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
Bridget Cosma is Judy's sister. She talked to us from her home in Langley, B.C.
When Judy didn't show up to her shift at McDonald's and come home as expected, it was Bridget, seven years her senior, who went out on a frantic search.
When the Cosmas tried to report Judy missing to their local RCMP detachment, they received the customary response. Nothing could be done before 48 hours had passed, which infuriates Bridget still.
After her body was found, did you know, I mean, when the police came to tell you about it, did they tell you she was murdered then? Good question.
Was that you? Did you go?
Like other families we've spoken to, the Cosmas would later piece together how their loved one became acquainted with Olson. Judy had previously attended a Christmas party thrown by a friend's family, and there she'd met Olson. By this time, he was already involved with his soon-to-be wife, Joan. But he was there on a date because he was cheating with a relative of Judy's friend.
By the next afternoon, Olsen had picked up 17-year-old Louise Chartrand as she was waiting to start her shift at a restaurant in Maple Ridge, B.C. She would be his last victim, his 11th confirmed, before his perverse luck ran out.
It was August 12th at night. Olsen had been under now constant surveillance for five days when he was observed picking up two young female hitchhikers. The Mounties followed his car until he pulled over and headed with the girls into a wooded area on Vancouver Island. Knowing the likely fate awaiting the hitchhikers, they couldn't risk waiting to see what happened. They grabbed Olson.
While searching his car, in his glove box, they found a notebook. Inside the cover was written Judy Cosma's name.
For the next week, the RCMP interrogated Olson intensively. After that, his name was formally tied to the murders, and it exploded in the media.
John's network, BCTV, naturally had blanket coverage.
For the first time, the RCMP confirmed they were looking at only one man. One suspect in all the cases.
What the police weren't divulging was that their case on Olson was weak. Other than Judy's name in a notebook found in the car, the RCMP had very little physical evidence to tie him to all the murders. If Olson walked again, it would be a grave humiliation. The Mounties and prosecutors could forge ahead with what they had on Olson for Judy's murder, with maybe a slim chance of conviction.
Or they could keep and press Olson for as long and as far as the law would allow, to see if he would break. But in my opinion, they were on the back foot. Later, Peter and I pored over the interrogation transcripts. Olsen is combative, snapping back at Corporal Fred Maley as accusations mount. You've got your ass up against the wall, Maley tells Olsen.
Olsen denies and dismisses, but you can tell that he knows. This time, he might be caught for good. It's also clear that the investigators didn't really employ any special tactics in dealing with a psychopathic serial killer. They were talking to him like he'd robbed a bank, which makes sense given the time. South of the border, there was a gush of research on serial killers.
The FBI's Behavioral Science Unit had recently completed their database of serial offenders. But this new science of profiling probably hadn't made it yet to the B.C. detachments of the RCMP. Apart from the number of victims, 11 confirmed, the Mounties didn't appear to approach Olson much differently from a garden-variety criminal.
Olson confounded these investigators, but in the end, it was Olson who gave them an avenue out.
This is what he proposed. The RCMP would pay Olson $30,000 for evidence on the four bodies they'd found before his arrest. And for each murder scene he identified, or body he could help them locate, he would receive an additional $10,000. A full confession was a given.
Someone who was consulted, to my shock, was reporter John Daly.
With the approval of the province's attorney general, the cash for bodies deal came to be. The money was to be put in a trust for his wife Joan and baby son. But the way he'd talk about the deal with me during our phone calls, Olson saw the deal as a triumph for himself. Only himself.
Showing 81–100 of 115 · page 5 of 6
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