Former Edmonton Sun journalist Pamela Roth talks of her true crime novel and Edmonton’s homicide history

Bret McCann, centre, his wife Mary-Ann McCann, right, and their daughter Nicole Walshe, left, speak to media outside the Edmonton law court after the conviction of Travis Vader. The case is covered in Deadmonton: Crime Stories from Canada’s Murder City.

Pamela Roth knows a lot about death.

 

As a former Edmonton Sun journalist, Roth spent many years covering slayings in Edmonton. Along with being a homicide reporter, Roth also produced a series on Edmonton’s open cold cases — unsolved crimes that are no longer actively investigated by Edmonton police — in 2011. That gave her extensive insight into the ins and outs of some of the most tragic and brutal crimes in the city’s history.

That often dark and uncomfortable deep dive into Edmonton’s murderous history led Roth to uncover a number of stories and details that ultimately ended up on the editing room floor.

Instead of leaving them there, Roth has used those stories to create Deadmonton: Crime Stories from Canada’s Murder City, a true crime book set to launch on Sept 25. It will have roughly 40 chapters, each covering specific cases of homicides, as well as how those cases affected the victim’s friends, families, and the police officers investigating them.

"Originally I wanted it to do only unsolved cases, but that’s only half of a story," Roth said. "So in order to fill the book, I also looked at well-known cases that were solved, just to give families hope that they can be solved.

"It started with looking at the EPS list of unsolved homicides and who they had rewards for. They had a list of like 30 or something like that, so I worked with them to figure out which I should profile or haven’t had a lot of attention."

"A few chapters also cover police and PTSD and the things they go through to solve these crimes, such as working in the homicide unit and what it takes for them."

Roth said her intent with Deadmonton is two-fold. On the one hand, she hopes to shed light on some of the lesser-known tragedies in Edmonton’s history which have yet to be resolved, giving the families and friends involved a voice.

On the other hand, the investigation and discovery required to cover these stories may help shake loose details that were overlooked or unexamined in the past, offering readers a silver lining of hope amongst the dread.

"There was one where an 11-year-old girl, Karen Ewanciw, was found beaten and raped in the North Saskatchewan River Valley in 1975.

"That was in my second cold case series, and then a woman who was friends with the girl came forward and said she was in the ravine that day with that girl when she went missing," Roth said.

"So it’s interesting how some details reveal themselves once we ran the story, tracking down people after all these years that have connections to the case."

"Sometimes all police need is that one snippet of information to keep the case going and solve it, and if they fade away and no one ever talks about them, they may never be solved. That’s why I think it’s good to bring these into the public spotlight every so often."

The work of non-fiction also covers more contemporary cases, such as the trial of Travis Vader, who was recently convicted for the second-degree murder of Lyle and Marie McCann.

Roth feels that case is a great example of the toll that an unsolved homicide can have on a victim’s family over time.

She points out that, when the case first opened, their son Brett was more media friendly, simply concerned for his parents, but as the years went by his demeanour had changed, refusing to do interviews once the trial was stayed.

Ultimately, Roth hopes that the work gives readers a deeper weight and context to stories that may get swept away in the minutiae of journalistic context.

"I hope people read it and that it gives them a different perspective into these stories on the news where you think ‘That’s awful for the family’, but the book takes you a bit deeper into what the journey’s like after the day their loved one is taken from them," Roth said.

"Some of them can just never be the same, they fall into deep depression and drug use and can’t get over it after 15 or 20 years. It’s with them every single day, their life as they know it is done."