October 6, 1983. British Columbia, Canada. 27-year old Bernd Goericke and his 22-year old fiancée, Andrea Scherpf, are found shot to death next to a remote road. The couple hailed from West Germany and had been hitchhiking through Canada and an unidentified man driving a pick-up truck is seen using Andrea’s travellers’ cheques in the days following her death. Nearly six years later, a suspect named Andy Rose is charged with the crime based on testimony from a former friend who claimed she heard him confess to the murders. After two trials and two overturned convictions, the charges against Andy are dropped when DNA testing on a key piece of evidence excludes him as the perpetrator, but no one else is ever charged with killing Bernd and Andrea. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we travel back to our home country of Canada to explore an unsolved double murder which led to a wrongful conviction.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_murder_of_Andrea_Scherpf_and_Bernd_Göricke
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2648100646
https://archive.today/20120723055359/http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2008-2009/someone_got_away_with_murder/timeline.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/newfoundlander-s-ordeal-with-rcmp-sting-subject-of-cbc-documentary-1.834222
https://vancouversun.com/news/metro/police-seek-new-leads-in-1983-murder-of-two-german-tourists-near-chetwynd
“The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions: A Handbook” by Gisli H. Gudjonsson
https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/files/mrbig.pdf
https://ucfiles.com/filestatus.php?number=104200082
https://www.newspapers.com/image/501465197/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/495935807/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/496051750/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/495047641/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/494831236/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/496376227/
“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 doing a weekly livestream show on Vokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website.
“The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon UK” at the Tower Bridge, Leonardo Royal Hotel & Spa in London on June 10-11, 2023, as well as “Crimecon” at the World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida on September 22-24, 2023. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to either event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD23”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.co.uk or https://www.crimecon.com.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 174 – The Mills Family Murders
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 173 – Chad Maurer
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 172 – Claudia Kirschhoch
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 171 – Claudia Lawrence
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 170 – Sharon Davis
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 169 – Julie Williams & Lollie Winans
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 168 – Don “Rainboy” Decker
The Trail Went Cold – Bonus Episode – The Career of Robert Stack
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 167 – Janice Wessinger
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 166 – The Indiana Dunes Women
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 165 – Todd McAfee
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 164 – Jean Spangler
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 163 – Su-Ya Kim & Quin-Rong Wu
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 162 – The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 161 – The Martin Family
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 160 – Marilu Geri
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 159 – Charles Southern
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 158 – Ezzat Aboul-Hosn
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 157 – Jamie Stickle
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 156 – Don Smith & Philip Fraser
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