn't even look at her pictures anymore for a long time. It really upset me bad.

[Minister]

It says Grandma.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

No, it says Grandpa.

[Minister]

It says Grandma. Grandpa.

[David Ridgeon]

Wow.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

Thanks all.

[David Ridgeon]

C R. Well, thanks all.

[Cindy Galen McPherson]

I thought it said Grandma.

[David Ridgeon]

Huh. Christine sits around a Christmas tree with her family in 1990. I watched the grainy archival video as she quietly makes sure that everyone has a gift to open before she does. Then the footage shifts to a Santa theme park and Christine's pretending to be a reindeer in front of a big red sleigh. A mischievous strength to her every move. Just three years before she walks off into oblivion. Whoa.

[Phyllis Sacks]

I got a new sewing machine. I remember bringing her out and letting her use it. She made an apron the one time she was out. And we'd bake and we'd just play games. We always used to go do worm hunting, picking with her too. And she'd go fishing. I just couldn't believe it when she disappeared and she didn't call me. It's something you can't never forget. I don't know. No matter what, you can't forget about it.

[David Ridgeon]

Marianne reported Chrissy missing to hanover police at 9:21pm on the day she disappeared, May 18, 1993. Chrissy was known to have a poor sense of direction and would get lost easily. But despite this and her habit of skipping classes or sleeping over at friends houses, Mary Ann and others say that Chrissy would always call home and never go far.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

When she didn't show home, I started phoning her friends and my family just to see if maybe she went to one of her friend's house after school or something.

[David Ridgeon]

The story of Christine's case, at least in the beginning, is a familiar one. A teenager leaves home, supposed to be somewhere school, but never makes it. Local police, investigatively inexperienced, finding nothing and flying in the face of what a mother knows.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

And nobody had seen her or heard from her. So then the family and I, we started going out and looking for her, looking in parks and in the area just to see, you know, if she was someplace else and just hadn't come home yet. We had phoned the police and they said it was too soon yet to do anything. What we actually got from the Hanover police chief himself was that his daughter runs away a lot, takes off for days. So mine probably did the same thing. So she never showed home. And I sat up all night and waited for her and worried. And I even had the feeling too, all along that she was down there by the park somewhere. I kept trying to get them to search more and the church and I, we even got together and formed our own search and we wanted to search down there and they wouldn't let us. They made us go in the opposite direction.

[Minister]

And the town police was very upset when we set that up. They were not impressed that you had.

[David Ridgeon]

Set up a search?

[Kathleen Goldthar]

Yes, yes. They didn't want the public to panic.

[Minister]

We were told if we went anywhere near the park that weekend, the very first weekend she disappeared, there would be consequences and repercussions.

[David Ridgeon]

Who told you that?

[Kathleen Goldthar]

The plates.

[David Ridgeon]

There had been an antique car show on at the park that coming Victoria Day weekend, and police were concerned about disrupting it. According to Mary Ann, the Hanover police and fire department did eventually coordinate and conduct a single search using volunteers on May 23, 1993, five days after she disappeared. The search encompassed the Hanover park, the south shore of the Saugeen river going east, and the town water tower. No trace of Christine was found.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

I think everybody just wanted to believe she was a runaway. Nobody would actually think of her as something had happened, not in a small town, not to their town. So everybody just told us, no, she's a runaway, she'll come back when she's ready. Even when we were putting up posters, people would take him down. They just didn't want to Believe it.

[Minister]

The town police took them down.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

Yeah, yeah. But nobody would believe it. I actually got phone calls from people, you know, stop making such a fuss, she'll come back. Yeah.

[David Ridgeon]

Did you ever cast any suspicion or doubt, suspicious of people in town or anything?

[Kathleen Goldthar]

Nope.

[David Ridgeon]

Marianne and Sean didn't have any suspects, but almost a year later, they had to be ruled out as suspects themselves.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

Yes, we all were. At one point they asked us to take polygraphs and I agreed just to rule out being a suspect so that they would get on with the case and find the person that did it. I did it willingly, knowing that it would clear me and would help the case. I would have done anything at that time. And you went through two of them?

