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0:34

Did

0:39

you look into Jason Beneke? We

0:41

did. And what did you find on

0:44

him? Um, you know,

0:46

a person of interest. Certainly

0:49

things were done with sort

0:52

of examining his timeline and things of that nature. And

0:55

I'm aware that he had passed away a few

0:57

years back. So, we think

0:59

he has a brother as well.

1:03

Jason Beneke is one of the only names

1:05

I've asked about that Corporal Mike Simpson

1:07

seems to give a discernible reaction to. So

1:10

far I have a Pilot Mountain neighbour of Beneke's

1:12

saying he was troubled and perhaps involved

1:14

in some break-ins. And police

1:17

saying he was a person of interest in Angel's

1:19

case. The Beneke

1:21

property was very close to where Angel

1:24

was found. Did police

1:26

ever rule him out as a person of interest?

1:30

Okay, so investigation inconclusive

1:32

or just did you

1:33

satisfy yourself that he was... Um,

1:36

you know, he may come back up. We'll

1:38

see. Unfortunately

1:40

he's deceased now, sadly. But,

1:44

like with everyone, certainly

1:46

my approach is to,

1:49

since I've started, I've tried to

1:52

learn as much as I can about everything but the file.

1:55

But of course, you're reading other people's information,

1:57

so...

1:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

2:00

From what I can find so far, Jason

2:03

Benneke was a member of the Yukon's

2:05

Little Salmon Carmax First Nation

2:08

and spent most of his life in the territory

2:10

before moving to British Columbia sometime

2:13

around 2015. At

2:15

some point thereafter, as Simpson

2:17

says, Jason Benneke passed

2:19

away. So

2:22

were you able to determine how Jason passed?

2:24

Do you know anything about his passing? I

2:28

don't know if I can speak to it. You've

2:31

looked at the circumstances around

2:33

Jason's. Yes.

2:35

You know, I'm trying to

2:37

let what I'm doing lead

2:39

me to where it goes and

2:42

if it comes back to him, perhaps. That

2:44

is what I've done, which is helpful for me.

2:48

Jason Benneke did have a criminal

2:50

record in British Columbia. According

2:52

to court documents, there were a few stayed

2:54

charges, but he was also found guilty

2:56

of assault, uttering threats of death

2:59

or bodily harm and attempting to

3:01

steal a vehicle, among other similar

3:03

charges. And he served

3:05

time, too, for offenses such

3:08

as drug trafficking. Jason

3:11

Benneke would have been around 20 years old

3:13

when Angel Carlec disappeared. I

3:16

will reach out to any Benneke family

3:18

members I might find to see if there

3:20

might be any sort of connection between Jason

3:23

and Angel. But Benneke

3:25

isn't the only name that's emerged

3:27

from the investigation. And as

3:29

my time in Whitehorse draws to a close,

3:33

Angel's case has started

3:35

to move. I'm

3:41

David Rijon and this is Someone Knows Something,

3:43

Season 8. The Angel Carlec

3:45

Case, Episode 6. The

3:48

Price of Admission.

3:59

The new card I just put in this audio recorder

4:02

I have says I have 178 hours of recording left. I'll

4:05

probably go through that before I'm done here. I've

4:08

already done so many hours of recording

4:11

on this case. Just

4:13

tip of the iceberg. So

4:16

we're gonna go all the way up and around. So we're

4:18

gonna stay on this main one all the way up and

4:21

around.

4:22

Yeah, we can basically just meet this

4:25

person outside. We

4:31

know this person today. This is what I

4:34

have on Facebook. Check,

4:37

hello. Check, check, check, hello. Hello.

4:46

Do you mind if we just meet in your backyard

4:48

or something? Is that easier for you? I think they're

4:50

normal. Oh,

4:53

we can just go somewhere less sunny outside.

4:57

Do you need to water a copy?

5:00

Lori and I are in one of Whitehorse's newer

5:03

subdivisions. We're here to speak to

5:05

Amber, who saw our call for tips

5:07

on the SKS Facebook page months earlier

5:10

and has agreed to share some information.

