I Dodged a Bullet | 2
43:11 Share

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. He's the most terrifying serial killer you've never heard of. Haddon Clark has confessed to several murders, but investigators say he could have over 100 victims. At the center of the mayhem, a cellmate of Haddon's that was able to get key evidence into Haddon's murder spree across America.

because hadn't thought he was Jesus Christ. Born Evil, the Serial Killer and the Savior, an I.D. true crime event, premieres Monday, September 2nd at 9. Watch on I.D. or stream on Max. Set your DVR. A listener's note. This podcast contains coarse language, adult themes, and content of a violent and disturbing nature. Listener discretion is advised.

As a journalist covering the crime beat, I don't work regular hours. It's not uncommon for me to get a text or a call in the middle of the night, on a day off, or even while I'm on a beach enjoying a vacation. And when news breaks, most times I drop whatever I'm doing and get as much information as I can. I also get a lot of emails, phone calls, and messages on social media.

On a typical day, I sort through hundreds, if not thousands, of items in my inbox. But there are certain messages that tend to stand out. I'm Nancy Hixt. I'm a crime reporter for Global News. And today on Crime Beat, I want to share an incredible story of survival. One that sounds more like a movie than real life.

It's the story of a man who dodged a bullet and lived to tell the tale. One day, not that long ago, a media release was sent out by police. Officers were asking for help in finding someone considered armed and dangerous. Those words always grab my attention.

RCMP officers were trying to track down a couple wanted for attempted murder. RCMP have issued a public warning for two people on the run from police in Alberta at this hour. Police released photos of the pair. The girl looked young, but kind of unremarkable. Nothing about her appearance really stood out to me. But the man police were trying to find, he didn't look like someone you'd want to mess with.

Andrew Wanch was 30 years old at the time, a tall guy, broad, with a muscular build. Police released a description of the vehicle the couple was likely driving, and officers included a special warning. Wanch and his girlfriend were believed to be armed and dangerous and should not be approached.

It was three days before police were able to track Wanch down. He was facing a long string of charges, including attempted murder. Good evening. A province-wide hunt for a man accused in numerous crimes, including attempted murder, has ended. Andrew Wanch is now behind bars after being on the run for a week. The end to the manhunt for Wanch was so significant, the mayor of the town where he committed his crimes said,

spoke out about the arrest. Our RCMP detachment and its officers worked very hard to make...

Police said Wanch and his girlfriend went to a rural residence outside of Sylvan Lake, Alberta. That's about an hour and a half north of Calgary.

It's a town that attracts a lot of tourists, especially in the summer. It's one of the nicer, swimmable lakes in Alberta, and when you live on the prairies, people tend to take advantage of a nice beach and some water to play in. The home Wanche was accused of going into wasn't far from town,

Police alleged he went into the house and demanded money and jewelry from the couple who lived there. Wanch was also accused of firing a gun at the homeowner before taking off and spurring the manhunt by police. Everyone in Sylvan Lake knew the homeowner. He was a very successful businessman. Police confirmed he was truly an innocent victim, meaning he had no ties to any kind of criminal activity.

In a lot of home invasion cases, it's bad people targeting bad people. And police made it clear that wasn't the situation here. It was much later that I came to find out the victim's name in this case. I'll introduce you to him in a little bit.

But right now, let me take you back a few years. Before making the move to global news in Calgary, I got my first job as a reporter right out of journalism school, working at a smaller station in central Alberta, about an hour and a half north in Red Deer, called RDTV. The station is now gone, but I have fond memories of my time there.

My first full-time role was a producer and co-host of a lifestyle-type program that aired on TV over the noon hour. It had a mix of everything from fashion and cooking to music and pop culture. But it was the afternoons after that show was done that I looked forward to. That's when I would volunteer to report for the evening news.

I loved covering a hard news story, and early on, I would do things other reporters shied away from, like knocking on the doors of criminals, asking tough questions, holding people accountable. And I had a passion for covering anything court or justice related. It wasn't long before my boss called me into his office and said he had a beat he thought I'd be good at, the crime beat.

