Chapters
Shownotes Transcript
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 ID true crime event, premieres Monday, September 2nd at 9. Watch on ID 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. When I think back to the worst crimes I've covered as a journalist...
I can tell you that to me, they're all completely senseless. Totally preventable. Every single one. These are crimes committed over things any rational person could easily resolve with a conversation.
Instead, these people jump to the absolute darkest options. I didn't understand the depths of people's depravity. I really didn't get it. But investigative techniques have come a long way. And even the best told lies have a way of catching up with you. Got a problem. We got cops here at my work and they just served me with a warrant and they're seizing the jeep.
I'm Nancy Hixt, a crime reporter for Global News. Today on Crime Beat, the path of destruction created by people who will go to extreme lengths rather than work things out. To say Ryan Lane had a tough few years is an understatement. The 24-year-old had been facing a really difficult breakup with the mother of his child.
And like a lot of broken relationships that involve children, the two parents were fighting over custody of their little girl. It was getting worse by the day. In fact, it had become so intense that Ryan had not even seen his daughter in two years. So on February 6th, 2012,
When he finally got to see his four-year-old daughter, Jordan, it was a huge day for Ryan Lane. He took Jordan to a place he knew she would love, Chuck E. Cheese. Ryan documented the Daddy-Daughter Day on Facebook, and the pictures tell a story of a super fun time with her favorite foods, games, and a lot of laughs.
The little girl proudly posed for pictures wearing her daddy's baseball hat. It was one of the happiest days of Ryan's life. He was really excited, really happy. That's Ryan's mom, Lorraine Jackson. Almost giddy. He was so excited. He was over the moon that he had her back in his life. That night, Ryan went home and Skyped with one of his closest friends.
He told her how excited he was to see Jordan. Ryan sent his friend videos of the playdate and told her he was going to use a photo of Jordan as the background picture on his iPhone so he could fall asleep looking at his little girl. But Ryan's chat with his friend got interrupted. Just before midnight, he got a call from a phone booth. Ryan told his friend he had to go
He needed to go meet someone. He raced upstairs and told his dad he was off to meet the mystery caller. His father was suspicious. Something didn't seem right. But Ryan insisted on going and said he had to go alone. His dad decided to follow him. It was already dark outside and this was all very shady.
Bruce Lane saw his son go to a nearby strip mall where he got into a red pickup truck that was waiting for him. The truck stood out. It had a load of wood in the box. His dad tried to follow, but he couldn't keep up. The truck disappeared. Ryan was gone. Bruce tried calling his son's cell phone, but there was no answer.
Ryan had to answer. He had to be okay. Bruce started to panic. With the truck nowhere in sight, he called police and told them someone had taken his son. Bruce called me first thing Tuesday morning and he said, "Lorraine, I don't want you to freak out or anything, but Ryan's missing." Lorraine couldn't help but freak out. Her son was missing.
Immediately, she felt something very bad had happened to Ryan. Who would kidnap somebody and feed them and clothe them and take care of them? I said, it's, and it's cold. It's cold outside. There's something really wrong. I think he's dead. I think they've killed him.
Two days after Ryan disappeared on that cold winter night, police put out a media release. Police are asking for your help to find a Calgary man who hasn't been heard from for two days. 24-year-old Ryan Lane was last seen early Tuesday near Country Hills Boulevard in the northwest. Police say it's unusual for Lane to be out of contact with family and friends. Anyone with information is asked to contact police.
I can tell you, working in a newsroom, we get a lot of media releases from police about missing persons. Most are followed up quickly. With word the person has been found. But this one was different. Police specifically pointed out that Ryan Lane had missed several important appointments and said that was out of character.
My instincts told me something wasn't right. I started digging around, looking for anything and everything I could find about Ryan. Days went by, and there was still no word, no sign of Ryan. Police became more and more concerned. Tonight on the NewsHour... Foul play suspected in the disappearance of a Calgary father...
He received a phone call from an individual, "Something to the effect of I can help you." A plea from his family and from police how you can help find Ryan Lane. Police couldn't find any evidence Ryan was alive. No phone or banking activity. His footprints of life had stopped.
