The Detectives (2018) s01e05 Episode Script
Stranger Calling
1 This particular case had an extra level of motivation to it.
[PHONE RINGS.]
I've just never seen anything like that before.
It just had never happened.
Good morning.
600 Group Equipment.
How can I help you? There's a dead body at the back of your lot.
Excuse me? This is Fred Glazinsky.
Please report it to the authorities.
I'm sorry, what did you say? A body? [CALLER HANGS UP.]
[HANGS UP.]
Is everything OK, Rose? Yeah, I just uh Some guy just called, said that there's a dead body in the back.
Kinda sounds like a prank though, right? I don't know.
It just it didn't sound like he was joking.
Yeah.
I wouldn't worry about it too much.
I'm sure it's nothing.
There's so many things that are strange about this investigation.
We do not generally get calls from anonymous people who say "Go look in the back; you'll find a dead body.
" That's the first time that happened.
We just didn't know what else that person was capable of.
[INSECTS BUZZING.]
He was taunting us.
Catch me if you can.
You haven't got me and you're not gonna get me.
And I'm gonna do this again.
This was a crime that affected the whole community.
How many times do we tell young people to be careful about certain circumstances and don't do this, and don't do that.
And this might happen, and this might happen? [DOOR CLOSES.]
99.
9 times, nothing happens.
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER.]
But then all of a sudden, something happens.
It's a parent's nightmare, and it's a community's nightmare.
Ah, hell.
Throughout my career, I've probably worked about 90 homicide cases.
This is certainly one of the more violent crimes I've ever seen.
There was what appeared to be evidence of a sex assault.
But there was also evidence of of behaviour that went well beyond that, well beyond that.
The violence that was perpetrated on this young girl was unspeakable.
You get them to move that tape back, I don't want to see any of these details on the news.
This is somebody's daughter.
The body was lying on her back.
And because there was some disfigurement, you couldn't really see her face.
Who is this individual? How did she get here? Let's see if we can get prints off the body.
We're going to need every piece of evidence we can get on this.
The closer that the suspect comes to the body, there will be some evidence on that body.
What you're looking for is footprints in the area of the body, hairs from the individual, fibres from the individual's clothing.
Fingerprints on the brick and any other pieces of that refuse that were around there, wood, and knowing full well those are tough surfaces to get fingerprints from, but there was a process of taking fingerprints from a dead body.
It had never happened in Canada before.
And we wanted to try that.
[PHONE RINGS.]
[HURRYING FOOTSTEPS.]
600 Group.
[MALE VOICE.]
The future's uncertain.
The end is always near.
And you too are going to die.
[SOBBING.]
We're going to need a list of missing persons that match her description.
And pull the name of every sex offender in the area.
Whoever did this, it wasn't his first time.
600 Group got another call.
Let's go.
This is, this is strange.
I mean, there's so many things that are strange about this investigation.
The future's uncertain, the end is always near, and you're gonna die, bye.
And that was it.
It was a short, succinct call.
[SOBBING.]
Hey.
He called back.
Fred.
What did he say? He said I was going to die.
OK, that's not gonna happen.
Let's get a tap on those phones.
Let's do it now.
We need to find out who's calling.
We don't have a lot of time here.
If we wanted to know where the caller, Fred, was making his calls from, we'd have to make sure that uh, the caller stayed on the line long enough for us to facilitate that tracing equipment.
[PHONE RINGS.]
Rose? If that's Fred, you keep him on the line as long as you can, OK? Now.
Six Hundred Group.
I put dynamite in your building.
You have three minutes before it goes off.
Who who is this? [CALLER HANGS UP.]
Get everybody out of the building.
[FEARFUL GASPING.]
Rose, please.
I need you to stay here, he might call back.
What? It didn't work? We didn't keep him on the phone long enough.
OK.
But he, he said that there's a bomb! He's just toying with you, I promise you.
I will get you out safe and sound.
I'll be right here with you.
OK? I'm gonna make sure you're safe.
[RAGGED BREATHING.]
- All right? - OK.
Based on experience, when you get the bomb threat, the first thing you think of is that this is a diversion.
You get bomb threats all the time.
I don't recall ever a bomb going off.
But obviously, every time one of those bomb threats come in, you gotta have something in your mind that says this might be something that's, that's real.
But maybe he's gonna call again.
So we explained to Mrs.
Hayden that for us to be able to trace those calls, we need her to, to stay on the phone a little bit longer.
Obviously, we're right beside her at all times.
[PHONE RINGS.]
Hello? 90 seconds left.
Then it's over.
Wh where did you plant the dynamite? Two doors down from you.
Better run.
Who who are you? In a few seconds from now, it won't matter.
Let's go.
Everything is happening at a very, very rapid pace.
The caller by the name of Fred that says that there was a dead body in the back of the 600 Group.
And now you've got this bomb threat.
[BLARING SIRENS.]
Rod, over here! [SHOUTS.]
[SIRENS CONTINUE.]
Ten seconds.
Five seconds.
Four, three, two, one It's OK.
It's OK.
Is it over? Almost.
You did great, Rose.
You were very brave.
Did I keep him on the line long enough? We're gonna know soon enough.
And I know it wasn't easy, but you did the right thing.
Let's get you outta here.
As time ticked on from the time it was supposed to go off, we were pretty comfortable that this was a hoax.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
The team's in there now, searching for dynamite.
And we got information from the trace.
The call came from the Wilron building, right behind this one.
That's within sight of the crime scene.
Yeah.
I'll get a team in there now, secure the building, make sure no one leaves.
All right, not yet.
I don't want to alert the caller we're onto him.
Get access to that building after hours.
Let's get in there, see what we can find.
We want him to think he's got the upper hand for now.
All right.
