Latest news with #GlobalNews
Global News
2 hours ago
- Global News
What secrets did Calgary serial killer Gary Srery take to the grave?
Over the course of a year in the late 1970s, Calgarians woke up to horrifying headlines splashed across newspaper front pages. In just over 12 months, four young women's lives were extinguished under mysterious circumstances. Friends Eva Dvorak and Patsy McQueen, both 14, were found dead on the side of the Trans-Canada highway west of Calgary on Feb. 15, 1976. The body of Melissa Rehorek, 20, was found in a ditch on a quiet gravel road 22 km west of the city seven months later. And in February of 1977, the body of Barbara MacLean, 19, was discovered by a dog walker just outside the city's northeast quadrant. For years, despite evidence, interviews and autopsies, the explanations into all four deaths were scant. The cause of death for McQueen and Dvorak, who had been sent home the day they died after being caught drinking at their junior high school, was listed as undetermined. Autopsies revealed the pair had drugs and alcohol in their systems when they died, but their deaths were never ruled as murder. Story continues below advertisement Rehorek and MacLean's deaths showed similarities, leading investigators to believe they might have been victims of a single killer, but a suspect was never identified. For decades, the families and friend of each young woman waited for more information, for the cold cases to run hot. As the years ticked by, hope diminished. View image in full screen The photos of Eva Dvorak, 14, Patricia McQueen, 14, Melissa Rehorek, 20, and Barbara MacLean, 19, are displayed at a police press conference. Shane Struck / Global News Almost half a century later, in 2024, the RCMP released a bombshell press release. 'American believed to be serial killer behind deaths of 4 young Calgarians,' read Global News' headline on May 17, 2024, as police announced a break in not one, but all four cases. At a news conference in Edmonton, police announced that all four young women were victims of a serial killer by the name of Gary Srery — an American citizen living in Canada illegally at the time of the homicides. Story continues below advertisement Police said ahead of each of the four victims' deaths, they had been walking in the evening. All four died of asphyxiation and their bodies were left outside of Calgary's city limits. In each case, seminal fluid was found on the victims but police noted that at the time of their deaths there was no way to test for a DNA profile of a suspect. View image in full screen The underpass where the bodies of Patsy McQueen and Eva Dvorak were discovered. File photo / Global News Now, Global's true crime offering, Crime Beat, is looking back on the case, with exclusive interviews from the detectives who helped link the crimes, never-before-heard details from one of the victim's sisters and a jaw-dropping interview with the serial killer's own son, who provides insight into how his father became a serial killer — and the reasons he believes his dad is responsible for the death of another young Alberta woman. On May 17, 2024, the RCMP said Gary Srery was responsible for the deaths of four young Calgarians. Supplied by RCMP Keep reading to learn more about Srery, how advances in forensic technology helped link the Calgary murders and why investigators think he may be connected to additional murders and sexual assaults. Story continues below advertisement Who is Gary Srery? Gary Allen Srery was born in Illinois in 1942, the first of three siblings, and moved with his family to California in the mid-1950s. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy While little is known about his formative years, by the 1960s he began to rack up an extensive rap sheet, particularly for violent and sexual offences, starting with a forcible rape conviction in 1965. He faced additional charges of kidnapping, sexual perversion and burglary around that time, leading to the State of California to classify him as a 'mentally disordered sex offender,' and he was committed to a mental health facility. In and out of incarceration, the next few years saw Srery rack up additional charges, including rape, drug possession, kidnapping and sodomy. Gary Srery is shown in an undated photo. Handout / RCMP In 1974, Srery attacked a female hitchhiker in the San Fernando Valley in California, and, attempting to escape the Los Angeles rape charge, he crossed into Canada illegally. Story continues below advertisement He was a bit of a chameleon, ever-changing his appearance, his vehicles and his aliases. Once in Canada he became an under-the-table drifter, working as a salesman or in kitchens in Southern Alberta and B.C., and staying off the radar of police. He often used the names 'Willy Blackman' and 'Rex Long.' View image in full screen Gary Srery often changed his looks, vehicles and aliases. Handout / Alberta RCMP Srery's deception worked. It wasn't until his 1998 arrest in New Westminster, B.C., for a violent sexual assault, that his crimes north of the border caught up with him. Following a five-year sentence in Canadian prison, he was deported back to the U.S. in 2003. A trickle of tips and leads With Srery back in the U.S., investigators continued to pick away at the cold cases. In 2003, taking advantage of advancements in forensic technology, evidence from Rehorek and MacLean's crime scenes were sent in for DNA testing and confirmed what police suspected all along — seminal DNA found on their clothing matched a single, unknown offender. Story continues below advertisement It was almost another 20 years, in the fall of 2022, when Dvorak's sister, Anita Vukovich-Kohut, learned that the case of the two junior high students had been reopened after she called police to check in on the case. 