5:14

My anxiety was a little high. Two

5:17

strangers coming in to the house. You're

5:19

gonna sit there? Yeah, it's the whole situation, right? Like I've

5:21

always held the whole case

5:23

kind of close to my heart.

5:26

And who would think that

5:28

I would come up with information, right? And

5:31

I don't know if the information's true, but

5:34

I didn't sleep well the night after I

5:36

heard it. And I made a point

5:39

of the next time I

5:41

was sitting with the person to bring the subject back

5:43

up,

5:44

which made me very

5:46

anxious as well.

5:49

Amber props herself on the railing of

5:51

her back deck where we have all congregated.

5:54

She's nervous but wants to get it right,

5:57

and says she wants to share what she knows.

7:59

And I reported it

8:02

to him and I'm

8:05

going to say that I don't feel like it was taken seriously. He

8:07

was kind of like

8:08

nonchalant about it. I don't know,

8:11

I just didn't feel like it was taken seriously. Kind

8:14

of upset

8:14

me a bit and at this

8:15

point nobody's ever contacted

8:17

me again about it.

8:20

All of this makes me want to talk to Wesley

8:23

and then hopefully Jay and ultimately

8:25

Jay's father. Did the father

8:28

actually do something to Angel? A

8:31

little bit of digging shows me that Jay, his

8:33

family, and his father all lived

8:35

on Pilot Mountain at the time of Angel's disappearance

8:38

and quite close to where Angel was found.

8:44

Amber says she will put me in contact with

8:46

Wesley. I definitely want

8:48

his account but what Wesley

8:50

allegedly heard Jay say could be

8:52

nothing. An utterance fired

8:55

off at the end of a short temper. But

8:57

this is the first time in this case

8:59

that someone allegedly connects themselves to

9:02

Angel

9:03

and to her murder. Thank

9:07

you guys so much for bringing the time

9:09

into Angel. I really

9:12

hope you find closure.

9:13

Thank you. Much appreciated. Thanks so much.

9:16

All right. Take care. Take

9:18

care. We'll be in touch. Thank you.

9:23

Lori and I walk back to the car

9:25

in silence. She's been mostly

9:27

quiet the whole time. Then

9:30

I see the emotion spread across her

9:32

face.

9:36

You all right? Just

9:40

really good family friends of mine.

9:45

Lori knows the man we're calling

9:48

Jay.

9:49

I don't know their dad. But

9:53

I do know... That's

9:56

just a swag. Well,

10:01

we don't know if it's true, if anything about

10:04

it is true.

10:05

No, I know, it's just...

10:14

It's just that whole time I didn't

10:17

say anything because I was so, like, in

10:20

shock.

10:24

Up until this point, all we know is

10:26

what we've heard from a single source, hardly

10:29

anything more than conjecture. But

10:31

I know that it doesn't make this any easier

10:34

on Laurie, even though she doesn't know

10:36

Jay's father, the man who allegedly

10:38

made the utterance about having done

10:40

something to Angel. I don't know.

10:48

Want to drive around a bit and just chat or, like, just

10:51

blow off steam or what do you want to do for a walk

10:53

or something?

10:53

I don't even

10:55

know right now. I just, I literally

10:57

feel nauseous. I

11:04

knew this was happening, like... Like,

11:09

just finding out information I didn't really

11:11

want to know. You know, I

11:13

knew that there would be little things here

11:15

and there, but this... The

11:19

campaign, like, she said it could be horseshit

11:22

and I could be getting worked up over. Just gossip

11:25

and ass, you could be. Their

11:28

mom, I lost, like, an aunt. And

11:30

it's, like, the family, you know, I

11:32

grew up with that household.

11:34

And

11:36

all the respect of the world. I love it. And

11:39

then, how one of those

11:41

names brought up is...

12:00

I take Lori home. Okay. I'll talk

12:05

to you later. Okay, thanks very much.

12:08

Text me if you want. Okay, I will. Fuck.

