cover of episode Incendiary Circumstances - Part 2 | 11

Incendiary Circumstances - Part 2 | 11

2024/7/16
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A young family in Calgary experiences a devastating fire that claims the lives of their two children, leading to a complex investigation.

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Hey, it's Nancy. Before we begin today, I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to Crime Beat early and ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. A young family living in a quiet southeast Calgary neighborhood was unwinding as the father left for a night shift at work. Tasin Almayahi was a security guard at a local car dealership, while his wife stayed home with their two young children.

Salma Marie was taking adult education classes, so she spent some time on homework while the kids played, and later tucked them in and headed to bed herself. At about 1:30 in the morning, she awoke to the sound of shattered glass, and the air was thick with smoke. Salma found her way to her son Ali's bedroom, woke him up, and told him to go to her room.

Next, she went to her daughter Saja's room, but the little girl wasn't there. She had planned to throw the kids out of her window to escape the fire. The panicked mother broke the window of her bedroom, thinking fresh air would help clear the smoke, but it only fueled the flames. Salma went back to her room and called for her son. For a moment, she heard a cry, then silence.

She said his name over and over, but he didn't answer. The young mother yelled from the second-story window, screaming for someone to help her. Then, unable to help her children, she made the almost impossible decision to jump to safety herself. It's very, very difficult. The apartment's, like, very silent. There is, like, not like before, no jumping on the sofas.

I'm Nancy Hixt, a senior crime reporter for Global News. Today on Crime Beat, I share how what started out seeming like a tragic accident turned into a double homicide investigation and the shocking details police uncovered. This is the conclusion of Incendiary Circumstances.

When Salma Burri jumped out of a second-story window, she broke both of her ankles and was rushed to hospital in critical condition after suffering serious smoke inhalation. The 29-year-old was in a coma for several days. When she awoke, Salma was given the devastating news that her children had died in the fire. It felt like a bad dream. She had so many questions.

Where and how did the fire start? And why did it consume her home so quickly? She couldn't wrap her head around what seemed like a tragic accident. Or was it? When fire investigators first assessed the townhouse, it was incredibly difficult to determine what had happened. Samples were sent away for forensic testing, and results would take time.

But given the extent of the fire damage, they could be inconclusive. The arson unit continued to investigate. Then, just one week later, there was a break in the case. Calgary police received two significant and unexpected tips. So it was on November 25th that we were notified that these two individuals had showed up separately at different police locations.

fearing for their life, and we ended up interviewing them on the 25th. In 2004, Superintendent Cliff O'Brien was a detective with the Calgary Police Homicide Unit. He said the man and woman who had come forward to police were living not far from the fire scene in a house known for drugs and criminal activity.

These two individuals told investigators they had first-hand information about the fire and that it was no accident. They indicated that they knew who had set the fire. They talked about how people had gone there and they said they were going to make a fire bomb and how they were going to teach somebody a lesson.

And they were looking for pieces to make that fire bomb. They were looking for bottles. They were looking for lighter fluid. They were looking for something as a wick to make a Molotov cocktail. So although the stories were just a little bit different, there was enough similarity there that it certainly seemed believable and we now had suspects for the fire.

The suspects were identified as Michael Sheets and Furnam Kizar, both known to police for crimes committed to support their addictions to illicit drugs. And both had a long history of convictions including theft, break and enter, and assault. Even more shocking, the two witnesses told police Sheets and Kizar were hired to light the fire.

They were very addicted to drugs and that's what they were looking for is money for drugs. The man and woman told investigators that they were in the drug house when they heard the plan unfold and were able to provide detailed information about what they saw. At some point after one o'clock in the morning that both Sheets and Kazar left in a vehicle and they came back a short time later.

saying that the deed had been done. And while they're sitting in this drug house, they can hear sirens responding. So they give you some perspective. This house was very, very close. One of the witnesses also says that for some reason, the next day, the Sheetz takes her out and takes her actually to the residence and points out

And as you can imagine, we have yellow tape around. There's continuity of the place, of the Applewood fire location. But she takes her there and points it out and says that's the house that we had firebombed. What had been a seemingly accidental fire now appeared to be not only a case of arson, but a double homicide.