'I don't know what the trigger was that got [police] to start looking into it,' she told Crime Beat, 'but when I asked about it they had already begun the process.' View image in full screen Anita Vukovich-Kohut was surprised to learn her sister's case had been reopened. Crime Beat / Global News RCMP told Crime Beat that two months before receiving Vukovich-Kohut's call, they had received a tip that spurred further investigation: an inmate had found McQueen's name in the notes of another inmate. While the tip turned out to be a dead end, the investigator handling the case realized there were exhibits in the McQueen and Dvorak case that hadn't been tested using new DNA technology. Story continues below advertisement While waiting for the results of the testing to come back, and inspired by the capture of the Golden State Killer using investigative genetic genealogy (IGG), police, in partnership with the RCMP, reopened the cases of Rehorek and MacLean. When they uploaded the DNA samples from the cases into the genetic genealogy databank, it spit back a family tree of more than 6,400 people related to the unknown offender, dating back to the early 1700s. Within months, they narrowed down their search to a small group of brothers. One of the siblings, Gary Srery, had already made headlines about being a serial rapist, giving investigators their No. 1 suspect. Meanwhile, police were able to link Srery to the Calgary area during the time of the four murders, and reviewed the cases of eight other women who survived attacks by Srery, painting a picture of how the suspected serial killer moved and operated. When the DNA results came back, police were finally able to confirm that Srery had violently raped and murdered all four young women. View image in full screen Left to right: Calgary serial killer victims Melissa Rehorek, 20, Patricia 'Patsy' McQueen, 14, Eva Dvorak, 14, and Barbara MacLean, 19. Alberta RCMP Are there other Canadian victims? While the families of each Calgary victim say they were relieved to finally have some closure, Srery was long dead, having died from natural causes in an Idaho prison in 2011 while serving a life sentence for another violent rape. Story continues below advertisement Investigators say he's likely responsible for other unsolved murders, but his death means there's a good chance Srery took secrets of other committed crimes to the grave. Even his son, Richard, believes there are other crimes at the hands of his dad that are waiting to be uncovered. View image in full screen Gary Srery's son, Richard, told Crime Beat in an exclusive interview that he believes his dad is responsible for more crimes. Crime Beat 'He is one of the most charismatic, convincing, intellectual people I have ever actually ever encountered,' he told Crime Beat in an exclusive interview, explaining he believes his dad used his smarts and social skills to prey on his victims. 'I can't help thinking, even to this day, how many do we not know about?' 0:33 Gary Srery's son speaks out about his father's crimes The case of Kelly Cook One of the unsolved cases he believes is connected to his dad, said Richard, is the mysterious 1981 kidnapping and murder of a 15-year-old girl in rural Alberta. Story continues below advertisement Revealing a letter written to him by his father from prison, Richard said the note mentioned several aliases Srery had used in the past, including the name 'Bill Christensen.' Bill Christensen was also the name used by a man in Standard, Alta., 70 km north of Calgary, who called up an unsuspecting teenager by the name of Kelly Cook, luring her to her death under the guise of a babysitting job. View image in full screen Kelly Cook disappeared from her home in Alberta in 1981, in one of the highest profile cases in the province's history. File / Global News Two months later, Cook's body was found in the Chin Lake Reservoir, east of Lethbridge, tied up with ropes and anchored by concrete blocks. Years later, anticipating a visit from RCMP to his home in the U.S. to talk about cases linked to his father, Richard said he had stumbled across Cook's case in another Crime Beat episode: The Case of Kelly Cook: The Backup Babysitter. Story continues below advertisement 'I was convinced from watching it, this is him, this is the (case) they're going to talk to me about,' he said. 'He lived there, the aliases…everything about it just adds up.' Surprised when Cook's case didn't come up in their conversation, Richard said he brought it up with the investigators, who quickly shot him down, saying they didn't have a connection between the case and his dad. The RCMP claims there's no mention of the alias Bill Christensen in Srery's file, nor evidence that connects him to Cook's death. — Crime Beat airs its penultimate episode of the season at 10 p.m. ET on Global, examining a series of serial killings in Calgary in the 1970s and how the man responsible, Gary Srery, might have had more victims. Check your local listings for airtimes. Episodes appear streaming and on the StackTV app the following day. Story continues below advertisement — Global News and Global TV are both properties of Corus Entertainment.