I jumped at the opportunity. And that was the beginning of what would turn into more than two decades covering crime. I'm telling you all of this because as it turns out, I actually met the victim of Andrew Wanch back in those early days. To say he was a successful businessman is an understatement. He was a millionaire. His name is Randy Safronovich.

When I found out he was the victim of the home invasion and attempted murder, I jumped in the truck and headed north to Sylvan Lake. I needed to talk to him about his brush with death. Randy's house is really amazing. The kind you'd expect a millionaire to live in. It's been renovated since I was there last, but it still has the same gorgeous view overlooking Sylvan Lake.

You can see for miles clear through to the Rocky Mountains. Hi Randy. Hi. How are you? Good morning guys. The inside of the home is gorgeous with rich woodwork and rustic details. There's a real bear rug in front of the stone fireplace. I could tell Randy was nervous, jittery. He was having second thoughts about the interview.

It was obvious he was still reeling from what he had just gone through. Finally, with what seemed to be his tenth cigarette of the past hour in his hand, he agreed to sit down with me in his living room and talk. No pressure, just chat and see how it goes. I had to ask, had he seen a counselor?

his eyes welled up with tears. A bottle of rum and good friends is the best counselling. I guess I happen to see a counsellor a little bit, but they really don't deal with shit like this. It's just something you got to work out yourself. Whatever happened to Randy was big. I just got done working and it was about nine o'clock at night, sat down, going to have a drink and relax for the evening and

At that time, he was running his office for his storage company out of his home, so it wasn't unusual for customers to stop by to pay bills. He invited the man inside. Fairly good-sized guy, wired tattoos all over him. I had a pretty uncomfortable feeling, so I had my phone charged in the kitchen, so...

Randy was confused. It made no sense. How is this guy going to help him? The man's answer took him completely by surprise. He said,

And he says, but he says, I checked you out. You seem like not a bad guy. He said, if you give me the 20 grand, he said, I don't like the guy that hired me. I'll return the favor to him. But Randy didn't owe anyone that kind of money. He knew the guy was lying. But that didn't change the fact he was having this conversation with a very large, intimidating guy. And he was being threatened on his own doorstep. Was this guy serious?

That's when he noticed Randy's cell phone was recording and he was not impressed. And up until then, it was a fairly normal, non-aggressive conversation. Then, just like that, the man snapped. And at that point, he just went sideways, whipped up his shirt, pull out a .45, slid the action back, put it to my forehead and pulled the trigger. At this point, Randy needed a minute.

He choked back tears and recounted exactly what had happened. I could tell that moment has replayed in his head probably a thousand times. He should be dead. The man pulled the trigger, but by some miracle... I got misfired right against my forehead, just like that, yeah. Later on in the

during the investigation that his gun was dirty and not working right because the RCMP did get the gun in the end that he had taken it to somebody to get serviced and they charged him for it but never serviced it. Randy survived but his nightmare was far from over. His unwanted guest wasn't going anywhere. He pumped the shell out onto the floor and was trying to reload the gun

And I had some cash in my pocket, so I just took it out and threw it on the counter. I said, here, I said, here's some money. Just whatever you want. But the man wasn't satisfied. He wanted more. He wanted 20 grand. They took me and my girlfriend, put us on the fireplace, got us on our hands and knees and was going to execute us there.

Randy said all he could think to do was keep the guy talking, try to negotiate. He pointed out he was cooperating. There had to be a way to get out of this alive. The man asked Randy if he had a safe. Of course he had a safe.

He demanded Randy take him to it and unlock it. He grabs me, puts a gun to my back, takes me upstairs, and it's just a low safe. It's the old turn-dial safe. So I'm down on my knees trying to open it up, and he's got the gun to the back of my head. I can't hit the combination. I tried three times. I said, look. I said, I'm rattled. I said, I can't open the safe. I said, this is a combination if you want it. Here it is.

At this point, the man is without his 20 grand and he couldn't get inside the safe. And it was way too heavy to steal the whole thing. Randy said it weighed at least 300 pounds. Randy was stressed. The man was at his breaking point. He had already tried to shoot him. What was next?