We want to continue to investigate again. We don't know the veracity of, like we don't know the accuracy. We don't know if there's other motives. We don't know if the people that have come forward actually are somehow involved in this and they're trying to cast suspicion elsewhere. And so there's still a lot of investigating to do.

including starting to do surveillance on, to try to locate and do surveillance on the actual suspects that they had told us about. The new information from the two witnesses seemed implausible. Why would anyone want to harm a young family? It seems almost unbelievable that a

seemingly on the outside, you know, a married couple with two young children would have anything to do with a drug house or people that were trying to send a message. They had just immigrated to Canada, you know, a few years earlier from Iraq. The dad was working as a security officer.

And, you know, from all outward appearances, certainly when we took a quick look, it appeared like a normal family. O'Brien said the homicide unit had to consider that this could be a case of mistaken identity. On the surface, in the early parts of the investigation, it almost, if it was an arson fire and people were being targeted, it almost looked like it was a mistaken house.

that whoever the offenders are, whoever they were, got the wrong house. But the two witnesses were adamant. It was no mistake. Police took charge of the case and it officially became a murder investigation. So as part of the investigation, we want to take a look at the background of the people that lived in the home. It was pretty clear from the two witnesses that that particular home was in fact targeted. And it was to teach a lesson.

You know, as part of what we do is go back and check our own police records, check with other agencies and find out a little bit more about the background of the mom and dad. To do that, O'Brien turned to the Homicide Unit's crime analyst, Trish Pace, for help.

When you're looking at the victim family, there was nothing really in relation to the father or the mother in terms of a criminal history. The mom did have some recent files where she had been charged and it was in relation to a dispute with another female. So reading into those files, there had been, it had kind of taken place over the year and a bit prior to the arson.

Salma Burri had been charged with threats to cause death or bodily harm, which O'Brien said created another avenue for homicide investigators to explore. As we dive a little bit further into what took place, we realize that Salima believed that her husband was having an affair.

The homicide unit learned that Salma Bari had been accused of threatening a woman she believed was having an affair with her husband. That woman was Minar Hussein, another member of the Calgary Iraqi community. Police then spoke with both Salma and her husband, Tassin Al-Mayahi, who continued to mourn the loss of their children.

During the interview, police learned that Salma and Minar met at Columbia College, a continuing education facility in northeast Calgary that's well known for its English as a second language program. Back in the early 2000s, there were a handful of immigrants from Iraq attending classes together.

Salma and Minar weren't friends, but acquaintances, and saw each other frequently out shopping, at the mosque, and at community gatherings. In the summer of 2002, Salma's husband, Tasin, met Minar when he put his car up for sale. He told police that Minar called him, inquiring about the vehicle, and a relationship developed that ended up becoming sexual.

As the alleged affair was taking place, Salma noticed a change in her husband's behavior. She said he started sleeping in his own bed and acting strange. Salma told police that Tassin was especially protective of his cell phone and kept it hidden from her. She suspected he was having an extramarital relationship. Salma called it a love relationship.

Here again is Superintendent Cliff O'Brien. So one of the things she did was she looked at his detailed billing of his call log and back in those days every single cell phone call that was made either incoming or outgoing was on this detailed bill and she realized that there was a phone number that was called a lot and her husband had received a lot of calls from a phone number.

And so Salima called the telephone number that her husband was calling a lot and found out that it was Manar Hussain's phone. In 2003, she asked Manar to meet her to discuss the alleged affair. But that interaction didn't satisfy Salma. That belief was something that bothered her, as you can imagine.

And she really wanted to make sure that people in our community knew who this other woman was. Still suspicious, she packed up her two children and went to a friend's home for three months.

During that time, her resentment towards Minar grew. That led to a prolonged period of conflict between Salima and Minar where there were hang-up phone calls, there were threats. There was a significant amount of conflict and it led to the police being involved and in fact, in one case laying charges.

Salma Barri voluntarily entered into a one-year peace bond, admitting that she caused Hussein to reasonably fear for her safety. There was such animosity between these two women and really it became almost warfare when it came to reputational damage. And that's what seemed to really fuel this conflict.

Police were told the sexual relationship Tassin claimed to have with Minar ended in April of 2003. O'Brien said they had to consider if the alleged affair and subsequent dispute between the two women could somehow be connected to the arson and homicide investigations. You know, because of the ongoing conflict that had gone on between Salima and O'Brien,

Manar and everything that was going on in the community at the time, they both wondered if she was somehow involved with this.

But people have conflict all the time and to escalate to where there's a fire bombing and ultimate murder seems like quite a stretch. But it certainly was in the back of people's minds for sure. The couple told investigators about another strange incident.

