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Canadian True Crime.cia. It's.

0:31

Late Spring. Twenty Twenty Four.

0:34

I'm away on a ladies' weekend with

0:36

some old friends. And. By

0:38

old, I mean that some of us

0:40

have known each other since our teens

0:43

more than thirty years ago. My

0:47

girlfriends and I are staying at

0:49

Tiny Mara which gaelic for house

0:51

by the see. This

0:54

place is a bit of an

0:56

island institution. It's been around since

0:58

Nineteen forty six. We're. Staying

1:00

in a rustic log cottage

1:02

surrounded by douglas fir, cedar

1:04

and are viewed as for

1:06

us. We

1:09

spend the weekend catching up on

1:11

husband's careers and kids. We

1:14

go for a moonlit walk on the

1:16

beach and taken the views across the

1:18

street of Georgia. Late

1:23

at night sitting around a fire,

1:25

we reminisced about our wilder days.

1:28

The. Partying, the drinking, The

1:31

drugs and of course our

1:33

old boyfriends. That's.

1:35

When one of my friends starts

1:37

talking about my podcast, She.

1:40

Is haunted by the high

1:42

school pictures of Sherry, Kimberly,

1:44

and Melissa. She

1:46

tells me how she can see

1:49

herself and the teens she knew

1:51

in those images. We. Talk

1:53

about just how easily the

1:55

fates of these girls could

1:57

have been our fates. Sherry.

2:01

Kimberley and Melissa never had

2:03

a chance to grow old, to

2:05

have the lives we've lived for

2:08

the past three decades. I

2:12

fall asleep. Picturing. The

2:14

three teenagers. Together. Lock.

2:17

In Beach. I'm

3:10

Laura Palmer and this is

3:12

Island Crime. Season Six Sweethearts.

3:15

Episode Doing. That

3:23

weekend of nostalgia reminded me

3:25

of my old marxism professor.

3:28

He drove a Trans Am. Had

3:31

long hair, a rumpled corduroy

3:33

jacket, and was wildly popular.

3:36

I started smoking just to hang out with

3:38

him on the break in his lectures. He

3:41

had a tattoo on his arm. The

3:44

past ways like a nightmare on

3:46

the brains of the living. It's

3:50

Karl Marx abbreviated. the

3:53

idea is that while there's always

3:55

a reliance on previous influences we

3:57

should be challenge to prison the

4:00

elements in a new context. At

4:03

the very least, Sherry, Kimberly,

4:06

and Melissa deserve to be

4:08

remembered with respect and kindness.

4:11

And of course, I'm also hoping

4:13

the renewed interest in their cases

4:15

could yet spark fresh leads. Now

4:18

don't be alarmed. That's it for Marx.

4:21

This is true crime, not

4:23

Poli-Sci 101. Still,

4:26

since the series first dropped, I have

4:28

been getting schooled on a few areas

4:31

related to the series. And

4:33

I'm on to some possible new leads. This

4:37

is the first of a two-part update

4:39

to the original Sweetheart series. I

4:42

want to get this part out as quickly as

4:44

I can manage. The second part

4:46

will take a little longer to knit together,

4:49

but please keep following along. I've just

4:51

recorded some significant new interviews you'll want

4:53

to hear. Soon

5:00

after the series begins, I get an

5:02

email from a childhood friend of Melissa's.

5:08

She writes, Hi,

5:11

Laura. Melissa was my

5:13

friend. Her story hits me deeply.

5:16

Thought I would share this photo

5:18

that shows her as a vibrant,

5:21

beautiful, funny, and caring child. The

5:24

picture she sends along stops me in

5:26

my tracks. Up

5:29

until this series began, I'd only

5:31

ever seen one small headshot of

5:33

Melissa as a teen. It's

5:35

the one used in newspaper articles at the

5:37

time of her murder. That

5:40

headshot was also the only

5:42

picture her surviving siblings had

5:44

of Melissa. And now

5:46

here I am, looking at a

5:48

gorgeous smiling photo of an eight-year-old

5:51

Melissa Nicholson with her little chum,

5:53

Mia. My legal name is Allison,

5:55

but my whole life I've been called Mia. So,

5:57

Melissa would have known me as Mia as ever.

