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 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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