It happened at their Applewood Park townhouse just over two weeks before the fatal fire. Some men had gone to the front door of her residence and had been asking for a fictitious or somebody else, not her, but asked for another name. And she refused to open the door to let them in or to engage them. She talked to them through the door and they seemed very persistent. And eventually she said she would call the police and they left.

Police appealed to the public for information. The Homicide Unit is now focused on identifying two persons of interest. Two male persons were seen at the El Mahahi address at 59 Applewood Lane Southeast, 10 days prior to the arson. And they may be the same people that left this address or were seen leaving this address on the day of the arson. Nearly one month after the fire, Salma Burri spoke publicly for the first time.

The couple's family back in Iraq never got to meet the two children.

Salma said it weighed on her to be so far away from family. But the couple's citizenship papers were destroyed in the fire.

They were told it could take months to get documentation that would allow them to travel. Given the circumstances, Calgary police intervened on their behalf, hoping to speed up the process. And within a week, they had passports in hand and were ready to head to Iraq. The tickets were paid for by community donations, a small bright spot in what had been a devastating month for the couple.

We thank all the Kenyan government, all the staff in immigration, citizenship and passport.

In the meantime, investigators were working on possible connections. They needed to find a definitive link between Salma and Tasin, the two witnesses who came forward to police about the fire, the two suspects they identified as Michael Sheets and Furnam Khazar, and Minar Hussain. To do this, the homicide unit once again turned to crime analyst Trish Pace. You've got this family and you've got this family

these two women that are having a dispute, but then we've got these statements coming from these two individuals, the names that she's giving, like there's just no tie between the two groups. They're very, very different groups.

The witnesses in the house, all of them had fairly extensive criminal records. A lot of them had drug-related weapons offenses. They had been checked together numerous times in the past. So they definitely, a lot of that group had a criminal history that was noted. There was nothing drug-related, etc. in the victim family that I was seeing.

With Manar Hussein, there was obviously she had filed the complaints against the wife and there was some charges laid in relation to threats, et cetera, on the wife because of those complaints. But she had also been involved in some shoplifting complaints. There were some fraud allegations, some stolen credit card usage.

Investigators needed more information. They were granted a warrant to intercept private communications, better known as a wiretap. Trish Pace examined the data gathered, including cell phone numbers and cell phone towers used. There's nothing that we've got in our databases that are linking them to, linking the two of them. Then all of a sudden we look at the cell phone records and now you're starting to see a connection between the two separate groups.

Trish Pace found an association between the two suspects, Michael Sheets and Furnam Kizar, and a man named Abdulaziz El-Ahib, who was Minar Hussein's boyfriend. We've got information coming from witness statements, CPS data sources. Sheets and El-Ahib had done time together, I think it was in Bowdoin. So we have all that information. We've got the witness statements, we've got the cell phone records, we've got the tower information. We've got the information from the police.

So the communication that we see is we see Sheetz and El-Ahib are talking. Then we also see communication between Sheetz and Hussein. And then we see after

Hussein talks to Sheetz, she calls an associate of hers that's a cab driver. So there's a little bit of back and forth between you see Hussein and Sheetz, you see Hussein and Elaheb, you see Hussein and the cab driver, and then back to Hussein and Sheetz. And then you also see some calls from a payphone at a max.

as well as calls into Hussein and from Hussein to the landline at the house where the Molotov cocktails were built. So you can see the timeline of the communications between all of the involved parties,

which is the first time we're seeing like an actual, outside of witness statements, an actual independent link between those separate groups and seeing the communication between the two, specifically between Hussein and Sheetz and the landline at the drug-related house. Pace created a timeline for homicide investigators that showed all of the connections she found. Here again is Superintendent Cliff O'Brien.

There were lots of conversations at that time between Sheets and El Ahib. Some of them were very, very quick, seemingly quick conversations, and some of them were a little bit longer.

We could see that El Ahib was actually, during some of the conversation, was very, very close to the Applewood residence. But police needed to determine if this was all a strange coincidence. It is confusing. And again, we don't have all the answers yet. So when we look back on it, we can kind of piece together the puzzle. But at the time, you know, we're still trying to figure out where does this fit in and how does this even work?

all the while realizing that we have two dead children that we need to find out who's responsible. In hopes of eliciting confessions, investigators used an undercover operation to target Michael Sheets and Furnham Kizar. The undercover police officers were able to befriend both Sheets and Kizar. Sheets did admit to being involved in setting the fire.