6:00

single person in my life. I

6:02

grew up on Bowen Island my whole

6:04

life. My parents divorced when I was

6:07

about six years old. My father moved

6:09

to Vancouver, to East Vancouver and

6:11

this is where I met

6:14

Melissa as I would spend

6:16

weekends with my dad and summers

6:18

and I even attended elementary school

6:20

for a time there. The

6:23

picture that I sent you of us together, I

6:26

believe it's 1981 so then I would have been

6:29

eight years old.

6:32

This is a photo of

6:34

Melissa and I at my father's

6:36

house in Vancouver in

6:38

the front yard. So there's a rose

6:40

bush behind us so her and I

6:42

we at that age at

6:45

that time that I remember you know one of our

6:47

favorite things to do was to pick all the rose

6:49

petals and we would make perfume

6:51

with them. It looks

6:54

to be summertime or maybe

6:56

it's late spring. We're just really

6:58

joyful together I had a lot of

7:00

fun. She was always burned in my

7:02

memory because she was a

7:04

very funny, carefree feeling

7:06

child so I know her

7:09

life really wasn't carefree but

7:12

in our moments together she

7:14

was that way. Very playful, happy,

7:16

always a big smile on her

7:18

face and she was also

7:20

very affectionate. You know we've got our

7:22

arms around each other and yeah she

7:24

was really a good friend at

7:26

the time in my life. Something

7:29

else interesting about the photo that

7:32

always now it makes me feel sad

7:35

a little bit but you know she's wearing these

7:37

red pants in this photo. You know

7:39

I used to just think you

7:42

know these are her favorite pair of pants

7:44

right but then going

7:46

to her home and finding out well you

7:49

know she only had two pairs of pants probably you

7:51

know what I mean. It wasn't that oh

7:54

she always wore these red pants

7:56

because she liked them the most. It was

7:58

really like you know. she's living in a

8:01

poverty situation. This

8:05

perspective of Melissa's life in Vancouver

8:07

is a revelation, and I'm anxious

8:09

to learn as much as I

8:11

can about what's going on in

8:14

Melissa's world before she moves to

8:16

the island. Mia

8:19

is looking back at this time in their lives

8:21

through the lens of a grown woman in her

8:23

50s. But

8:25

back then, she's just a kid

8:28

enjoying a close friendship with Melissa.

8:32

My dad bought this huge

8:34

heritage house, which is now

8:36

actually torn down. What I didn't

8:38

realize when I met Melissa and

8:40

also some other friends in the neighborhood is that,

8:43

you know, just a few blocks down

8:46

where I recall her living, which

8:48

I thought was fantastic, where all these

8:51

kids lived, it's actually social housing. Of

8:53

course, when you're a child, you don't realize these things

8:55

and realize that she actually

8:59

lived quite in poverty. Looking

9:01

back, I can see that, but

9:03

at the time, you don't notice those things as

9:05

a child so much. I

9:08

imagine coming to my house must have seemed incredible

9:11

to her, like, you know, huge three-story

9:13

house. We had a computer

9:15

in the house before anybody had computers in the

9:18

house. Now that I think

9:20

about it, it's probably like, you know, there was always

9:22

tons of food and, I

9:24

don't know, it was just different, right? We had a

9:27

big yard and sort of that freedom

9:30

where where she was living wasn't

9:32

like that. Melissa

9:34

Nicholson and her mom lived down

9:36

the street from Mia's three-story heritage

9:39

home. But Melissa's life

9:41

is very different from that of

9:43

her friend Mia. When

9:45

I would go to her house, I do

9:47

remember her mom, but her mom often wasn't

9:50

there. A clear thing I

9:52

remember is it was the first time

9:54

in my life visiting her where I

9:56

ever tasted bologna. I didn't even know

9:58

what bologna was. You

10:00

know, I had grown up with hippie parents, sprouted

10:03

a whole wheat bread and alfalfa sprouts.

10:06

So I thought it was fantastic. She

10:09

had bologna sandwiches and like

10:13

Kool-Aid. I never had that

10:15

ever before. I thought her

10:17

life seemed so like fun to

10:19

me, but she was, you

10:22

know, she was alone a lot in that house.

10:25

I remember her mom kind of like as this

10:27

sort of figure, but she wasn't there a lot.