This is a great investigative piece that came to us that the calls were coming from the Wilron Industries.
But if we were to walk down and say "Hi, we're from Peel Regional Police.
Somebody's been making some calls there", a whole myriad of things could happen.
The individual that we're talking to might be the caller.
So, it had to be very strategic.
We really have to categorize what kind of evidence we've got so far.
You find something? Burnt hair.
We got a possible ID.
A teenage girl from the area was reported missing last night.
Description fits.
Is there a name on the missing girl? Darlene Prioriello.
Lives on Bloor Street.
We talk to the family yet? Not yet.
All right.
I'll go.
If it is her, it's best they hear it from us.
We've learned that a young female, 16 years old, had gone missing.
She'd been visiting somebody and had not come home.
We were given general description of what she looked like.
Uh, her hair color, the length of her hair.
And from the knowledge that we had at the crime scene, we were reasonably certain that this could be the same person.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
How I'm going to do this, this notification that potentially this is their daughter.
Everything has to be done with some sort of support, some sort of empathy for what they're going through, but we do have to get to the root of the matter and identify this person conclusively.
[DOOR OPENS.]
You're here for Dolly? Dolly? Is that short for Darlene Prioriello? Yes.
My sister.
Did you find her? May I come in? [DOOR CLOSES.]
Is there someone else home with you? No um, I'm alone.
My mother's still out there looking for Dolly.
But can you please tell me what's going on here? Very, very carefully I explained to her that we'd found a female who matched the description, and unfortunately, she was deceased.
[SOBBING.]
She wanted to know some circumstances, and all I could really tell her is that, you know, we had found her at the back of a factory.
Terri, are you home? - Whose car is that? - That's mine, ma'am.
I'm with Peel Regional Police.
Did you find my daughter? Come with me, Mom.
What's going on? Is she OK? Mom, Mom, look at me.
Is she OK? She immediately knew something was up.
And it's not good news.
No.
How do you know it's her? We don't.
We're not sure.
That's what we're trying to figure out.
Can you tell me what she was wearing? She was wearing blue jeans uh, a black sweater, a lumber jacket and um, and her favorite necklace.
The clothes match the body we found, Ma'am, I'm so sorry.
It doesn't mean it's her! Lots of girls dress like that.
[SOBBING.]
Take me to her.
I, I want to see her.
It's just a terrible thing for them.
They've expected the worst, but they, they've also hoped for the best.
And now, here's this detective coming around to their door and telling them it's the worst.
And also telling them that the only way we can truly confirm that is to have an identification made of the body.
You have to feel for Mrs.
Prioriello that really sees this as her responsibility to go to the morgue and to identify somebody that's potentially your daughter.
[SLOW PIANO AND VIOLIN.]
[MUSIC INTENSIFIES.]
Because there was some disfigurement, she couldn't conclusively identify the body.
It's not a good picture for a mother to remember.
It really isn't.
Um, I can feel for Mrs.
Prioriello.
If a parent or a loved one cannot make a positive ID of the deceased by simply looking at them, we have to move to alternative means.
In this case, we took hair samples and fingerprints from personal items of Darlene.
Darlene was a 16-year-old girl going to school who had a multitude of friends.
We've learned that she liked horses and horse riding and, and music and fashion and she had a boyfriend.
[MUSIC BOX PLAYS.]
[MUSIC BOX PLAYS.]
The information that the family provided to us was that Dolly had last been seen with the boyfriend.
So this, this is pretty critical.
I mean, the last person to see anyone is always is always a big red flag.
We want to find out if he may have something to do with this death.
When the movie was done, she was worried it was past curfew.
She didn't want to miss the bus, so I walked her here to make sure she was safe.
This is it.
We were a little bit early, so I waited with her.
PIUKKALA: And so what, you just, you just talked? What did you talk about? We just talked about the movie.
And then what, she got on the bus? And you saw her get on the bus? - No.
- No? The bus was late.
You left her alone? I wanted to wait with her until the bus came, but she insisted.
I can see the bus stop from my bedroom.
So I ran there as fast as I could.
But when I got there, she was gone.
I thought she took the bus.
I should have stayed.
He had immeasurable amount of guilt, I'm sure, because he'd walked her to a bus stop and left her there.
He was interviewed, and all the responses were appropriate and we were able to eliminate him as being a suspect.
[PHONE RINGS.]
Hello? [BREATHY MALE VOICE.]
I killed her.
[SLAMS PHONE DOWN.]
The caller was taunting the family.
Why someone would do this we just couldn't fathom that.
We couldn't understand why that was happening.
A lot of people asked us why we didn't immediately go to Wilron Industries and, and say, "Somebody here's making some calls.
" "Who have you got working in the, the factory?" And, well, we don't have any evidence at this point to tie the caller to the crime itself.
We had to be very strategic.
We needed to find out who we could trust at Wilron Industries, and we did a significant amount of investigation before we met with the owner of Wilron Industries, Hal Pells.
PELLS: We've got anywhere from 15 to 25 people working down here on weekdays.
PIUKKALA: I don't see any phones around here.
PELLS: Well, not every work station has one.
They all use the same phone.
Can you take me to it? Follow me.
This is it.
Anyone working the floor that day would have made those calls from right here.
[DOOR RATTLES.]
View of the crime scene.
You got a list of everyone who was working here at the time? I could put one together for you.
You mind doing that while we take a look around? Sure.
I'll be up in my office.
Thank you.
We should dust this phone for prints if everyone on that list shares it.
It's a long shot, I know.
[SIGH.]
It's gonna be a long night.
It could have been possible that it was a prank caller.
Wilron was pretty darn close to uh, the 600 Group.
You could see into the back yard where the body had been found.
Yes, there's a caller, but is the caller the killer? We could check for fingerprints on the phone and compare them to the fingerprints on the body.