This, coupled with the fact his disappearance was completely out of character, led the Calgary Police Homicide Unit to take over the case. Investigators released photos of the vehicles they believed were involved in the case, including the red truck Ryan's dad saw him getting into that fateful night he vanished.
I'm going to stop here and take some time to tell you more about Ryan. He was the middle child in the Lane home. He had an older sister and a younger brother. Bruce and I got married in 1983 and we had our daughter Megan and then Ryan and Keegan. From the moment Lorraine laid eyes on him, the day he was born, she fell in love.
Ryan was a beautiful baby with brown eyes that could look right through you. He had olive skin and dark curly hair and a quirky smile that fit his playful but shy personality. Ryan was always a sensitive boy. He got teased a bit in school because he was very sensitive. Ryan was very much introverted, so he had a difficult time making friends or friends.
Once he had a friend, he had a friend for life. When Ryan was about 10 years old, his family moved from Calgary to Cochrane, a town just west of the city. Cochrane is best known for its western heritage. The architecture on Main Street feels like the perfect backdrop for Billy the Kid or Calamity Jane. It has a very Old West feel to it.
Cochrane is also well known for its ice cream shop and the magnificent views of the Rockies from the grassy plains. It's a nature lover's paradise, and it was the perfect place to raise a family. We would have an ice fishing derby and
Ryan didn't want to ice fish because he didn't want the fish to get hurt. Ryan loved to ride his bike and hang out with friends. He wanted to skateboard, and Keegan was really good at skateboarding, but he wasn't very good. So what he did was he took a piece of plywood,
and the hammer nailed it on his skateboard so it was wider and he thought that would make him a better skateboarder and he went of course tried to go over one of those little ramps with it on just crashed and burned and he he would come home with the with a lots of road rash and stuff because he would try things and he tried to better be better at it than his brother. Ryan and his brother were also big into music.
Ryan started out with piano and then later took up the bongo drums while his brother played guitar. They played music in the garage. They had a band and it was great.
pretty loud. We always instilled upon them the love of all kinds of music so they would play just about anything and they liked old rock and roll and some of the new stuff. Ryan kind of liked techno rock which his brother didn't like so much but they they played different ones together so that they could play together. Lorraine remembers hearing a lot of classic rock coming out of that garage.
and often thinks about Ryan when she hears those songs. Ryan was also really big into gaming. Like a lot of kids, he started out with the basics, like Mario Brothers. This sound was very familiar in the Lane home. Pull him out of the chair. Come on, it's time for supper. Why don't you just go do this one more level? Just one more level.
As Ryan got older, gaming became a bigger and bigger part of his life. And then it was probably in high school where he started to do these games that people from all over the world would do with him. It was his way of interacting with people without getting too close, yeah, for sure. And he got really, really good at it, actually. Eventually, Ryan's parents, Bruce and Lorraine, separated.
She moved to Calgary, and the kids stayed in Cochrane with Bruce, where all their friends lived. Then, when he was just 18 years old, Ryan found love. She was 20, so she was a couple years older. I think they met at the Mac's or something like that. You know, kids hang out at the Mac's store or whatever. Sheena Cuthill was everything Ryan wanted in a girlfriend.
She had light brown, wavy hair, was wide-eyed, and seemed like a family girl. I knew that he was totally infatuated with her, and he kind of did whatever she told him to do. He was totally in love. And they moved to Airdrie together, and then I found out she was pregnant. That's what Sheena had wanted all along. A child.
Ryan's social media accounts tell the story of a young man who fell in love with his daughter before she was even born. He posted pictures of Sheena's growing belly, and on the day Jordan was born, Ryan was right there by Sheena's side. He posted photos of every single stage of labor and captioned them all.
The first that day was of Sheena's tummy before they even left for hospital. A few hours later, the very first photo of his little girl. He wrote, Moments later, he shared a picture of the new mother lying down. He wrote, But you could tell
The picture Ryan was most proud of was of him, Sheena, and their tiny baby girl. Beside the photo he wrote, new family. He did everything for Jordan. As soon as she was born, he did her diapers, he fed her, he bathed her, he played with her. She was his world.
