Rosedale Killer: The Summer Tragedy

Nicci Ruth dives into the 1977 Rosedale murders, a chilling Fraser Valley case involving four young victims, one survivor, a stolen truck, and a bizarre kidnapping plot that was only uncovered after police followed the evidence from Ferry Island to Vancouver.

Source List

Sep 07, 1977, page 26 - The Chilliwack Progress at The Chilliwack Progress

Oct 23, 1985, page 23 - The Chilliwack Progress at The Chilliwack Progress

The Old Man in the rain | Writing Forums

Richard Is Living With ALS: Bert Menger

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/april-18-1978-page-1-44/docview/2380055448/se-2 (sentencing)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/april-11-1978-page-1-42/docview/2380152306/se-2 (kidnap plot)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/october-6-1977-page-35-50/docview/2380150875/se-2 (fit to stand trial)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/april-4-1978-page-10-40/docview/2380246205/se-2 (evidence and testimony)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/september-1-1977-page-34/docview/2380084120/se-2

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/september-2-1977-page-1-78/docview/2380193339/se-2 (tipster)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/may-6-1980-page-4-48/docview/2380240809/se-2 (appeal)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/april-12-1978-page-1-40/docview/2380092065/se-2 (undercover cop)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/april-6-1978-page-4-36/docview/2380202456/se-2 (John and Yvonne testimony)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/april-5-1978-page-4-40/docview/2380071497/se-2 (fisherman testimony)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/september-3-1977-page-1-84/docview/2380156915/se-2 (pic of Walt)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/april-6-1978-page-27-68/docview/2244334418/se-2 (gun in home)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/april-11-1978-page-1-76/docview/2244362962/se-2 (kidnap plot)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/april-14-1978-page-23-126/docview/2244362997/se-2 (family life)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/march-8-1997-page-17-124/docview/2241953056/se-2 (Walter suicide)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/april-18-1978-page-2-68/docview/2244336868/se-2 (whole story)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/april-15-1978-page-4-113/docview/2380182101/se-2 (mental illness)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/july-21-1977-page-6-34/docview/2380079466/se-2 (autopsy)

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/july-20-1977-page-29-40/docview/2380242400/se-2

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/august-22-1977-page-30/docview/2380160071/se-2

https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/august-5-1977-page-10-80/docview/2380259732/se-2 (Leola)

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hey everyone, welcome to Valley of Secrets. I'm Nikki Ruth. If you're new here, welcome. I'm happy to have you join. Today's case takes us back to the summer of 1977 in Rosedale, British Columbia, a quiet community between Chilliwack and Agassiz. It starts on a warm July evening near the Fraser River, where a group of teenagers go down to Fairy Island to hang out, listen to music, drink some beer and rum, and spend time together. The typical things that teenagers do, I was one of them once upon a time. But by the end of the night, four of them are dead and one manages to escape. But when police arrive, they don't find the bodies right away. They don't even find the truck that the group arrived in. And what police eventually learn is beyond belief. This is the story of the Rosedale killer. Fairy Island sits along the Fraser River near Rosedale, which is just outside of Chilliwack, British Columbia. The area has long been known as a popular fishing spot and a hangout destination as it has public access to the Fraser River. So many people, even today, they go there to fish, drink, or sit by a campfire along the river in the evenings. The area also carries a much deeper history. Fairy Island is located beside Xiam First Nation Reserve Land and holds special significance to the First Nations peoples. And in July of 1997, it was also a place where a group of teens go because it feels quiet, familiar, and safe enough to spend the evening. So let's go back to the evening of July 18th, 1977. It is a warm evening on Fairy Island. The sun has set at about 8.56 p.m., but the sky is not yet fully dark. There is still enough light to make out movement along the riverbank. Brothers Alan and Doug Shepherd are nearby, trout fishing along the Fraser River. They are roughly 150 feet from where a group of teenagers has gathered near the south end of the Agassiz Rosedale Bridge. The teens are not