Clifford Olson

Case overview

Clifford Robert Olson was a Canadian serial killer who abducted, sexually abused, and murdered at least 11 children and youths. He pled guilty to 11 counts of murder and received life in prison for each of the known kills. He died in prison on October 2, 2011.

Timeline

• Christmas Day 1980 — The body of 12-year-old Christine Weller was found in Richmond.
• November 19, 1980 — Christine Weller was stabbed to death.
• April 15, 1981 — Colleen Daignault, 13, was murdered in South Surrey near 144th Street and 26th Avenue.
• April 16, 1981 — Colleen Daignault, 13, vanished from Surrey.
• April 21, 1981 — Daryn Johnsrude was murdered in Deroche.
• May 2, 1981 — The body of 16-year-old Daryn Johnsrude was found.
• May 15, 1981 — Clifford Olson married his long-time girlfriend Joan Hale.
• May 19, 1981 — Sandra Lynn Wolfsteiner was murdered in the Chilliwack Lake area.
• May 19, 1981 — 16-year-old Sandra Wolfsteiner was murdered.
• May 2, 1981 — Ada Court was reported missing at Coquitlam (after failing to return home from a babysitting job).
• June 21, 1981 — Ada Anita Court was murdered at Weaver Lake Road.
• June 21, 1981 — Ada Court was reported missing at Coquitlam after her babysitting job.
• July 2, 1981 — Simon Patrick James Partington was murdered on River Road-Nelson Avenue in Richmond.
• July 9, 1981 — Judy Kozma, 14, disappeared.
• July 23, 1981 — Raymond Lawrence King Jr. was murdered near Weaver Lake.
• July 24, 1981 — Sigrun Charlotte Elisabeth Arnd was murdered at a remote area north of River Road in Richmond.
• July 25, 1981 — Judy Kozma’s body was recovered from Lake Weaver.
• July 25, 1981 — 18-year-old Sigrun Arnd was abducted and killed while hitchhiking (timeline entry described as abducted and killed).
• July 27, 1981 — Terry Lyn Carson was murdered in a remote area east of Chilliwack.
• July 30, 1981 — Louise Chartrand was murdered near Whistler.
• August 12, 1981 — Olson was arrested while driving a rented car near Port Alberni on Vancouver Island.
• August 14, 1981 — Olson appeared in Burnaby provincial court on two counts of breaking and entering.
• August 23, 1981 — Olson addressed the jury asking: "Do I look like some kind of raving lunatic?"
• January 8, 1981 — Olson was in custody on a charge of rape brought by a Surrey prostitute (duration described as custody from January 8th to May).
• January 1982 — Olson pled guilty to eleven counts of murder (timeline described as January 1982).
• January 11, 1982 — Olson pled guilty to eleven counts of murder.
• February 5, 1982 — Letters dated February 5, 1982 were addressed to Robert Kaplan and Alan William.
• June 4, 1982 — Coroner Alan Askey released his report on the murder of the eleven children.
• April 19, 1982 — Eight families sued Olson for damages in a writ filed in the British Columbia Supreme Court.
• March 24, 1983 — Applications were heard before the Honourable Mr. Justice Paris of the B.C. Supreme Court.
• December 7, 1984 — Mr. Justice Trainor pronounced judgment in favor of the victims’ families.
• April 18, 1984 — A letter from Ronald Kessler regarding conditional immunity in relation to the Green River case was referenced.
• March 11, 1986 — The B.C. Court of Appeal heard the case.
• June 23, 1986 — The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the B.C. Court of Appeal judgment refusal of the families’ leave appeal.
• August 2006 — A parole hearing was scheduled for Olson as of June 21, 2006.
• October 2, 2011 — Olson died in prison.
• October 3, 2011 — Death was confirmed in a release by the Correctional Service of Canada.

The offence

Olson committed murders of at least 11 children and youths and sexually abused others. He used a routine to lure adolescents, meeting them in video parlors and similar youth hangouts or advertising for them on the bulletin board of the People’s Full Gospel Church. He offered the prospect of a job, gave rides to fictitious construction sites, and offered a drink described as a Mickey Finn spiked with chloral hydrate to overpower victims.