Now, keeping in mind these are undercover police officers, she wants to impress them, so there were definitely details around it that he, whether it's bravado or whatnot, but he exaggerated. He exaggerated how much he got paid for it. And there were other things like that that we have to be careful about. Kazar was also a subject of an undercover operation.

And although he made some admissions like he knew who did it and he was involved or he was there, it really wasn't, wouldn't be what we would call a confession for sure.

Police learned Sheetz and Kizar were addicted to crack cocaine and turned to El-Ahib for money. In exchange, they were supposed to scare Salma Buri. You know, I think when we take a look at this case, you see this conflict that's been going on for over a year. You've got El-Ahib that for sure is orchestrating some things and giving direction to Sheetz.

Sheets is working with Kazar, but behind the scenes you've got Munair that's there and I mean she shows up and pays them the $120. That same night after, in fact the firefighters are still there working on the fire and she takes a cab to a location and meets with Sheets and pays him.

Just over one month after the fire that killed Salma and Tasin's young children, police made a series of arrests over several days. First was Furnham Kizar, followed by the arrest of Michael Sheets.

There was immediate response from the public after the media release on Monday that this was now a homicide investigation. From that time forward, members of the public have contacted us and have allowed us to further our investigation to the point that we are at today. Next, Abdulaziz El-Ahib was arrested.

And then, Minar Hussein was arrested, the woman who is alleged to have had the affair. Investigators have determined that unlike the previous two persons charged, that's Kizar and Sheetz, Ilahab and Minar had an association with the El-Mahahi family. And the investigation is ongoing.

While all of this was happening in Calgary, Tasin Almayahi and Salma Bari were in Iraq, where they stayed for two months grieving the loss of their children with family. They returned in February of 2005. When I came to Calgary, like the pain back again to me.

It's very, very difficult. The apartment is very silent. There is like, not like before, no jumping on the sofas, no running, nothing. It's very silent. I saw my son in my dream like three or four days ago. He was very happy. He just hugged me and he kissed me. He said, "Mommy, why look, your face look pale, not like before."

I just answered him. I said, "Because I cried a lot about you and your sister." Then he gone. The parents attended each court appearance, finding some solace in knowing arrests had been made. I want the law to punish them. I want them to stay in jail all their lives. That's what I want. But seeing the accused also fueled anger in the grieving mother.

Salma found it particularly difficult to control her emotions when several of the people accused in the case attempted to get bail. I know they want to get out of the jail on bail. I don't know. That's not fair. That's not fair if they got their freedom. Every step of the court process stirred strong emotions.

High-profile criminal defense lawyer Alan Heppner represented Abdulaziz El-Ahib.

He also struggled with the devastating details of the case and spoke following one of the court appearances. I think it's a hideous, horrific, emotional case. And it's difficult on them. It's complicated. It's involved. There's a lot of evidence. It's all sorts of evidence, circumstantial and direct evidence, statements. I understand there may be even wiretap.

two unexpected guilty pleas sped up the road to justice. In April 2005, just three months after his arrest, Michael Sheetz admitted his guilt, and not long after, Furnam Kizar did the same. They pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter in the deaths of Ali and Saja Almayahi, as well as arson causing bodily harm for the injuries Salma suffered.

Michael Sheetz and Furnam Kizar admitted they were hired by Abdulaziz El-Ahib to scare the lady, meaning Salma Bari, in exchange for money to buy drugs. Sheetz and Kizar admitted they were the ones who knocked on Salma's door two weeks before the fire. They had planned to punch her in the face, but she didn't answer her door, so they didn't get paid.

Court heard they contacted El Ahiba again on November 17th, 2004, the day before the fatal fire, once again wanting money for drugs. Here's Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Calgary Crown Prosecution Office, Gord Haight, to share what happened next. Both Kizar and Sheetz

went to the residence on the way obtaining some lighter fluid for the makeshift Molotov cocktail. And while parked nearby at the residence, the idea was then hatched that they would, to use Mr. Kazar's words, light the place up. They made a call to Mr. El-Hib who was nearby

Mr. El-Ahib at that point in time was told specifically of the plan to light the place up. Mr. El-Ahib said, "Yeah, go ahead. Nobody's home." Of course, that wasn't true. Salma's home along with her two children. Mr. Sheets threw a rock through the window. Mr. Kizar threw a

constructed Molotov cocktail through the broken window. The residence was quickly engulfed in flames. Unfortunately, the two children were trapped and perished in the fire. Salma was forced to jump from a second floor window to save herself and broke her ankle in the process.

