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To get this episode of Forensic Tales ad-free, please visit patreon.com slash Forensic Tales. Forensic Tales discusses topics that some listeners may find disturbing. The contents of this episode may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. April 13th was a day like no other. A Canadian couple walked to their abandoned barn outside Tofield, Alberta to salvage a septic pump.
On that fateful day, the couple's routine chore turned into a shocking discovery that would send shockwaves throughout the small town for decades. When the couple opened the lid, they discovered a human foot protruding from the murky waters of the septic tank. This is Forensic Tales, episode number 178, the story of Septic Tank Sam.
Welcome to Forensic Tales. I'm your host, Courtney Fretwell-Ariola.
Forensic Tales is a weekly true crime podcast covering real, spine-tingling stories with a forensic science twist. Some cases have been solved with forensic science, while others have turned cold. Every remarkable story sends us a chilling reminder that not all stories have happy endings.
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On April 13, 1977, a Canadian couple went to their abandoned barn just outside Tofield, Alberta, a small town a little over three square miles. The couple was looking for a septic tank to replace the broken pump they had on their own tank, so they looked for a spare pump behind a vacant barn on the part of their property. They were going to take the pump from the abandoned barn and install it on their own septic tank.
But instead of finding a reusable pump, they discovered something far more gruesome inside the septic tank. When the couple took the cover off the square septic tank, they saw a human foot sticking out of the murky water inside. The couple immediately ran back to their farm and called the police. They had no idea if an entire body was inside the septic tank or just the foot. Either way, they knew they needed help.
When the police arrived, they immediately proceeded to empty the six-foot-deep septic tank. But instead of letting the water out from the bottom, they used empty ice cream pails to scoop the water out of the tank, a process that took them a little over an hour to empty the entire tank. Once it was drained of water, they realized the full scale of the situation. Not only was it a human foot, but there was also an entire body.
wrapped in a yellow bed sheet and tied together with nylon rope was the decomposing body of a young man. He was wearing a blue Levi's shirt with buttons, a gray t-shirt, blue jeans, and imitation wallaby shoes. Immediately, the Canadian authorities suspected foul play. There was no way this guy ended up in the septic tank, wrapped in a bed sheet and tied together with rope on his own. No, someone put him there.
which meant they had a homicide investigation on their hands. As soon as the body was removed from the tank, it was sent to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy. They weren't sure if he died before or after being placed in the tank, or what his exact cause of death was. So they hoped the autopsy could answer some of these questions. The autopsy painted a very gruesome picture of the last moments of this man's life.
Not only had his body been floating inside a dirty septic tank, but he was also tortured. Based on his injuries, the medical examiner believed he had been tied up and beaten. At the same time, he was burned with either a small blowtorch or cigarettes. He had burn marks covering almost his entire body, and there were even burn marks throughout his clothing and on the bottom of his shoes.
He had also been sexually mutilated before being shot in the head and chest. The sexual mutilation was so extreme that the medical examiner initially had difficulty identifying him as a male. Then after he was shot to death, his body was placed inside the six-foot-deep septic tank on the abandoned farm. His body was wrapped in a bed sheet and tied with a long piece of nylon rope.
According to the medical examiner, his body was likely dumped in the tank a few months before his body was discovered. And that's where he rested until the couple found him. Traces of quicklime were also found in his remains, a chemical used to speed up decomposition. This seemed to suggest whoever killed this man didn't want anyone to find him before he was completely decomposed. Or they had previous knowledge on how to decompose a human body.
This made investigators wonder if the killer had killed before, and this wasn't his first or only victim. But whoever did this made one big mistake. In most cases, quicklime can speed up decomposition, but it can have the exact opposite effect when mixed with water.
Instead of speeding up decomposition, it can actually slow it down and cause the body to decompose even slower than it would without the chemical. This meant that although he had been in the tank for several months, his body was still in relatively good condition and was pretty well preserved. Based on the lack of evidence collected around the septic tank, the authorities theorized he had likely been tortured and murdered somewhere else and then transported to the tank.
They don't think he was murdered anywhere near the abandoned farm. Instead, the tank was only used as a dumping ground. This made the authorities suspect that whoever did this was local to the area. Because how else would they have known there was an empty septic tank on this abandoned farm where they could hide a body? They had to be familiar with the area. Investigators considered the possibility that their victim might have known his killer or killers.
This murder was brutal. Not only had he been shot in the head and the chest, but he was also severely tortured while he was still alive. This was a very unusual type of murder to have been committed by someone the victim didn't know. It seemed more personal, like it was revenge or spite killing. Maybe the victim knew his killers.
Some of the detectives thought he might have been sexually mutilated as revenge for maybe committing a sex crime or because he had been unfaithful in a relationship. Initially, those both seemed like promising theories because sexual mutilation in male victims is extremely unusual. Most of the time when we see mutilation at all, it's with female victims and not males.
