Introducing... Crime Beat | Out of the dark
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Hey, it's Alan, and today we've got something a bit different for you. It's a sneak peek of the award-winning true crime podcast, Crime Beat, which has just launched its sixth season. There are some amazing episodes for you to check out. And today we've got a sample from the latest season for you, because for most of us, crime is something that we see on the news or in movies, or maybe we hear about it in a podcast. We never think it could happen to us.

Until it does. Loved ones are gone and survivors are left with scars that never heal. In this season, host Nancy Hicks takes you inside some of the most serious crimes she's covered as a senior crime reporter for Global News. This sample comes from the episode titled Out of the Dark, and you'll hear about a young Calgary woman who was on top of the world until life as she knew it came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the night on August 6th, 2006.

To listen to the full episode, search for Crime Beat wherever you're listening right now. The following episode contains descriptions of sexual violence and may not be suitable for everyone. It also contains coarse language, adult themes, and content of a violent and disturbing nature. Listener discretion is advised.

When I think back to the early 2000s, I remember covering a series of stories about serial sexual predators attacking complete strangers. There was the Hemlock Crescent rapist, whose actions gripped an entire city in fear in the late 1980s and early 90s. He evaded arrest until 2004. I share that story in Season 5 called "Hunted on Hemlock Crescent."

Then there was the Beltline Rapist, who also attacked strangers. In 2003 and 2004, he violently beat and raped two young women in their own homes. One victim was 17, the other was 19 years old. Police used some unique strategies to track this offender. You can listen to that story in "Surviving a Predator" and a follow-up episode.

Both of those cases took interesting twists, and both of the predators are free right now after serving their sentences. Another case I covered extensively was the Falcon Ridge Rapist, who terrorized a Northeast Calgary community. He grabbed strangers and violently sexually assaulted them.

He was finally caught in August of 2006 with the help of a composite sketch drawn by a veteran sex crimes detective who I spoke to for drawing out a suspect in season three. There's a lot to this story and I plan to share more in a future episode. These are just three examples of the cases I was covering at that time.

What's interesting is that this kind of stranger attack is actually considered to be quite rare in Calgary. Most sex assaults are committed by someone the victim knows. That probably seems like a contradiction given the cases I just described. But for whatever reason, during this time period, there was a spike in these cases. And it left women in Calgary on edge.

And then another attack. This one across town in southeast Calgary. So the victim was attacked, faced physical assault, faced stabbing on her body, as well as was raped by the suspect.

I'm Nancy Hixt, a senior crime reporter for Global News. Today on Crime Beat, I share this victim's story and the life-changing impact of this attack. This is Out of the Dark. Before I begin, a warning, this story includes graphic details of sexual assault and violence.

On the same day that the man accused of being the Falcon Ridge rapist made his first court appearance, August 6th, 2006, there was another attack on the other end of Calgary. It was shocking. The victim was only 18 years old. She was walking home when she was attacked by an unknown man. Years later, I met the victim, who I'm going to call Hannah.

I would say back then I was very social. I had a couple really good group friends that I hung out with every day basically. But after that everything kind of changed. Hannah isn't her real name, but you'll soon understand why it's important to protect her identity. Hannah asked me to share her story. She wants people to know what happened to her. She wants her voice to be heard.

Hannah grew up in and around Calgary. Back in the day, I used to be one of those girls that had to prove everybody wrong. I wanted to be in the mosh pit, throwing the big guys around, riding the BMX bikes and skateboarding and doing all the fun stuff that girls would not normally do.

As a teenager, she was focused and that put her ahead of a lot of her peers. I actually graduated when I was just turning 17. So I was lucky enough to get out of school quicker because I did a program at the school down the road from my house. So I got to get out of school, high school about half a year before everybody else. So then we had like a transition year where we could go straight to work and that's kind of what I did.

Hannah loves tattoos and got her first one when she was 16. That tattoo sparked an obsession, and she's made her body a canvas of ink and water. Some are inspired by her infatuation of punk rock. Hannah listens to anything that's more obscure and underground. She said she looks for anything loud and not mainstream.

She's also very outdoorsy and spent her teen years on a BMX bike and a skateboard. She loves camping and being in nature. Hannah has sent me photos of her in her happy place, which is on a kayak with one of her cats having a float in the most serene lake setting.

So when it came to choosing a vocation, she refused to be tied to a desk or confined to a 9-to-5 job that required her to be indoors. I was actually working in a warehouse when I discovered that I wanted to be outside. They had a big bay door and you could just see all the sun and the bugs. And that's what made me realize I wanted that career.

