Chapter 3 Overview of Facts Part I – Introduction
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Chapter 3 Overview of Facts Part I – Introduction he Milgaard case has been the subject of two formal reviews by the federal Justice Minister, a reference to the Supreme Court of Canada, an inquiry by the Saskatoon Police Commission Tconcerning missing files relating to Larry Fisher’s Saskatoon sexual offences, and a two year RCMP investigation into alleged wrongdoing in the investigation and prosecution of David Milgaard. Finally, Larry Fisher was investigated and successfully prosecuted for the murder of Gail Miller. Except for the Fisher trial, David Milgaard, his mother Joyce, and their supporters either rejected or publicly questioned most of the factual conclusions reached in those proceedings. I will refer to the Milgaards and their supporters as “the Milgaard group” for the sake of convenience, and not to designate specific individuals beyond the Milgaards themselves, because membership in the group changed from time to time. The Commission began its work against a background of ill will between the Milgaard group on the one hand and police and government agencies on the other. Resentful of, as they saw it, being left out of previous investigations and doubting official conclusions as being too narrow, misguided, lacking in transparency, biased or simply wrong, the Milgaard group mounted an attack through the media prior to the Inquiry and continued it during the Inquiry. Chapter 3 Overview of Facts With little agreement on relevant facts between the Milgaard group and the authorities, the Commission was obliged to rehear evidence. All concerned parties were represented by counsel who had the right to examine witnesses. The Commission does not claim to have answered all concerns, but we have erred on the side of inclusion. No party should be heard to complain that the available evidence was not fully canvassed. Media coverage of the reopening effort, especially during the period 1989 to 1992, was extensive and relied upon information generated, for the most part, by the Milgaard group. As became apparent during the public hearings, the record thus produced was not always accurate, often inflammatory, and sometimes contradictory. Its constant theme of official wrongdoing caused officials to mistrust all information emanating from the group. The latter’s policy of going first to the media with its concerns and only then to official investigators, if at all, alienated authorities. The “media circus”,1 as one member of the Milgaard group described it was, I find, counter-productive to the reopening effort in the long term, although it can be credited with getting Milgaard out of prison and with the quashing of his conviction. Part II – Investigation of Gail Miller Murder 1. Gail Miller in Saskatoon Gail Miller moved to Saskatoon, then a city of 129,000 people, in September of 1968. The second of eight children born to Milton and Jean Miller, she trained as a certified nursing assistant in Swift Current. She found employment at City Hospital in Saskatoon where she worked from September 4, 1968 until her death on January 31, 1969. She resided at 130 Avenue O South, a boarding house in the working class district of Pleasant Hill in west Saskatoon. It was here where she was last seen alive at around 6:45 a.m. Her body was found in an alley about a block south of her residence at around 8:30 a.m. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed to death. The following map identifies Miller’s residence, the location where her body was found, and two bus stops where she could have caught her bus to work. The map also identifies the Cadrain residence where Larry Fisher resided, and where David Milgaard visited on the morning of Miller’s murder. 1 T26809; T26975; T27268; T28477. 36 Chapter 3 Overview of Facts 37 Chapter 3 Overview of Facts Although nobody saw Miller leave the boarding house, she was thought to have done so around 6:45 a.m. to catch her bus on 20th Street. Her usual route was out the front door, and down Avenue O to the bus stop on the southwest corner of 20th Street and Avenue O, although she had been known to catch the bus a block east of there at Avenue N and 20th Street. Leaving the back door of her residence would have put Miller in the alley leading south to the spot where her body was found. Alternatively, she might have walked south on Avenue N to the 20th Street bus stop. Gail Miller’s body was found face down in the snow in the lane behind 211 Avenue N South, clad in an overcoat with her arms removed from her uniform top which was rolled down to her waist. The fatal stab wounds penetrated her coat but not her uniform. Her blood stained panties, girdle and stockings were down near her left ankle, and her right boot was missing. A broken paring knife blade was found underneath her body, and the matching maroon handle was later found in a nearby yard. Her missing boot and a sweater were found buried in the snow nearby. Contents from her purse were found in adjacent backyards and the purse itself was located a few days later in a nearby garbage can. An autopsy was conducted on the same day at St. Paul’s Hospital by pathologist Dr. Harry Emson, with Saskatoon Police officers Lt. Joe Penkala and Thor Kliev of the Identification Division in attendance. The victim had sustained multiple throat slashes and stab wounds to the upper torso, one of which penetrated the lung causing death. Vaginal contents were tested and found to contain non-motile spermatozoa. They were then discarded. 