10:31

When I spoke with Melissa's little

10:33

sister Jasmine, she had wondered whether

10:35

Melissa had an opportunity to learn

10:37

about her Indigenous heritage. And

10:40

it turns out Mia believes this

10:43

was an important part of Melissa's

10:45

childhood. One

10:47

thing that stands out, I will always remember

10:49

about Melissa, is she was a jingle dress

10:52

dancer and she loved it. And

10:55

she was going to perform at

10:57

the Hyatt Regency. And she was

10:59

very excited about that. She seemed

11:01

very connected to her culture and

11:03

very proud. I knew that that

11:05

was what made her most joyful. Mia

11:08

has an excellent memory of this time

11:10

in her life with Melissa. She

11:12

even recalls the name of the Vancouver Hotel

11:15

where Melissa was performing, the

11:18

Vancouver Hyatt Regency. I

11:22

dig up an ad for a big Indigenous arts

11:24

and crafts trade show in 1983, Held at the

11:26

Hyatt. I'm

11:30

trying to see if there's any images

11:32

or even video of the event. I

11:35

learn that the jingle dress dance is

11:37

a relatively new tradition for First Nations

11:40

in the US and Canada. And

11:43

it's not just a performance, it's

11:45

medicine. The

11:49

dance is believed to have healing powers. The

11:53

origins trace back to the Ojibwe in the

11:55

early 1900s. The

11:58

Story goes that a medicine man's life is a. The

12:00

granddaughter fell ill. In

12:02

a dream the spirit guides tell him

12:04

to craft a jingle dress. They say

12:07

the dress will heal the child when

12:09

she dances in it. If

12:12

you've never seen a jingle dress

12:14

before, they're made of colorful fabrics.

12:17

And for adults. Three hundred

12:19

and sixty five little metal cones.

12:21

They hang about an inch apart

12:23

and they cling together as a

12:25

dancer moves. The

12:28

dresses for adults can weigh up

12:30

to sixty pounds. Now

12:32

me, I never got to see

12:34

Melissa dance in her jingle dress

12:36

that she's holding out Some hope

12:38

that a video might be out

12:40

there somewhere and that perhaps one

12:42

day there will be a ceremony

12:44

for Melissa were jingle dancers will

12:46

perform in her memory. And

12:51

so to me is like of he

12:53

was. She was a person that was

12:55

important in my life and at the

12:57

unfold on my way and out. What

12:59

does that mean? I don't know and

13:02

means that any the lots of nice

13:04

ends reading about her and listening the

13:06

plot cat the Super Bowl. So for

13:08

me it makes me really sad because

13:10

she was just. Like is just as

13:12

amazing. Bright spirit of a person in

13:14

an. Island.

13:19

Crime is a True Crime podcast.

13:23

But it's also about history and

13:25

legacy and the community, but can

13:28

come together around trauma. And

13:30

it's very best. I hope they

13:32

can be some healing to. Now.

13:35

That's pretty lofty stuff for a humble

13:37

little podcast in a small town here

13:39

on the island. But. Hey it's

13:41

good to dream big. The

13:46

stories of Kimberly Gallup, Melissa Nicholson,

13:48

and Series Smith. Are. Touching

13:51

many listeners. I've. Heard

13:53

from so many people who want

13:55

to talk about the series. Here

13:58

to help me share some of these

14:00

message in an answer some general questions

14:02

I've invited to of my colleagues at

14:05

the Frequency Podcast network. Jordan.

14:07

He's rolling has the Big Story

14:09

podcast and Seventy Phillips is a

14:11

show runner. Heil. Hitler.

14:14

A Laura has gone. It's. Going well.

14:16

Thanks for coming on the so I'm

14:18

always. Happy to do these updates with you

14:20

and hear what's been going on since. the

14:22

episodes that I listen to so we're this

14:25

is great I'll ask you. I mean the

14:27

first thing I always ask you after the

14:29

conclusion of a season is have you heard

14:31

and what have you heard from the families

14:33

of the victims you profiled. Yeah,

14:36

I think you both know that

14:38

I always want to answer. I

14:40

handle these cases with care and

14:42

that the family's feel supported along

14:45

the way and a goal of

14:47

this particular series was to really

14:49

bring that humanity and dignity to

14:51

the stories of these three girls

14:54

and I did that by including

14:56

perspective from people who knew and

14:58

loved these teenagers and life including

15:00

their families and their friends. So

15:03

here's a response. I got backs and

15:05

Kimberly's. Mom Barb, who you may recall,

15:07

was reluctant about the whole thing at

15:10

the beginning. She. Got back

15:12

to me after learning victims friends have

15:14

wanted her to know just how loved

15:16

her daughter was. Staff. Can you

15:18

read this for us? Yeah for sure. Always happy to

15:20

help. It

15:22

was very heartwarming to know that she had some

15:25

good people around her and her last few days

15:27

on this earth. It. Does help

15:29

knowing that she has and caring friends who

15:31

loved her and cared for her and still

15:33

care and remember her all these years later.