Then, by some miracle, the man said he needed to go. But he said he'd be back the next day for his $20,000 in cash. And he said if you leave the place, you're dead. He said you can go to town in the morning, get the cash, and that's it. Randy didn't hang around to find out if his threats were legit. He drove to his neighbor's house and called police. Officers were quick to respond. They knew Randy.

He had surveillance cameras set up all over his property, capturing everything on video. Police used those images to identify the suspect. Soon after, police released a photo of Andrew Wanch, the same photo I had seen on the media release. Wanch was wanted for the attempted murder of Randy Safronovich. I thought the toughest thing was coming back to this house after that because

We were put into a safe house in Calgary for about a week. Since then, he's turned his home into a bit of a fortress. No one enters the property without Randy receiving an alert. A full alarm goes off. Who's that? Okay. He received several of these alerts while I was there.

As you can tell, it can be a little bit distracting, but Randy said it gives him some peace of mind. Nothing moves around my place without me knowing about it. Randy lives in fear, constantly looking over his shoulder. He dodged a bullet that day, literally, and he knows it's crazy he lived to tell the story. But Randy's life has taken a lot of twists and turns.

The rest of his story is even harder to believe. It seemed like a bit of a relief for Randy to share his story, and he started to feel more comfortable. We started chatting about the old days, about how we first met back in 1998. I met you, I think it would be about 20 years ago right now. Exactly 20 years ago.

I was an ambitious young crime reporter at RDTV. Randy still has a VHS copy of the stories I did with him back then. That's right, VHS. I interviewed Randy for a story, a story that stood out in my mind for 20 years. I had a real hard time accepting it. I couldn't believe it.

It was 1990, a time when Randy was on top of the world. Business was good, money was free-flowing, and he loved to party. ♪

That's when Randy met a woman named Berna Dean. Berna, for short. I had just bought a boat and me and a couple buddies went to the lake to go boating and popped, boated across the lake, went into the Sylvan Bar to grab a bottle of vodka and celebrate the purchase of this new boat and wound up picking her up there too to come celebrate. They immediately hit it off. Berna was an attractive, petite brunette and Randy said she was a lot of fun.

Not everything was easy. Berna was fresh out of another relationship, and she was broke. But he helped her get back on her feet, paid her rent, bought her groceries. It was her sense of adventure and personality that won him over. She made life fun. And I got a peaceful, easy fee.

He fell in love. We dated for a bit, then moved in together, and I think we lived together for two years, and then got married. The couple made their vows at a small ceremony in the home they built together in Sylvan Lake. Randy and Berna kicked off their life together with a giant house party. They loved a good party. Good music, good friends, and it was all to celebrate their love for one another. So come on, buddy, baby, we're

The honeymoon was low-key, just a quiet trip to BC. Their life together was perfect. Randy enjoyed continued success in the business world, and Berna became his bookkeeper. They loved to travel, they went camping together, and were soaking in every minute of marital bliss. It wasn't long before they started a family.

Randy and Berna became proud parents of a little boy named Clinton right around their second wedding anniversary. Berna settled into her new role as a homemaker and life was good. Their solid relationship became even more important when Randy's health started failing. About four years into their marriage, he became plagued with medical problems. It wasn't normal. Like, I was going into emergency care

Every month and a half, two months with such chest pains, I was having a heart attack. Randy's condition only worsened over time. He was sick to his stomach and it felt like he had the flu all the time and he was losing a ton of weight. He was so sick, he had to take time off of work. He went on stress leave. Oh, I was ungodly sick. I was blacking out at the wheel, hit the ditch a few times.

over the last year and a half prior to that. Didn't know why the doctors were testing me and testing me. Couldn't find nothing wrong. Randy was a mess, and doctors were at a loss for what might be causing his health issues. Test after test and nothing. Finally, doctors told him it might be psychological, that it was all in his head. It was a very confusing and stressful time.

All he knew was he was very sick, and now he was being made to feel like a hypochondriac. And to make things worse, things started to change with Berna. Something seemed off. He couldn't put his finger on what or why, but something was different. Randy said Berna would spend hours on the phone. He could see her talking to someone through the window from the shop he was working in.