[Minister]

I went through two. The first one was fairly basic. It didn't bother me too much. The second one was at a very tense time in my life. My employer at the time was on strike. In 1999, I had the interview over at Mile Force Opp Station and I believe it was October of 1999. And I was interviewed by one of their forensic people from Kingston, supposedly one of their head people. It was very, very intense. It was about a four to five hour process. And they accused me of many different ways of murdering Christine, strangling, rape, shooting her, drowning her, and just everything they could to push my buttons. What pushed my buttons the most during this process? I know that they were videotaping and recording the session. They mentioned that they had Paul Bernardo in another room. They wanted to know what my thoughts were.

[David Ridgeon]

Paul Bernardo was a serial rapist and murderer in Ontario in the 1980s and 1990s. He and his partner, Carla Homolka, horribly murdered two young women. Bernardo had been arrested and jailed months before Chrissy disappeared. So using his name here was a tactic to get Sean talking.

[Minister]

And with myself already being bipolar and things that were going on in my life at that time, I completely lost it. I jumped out of my seat. I seem to remember throwing a couple of things around. I just said, let me act the son of a bitch because only one of us is going to walk out of the room alive. I completely lost control. They tried to calm me down. I shook them off. All I had in my mind was looking for Paul Bernardo. I wanted Adam and I wanted him dead. And that's the last I can remember.

[David Ridgeon]

Russworm had been at work until 3pm in Durham, Ontario at the time Chrissy disappeared about a 15 minute drive away from Hanover. After work, he drove to Mary Ann's where he heard that Christine had left for school. Shortly before he arrived. And what did they tell you about the results of either of those polygraphs that you took, Sean?

[Minister]

That I was clear as far as they were concerned, I had nothing to do with it. But they said they had to do what they had to do to prove that I was not guilty.

[David Ridgeon]

Sean and Marianne did pass their first polygraph tests, according to documents, and neither was ever arrested or charged in Christine's case.

[Minister]

Do I wish anyone to ever go through a process like that? No, it's hell. It's not a very nice process. But they did everything that they needed to do and I commend them for doing it. I just still wish that we had something to bring justice and bring Christine home.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

I did know before the night was over she was dead, though. Call it mother's intuition or whatever, I knew she was gone. Hi, I'm Christy Lee, the creator of Canadian True Crime.

[David Ridgeon]

Join me for an immersive deep dive.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

Into some of the most thought provoking.

[David Ridgeon]

True crime cases in Canada. Using facts curated from court documents, inquiry reports and news archives, I carefully unravel and analyze each case, exposing the pitfalls of the criminal justice system that everyone.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

Needs to know about. Find Canadian True Crime wherever you listen to podcasts or visit canadiantruecrime.

[David Ridgeon]

Cat There weren't many Christine Heron news reports to look at. Early on in my investigation, items I could find talked about the local Hanover police making no headway in Christine's case, claiming even a year later that there was no evidence of foul play. Even though Chrissy had left her house without her ID, any extra clothing, or the $80 in birthday money she had just received, police continued to suggest that she was a runaway, that there were sightings of her. Christine was in Toronto with skinheads who had been seen in Hanover. She dyed her hair blonde and shaved the side of her head. Or she'd left home to go live with her father, Lauren, out west. But she never appeared there or Toronto or was seen anywhere else again. After May 18, 1993, Marianne and I.

[Minister]

Spent a lot of time. The first six months to a year we went Kitchener, London, Toronto. Where else did we go, dear? I can't even remember.

[David Ridgeon]

Even if police weren't looking for Christine, Marianne and Sean were trying their best.

[Minister]

Every chance we had, going to places that we probably we checked, shelters we went into. I'm not sure if it's a halfway house or a drug house or what it was.

[David Ridgeon]

The media would report on these supposed sightings of Chrissy and help to generate more rumors. And to make matters worse, according To Mary Ann, the few articles that were written were often filled with inaccuracy.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

I found that whenever you tried to tell them something, they twisted it into something else. It was never what you were trying to explain. They always just took bits and pieces and made their own sentences.

[Minister]

It wasn't always the truth that we had said, so it became frustrating and upsetting to the point where we just had to refuse to speak with them. We were so scared of jeopardizing Christine's case that we shut out all reporters for quite a while. Until now.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

I've kept most of the clippings for the newspapers all these years. Got those.

[Minister]

They're here somewhere.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

The posters. Yeah. It's a cool girl. Yes.

[David Ridgeon]

So do you think there's a chance in this case still, or what's your. And justice.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

I want it solved. Justice insolved.

[Minister]

I think there's still a chance. No, I hope. I hope this will bring her home.