15:36

I have also stayed in touch with

15:38

Melissa's siblings and step mom and they

15:40

tell me that the work is bringing

15:43

some clarity about Melissa's life and death

15:45

than they were really happy to see

15:47

that picture that Me A talked about

15:50

off the top of this episode. I.

15:52

was able to share another picture with

15:54

them as well prior to all of

15:57

this they only had that one headshot

15:59

of Melissa and

16:01

that was really quite hard on them not

16:04

having those images of her You

16:06

know from her younger life and also

16:08

as a teenager so a local TV

16:10

station here on the island check TV

16:12

did a story about the podcast and

16:14

while they were doing that story they

16:16

turned up some archival footage from the

16:18

time of Melissa's murder and that included

16:21

this beautiful photo of Melissa standing on

16:24

a ferry with her hair blowing in

16:26

the breeze and So now

16:28

her family has that image as well Sherry's

16:31

family encouraged me to keep them

16:33

posted But they are very private

16:36

at this point in their lives and I

16:38

respect that I Remember

16:40

in this series you said

16:42

that you were going to share the

16:44

suspect Description and the sketch from the man

16:46

who was last seen with Kimberly Gallup at

16:48

the colony motor in on the island

16:50

crime Facebook page I know sometimes when you

16:53

do that you get leads did anything come

16:55

of that? Yes a lot

16:58

actually I had a number of people

17:00

get in touch Suggesting the man

17:02

in the suspect sketch looked like

17:04

someone they knew someone they thought

17:06

could be capable of Some

17:09

kind of violence. I

17:11

don't know if there's anything to connect any

17:13

of these men to the cases But

17:16

you never know and I appreciate all the leads

17:18

and will continue to chip away at the case

17:21

I will say my listeners are

17:23

incredibly helpful Some were trying

17:25

to track down the make of the ski

17:27

jacket the man is described as wearing that

17:30

night and another listener

17:32

created AI generated images

17:34

to try and age the suspect

17:36

description and you really never

17:38

know what's going to jar a memory, so

17:41

I do appreciate all of that and Probably

17:44

most interesting is I heard from a

17:46

woman who was working at the colony

17:49

motor in that night She was at

17:51

the front desk Now

17:53

she clearly remembers renting out the

17:55

room Kimberly was murdered in that

17:57

night to a man who does

17:59

not Match the suspect description.

18:02

So. I've recorded an interview with her and

18:05

I'm going to update the series and include

18:07

that information as well. So. What

18:09

else about the season? them as either

18:11

struck a chord or is still are

18:13

sitting with you were the audience. Now

18:15

that the season is wrapping up. Of

18:18

so much. And it's true the season

18:20

at the original eight episodes are wrapping

18:22

up, but really, in some ways I

18:25

feel like it's kind of ramping up

18:27

for me at this. and there's so

18:29

much information coming my way. After

18:32

Melissa Nicholson's younger sister Jasmine opened

18:34

up about the same seat belt

18:36

growing up with the kind of

18:39

stigma of having her sister described

18:41

as a teen hooker, some people

18:44

responded with messages of encouragement, including

18:46

Mel and this is what she

18:48

wrote. I

18:50

just listen to this episode and it

18:52

was heartbreaking when Jasmine said she was

18:55

embarrassed by the team's hooker victim number

18:57

three headline. It was a different

18:59

time back then. I'm only a couple

19:01

years older than these girls born and

19:03

raised in Okay, but I never heard.

19:05

Of. These horrific claims. I hope

19:07

Jasmine as able to realize that Melissa was

19:09

a victim in so many ways. No.

19:11

Shame should be filled. I. Know

19:13

I'm fucked you and I am.