Global News
4 hours ago
- Climate
- Global News
Summer heat wave set to hit Ontario may bring temperatures not seen in years
Southern Ontario is set to get hit with a strong heat wave just in time for the official start of summer. Global News meteorologist Anthony Farnell says a large heat ridge or dome will build over the Ohio Valley in the U.S. and expand into southeastern Canada by the end of the weekend. With the summer solstice, which occurs on Friday and is the longest day of the year for hours of sunlight, residents in southern Ontario will finally start to feel the true heat after a back-and-forth spring season. Temperatures are expected to soar into the low to mid 30s for at least three days in southern Ontario and two or more days in Quebec, Farnell said. The hottest day will be on Monday, when the high is forecasted to hit above 35 C in Toronto, and the humidex could briefly reach as high as 45 C. Story continues below advertisement 'This would be a record for the date and the hottest temperatures we've experienced in three years,' Farnell said. View image in full screen Monday snapshot across Ontario and Quebec. Global News But how long will the heat wave stay? Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Farnell says a cool front will slowly slide in from the south on Tuesday into Wednesday bringing an end to the extreme heat, and the chance of thunderstorms. He also said there is a risk of some 'very strong thunderstorms along the warm front as the heat and humidity sweeps in this weekend.' 'Computer models have not been able to show exactly where these storms will form or when but be on the lookout late Saturday into Sunday morning, especially across cottage country and eastern Ontario for quite the light show,' Farnell said. Story continues below advertisement However, Farnell did note that temperatures will still remain above seasonal up until Canada Day. 'The first heat wave of the year is always more dangerous because our bodies haven't yet adapted,' Farnell said. According to Environment Canada, Toronto is expected to see a high of 25 C on Friday for summer solstice, 28 C on Saturday, and temperatures will soar into the 30s for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Global News
5 hours ago
- Business
- Global News
New Purdue opioid crisis settlement builds ‘momentum' for Canada: B.C. AG
Recent settlements in U.S. government lawsuits against opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma and the firm that allegedly consulted on boosting its sales have B.C.'s attorney general feeling 'heartened' as she pursues similar lawsuits in Canada. Monday saw 55 U.S. states and territories reach a US$7.5-billion settlement with Purdue, the maker of OxyContin, and members of the Sackler family that sought to hold them accountable for contributing to the opioid overdose crisis. As part of the settlement, the Sacklers will give up their control of the bankrupt company and will be barred from selling prescription opioids in the future. A federal judge said Wednesday that he will rule Friday on a plan for local governments and individual victims, who would also be entitled to compensation, to vote on approving the settlement by September, allowing it to proceed. Story continues below advertisement The announcement of the U.S. settlement came after the B.C. Supreme Court on Friday certified a class-action lawsuit by the province against McKinsey & Company, which is accused of advising Purdue and other drugmakers on how to market their opioid products in Canada. McKinsey has already had to pay over US$1 billion in penalties to settle similar lawsuits in the U.S., which also led to jail time for a McKinsey executive. 'I'm really pleased with the momentum,' B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma told Global News in an interview. 'My job as attorney general is to make sure we pursue it very aggressively and as quickly as we can, so I am heartened by the success in the States and will keep on leading the charge here in Canada.' The B.C. lawsuit against McKinsey is separate from a larger class action against dozens of opioid manufacturers and distributors on allegations they downplayed the risk their products posed in order to rake in profits. That lawsuit was allowed to go ahead last fall and was certified in January. 2:00 Supreme Court upholds B.C. opioid lawsuit B.C. is leading both lawsuits on behalf of the other Canadian provinces and territories and the federal government, with the goal of recovering health-care costs that went toward responding to the overdose crisis, Sharma said. Story continues below advertisement 'We think it's unfair that companies that profited so much, knowing that their product was so harmful and that would cause this level of addiction, aren't paying for the costs of health care,' she said. A spokesperson for McKinsey told Global News it intends to defend itself against the lawsuit, which the company says is without merit. 