doing anything out of the ordinary. They are hanging out by the river, drinking, talking, and listening to music from a tape deck in a truck. Then at about 9 40 p.m., everything changes. Alan and Doug hear gunfire coming from nearby. Because of the thick brush, they cannot see exactly what is happening, but it sounds very close. Then they hear a young girl crying and pleading for her life. They quickly gather their fishing gear and start driving out of the area in their red car. As they are leaving, a teenage boy comes running out of the brush onto the road. He looks panicked and tells them someone is shooting at his friends and his brother. His name is Adrian Menger, but he goes by Ed. He is 15 years old. Alan and Doug get him into their vehicle and take him to a nearby farmhouse so he can call police. Ed explains to police that earlier that evening, he had gone to Fairy Island with his older brother, 19-year-old Eggbert Menger, who went by Bert, and three of their friends. Evert Denhertog, his brother Jan, who went by Johnny, and Leola Gullicher, and they have all been shot. Leola Corinne Gulliker was 16 years old and lived in Rosedale. She was born on January 14, 1961, to John and Cory, and she was the oldest of four children. Her sister Marilyn later shared that Leola enjoyed sewing, gardening, flower arranging, and being in the outdoors, and she also loved animals. Her mother described her as a good girl who was always happy and had an outgoing personality. Ever Den Herthog was 19 years old. He was born on November 6, 1957 in the Netherlands, to Barnd and Yenneka. Ed was the oldest of 13 children, and his brother Johnny was the fourth born in the family. The Den Hertogs came from strong Dutch roots, as Barnd and Yenneka immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1962, just after Johnny was born. The family settled into Chilliwac and went on to have another nine children. The Den Hertog family and the Menger family attended the same church and were known to be friends. So the boys, along with Leola, actually hung out quite often. This wasn't something out of the ordinary. And by the summer of 1977, Evert and Leola had been dating for almost a year. In fact, the following week would have been their one-year anniversary. They were young, but they had already talked about the future. Marriage, building a life together, and that is one of the things that makes this case so painful. They were a young couple with plans and a life ahead of them that they were already beginning to imagine together. Johnny Den Hertog was 16 years old and was hanging out with his older brother that night and their friends. I can't imagine the pain that the Den Hertog family went through. To lose one child is absolutely heartbreaking and unfathomable, but to lose two in one night is unimaginable. The fourth victim that night was Egbert Menger. Bert was 19 years old and was from Abbotsford, BC, and he was the older brother of 15-year-old Ed Menger, the only survivor of the attack. Bert was also a student in the Business Administration Program at Fraser Valley College, which is now the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford. And earlier that day, he had stopped by the workplace of his friend Richard McBride. Richard later wrote that Bert asked him if he wanted to come out with them later that evening and have drinks down by the Fraser River. Richard could not leave work early that day, but after work, he did drive around the places where they usually hung out, trying to find them. But he had no success, and so he went home. By the next day, Richard would realize how close he had come to possibly being another victim. Police arrive at the farmhouse within minutes. From what Ed tells police, the plan for that night had been simple. A group of five friends were going to the island to hang out. They arrived at Fairy Island around 8 15 p.m. in Evert and Hertog's green and blackford pickup truck. Around 9.05, Leola's cousin and his friends stopped by for about 20 minutes, chatting with the group before leaving. After that, the group was alone again, or at least they thought they were. Ed later explains that he had been talking with Evert shortly before the shooting started. He had already had two beers and a small amount of rum, and nothing about the evening seemed especially threatening. Then Ed hears the first shot. He describes it as loud and very close. At first he thinks it might have been a shotgun blast, but later he realizes it was likely the sound of a hunting rifle fired from close range. He turns and he sees a man coming toward the group with a rifle, and Ed runs. Adrenaline takes over his body and goes into survival mode. He runs left along the riverbank toward Ferry Road, hoping to find some help. Behind him, the shooting continues. He says that he heard about six to seven shots, and he also could hear the voices and shouting from