Ryan documented every new milestone his new family had on Facebook. His posts bragged about his beautiful baby girl. In one photo, Jordan's big blue eyes are looking right at the camera. He wrote...
She's the greatest. Hopefully the weather stays nice tomorrow. We're planning on going to an outside water park to splash around. It should be fun. And then the photos stopped. They had Jordan and they were living in Airdrie. And about a year and a half later, she decided that she wanted to separate from Ryan. Lorraine said Ryan was really still a kid.
He would work odd jobs, but he really didn't know what he wanted to do for a living. And that didn't sit well with Sheena. So she broke it off. He wasn't making enough money for her. He wasn't moving fast enough for her in the right direction. So...
She said that she wanted to separate and it devastated him because he loved her so much and he loved his daughter. He tried to keep seeing Jordan and he paid child support. But Sheena didn't make it easy for Ryan to be part of Jordan's life.
He would book appointments to see Jordan and then last minute she would cancel. We even drove there once or twice and she wasn't there. She had gone to our grandmother's. And then she moved to Calgary and he had his car so he was able to see Jordan and he would also help out with money when he could. He just deposited right into her bank account. He didn't go through any other channels. Then suddenly, they were gone. Then she...
He cancelled her phone, cancelled her Facebook and went off the grid and he didn't know where she was. Ryan's little girl was ripped out of his life completely. He was devastated and he was really depressed because he just really wanted to see his daughter and he really loved Sheena still. He had an opportunity to go to Australia after they'd separated because I have family there and they wanted him there and he needed help.
We thought he needed to get away to start something new, to have an adventure, and he wouldn't go because that meant he couldn't see Jordan. Or he couldn't find her, or he couldn't be a part of her life, so he wouldn't go. Then, Ryan got word Sheena got married to a man named Tim Rempel. Sheena was pregnant again, this time with Tim's child. Sheena wanted Tim to become Jordan's father.
She wanted Tim to adopt her. Sheena filed the necessary paperwork, and Ryan was served. But Ryan didn't want Jordan to be adopted. He was her dad, and he didn't want to give that up. He wanted some form of visitation. He wanted to see her. He wanted to be a part of her life. A mediator granted Ryan supervised visits.
So on February 6, 2012, Ryan was reunited with Jordan, a Chuck E. Cheese. It was only a few hours later, following his first visit with his daughter in two years, Ryan disappeared. Three months after Ryan went missing, Bruce and Lorraine made a public appeal.
They stood together in front of media at Calgary Police Headquarters. I remember seeing the pain in their eyes as they spoke about their son. "I miss Ryan. I wish he would come home." Bruce was too overcome with emotion to speak. He broke down as Lorraine read her statement. "Ryan felt that everyone deserved to love and be loved. Can you see now why we are suffering so much?"
How could anyone take him from us? How can they hurt him? They brought a photo album to show the media. So many pictures of happier times. It was clear Ryan was loved and missed. Bruce Lane spoke very briefly at the end before once again breaking down. I just want to thank everybody for helping us.
Thanks, guys. For Lorraine, that appeal for help was one of the most difficult things she's ever done. I made a promise to Ryan when he was gone. I promised him that I would find him and that I would do everything in my power to bring his death to justice. I just wanted to make sure I did that. So when I wrote my speech, I wrote it for him. And I could never have done it unless I made that promise to him.
As I mentioned earlier, Ryan's case was now being investigated as a homicide and police had suspects. Suspects who weren't cooperating. One thing I should mention, Calgary police don't name suspects. They only name names after those suspects have been formally charged. In covering this story,
I wanted to figure out who the suspects were, track them down, and interview them. I was able to learn a lot about Ryan on social media, about his relationship with Sheena, about his baby girl, and that there was a two-year gap in posts before the February 6th Chuck E. Cheese playdate. I reached out to Ryan's ex and her mom.
They didn't hide the fact there was a custody battle over Jordan. That custody battle was at the center of the police investigation.