But whenever he went into the house, she would quickly hang up. And at the same time, there were a lot of hang-up calls to the house. You know, the kind where someone calls and when you answer, there's no one there? Randy said there were sometimes more than 10 hang-up calls a day. He had to find out what was going on. Things just weren't right around here, so I got a feeling something was not right, but I didn't know what. So I put a tape recorder on my home phone

and started recording all the phone conversations. Just two recorded phone calls in, the mystery was solved. I found out she was having an affair with who I thought was supposedly my best friend. Randy was shocked. He said he didn't see it coming. His best friend was Barry Stratford. Randy met Barry in the early 90s. They were neighbors, and they became fast friends.

Barry was about 5'8", with dark hair, a mustache, an attractive guy. Randy said people often thought they were brothers. They kind of looked alike. Barry worked for a life insurance company and was great with financial planning. Randy said it was nice to have Barry's savvy investment advice, especially with all the business ventures he had on the go. They also shared a passion for stock car racing. Barry would drive the cars. Randy fixed them.

Randy and Berna did everything with Barry and his wife. And now, that was ruined. But instead of confronting Berna about Barry, Randy tried to save their marriage. I figured, well, you know, okay, people do stumble and shit happens. And I was, I kind of got in it for the long haul.

and was hoping to resolve it and work it out. Randy believed Berna still truly loved him. So what I did was try to plan stuff that would only involve me and her and distance ourselves from them and hoping that I could save our marriage. And that just seemed to piss her off more because she wanted to be around Barry. He knew she didn't marry him for money. He had had her sign a prenup to make sure of it,

If she left him, Berna would only be entitled to $5,000 per year for every year they were married. At that time, it would only be about $25,000. But all that didn't even matter. He loved her. Randy wanted to make it work.

Randy decided he would just keep recording all phone calls to and from his house and see what happened. But just two days later, there was a call he wasn't expecting. Randy remembers the exact date. September 9th, 1998.

the day his world changed. I took the tape, plugged it into my truck and was listening to that and I guess adjusted the conversation. Why the hell is he dead? It's been more than 14 days since we poisoned him. Randy couldn't believe what he had just heard. Berna and Barry were trying to kill him. It was all starting to make sense. His nonstop health issues. Was this why he was getting sick?

Randy was in shock, and he didn't want to take any chances if it was true. He took the tape of the phone conversation between Berna and Barry to the RCMP. I've read that original statement Randy gave to police.

I sensed the officer taking the statement was almost in disbelief. It was like something out of a movie, not real life. And definitely not in small town central Alberta. But the tape was solid proof. And police believed they had a motive. Randy was worth more dead to Berna and Barry than alive.

The prenup was clear. Berna would walk away with very little if she left Randy. But if he died? Well, that was another story. Berna was the sole beneficiary of his life insurance and would have inherited several million dollars in assets if he died. Barry had written Randy's will and was also the executor. RCMP started an investigation.

Randy was told he needed to leave town. He needed to stay away from Berna and Barry to make sure he was safe. Officers didn't want to take a chance on him being targeted any further. He told his family he had to go away for business. That was believable. He was always working on some kind of a business deal. No one even questioned it.

Meanwhile, RCMP investigators started their own wiretaps, and what they heard was further evidence of a conspiracy to kill Randy. Randy has boxes filled with the evidence police collected. He has full transcripts of every wiretap, every officer's notes, every court file, including transcripts of all court proceedings.

He's given me full access to those files. It's crazy to read the conversations between Berna and Barry. This is probably what you want to read then. This will tell you everything you want to know.

From the wiretapped conversations, it seemed Berna and Barry thought they were in the clear, that they could pull this off, kill Randy, and live happily ever after with his money. You can read in the transcripts there, they talk about the chances of getting caught, and they say, well, as long as we destroy everything, who would ever think about it? Who would ever...

As police continued to track Berna and Barry and gather evidence, Randy needed to have his blood tested. Police wanted to know exactly what they were dealing with. It went to CSIS and it went to Interpol, I believe. Then it went to the FBI. Then it went to the U.S. military. And the U.S. military was able to find ricin antibodies in my blood that was, that they could prove that I had been poisoned with ricin.