his friends, and then eventually silence. And I can't imagine what that moment must have felt like for Ed. The fear, the adrenaline, and the horror of knowing that every second you are running away, the people that you love are still in danger behind you. But in that fight, flight, or freeze response, Ed's body chooses flight. And that is what saves his life. As Ed is trying to explain what happened, police also ask him what the shooter looked like. And even though it was dark, and considering how fast everything happened, it isn't credible that Ed was even able to give them anything at all. But he describes the gunman as a slim man with a slight build, around average height, possibly around 5'10. He believes the man is young, maybe somewhere between 19 and 23 years old. He also remembers that he was wearing a red and black checkered shirt or jacket. When police first arrive at Fairy Island, they are walking into a scene that does not immediately make sense. They have a terrified 15-year-old boy telling them that someone came out of the bush and started shooting at his brother and his friends. But when officers get to the area he describes, there are no bodies, and there is no truck. There is no group of victims lying near a riverbank. And at first glance, that's confusing. But like I said, it was dark, you couldn't see much, so as police begin to look closer with their flashlights, that's when they see their shell casings and blood everywhere. As they move down toward the Fraser River, they could see drag marks leading toward the water, and Leola's sweater is actually found caught on a tree branch. Then about 150 feet from the shooting area, police also find a shelter made from cedar bows in the woods. That detail becomes important because it suggests that the shooter may not have just wandered into the area. He may have been waiting there for quite some time, hiding and watching. At this point, police do not yet know exactly what they are dealing with. Were the victims shot and dragged into the river? As that's what it appears to be. Or did somebody get kidnapped? Did the shooter act alone? And where is Everett Denhurtog's truck? Police begin searching the Fraser River and the area around Fairy Island. Divers were brought in, dogs were used, helicopters circle above. Officers and searchers comb the riverbank and surrounding brush for days. They also send out an alert for Everett's pickup truck, describing it as a quote, 1976 blackover green ford, decked out with cartoons of Yosemite Sam holding two pistols and saying, back off, and a keep-on-trucking sticker, end quote. Sounds like it might have been easy to spot a truck like that, but then again, maybe those stickers were really popular at the time. Roadblocks are requested on routes leading out of Chilliwack, including toward the Trans-Canada Highway, west towards Vancouver and east towards Hope. But whoever drove away from Fairy Island is already ahead of them, as the truck was seen driving past the farmhouse by Ed as he was waiting for police to arrive. Two days after the shooting, divers find the bodies of 19-year-old Evert Denhartog and 19-year-old Bert Menger downstream from the crime scene. Both young men had been shot, but Evert had also been stabbed six times in his chest. No one could understand why that level of violence had taken place, especially since Bert had not been stabbed. There was speculation that Evert may have struggled with the attacker, or maybe he was the intended target all along. One detail that is especially haunting was Everett's wristwatch. Although it was broken, it was still on his arm, and it had stopped at 9 50 PM on july 18th, which is probably the time that his body was dumped into the river. The following Saturday, around 800 people gathered at the Netherlands Reformed Congregation Church to mourn Evert and Bert. The same church that the Den Hertogs and Mengers regularly attended. But even as the community gathers to grieve, the service is still marked with uncertainty, because Johnny and Leola are still missing. Meanwhile, Fairy Island changes in the eyes of the locals. A place people once used for fishing, parties, and summer evenings suddenly felt unsafe. People started avoiding the area because no one knows who the killer is, why he did it, and whether or not he might do it again. Divers keep searching for the two missing teens, and then on July 28th, which was ten days after the shooting, Johnny Denhertog's body is found in the Fraser River, about 200 meters downstream. He had also been shot, but unlike his brother Evert, there were no signs of stabbing. Two girls came forward and tell police that they were driving along Ferry Road around the same time of the shootings. They say they ended up close behind what they believed may have been Everett's pickup truck. They think the driver resembled the man Ed Menger had described. They also believe