Clifford Olson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007)

Clifford Robert Olson, Jr (born January 1, 1940 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a convicted Canadian serial killer who confessed to killing two children and nine youths in the early 1980s.^[1]

Contents 1 Murders 2 Arrest and plea bargain 3 Parole application 4 Other 5 Film and television 6 References

[edit] Murders

On November 17, 1980, 12-year-old Christine Weller of Surrey, British Columbia was abducted.^[2] She was found on Christmas Day, strangled with a belt and stabbed repeatedly. On April 16, 1981, Colleen Marian Daignault, 13, vanished. It was five months before her body was found. By then, Daryn Todd Johnsrude, 16, had also been abducted and killed. 16-year-old Sandra Wolfsteiner was murdered on May 19 and 13-year-old Ada Court in April.

Six victims follow in quick succession in July 1981: Simon Partington, 9, abducted, raped and strangled on the second day of the month; Judy Kozma, 14, raped and strangled a week later; Raymond King Jr., 15, abducted on July 23, raped and bludgeoned to death; Sigrun Arnd, an 18-year old German tourist, raped and bludgeoned the following day; Terri Lyn Carson, 15, raped and strangled; Louise Chartrand, age 17, the last victim identified, died on July 30.

[edit] Arrest and plea bargain

Olson, who had an extensive criminal history,^[3] was arrested on August 12 on suspicion of attempts to abduct two girls.^[2] He reached a controversial deal with authorities, agreeing to confess to the 11 murders and show police where the bodies of those not recovered were buried, in return for which he wanted $10,000 paid to his wife for each victim; the agreement made, his wife received $100,000 after Olson cooperated with police.^[3] In January 1982, Olson pleaded guilty to 11 counts of murder and was given 11 concurrent life sentences to be served in Canada's maximum-security Special Handling Unit.^[1]

[edit] Parole application

In 1997, Olson was denied parole, for which he applied under Canada's "faint-hope" clause, which allowed a parole hearing for convicts who had served 15 years.^[3] Following public outrage at Olson's behavior at that trial, the Criminal Code in Ottawa was altered to exclude serial killers from that clause.^[4]

Canadian law allows inmates convicted of first-degree murder to apply for parole after serving a minimum of 25 years. Olson's second parole hearing, on July 18, 2006, was also denied.^[4] Olson made many bizarre and false claims, including that the United States had granted him clemency for providing information about the September 11 attacks and that the hearing had no jurisdiction over him because of that..^[4][5] Under Canadian law, Olson is now entitled to make a case for parole every two years.

[edit] Other

"...A life that is clean, a heart that is true, And doing your best, that's success."

Clifford Olson, semifinalist in the 1995 North American Open Poetry Contest. Disqualified upon finding that in 1982 he was convicted of killing eleven children

In 1983, a bill providing for Olson's execution was introduced in the House of Commons. However, the Speaker ruled the bill out of order, providing a precedent against such a bill (a bill of attainder) in the future. ^[6]

[edit] Film and television

• The Investigation, a TV movie, was made in 2002, focusing on allegations that Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) bureaucracy delayed the arrest of Olson. It starred Nicholas Lea, Reece Dinsdale, David Warner and Lochlyn Munro^[7]. The film is based on the accounts of ex-RCMP officers.^[8]

[edit] References