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You are here: Home / Featured / BREAKING: RCMP destroyed information that would have suggested serial killer Michael McGray murdered Brenda Way; that destroyed information likely would have cleared Glen Assoun in the murder

BREAKING: RCMP destroyed information that would have suggested serial killer Michael McGray murdered Brenda Way; that destroyed information likely would have cleared Glen Assoun in the murder

July 12, 2019 By Tim Bousquet 4 Comments

This is a breaking news story. More information will be published later today.

Newly unsealed court documents in the Glen Assoun case reveal that:

The actual killer

Michael McGray

• serial killer Michael McGray was the likely killer of Brenda Way.

The RCMP deleted, destroyed, and lost information that linked McGray to the Way murder

• RCMP Constable David Moore worked in the RCMP’s Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System (ViCLAS) division. ViCLAS is a national database for tracking violent offenders and the offences they commit. Moore was looking for more murders that may have been committed by McGray. Because Moore didn’t fully trust the system, he expanded his search of the database to include “solved” murders — that is, murders for which there was a conviction — and came upon the murder of Brenda Way.

• Moore believed that McGray had killed Way. In 2004, Moore related his suspicions to his superiors at the RCMP — Ken Bradley and Dick Hutchings — but they told Moore “he was wasting his time” as “the matter had been decided by the Supreme Court and it was not worth pursuing.”

• Despite this, Moore continued to investigate the Way murder because he thought it likely that Assoun had been wrongly convicted.

• Moore went to RCMP inspector Andy Lathem, the head of the major crimes section of the RCMP. Moore told Lathem of his suspicion that McGray, not Assoun, killed Way. Lathem asked Moore to put together a timeline of events. Moore was intending to put together the timeline, but on return from a two-week vacation in March 2004, Moore found that he had been transferred out of the ViCLAS section. He was not given a reason for his transfer.

• After he was transferred out of the ViCLAS section, all Moore’s work on the Way murder was erased from the ViCLAS system. Additionally, “hundreds of documents” Moore had kept in boxes, work sheets, and timelines went missing. The missing material includes information about other cases Moore had worked on.

• The deletion of ViCLAS information goes against RCMP policy.

• When federal Justice Department lawyer Mark Green was investigating Assoun’s case in 2014, he learned that RCMP Sergeant Dick Hutchings had ordered the “review” of Moore’s work in 2004. Green found that the review violated RCMP policy, as the review should have been conducted by an independent analyst.

• In his report, Green bolded and underlined the following paragraph:

Why was Constable Moore’s ViCLAS information not disclosed to your [Assoun’s] legal counsel when [Assoun’s lawyer Jerome] Kennedy made his requests [for information about McGray’s possible involvement in the Way murder]? Had Moore’s ViCLAS information already been deleted, destroyed or lost by the time Kennedy made his first request in September, 2004? Is there a correlation between Kennedy’s request for McGray/Brenda Way ViCLAS information and the destruction of Moore’s ViCLAS files? Would this information have made any difference with respect to the decision of the Court of Appeal [which ruled against Assoun’s appeal]?

Assoun passed polygraph tests

Although not admissible in court, the responses Assoun gave to questions during two polygraph tests were judged by two different analysts to be the responses of an innocent man.

This is an ongoing investigative news story.

Filed Under: Featured, Investigation, News Tagged With: Andy Lathem, Brenda Way, Dick Hutchings, Glen Assoun, Ken Bradley, Mark Green, Michael McGray, RCMP Cst David Moore, RCMP Sergeant Dick Hutchings, Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System (ViCLAS)

About Tim Bousquet

Tim Bousquet is the editor and publisher of the Halifax Examiner. email: [email protected]; Twitter

Comments

  1. robhutten says

    July 12, 2019 at 11:58 am

    It is satisfying to see this information revealed due to your dogged (and expensive) pursuit of the truth, Tim. I look forward to following the rest of the story, and hope like hell that Assoun gets some satisfaction and reparation for his treatment at the hand of those who should have been protecting him.

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  2. Jim Milne says

    July 12, 2019 at 12:26 pm

    This is interesting. Andy Lathem also plays a major role in Thomas Juby’s “Twice as Far: The True Story of SwissAir Flight 111 Airplane Crash Investigation”.

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  1. Serial killer named as suspect in killing at centre of N.S. wrongful conviction case - CBC News - Canada says:
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The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Phyllis Rising — Rebecca Falvey (left) and Meg Hubley. Photo submitted

Episode #19 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne is published.

Meg Hubley and Rebecca Falvey met as theatre kids at Neptune and have been friends ever since. As Phyllis Rising — that’s right, Mary Tyler Moore hive — they’re making films, plays, and are in production on The Crevice, a three-part sitcom streaming live from the Bus Stop in March. They stop by to talk with Tara about its development, their shared love of classic SNL and 90s sitcoms, and the power of close friendship. Plus: A new song from a new band.

This episode is available today only for premium subscribers; to become a premium subscriber, click here, and join the select group of arts and entertainment supporters for just $5/month. Everyone else will have to wait until tomorrow to listen to it.

Please subscribe to The Tideline.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

About the Halifax Examiner

Examiner folk The Halifax Examiner was founded by investigative reporter Tim Bousquet, and now includes a growing collection of writers, contributors, and staff. Left to right: Joan Baxter, Stephen Kimber, Linda Pannozzo, Erica Butler, Jennifer Henderson, Iris the Amazing, Tim Bousquet, Evelyn C. White, El Jones, Philip Moscovitch More about the Examiner.

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