I won't get into too many specifics of her job in order to continue to protect her identity, but it's fair to say she has a passion for very difficult manual labor. I basically graduated, started work right away, and fell in love with this job. I was working really hard. A few months later, in early 2006, Hannah turned 18. She lived at home with her parents and sister in southeast Calgary.

Yeah, I rode my bike and my skateboard through most of those neighborhoods every single day, multiple times. Hannah said it was a pretty quiet area, and she always felt comfortable going from place to place by herself. But August 6, 2006, changed Hannah's life forever. And the details of that day are vividly etched in her memory. Oh yes, it was a beautiful, beautiful day. It was summer, cold.

I remember it being really hot. I remember getting off of work, being really super excited because I just got this big fat paycheck. So I went shopping and I don't normally buy preppier clothes because I was a punk. So I ended up buying a nice pair of jeans, some new skate shoes, a tank top and a little cover top. And that was what I was going to wear out that night to go partying with my friends. So I thought I would try a different style.

One of her high school friends was hosting a barbecue at their parents' home. She hung out with her high school friends daily, but that night was special because of one of the guests on the invite list. So after I had gotten home and cleaned up and all dressed, I was really excited because I had a guy coming that I really wanted to meet. Well, I had known him for a very long time, but I had this huge crush on him. But I figured I was going to tell him that night.

The party was about a 20-minute walk from her home in a neighboring community. She describes the distance in terms of the landmarks she passed. So, to her, it was straight down the road, two schools away. She arrived and hung out with about eight of her closest friends. They ate some good food, had a few drinks, and relaxed in the backyard. But Hannah said by the time the guy she wanted to meet arrived at the gathering,

It was really late and she had to leave. She had committed to helping her dad the following day. It was about four in the morning when Hannah left the party to make the 20-minute trek back to her parents' home. The same route she'd taken countless times. I have traveled this path many times. A lot of little bike paths that go in between communities.

Kind of like cut roads, but usually for pedestrians and bikes and skateboarders. The one area by the dry pond is really nice. It's got lots of rolling hills, a couple little parks, benches, lots of trees. It's a nice little area where kids would come out and hang out. Or you could just ride your skateboard down these really cool big hills and get some nice speed. Try and make it back up on the other side. But for some reason that night, she felt a bit uneasy.

It was kind of like a little sketchy, but I always stayed along where the lights were. Just normal areas. It wasn't lost on her that she was walking alone in the middle of the night. She kept her cell phone handy for added peace of mind. I just had gotten a flip phone. A little Motorola flip phone. I was pretty excited about that one. I had just gotten it. Not many kids had phones, so I was definitely loving it.

I kept walking through those areas and made my way to this little back road that took me to a pedestrian crosswalk. And that's when I had pushed the button to cross the road and I had seen this guy further down with a bike. And as I had crossed the road, I had noticed that he was still coming towards me. So, you know, I always try to keep my guard just because I was always told, watch your back. And I was young, so my parents had always told us to

keep aware of your surroundings. Hannah kept her eye on the young man on his bike, but it was dark, so she didn't get a good look at him. She was still at the marked intersection when he approached her on his bike. He asked me if I had any cigarettes, and I had mentioned, I'm sorry, I don't smoke cigarettes, because at that time I had already quit smoking cigarettes.

And I was wearing a completely different outfit so I didn't have any of my leather jackets on or any pockets. So I just opened my sweater up and just showed that I didn't have anything. And he said, "Okay." And he just went on his merry way. He just pedaled off and went his own way. And then I lost track of him because he was gone. I didn't notice anything other than he was just a guy on a bike and it was a little bit of a darker area so I wasn't comfortable.

She quickened her pace. Hannah said it seemed darker than usual outside and she was becoming more and more uneasy. She decided to veer off her normal route and take a shortcut. I remember wanting to get home faster and I had this feeling. I was like, if I cut through the field, it would save me a few minutes, right? So I was like, okay, everything seems fine. It's

The area she cut through is a giant green space that really is a center point between a handful of North and Southeast Calgary neighborhoods. It's a wide open space between two schools. There's a playground, three ball diamonds and a football field. And so I had just actually decided to make my way through the field.

And that's when I had seen this guy and he was coming sneakily riding his bike along the other school, which was a Catholic school. And he was coming really quick on the bike.