2. Saskatoon Police In 1969, the Saskatoon City Police Service was comprised of approximately 250 personnel, of which 203 were active police officers. Jack Wood was the Superintendent of Criminal Investigations. There were three divisions which reported to him: Detectives, Morality and Identification. Homicide investigations were conducted by the Detective Division which was headed by Lt. Charles Short. There were three detective sergeants, Raymond Mackie, George Reid, and Jack Ward and 17 detectives who investigated homicides as well as other crimes including fraud, robbery and other criminal offences. At the time, sexual assaults were handled by the Morality Division, which was headed by Inspector Hilmer Nordstrum. There were 12 morality officers. The Identification Division was headed by Lt. Joseph Penkala and included five identification officers. This Division provided crime scene support to Detectives and Morality. It was the practice of the Saskatoon Police (a term which I will use to describe the organization variously known over the years as the Saskatoon Police Service, Saskatoon Police Force and the Saskatoon Police Department) to assign major cases to two officers who would share the responsibility of overseeing the investigation. The Gail Miller murder investigation was assigned to Mackie and Reid. All of the other homicide detectives were involved in the investigation, as well as officers and constables from other divisions. In total, more than 100 police officers were involved in the Gail Miller murder investigation. 38 Chapter 3 Overview of Facts 3. Investigation Before Milgaard Became a Suspect The Saskatoon Police deployed significant resources to investigate the Miller murder. A team of police officers undertook a coordinated canvass of the neighbourhood, asking people if they noticed anything unusual on the morning of January 31, 1969. The search covered an approximate six square block radius. The police interviewed Miller’s roommates, family, and friends to try and identify possible suspects, and a motive for the murder. Miller’s male acquaintances were investigated as possible suspects and eventually eliminated. The police also interviewed and investigated Miller’s fellow employees at the City Hospital to identify anybody suspicious there who may have committed the crime. The police canvassed the drycleaners in the City to determine whether anybody had brought in bloody clothes. The police received numerous leads and tips about possible suspects. These were followed up, but without success. Early in the investigation, the Saskatoon Police suspected that Miller’s killer was the same person who had committed two rapes and an indecent assault in the three months preceding Miller’s murder. On October 21, 1968, Fisher Victim 1 was sexually assaulted near 18th Street and Avenue G and H in Saskatoon. On November 13, 1968, Fisher Victim 2 was sexually assaulted near 18th Street between Avenues E and F. These assaults occurred approximately eight to 10 blocks from where Miller’s body was found. The assaults took place in the early evening. In both assaults, the victims were grabbed by the assailant and taken to a nearby alley where they were directed to remove their clothing. The assailant had a knife in each of the attacks, but the victims were not stabbed. Although these victims were not robbed, stabbed or killed, the police viewed the circumstances of these assaults to be similar to the modus operandi of the Gail Miller rape and murder. There was a third attempted assault on November 28, 1968. Fisher Victim 3 was indecently assaulted near Wiggins Avenue and Temperance Street in Saskatoon. This assault also took place in the evening shortly after 9:30 p.m. The victim was grabbed by an assailant with a knife and taken to an alley. A car came along before the assailant was able to sexually assault the victim and he escaped. The circumstances of the 1968 assaults were similar and although the police had not identified any suspects, they believed a single perpetrator committed all three assaults. At the time of the Miller murder, these assaults were unsolved and the police did not have any suspects.