Ontario Cold Cases - The Podcast

Five women. Five stranglings. One city that tried not to look.

From the mid-’80s to the late ’90s, Benita Tarantino, Susan Siegel, Donna Oglive, Lori Pinkus, and Lyle Ford were all found strangled in or around downtown Toronto. Each moved from where they were last seen. Each working in the sex trade. Decades later, their murders are still unsolved. Was this one predator… or several men the city never connected?

Because every case d...

Toronto’s Forgotten Five: The Sex Trade Worker Stranglings Benita, Susan, Donna, Lori, Lyle – Was One Man Hunting Them All?

From the mid-1980s to the late-1990s, five women walked Toronto’s streets and never came home.

Benita “Bonnie” Tarantino, 17.
Susan Siegel, 20.
Donna Oglive, 24.
Lori Pinkus, 21.
Lyle Ford, 35.

All were sex trade workers. All were moved from where they were last seen. All were strangled. Their lives were compl...

Toronto’s Forgotten Five: The Sex Trade Worker Stranglings Benita, Susan, Donna, Lori, Lyle – Was One Man Hunting Them All?

Over fifteen years, five sex trade workers were found strangled in and around downtown Toronto. Benita ‘Bonnie’ Tarantino, Susan Siegel, Donna Oglive, Lori Pinkus, and Lyle Ford. Each taken from where they were last seen. Each left in a different corner of the city. For decades, their families and friends have...

Thornhill’s Dark Secret: Who Killed Tracy Kundinger?

From Ontario Cold Cases - Canada’s True Crime Podcast, a chilling journey into the unsolved murder of 18-year-old Tracy Kundinger in 1970s Thornhill, Ontario. Strangled in a park just steps from home, her death points to a jealous ex, serial rapists, or a shadowy bus passenger. Secrets, alibis, and a family’s enduring grief haunt this case. Dive into this gripping true crime tale...

The Brutal Slaying of Harold and Florence Fagan A Cold Case That Still Grips Toronto A Deadly Silence on Dewbourne Avenue

On a cold March morning in 1978, Toronto’s North York was shattered by a brutal double murder. Harold and Florence Fagan, a beloved couple in their sixties, were gunned down in their home—Harold shot in the chest and head, Florence executed with a single bullet to the head. Their chauffeur discovered the grisly ...

The Unsolved Tragedy of the Airst Family: A Chilling Triple Murder A Blood-Soaked Mystery That Haunts Toronto

In the dead of a foggy September night in 1979, the Airst family—Ike, Celia, and their son Avrom—met a gruesome fate in their North York home. Bludgeoned to death with chilling precision, their blood-drenched bodies were discovered by their daughter, Simmie, in a scene that would scar Toronto’s history. No forced entry. No ...

Thornhill’s Dark Secret: Who Killed Tracy Kundinger?

In the quiet suburbs of 1970s Toronto, 18-year-old Tracy Kundinger vanishes on her walk home. Strangled in a park just steps from safety. No sexual assault, but signs of a brutal fight. Suspects abound: Her jealous ex-boyfriend Jamie, serial rapist Raymond Wallace, or a stranger from the bus? Police arrests fizzle, alibis hold—but secrets linger. Sisters haunted, a family shatter...

The Unsolved Murder of Lisa Anstey A Murder Unsolved. A City in Shadows. A Truth Waiting to Be Uncovered.

In the gritty heart of Toronto’s underbelly, 21-year-old Lisa Anstey fought to survive. A First Nations mother of two, known as “Jemma” or “Terri,” she was a fierce spirit trapped in a world of addiction and danger, working the streets since age 11. On May 12, 1997, her life was brutally cut short. Found strangled in a dark lan...

The Triple Slaying of the Airst Family and the Fagans Two Families. Two Crimes. One Killer—or Two?

On September 30th, 1979, three members of the Airst family were found brutally beaten to death inside their quiet North York home. Ike, Celia, and their son Avrom had been attacked with unimaginable violence. There was no forced entry. No robbery. No suspects. No answers.

Just 18 months earlier and only 1.5 km away, Harold and Floren...

The Triple Slaying of the Airst Family and the Fagans Two Families. Two Crimes. One Killer—or Two?