If it worked, it was going to be critical to us to link that caller to the actual murder.
[DOOR OPENS WITH A SQUEAK.]
[DOOR CLOSES.]
How's it coming? Slow.
It's a new procedure.
It's it's delicate.
Never done it before.
There's a lot of trial and error.
It's going to take time.
Is it gonna work? We'll find out.
You could see what appeared to be palm or finger marks on her thighs that spread them apart.
So that reinforced the, the issue of a sexual assault.
Gentlemen.
The victim is 16-year old Darlene Prioriello.
Her friends and family call her Dolly.
By all accounts, an angel of a girl.
Calls to the 600 Group were traced to the Wilron Equipment building.
Now, we have good leads on the caller and we're following those up.
But we have no hard evidence that he's the killer.
We're hoping that he calls back and incriminates himself.
But if he gets wind of what we're doing here, that won't happen.
So no one no one outside of this room can know that we traced those calls.
That said, without proof that links the caller to the crime scene, we need to look into every other possibility.
The crime scene suggests a disorganized killer.
It's probably a a lust murderer.
Someone who gets sexual satisfaction from violence.
This could be a rapist whose fantasies are becoming more and more violent.
So, we've compiled a list of sex offenders in the area whose profiles may fit with Darlene's murder.
The person who committed this crime is out there right now.
Now we need to stay focused and get him off the streets.
We can't have another Darlene on our hands.
[PHONE RINGS.]
It was obvious from the crime scene that there was some sort of sexual gratification involved in this.
Part of our focus was looking at what other type of sex offenders did we have out on the loose? Keeping in mind though, that the violence that was perpetrated on young Darlene Prioriello that evening went well beyond your normal sex offender.
So we look at people who had not only committed sex offenses, but had a tendency towards uh, violence against women.
D'Arc, why is Ronald Brian Perkins on the list? I arrested him, he should be in jail.
He should be.
He escaped.
How? It happened during a transfer for a psychiatric assessment at the Queen Street Mental Health Centre.
There was one high profile offender that was known as the Mississauga Rapist, Ronald Brian Perkins.
I was one of the two arresting officers on that.
He's been accused of committing sexual offenses; he's been active in Mississauga, and he's escaped.
He's on the loose.
Where is he? You brought him in.
Any thoughts on where we should look? Let me think about it.
It was unlikely that Ronald Perkins be the caller, because I was quite certain he didn't work at Wilron.
But he had committed some serious crimes.
I knew his way of acting and what he was capable of.
[HANGS UP PHONE.]
We needed to find him.
Perkins? It's like he just disappeared.
How about the caller? Honer's on it, but the calls have stopped.
[SIGH.]
People are scared out there, Rod.
Women are afraid to go out after dark.
They're avoiding public transportation.
If they can't travel by car, they're staying home.
Might smoke the caller out.
Look, this guy, he loves attention.
We go to the press.
And tell them what, exactly? That we've got nothing to show them.
That's exactly what we tell them.
We tell them we have nothing.
What's that mean? We know Perkins isn't the caller, so we go to the press conference and we focus on Perkins, we ignore the calls.
This guy's gonna feel ignored; he's gonna start calling.
There are circumstances where we will release information to the media that we hope will stimulate that individual and to push that individual into incriminating himself.
How can we get him to continue those calls? Because if he does, there's somewhere he's gonna slip up and make a mistake.
We're looking for this man, Ronald Brian Perkins.
Some of you may remember him as the "Mississauga Rapist".
He was arrested and charged with eight assaults but escaped custody and is currently at large.
He should be considered violent and dangerous.
We're offering a one-thousand-dollar reward for anything leading to his capture and arrest.
It was a very high-profile incident in the community, so there was lots of attention being focussed upon this particular investigation.
FEMALE REPORTER: Ronald Brian Perkins was 26 when he was arrested for nine sex attacks on women in Peel region and four in Toronto.
While on his way to the Clarke Institute for psychiatric assessment in the company of a hospital guard and a nurse, Perkins bolted.
MALE REPORTER: The capture of Perkins is a matter of top priority, not just for Metro Police, but also for lawmen in Peel region.
And it worked.
The calls started picking up again.
Third call from "Fred".
[BACKGROUND PHONE CONVERSATIONS.]
Well, I guess he didn't much like being ignored by the media.
He's called Darlene's school; he's called the cemetery; he's called the funeral parlor.
He called a journalist at the Mississauga News.
Said he killed Darlene and he'd kill again if we didn't stop him.
His message to us: "Set your bait and try to catch me.
" [PHONE RINGS.]
Detective Honer.
It's for you This is Wingate.
This is Fred.
[WHISPERS.]
It's Fred.
Fred who? There's a present for you at the Lakeview Library.
I suggest you go and pick it up.
Alone.
It's for you.
This is Wingate.
There's a present for you at the Lakeview Library.
The caller seemed to be following the media.
So it was only natural that when he wanted to contact the police, he reached out to Jim Wingate directly.
And he said there's a package to be picked up at the Lakeview Library.
It's addressed to you.
Uh, excuse me.
Can I help you? I'm Inspector James Wingate, Peel Regional Police.
Has anything been left here for us? Uh, hold on.
Is this what you're looking for? It was in the return bin.
That's the girl I saw on the news, right? The one that was killed? Why would someone leave that here? Don't worry, ma'am.
We'll take care of everything.
Have you noticed anything unusual? Anyone hanging around, people acting strangely? No, I should I be worried? If you notice anything strange, you'll please let us know, OK? Thank you.
He was taunting us.
You haven't got me, and you're not gonna get me, and I'm gonna do this again.
We really knew that that was an important break.
I mean, that was an important cog in this wheel as far as solving this investigation.