But first, authorities needed to find out who their victim was. The original medical examiner could only conclude a few traits about who this guy was during the autopsy. Number one, he said the man was likely Caucasian. And number two, he was around 28 years old. But besides that, they didn't know much about him. The authorities did everything they could to try and figure out who this guy was.
They dug through all of Canada's missing person reports to see if they could find a match. They looked through fingerprints. They put his photograph in all the local newspapers. They even sent his dental records to over 800 dentist offices throughout Alberta. But none of these strategies seemed to pay off. Without any identification, they had no idea who this man was.
And without an identity, he became known as Septic Tank Sam. Sam's murder happened in 1977, long before there was ever such a thing as a national fingerprint or DNA database. So when someone went missing or was murdered, police departments had a hard time figuring out who these people were.
Unless the person was reported missing in the same city where the body was discovered, most police departments didn't know who they were or where they went missing. They also didn't have the luxury of searching fingerprint or DNA databases. The first DNA database wasn't set up in Canada until years later in 2000.
So if they collected any of Sam's blood or DNA, there really wasn't much that they could do with it. They could just collect it, store it in evidence, and hope someday that the technology would improve. After months of searching for Sam's true identity, the authorities had no choice but to bury him without a name. So later that year, he was buried in an unmarked grave in the Edmonton Cemetery.
But his burial didn't stop the police from searching for his identity or his killer. They continued to pursue every lead in the case, but nothing promising turned up. Besides a few early tips about who this man was, the case went cold relatively quickly. No one matching his description had ever been reported missing, and because his body was dumped on an abandoned farm in a very small town, the cops found no witnesses.
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Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist or switch therapist anytime for no additional charge. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash tails to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash tails. After hearing about the murder, the residents of Tofield were terrified.
At the time, approximately 1,200 people were living in this small town, but they were all scared that a murderer might be living among them. A city that is only three square miles isn't used to reading about brutal murders in their backyards. So when they heard about it, everyone was shocked, and there was an intense fear that there might be more victims. Residents of Tofield wondered if the killer could be their neighbor.
One of the earliest theories was that the killer was local because of where the body was discovered. So many people assumed that the only way anyone would know about this abandoned septic tank on this empty farm was if they lived nearby. It didn't seem likely that someone would just be driving through town, spot an abandoned farm, and decide to dump a body there. So this caused people in Tofield to be on edge.
With a town, again, of only 1,200 people, that meant the killer could be living among them. Two years after Sam's body was discovered, the authorities decided to take another crack at the case. So in 1979, they exhumed his body from the grave. Maybe there was something the original medical examiner missed during the autopsy that might shed some light on who this guy was or some evidence pointing towards his killer.
In 1979, forensic pathologist Dr. Clyde Snow from Oklahoma in the U.S. was brought in to reconstruct the man's skull to try and identify him, a procedure the original pathologist didn't perform. Dr. Snow started by taking measurements of the man's skull and bones. He then inputted the measurements into a computer program that was able to identify some critical details about the man's heritage and ethnicity.
Based on his skull and bone measurements, Dr. Snow concluded that Sam was likely of Aboriginal heritage and approximately 35 years old. This finding contradicted the original medical examiner's findings that he was a 28-year-old Caucasian. Additional information about Sam's appearance was also released. The authorities announced that he was about 5 feet 10 inches tall, had dark hair, and have an average body type and shape.
But that was it. There wasn't much about his physical appearance that was either unique or identifiable. Dr. Snow and his team from the U.S. discovered that Sam had likely suffered a serious illness sometime around the age of five, a conclusion derived from the strange marks on his teeth and bones. But they were unsure of exactly what serious illness this was.
Many possible conditions could have left such strange marks on his bones and teeth. It also didn't shed any additional light on his identity. DNA samples were also taken from Sam's body during this second autopsy. Despite lacking advanced DNA testing in 1979, there was hope that it would someday become available in the future. Following the autopsy, a facial reconstruction of Sam's face was created.
The picture was then circulated all throughout Canada in hopes of someone recognizing him. But despite the new image, no one knew who septic tank Sam was. After the facial reconstruction failed, Sam's body was reburied in the cemetery. And all the authorities could do was speculate. Who was this man and who killed him?
Another theory was that he might have been a transient or a migrant worker when he was killed. One of the biggest motives behind this theory was the clothes that he was wearing when he was discovered. He wore a blue Levi jacket, a gray t-shirt, blue jeans, and shoes. It was a very similar outfit to that of a construction worker, or he might have worked on a farm.