He got a mysterious call from a payphone, said, come meet me. I have information that could support your custody case. I think Ryan being naive, not really, you know, alive to risks or whatever in the world, he agreed to meet this unknown person and had mentioned it while he was playing video games at the time. And the person who was on the video game, he had mentioned it to that person that if I'm not back in 10 minutes or whatever, maybe call the cops. And he mentioned it to his dad and his dad was,
Bruce Lane was like, you're not going to this alone. And Ryan's like, well, they told me I have to go alone or I can't. They won't talk to me. And his dad wasn't comfortable with that. So they agreed that he would follow and watch from a distance. That's homicide detective Christina Witt. She was the primary investigator on the case. You might remember Detective Witt from episode four, Shannon Medill's last audition.
Witt has been a police officer for nearly 20 years. She is the very definition of a Wonder Woman. She has somehow juggled being an investigator with getting a PhD in criminology, best practices in homicide investigations. And she also got her master's in forensic and legal psychology. She's focused and tenacious.
She doesn't stop until she's solved a case. Witt was exactly the kind of detective the Lane family wanted to have working on their case. I knew that something horrible happened to Ryan and I needed closure. I needed them to find him. I told Christina, whatever you do, I need you to find the killers and I need you to find Ryan. And she promised she would do both. She was amazing.
Remember that call from the payphone that night? The one that interrupted Ryan's Skype chat with his friend? Details of that call became key to the investigation. Right away, it was suspicious. There was no question about this, that...
what else could this have been? Like, he didn't tell his dad, oh, I'm meeting a buddy and going, you know, for a couple drinks. He said, I'm meeting this person. I don't know who it is. He told me to come alone and he's going to give me information about my child. So the whole thing was very suspicious and that's why the dad was concerned and followed him in the first place. So,
You know, evidence started to get collected very quickly because they reviewed the CCTV footage at the Co-op gas station, identified a red truck and a red Jeep Cherokee. Very quickly in the next, you know, I don't know the exact time, but the next few days, it was clear to them that someone had made a phone call from the payphone at that gas station. At the same time as those trucks were appearing, partial plates were obtained.
Ryan's family told police about the custody issues he was going through.
Dad, you know, was able to identify, well, Sheena is Ryan's ex and they have a child together and that they'd been dealing with this in the courts since October and that that was the whole purpose of this meet was he was meeting some mysterious male to discuss information about that could help him with his custody battle over the little girl. Then immediately police are going to look at people associated to Sheena, right? And it was very clear that...
Some red vehicles that matched the Jeep Cherokee and the red truck were registered to family members of the Rumpel, were registered to Rumpel's and Sheena. The Cherokee, I believe, was registered to Sheena. So very early on, that raises suspicion. Plus, you know, this wasn't like we didn't know where Ryan went. He was in that he was last seen in that vehicle leaving. So right away, it was suspicious. Investigators were able to track the red truck down.
It had been sold to a scrap metal yard north of Calgary. Within just days of Ryan's disappearance, the truck, in fine working condition, sold to the salvage yard for just $128. I'll come back to the truck later, as it is extremely important to this case. Massive searches were organized to try to find Ryan.
Our global news helicopter flew over many of those searches. Only from the air could you see the true scope of what police were dealing with and the manpower involved. It was huge. They said that it was the most money the Calgary Police Department has ever put into searching for people.
for someone. Lorraine said she stopped by some of the searches to offer encouragement and thank everyone involved in trying to find her son.
She also spent a lot of time searching on her own. We drove hours and hours and hours looking and I thought if he's here he will give me a sign and I'll be able to find him. I was sure I was going to be able to find him and so that's why we just kept doing it. Months went by. It was agony for the family. They had no idea what had happened to Ryan.
And it was consuming them. You just go on autopilot. I went to work when I could and when I couldn't I would stay home. My work was amazing. They said take as much time as you need. So, yeah, it was difficult. As the searches continued, police were hard at work behind the scenes.
By now, you've probably guessed who the suspects were in this case. Or at least some of them. Sheena Cuthill, her husband Tim Rempel, and his brother Will Rempel were all being monitored by police. But what had they done with Ryan? Witt used every single investigative strategy she could think of.
One of those was new to the Calgary Police Service and involved cell phone pings. That time it was our first time using the technique of cell phone towers to identify the location of where these pings from the cell phone were used, which actually identified our primary search area, which was still a very large area. Basically, when you use your cell phone, you access cell towers.