12:25

Hello? Oh, hi. Is this Wesley? Yeah.

12:27

Hey, Wesley. It's Dave Rijan.

12:30

Thanks so much for doing this call. Amber

12:33

has helped to connect me to Wesley, and

12:35

I jump through the preliminaries until I

12:37

can ask him what did his friend

12:40

Jay say about his father?

12:43

I guess he like went and moved down with his

12:45

dad for like a year or something, but

12:48

they got into an argument. I guess his dad's like a real

12:50

piece of shit, whatever, but I

12:53

guess I got into an argument. All he said was like, don't

12:56

make me do to you what I did to Angel

12:59

Carlec or something like that. And then

13:01

he all freaked out. And I was like, well,

13:03

that's weird. And his dad always seemed

13:05

like a weird guy, too.

13:07

A reminder that Wesley did not hear

13:09

Jay's father say this and wasn't present

13:12

at the time. Wesley only

13:14

heard the story from Jay. How

13:17

did this conversation come up?

13:19

Honestly, I can't remember. Like, we're pretty good friends

13:21

and we just sit around and talk and bullshit

13:23

and whatever. Like,

13:25

he was complaining about how big of a piece of shit his

13:27

dad is. His dad moved away after

13:29

they got divorced.

13:33

Jay's father moved to a town

13:35

outside the Yukon in a Western

13:38

province where I believe he still resides.

13:41

Jay himself is unhoused and has

13:43

proven difficult to find. But with

13:45

Lori's help, I may be able to connect with

13:48

Jay's sister. It has

13:50

been suggested that any approach to the

13:52

father should be undertaken with caution.

13:55

I'll try to talk to Jay's other family members

13:57

before trying to contact the father. But

14:00

first I want to speak with Corporal Simpson about

14:02

this tip from Amber and the short video

14:04

she recorded and sent to him. Did

14:07

Simpson find anything out? So

14:11

I had a tip come

14:13

in where they said they spoke to you and

14:15

this person had a recording of

14:17

somebody who was saying some names

14:20

on the recording. Okay.

14:23

I mentioned the names of the people involved.

14:28

Right. I

14:31

don't believe they ever gave us the recording.

14:33

Because she showed me an email that had

14:35

your email address on it.

14:37

I never believe

14:40

I received it, yeah. I

14:43

tried to contact her a few times.

14:45

Sure I can try again. It

14:47

was sort of the last twist that... So

14:50

it seems RCMP haven't looked into

14:52

this yet. But I

14:54

will. And

14:56

I have my other questions regarding Angel's

14:58

file. Mark Porter

15:00

for example. Angel's boyfriend

15:03

at the time of her disappearance.

15:05

I think we have a very

15:08

good timeline

15:11

for him. So an alibi that

15:13

works or... He's been looked at and

15:16

he polygraphed as

15:18

well. For me right now

15:20

he's

15:21

not a suspect.

15:25

I also asked about the information I received

15:27

from Vicki Durant, Angel's supervisor.

15:30

Vicki told me that she was positive

15:32

Angel's bike was locked up at the family

15:35

hotel downtown after

15:37

Angel went missing.

15:39

Did you guys look into... Did police

15:41

look into the bicycle locked in front of that

15:43

hotel? They did. When

15:45

they went to look, the bike was gone.

15:48

Long story short, it

15:50

was uncertain if that was actually hers. They

15:52

did look into that and at the end of

15:55

that sort of investigation.

15:57

It was kind of confusing. The bike actually wasn't hers.

17:47

change

18:00

of clothes. Police track

18:02

Angel through sightings until around 9pm

18:05

that night when she is last seen with

18:07

two whiter looking men. Francis

18:10

says she saw Angel at some point at

18:12

a dinner over the weekend. I'm not

18:14

certain which dinner this might have been

18:16

but Francis said afterward

18:19

she never saw Angel again. But

18:21

Francis says she thinks she

18:24

may have heard her at the family

18:26

hotel where they were staying in

18:28

room 214 on the second floor.