She didn't realize at the time it was the same guy from the intersection who had asked her for a cigarette just minutes earlier. To be honest, it didn't even come to my mind. I just knew that this guy was coming towards me on a bike super fast. And I had just pulled my phone out and started dialing something like my parents was thinking, you know, they're going to get to me quicker than the cops would.

Hannah was terrified. Yeah, he definitely came out of nowhere and it was dark. You couldn't hear him. But I was always weary. Like, I was into martial arts shows when I was a kid. I was, you know, if anything was going to happen, I wanted to be prepared. So luckily I kind of was. At the same time, you are never prepared. Those martial arts things don't come back to your mind. You just try to survive.

She was still a good 10-minute walk from home, in the middle of the wide open field when he attacked her. He ended up running at the same time off of his bike as I'm trying to scurry away from him. And he grabbed my phone and I'm pretty sure he broke it at the same time. So when he grabbed my phone, I started swinging and punched him in the head a couple times. And he started stumbling around and we kind of started our fight from there.

Hannah used every ounce of power she had to fend him off. He wasn't saying anything. He was just swinging at me and I didn't know what was happening. So I just kept fighting. She didn't know what he wanted. She didn't have anything of value besides her phone. We had traveled through the field quite a ways from where the bike was. And somehow he ended up getting me on the ground and we had tousled around and

Somewhere along that way, I ended up losing everything that was in my pockets. Like I had change, a bus pass, a few other little objects that really wasn't much, like little change, no money. That's when I started getting really tired. I didn't know why, but I just kept fighting and fighting and doing everything to keep him off of me. He ended up getting on top of me and choking me with his knees. And as he was doing that, he was smashing his knees in my neck.

Excuse me. I just need a moment. Sorry. Hannah was in a fight for her life. And then she heard his voice. He had his arm around me and he kept telling me, stop fighting, stop fighting. And this is the first time he had spoke to me. And I said, I'm not going to stop fighting. Like, why are you doing this? And he didn't answer me on that. But he just kept telling me to stop fighting. And I'm like, I'm not going to stop fighting. Like, why?

Hannah fought harder, but she was getting weaker and weaker. Fully in shock and overcome by adrenaline, she had no idea the injuries she had suffered. And the worst was yet to come.

As Hannah struggled to fight off her attacker, she had no idea he had stabbed her over and over. Part of the reason she was so tired and weak was because she had lost a lot of blood. I need to warn you, what happened next is graphic and extremely disturbing. The offender took his knife and cut off her clothes.

He cut my shirt down the middle and then he ended up ripping my jeans and pulling them off of me and cutting my underwear. I kept fighting him the whole time as he was stabbing me and cutting my clothes and trying to have his way with me basically. He violently sexually assaulted her. He stabbed me multiple times before rape. The rape was happening in between the bargaining for my life.

Hannah was exhausted, but she fought to survive. At one point, Hannah saw people off in the distance getting into a car. Hoping they could come to her aid, she screamed. But her calls for help went unanswered. And nobody could hear the screams. Nobody came. So that's why I just kept fighting. Hannah said it felt like the attack lasted an eternity.

And in the middle of it all, she believes the offender may have been cut or stabbed as well. So then he's like, well, if you stop fighting, I'll stop stabbing you. And I'm like, okay, throw the knife away. If you throw the knife away, I'll let you do what you want. He ended up throwing the knife away and I didn't stop fighting. I kept fighting. And by that time, it seemed like the sun was starting to come up. He ended up telling me that if I

If he let me go, he would go one way and I would go the other. And I just remember telling him, get the f*** out of here. Like, I don't care what you do. Just get out of here. The man eventually stopped and took off into the night. Hannah was badly injured and knew she needed help. She was still several blocks from home, but somehow she summoned the strength to get up and walk.

Still in survival mode, she pushed forward in agony each step of the 10-minute walk until she made it to her mom and dad's home. In her, my dad came running out of the room screaming and calling the cops and

Hannah was losing a lot of blood. Her parents drove her to the nearest hospital, but she was quickly transferred across town to the Foothills Hospital, one of Canada's largest hospitals, and home to one of the largest trauma centers in southern Alberta. Her injuries were severe. I know I was stabbed in my lung twice, my ass, my legs, my head, my chin, my chest.

I was basically stabbed almost on every piece of my body. Collapsed lung, bruising to my face and my neck, and then just lots of cuts and gashes. I had a tube in my lung for two weeks, I think it was, when I was under protective custody in the hospital. By protective custody, she means she was in a secure unit. Police wanted to make sure her attacker couldn't get to her.