[David Ridgeon]

Well, we'll do our best.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

No barking.

[Minister]

Sure you will.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

But Hanover does not feel like home anymore. She went missing.

[Minister]

No, not to us.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

It's not our home.

[Cindy Galen McPherson]

We had the same home room in grade nine, so the only desk was right beside her. So that's how I met her. And from there, we pretty much were, like, fast friends. Like, Christine was very shy.

[David Ridgeon]

Cindy Galen McPherson, one of Christine Heron's school friends.

[Cindy Galen McPherson]

I mean, if you didn't know her, it took a long time to kind of get to know her. And a lot of people like to pick on her because she was really easy to pick on.

[David Ridgeon]

How so?

[Cindy Galen McPherson]

If somebody said, well, why don't you go do this? She'd go and do it because she wanted to be accepted. People would, like, throw in a locker. She'd just stay there until, like, we were gone. And I'd come and be like, okay, you can get out now. She really wasn't one for conflict, either. If people were fighting or if there was a chance that there could be fighting, she was out of there. We'd hang out pretty much every weekend. The day she disappeared, I phoned her house. Then her mom answered. And I'm like, is Christy, though? She's like, no, she hasn't gotten home from school yet. I thought it was kind of weird. And I'm like, well, she didn't. She wasn't at school. And her mom's like, oh, okay. And then I think it was about two hours later I got another phone call. And she's like, are you sure Christy isn't there? And I'm like, no.

[David Ridgeon]

Cindy. And her father drove the roads that Chrissy might have traveled to get to their farm.

[Cindy Galen McPherson]

We didn't see her. So my dad's like, well, we can't stay out, you know. So I went home and I phoned her mom and I said, well, we didn't find her on any of the roads coming from Hanover.

[David Ridgeon]

Cindy had spoken to Chrissy on the phone the night before she disappeared. They were planning the May long weekend where Chrissy was supposed to come to Cindy's farm.

[Cindy Galen McPherson]

So, like, I was the last person to talk to her, and everything seemed fine. She was excited. She loved being at my house because of all the animals and everything like that. Being May, we had baby goats and sheep and calves and pigs, and she was excited to come and see them. And I didn't really think anything was up.

[David Ridgeon]

Okay, so the police then.

[Cindy Galen McPherson]

Did they talk to you? Every couple of years they come and they try.

[David Ridgeon]

Cindy says she spoke to police several times over the years and that sometimes they would insist that Cindy knew more, that she knew where Chrissy was, but she didn't. The best Cindy could do was tell police about what Chrissy was like, her routines and habits, certain places she liked to go.

[Cindy Galen McPherson]

Chrissy used to go and sit on the swings at the park and just think. She said that's what she liked to do and she wanted to think was go and sit on the swing. Like, Chrissy was a very good friend to me. And it kind of hurts me to know that she's missed out on a lot of stuff that I've gotten to do.

[David Ridgeon]

What's your theory? Everyone's got one.

[Cindy Galen McPherson]

I think somebody picked her up because she would have gotten into a car with somebody.

[David Ridgeon]

You think that she would have gotten.

[Cindy Galen McPherson]

Into a stranger's car if they were nice to her? Probably. She was, like, just striving for some sort of adult approval. So if you were older and you were nice to her, she would, like, move. Having a nurse to keep that like that. I don't even know the word.

[David Ridgeon]

I'm looking for that kind of attention.

[Cindy Galen McPherson]

Yeah, to keep that attention on her.

[David Ridgeon]

So you think she got into a car and you think that it was the wrong car?

[Cindy Galen McPherson]

I honestly do.

[David Ridgeon]

It should be noted here that some feel Chrissy would be shy of strangers or even run away from them. If she were alone, for sure she.

[Cindy Galen McPherson]

Would have phoned me. If she was still alive, like, for sure she would have phoned me. And I kind of knew deep down, I had the feeling. I'm like, she's not around anymore. She's dead.

[David Ridgeon]

I'm sitting in the passenger seat as Sean and Marianne give me a short tour of Hanover. Main street, the river, the school, the park. Population about 7,700. Hanover rose and then fell as a furniture making capital of Canada, with much of that business gone now overseas, a town at the time of her disappearance down on its luck, but where Chrissy called home. Sean and Marianne moved not long after Chrissy disappeared to shelter themselves from what sounds like an onslaught of neighbors.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

They were very rude with us.

