Arlene Bynon
speaker
115 appearances
4 recordings
1 series
first heard Mar 2025
last heard Jun 2025
Arlene Bynon’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
As news broke of his crimes, Canadians grappled with the graphic details, with the violence he inflicted against children.
I didn't respond to Olson's letter right away. I'd done enough reporting on psychopathic killers to know it would only feed his ego. And I didn't want to give him that. This man had murdered children. And now he was reaching out to me from prison. But the case of Clifford Olson stayed with me. A case that I knew there was more to.
Because ten years after his arrest, there were still so many questions left unanswered. What drove him to kill? Could he have been stopped? And what dark secrets did he still carry? So a week later, I wrote back to Olson. What is your story?
I was stunned when I got that first call. It was about a month after I responded to Olson's letter, but I knew he was only allowed to talk to his lawyers from prison, not the media.
Yeah, I'm not, no. No, you get what I'm getting at? I'm not doing a story this week on or anything.
Are you supposed to call the media? You're obviously allowed telephone calls.
For whatever reason, Olsen had chosen me. And from the start, I knew I wanted to understand why he did what he did.
No.
You know, we talked about sort of living with yourself. We all have to live with ourselves and realize what we've done and come to grips with it.
As I listen to these tapes, I feel right there, back in the moment. I'm young, in my mid-twenties, and hungry, brimming with confidence, thinking if I could just ask the right questions the right way, I would understand what made him the way he was. Over time, I would learn a lot about him. What did the psychiatrist call you?
They say you're normal.
What psychiatrists actually found was that Olson was a severe psychopath. One doctor put it this way. Even people who have met individuals who are called psychopathic or antisocial cannot bring themselves to believe that there may be individuals of this gross nature. It's too impossible to accept.
I don't know. I mean, I don't. I'm not a psychiatrist.
I'm a reporter. As a reporter, these calls were about more than learning about Olson himself. I hoped I could do something that the police couldn't. I hoped I could get more information out of him. Because like many families in the B.C. area where he prowled, I believe there were more than 11 victims. The authorities had long closed the case. They wanted it shut.
Olson was serving 11 concurrent life sentences, one for each murder he confessed to. But I knew the parents were still waiting to know for certain, to lay their kids to rest in a way that brought peace and closure. And if there was a chance I could find something new, I had to try, no matter how Olson tried to play games and spin lines.
If I wanted to continue these calls, I had to keep them secret. But I did confide in someone, a friend and mentor who wanted to help. I've asked Peter Worthington to join us today, and he's here. Oh, okay. And he's talking with us on the line. I think all three of us can talk. Hello, Peter.
How are you doing?
Peter Worthington is, of course, Nat's grandpa, Pete.
However I had explained it to myself, I knew that what I was doing, when it eventually came out, would be met with criticism. Olson had been banned from talking to the media by a gag order, imposed after he'd sent letters detailing his crimes to the families of the victims. I'd be accused of giving him a platform and the attention he desperately craved.
So I wanted cover, and legendary journalist Peter Worthington, he would do.
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