18:31

It's at the time of day when it's real quiet

18:34

in the hotel and I heard

18:36

a girl screaming like they're

18:39

thrashing around about two

18:41

doors down from us on the other

18:44

side of the hall. Like

18:48

when you first get grabbed and

18:50

they're trying to throw you down

18:52

that's what it sounded like

18:54

and there was only one and there

18:56

was a thump and a bang and then that

18:59

was all.

19:01

Francis phones the front desk and they

19:03

tell her that no one is registered in the room she

19:05

says she hears the scream come from. Francis

19:08

goes into the hall after hearing it and

19:11

says the scream came from a room parallel

19:13

to hers on the left.

19:15

But I didn't see nothing and they

19:18

said nobody was in there.

19:21

Francis says she didn't actually see Angel

19:23

or anyone for that matter at the hotel

19:26

following the sounds of yelling and thrashing.

19:30

Do you think you could recognize the voice as being

19:32

her voice?

19:34

That's how you had haunted me for a long

19:36

long time that it might have been

19:38

her so there was something in

19:41

it that made me feel

19:43

that it might have been her.

19:47

The next morning Francis and her husband

19:49

find out that Angel is missing. They

19:51

return to good hope and two to three

19:54

weeks later return to Whitehorse pulling

19:56

into the family hotel again. Francis

19:59

notices what she says is Angel's bike,

20:02

chained up in the same spot Vicki

20:04

told me she saw it.

20:07

She was about two spaces

20:10

in from the end by the door.

20:13

There's a bike rack in front of the

20:15

laundromat at that hotel.

20:17

Yeah. Or there used to be, I don't know

20:19

if there is now. And it was right

20:22

there. And we went back, it was still

20:24

right there, same place.

20:27

If Angel was at the family hotel on

20:29

the weekend she disappeared, then maybe

20:32

a listener remembers seeing her there, remembers

20:35

her locking her bicycle. Angel

20:38

would often visit friends there, I'm told.

20:41

Tips like this are important.

20:50

Join me 48 hours correspondent

20:53

Erin Moriarty on my podcast,

20:55

My Life of Crime.

20:56

As I take on true crime investigations

20:59

like no other. This season,

21:02

I'm looking into the labyrinth of crime

21:04

and secrets within families. I'm

21:06

cutting straight to the evidence and

21:08

talking to the people directly involved,

21:11

including investigators and the families

21:14

of victims. Listen to My

21:16

Life of Crime with

21:17

Erin Moriarty wherever you

21:19

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21:58

Coming up on my last day here.

22:00

Just heading out in the early morning, it's

22:03

raining. I've got an

22:05

interview that came

22:07

out of some action late day yesterday. I've

22:12

not been able to find Jay, but I

22:14

did find his sister, and

22:16

she's willing to talk to me. Perhaps

22:19

she can shed some light on her brother

22:21

and her dad, who allegedly said

22:24

he had done something to Angel. Along

22:27

with her family, she lived

22:29

out in the Pilot Mountain area at

22:31

the time that Angel disappeared and

22:34

was murdered. Very

22:37

emotional case, very emotional

22:40

interviews.

22:42

Difficult to find information without contaminating

22:46

the case, because everybody wants you

22:48

to succeed,

22:50

Everybody's hoping you're focusing on exactly

22:53

who did it,

22:55

but you don't know until you know.

22:58

Truth isn't the truth

23:00

until it's the truth.

23:06

We meet next to the Yukon River. I

23:09

start off asking about Pilot Mountain,

23:11

where she was raised.

23:13

I grew up there most of

23:16

my life, and yeah, Pilot Mountain was great. It

23:18

was really nice to have a lot of area

23:21

to play with, a lot of outdoorsy

23:23

things at the time. There

23:25

were a lot of kids around the same age,

23:28

which was fantastic.

23:30

You grew up there and went to school

23:33

in Whitehorse? Is that how it worked? You'd bus in? Yeah,

23:36

it's technically out of city limits, but

23:39

it's still part of Whitehorse.