We had very, very high expectations that there was going to be something in that package to tie the caller to the killer.
It was a very chilling moment when we opened that package and saw what was in there.
We found a lighter and a necklace belonging to Dolly Prioriello.
There was also a four-page chronological account of the, the homicide.
"At 11:05, I picked her up hitchhiking at Dixie Road.
I drove through every red light and stop sign so she couldn't jump out.
" "I lunged at her in the back seat.
She screamed, and I just kept telling her "be quiet".
I can still feel the tension in the room when we were reading that.
It sent a chill through everybody that read it.
There was definitely phrases and, and descriptions in there that were horrifying.
We're all human beings who read this letter and you can say, what did this young lady go through? We still had gaps as to what had actually transpired that evening and it filled them all in.
It went from the time he picked her up to the time she was dead.
It was the final straw.
What we didn't tell anyone is that the first day we knew who the caller was.
When we opened that package, we knew who had delivered it.
We had known for a couple of days.
From the first day, we found out that that call went back to Wilron, where he worked.
I don't see any phones around here.
Well, not every work station has one.
They all use the same phone.
Can you take me to it? The caller had no idea of what was happening behind the scenes.
He didn't know that we were able to go to Wilron equipment and talk to Mr.
Pells, who took us out into the shop area where we found a critical piece of evidence.
- Darcy! - Yeah.
Come here.
"The future's uncertain and the end is always near.
" The future is uncertain and the end is always near was written out on his uh, work desk.
That was what was said in the call.
We knew we were on the right track.
But we just didn't have enough evidence at that point uh, to lay a charge against that individual.
Even if he said he was the, the person who made the calls, it still doesn't prove the intent to commit that murder.
There's logical steps that have to be followed, and you need all the evidence you can get to convict somebody.
We identified the individual that was making these calls as David Dobson.
We wire-tapped his phones at his residence and put immediate physical surveillance on him on a twenty-four-hour basis.
There's a present for you at the Lakeview Library.
And then all of a sudden, we now have this individual calling the lead investigator and delivering a confession.
We were in full surveillance mode when he delivered that package to the Lakeview Library.
This has gone beyond just a caller.
We now have hard evidence that we can source back to this individual.
We had enough evidence to move and make the arrest.
[CAR DOORS SLAM.]
David Dobson? David! You're under arrest for the murder of Darlene Prioriello.
David? What's going on? When we arrested David Dobson, he was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
- David, what's happening? - Ma'am, Police.
What are you doing? David! Sir! I need you to stay where you are.
We tell him he's under arrest for the brutal murder of a young, innocent 16-year-old girl and it was like we told him it was going to be cold out this afternoon, you know.
There was no visible reaction.
MRS.
DOBSON: There has to be some mistake! Ma'am, I realize this is a shock, but we just need to bring your son down to the station we're gonna figure a few things out.
The bomb threat, all those calls, the package, the letter, and the violence itself.
MRS.
DOBSON: That's my son! How could this 17-year-old do this? I would describe David Dobson as an unlikely killer.
He was only 17 years old, had not had any record of criminal activity.
So this was, this was different.
This was unique.
I'm sure a lot of thoughts were going through Dobson's mind as to was this the end? Could he talk his way out of this? What would be the defense of this accused? What can he say? You've got the wrong person? That wasn't me; I was just making a story up and you don't know any different? Could he say he was mentally deficient? He was insane? She was standing on the north side of the street, and I pulled up and asked if she needed a ride.
And I took her to the factory cause I knew no one would be there.
And I put it in park.
And then I jumped over the back seat and got on top of her and He talked in a very matter-of-fact tone telling me how this happened from the time he picked up Darlene Prioriello that evening, attacked her and raped her.
And I told her it was over and she wanted to sit in the front seat.
So I reached into the driver's side window and there was a brick on the floor that I'd put there, and I, I picked it up, and she started screaming, "Oh no!" And, and that's when I saw the bigger brick.
Why? Why'd you do it? I guess I thought I'd, I'd get in trouble or she'd say I-I, I raped her.
So you killed her.
Tortured her.
How can a 17-year-old in this society be capable of doing this type of crime? It has to be a mistake.
I know he didn't do this! Ma'am, I told you, we have to PIUKKALA: It's all right.
I want them to see David.
You know, no matter what your child does, he's still your child.
You want to make sure that his rights are protected as much as possible.
Of an evidentiary value, it was important for us that he, he told the parents in front of us, right? Because it removes all that element of "my son didn't do this, my son couldn't do this.
" He told them.
David.
Tell them you didn't do this.
Make him understand.
Tell them.
PIUKKALA: Go ahead, David.
Tell them.
Tell them what you told me.
Tell them how Darlene Prioriello died.
DAVID: OK.
David? Hey, David, you don't have to say anything.
No, no.
It's OK.
It's OK.
Um, after she fell down, I uh, I hit her with the bigger brick.
You remember I told you about the bigger brick, right? I remember.
David No.
Please, don't! Dad, dad.
Sorry.
So, I, I dragged her through the field, and all her clothes kept getting bunched up around her, her shoulders [CONTINUES IN BACKGROUND.]
We're in this room with David Dobson, and he is telling us a story of how this happened.
In his words from the time he picked up Darlene Prioriello that evening and raped her, attacked her, and killed her.
He told the entire story, such a violent story, such a violent death.
And he never, ever said that wasn't me.
Is that OK? Yeah.
[SOBBING.]
Mom.
[SOBBING.]
Mom! Shh.
I'm sure they felt that that's not the son we raised.
Who is this young man that we used to call our son? [SOBBING CONTINUES.]
They lost their son that day as well.
MALE REPORTER: The body of Darlene Prioriello was found last Friday morning at the rear of a factory at 5220 General Road in Mississauga.