'McKinsey did not undertake any work in Canada to enhance the sale or marketing of opioids,' the spokesperson said in an email. Alleged tactics to 'turbocharge' opioid sales B.C.'s lawsuit against McKinsey alleges the Canadian subsidiaries of Purdue, as well as Johnson & Johnson, Janssen and other drugmakers, employed many of the same tactics used by U.S. parent companies to boost their sales. Get weekly health news Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The B.C. Supreme Court, in certifying the lawsuit, noted in its decision that multinational companies often apply business and marketing strategies 'universally.' Story continues below advertisement Last December, McKinsey agreed to pay U$650 million to resolve a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit that focused on the firm's work with Purdue, including allegations that McKinsey advised on steps to 'turbocharge' sales of OxyContin. Martin Elling, a former McKinsey senior partner who worked on Purdue matters, was sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice related to that case. 2:42 Conservatives grill Trudeau on former McKinsey head connection ahead of committee appearance The federal settlement was on top of a combined US$641 million McKinsey agreed to pay in 2021 to resolve similar claims brought by U.S. state attorneys general. In total, federal and state lawsuits related to the opioid crisis have resulted in roughly US$50 billion in settlements, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University who track such claims. Long-term heavy use of prescription painkillers like OxyContin due to dependence contributed to a majority of opioid-related hospitalizations and overdoses in the early 2000s across North America. In recent years, illicit opioids like fentanyl have overtaken prescription opioids as the primary driver of the opioid crisis. Story continues below advertisement Between 2016 and last September, nearly 51,000 Canadians have died of an opioid-related overdose, according to federal data. B.C., which declared a public health emergency in 2016, saw the most fatal overdoses of any other province during that time, with more than 16,000 deaths. 'I think like many provinces across this country, we've really seen the toll of the opioid crisis on people not only with long-lasting addictions and impacts there, but loss of life and a lot of people that are mourning the loss of their loved ones,' Sharma said. A spokesperson for Health Canada said the federal government 'believes companies should be held accountable for their role in the overdose crisis' and will continue to work with provinces and territories on B.C.'s legal actions. 'The overdose crisis continues to be one of Canada's most pressing public health challenges,' the spokesperson said in an email to Global News. Health Canada is reviewing and 'considering' developments from the recent Purdue settlement in the U.S., the statement added. Where should the money go? In 2022, B.C. secured a $150-million settlement on behalf of Canadian governments in a class action against Purdue. The settlement was finalized in early 2023, allowing individuals to submit claims from a $20-million portion set aside for victims and their families, a process that remains ongoing. Story continues below advertisement The pending lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors names Purdue and its various subsidiaries, as well as Johnson & Johnson, Janssen and Canadian companies like Loblaw and its subsidiary Shoppers Drug Mart. It remains in litigation. 5:09 B.C. government steps up legal action against opioid drug makers Researchers writing in the International Journal of Drug Policy earlier this year urged Canadian governments to ensure funds recovered from opioid lawsuit settlements go directly toward combating the drug crisis, rather than unrelated government expenses. Those measures should include funding harm reduction services like overdose prevention centres and safe drug supplies, as well as community organizations that work directly with people suffering from addiction, the paper says. Efforts to track how U.S. state and local governments are spending their opioid settlement money have uncovered several examples of funds not being used to directly respond to the opioid crisis. Story continues below advertisement Canada is being urged to avoid similar 'pitfalls' by mandating that at least 85 per cent of recovered funds be allocated to 'opioid remediation efforts,' and working directly with community organizations and members affected by addiction. Proposed guidelines by researchers at Johns Hopkins University for how U.S. opioid settlement funds should be spent have been adopted in over 25 states, according to the university. Sharma said B.C.'s lawsuits are structured so that any funds recovered by the province will be mandated to go to the health-care system, but that could evolve depending on how settlements are structured. 'It may be that as this develops, and the opioid cases develop, it will be tied to organizations that do addictions treatment, or there could be a whole range of things that go directly towards this crisis,' she said. She pointed to the record $32.5-billion settlement B.C. won in March on behalf of Canadian governments in its lawsuit against the tobacco industry as a model both of the province's health-related legal advocacy and the results it can achieve. 'We are really focused on eliminating the bad actors,' she said. 'It's really important to make sure that we set a line in the sand about what's right and what isn't right with the conduct of all companies out there.'