The victims were abducted and later found dead with injuries described as stabbing, repeated hammer blows, strangulation, bludgeoning, and other methods. Olson also kept items described as mementoes and trophies.

Victims and causes of death (as detailed)

• Christine Weller (12) — Found murdered in Richmond on Christmas Day 1980; stabbed to death; suffered 10 stab wounds to the chest and abdomen and two superficial slashes in the neck; also described with a double perforation of the right ventricle of the heart and four penetrating wounds in the liver; stabbing described as on November 19, 1980.
• Colleen Daignault (13) — Murdered on April 15, 1981 in South Surrey near 144th Street and 26th Avenue; attacked and murdered by repeated hammer blows to the head; cause of death described as two depressed fractures of the occipital region of the skull.
• Daryn Johnsrude (16) — Murdered on April 21, 1981 in Deroche; driven to Deroche and murdered by repeated hammer blows to the head; cause of death described as comminuted skull fracture with right subdural haemorrhage and left haemothorax.
• Sandra Lynn Wolfsteiner (16) — Murdered on May 19, 1981 in the Chilliwack Lake area; murdered by repeated hammer blows to the head; cause of death determined to be head injuries.
• Ada Anita Court (13) — Murdered on June 21, 1981 at Weaver Lake Road; murdered by repeated hammer blows to the head; skeletal remains with several depressed skull fractures were found.
• Simon Patrick James Partington (9) — Murdered on July 2, 1981 on River Road-Nelson Avenue in Richmond; strangled after being given a ride and bottles of beer.
• Judy Kozma (14) — Murdered on July 9, 1981 near Weaver Lake; murdered by multiple stab wounds.
• Raymond Lawrence King Jr. (15) — Murdered on July 23, 1981 near Weaver Lake; thrown down an embankment and murdered while unconscious by rock blows to the head.
• Sigrun Charlotte Elisabeth Arnd (18) — Murdered on July 24, 1981 at a remote area north of River Road in Richmond; murdered by repeated hammer blows to the head and then thrown into a ditch with water to be buried; cause of death described as massive head injuries.
• Terry Lyn Carson (15) — Murdered on July 27, 1981 in a remote area east of Chilliwack; murdered by strangulation.
• Louise Simonne Marie Evelyn Chartrand (17) — Murdered on July 30, 1981 near Whistler, B.C.; murdered by repeated hammer blows to the head; decomposed body found with evidence of massive skull fractures.

Investigation and arrest

Police focused on Olson and put him under surveillance, which ceased after a short period when it appeared the suspect had nothing to hide. Police later arrested Olson after surveillance and additional investigation.

Olson was arrested on August 12, 1981 while driving a rented car near Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, and he was taken to the mainland on August 14. The R.C.M.P. started intense interrogation of Olson about unsolved murders in the area and the interrogation culminated in his identification as a suspect in the murders tied to the missing children cases.

During interrogation, Olson offered to lead police to the remains of children who had not been found and offered to return jewelry and clothing he had kept as souvenirs. Olson proposed a cash-for-bodies arrangement.

Cash-for-bodies arrangement (agreed deal)

Olson told the interrogators:

"I'll give you 11 bodies for $100,000," Olson told the interrogators.

When RCMP Corporal Fred Maile responded with disbelief:

"You want a $100,000 for 11 bodies," RCMP Corporal Fred Maile stammered incredulously.

Olson continued:

"Yes," Olson continued, "and you will get statements with the bodies. I will give you all the evidence, the things only the killer would know."

A detective replied:

"We would have to work something out. I wouldn't just pay you a $100,000. You could rip us off. Also, I have to have something to tell or show my bosses that, in fact, you are credible."

Olson agreed to a staged payment:

"Okay," Olson replied. "I'll give you a freebie. I will give you one body and a statement. You have the $100,000 in cash. When we are finished at a scene, I will phone or you will phone your man who will hand the money over to Joan. Then you can talk to your man and I will talk to Joan to make sure that she has the money. Then we'll go on to get the rest."

When Maile asked about the lawyer:

"What if your lawyer doesn't go along with it?" Maile asked.