they may have seen someone in the passenger seat who looked female. Police take the witness account seriously, and wonder if it is possible that Leola could be alive, and maybe was taken by the shooter. Maybe she was the intended target. And at this point, police cannot rule anything out. Investigators also have another sighting to work with. Frank Lewis, the owner of a Pacific 66 service station along the old number one highway in Aldergrove, reports seeing Everett and Hertog's truck around 11 p.m. that night, less than two hours after the shooting. He sees one person inside the truck, and the driver appears to match the general description Ed Menger gave police. And that gives investigators another point on the timeline. Fairy Island, then Aldergrove, and then eventually Vancouver. Because in the early morning hours after the shooting, Everett's truck is found in the Pacific Center Parkade in downtown Vancouver. Police immediately are called, and the truck is towed for forensic testing. Inside, investigators find spent 30 odd six rifle casings. They also find pieces of blue nylon tent material, and they are able to lift two usable fingerprints. At this point, police do not yet know who those prints belong to, and it would take a bit of time to get the results, as it wasn't as quick in the 1970s. So investigators keep gathering evidence. One man remembers seeing a man on a bicycle near Fury Island the afternoon before the murders. At the time, maybe that sighting did not seem like much, just a man on a bike. But after the shooting, it does become important, because people remember seeing him going into the area, but they do not remember seeing him leave before dark. So by this point, police have several pieces of information, but they still do not have a name. They have Ed Menger's description of the shooter, they have the possible sighting from two girls on Ferry Road, then they have Frank Lewis seeing what appears to be the same truck in Aldergrove. They also now have a truck, later turning up in downtown Vancouver, and they have reports of a man on a 10-speed bicycle near Ferry Island earlier that same day. Police take those details and release composite sketches of the suspect to the public. One of them showed him wearing a hat, and another one showed him bareheaded. From there, investigators begin the long process of sorting through leads, and by late August, police have reportedly ruled out 200 people. But even with all of that work, investigators still do not have a name. So a $25,000 reward is offered for information leading to an arrest. Tips begin coming in, and one tip stands out. Someone contacts police after overhearing a conversation, and that information leads investigators to Walter Marie Madsen. Walter lives in Chilliwack, only a short drive to Fairy Island. He lives in the basement suite of his parents' home and is one of five children born to Mr. and Mrs. George Madsen. Police immediately go and they arrest him at his home. Ed Menger is brought into the RCP station to identify the suspect in a lineup, and Ed immediately pointed to quote unquote number 14, who was Walter Madsen. From there, investigators begin looking into Walter's background, and a complicated picture starts to emerge. Walter had reportedly been diagnosed with schizophrenia. One of his older sisters had also reportedly been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and another sister had suffered a nervous breakdown at the age of 16. There were also reports that Walter's family life had been deeply troubled. It was described as a quote unquote sick environment, with both parents reportedly struggling to provide stable role models for their children. And I want to be careful here because mental illness does not equal violence. Most people living with mental illness are not violent, actually. They are more often the vulnerable ones themselves. But in Walter Madsen's case, his mental health and family background would become part of the investigation and later part of the trial. There's also a haunting account connected to the night Walter is arrested. In a piece called The Old Man in the Rain, written by MJ Preston, Preston describes being a 12-year-old neighbor of the Madsons in 1977. He had been camping in his backyard with a friend when he saw the flashing police lights and went to see what was happening. Curious 12-year-old boy. After Walter is taken away, Preston says he watches Walter's father, Mr. George Madsen, walking slowly through the rain in downtown Chillawak. Mr. Madsen is dressed in a suit and a hat. Preston follows him from a distance and watches as he stops and sits down on the bench. He describes Mr. Madsen as looking completely broken, staring out into nothing, as if he is trying to process what his son may have just done. And I can only imagine the weight of that moment. A father sitting alone in the rain, realizing that his son