Crime analysts can look at those pings to create a map
In this case, police used that information to map out where the suspects were the night Ryan disappeared. We had Tim Rempel and Will Rempel using their cell phones in a remote area east of Biceker on a basically in the area of several gravel pits and that technique was our first time using that to use the towers to try to identify their location and then from there we physically searched for a long time.
Then, in July 2012, five months after Ryan's disappearance, one of the suspects was arrested for unrelated charges. Charges that would eventually be dropped. I took that opportunity to go to the suspect's home and try to get him to talk to me about Ryan Lane.
If I had to describe that experience in one word, it would be creepy. Will Rempel lived in his parents' basement. Somehow, I convinced Will to let me and my photographer in. He guided us downstairs to his living room. Will set up a tape recorder. He told me he was recording our conversation for his own protection.
Will was in his late 30s at the time. He was balding with very short, almost shaved hair around the sides and back. He wore wire-rimmed glasses, an off-white button-down shirt, and black pants. What I really noticed was his foot shaking nervously the entire time as he sat legs stretched out on the couch. What do you want to say about the...
You know, the inference to the connection to Ryan Lane's disappearance. I have never kidnapped anyone. I have never killed anyone. And outside of that, until matters get dealt with, I have nothing further to say on the matter, ma'am. I pushed him further, but he stuck with his response, denying any involvement in Ryan's disappearance.
I asked Will Rempel about his truck. The one Ryan was seen getting into.
the one police had found in the wrecking yard. I just have no comment on that, ma'am. It's... There have been some pretty serious allegations leveled, and we will cross that bridge when we get there, ma'am, with all due respect. Will was polite but short and very careful not to misspeak. You have to remember, he was the suspect in a homicide investigation.
Midway through our interview, I could hear knocks on the door upstairs. Other reporters had found Will's house and saw our global news vehicle parked outside. One reporter peeked in through the window. It was at this point I felt like Will was trying to manipulate me into buying his version of events by complimenting me.
You have a reputation of not just running with one thing as so many media do. And because people close to me speak highly of you and I have in the past seen how you do give or at least attempt to give a fair shake to both sides. That's the only reason I'm going to speak to anybody. I will not speak to anyone else. It's just not going to happen.
The people close to him that he was referring to were his brother and sister-in-law, Tim and Sheena. I had been in contact with them as well and tried to get them to speak about their involvement in the case. I was hoping they would open up about what really happened. It was clear Will wasn't the one who was going to spill the beans about his potential involvement.
We went round and round in circles for nearly an hour. Questions are bound to be asked, but it doesn't mean that any given thing that's being questioned about is fact.
But Will's involvement would soon become very clear to investigators. We were able to find a receipt in the house. We did several search warrants on the houses of Will's house and Tim and Sheena's house. And at Will's house, in a pocket in his coat, he had a car wash receipt. And from that, as well as a salvage receipt,
And from that, which was fairly early within the first, I think by February 17th. So within the first couple of days, we had done quite a few search warrants. So that receipt led us to the car wash. It's pretty amazing to think how important a simple receipt would be to investigators.
What most people don't realize is when you're out in public, there's a good chance you're being caught on some sort of camera. Police were able to go to the car wash and view surveillance video. The video was captured the evening of February 7th, 2012, just hours after Ryan vanished. I've seen this video.
I can't even begin to tell you how crazy it is. This was the very first time I've ever seen someone power wash a vehicle from the inside out. We observed some very unusual behavior where Will spent $20 to wash a vehicle then that he
he then got rid of at a salvage yard and he also power washed it's a caught on video that he power washed the inside which none of us had ever seen someone do that before for me obviously I watched it over and over and he really was washing the passenger side of the box of the truck which to me then painted a lot of the picture in my mind I've always envisioned that
Again, this is just my theory, but that Ryan potentially was standing outside at the back of the passenger side of the truck and was killed there. And so that's why he's getting rid of that evidence. We also know that the passenger handle was rigged, had been changed in a way that the passenger from the inside could not get out, but you could open the door from the outside, which just contained him into the truck more. Really that...
premeditation piece and organization of the crime itself. So the car wash video was interesting and then he actually washed the floor of the bay as well, which is unusual activity. And then, you know, taking the truck to a salvage yard when it was brand, like it was really good shape and they were surprised. And that's even how we, the truck was kept because I think someone had planned on buying it instead of
destroying it because it was still a working truck and you know it didn't make sense why they would just destroy it so we were able to collect a lot of evidence from the truck as well. The door was rigged to keep Ryan inside the truck. He wouldn't be able to escape. The forensic crime scenes unit examined the truck revealing more disturbing details about the case.
