Notorious killer faces own death

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This article was published 22/09/2011 (5328 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER — Canadians aren’t known for lashing out in public, but the news Wednesday about Clifford Olson — riddled with cancer and days away from death, the families of his victims say — prompted many to make an exception.

Confronted with an unbridled stream of vitriol, the Globe and Mail was forced to block most of the public commentary on its website — a fitting illustration of how Canada feels about its most notorious criminal.

“A good-news story,” wrote one reader. “His final judgment will be in a higher court,” said another.

A third added, simply: “He doesn’t matter anymore.”

Olson, whose deadly rampage in 1981 terrified a country and introduced generations of Canadians to the depths human evil can plumb, has been moved to a hospital in Quebec with just days to live, said Sharon Rosenfeldt, the mother of one of his victims.

The national consensus: Good riddance.

Outstripping schoolgirl killer Paul Bernardo and serial killer Robert Pickton as the most despised killer in modern Canadian history, Olson has been serving a life sentence for a vicious string of killings that galvanized the Vancouver area in 1980 and 1981.

But he managed to never stray far from the fragile Canadian psyche, making headlines first in 1997 when he applied for early parole, then again a decade later after serving 25 years of a life sentence for the savage murders of 11 young people.

“Mr. Olson presents a high risk and a psychopathic risk,” National Parole Board panel member Jacques Letendre said at Olson’s parole hearing in 2006.

“He is a sexual sadist and a narcissist,” said Letendre. “If released, he will kill again.”

Dubbed “the beast of British Columbia” at the peak of his notoriety, Olson pleaded guilty to 11 counts of first-degree murder — but only after he’d agreed to lead police to the bodies of his victims in exchange for a $100,000 payment to his family.

The case — and in particular the blood-money payoff, which many Canadians found an unbearable concession — sparked controversy that engulfed B.C. justice authorities.

Because his sudden guilty plea aborted the trial after just three days, much of the evidence surrounding the murders and the police investigation was never disclosed.

Olson lived far more of his life inside prison than out, graduating from teenage juvenile delinquent to burglar, bully, rapist, child abuser and, eventually, cold-blooded serial killer.

Olson’s victims, killed over an eight-month period between Nov. 17, 1980 and July 30, 1981, were boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 17. Although many teens run away from home, these didn’t fit the profile of troubled youth. They disappeared without a trace, freezing Vancouver and its suburbs in terror. Police were under pressure to solve the disappearances.

Olson, a suspect for weeks, was finally arrested Aug. 12, 1981, on Vancouver Island after a surveillance team spotted him picking up two young hitchhikers.

 

— The Canadian Press

 

Key dates in the life of Clifford Robert Olson:

 

Jan. 1, 1940: Olson is born in Vancouver.

1957: Olson receives his first jail sentence. He escapes and is recaptured.

Sept. 7, 1980: Olson is released from jail for the final time before his killings.

Nov. 17, 1980: Olson claims his first victim, 12-year-old Christine Weller. Her body is found on Christmas day.

April 16, 1981: Olson abducts Colleen Daignault, 13, of Surrey, B.C. Her body is found five months later.

April 22: Daryn Johnsrude, 15, disappears at a Vancouver mall. His beaten body was found two weeks later.

May 15, 1981: Olson marries Joan Hale, the mother of his only child.

May 19: Olson picks up Sandra Wolfsteiner, 16, while she tried to hitch a ride from her boyfriend’s home and kills her in the nearby woods.

June 21: Ada Court, 13, disappears while en route to see a friend. Her body is found two months later.

July 2: Nine-year-old Simon Partington of Surrey disappears while riding his bike. Police admit Simon was the victim of foul play.

July 7: Olson is charged with sexual assault on a teenage girl, but is not linked to the recent string of deaths.

July 9: Olson abducts and kills 14-year-old Judy Kozma after plying her with liquor and drugs. The next day, he leaves for a nearly two-week vacation with his family. Kozma’s body is found on July 25.

July 23: Olson lures Raymond King, 15, from an employment centre with a promise of work. He brutally beats King and dumps his body in a camp ground.

July 25: Olson kills Sigrun Arnd, a 14-year-old student from Germany.

July 27: Olson kills 15-year-old Terri Lyn Carson, strangling her and abandoning her body along the Fraser River.

July 30: Olson picks up Louise Chartrand, 17, drives her to an area near the Whistler ski resort, kills her and buries her body in a grave.

Aug. 18: Olson is charged with the murder of Judy Kozma.

Jan. 11, 1982: Olson’s trial begins, but ends within three days when he reverses his initial plea of not guilty and instead pleads guilty to 11 counts of first-degree murder. He is sentenced to 11 life sentences, with no parole eligibility for 25 years.

Aug. 19, 1997: Olson applies for parole under the “Faint Hope” clause, a section of the Criminal Code that allows prisoners to seek early release after 15 years of a life sentence. His application is dismissed in minutes.

July 18, 2006: Olson again appears before the National Parole Board, this time after having spent 25 years in prison. This time, it takes half an hour for his application to be rejected.

Nov. 30, 2010: Olson applies for parole a third time and is denied.

— The Canadian Press