19:16

Stuff talks before the season began

19:18

that taking be stories with these

19:20

kind of headlines and refraining them

19:22

and a more respectful light was

19:24

a real goal for you would

19:26

have you heard from listeners on

19:28

that front. Did we get it

19:30

right? Yeah. I think

19:32

we did. In fact, I think

19:34

that was probably the most successful

19:36

aspect of the series so far.

19:38

I heard from so many people

19:41

who could really relate to these

19:43

young women listeners. his tell this

19:45

story. Really deeply. Including

19:47

Jesse on twitter and see

19:49

sent me this lovely nodes.

19:53

The. Girls and His podcast isn't so much

19:55

better than what they got and deaths as

19:57

ours and life. I'm. a couple years

19:59

old but left in the lower

20:01

mainland and island was rough in those years.

20:04

We'd never heard of sex trafficking then, but

20:07

we all knew girls who left high school

20:09

early for the streets. My son

20:11

grew up high troubled lives. Having

20:13

something resembling a home, the occasional helpful

20:16

adult, and lots of luck, we got

20:18

through those years scarred but alive. The

20:21

pimps as we called them were always around, but

20:23

we were also targets for predators lurking

20:25

in our schools, our part-time jobs, and

20:28

our homes. The dad who drove

20:30

you home after you babysined his kids. We're

20:32

the uncle who the entire family knew

20:35

was inappropriate, but somehow always invited back.

20:38

These girls didn't get a chance to survive. They

20:40

were written off as hookers. Maybe they can

20:43

get justice and respect now and bring

20:45

their families some comfort. I

20:48

received a number of emails and

20:50

messages from women who had a

20:52

similar response to this season. This

20:54

one is from a woman I'll call EC. It's

21:00

very hard to listen to this season. In the years 1990 and

21:02

1991, I was being groomed to work on the streets. My

21:07

boyfriend's family was urging me to move to

21:09

Vancouver with them. I knew a

21:11

few girls who were on the street, and I had dated

21:13

a few pimps. One of my childhood

21:15

friends was killed in the 90s. She

21:17

was a victim of human trafficking. Makes

21:19

me look at my choices and how I very likely

21:21

would be dead if I had moved with them. Thanks

21:24

for making this incredible season. You

21:27

also, as part of reframing that story, and

21:29

this is something that really caught my eye

21:31

because I like to think I am attuned

21:33

to sensibilities of the media, but you took

21:35

a really hard look at the role that

21:37

the media played back then. What

21:40

did you hear about that in terms of feedback? Well,

21:42

actually, I can jump in here. I'm going to

21:45

read this note from the Island Crime Facebook page from

21:47

a woman named Savannah. I

21:50

know that it's not the fault of the staff

21:52

at current media outlets, but an apology for how

21:54

the headlines were written about these girls doesn't feel

21:56

like too big of an ask. They

21:58

were callous and uncaring. And I'm sorry

22:00

to the family members of these beautiful young women having

22:02

to read that, all while grieving.

22:05

My heart goes out to them all, and I'm so

22:07

grateful that we are getting to know these girls for

22:09

who they are and not what the headlines told us.

22:13

The Hooker headlines were really ubiquitous

22:15

back then. I saw them

22:18

in multiple different publications. And as I

22:20

said in the podcast, I was working

22:22

in broadcast media then, and we weren't

22:24

much better. So I

22:26

didn't plan to single out any one

22:28

outlet. But in the series,

22:30

I spoke with two former staffers at

22:32

the Victoria Times Colonist. So I thought

22:34

I should follow up with the paper

22:37

now to see if they had anything

22:39

they would like to say. Times

22:41

Colonist editor and publisher Dave Obie

22:44

wrote back with a thoughtful response.

22:47

We won't read it all here, but here's a

22:49

little of what I heard from him. Steph, can

22:51

you read a little bit of this? Yeah, for

22:53

sure. I think

22:55

those headlines were quite inappropriate. I

22:58

have no idea who wrote them, but it seems that

23:00

there is an effort by one or more people to

23:02

make this paper more of a tabloid in terms

23:04

of content at least. One constant

23:07

through the years is that I've known too

23:09

many reporters and editors who have seen

23:11

the people in their communities as objects rather

23:14

than neighbors or even people. They

23:16

have not cared what damage they might cause

23:18

while reporting. I would never say that

23:20

everyone is like this, but even 10% is too

23:22

many. I'm

23:25

glad you got that comment, Laura. I'm glad he took

23:27

a minute and reflected on it. Yeah,

23:29

I'm hoping actually a lot of reporters,

23:31

journalists who are listening to this are

23:33

having a thought about that

23:35

because it certainly was something that I

23:37

had to think about when I was

23:40

making this series because it wasn't that

23:42

long ago and we didn't cover these

23:44

stories well. No, and I

23:46

remember I was probably in high school

23:48

about the time that that was happening

23:50

and I remember our papers around here.