She was last seen the night before when her boyfriend dropped her off at a bus stop on the north service road at Cawthra.
This morning, Peel Regional Police arrested a 17-year-old factory worker as he left his home.
Charged with first-degree murder is David James Dobson of Haig Boulevard in Mississauga.
Dobson is scheduled to appear in provincial court in Brampton tomorrow.
Kevin Timble, CBC News, Mississauga.
It's hard for a family to be elated that the police made an arrest.
I think they feel vindicated that somebody's gonna pay for this but it's not gonna bring back their child, right? It can't.
I'm so sorry for everything that you've been through.
Thank you.
At least it's over now.
I don't think it'll ever be over.
Will he ever get out? That's up to the courts.
No.
He won't.
We'll make sure of that.
All of us.
We had enough evidence to bring him to trial and be successful in our prosecution.
We got fingerprints on the body.
All those calls and the, the package, and the letter, and the confession.
He got the worst penalty that was allowed, the strongest.
First degree murder, minimum of 25 years in jail.
David Dobson was 17 years old when he confessed.
He served 25 years of his life sentence and is now eligible for parole.
But the Prioriello's believe Dobson will strike again.
That's why they're fighting to keep him behind bars.
Every two years, we will be losing her all over again.
Terri Prioriello says she's going to wear Darlene's jean jacket when she reads her victim's impact statement.
She says she's determined to make her sister's presence felt and keep her memory alive.
The Prioriello family have been very strong in their advocacy to keep David Dobson behind bars and I applaud them for that.
David Dobson is still in jail today, since May of 1983.
I knew and all our whole team knew, and all our investigators knew exactly what he'd done.
And it was vicious; it was violent, abhorrent.
It was inhumane what he did.
How did this happen? I don't think we'll ever know.
[PHONE RINGS.]
I've just never seen anything like that before.
It just had never happened.
Good morning.
600 Group Equipment.
How can I help you? There's a dead body at the back of your lot.
Excuse me? This is Fred Glazinsky.
Please report it to the authorities.
I'm sorry, what did you say? A body? [CALLER HANGS UP.]
[HANGS UP.]
Is everything OK, Rose? Yeah, I just uh Some guy just called, said that there's a dead body in the back.
Kinda sounds like a prank though, right? I don't know.
It just it didn't sound like he was joking.
Yeah.
I wouldn't worry about it too much.
I'm sure it's nothing.
There's so many things that are strange about this investigation.
We do not generally get calls from anonymous people who say "Go look in the back; you'll find a dead body.
" That's the first time that happened.
We just didn't know what else that person was capable of.
[INSECTS BUZZING.]
He was taunting us.
Catch me if you can.
You haven't got me and you're not gonna get me.
And I'm gonna do this again.
This was a crime that affected the whole community.
How many times do we tell young people to be careful about certain circumstances and don't do this, and don't do that.
And this might happen, and this might happen? [DOOR CLOSES.]
99.
9 times, nothing happens.
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER.]
But then all of a sudden, something happens.
It's a parent's nightmare, and it's a community's nightmare.
Ah, hell.
Throughout my career, I've probably worked about 90 homicide cases.
This is certainly one of the more violent crimes I've ever seen.
There was what appeared to be evidence of a sex assault.
But there was also evidence of of behaviour that went well beyond that, well beyond that.
The violence that was perpetrated on this young girl was unspeakable.
You get them to move that tape back, I don't want to see any of these details on the news.
This is somebody's daughter.
The body was lying on her back.
And because there was some disfigurement, you couldn't really see her face.
Who is this individual? How did she get here? Let's see if we can get prints off the body.
We're going to need every piece of evidence we can get on this.
The closer that the suspect comes to the body, there will be some evidence on that body.
What you're looking for is footprints in the area of the body, hairs from the individual, fibres from the individual's clothing.
Fingerprints on the brick and any other pieces of that refuse that were around there, wood, and knowing full well those are tough surfaces to get fingerprints from, but there was a process of taking fingerprints from a dead body.
It had never happened in Canada before.
And we wanted to try that.
[PHONE RINGS.]
[HURRYING FOOTSTEPS.]
600 Group.
[MALE VOICE.]
The future's uncertain.
The end is always near.
And you too are going to die.
[SOBBING.]
We're going to need a list of missing persons that match her description.
And pull the name of every sex offender in the area.
Whoever did this, it wasn't his first time.
600 Group got another call.
Let's go.
This is, this is strange.
I mean, there's so many things that are strange about this investigation.
The future's uncertain, the end is always near, and you're gonna die, bye.
And that was it.
It was a short, succinct call.
[SOBBING.]
Hey.
He called back.
Fred.
What did he say? He said I was going to die.
OK, that's not gonna happen.
Let's get a tap on those phones.
Let's do it now.
We need to find out who's calling.
We don't have a lot of time here.
If we wanted to know where the caller, Fred, was making his calls from, we'd have to make sure that uh, the caller stayed on the line long enough for us to facilitate that tracing equipment.
[PHONE RINGS.]
Rose? If that's Fred, you keep him on the line as long as you can, OK? Now.
Six Hundred Group.
I put dynamite in your building.
You have three minutes before it goes off.
Who who is this? [CALLER HANGS UP.]
Get everybody out of the building.
[FEARFUL GASPING.]
Rose, please.
I need you to stay here, he might call back.
What? It didn't work? We didn't keep him on the phone long enough.
OK.
But he, he said that there's a bomb! He's just toying with you, I promise you.
I will get you out safe and sound.
I'll be right here with you.
OK? I'm gonna make sure you're safe.
[RAGGED BREATHING.]
- All right? - OK.
Based on experience, when you get the bomb threat, the first thing you think of is that this is a diversion.
You get bomb threats all the time.
I don't recall ever a bomb going off.