Ricin is a highly toxic substance from the seeds of the castor oil plant. A very small dose, like the size of a few grains of salt, can kill a person. According to the court documents in this case, the RCMP forensic lab said, Ricin is reasonably described as the most toxic compound known to man. The document went on to list symptoms of poisoning.

In the early stages, there are gastrointestinal effects like vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration. Exactly what Randy was suffering from. Liver, kidney, and central nervous system toxicity are known to follow those symptoms. It's not something that would show up in normal medical tests, and at that time, most labs couldn't even detect it.

That's why it ended up in a U.S. lab that specialized in biological warfare. According to them, nobody's ever survived from this. Randy's eyes again welled up with tears. Twenty years later, and it still hits him hard. There's an email that he asks him on Twitter.

what the best poison is to use to have somebody look like they've died of a heart attack. And so they tell him that ricin is the best one to use. It was believed they were putting the poison in his food or drinks. Randy didn't know which was worse, the betrayal of his wife or his best friend. He trusted them both. By now, Randy was convinced Barry wanted to take over his life.

How could this be happening? He couldn't even discuss the murder plot with his family. The only people that knew what was going on was myself, the RCMP, a buddy of mine that he let me stay at his place for a while in Redyer, and a buddy of mine and his wife that traveled with me during the hiding, and my lawyer. Police didn't want to risk Berna and Barry finding out about the investigation before police had the evidence they needed to arrest them.

Randy's immediate family, however, had a feeling something was up.

He's especially close with his sister, Debbie, and she was suspicious of Berna. She definitely had no clue Berna and Barry were plotting to kill Randy, but she thought Berna was hiding something. I always kind of ask questions. I kind of incent. I can tell things sometimes. And I could tell she did not want me around because she didn't want me to know what was going on.

In early October of 1998, Debbie went to Randy and Berna's house to drop off a birthday present for Berna. No one was home. She tried for several days, but no luck. And then, out of the blue, a call from Randy's lawyer. I had my lawyer on standby. So as soon as they were arrested, I contacted my lawyer to get a hold of all my family, to get them together to explain.

to explain what happened so they knew before it hit the media. Randy was again very emotional. Talking about this was taking him right back to the day it all unfolded. Berna and Barry were arrested and charged with conspiring to commit murder. Police were able to prove that they had purchased castramine seeds twice. They even purchased plans for how to make the poison online.

Randy said police believe they were planning to extract the ricin from the castor bean seeds, sneak it into his meals, he would die, no one would know why, and they would be home free. The wiretap calls detailed the entire plot.

They would later make a plea deal, which means they agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge and sometimes that can also include a lesser sentence. They pled guilty to administering an oxy substance. Barry got three years and Berna got three and a half years and they got out in six months and seven months for good behavior.

Three and a half years for Berna. Three for Barry. Both out in just a few months. I tried to access their parole documents for this podcast. I wanted to know more about their early release and the factors the board considered when making those decisions.

But the Parole Board of Canada only keeps paperwork on offenders for 10 years after the sentence expires, or until the death of the offender. So those records are long gone. I also tried to contact some of the lawyers involved with the case. I was told some have passed away. Others didn't respond to my requests for interviews.

Randy said he's always felt Berna and Barry should have been charged with attempted murder. That carries a maximum punishment of life in prison.

Randy doesn't mince words when it comes to talking about what he feels justice would have been. I think they should be strung up and shot myself. Our justice system here, there's no justice. Randy's life was never the same. How could it be? His own wife and best friend wanted him dead. I think the hardest part about it was living in a smaller community. It was to the point I wouldn't go into town. And it's not...

It's the people you know. And the thing is, I've been a businessman here my whole life. A lot of people know me. And so when your ex-wife tries to kill you and you walk into a grocery store and somebody sees you, they know you. You know, if your ex-wife died, they come up, give you condolences. If your ex-wife tries to kill you, they don't know what the fuck to say. Over the next couple of years or so, I did most of my shopping in Reddra just to get away from that.

Remember that gift Randy's sister Debbie said she tried to give Berna just days before the arrest? Randy said it was a miracle Berna didn't get it.

