June 9, 1959. Clinton, Ontario. After failing to return home, 12-year old Lynne Harper is reported missing and her body is discovered in a woodlot two days later. She has been sexually assaulted and strangled to death with her own blouse and suspicion turns towards her 14-year old classmate, Steven Truscott, who claims that he gave Lynne a ride to the highway on his bicycle and saw her climb into a passing car. Steven is soon charged, convicted and sentenced to death for Lynne’s murder, but his sentence is commuted to life imprisonment and he is paroled in 1969. Decades later, Steven files a successful appeal to have his conviction overturned, but there is still a lot of debate about who was actually responsible for Lynne Harper’s murder. To commemorate the eight-year anniversary of “The Trail Went Cold”, we will be releasing the first part of a special two-part episode about one of the most controversial murder cases in the history of Canada. Special thanks to listener Sarah Browning for narrating the opening of this episode.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Truscott
“Until You Are Dead: The Wrongful Conviction of Steven Truscott”
“Steven Truscott: Decades of Injustice” by Nate Hendley
https://www.cbc.ca/news2/background/truscott/index.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news2/background/truscott/timeline.html
https://www.thestar.com/news/2007/01/29/can_science_clear_truscott.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/court-acquits-truscott-calling-conviction-miscarriage-of-justice-1.668524
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/victim-s-family-stunned-by-truscott-compensation-1.747261
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/who-killed-lynne-harper-retired-opp-sergeant-says-travelling-salesman-a-suspect-in-string-of-murders
https://web.archive.org/web/20070401115048/http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/ps/ccr/kaufman/exec.html
If you would like to make a donation to “Season of Justice”, please visit our donation page at https://givebutter.com/SOJ_thetrail or text “TRAIL24” to # 53555.
“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 going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon” in Nashville on May 31-June 2, 2024 and “Crimecon UK” in London on September 21-22, 2024. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to either event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD24”, by visiting Crimecon.com or Crimecon.co.uk.
“The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Denver Marriott Westminster in Colorado on July 12-14, 2024. To get a 15 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL”, by visiting https://truecrimepodcastfestival.com.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 213 – The Boys On The Track (Part 1)
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 212 – Marie Lilienberg & Maria Wahlen
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 211 – Tina McMenamin
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 210 – Carol Woolsoncroft
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 209 – Ralph Probst & Michael O’Mara
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 208 – Celina Mays
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 207 – Jack Davis Jr.
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 206 – Q&A
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 205 – Larry Griffin
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 204 – Mari Ann Fowler
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 203 – The Freedon & The Casie Nicole
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 202 – The Blount Family Bombing
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 201 – Erica Baker
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 200 – Melanie Flynn
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 199 – Patrice Endres
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 198 – Bill & Dorothy Wacker
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 197 – William & Margaret Patterson
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 196 – Zigmund Adamski
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 195 – Curtis Pishon
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 194 – Mary Jane Van Gilder
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Ghosts of Dallas
Picture The Scene - A True Crime Podcast
Mortal Musings Podcast
True Crime Investigators UK
Dateline NBC
Crime Junkie