For me, Dave Roper’s entrance marked a debut. The satellite truck outside was for my broadcast; anchor Dave Wright had returned to Halifax, and I had been asked to introduce the briefing and conduct a question-and-answer session with Wright afterwards. It was the first time I had reported live from an event. As Dave Roper approached the podium, I stood to one side of the room and informed ATV viewers that we were coming to them live from Sydney, where the RCMP was about to release new information on the McDonald’s murders. I quickly directed the camera to the podium, and Roper began with a prepared statement. “Police acting on investigative information detained three male adults in Glace Bay and Sydney earlier today,” he said. “The detention of the three persons went without incident.… It is confirmed that a third victim has died as a result of wounds suffered during this incident. Mr. James Fagan of Sydney passed away at approximately eleven-thirty this morning.… There is obviously a sense of fear and emotional trauma within the area. It is the wish of the RCMP to instil in the public that an intensive investigation is being carried out to apprehend the people responsible.”
With that final sentence, Roper was planting the seeds for the explanation he would be forced to give in a few hours. As he finished, the provincial RCMP press officer, Sergeant Gary Grant, stepped forward to choose which reporters would be invited to ask questions; the RCMP wanted to control this news conference. Roper made it clear he could not comment on what evidence had been collected in searches in Glace Bay or by the diving team. (As far as he knew, nothing of note had been found anywhere, but that was not something he would say here.)
I was able to ask a couple of questions before a voice in the earphone I was wearing told me to break away and direct the camera back on myself so that I could begin the question-and-answer session with the anchor in Halifax. As I began to answer Wright’s question, which only I could hear (in my earphone), there was a sudden and very awkward pause. Dave Rope just stared at me, bewildered, as I spoke to a camera only a few metres away from the podium. He then looked from me to Gary Grant, who was also rather unclear as to exactly what I was doing and how they should react to it. Finally, to my relief, another reporter brought the officers back to their briefing. “Just ignore him, Dave.” Roper did just that—and turned his attention to the other reporters’ questions. And there were many of them.
To begin with, reporters wanted to know when the three suspects would appear in court. That was a tricky one. Roper, like many other members of the investigation team, was not certain these suspects would ever appear in court. He skirted the question, saying it was too early to determine what, if any, changes they might face. Then Roper told reporters that Garfield Lewis had asked to speak to them. That was fine, because they had a few questions for the owner of the McDonald’s in Sydney River. They wanted to know if there was an alarm system at his restaurant, if he had fired anyone recently, or if a former or current employee could have been involved. They also wanted more information about the victims. How long had they worked at the restaurant? What were they like? Was McDonald’s preparing to do anything to honour them? By the time Roper introduced Lewis, the live portion of our coverage had concluded and I took my seat with the other reporters, hoping that Lewis would be able to fill in some of the blanks for us. As the restaurant owner stepped up to the podium, he too said he had a prepared statement. We waited anxiously to hear what he had to say and then get to the questions.
Heavy-set and tall, with thinning, sandy hair, Garfield Lewis seemed shy in front of the cameras. He quietly thanked the RCMP for the tremendous job they had done, and then began talking about the slain employees and their families. It was when he uttered the word sympathy that Garfield Lewis began to cry. His family, standing behind him, moved in closer as he struggled to continue. His voice cracking, tears filling his eyes, Lewis offered his condolences to the families of the victims, naming each in turn. The picture of Donna and Neil on the floor at the restaurant rushed back to him, and the images he had tried to suppress after identifying the victims for police could no longer be contained. “Thank you. I’m sorry.” Lewis moved away from the podium, his shoulders shaking as his wife reached around to hold him and his son moved quickly to his side. The Lewis family walked out. There had been no questions.
The live broadcast of the news conference assured quick circulation of the good news that the RCMP had arrested the men responsible. Within an hour, a crowd began to gather at the Cape Breton County Courthouse. Sheriffs’ duties said they have never seen anything like it—hundreds of people gathered on the courthouse lawn and in the parking lot. Many people gladly agreed to explain in front of the TV cameras why they were there. “I want to see the animals that did it,” one said. Another offered: “We want to know who could do a thing like that.” These comments were typical of the mixture of anger and curiosity that characterized the mood of the crowd, and the immediate and intense public reaction led to a second night of live TV from Cape Breton. We moved our satellite truck to the courthouse in the hopes that the suspects would either be there by news time—or, even better, arrive during the six o’clock news broadcast.
I returned to the station to assemble a report, then went back to the courthouse. But the building was locked. That was not a good sign; if suspects were to be arraigned that day, court staff would have had to be there. The prosecutor’s office is located next to the courthouse, and I noticed a lone car in the parking lot, so I went to the door. Inside, Ken Haley was awaiting a call from police; a prosecutor also would be needed for any arraignment. I asked Ken if the police might just bring the three before a justice of the peace and have them remanded to the correctional centre for a day or so, until things outside calmed down. Haley conceded that would be the most likely approach, if anyone was to be charged that night, but added that he didn’t know whether or not a JP would be called. He would be standing by until the RCMP contacted him. It wasn’t much, but at least I would inform viewers of how any charges were likely to proceed, and let them know that we might have more to tell on the late-news broadcast.