The pair admitted they were paid a total of $120 for setting the fatal fire and used the money to buy crack cocaine. They were given individual sentences for their roles in the crime. Sheets was handed 15 years in prison. Kazar was sentenced to 16. But with credit for time already served, both had just over 14 years left to serve.

Sheets addressed the court and offered an apology to the family of the victims, although the parents of the two young children were not at the sentencing hearing. Sheets said words can't describe how he's feeling, that he's deeply sorry and he'll have to live with what he's done for the rest of his life. Both Mr. Sheets and Mr. Kazar received an order that they be made to serve at least half of their time before being eligible for parole, which is an exceptional order.

generally reserved for some of the more serious offenders and the most serious offenses. So I guess the thing to stress is both neither Mr. Sheets nor Mr. Kazar received any sort of consideration in return for their guilty pleas. In the fall of 2005, nearly one year after the fatal fire, Abdulaziz El-Ahib and Minar Hussein stood trial.

Gord Haight prosecuted the case. Each of them were charged with two counts of manslaughter.

and a single count of arson causing bodily harm, bodily harm being the broken ankle of Salma. The prosecution's theory was that the arson was orchestrated by El-Ahib and Hussein following the fallout of an alleged affair. Salma was angry with Ms. Hussein, made her feelings known within the Iraqi community.

Both Khazar and Sheetz testified for the prosecution.

Kazar volunteered to help with the Crown's case, meaning he didn't receive any sort of deal in exchange for his cooperation. Nothing was done in terms of any sort of quid pro quo. It was compelling, especially with respect to Mr. Kazar, because he...

on his own was the one who reached out to the police and provided the statement, the fulsome statement detailing everyone's involvement only after he'd already been sentenced. Gord Haight said Michael Sheets needed to be subpoenaed to testify. He had one black eye and the second eye badly bruised when he showed up to court.

Sheetz was labeled as a rat for his participation in the trial and beaten by fellow inmates. Sheetz and Kizar presented damning evidence against El-Ahib. They said he paid them to commit the crime and in turn used the $120 for crack cocaine.

Defense lawyer Alan Heppner said El-Ahib provided a different version of events when he testified. I think that they intended to cause, to scare. That's what the intention was, to scare the occupant of the house that this was, he meant business. That's the essence of the defense, that there was no intention to have anything to do with the fire or to...

have anyone killed or really badly injured. But it went very badly. The Crown said the case against Minar Hussein was more challenging. And the difficulty the Crown had was an absence of evidence, if I could put it that way. We did not have any direct evidence showing that Ms. Hussein was aware of the plan to light Ms. Bera's house on fire prior to it happening.

The Crown was inviting the judge to make that inference based on the fact that it was Ms. Hussain who made the payment immediately afterwards, and it was Ms. Hussain who had the primary motive here. Minar Hussain also took the stand to testify in her own defense. Justice Hughes noted in particular in her decision that throughout her testimony and cross-examination, there were tears. She cried throughout.

And Justice Hughes found in particular, specifically, that those tears were staged. But in fairness, Justice Hughes, she was left with the absence of any evidence that Ms. Hussain knew ahead of time. You'll recall the fire investigator took samples from the burned townhouse and sent them away for forensic testing.

Those tests did not result in significant incriminating evidence. Police told me the fire was simply too hot and too much was destroyed. The emotionally charged trial ended in January of 2006. The courtroom was packed as Justice Beth Hughes read her decisions. Salma Bari shouted in protest as Minar Hussein was acquitted of all charges.

Certainly there was plenty of evidence to show that it was her who had the animus towards Ms. Barra, but there was no evidence to show that she was involved in any sort of intimidation campaign. And in particular, there was certainly no evidence directly that she was involved in the plan to light the house up.

The judge declined to make any finding on whether the extramarital affair between Hussein and al-Mayahi occurred.

What she did rule on was Abdulaziz El-Ahib's guilt. The justice said she was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that El-Ahib knew of the plan to firebomb the home and approved it and convicted him of all charges. Here again is defense lawyer Alan Heppner. As the judge said, the relationships...

