December 31, 2002. Vancouver, British Columbia. The Vancouver Police Department receive an anonymous letter containing a remorseful confession from someone who claims to have been responsible for the death of a sex worker. While the victim’s name is not mentioned, investigators eventually suspect that she might be 24-year old Danielle LaRue, a sex worker from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood who seemed to vanish without explanation one month before the letter arrived. Even though the police ask the letter writer to come forward, this individual is not heard from again and no trace of Danielle is ever found. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we share the story of Danielle LaRue, an Indigenous woman who lived an incredibly tragic life before she went missing. We will also explore the stories of Ashley Machiskinic and Verna Simard, two other Indigenous women from the Downtown Eastside, who both died suspicious deaths after falling from a window at the Regent Hotel.
Additional Reading:
https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/mmiw/profiles/danielle-larue
https://www.vpdcoldcases.ca/danielle-larue/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/496693347/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/497036908/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/497458017/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/497458058/
https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2018/12/09/danielle-larue-vancouver-police-appeal-killer-16-year-old-cold-case/
https://globalnews.ca/news/1535797/bc-crimestoppers-the-case-of-murder-victim-danielle-larue/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/ashley-machiskinic-vancouver-death-1.3653676
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/angela-sterritt-ashley-machiskinic-mmiw-1.3896560
https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/this-was-a-murder-2/
https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/mmiw/profiles/verna-shabaquay
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/dead-woman-fell-six-storeys-from-hotel-vpd-1.698845
“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 377 – John Glasgow
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 376 – Monika Rizzo
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 375 – Vernon Shipman, Charles Glass, and Louise Davis Shumate
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 374 – Malakia Logan
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 373 – Tommy Gibson
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 372 – Anne Barber Dunlap
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 371 – Ginni Wood, Kelly Gaskins, and Ervin Williams
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 370 – Jeffrey Digman, Billy Ray Hargrove, and Mike Carmichael
The Trail Went Cold – Bonus Episode – Mysteries on the True Crime Express
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 369 – Update, Part 5
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 368 – Lynne Harper, Part 2
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 367 – Lynne Harper, Part 1
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 366 – Patricia Viola
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 365 – Phylicia Thomas and Jennifer Barziloski
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 364 – The Lane Bryant Shooting
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 363 – Heidi Seeman and Erica Botello
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 362 – Margaret Dash, Retha Hiers, and Donyelle Johnson
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 361 – Jack Brown
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 360 – Patrick Mullins
The Trail Went Cold – Bonus Episode – New Year New Binge
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