Olson replied:

"Like I told you before," Olson crowed, "he works for me."

A written proposal described the agreement’s payments:

"This is an undertaking of an agreement between the RCMP and Clifford Robert Olson. The following will be paid by the RCMP to Mrs. Joan Olson for the following information: $10,000 cash for each body of missing persons up to seven bodies. $30,000 for information of four bodies which have already been recovered which relate to the above seven other missing persons. The agreement should be as undertaken shall be binding in law as to not disclose this information in this agreement to the Canadian Press. The following missing persons are covered in this agreement: Judy Kozma, Daryn Johnsrude, Raymond King, Simon Partington, Ada Court, Louise Chartrand, Christine Weller, Terri-Lyn Carson, Colleen Daignault and Sandra Wolfsteiner and one unidentified female (Sigrun Arnd, a German student tourist police weren't aware was missing). $10,000 will be paid to Mrs. Olson up to a total of the recovery of seven bodies."

Olson later phoned his wife Joan:

"Honey, you're going to be rich."

A list of missing persons covered in the agreement included Judy Kozma, Daryn Johnsrud(e), Raymond King, Simon Partington, Ada Court, Louise Chartrand, Christine Weller, Terri-Lyn Carson, Colleen Daignault, Sandra Wolfsteiner, and an unidentified female described as Sigrun Arnd.

Trial

Olson reversed his pleas and pled guilty to murder charges.

At the court hearing where first-degree murder charges were read, Olson responded:

"Guilty."

The jury was sequestered during the trial due to press attention.

Sentencing

Justice Harry McKay imposed sentences described as life in prison. McKay also said:

"You should never be granted parole for the remainders of your days. It would be foolhardy to let you at large."

As described, Olson was sentenced to life for each of the eleven concurrent life terms after pleading guilty to eleven counts of murder. He was driven away to serve his sentence.

During the drive, Olson confided to an accompanying officer:

"I'd take up where I left off."

Appeals and other legal proceedings

The Supreme Court of Canada refused an appeal from the parents to examine the deal.

A civil case proceeded after families sought redress about the $100,000 trust arrangement and related default judgments:

• A writ filed April 19, 1982 sought damages in the B.C. Supreme Court.
• On December 7, 1984, Mr. Justice Trainor pronounced judgment in favor of the victims’ families, ordering the fund be surrendered or delivered up to the court and stating it was impressed with a constructive trust.
• The B.C. Court of Appeal heard the case on March 11, 1986 and dismissed the families’ claims on the basis that unjust enrichment requirements were not satisfied in the way the trial judge had applied them.
• The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the Court of Appeal outcome and dismissed the families’ leave to appeal on June 23, 1986.

Parole and judicial review proceedings

Olson was denied parole at an early hearing. At one point in a parole hearing context, the court panel took only 15 minutes to order Olson kept in jail.

At a later hearing before a parole panel, Olson asked the jury:

"Do I look like some kind of raving lunatic?"

The gallery of spectators responded with shouts in the affirmative, and jurors deliberated less than 15 minutes before rejecting Olson’s parole bid.

A parole hearing was scheduled for Olson in Quebec; it was described as next month relative to a June 21, 2006 report.

Status and death

Olson died in prison on October 2, 2011, aged 71. Death was confirmed by the Correctional Service of Canada.

Other details

Additional allegations and conduct described

Olson sexually abused others and was described as having boasted about his crimes. He sent venomous, vulgar greeting cards to parents and sent pornographic letters to members of Parliament. In custody, he continued to provoke controversy with media and prison-related behavior described as raids, correspondence, and other incidents.

Family details described

Olson was described as the eldest child of Clifford and Leona Olson. He had brothers Richard and Dennis and a sister Sharon. He seduced Joan Hale, they had a son, Stephen, in April 1981, and they married on May 15, 1981. The court-related and deal-related payment arrangement was described as benefiting Joan Olson and their baby son.

Quotes from identified persons (verbatim)

Maple Ridge resident Ray King, father of slain teen Ray King Jr., said:

"It's over, that's all I can say about it. "Time to get on with the business of living," King said.