He said it could have blown the entire police operation. The gift I gave to my brother about two days later, because my daughter said, did you ever get Auntie Berna her gift? And I said, no. She said, oh, you have to give it to Uncle Randy. So I said, Randy, I said, a gift that I have to give to you that I was going to give to Berna. So I give it to Randy and he's opening up. And as soon as he's said it, he'll see it and he'll go, oh my God, he said she would have died if she would have got this gift. On the front of the box, it says Berna.

how to host the perfect murder. It was a murder mystery dinner get together for how to host, it was a game. When Debbie bought the present, she had no idea Berna was plotting to kill her brother. It could have blown the whole case because she would have thought

that I knew what was going on. Twenty years later, while Randy still struggles with the impact of their crime, Berna and Barry have long since moved on. Once they were charged, Judy took Barry back, which...

I can't figure that out. Barry became a father and a grandfather before dying at the age of 56. Barry passed away here a while ago of cancer. You know, I guess karma's a bitch. Those words might sound harsh, but Berna and Barry's actions have taken a huge toll on Randy. Not only did I lose my spouse, but I lost my wife.

I lost people that I thought were my friends. It got a pretty wide swath through a person's social life that will never heal again. Berna is now remarried. I looked her up on Facebook. She's now using her maiden name. But it seems she just tied the knot. It was a Christmastime wedding. There's a photo of her and her new husband standing in front of a tree. She's holding a small bouquet.

She looks happy. It certainly appears she's moved on from her brief spell behind bars. Randy said she reached out a few years ago, wanting to see her son. We met with a family therapist and I said the only way I would support her visiting Clinton was if she could come truthful with me on what she did. We booked three hours, I think it was, with a family therapist and I made it about three.

It took years, but he was finally able to put it all in the back of his mind. It wasn't easy. Randy's son had questions growing up,

That's one of the reasons he kept the court files. Yeah, no, I saved everything, put it away in boxes. It's for my son, if he ever wants to go through. You know, I believe there's three sides to every story. There's his side, her side, and the truth. And if he ever doubts what I've told him, then he can go through and read it and make his own decision.

Eventually, Randy moved on as well. He refused to let his ex and former best friend take what was left of his life. He got back on track with his various business ventures. He started dating and tried to live life to the fullest. Until the day Andrew Wanch came to his door and his life was once again sent in a downward spiral. The impact of a second near-death experience consumed him.

Randy said the man had similar tattoos. He was convinced it was Wanch. He was from Spokane and him and his wife were down there. Really nice guy, but it was the...

The question plaguing Randy now is, can he ever really move on? He told me he believes he's living on borrowed time. His entire family worries about him. His sister gets emotional when she talks about it.

It's clear Randy's near-death experiences have caused her a lot of anxiety as well. I worry all the time about him. He must have nine lives. Oh shit, I got seven more to go then. As I was getting ready to leave, Randy tried to lighten the mood. He smiled and told me he'd one day write a book called "I Dodged a Bullet Twice." Then he half-jokingly said I'd have to come back.

With his luck, there were likely some crazy chapters still to come in his life. Come back in 10 more years, you know this story. For Randy's sake, I can only hope the closest he comes to another brush with death is playing the murder mystery board game his sister gave him. Thank you for joining me this week and for letting me share Randy's story with you.

Next time on Crime Beat, the story of a violent crime spree. I've been in the homicide unit for over seven years and seen lots, and this is as violent a homicide as I have seen.

It's a story of tragedy and triumph and strangers brought together in a special bond after falling victim to the same criminal. Next time on Crime Beat. Crime Beat is written and produced by me, Nancy Hixt, with producer Dila Velasquez. Our audio producer is Rob Johnston with editing assistance from Tom Andriuk. Our executive producer of Curious Cast is Chris Duncombe.

If you like this podcast, please tell a friend about the show and help me share these stories by rating and reviewing it on Apple Podcast or wherever you listen. You can reach me on Twitter at Nancy Hixt, on Facebook at Nancy Hixt Crime Beat, or email me at nancy.hixt at globalnews.ca. I hope to see you next time.