But that was only the authorities' best guess. They had no way of knowing for sure whether he was actually a transient or a migrant worker. They also didn't know if he worked in construction or on a farm. Again, simply a theory. The mystery surrounding septic tank Sam murder and identity lasted for years. The authorities interviewed many potential witnesses and tracked down thousands of leads but got no closer to getting their answers.
Despite finding strange marks on his teeth, forensic dentists could not identify him based on his teeth. 21 years later, in 2000, Sam's body was exhumed now for the second time. Over the last two decades, DNA testing and forensic science had come a long way since the first time they exhumed his body in 1979. There was also a lot of public pressure to get this case solved.
Not only did Alberta residents want to know who Septic Tank Sam really was, but they also wanted to know who murdered him. And they wanted the person or people to be held responsible. So they decided to bring him up from the grave once again to see if they could find out. But nothing new was actually discovered in 2000.
By then, more of Sam's body had decomposed and they couldn't gather any further information. So once again, he was reburied. And for the next four decades, septic tank Sam laid nameless in an unmarked grave.
Forty years later, in October 2017, the Alberta RCMP Missing Person Unit announced the launch of a national DNA program focusing on identifying unidentified remains. The program would allow law enforcement to obtain DNA from people with a missing family member for a potential match against unidentified human remains on the DNA index.
Alberta authorities hoped this new program would provide some answers in several unidentified and missing person cases, including the case of septic tank Sam. For Sam's case to be eligible for this new program, they needed DNA. If no usable DNA was left in the case, it wasn't eligible for the program. So their first task was to revisit the evidence folder.
Fortunately, investigators back in the 1970s had collected several DNA samples from Sam and the DNA was stored in evidence.
But there was no guarantee the DNA was still usable. The DNA had been sitting in evidence for over four decades. So there was a big chance that the DNA had become too degraded to test after all of these years. There was also no guarantee they could obtain a complete DNA profile from him. Two years later, in 2019, RCMP, or Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said,
sent a partial DNA profile that was collected from Sam's body in 2012 to be compared against this new database. While everyone anxiously awaited the results, there was a new sense of hope in the case. This was the first time DNA collected from Sam's body would be compared to a database. So there was a lot of hope that this might finally crack the case wide open.
But when the results came back, they were extremely disappointing. The DNA comparison failed. Sam's DNA didn't match anyone in the database of missing family members. So the investigation was back to square one. With every other lead exhausted, the Alberta RCMP Missing Person Unit decided to team up with OCME, or the Office of Chief Medical Examiner.
The plan was for both agencies to pull together all of their resources to work on the case. Their first move was to contact a private forensic lab located in the United States, OTHRUM. Founded in 2018, OTHRUM is a private American lab that specializes in forensic genetic genealogy. Over the years, they have become famous for solving cold cases and identifying John and Jane Doe's.
Othram works with law enforcement agencies all over the world to test badly degraded DNA samples or DNA taken from an unidentified person. Once they have the DNA, they perform highly advanced testing in hopes of finding a match.
If they don't find an exact match, they upload the unknown DNA sample to various genetic databases to look for a familial match or a possible hit to the unknown person's family members. Once they have identified family members, they can narrow down their search to the person they are looking for.
In the case of septic tank Sam, not only was law enforcement hoping to identify him, but they were also hoping to identify his killer. In 2020, the Alberta RCMP and Chief Medical Examiner's Office teamed up with Othram in the U.S. to try and generate new leads with advanced DNA testing. The first step was to get Sam's DNA over to Othram in Texas.
Once they had the partial DNA profile, Othram used what they call forensic-grade genome sequencing to develop a comprehensive profile of Sam. But Othram was faced with one really big problem. The DNA sample had been extremely degraded over the years. Since the original DNA collected from Sam's body was taken in 1977, it had been over four decades.
And the collection method used in 1977 to get the DNA was quite different than today's standards. So when the DNA sample arrived at Othram, they had a really bad sample of DNA to process. But fortunately, their persistence paid off. Despite a terribly degraded sample, they could still generate a comprehensive genetic profile of SAM.
Once Othram had a suitable DNA profile, they could start the genetic research. This process involves taking the DNA sample and uploading it to various genetic databases, looking either for exact matches or family matches. In other words, they're looking for other DNA profiles with similar genetic markers to septic tank SAM.
Almost immediately, Othram identified several individuals related to septic-ting Sam. Most of them were distant relatives of Sam, including second and even third cousins. But it was a start. For the first time in over four decades, they had new investigative leads to pursue.
So once Othram had a list of distant family members, they turned them over to the Alberta RCMP Missing Person Unit. They then had to go one by one with everyone on the list to get contact information, including phone numbers and last known addresses. But only some people on the list were still alive.