Siegmund Wolfsteiner said:

"There shouldn't be any money paid to that creep," fumed Siegmund Wolfsteiner. "The guy who killed my daughter takes $100,000 from the government. It's ridiculous. You call that justice?"

Raymond King said:

"That's salt in the wounds for us," said Raymond King, who lost his son.

Frank Shoofey said:

"The biggest judicial scandal in years."

Alan Borovoy said:

"Presumptively repugnant,"

Joan Hale testified:

"It floors me that anyone would think that I had anything to do with it," Joan Hale emphatically testified when the families attempted to legally compel her to return the money.

Joan Hale also said:

"I cried, I cried a lot at first. I don't know how to explain it.... I really don't think too much about them now. I'm glad the children are buried. Oh, I hate him. I hated him for the night he held a knife to my throat. He terrorized me, scared me, beat me. There was no one I could turn to."

Joan Hale said afterward:

"I think that money was given to me in good faith," Hale said afterward. "I don't have a guilty conscience. I can look myself in the mirror and say, `You're a good person - don't be ashamed.'"

Joan Hale explained involvement:

"He's a real charmer. "He has a way with words and I've yet to see a woman that hasn't been attracted to him. I don't know what it is, really. I like to say it was his brown eyes, but it couldn't have been that. It was something I thought I needed. I needed that companionship, I thought, and I needed someone to protect me from my husband because he was coming around and bothering me. And Clifford seemed the perfect solution."

Raymond King Jr.’s father also said:

"For 30 years I haven't really had a chance to heal some wounds because of him. Now it's onwards and upwards."

Shantz said about Olson’s functioning:

"Olson very fully appreciated the nature and quality of what he was doing," said his former lawyer Shantz. "That probably was the engine that drove him in terms of doing these murders."

Stanley Semrau testified:

"He can kill, not out of anger or bitterness, but in a light-hearted way, as a sport," Semrau testified at a judicial review when Olson applied for early parole.

Semrau also said:

"He doesn't even grasp the enormity or the horror of what he has done. His is a personality which is devoted to exploiting and harming other people in his own interests."

Semrau described Olson:

"master manipulator" who exhibited homo- and heterosexual pedophilia, sexual necrophilia and sexual sadism.

He also said:

"Seeing the death process was something he took substantial pleasure in," said Semrau.

Semrau said:

"His claims of remorse are completely hollow. In fact, he says he deserves substantial credit from the families because of the fact he so magnanimously helped to locate bodies."

Semrau concluded:

"He's very pleased with the way he is right now."

Clifford Olson addressed a journalist letter on February 5, 1982, including these verbatim statements:

"I did not cause the unlawful deaths of eleven children by planned and deliberate killings."

He also wrote:

"I have such a volume of letters from all over the States and Canada wanting me to answer questions."

He included a passage describing his decision to plead guilty:

"I told my wife that I was responsible for the deaths of the children and that I could not live with myself nor have any peace of mind until I confess to what I had done and give back the bodies to their families for a proper Christian burial."

Letter content (verbatim excerpts)

Olson wrote in a letter to Ms. Westcott that included:

"Thanks you for your letter of February 2nd, 1982 that was brought in by my wife Joan on Wednesday on her visit with me. I don't give any interviews nor make any statements Genevieve, because the so-called professinal journalism reports can't put true facts together and print them as they should."

He continued:

"I have instructed my counsel, Robert Shantz, to ask special prosecutor John Hall if he would sign a letter starting that for my exchange of a plea of guilty, that he John Hall would not submit any evidence but the statement of facts, this Mr. Hall did, for the following reasons."

He added:

"There are no words in the English language nor any other language that can express to the parents of my victims my deep emotional and sorrowful feelings of remorse I have for taking what are more precious to them, theif chilren. I know it is hard to do but I ask for forgiveness, I am terribly sorry for what I have done."

Birth and death details described

Olson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on January 1, 1940, with birthplace described as St. Paul’s Hospital.

Criminal record details described

He was described as having been arrested 94 times in the quarter century between 1957 and 1981, with charges described as ranging from fraud to armed robbery and sexual assault. He also escaped from jail seven times and was stabbed seven times in 1976 inside Prince Albert Penitentiary by a gang of prisoners.