Ryan's blood was on the passenger side, like where the door frame is. As much as he power washed it, there were still a few specks of blood up top that were Ryan's. And so that, you know, led to a lot of questions. Well, what was he doing in the truck? Why is his blood in the truck?
Sheena's Jeep that Tim drove was also examined. There was blood on the gas pedals of both, which, you know, spoke to that both Will and Tim at some point had stepped in his blood and had transferred it into the vehicles. Those blood samples were sent away for testing. The blood found in the truck and the Jeep came back as a match to Ryan Lane's DNA.
Meanwhile, the search for Ryan continued. Police were focused on an area northeast of Calgary, near the small farming community of Biceker, where Sheena was living with Tim. Investigators were scouring several gravel pits and were focused on one particular zone mapped out by the cell phone pings. And then it happened.
With the help of a cadaver dog, a Calgary police search manager made a grisly discovery at an inactive gravel pit. It was a burn barrel. The cadaver dog hit on the burn barrel. Once they found the burn barrel, he hit on the burn barrel. It was made up of three steel rings. Inside, ashes.
And what appeared to be evidence of burned human remains. Right away we had the bone sent to our medical examiner's office or a picture and they said yes that looks like a piece of the spinal column. And then that's what we obviously turned that into a crime scene and then we used a forensic anthropologist to sift through each layer of the soot.
Police weren't able to get DNA from the charred remains. They were simply too badly burned. Some considerable time was taken to burn those remains and because of that we had very little to work with. Also in the barrel, a ring. Ryan Lane's high school class ring that he wore the night he vanished.
I think that was probably an oversight. I don't think they realized that ring was on his hand. Pieces of Ryan's cell phone were also found among the ashes. Investigators soon discovered the burn site was at a gravel pit where both Tim and Will had previously worked. The burn barrel had been built by Tim and was taken from his own shed at his bicycle home.
A forensic examination of Will Rempel's computer revealed he had searched Ryan's Facebook page prior to him going missing, though he told investigators he didn't know anyone named Ryan Lane. The evidence was beginning to stack up against the suspects. Police believed Ryan had been lured to his death, killed, and his body destroyed.
So I believe when Ryan said to the courts that, no, I want access to my child, that spurred on Sheena. I'm not sure she was expecting him to have that response. I think she was hoping this would be easy and he wouldn't want involvement. And that started the planning piece between Sheena, Tim Rempel, her husband, and her brother-in-law, Will Rempel.
It was late November 2012 when police announced Ryan's remains had been found.
Good evening. There is a major breakthrough tonight in the mysterious disappearance of a Calgary father. Police have found the remains of Ryan Lane and confirm he was murdered. Two men and a woman are facing charges in connection with his death. Nancy Hixt is working on this story tonight. And Nancy, this break comes after nearly a year-long investigation. That's right. And this is arguably one of the most high-profile missing persons cases in Calgary history.
Police have put a lot of manpower and a lot of resources into solving this case. So tonight, being able to say they've found Lane's skeletal remains and that they have three suspects is a major break. Police said they were preparing to charge the suspects with first-degree murder. The next day, Ryan's parents once again addressed the media at Calgary Police Headquarters. And I can't stop wondering if you suffered.
or if it was a quick death. And I asked myself every day, why? Why did they kill him? Why did they think it necessary to kill him? What was in their minds when they decided he had to go? He was no threat to anyone. He just wanted to see his daughter. Ryan's father also prepared a statement. But again, he was too emotional to read it. Read that for me. I can't see it. You can't see it. Ryan was not in a custody battle.
Thanks guys.