But obviously, every time one of those bomb threats come in, you gotta have something in your mind that says this might be something that's, that's real.
But maybe he's gonna call again.
So we explained to Mrs.
Hayden that for us to be able to trace those calls, we need her to, to stay on the phone a little bit longer.
Obviously, we're right beside her at all times.
[PHONE RINGS.]
Hello? 90 seconds left.
Then it's over.
Wh where did you plant the dynamite? Two doors down from you.
Better run.
Who who are you? In a few seconds from now, it won't matter.
Let's go.
Everything is happening at a very, very rapid pace.
The caller by the name of Fred that says that there was a dead body in the back of the 600 Group.
And now you've got this bomb threat.
[BLARING SIRENS.]
Rod, over here! [SHOUTS.]
[SIRENS CONTINUE.]
Ten seconds.
Five seconds.
Four, three, two, one It's OK.
It's OK.
Is it over? Almost.
You did great, Rose.
You were very brave.
Did I keep him on the line long enough? We're gonna know soon enough.
And I know it wasn't easy, but you did the right thing.
Let's get you outta here.
As time ticked on from the time it was supposed to go off, we were pretty comfortable that this was a hoax.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
The team's in there now, searching for dynamite.
And we got information from the trace.
The call came from the Wilron building, right behind this one.
That's within sight of the crime scene.
Yeah.
I'll get a team in there now, secure the building, make sure no one leaves.
All right, not yet.
I don't want to alert the caller we're onto him.
Get access to that building after hours.
Let's get in there, see what we can find.
We want him to think he's got the upper hand for now.
All right.
This is a great investigative piece that came to us that the calls were coming from the Wilron Industries.
But if we were to walk down and say "Hi, we're from Peel Regional Police.
Somebody's been making some calls there", a whole myriad of things could happen.
The individual that we're talking to might be the caller.
So, it had to be very strategic.
We really have to categorize what kind of evidence we've got so far.
You find something? Burnt hair.
We got a possible ID.
A teenage girl from the area was reported missing last night.
Description fits.
Is there a name on the missing girl? Darlene Prioriello.
Lives on Bloor Street.
We talk to the family yet? Not yet.
All right.
I'll go.
If it is her, it's best they hear it from us.
We've learned that a young female, 16 years old, had gone missing.
She'd been visiting somebody and had not come home.
We were given general description of what she looked like.
Uh, her hair color, the length of her hair.
And from the knowledge that we had at the crime scene, we were reasonably certain that this could be the same person.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
How I'm going to do this, this notification that potentially this is their daughter.
Everything has to be done with some sort of support, some sort of empathy for what they're going through, but we do have to get to the root of the matter and identify this person conclusively.
[DOOR OPENS.]
You're here for Dolly? Dolly? Is that short for Darlene Prioriello? Yes.
My sister.
Did you find her? May I come in? [DOOR CLOSES.]
Is there someone else home with you? No um, I'm alone.
My mother's still out there looking for Dolly.
But can you please tell me what's going on here? Very, very carefully I explained to her that we'd found a female who matched the description, and unfortunately, she was deceased.
[SOBBING.]
She wanted to know some circumstances, and all I could really tell her is that, you know, we had found her at the back of a factory.
Terri, are you home? - Whose car is that? - That's mine, ma'am.
I'm with Peel Regional Police.
Did you find my daughter? Come with me, Mom.
What's going on? Is she OK? Mom, Mom, look at me.
Is she OK? She immediately knew something was up.
And it's not good news.
No.
How do you know it's her? We don't.
We're not sure.
That's what we're trying to figure out.
Can you tell me what she was wearing? She was wearing blue jeans uh, a black sweater, a lumber jacket and um, and her favorite necklace.
The clothes match the body we found, Ma'am, I'm so sorry.
It doesn't mean it's her! Lots of girls dress like that.
[SOBBING.]
Take me to her.
I, I want to see her.
It's just a terrible thing for them.
They've expected the worst, but they, they've also hoped for the best.
And now, here's this detective coming around to their door and telling them it's the worst.
And also telling them that the only way we can truly confirm that is to have an identification made of the body.
You have to feel for Mrs.
Prioriello that really sees this as her responsibility to go to the morgue and to identify somebody that's potentially your daughter.
[SLOW PIANO AND VIOLIN.]
[MUSIC INTENSIFIES.]
Because there was some disfigurement, she couldn't conclusively identify the body.
It's not a good picture for a mother to remember.
It really isn't.
Um, I can feel for Mrs.
Prioriello.
If a parent or a loved one cannot make a positive ID of the deceased by simply looking at them, we have to move to alternative means.
In this case, we took hair samples and fingerprints from personal items of Darlene.
Darlene was a 16-year-old girl going to school who had a multitude of friends.
We've learned that she liked horses and horse riding and, and music and fashion and she had a boyfriend.
[MUSIC BOX PLAYS.]
[MUSIC BOX PLAYS.]
The information that the family provided to us was that Dolly had last been seen with the boyfriend.
So this, this is pretty critical.
I mean, the last person to see anyone is always is always a big red flag.
We want to find out if he may have something to do with this death.
When the movie was done, she was worried it was past curfew.
She didn't want to miss the bus, so I walked her here to make sure she was safe.
This is it.
We were a little bit early, so I waited with her.
PIUKKALA: And so what, you just, you just talked? What did you talk about? We just talked about the movie.
And then what, she got on the bus? And you saw her get on the bus? - No.
- No? The bus was late.
You left her alone? I wanted to wait with her until the bus came, but she insisted.
I can see the bus stop from my bedroom.
So I ran there as fast as I could.
But when I got there, she was gone.
I thought she took the bus.
I should have stayed.
He had immeasurable amount of guilt, I'm sure, because he'd walked her to a bus stop and left her there.
