this is the first I'd heard about this...and it's 3 years old!
Clifford Olson — Canada’s national monster — dead at 71
Canada's first true bogeyman, Clifford Robert Olson, is dead.
The country's pioneer serial killer, whose crimes terrorized the British Columbia's Lower Mainland, died Friday in Quebec.
Olson's death was confirmed by the Correctional Service of Canada in a release Friday afternoon. He was 71.
It was learned on Sept. 21 that Olson was apparently dying of cancer with only days or weeks to live, according to families of Olson's victims.
Maple Ridge resident Ray King, father of slain teen Ray King Jr. said: "It's over, that's all I can say about it.
"Time to get on with the business of living," King said. "For 30 years I haven't really had a chance to heal some wounds because of him. Now it's onwards and upwards."
Olson was a middle-aged habitual criminal and informant when from January 1980 until August 1981 he stalked, tortured and killed at least 11 youngsters. He sexually abused scores of others.
The heinous nature of his crimes ensured infamy. But more than that, Olson is reviled because he blackmailed authorities into paying his family $100,000 for the return of his victims' remains - a macabre cash-for-corpses deal that destroyed careers and tormented survivors.
Before kinky sex killers Paul Bernardo and Karla Holmolka, before the Pig Farm Butcher, there was the "Beast of B.C." a.k.a. "the Rent-a-car Killer" because of his penchant for hiring another new car for each slaying. He savoured kiddy porn, was a recognized sexual deviant and lived most of his life in a steel and concrete cage.
Back in 1980, however, Vancouver was a truly provincial city - Expo 86 was six years away and newspapers from other provinces or countries still could take days to arrive.
The Lower Mainland was a patchwork quilt of nascent municipalities and a hodgepodge of police jurisdictions. There was little coordination among the different RCMP detachments and autonomous civic police forces, and the computer revolution had yet to occur.
Read more: Clifford Olson — Canada’s national monster — dead at 71
Clifford Olson — Canada’s national monster — dead at 71
Canada's first true bogeyman, Clifford Robert Olson, is dead.
The country's pioneer serial killer, whose crimes terrorized the British Columbia's Lower Mainland, died Friday in Quebec.
Olson's death was confirmed by the Correctional Service of Canada in a release Friday afternoon. He was 71.
It was learned on Sept. 21 that Olson was apparently dying of cancer with only days or weeks to live, according to families of Olson's victims.
Maple Ridge resident Ray King, father of slain teen Ray King Jr. said: "It's over, that's all I can say about it.
"Time to get on with the business of living," King said. "For 30 years I haven't really had a chance to heal some wounds because of him. Now it's onwards and upwards."
Olson was a middle-aged habitual criminal and informant when from January 1980 until August 1981 he stalked, tortured and killed at least 11 youngsters. He sexually abused scores of others.
The heinous nature of his crimes ensured infamy. But more than that, Olson is reviled because he blackmailed authorities into paying his family $100,000 for the return of his victims' remains - a macabre cash-for-corpses deal that destroyed careers and tormented survivors.
Before kinky sex killers Paul Bernardo and Karla Holmolka, before the Pig Farm Butcher, there was the "Beast of B.C." a.k.a. "the Rent-a-car Killer" because of his penchant for hiring another new car for each slaying. He savoured kiddy porn, was a recognized sexual deviant and lived most of his life in a steel and concrete cage.
Back in 1980, however, Vancouver was a truly provincial city - Expo 86 was six years away and newspapers from other provinces or countries still could take days to arrive.
The Lower Mainland was a patchwork quilt of nascent municipalities and a hodgepodge of police jurisdictions. There was little coordination among the different RCMP detachments and autonomous civic police forces, and the computer revolution had yet to occur.
Read more: Clifford Olson — Canada’s national monster — dead at 71