The news of the arrests had not gone unnoticed by those responsible for the murders. As Derek Wood slept after his ordeal with the RCMP, Darren Muise began to believe that things might return to normal. Muise decided to call a childhood friend, Kris Granchelli, whom he had not seen much over the past few months. Granchelli didn’t think Muise’s renewed attention was surprising; he knew his old friend wanted to talk and figured they would find the time to get together soon enough. Granchelli later said he felt Muise may have been trying to return to the life he’d led before he decided crime was an appropriate career choice. Unfortunately, it was too late to turn back.
Freeman MacNeil used word of the arrests as an opportunity to shore up the story he had given to Greg Lawrence. MacNeil drove to Lawrence’s South Bar apartment with his girlfriend, Michelle—just a regular visit among friends, nothing out of the ordinary. That might have been what MacNeil wanted, but his friends were not so sure things were normal. Kristine Borden, Greg Lawrence’s girlfriend, watched Freeman closely that afternoon. She thought he seemed very pale and wondered why he continually rocked back and forth in the rocking chair. His appearance and actions spooked her. Greg Lawrence was not ready to openly accept that MacNeil, Muise, and Wood had headed out to rob McDonald’s only to discover that someone got there ahead of them. Still, if the RCMP had made arrests, maybe the incredible story was true. Lawrence thought Freeman looked quite normal as he commented that he was glad the RCMP had gotten the people responsible, and wondered aloud what kind of bastards could do such a thing. While Michelle and Kristine visited inside, Greg and Freeman went out to do some work on the stereo in Lawrence’s car. MacNeil was good with that sort of thing and soon would turn his skills to the stereo in the car he drove.
By late that evening, high-ranking Mounties had accepted the mistake they had made and were beginning to rethink the investigation. Corporal Cleary would remain as chief investigator, but Staff Sergeant
Sylvan Arsenault would take over as coordinator. Arsenault had a way with people, and he knew his first job was going to be to help the officers get over the emotional defeat they felt upon learning they had arrested the wrong people. For Kevin Cleary, the emotional blow was the realization that he had been chasing ghosts while Derek Wood was allowed to go free. Cleary was convinced that a guilty man had walked out of the building while innocent people were being arrested. But he recovered quickly and began to concentrate on Derek Wood.
Gary Grant felt he should be the one to inform the media that the three men were being released: Dave Roper could be the good-news man; let the “Halifax heavy” take responsibility for the mistake. Earlier in the evening, Grant had told reporters he might have more information before the night was over. Some expected a late-night arraignment that would avoid the kind of crowds gathered at the courthouse earlier. Instead, Grant told reporters that the investigation was continuing but that the men detained earlier in the day had been freed; there was insufficient evidence to hold them. The RCMP would later release a detailed statement explaining that they had operated on incorrect information provided to them by a member of the public. Cynthia Long was later charged with mischief, but after months of delay due to psychiatric issues involved in the prosecution, the charge was dropped. A civil suit against the RCMP was later filed on behalf of at least one of the men arrested that day.
For the family of Neil Burroughs, it had been a tough day of making funeral arrangements; the only good thing they could talk about was the arrests of those responsible. Neil’s brothers, who had heard a couple of names mentioned in connection with the case, sat down with other family members to watch the late news on ATV. Maybe the people who killed Neil would be identified. But their anticipation quickly turned to shocked disbelief, then anger. As they sat watching, I was standing in the parking lot outside the ATV station on George Street in Sydney, the camera trained on me as the late-night anchor asked if there was any danger of reprisal against those arrested. Did people in Cape Breton believe they were responsible but had been released on a technicality? In retrospect, it was a question loaded with irony. Not five hundred metres away was the house where one of the real killers, Derek Wood, was living. But it was perfectly understandable at the time that the focus of the community—and especially the victims’ families—should be on the people arrested and then released. The Burroughs boys continued to fume, their anger growing and spreading through the family until someone decided to call the RCMP. Staff Sergeant Arsenault tired to calm the caller, saying he would send an officer to the house if they could just hang on.
RCMP press liaison officer Dave Roper talks to the author the day after the false arrests. [Print from ATV video tape.]
At two in the morning, Dave Roper’s phone rang, once again waking him from a sound sleep. This public relations job was not what it used to be. Staff Arsenault explained the problem: the Burroughs family wanted to know why they had not been informed about the decision to release the suspects, and they wanted to talk to someone about it. Arsenault asked Roper to try to settle things down with the Burroughs.