He was interviewed, and all the responses were appropriate and we were able to eliminate him as being a suspect.
[PHONE RINGS.]
Hello? [BREATHY MALE VOICE.]
I killed her.
[SLAMS PHONE DOWN.]
The caller was taunting the family.
Why someone would do this we just couldn't fathom that.
We couldn't understand why that was happening.
A lot of people asked us why we didn't immediately go to Wilron Industries and, and say, "Somebody here's making some calls.
" "Who have you got working in the, the factory?" And, well, we don't have any evidence at this point to tie the caller to the crime itself.
We had to be very strategic.
We needed to find out who we could trust at Wilron Industries, and we did a significant amount of investigation before we met with the owner of Wilron Industries, Hal Pells.
PELLS: We've got anywhere from 15 to 25 people working down here on weekdays.
PIUKKALA: I don't see any phones around here.
PELLS: Well, not every work station has one.
They all use the same phone.
Can you take me to it? Follow me.
This is it.
Anyone working the floor that day would have made those calls from right here.
[DOOR RATTLES.]
View of the crime scene.
You got a list of everyone who was working here at the time? I could put one together for you.
You mind doing that while we take a look around? Sure.
I'll be up in my office.
Thank you.
We should dust this phone for prints if everyone on that list shares it.
It's a long shot, I know.
[SIGH.]
It's gonna be a long night.
It could have been possible that it was a prank caller.
Wilron was pretty darn close to uh, the 600 Group.
You could see into the back yard where the body had been found.
Yes, there's a caller, but is the caller the killer? We could check for fingerprints on the phone and compare them to the fingerprints on the body.
If it worked, it was going to be critical to us to link that caller to the actual murder.
[DOOR OPENS WITH A SQUEAK.]
[DOOR CLOSES.]
How's it coming? Slow.
It's a new procedure.
It's it's delicate.
Never done it before.
There's a lot of trial and error.
It's going to take time.
Is it gonna work? We'll find out.
You could see what appeared to be palm or finger marks on her thighs that spread them apart.
So that reinforced the, the issue of a sexual assault.
Gentlemen.
The victim is 16-year old Darlene Prioriello.
Her friends and family call her Dolly.
By all accounts, an angel of a girl.
Calls to the 600 Group were traced to the Wilron Equipment building.
Now, we have good leads on the caller and we're following those up.
But we have no hard evidence that he's the killer.
We're hoping that he calls back and incriminates himself.
But if he gets wind of what we're doing here, that won't happen.
So no one no one outside of this room can know that we traced those calls.
That said, without proof that links the caller to the crime scene, we need to look into every other possibility.
The crime scene suggests a disorganized killer.
It's probably a a lust murderer.
Someone who gets sexual satisfaction from violence.
This could be a rapist whose fantasies are becoming more and more violent.
So, we've compiled a list of sex offenders in the area whose profiles may fit with Darlene's murder.
The person who committed this crime is out there right now.
Now we need to stay focused and get him off the streets.
We can't have another Darlene on our hands.
[PHONE RINGS.]
It was obvious from the crime scene that there was some sort of sexual gratification involved in this.
Part of our focus was looking at what other type of sex offenders did we have out on the loose? Keeping in mind though, that the violence that was perpetrated on young Darlene Prioriello that evening went well beyond your normal sex offender.
So we look at people who had not only committed sex offenses, but had a tendency towards uh, violence against women.
D'Arc, why is Ronald Brian Perkins on the list? I arrested him, he should be in jail.
He should be.
He escaped.
How? It happened during a transfer for a psychiatric assessment at the Queen Street Mental Health Centre.
There was one high profile offender that was known as the Mississauga Rapist, Ronald Brian Perkins.
I was one of the two arresting officers on that.
He's been accused of committing sexual offenses; he's been active in Mississauga, and he's escaped.
He's on the loose.
Where is he? You brought him in.
Any thoughts on where we should look? Let me think about it.
It was unlikely that Ronald Perkins be the caller, because I was quite certain he didn't work at Wilron.
But he had committed some serious crimes.
I knew his way of acting and what he was capable of.
[HANGS UP PHONE.]
We needed to find him.
Perkins? It's like he just disappeared.
How about the caller? Honer's on it, but the calls have stopped.
[SIGH.]
People are scared out there, Rod.
Women are afraid to go out after dark.
They're avoiding public transportation.
If they can't travel by car, they're staying home.
Might smoke the caller out.
Look, this guy, he loves attention.
We go to the press.
And tell them what, exactly? That we've got nothing to show them.
That's exactly what we tell them.
We tell them we have nothing.
What's that mean? We know Perkins isn't the caller, so we go to the press conference and we focus on Perkins, we ignore the calls.
This guy's gonna feel ignored; he's gonna start calling.
There are circumstances where we will release information to the media that we hope will stimulate that individual and to push that individual into incriminating himself.
How can we get him to continue those calls? Because if he does, there's somewhere he's gonna slip up and make a mistake.
We're looking for this man, Ronald Brian Perkins.
Some of you may remember him as the "Mississauga Rapist".
He was arrested and charged with eight assaults but escaped custody and is currently at large.
He should be considered violent and dangerous.
We're offering a one-thousand-dollar reward for anything leading to his capture and arrest.
It was a very high-profile incident in the community, so there was lots of attention being focussed upon this particular investigation.
FEMALE REPORTER: Ronald Brian Perkins was 26 when he was arrested for nine sex attacks on women in Peel region and four in Toronto.
While on his way to the Clarke Institute for psychiatric assessment in the company of a hospital guard and a nurse, Perkins bolted.
MALE REPORTER: The capture of Perkins is a matter of top priority, not just for Metro Police, but also for lawmen in Peel region.
And it worked.