may be responsible for one of the most heinous crimes Chilliwack has ever seen. Preston writes that a week or two later, Mr. Madsen died of natural causes. But many people believed he actually died of a broken heart. After Walter's arrest, investigators start piecing together his movements on the night of the murders. And this is where his older brother John and sister-in-law Yvonne become important. John and Yvonne live in Richmond, which is approximately 120 kilometers west of Chilliwack. Yvonne tells police that around 11.30 p.m. on the night of the shootings, she hears a vehicle outside and looks out the window. She sees Walter getting out of a truck that she does not recognize. It is a green and black Ford pickup. She watches him unload items from the truck near the carport. But Walter does not come inside. He just unloads the items, gets back into the truck, and then leaves. Yvonne does not think he realizes that she has actually seen him, but since this is so out of the blue and strange, Yvonne goes to see what Walter has unloaded, and there she finds a rifle and a bicycle similar to the one witnesses saw. Around 12.30 a.m., Walter returns on foot. A cab driver later confirms that he picked Walter up near Pacific Center in Vancouver and dropped him off close to John and Yvonne's home in Richmond. Yvonne tells investigators that when Walter arrives, he tells Yvonne he wants to speak to his brother alone. So Walter and John go out for a short drive. During that drive, Walter tells John that he has done, quote unquote, something crazy. But John does not understand what Walter is saying. He thinks Walter is talking about family issues and he does not want to get into it. So he stops the conversation and they return to the house. Walter ends up staying the night and goes back to Chilliwack the next morning. The next day, however, when John returns home from work, he finds that rifle in his basement. John reports that this made him furious as he has small children in the home and that was a danger. So he calls Walter on the phone and tells him to come back and get it, to which Walter does with his parents. The evidence against Walter right now is piling up, but police decide that there Going to search his basement suite in Chilliwack. In the heating duct, they find spent shells that match the casings found in Everett's truck. In a crossways, they find the blue nylon tent material. That material is actually matched with what they found in the stolen vehicle. And those fingerprints came back matching Walter Madsen. After Walter is taken into custody, police still need more from him. So they place him in jail with an undercover officer, hoping that the officer can get him to talk. Walter is then interviewed by RCMP, including Corporal Allen Elard, who was reportedly Walter's cousin. I would think that's a conflict of interest, but apparently not when it comes to law. I don't know. Then Walter's brother John is brought in to speak with him again. And during that conversation, Walter confesses to him. He tells John that he killed them. And once Walter starts talking, investigators learn that the murders at Fairy Island were not the whole plan. They were only the beginning. What investigators learn next changes the way they understand the entire crime scene. Because Walter Madsen had not gone to Fairy Island just to kill. He had gone there looking for a vehicle. According to his confession, that vehicle was supposed to be used in a kidnapping plot in Vancouver. Walter's plan was to kidnap someone from one of several wealthy and prominent Vancouver families and demand a $2 million ransom. There were four names reportedly connected to his plan, which included James Sinclair, a formal federal cabinet minister and the grandfather of our previous Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, J. V. Klein, who was a retired Forest Company tycoon, C.W. Woodward of the Woodward Department Store family, and also someone connected to the Rogers Sugar Refining Company. Walter lived in Chilliwac, but his plan was focused on Vancouver. So before he could carry it out, he needed a vehicle that would get him there that wasn't his family's van. And in his mind, the people who arrived with that vehicle could not be left alive. He said that there could be no witnesses. That was the plan police say he had been working toward when he went to Fairy Island on July 18, 1977. Earlier that day, before the teenagers ever arrive at Fairy Island, Walter had woken up and decided that today was the day. He drives to the area in his parents' van, and according to what he later tells police, he brings supplies with him a 30 odd six rifle, ammunition, a blue nylon tent, sleeping bag, compass, canned food, extra clothing, gloves, and notes connected to the kidnapping plan. He unloads everything and hides it under brush and cedar bows. Then he leaves and goes back to his