1. W E E K E N D E D I T I O N
Red Deer AdvocateSATURDAY, MARCH 14, 2015
Your trusted local news authority www.reddeeradvocate.com
Four sections
Alberta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3
Business. . . . . . . . . . . .C9,C10
Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4
Classified . . . . . . . . . . . .D6-D8
Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C8
Entertainment . . . . . . . . C3-C5
Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B4-B8
INDEX
PLEASE
RECYCLE
A husband killer in a
sleepy town
CAT’s last dinner theatre of the season is a
delightful Norm Foster comedy .
Story on PAGE C3
FORECAST ON A2
WEATHER
A mix of sun and cloud.
High 15 Low -5.
Photo by Crystal Rhyno/Advocate staff
Red Deer RCMP Sgt. Rob Marsollier holds a potato launcher that was seized in the city. It’s only one of many weapons, some handmade, some modified, that police
keep in strictly managed storage, for possible use in court proceedings.
BodyofevidenceItems kept in meticulous
storage in RCMP evidence
lockers are not only part
of fighting crime,
sometimes they’re almost
a museum of the bizarre
BY CRYSTAL RHYNO
ADVOCATE STAFF
Long after the headlines are forgotten and memo-
ries fade, the evidence used to help solve Red Deer’s
crimes will stand.
In some cases, the evidence is preserved indefi-
nitely.
Take for example a widely publicized case where
a Red Deer woman was reported missing in January
1989. It was alleged that her husband killed and dis-
membered her in their bathtub before removing her
body in a duffle bag. Blood and hair were recovered
in the drain.
The body was never found and the husband has
since died.
However, the smashed shower doors and other
items from the apartment are wrapped and secured
in the exhibit hall in the basement of the downtown
Red Deer RCMP station.
“Every time I think I have seen it all, something
else comes in,” said Bonnie Brown.
Brown is one of two exhibits custodians who are
responsible for cataloguing, tracking and oversee-
ing the evidence in the police storage system in Red
Deer. Her colleague did not want her name used to
protect her privacy.
The shower doors are likely the oldest exhibits
among the diverse array of items collected over the
decades.
Police may have seized the 12,000 exhibits dating
back to the 1980s during homicide cases, drug busts,
traffic stops and other crimes. Hundreds of larger
items, such as trucks, cars and bicycles, are stored
off-site. Hazardous goods, including paint thinners
and gasoline, are also stored on the police com-
pound.
In some circumstances, the items were recovered
from domestic violence situations where weapons
were found in the homes.
Row after row of exhibits brim with a large num-
ber of found property, including cameras, cell-
phones, tools, jewelry, skateboards, phone chargers
and umbrellas.
Then there’s the arsenal of weapons, including
swords, sawed-off shotguns, replica firearms, bats,
modified firearms, bow and arrows, potato guns and
much more.
There’s not much to see in the drug room — rather
it is the smell that gives away the contents. Every-
thing from marijuana, heroin and crystal meth to co-
caine is stored in boxes on the shelves. Large quanti-
ties of drugs seized in grow ops are stored at off-site
locations.
Please see EVIDENCE on Page A2
PAGE B1
CANADA’S DACANADA’S DA
VINCI CODEVINCI CODE
CAPITALCAPITAL
PAGE B4
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