So once they had the person's contact information, they contacted them to ask for a DNA sample. But this was a little tricky. Not everyone was too excited about getting a phone call from the police wanting to know if they could get a DNA sample. But after the police explained what exactly they were doing and why they wanted the DNA sample, everyone agreed to submit one.
Once the Alberta RCMP had the DNA samples from the family members, they sent them back to Othram in Texas for more DNA testing. First, they needed to compare and determine if the DNA samples were familiar matches to septic tank SAM. As soon as this advanced and more thorough DNA testing was done, they finally had a match.
Othram was finally able to identify Septic Tank Sam as Gordon Edwin Sanderson. After four long decades, the true identity behind Septic Tank Sam was finally revealed as Gordon Sanderson. He finally had a real name and a real identity. Not the name people had given him over 40 years earlier. But two major questions still lingered.
Who exactly is Gordon Edwin Sanderson, formerly known as Septic Tank Sam? And who tortured, killed, and placed him in that septic tank all those years ago? Gordon Edwin Sanderson went by the nickname Gordy, but Gordy's life was anything but happy or easy.
When he was only nine years old, he was separated from his family during the 1960s scoop and placed in foster care. The term 60s scoop refers to the mass removal of Indigenous children in Canada from their families into the child welfare system. In most cases, these young children were removed from their parents' care without their permission or consent.
Once the child went into the foster care system, many of them were later adopted by white families. Despite its name as the 60s scoop, the scoop actually began in the mid to late 1950s and lasted through the 1980s.
During this time frame, more than 20,000 Indigenous children were believed to have been taken from their families and fostered or adopted out to primarily white middle-class families in Canada. This practice made international headline news around the same time Gordie Sanderson was identified in 2021.
That's because it became headline news after the remains of hundreds of children were found buried on the grounds of at least three church-run residential schools that housed these indigenous children who were taken from their parents.
These children went from comprising about 1% of children in state care in 1951 to making up more than 34% of Canada's foster care children by 1964. Gordy Sanderson was one of these children. He was taken away from his parents when he was only nine years old. Unlike many of these kids, Gordy never ended up with a white middle-class home.
Instead, he stayed in the foster care system for most of his childhood. Then, when he became an adult, he suffered from addiction. And because of his addiction issues, he could never hold down a regular or steady job. As a result, he struggled just to make ends meet as an adult. He also had several run-ins with law enforcement over the years.
Although he grew up in foster care, he stayed in touch with his biological parents and siblings. And according to Gordy's family members, they last heard from him as he planned to meet up with his younger brother, Arthur. But he never showed up to meet his brother, and his family never heard from him again. For many years, his family thought that maybe his addiction simply got the best of him.
It wasn't really uncommon for Gordy to be gone for weeks and even months at a time without getting in touch with his family. So when he didn't show up to meet with his younger brother that day, they just assumed that's what happened. It was his addiction. Now, Gordy's sister, Joyce Sanderson, eventually reported him missing in 1980.
But by that point, Gordy had already been dead for over three years. And unfortunately, the police could never link Joyce's brother to the septic tank Sam story. Gordy's sister Joyce also lost touch with her brother Arthur over the years. As soon as DNA testing confirmed Gordy Sanderson was septic tank Sam, investigators picked up the phone and called his sister Joyce to let her know.
After all of these years, she finally heard what happened to her brother and what caused him to go missing over four decades earlier. They also called Gordy's biological daughter to let her know what happened to her father. It took Alberta authorities decades to finally identify the man formerly known as Septic Tank Sam.
But there are still so many unanswered questions that not even forensic genetic genealogy has been able to answer. Like the biggest and most troubling question, who tortured and killed Gordon Edwin Sanderson? Who was responsible for not only murdering him, but stuffing his body inside that abandoned septic tank? Was it someone local to the area, as many people suspected?
Did Gordy know his killer? Was more than one person responsible? And why was he tortured and mutilated in the way that he was? Although the Alberta authorities haven't released any suspect names, they believe he was killed by someone he knows. He was probably murdered by associates who may have been linked to criminal activity, although none of that has been confirmed by the officials.
Gordy Sanderson was approximately 25 years old when he was murdered, and the identity of his killer is still a mystery. The Alberta RCMP Missing Person Unit is now seeking anyone who knew him or might have information about his final days before his murder.
Anyone with information should contact the Toe Field RCMP Detachment at 780-622-3353 or you can contact your local police department. To share your thoughts on this week's story, be sure to follow the show on Instagram and Facebook. To find out what I think about the case, sign up to become a patron at patreon.com slash forensic tales.
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Thank you so much for joining me this week. Please join me next week. We'll have a brand new case and a brand new story to talk about. Until then, remember, not all stories have happy endings. Forensic Tales is a Rockefeller Audio Production. The show is written and produced by me, Courtney Fretwell-Ariola.
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