The Calgary Police Sex Crimes Unit was called to investigate. So the victim was attacked, faced physical assault, faced stabbing on her body, as well as was raped by the suspect.

That's Detective Timothy Fitzgibbon. He's in charge of the Calgary Police Sexual Assault Investigative Unit. Our officers attended to the scene of the crime as best described by the victim. They found evidence of the violent struggle in the wide open field between the two schools that Hannah had described. Officers recovered a Leatherman multi-tool, believed to be the weapon used to stab Hannah.

They also found the offender's belt, a black Gucci belt with a silver buckle, and his bicycle, an older black road bike with a blue seat and a kickstand. It was important evidence for investigators who hoped they could recover fingerprints or DNA.

All evidence was sent away for forensic testing. Investigators interviewed Hannah several times.

She told them everything she could remember about the violent attack and provided a detailed description of the offender to a sketch artist. She remembered the man as being 18 to 20 years old, 5'7" to 5'10", 140 to 150 pounds, with a slim build, dark brown hair, and a crew cut with bushy eyebrows.

Police put out a media release with the composite drawing, hoping someone might recognize him. In the meantime, police increased patrols of the area as detectives went door to door looking for anyone who might have witnessed the attack or seen the offender as he fled on foot.

They also engaged other units with the police service, including the High Risk Offender Unit, to see if anyone on their radar fit the description of the unknown attacker. They are very well aware of who those people might be that are in our community that could perform this type of a crime.

That's when investigators received results from the forensic evidence that was sent to the crime lab.

But before I tell you those results, I'm going to take a few minutes to help explain how DNA and DNA testing works in identifying a suspect.

When the police obtain samples of blood or bodily fluids or skin cells, etc., we forward those to the crime lab. The crime lab examines our exhibits, whatever those could be. Maybe it's a piece of clothing where we think there is some sort of DNA that's located on it. Once they examine and if they have sufficient material,

And when I say material, I refer to genetic material. Then they can identify a profile from that. That sample has to match someone who is already in the system. We will run it through the data bank. And if it's in the data bank, then, you know, we'll let you know.

And if we have a suspect already for our DNA, then we can potentially get a warrant for that suspect's DNA and then see if it matches up to what we've acquired from our crime scene. And when I say crime scene, that can be anything. The person is the crime scene, the location where it happened is a crime scene, a vehicle is a crime scene. Whatever is tied to the offense is part of what we'd identify as the crime scene. If a person has not had their DNA taken,

through the police, then their DNA won't be located in the DNA data bank. In this case, police had the offender's DNA, but there were no hits. The offender wasn't in the system, so the results from the crime lab didn't offer the break investigators were hoping for. Through the course of the investigative process, which lasted over the course of the next few years,

The offender's identity was still unknown, and the case remained unsolved. In essence, the case became cold. All of the leads had been followed.

And all of the suspects had been eliminated at the time based on all of the evidence that was available through the investigative process, which was very exhaustive.

In 2009, three years after the attack, there was a Crimestoppers reenactment done to try and generate tips in the case. Hannah was a part of the project and did an interview with Crimestoppers. It was the first time she ever spoke publicly. Her face wasn't shown to protect her identity. I rethink everything I do. I don't really go out much. I don't trust people.

I just keep to myself, pretty much. I have problems breathing sometimes, and I work really hard so it's difficult, but I manage.

Now, Crime Stoppers does pay a cash reward of up to $2,000 for information on this or any unsolved crime, the recovery of stolen property, drugs, or the arrest of any wanted person. Your call is anonymous and completely confidential. Call 1-800-222-8477 or log on to the Crime Stoppers website at calgarycrimestoppers.org.

Unfortunately, despite this emotional appeal, the segment didn't generate any tips that pushed the case forward. And again, the investigation went cold.

Keep in mind, this was 2015, nine years after the original attack.

Again, police investigated the new suspect, but this suspect was also eliminated. Over the years, Hannah has had to deal with both emotional and physical scars. I had to change my appearance. When he had cut off all my clothes, he had seen all my tattoos that I had. So I had to change a lot. Hannah covered anything the offender might have seen or could identify her.

But she told me she was okay with it. It was new ink on a fresh canvas to mark the beginning of a new path. It's been a few years since Hannah first asked me to share her story. I didn't cover the case when it first happened in 2006. I was on a different assignment at the time, so one of my colleagues took over this one. Hannah reached out to me years later and I started this episode.

Here again is Detective Fitzgibbon.