What happened in the community and who was betraying who and who was having an affair with, it didn't matter. That didn't matter. It didn't matter. It didn't matter. I mean, that's context that came out. But really, at the end of the day, as she found, he orchestrated it. Elaheb was sentenced to 20 years in prison. But with credit for time in custody pre-trial, he had 17 years and 8 months left in his sentence.

He applied for release several times over the course of that term. The Parole Board of Canada expressed concern that El-Ahib continued to deny significant elements of the offense despite the court findings during the lengthy trial process. He was denied both day and full parole.

In December of 2017, 13 years after the fire that killed Ali and Saja Al-Mayahi, El-Ahib was released on statutory release, which marked two-thirds of his sentence and is mandated by law. He did have to comply with several residency and curfew conditions for three years after that. The official end of his sentence was November 26, 2023.

Here again is prosecutor Gord Haight. It wasn't the life sentence that the Crown was seeking. That said, a 20-year sentence is a heavy sentence. We think it does address the goals here of deterrence and denunciation. The two men who made the Molotov cocktail and lit the house on fire have both completed their prison time.

In 2018, Michael Sheetz went AWOL from his minimum security facility. He was later convicted of escaping lawful custody. Two years later, in March of 2020, he completed his federal sentence. He was assessed as a moderate risk to reoffend. His risk is considered elevated if he's using drugs or alcohol or associating with people who do.

Sheetz has legally changed his name to John James Joseph Jerome Halla. Furnam-Kazar's sentence was one year longer, and he was released on statutory release in 2015.

At that time, the board called his criminal history extensive and troubling and noted there is no documented period when he has lived a pro-social lifestyle and said he is deemed to have entrenched criminal attitudes and values. Kazar is considered a high to moderate risk to reoffend.

In 2019, the parole board revoked his statutory release, stating the board believed he would present an undue risk to society by re-offending prior to the end of his sentence. His sentence expired in April of 2020. This case took a toll on both the defense and prosecution. It was really an emotional trial because the mother said,

was at court and it was her kids that died and she had to sit through the bulk of the evidence and hear it all over again. It was emotional because two children, two innocent kids passed away in a fire. I had a child that was of similar age to the two victims in this offense when the offense occurred. Anytime you have the death of a child, let alone two children,

It adds to the stress level of the trial immeasurably. Yeah, this is a career trial. It will stay with me forever. But no one was more impacted than Salma Burri and Tasin Almayahi, who lost their children, Ali and Sajja, in the fire.

The couple divorced shortly before the trial, but shared frustration in Hussein's acquittal. I spoke with both Tasin and Salma following the court decisions. I think about every moment, I think about my kids, you know. They are my kids. I had only two kids, and they passed away. I'm shocked with the court. Where is the justice in Canada? Is that fair? Men are walking freely, and my children are underground.

Salma was devastated. The court process didn't bring her the justice she had so desperately wanted, and nothing could bring her children back.

Everything reminds me. I feel them around me. I feel about the problem. I cannot touch them. I cannot hug them. I cannot kiss them. When I look at their picture, I said, oh, one day I was a mother. I had a mother feeling. And then there's the first responders, including Harley Spate and Doug Chern, who entered the inferno and risked their lives to try and rescue the children. And you do get that little feeling in your stomach right away, right? Oh, yeah.

That's right. And then you just sit and think about it for a while. Well, it's frustrating when you see how people treat each other, right? But that is the nature of this job, right? It's the nature of emergency services, right? They will always remember Ali and Saja and how hard they fought to save them. Just finding that girl and then finding out how senseless it was in the end. Especially when you have, I have three girls. You just want to give your kids a hug.

And I feel like it was new. Both of these men struggle with the long-term impact of this incident and years of exposure to other traumatic incidents. I want to thank them for their help in sharing this story, as well as the investigators who worked tirelessly on this case. And thank you for listening.

Crime Beat is written and produced by me, Nancy Hixt, with producer Dila Velasquez. Audio editing and sound design is by Rob Johnston. Special thanks to photographer-editor Danny Lantella for his work on this episode. Thank you to Jesse Wisner, our Crime Beat production assistant. And thanks to Chris Bassett, the VP of Network Content, Production and Distribution, and Editorial Standards for Global News.

I would love to have you tell a friend about this podcast. There are five seasons of stories that you can listen to and share. And if you can please consider rating and reviewing Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. You can find me on Facebook at Nancy Hixt Crime Beat and on Instagram at Nancy.Hixt. That's H-I-X-T. Thanks again for listening. Please join me next time.