23:53

I can't remember specific cases, but I remember the

23:55

word hooker being splashed on them all the time.

23:58

And that's not that long ago. Yes,

24:00

we can all do better. Thank

24:02

you for saying my high school was not long ago. Listen,

24:06

what about the police? I know, you

24:08

know, you've been pushing on it. I

24:10

know a lot of the initial impetus

24:13

for this season came from something you

24:15

kind of heard secondhand, I guess, from

24:17

the police. Did you get any official

24:19

response from the three different police authorities

24:21

who have these files and technically still

24:24

have these cases open? I guess. Well,

24:27

as you both know, I made

24:29

multiple requests to all three investigating

24:31

jurisdictions, but on the

24:34

advice of legal counsel, I went

24:36

back once again to offer police

24:38

the opportunity to respond to allegations

24:40

made in the series that

24:42

witnesses may have been overlooked or an

24:44

impression that these cases didn't get their

24:46

due because the girls were living the

24:49

so-called high risk lifestyle. Now,

24:52

none of them took me up on that

24:54

offer, but it still stands. And

24:56

you'll recall the lead on Sherry's case

24:58

did tell me there had been some

25:00

progress on the file and he hoped

25:02

to be in a position to speak

25:04

one day. I checked in

25:06

with him again quite recently and he

25:09

said the progress is happening, but he

25:11

doesn't expect anything soon. Still,

25:14

he says he is hoping to speak with

25:16

me at some point. Towards

25:19

the end of this season, one

25:21

of your guests is a criminologist by

25:23

the name of Michael Arntfield and he

25:25

made a direct plea to people

25:27

who listen to and love true

25:30

crime to get a DNA

25:32

test if they want to be of

25:34

help in cold cases. And you

25:37

took him up on that yourself, Laura. Tell me

25:39

about that decision. Well, yes, I

25:41

did. I ordered an ancestry DNA kit,

25:43

spit into the tube and sent it

25:45

away. And a few weeks

25:47

later, the results arrived and I uploaded

25:50

my information to the GEDmatch site. At

25:52

That point, you're given the option to opt

25:54

in or opt out of allowing law enforcement

25:56

to view your DNA and use it to

25:58

help find out. Missing people are

26:01

solve crimes. The idea

26:03

here is that Dna can

26:05

act as a sort of

26:07

molecular eyewitness. Here's how Jed

26:09

Match sells it online: These.

26:12

Days you don't need a badge

26:14

or a special had to help

26:17

investigators solve crimes or identify missing

26:19

persons. Everyone can make a difference.

26:21

In cases where there are no

26:24

eyewitnesses, detectives may need to rely

26:26

on interstate and. I

26:32

am by no means a Dna

26:34

expert and I'm also not trying

26:36

to convince anyone here to take

26:38

this step. The. Question on

26:40

whether to opt in or opt out

26:42

is ultimately a personal one. Does.

26:45

The opportunity to resolve investigations

26:47

and help other families outweigh

26:49

the potential privacy rez. That's

26:51

a question I think people

26:53

just need to reflect on.

26:56

On their own. I wrestled with

26:58

it for a while before ultimately deciding

27:00

that yes, for me, it was the

27:02

right decision. This is

27:04

clearly huge for cold cases, so

27:06

I have no doubt that I'll

27:09

be returning to this subject in

27:11

future episodes. Let's.

27:13

Talk about just be overall impact

27:15

and success of the season itself.

27:17

I know everybody here at Frequency

27:20

and Rodgers in general top to

27:22

bottom was incredibly impressed with the

27:24

audience response and. Listen.

27:26

You know when I know and everybody up

27:29

to the top nose at this point as

27:31

to number one in the country on Apple

27:33

podcasts us not easy to do laura. Know.