In the fall of 1979, a daughter walked into her family home and found three loved ones murdered. No forced entry. No weapon. No suspects. Just eighteen months earlier, another couple was killed in the same neighbourhood, also without a sign of break-in. The police ruled the cases separate. But the similarities are too chilling to igno...

The Murder of Lisa Anstey Killer in Uniform? The Cop Suspect

Police had the killer's DNA profile and suspected serial killer Peter Dale MacDonald—but the DNA didn't match.

The street workers had a different suspect: a cop, K.L., known to use his position to threaten and assault the girls he was supposed to protect.

One victim told me: 'If you didn't fight him you'd be okay.' Was Lisa's "scrapper" attitude the reason she died? We in...

The Unsolved Murder of Lisa Anstey: The Street City Mystery DNA and Doubt: The search for Lisa Anstey's killer leads from a serial predator to a predator with a badge

On May 12, 1997, the body of 21-year-old Lisa Anstey was found strangled in a downtown Toronto laneway, near the notorious homeless camp "Street City." Known as a "scrapper, tough as nails," Lisa was a small First Nations woman and sex trade worker who had been on the...

The Unsolved Murder of Lisa Anstey: The Street City Mystery DNA and Doubt: The search for Lisa Anstey's killer leads from a serial predator to a predator with a badge

In 1997, Lisa Anstey was a fighter. But even a fighter can't win against a killer with a plan.

Strangled, dumped in a high-traffic area. Her missing shoe—a sign of struggle, or a trophy?

The investigation points to a serial predator. Was it a convicted murderer, or wa...

A Mother’s Tragic End - The Unsolved Murder of Sophie Filion

In the shadows of Ottawa’s streets, a mother’s desperate fight for her children ended in tragedy. Sophie Filion, a 23-year-old with wavy brown hair and a fierce love for her two young kids, was found strangled in December 1993, her body stuffed into garbage bags in a Westboro parking lot. Clad only in a slip, she had been left for days—a chilling echo of a killer’s cruelt...

Unresolved: The Tragic Case of Melinda Sheppit 

A single snakeskin stiletto lies abandoned in an Ottawa parking lot. Beside a dumpster, the lifeless body of 16-year-old Melinda Sheppit tells a story of heartbreak and horror. Strangled and left for dead on September 30, 1990, the beautiful high school student had been drawn into a dangerous world, working the streets for just three weeks. Over three decades later, her murder remains...

Shadows in the Smoke - Where is Eli Wood?

In the pre-dawn chill of October 19, flames devoured a quiet Kitchener apartment, leaving nothing but ash and echoes. Wilfrid Laurier University social work student Eli Wood—4'10" of fierce spirit, crowned with white hair and inked with defiant tattoos of flowers, seahorses, and rainbows—vanished into the inferno. Arson, the police whisper. Targeted. No body. No trace.

From the fog-shrouded...

The Vanishing of Justin Pollari: A Trail Gone Cold

In the quiet town of Hilton Beach, Ontario, a 14-year-old boy named Justin Pollari walked through his front door on December 7, 2001... and vanished into the night.

Troubled by a broken home and carrying the weight of a fight he wouldn’t explain, Justin grabbed his skateboard, stuffed a backpack with clothes, and ran. A scrape on his lip. A six-inch Mohawk hidden under a black toqu...

An Ottawa Serial Killer? The Unsolved Cases of Melinda Sheppit & Sophie Fillion Melinda Sheppit

A single snakeskin stiletto lies abandoned in an Ottawa parking lot. Beside a dumpster, the lifeless body of 16-year-old Melinda Sheppit tells a story of heartbreak and horror. Strangled and left for dead on September 30, 1990, the beautiful high school student had been drawn into a dangerous world, working the streets for just three...

The Enduring Mystery of Richard "Peewee" Marlow A Child Vanished. A Mystery Endures.

On a chilly July evening in 1944, nine-year-old Richard “Peewee” Marlow pedaled his sister’s bicycle into the twilight of south Etobicoke’s Beta Street—and vanished without a trace. At just 3’8” and 50 pounds, the blond-haired, blue-eyed boy with a scar on his temple was too small to disappear unnoticed. Yet, despite desperate searches by police, a...