Police still didn't name the suspects. But they did say specifically two men and a woman would be arrested. With first-degree murder charges now pending, I made one last effort to get Sheena to do an interview with me. Time was running out before she would be taken into custody. Finally, she agreed. How did you find out that Ryan Lane went missing?
I got a phone call from an officer the next day. Like Will, Sheena denied any involvement in Ryan's death and said she felt bad for the Lane family. My heart hurts for them and I never wished or wanted anything bad like this to happen to Ryan. I couldn't imagine it being my kids.
Sheena admitted she wasn't happy to have Ryan back in her daughter's life. I was very upset. Of course I was upset. He hadn't seen her in how long and all of a sudden he wanted something to do with her. Were you upset enough to want him to disappear? No. I mean, I said I wish he'd go away many times, but I say that about a lot of people, sorry.
No, I didn't. I didn't want that. I didn't wish that upon Ryan. I thought maybe he would be just gone for a week and then show up. Ryan being Ryan, being depressed and, you know, go drown his sorrows, whatever else. That's honestly what I thought. Did you have anything to do with Ryan Lane's disappearance? No, I did not have anything to do with his disappearance.
Police have said that you haven't been cooperating. I've been nothing but cooperative with them. I've told them everything I know and I've talked to them on many occasions. All I can tell them is that I didn't, I had nothing to do with it. But that version of events did not match the evidence in the case.
Yeah, I really think that Sheena was, you know, the term puppet master has been suggested in the past. Like she was the one that facilitated this and without her, this wouldn't have happened. She was the one with the motive to get Ryan out of the picture so that she can have full custody of the daughter so she can have this new life with Tim and no complications. And yeah, I believe she was the reason this happened. And the two of them, Tim and Will, made it happen. They executed the plan.
Just days after that interview, Sheena Cuthill, her husband, Tim Rempel, and his brother, Will Rempel, were all charged with the first-degree murder of Ryan Lane. It was nearly three and a half years later, in March of 2016, that the three accused stood trial. And that's when details were finally revealed...
of the murderous plot police had uncovered. They were planning how to literally take Ryan out of the picture. Text messages between the accused killers were read in court. In mid-November 2011, three months before Ryan disappeared, Sheena texted Tim, Can I trust Will to have this done without cops showing up on my doorstep?
The next day, Tim texted Sheena. I will respect your decision. Know that. But believe you'll only have to say yes once. Sheena texted back. You won't have any part in this, mister. You're going to behave and let your brother deal with it.
"If I decide this, I mean it, Tim. My answer will be no right now. I won't even consider it if you have any part of it." Tim texted back, promising to stay completely out of it. Then, on February 5th, 2012, two days before Ryan disappeared, Sheena texted Tim, asking him what he was doing.
Tim texted, "Getting things ready. Scoured the best spot at the pit." Police believe Tim was referring to the spot in the gravel pit where Ryan's body was destroyed. At 1:20 a.m. on February 6th, Tim again texted Sheena, "Give me the okay." Minutes later, Sheena replied, "Okay."
Investigators believe that exchange was Tim seeking permission from Sheena to murder Ryan. On the stand, Sheena admitted in court that that plan, the okay for the plan, was that they were going to make Ryan go away. And when asked to clarify what that meant, she said, well, he would never see his family again.
So she didn't actually admit that she wanted him dead? Well, she kind of flippantly made those comments, you know, in interviews. Oh, yeah, of course, he, he, I want him dead. But I didn't really want him dead. I may have said those words, but I didn't really want him dead. But obviously their actions said otherwise. Both Sheena and Tim testified in their own defense. Sheena claimed the plan was never to kill Ryan.
but rather to have her husband approach him and intimidate him. Tim Rempel pointed the finger at his own brother and said Will told him he burned Ryan's body. The jury was told to ignore that comment. Tim admitted he was the mystery caller, the person Ryan went out to meet that night.
He said the plan was to take Ryan to a rural location and talk to him. And when he left Ryan that night, he was still alive. But the evidence against the trio was overwhelming. Intercepted conversations were played for the jury between the accused and some of their family members. Here's Tim Rempel.
At one point, Tim called his cell phone provider. I just want everything gone off of it, like any search histories, all cleaned up and gone.
