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 360 – Patrick Mullins
The Trail Went Cold – Bonus Episode – New Year New Binge
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 359 – Update, Part 4
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 358 – Amber Crum
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 357 – Paul Logan and Tracey Mertens
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 356 – Cathy Jo Bohlken
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 355 – Amy Wroe Bechtel
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 354 – Danielle LaRue
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 353 – The Chen Family Murders
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 352 – Rae Ann Mossor and Norman Ladner
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 351 – Martha Moxley (Part 2)
The Trail Went Cold – Bonus Episode – Maze of Secrets
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 350 – Martha Moxley (Part 1)
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 349 – Ronald Sisman and Elizabeth Platzman
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 348 – Tina Marie Janose
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 347 – Michael Negrete
The Trail Went Cold – Bonus Episode – Unsolved Mysteries Guilty Pleasures
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 346 – Linda Kerr
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 345 – Gary McCullough and Lena Chapin
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 344 – Jim Rice and Mark Groezinger
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