Daily Mirror
5 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Brain dead woman taken off life support after giving birth to tiny baby
A brain dead woman who was kept alive so her baby could be born has had her life support turned off. The boy named Chance was born on Tuesday and is now "fighting for life" in neo-natal intensive care having been born weighing just one pound and 13 ounces. His mum Adriana Smith was just eight weeks pregnant when her harrowing medical ordeal began with severe headaches four months ago. Ms Smith, who turned 31 while on life support and already had a seven-year-old son, was being kept alive because of her state's strict abortion laws. She had gone to Atlanta's Northside Hospital complaining of headaches but was sent away, without any scans or test being done. She collapsed the next day when her boyfriend discovered her struggling to breathe. According to both the Washington Post and Global News her family has confirmed that Ms Smith's life support has now been turned off. She was then taken to Emory University Hospital, where she was found to have blood clots in her brain and was declared brain dead. According to the family, doctors at the hospital said they could not legally remove life-sustaining apparatus due to Georgia's laws that prohibit abortion once a foetal heartbeat is detected, typically at about six weeks of gestation. Speaking to WXIA-TV after Ms Smith gave birth to Chace, her mother April Newkirk, said her daughter was barely six months pregnant when the Caesarean section was performed. She said that her new grandson was "expected to be okay." She added: "He's just fighting. We just want prayers for him." Georgia's Republican Attorney General Chris Carr clarified in a statement that the state's law doesn't compel medical professionals to maintain life support for a woman declared brain dead. Last month, Dr Dale Gardiner, an Intensive Care Consultant and member of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, said the situation Ms Smith found herself in was highly unusual because life-support is not designed to be long-term treatment for brain-dead patients. He told the Mirror: "These patients are very physiologically unstable owing to the severity of their brain injury. They are all on intensive care. "Normally mechanical ventilation and other intensive care interventions are only continued for a very short time to allow family to say goodbye or to enable organ donation (for example, up to a day). It is extremely unusual to continue beyond this point." Her case has sparked anger around the world at the USA's anti-abortion laws, which were swept in at state level after the Supreme Court overturned 50 years of Roe vs Wade in 2022. Yesterday in the UK, MPs voted to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in a landmark step. They voted by 379 to 137 in favour of the reform after an emotional debate in the House of Commons. Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi said her amendment would result in 'removing the threat of investigation, arrest, prosecution, or imprisonment' of any woman who ends their own pregnancy. She said her amendment will not change time limits for abortion or the regulation of services, but will 'decriminalise women accused of ending their own pregnancies' and take them out of the criminal justice system, 'so they can get the help and support they need'. In the past three years, six women have appeared in court in England charged with ending or attempting to end their pregnancy outside the rules of abortion law.
Global News
13 hours ago
- Business
- Global News
B.C. Premier David Eby says it will be a busy summer as he reflects on past 8 months
B.C. Premier David Eby says it has been an 'eventful' period for British Columbians since he was re-elected in October. 'What we set out during the election campaign, which was in advance of the (Donald) Trump election, has shifted quite dramatically in terms of where we have to be,' Eby told Global News in a one-on-one interview. 'And so the focus has been on ensuring that B.C. can assume the role that we have assumed now, which is to be the economic engine for the country.' Eby said that while his government did not provide a $1,000 grocery rebate to residents, they did remove the carbon tax, as promised. 'The focus of our government has been ensuring that we're bringing the most vulnerable along, but the group of people that really feels pressure has expanded,' Eby added. Story continues below advertisement 'It includes the middle class, concerns around housing and health care and safe communities, which are the focus of our government.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Eby also said the province is working to diversify trading partners, especially in the Asia Pacific, including Malaysia, Korea and Japan. One of the big issues still facing Eby's government is housing. 'Rents are unacceptably high, which is why we continue to push on housing, why we're buying land around transit stations to build more rental housing, why we are giving direct support to more seniors through the Safer Programme so they can afford rent,' he said. 'The work needs to continue. The good news is we're finally pointing in the right direction. Rents are coming down. We've had eight months of decreases overall, we're the only province that's seen that. But we have to continue doing the work because they are too high.' 2:02 B.C. premier wants Ottawa to declare Indian gang a terrorist organization As summer gets underway, Eby said there is still a lot of work to be done. Story continues below advertisement 'First of all, it's advancing the economic work with the federal government, with the other provinces, whether it's corridors, internal trade, building major projects, ensuring that British Columbians have access to good jobs, as we see the direct attack on sectors like our forest sector here in British Columbia,' he said. 'The second is, I am hopeful we won't, but I am worried that we might see a significant wildfire season again, so supporting British Columbians through that, if we have to have large-scale evacuations like Manitoba and Ontario have had to do. 'The third, and I think a critical piece, is we have to continue to advance the work on a variety of other fronts, ensuring that our health-care system is strong.'