On his way over, Roper tried to figure out what he would say. The damage had been done, and there wasn’t much he could do to change it. Roper tried to be a diplomat, not so much defending the RCMP as explaining what had happened. The family convinced Roper that victims should be given a higher priority in investigations like this; it was not enough to drive to their house and inform them that someone they loved was dead. They wanted more from the police; they wanted to be kept informed as the investigation proceeded. Roper promised the family this would be the last time the family learned of a major development from a news report. Now all Dave Roper had to do was convince his superiors, and he was pleasantly surprised by the response from Sylvan Arsenault. Not only would the force agree to inform the Burroughs family before releasing information, but special constables would be assigned to the families of all four victims. These officers would be available to answer any questions they had, not only during the investigation, but also in the months between the arrests and the first court proceedings. It was the beginning of a practice that has since become standard procedure for many police forces. Victims’ rights were beginning to take on a higher priority.
May 9 marked the point in the RCMP investigation when officers began to recover from the false lead and begin a new, highly focused probe aimed at uncovering the mystery presented by McDonald’s employee Derek Wood. Investigators would find out everything they could about Wood, and the next time they sat down face-to-face with the teenager, they would be ready. In the days ahead, almost all the officers involved in the investigation would be told time and time again to go home at the end of the shift, only to be found back at work long before their next shift began.
Many of the investigators credit Sylvan Arsenault with fostering the team atmosphere that developed at the Sydney detachment that week. As coordinator of the probe, Arsenault divided the team into two twelve-hour shifts, so the investigation could continue twenty-four hours a day. He held briefings early every morning, as the night shift finished and the day shift prepared to pick up the thread of the investigation once again. Arsenault’s main point was that there were no menial tasks here; every assignment was a critical component of the case the RCMP would build against the killers. In the first day of the investigation, rookies and senior officers alike found themselves collecting and examining the contents of the garbage receptacles in and around the Sydney River McDonald’s. It was not a pleasant job, but it was one that could produce results. Criminals have been known to discard evidence carelessly in the panic of escaping the scene. That would not prove to be the case in Sydney River, but the police officers gladly rolled up their sleeves and sorted through the assortment of burger, French-fry, and soft-drink containers that filled the bags they had taken from the restaurant.
Corporal John Trickett, who had worked with all the veteran officers and knew the young ones as well, was surprised at the way personality conflicts that had surfaced during other investigations simply disappeared after the McDonald’s murders. People who only days before had felt animosity towards one another became partners committed to working together on a case that consumed them. Detachment commanders marvelled at how quickly and intensely the team came together. Many of the officers caught up in the investigation later pointed to the early-morning briefings as a source of the cohesiveness that developed. Sylvan Arsenault did not simply assign officers to tasks; he explained where the investigation was headed and why a particular job was important. He let everyone know what had been uncovered or ruled out by the previous shift, and what new questions had to be addressed by those coming in.
An investigation with the high profile of this one was not without its drawbacks—the Cynthia Long experience had shown them that—and Arsenault made it clear they could expect other false leads. Any information had to be treated as the key to solving the case. Arsenault and other senior investigators knew only too well that ignoring an apparently ridiculous piece of information could come back to haunt them; if the information found its way to a defence lawyer, the investigating officer had to be able to deal with it in court.
Cleary and Arsenault set up the nucleus of the inquiry in a small office—a room not much bigger than the one in which Derek Wood spent twenty-six hours, and one in which Sylvan Arsenault and Kevin Cleary would spend many, many more. A long table and a set of metal file cabinets dominated the room. On a wall behind the table, a flow chart resembling a family tree plotted the progress of the McDonald’s investigation. Derek Wood’s name on the chart had a number of lines leading away from it, one of them connected to the name Freeman MacNeil. His name, in turn, pointed to others on the chart: during the interview with MacNeil, police learned that his actions on the night of the crime could easily be verified by the people he was with, such as Michelle Sharp and Darren Muise. Those interviews were believed to be formalities, since Sergeant Eagan and Constable Lam
be were certain that young MacNeil had told them all he knew about Derek Wood and his actions on the night of May 6–7.
It was becoming clear that solving this case would take good, old-fashioned police legwork. The forensics experts had had two full days at the crime scene, and it was not telling them enough. Patrick Laturness, an expert in the examination and interpretation of blood patterns, had been flown in from the RCMP Regional Forensic Identification Support Lab in Ottawa. The amount of blood in the restaurant had convinced investigators that Laturness would be able to help them piece together exactly what had occurred. Unfortunately, the large pool of blood around Neil Burroughs had spread away from the body after the killers left, erasing any patterning that could have told Laturness something about the attack. Blood-spatter experts examine the shape of bloodstains to determine whether they are passive or active, and Laturness did discover some active, or cast-off, stains near the garbage can by the rear door where Jimmy had been killed. A cast-off stain shows where blood has made contact after being flung from a moving object, such as a knife or club swung through the air. But the stains on the inside wall by the door at McDonald’s were attributed to the slip and fall of the taxi driver who had run into the restaurant to help ambulance attendants.
Laturness also noted a trail of passive bloodstains (left when blood drips from a static object) leading to the front service counter from the area where Neil Burroughs died. However, it was impossible to determine whether one of the killers had walked down the corridor, or whether the blood had dripped from Kevin Cleary, a taxi driver, an ambulance attendant, or even the medical examiner, all of whom had come in contact with Burroughs.
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