23:41

And the people

23:43

around there, growing up there,

23:45

did you and your family know everybody in

23:47

the area of Pilot Mountain? There's just a couple

23:49

of roads, a boreal road that has a sort of other

23:51

subdivision there, and then there's the Pilot

23:54

Mountain area. Did you know everybody up there? I wouldn't

23:56

say we knew everybody, but definitely

23:58

more people did.

23:59

growing up than now. Like it was different

24:02

getting on the school bus and you get to

24:04

meet. I don't even know how many people

24:06

a school bus fits, but 30 other kids

24:08

every day get to know some

24:10

of their families, get to know some

24:12

of them as friends, and

24:15

then, yeah, go to school

24:17

with them for 12, 13 years.

24:22

Before I use into talking about the tip I

24:24

have heard about her father, I realize

24:26

that this woman may have known Jason Benneke,

24:29

the man who was one of the RCMP's

24:31

people of interest in Angel's case.

24:35

And yeah, in terms of Jason, I

24:38

mean, really my only memory is that

24:40

they were

24:42

neighbors and kids that were younger

24:45

than me.

24:48

She doesn't know much about Jason Benneke.

24:51

I've reached out to three members of his family,

24:53

but I have yet to hear back from any of

24:56

them. I start to angle

24:58

towards my second line of questioning

25:01

this woman's brother Jay and

25:03

her father. Jay,

25:05

I have heard from two sources, was

25:08

seen by RCMP on the day Angel's

25:10

remains were found walking his dog

25:13

in the area and told to go home by police.

25:16

Perhaps he was there as a curious onlooker, but

25:19

I'd like to know more.

25:22

So in the aftermath, police came to question lots of people. Did they come

25:24

and question your dad and your brother? They

25:30

did come to her property. I don't know who,

25:32

at the time, my brother was house sitting and

25:36

they did talk to him and my parents were

25:38

out of town. And when they got back to town, I don't

25:40

actually know if they talked to them or

25:42

not.

25:44

So I had a tip about your dad yesterday.

25:46

A woman talked to me and said that it seems that

25:50

there was an admission made of some sort regarding

25:52

Angel's disappearance or murder. Do

25:55

you see either your

25:57

brother or your dad having any involvement?

25:59

in Angel's murder or disappearance?

26:04

I don't see my brother having any

26:06

involvement at all in Angel's disappearance,

26:09

and I don't see my dad having any connection

26:12

whatsoever to Angel. I

26:15

don't

26:15

see where there would be. They

26:17

never would have come into contact with each

26:20

other, you think?

26:22

Not that I'm aware of.

26:26

And I know all of the houses were

26:29

addressed or interviewed, however you want to talk. Talk

26:31

that. So in terms of that...

26:33

They were canvases. Yeah, canvases. That's

26:36

a great word. But in terms of like, being

26:40

a suspect and interrogating? No.

26:45

I'm hoping I'll be able to find and talk

26:47

to her brother and father, but I'd

26:49

like to speak to others first, run

26:52

through the investigative probabilities. I

26:54

just wish I had more time in the Yukon.

26:58

Like, truly never having

27:00

heard of her until she... her body was

27:02

found. Um... personally.

27:08

It just doesn't... I

27:09

don't see where the

27:11

paths would cross, and also, you know...

27:15

I just don't...

27:19

It wouldn't be something I would believe. Without...

27:22

without substantive proof.

27:29

We talk a while longer, and it's clear

27:31

she's uncomfortable with the topic of her brother

27:33

and father, for obvious reasons.

27:36

I think she's told me everything she's able

27:38

to, and we say our goodbyes. I

27:41

found contact information

27:44

for her father, but I want to balance learning more about

27:47

him before I dial the

27:49

numbers.

27:56

I

28:00

drive down Whitehorse's two mile hill

28:02

one more time, surrounded by

28:04

mountains. It's hard to

28:06

leave, but my time here has

28:09

come to an end. I'll

28:11

continue my investigation from Toronto,

28:13

but before I go, I have

28:16

one more goodbye. Possibly

28:19

the hardest one.