[Minister]

A lot of negativity.

[Kathleen Goldthar]

Yeah, I actually had phone calls. You get a lot of calls in the middle of the night. We're hanging up. So we had the Hanover police put a trace on our phone so they could try and find out who was doing the phone calls, but they never did.

[David Ridgeon]

A brief flurry of police activity surrounded a call that a boy going into grade 10 named Mark Kuntz received in July 1993, a couple of months after Chrissy disappeared. The call, Kuntz told his parents and police came from someone who said they were Chrissy. The girl on the other end said she was calling from a payphone and that she was near one of the abandoned factories in town. The person on the phone said she had run out of money and asked Kuntz to meet her behind a shed near the school. She also told him that she wanted to have sex with him. Kuntz says the person sounded like Chrissy. But when he went to the shed with police standing by, nobody appeared. Later that night, another call came in where the girl's voice asked Kuntz if he had told police. He said he had, and the voice said, thanks a lot and hung up. Kuntz admitted later that he had previously received crank calls on other topics and also that he had not heard Chrissy's voice for well over a year and barely knew her or saw her even then.

[Minister]

We had asked for the OPP to be able to step in. We pleaded with the Hanover police to bring the OPP in. They said, no, it's their jurisdiction. They don't have to bring an outside source in. And it turned out to be six years later before we were able to have the OPP come in.

[David Ridgeon]

In 1999, Hanover police requested the assistance of the Ontario Provincial Police on Chrissy's case. At that time, a cataloging of the case was undertaken by the OPP and new interviews were conducted. Along with re interviews, DNA samples were taken from Marianne and a profile obtained for Chrissy from a tube of her lipstick. A Reward Fund for $30,000 was renewed on the 10 year anniversary of Chrissy's disappearance in 2003. One of the original investigating officers on the case, Stanley Edwards, is charged with several criminal offenses, including robbing a bank, forcible confinement and sexual assault. None of the charges were connected to Chrissy's case. Just move back now. These dogs will be a nice and quiet forest. Did you ever receive any documents from the OPP about the case?

[Kathleen Goldthar]

No. The OPP wouldn't let us know anything.

[David Ridgeon]

And since that time, we're now in 2011 here. What has the OPP done to your knowledge? How have they communicated to you?

[Kathleen Goldthar]

They followed up on some other leads, but we've never been told any results from those. We haven't heard from them. So as far as I know, the case is closed.

[David Ridgeon]

I'll get into telling you what I know myself. I'm going to leave you with some today that you guys can read. Back at Marianne and Sean's place, I share some documents with them that the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General has sent me. The basic story that they tell is known to Marianne and Sean, but the crucial details have remained hidden and out of reach until now. Details about a local man named Anthony who had a frustrating night at an August 2004 party. He'd had a few drinks and then confessed to killing Christine Herron. This season on Someone Knows Something, the Christine Heron Case, the Crown attorney told.

[Minister]

Us it was a slam dunk. At one point he was 90% sure he was going to be convicted.

[David Ridgeon]

Listen to me very carefully right now. You're under arrest for the murder of Christine Herron because you told that police.

[Minister]

Officer that you killed her.

[David Ridgeon]

This story here in Moo Me Till the Day I Die Fucking doesn't read these lips. Did you know Christine? Did you kill Christine? Why did you confess to her murder? Someone Knows Something is hosted, written and produced by me, David Ridgeon. The series is also produced by Katie Swires. Sound design by Evan Kelly. Natalia Ferguson is our transcriber. Emily Cannell is our digital producer. Chris Oak is our story editor. Our executive producer is Cecil Fernandez. Tanya Springer is the senior manager and Arif Noorani is the director of CBC Podcasts. If you want to help new listeners discover the show, please rate and review wherever you listen. Find us on Facebook by searching Someone Knows Something or on instagrambcpodcasts. You can hear next week's episode now by searching for the CBC Podcasts channel on YouTube. If you're looking for more investigations, check out the past seasons of Someone Knows Something from a deadly bomb hidden inside a flashlight to two teenagers killed by the kkk. There are eight seasons of Someone Knows Something you can binge listen to right now. Wherever you get your part Podcasts. Tune in next week for an all new episode of Someone Knows Something. Or you can binge listen the whole series ad free by subscribing to our channel on Apple Podcasts. Just click on the link in the show description. For more CBC Podcasts, go to CBC CA Podcasts.