And in November of 2021, a detective in our sexual assault investigative unit who works cold case had reviewed this case to determine if a new methodology that we were employing here at the service, if this case could be used with that methodology. And that's genetic genealogy.

police used a tool called Investigative Genetic Genealogy. Calgary police said their officers began looking into this technique after it was used to successfully help identify and arrest the Golden State Killer in 2018. Since then, CPS has used Investigative Genetic Genealogy several times on unsolved criminal cases, including historical sex assaults and homicides.

In order to use IgG, police need to have suitable DNA of the suspect. CPS told me that at this point, only two genetic genealogy sites permit law enforcement to compare suspect DNA with their databases. Those are GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA.

People who submit their DNA to these databases have the choice to opt in or opt out of these law enforcement comparisons. And it's important to note that in all cases, police never get access to raw genetic data. Once the initial comparisons are complete, police work with dedicated genetic genealogists, given this work requires significant expertise.

CPS told me this is a significant forensic advancement that has allowed investigators to successfully solve several historical crimes and bring much-needed closure to victims and their families. And it's being used more and more. In late 2023, this type of testing led to an arrest in the homicide of a young Métis Calgarian that happened nearly 30 years ago.

In Hannah's case, police hoped investigative genetic genealogy would help them identify the man who raped and stabbed her. Detective Fitzgibbon describes how it works. You have all sorts of people that are putting their...

DNA into all of these locations around the world, like where they say, you know, oh, give us your DNA. We'll tell you your background and all of these types of things. What genetic genealogy does is it can link up with people. And what it can do is it can link for us

a person who might be associated to the offender in the case at hand. So, for example, we might find a relative of that person who's actually going to be our suspect. And then we're able to then determine, hey, so if this person here, if person A is somehow connected to this DNA,

let's sort of take apart this person's world and see who's attached to their world. And then once we do that, we start to identify potential suspects. And then we take, we investigate those people to see if are they the people that would, were they in the city? Were they, or are they some other part of the world? Like, do you know what I mean? Or do we, is this something that we can pursue and actually make a link in that regard?

In this case, the RCMP assisted Calgary police. The detective at the time had determined through resourcing with the RCMP crime lab the best DNA male extract that we could use. And that was through the period of time starting in November of 2021 and then the subsequent following year.

But Detective Fitzgibbon said the genetic genealogy didn't lead to the break police had hoped for.

It didn't provide the identity of a possible suspect. In November of 2022, CPS did a media release in hopes of getting new tips for the investigation. And part of the media release was the 2006 composite drawing, pictures of the accused bike, and a Crimestoppers reenactment. I asked police if they can age the composite sketch to reflect what this offender would look like now.

But CPS told me that tool is used when they have a confirmed image of an individual, as well as examples of how related family members have aged, as aging is closely linked with genetics. Because of that, police said aged composite sketches are rarely used.

Detective Fitzgibbon said, unfortunately, the re-release of the photos and sketch didn't lead to any new tips. And at this point now, the case has again been exhausted for available avenues. The case remains unsolved and has once again gone cold.

I asked Detective Fitzgibbon what it will take to reopen the file and identify Hannah's attacker.

So as it stands currently, this male DNA is in the data bank and it will remain there. And I can tell you from previous cases that I have worked, it could be 10 years from now, it may be 30 years from now, whatever that time might look like. If the person ever comes in contact with the police and they're involved in an offense where their DNA is required and has to be submitted to the crime lab or to the data bank, then

we will see that when it's entered, it will match and then we will be notified immediately. So there is always a chance that this person's DNA will be acquired by law enforcement agencies at some point and be placed in. Or if the same offender commits another crime, even though we don't know who he is, but he commits another crime and leaves DNA material and it gets put in, then they will get linked to say that DNA

hey, you know what, this guy's response, this DNA is the same DNA that was located at this offense also. And so we would get notified that that's the case too. And then it provides further investigative links. Until that happens, this case will likely remain unsolved. That leaves Hannah forever looking over her shoulder. Almost 18 years have passed since she was attacked, and she's lived her entire adult life on edge.

She can't help but wonder if one day she'll cross paths with the offender. Hannah's assault happened on August 6, 2006.

Anyone with information can contact Crimestoppers at www.crimestoppers.org and reference case number 06274598. I'll include the information in the show notes, along with the original sketch of the suspect. Based on Hannah's original description, today the offender would be between 36 and 38 years old.

I want to thank Hannah for helping me to share her story. And thank you for listening. I'll keep you updated on this case if there are any new developments. 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 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.