27:36

And you know, I think, Particularly

27:38

given that there was a feeling

27:40

that these stories were kind of

27:42

over blood or poorly told at

27:44

the time, it was really meaningful

27:46

to have that happen. And of

27:48

course, it's also the wider the

27:50

audience, the more public pressure, and

27:52

the greater plausibility, someone who knows

27:55

something will come forward. and

27:57

when nbc date tweeted a walter

27:59

to the True Crime neighborhood, I

28:02

will admit I felt pretty proud of the work,

28:04

much of which is recorded under the

28:06

stairs where I am right now in

28:08

my home in Port Elberni. You're

28:11

playing with the big boys now. Yes, from

28:13

under the staircase. I

28:15

also gather that there's been interest in

28:17

the theme of the Sweethearts theme for

28:20

this season. Tell me about that. Another

28:23

cry, another fall,

28:26

another try, another

28:28

fall. I get daily

28:30

requests now to tell people,

28:33

what is that song? The

28:35

song got a lot of response from

28:37

listeners. It's called Dance in the Rain.

28:40

The singer-songwriter is Bolshe. She's

28:43

originally from Luxembourg, but now lives in the

28:45

U.S. I'm a fan now. I'd never heard

28:47

of her before, but I follow her on

28:49

Instagram. She has a new cut,

28:52

which if you like Dance in the Rain, you'll probably

28:54

like this one as well. It's called

28:56

Hope It Kills You. It

28:59

also has a great anime video, which

29:01

I've posted to my Island Crime Facebook

29:03

page as well. Nice. Now

29:05

you're working on a new episode of this season.

29:08

I've been saying it like it's over, but there's

29:10

always more. Tell us about what's

29:12

happening with that. Yeah, until

29:14

these cases are solved, it's never really

29:16

over for me. As I

29:18

said, I'm just getting tons of new information

29:21

now that the series is out there. One

29:24

of the things I try to do is

29:26

unearth information from people who were close to

29:28

the victims at the time of their deaths.

29:32

In this next update episode of

29:34

Sweethearts, you'll hear from three people

29:36

with connections to Kimberly Gallop's case.

29:39

I tracked down a man who was

29:41

a major pimp in Victoria at that

29:43

time. He knew Kimberly

29:45

and offered a very frank opinion

29:47

of what went down. As

29:50

I've mentioned, I've spoken to the woman who was

29:52

at the front desk at the colony motor and

29:54

the night Kim was killed. She

29:56

has some potentially important information, so I'll include a

29:59

link to the video. her perspective as

30:01

well. I also interviewed

30:03

a woman who knew Kimberly well,

30:06

as well as Kim's boyfriend Isaac

30:08

and Kimberly's pimp Dale. This

30:10

source was very much part of that

30:13

whole scene in Victoria back then, and

30:15

she shares a detailed view of what

30:17

the sex trafficking of Kim and the

30:19

others looked like. Here's

30:21

her very last memory of seeing

30:24

Kimberly Gallup alive. She

30:26

was young. She was two years younger than me,

30:28

but she was quite young. I just remember her being

30:30

really, really nice. And the

30:32

last thing I remember seeing her

30:34

was she was in the back of our Nova.

30:36

We were going to Vancouver. We were bringing her

30:39

over with us. She had a couple of kittens

30:41

with her, and she was in the backseat playing with

30:43

the kittens. And we were just talking about she was

30:45

just looking forward to going to Vancouver. And that was

30:47

the last time that I saw her. There

30:51

is some, excuse my language, there's shit that

30:53

went on in Victoria, that if I had

30:56

written a book about it, people

30:58

would have thought it was fantasy and

31:00

just made up stuff. Okay,

31:05

that all sounds amazing and

31:07

exciting. And I can't wait to see what you turn

31:09

up. Go get to work, I guess. I

31:12

will do that. Thanks, guys. Thank

31:14

you. No problem, Laura. Anytime. Now,

31:19

I mentioned an old professor of mine at the

31:21

start of the episode. The

31:23

late, great Professor Nutbrown used to

31:26

say something along the lines that

31:28

politics is little more than standing

31:30

up for those who are unable

31:32

to stand up for themselves. At

31:35

its heart, that's what I tried to

31:37

do for the missing and murdered here on

31:39

the island. For Sherry,

31:42

Kimberly, Melissa and all the others

31:44

who have yet to have justice.

31:49

I'm Laura Palmer. And this is Island

31:51

Crime Season 6, sweethearts.

31:55

Please take a moment to rate and

31:57

review the podcast. you