28:25

Hello! Hello! How

28:27

are you? Good, how are you? So,

28:29

it went okay.

28:32

So I talked to the RCMP

28:35

and they didn't really give

28:37

me too much else extra. They

28:39

didn't get that tip from the person

28:42

we talked to though yesterday. He says

28:44

he didn't, but I saw the email where

28:46

she sent it to him, so I'm not sure why he wouldn't

28:49

have gotten it. But anyway,

28:51

he's got it now. Yeah.

28:53

I

28:55

think I've done as much as I can right now. So

28:59

in terms of getting everybody to talk and driving

29:01

you nuts, I think you probably need a break from

29:03

it as well. I do. And

29:05

I'll keep on it.

29:07

Okay. A

29:10

lot of information.

29:13

I'm going to keep on it and phone

29:15

calls and talking to people as much as I possibly

29:18

can and that kind of thing. So

29:20

thanks for all your help, invaluable help. Thank

29:23

you for coming up and looking in, okay?

29:26

It

29:28

turned out a lot different than what I thought

29:31

it would. It

29:33

is better to know. We don't

29:35

know what we don't know. I

29:39

knew I'd be walking into something. I would

29:42

have a heavy truth too.

29:46

Thanks very much. Okay.

29:51

You okay? Yeah, I'll be okay. All

29:54

right. Start with my look. You'll

29:58

be fine. Yeah.

29:59

I'll be hands and feet

30:01

here for you if you need them. Okay.

30:05

Alright. See you later, Lori. I'll see you.

30:10

I hope I do see Lori and Alex

30:13

again. They've both let me

30:15

in to show me their angel, the

30:17

community's angel. She's

30:19

someone very close to the surface

30:22

in everyone I've met here, and I

30:24

feel the deep sadness and anger.

30:27

But I'm also sustained to some extent through

30:29

a sense of hope, the singing, what

30:31

we found, and what I think can

30:34

still be done. The groundwork's

30:36

been laid. I

30:39

drop by the mural of Angel and Wendy. I

30:41

touch the paint

30:43

and then drive out of town. But

30:51

as I said, the investigation

30:54

into Angel Carlaq's disappearance and

30:56

murder is far from over.

31:00

So I have tried coming forward

31:02

with this information that I have to

31:05

the RCMP, and when

31:07

the name was given, it was kind

31:10

of like, are you sure you want to proceed with this?

31:12

We can't guarantee safety, and

31:15

it's a pretty big risk to come forward with

31:17

the information that I have. And

31:21

yeah, so I just, I worry about that, and I worry

31:23

about my kids, and I know this person, and I know

31:25

this person is not safe and would probably

31:28

not stop to find

31:30

a solution to the information getting out.

31:34

The person this source is talking

31:36

about isn't Jason Benneke. It

31:39

isn't Jay's father. And

31:41

he straight up told me that he would

31:44

put me under the ground like my little friend

31:51

Angel

31:55

and nobody would know

31:58

what happened to me either.

32:09

Someone Knows Something is hosted, written,

32:11

and produced by me, David Rijan.

32:14

The series is also produced by Hadil

32:16

Abdul-Nabi and Zaina Salim. Sound

32:19

Design by Evan Kelly. Natalia

32:21

Ferguson is our transcriber. Emily

32:24

Kanell is our digital producer. Chris

32:26

Oke is our story editor. Our executive

32:29

producer is Cecil Fernandez, and

32:31

the director of CBC Podcasts is

32:33

Aaraf Narani. If

32:35

you want to help new listeners discover the show,

32:38

please rate and review wherever you listen.

32:40

You can hear next week's episode now by

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searching for the CBC Podcasts channel

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seven episodes today by

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subscribing to the CBC

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32:56

the full season ad-free. Just

32:59

click on the link in the show description.

33:02

If you're looking for another series to listen to, check

33:04

out The Village from CBC Podcasts.

33:07

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or wherever you get your podcasts.