parents' home in Chilliwac. So when police later look at this through an investigative lens, they notice something important. Walter did not end up on Fairy Island by accident. He had chosen the area. He had hidden supplies there, and he had brought a weapon, and he had created a place where he could wait, hence why the police found that shelter that had been made. Later that day, Walter returns to Fairy Island, but this time he does not drive back in the van. He comes back on that green 10-speed bicycle. Once Walter is back in the area, he settles in near the supplies that he had hidden. And according to his statement, he smokes cigarettes, drinks three bottles of beer, loads his rifle, and then waits. He is not waiting for a specific person. He is not waiting for Leola. He is not waiting for Evert. He is not waiting for John or Bert. He is waiting for anyone with a vehicle that will work for the kidnapping plan he has created in his mind. And that is one of the most disturbing parts of this case for me. Because these young people were not targeted because of who they were or something that they had done. They were targeted because of a truck that they arrived in. When Everett's Ford pickup truck arrives at Fairy Island at 8 15 p.m., Walter sees his opportunity. The group is nearby at the river, drinking, talking, listening to music from that tape deck. Walter can hear them from where he has hidden. And for whatever reason, he stays hidden in that bush for almost an hour and a half before he actually starts the shooting. Maybe he was trying to get the courage to annihilate these poor kids, which is so disturbing. He later says he hears voices, bottles breaking and people having a loud party. Then he makes his decision. He later tells police he thought there were fewer people at first, maybe two or three, but when he gets closer, he realizes there are more. He sees four people. What he does not see is fifteen-year-old Ed Menger, and that missed detail is the reason Ed survives. At around 9.40 p.m., Walter steps out of the bush and calls out to the group. They turn toward him and then he starts shooting. After the shooting, he drags the victims toward the Fraser River and later tells police that he put them into the water and watched the current carry them away. Walter also claims that he stabbed the victims to make sure they were dead before putting them into the river. But from what is known through the autopsy information up to this point, Everett Den Hertog was the only victim who had stab wounds on the body. Walter also tries to collect shell casings from the area, but then he sees headlights. A vehicle is approaching, so he leaves before he can gather everything. Walter loads his hidden supplies into Everett's truck and then drives away in it. And this brings us back to the truck that passes the farmhouse, while Alan and Doug Shepard are there with Ed Menger. At the time, no one knows what they are seeing, but later that sighting fits into the timeline. Walter leaves Fairy Island before roadblocks are ever in place. He is seen in Aldergrove around 11 p.m., and he arrives at John and Yvonne's home in Richmond around 11.30. The truck is later abandoned at Pacific Center, and from there, Walter takes a cab back to Richmond. Piece by piece, the route becomes clear, and the evidence keeps pointing back just to him. After Walter's confession, police still need the murder weapon, so Walter eventually leads RCP to Chilliwack, where they recover in Cultus Lake, the 30 odd six in the water. The rifle is eventually identified as the murder weapon. When Leola's family learns that Walter has admitted to killing her and putting her body into the river, her father, John Gulliker, speaks about the agony of waiting for answers. He says he cannot bear the thought of her being in that river, and every time the foam rings, he reacts. And that part really stays with me. Because for families of missing people, I think the foam becomes terrifying. Because every time the foam rings, it could be nothing, it could just be anybody or telemarketer calling. Or it could be the call that changes everything, that your child has been found. News of Walter Madsen's arrest shocks people who know him. Many actually described him as a quiet and mild-mannered boy. At his arraignment, he's given a paper bag to cover his face, so photographers cannot capture his identity. But inside the courtroom, Ed Manger sees him. Ed has already identified Walter in a lineup, and in court, he identifies him again as the man who killed his brother and his friends. Walter pleads not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder, despite already confessing, which is actually confusing. By the time the case reaches court in the spring of 1978, the evidence is substantial. The surviving witness, the truck, the fingerprints, the rifle, the shell casings, the tent material, the witnesses