Several conversations were recorded between Will and his mother in the home they shared.
We didn't kill that boy. We didn't kidnap that boy. We had a conversation with him. Him busted his face up a bit. I got blood in my truck and I was like, "Give him a ride home." He got under the truck of his own free will. They have nothing to go on. That boy was walking, talking, breathing absolutely fine when we left. The conversations heated up after Will was arrested and questioned by homicide detectives.
The prosecution maintained all three were involved in the plot to kill Ryan.
and said Ryan was lured from his home by trickery, then murdered, his body burned. Then on April 20th, the jury reached verdicts in the case. The family of Ryan Lane has waited more than four years for this day. All three people accused of killing him have been found guilty of first-degree murder. It took a jury just over 14 hours to sift through five weeks worth of evidence presented in the case.
Sheena Cuthill, Tim Rempel, and Will Rempel were each sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Following sentencing, Ryan's sister Megan spoke to the media for the first time. I'm just really happy that this is over. And thanks to all of the people who worked incredibly hard to get to this point, I know this is an outcome that we don't often see, unfortunately, in the justice system. All three killers appealed their convictions. The Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed them all.
Just days before the release of this episode, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled it will not hear appeals filed by Sheena Cuthill and Tim Rempel. Their convictions and sentences stand. The thing I still don't know is what they did to him, how they murdered him.
In my mind, I do know. I know he went there and I know they beat him to death. And I know that he was probably thinking, oh my God, where's my dad? Where's my mom? Like, I know he was terrified. And every time I think of it and think of his terror, that brings it right back home again. And I just feel so bad for my son. Three people conspired to take Ryan Lane's life and carried out the plot together.
just to stop him from seeing his daughter. Now, that girl's dad is dead. Her mother and stepfather are in prison, along with her uncle. And everybody was robbed in the end. Everybody. They were, we were. Like, what is the point of that? How did it ever come to this? So quickly. Like, how did you determine, well, Ryan wants to see his daughter, then he has to die. Like...
Who thinks like that? And how did you think you would ever be able to do it and get away with it? Lorraine knows at some point, Jordan will want to know what happened to her dad. When we first started seeing her, I would just show her pictures or photos.
There's a deep sadness in Lorraine's eyes.
Except when she talks about her granddaughter. That's the only light is that at least he had a daughter and part of him lives on. I see her lots and I've been watching her grow and she's just exactly like her dad. She's very gentle. She's very kind. She's very loving. She does have Ryan's walk. It's kind of a gate. Lorraine keeps a picture of Ryan on her phone.
A selfie they took together a few days before he was killed. They shopped for a present for Jordan that day in anticipation of the playdate at Chuck E. Cheese. He said, "Take a picture with me." And he did. Made that big grin. Actually both grinning in the picture, but yeah, I only knew that that was the last time I'd see him. Lorraine said the pain lessened slightly as time passes.
But the devastating impact of losing her son will be with her forever. That he was a really kind, loving person. And he probably would forgive them even though I wouldn't. Thank you for listening and letting me share Ryan's story with you. Next time on Crime Beat. From the moment Gord Ray laid eyes on his daughter for the very first time, she became his entire world.
She was truly daddy's little girl. From that second onward, she was the center of our universe. Then, tragically, Gord's entire world fell apart. His dream of one day walking his beautiful girl down the aisle was shattered. As a parent, you imagine what, you know, if something horrible happened to your kids. But when it happens, it's a thousand times worse than you ever imagined it.
That's 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. Special thanks to Vildo Sturum, Mike Hills, and Brent Stanley for their editing assistance. I want to thank you for all the questions you've been sending in. I've been trying to respond to all of you.
If you have a question about an episode, about crime reporting in general, or questions about me, send them my way. I'll do my best to get back to you, and I hope to answer some of your questions right here on the podcast in an upcoming episode. ♪
Feel free to send me a message on Twitter at Nancy Hickst, on Facebook at Nancy Hickst Crime Beat, and I'd love to have you join me for added content on Instagram at nancy.hickst. You can also email me at nancy.hickst at globalnews.ca. That's n-a-n-c-y dot h-i-x-t at globalnews.ca. Thanks again for listening. Please join me next time.