who place Walter with the truck, of course, his confession, and his own explanation of the kidnapping plan. The central issue at trial becomes whether Walter is legally responsible for the murders. His defense argues that he was insane. And that is not the same thing as simply saying someone has mental health struggles. The legal question is whether he understood what he was doing and whether he knew it was wrong. The defense calls psychiatrist Dr. Tyhurst, who describes Walter as psychologically disturbed and shaped by difficult family background. He talks about Walter's sister's severe schizophrenia, his father's alcoholism, and his mother's volatile temperament. He also says Walter believed he had a special destiny and felt protected by a special force. He describes the kidnapping plan as confused, unrealistic, and increasingly detached from reality. But the jury also has to look at what Walter actually did. Because if we look at it from a different point of view here, he gathered the supplies ahead of time, he hid them, he then returned to Fairy Island by his bike, waited there for hours, chose the truck, and then killed the people who arrived in it just for the truck. He moved the bodies, tried to clean up the crime scene, and then drove the truck to Vancouver, later disposing of the rifle and hiding evidence in his basement suite. To me and to the court, those actions show planning and concealment. So while Walter's mental health and background are discussed in court, the jury ultimately convicts him. On April 17, 1978, in BC Supreme Court, Walter Marie Madsen is found guilty of all four counts of first-degree murder. Justice J.G. Gold sentenced him to four concurrent life sentences with no possibility of parole for 25 years. And I think I've explained this before, but a life sentence in Canada does not mean the sentence ends after 25 years. It just means that the 25 years refers to parole eligibility, which is the earliest point that someone can apply. So it doesn't mean that he will definitely be released after 25 years. It means that he's able to apply for parole. Walter's lawyer then says they plan to appeal the conviction and sentence, but the appeals do not succeed. Then only days after Walter is convicted and sentenced, a pasta boy notices something in the water near Point Grey, close to the University of British Columbia. It is the body of a young woman floating down the Fraser River. A search and rescue hovercraft is used to recover her from the water near the North Arm Breakwater. But because of decomposition, clothing cannot provide a clear identification, but dental records end up confirming it is Leola Gulliker. She has been carried more than 120 kilometers from Fairy Island, and her cause of death was difficult to determine, but investigators know injuries that are consistent with stab wounds to her chest. Leola's father says the family never gave up hope, and more than nine months later, her family is finally able to bring her home and put her to rest. Leola is buried on April 26, 1978. As for Walter, he remained in custody for years. Then on June 21, 1996, after 18 years behind bars, Walter is found dead in his cell at the Regional Psychiatric Center at Matsque Institution. He had taken his own life at the age of 42. And with that, the criminal case ends. But for the families, there is no clean ending. A conviction can tell us who did it. It can show us how it happened and explain the plan, the evidence, and the sentence. But it cannot return Leola, Evert, Johnny, or Bert to the people who love them. It cannot give Leola and Ed the future that they had talked about. And it cannot give John and Bert the years they should have had. And it cannot erase what 15-year-old Ed Menger survived on the riverbank that night. The Rosedale murders are so disturbing because they were random in one sense, but not spontaneous. Walter Madsen did not know these teenagers. He did not choose them because of who they were. He chose the vehicle that they arrived in. And because his plan required no witnesses, four innocent young people were killed that night. It was senseless. My heart goes out to the families of these victims and all those that were impacted by this heinous crime that should never have happened. Barrent and Yannica Den Hertog have now both passed on, as well as Leola's father John Gulliker, brother Gerald Gulliker, and her sister Marilyn. I couldn't find any information on the Manger family, including Ed, but I hope that he was able to live a full life despite everything that he had witnessed. That's it for me today, guys. If you enjoyed this podcast, I would really appreciate it if you could leave a five-star rating and review on whatever platform you listen on. Your support really does mean so much to me. With that being said, I'll be back with a new case in two weeks. Until then, stay safe, stay aware, and stay curious.