The calls started picking up again.
Third call from "Fred".
[BACKGROUND PHONE CONVERSATIONS.]
Well, I guess he didn't much like being ignored by the media.
He's called Darlene's school; he's called the cemetery; he's called the funeral parlor.
He called a journalist at the Mississauga News.
Said he killed Darlene and he'd kill again if we didn't stop him.
His message to us: "Set your bait and try to catch me.
" [PHONE RINGS.]
Detective Honer.
It's for you This is Wingate.
This is Fred.
[WHISPERS.]
It's Fred.
Fred who? There's a present for you at the Lakeview Library.
I suggest you go and pick it up.
Alone.
It's for you.
This is Wingate.
There's a present for you at the Lakeview Library.
The caller seemed to be following the media.
So it was only natural that when he wanted to contact the police, he reached out to Jim Wingate directly.
And he said there's a package to be picked up at the Lakeview Library.
It's addressed to you.
Uh, excuse me.
Can I help you? I'm Inspector James Wingate, Peel Regional Police.
Has anything been left here for us? Uh, hold on.
Is this what you're looking for? It was in the return bin.
That's the girl I saw on the news, right? The one that was killed? Why would someone leave that here? Don't worry, ma'am.
We'll take care of everything.
Have you noticed anything unusual? Anyone hanging around, people acting strangely? No, I should I be worried? If you notice anything strange, you'll please let us know, OK? Thank you.
He was taunting us.
You haven't got me, and you're not gonna get me, and I'm gonna do this again.
We really knew that that was an important break.
I mean, that was an important cog in this wheel as far as solving this investigation.
We had very, very high expectations that there was going to be something in that package to tie the caller to the killer.
It was a very chilling moment when we opened that package and saw what was in there.
We found a lighter and a necklace belonging to Dolly Prioriello.
There was also a four-page chronological account of the, the homicide.
"At 11:05, I picked her up hitchhiking at Dixie Road.
I drove through every red light and stop sign so she couldn't jump out.
" "I lunged at her in the back seat.
She screamed, and I just kept telling her "be quiet".
I can still feel the tension in the room when we were reading that.
It sent a chill through everybody that read it.
There was definitely phrases and, and descriptions in there that were horrifying.
We're all human beings who read this letter and you can say, what did this young lady go through? We still had gaps as to what had actually transpired that evening and it filled them all in.
It went from the time he picked her up to the time she was dead.
It was the final straw.
What we didn't tell anyone is that the first day we knew who the caller was.
When we opened that package, we knew who had delivered it.
We had known for a couple of days.
From the first day, we found out that that call went back to Wilron, where he worked.
I don't see any phones around here.
Well, not every work station has one.
They all use the same phone.
Can you take me to it? The caller had no idea of what was happening behind the scenes.
He didn't know that we were able to go to Wilron equipment and talk to Mr.
Pells, who took us out into the shop area where we found a critical piece of evidence.
- Darcy! - Yeah.
Come here.
"The future's uncertain and the end is always near.
" The future is uncertain and the end is always near was written out on his uh, work desk.
That was what was said in the call.
We knew we were on the right track.
But we just didn't have enough evidence at that point uh, to lay a charge against that individual.
Even if he said he was the, the person who made the calls, it still doesn't prove the intent to commit that murder.
There's logical steps that have to be followed, and you need all the evidence you can get to convict somebody.
We identified the individual that was making these calls as David Dobson.
We wire-tapped his phones at his residence and put immediate physical surveillance on him on a twenty-four-hour basis.
There's a present for you at the Lakeview Library.
And then all of a sudden, we now have this individual calling the lead investigator and delivering a confession.
We were in full surveillance mode when he delivered that package to the Lakeview Library.
This has gone beyond just a caller.
We now have hard evidence that we can source back to this individual.
We had enough evidence to move and make the arrest.
[CAR DOORS SLAM.]
David Dobson? David! You're under arrest for the murder of Darlene Prioriello.
David? What's going on? When we arrested David Dobson, he was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
- David, what's happening? - Ma'am, Police.
What are you doing? David! Sir! I need you to stay where you are.
We tell him he's under arrest for the brutal murder of a young, innocent 16-year-old girl and it was like we told him it was going to be cold out this afternoon, you know.
There was no visible reaction.
MRS.
DOBSON: There has to be some mistake! Ma'am, I realize this is a shock, but we just need to bring your son down to the station we're gonna figure a few things out.
The bomb threat, all those calls, the package, the letter, and the violence itself.
MRS.
DOBSON: That's my son! How could this 17-year-old do this? I would describe David Dobson as an unlikely killer.
He was only 17 years old, had not had any record of criminal activity.
So this was, this was different.
This was unique.
I'm sure a lot of thoughts were going through Dobson's mind as to was this the end? Could he talk his way out of this? What would be the defense of this accused? What can he say? You've got the wrong person? That wasn't me; I was just making a story up and you don't know any different? Could he say he was mentally deficient? He was insane? She was standing on the north side of the street, and I pulled up and asked if she needed a ride.
And I took her to the factory cause I knew no one would be there.
And I put it in park.
And then I jumped over the back seat and got on top of her and He talked in a very matter-of-fact tone telling me how this happened from the time he picked up Darlene Prioriello that evening, attacked her and raped her.
And I told her it was over and she wanted to sit in the front seat.
So I reached into the driver's side window and there was a brick on the floor that I'd put there, and I, I picked it up, and she started screaming, "Oh no!" And, and that's when I saw the bigger brick.
Why? Why'd you do it? I guess I thought I'd, I'd get in trouble or she'd say I-I, I raped her.
So you killed her.
Tortured her.
How can a 17-year-old in this society be capable of doing this type of crime? It has to be a mistake.
I know he didn't do this! Ma'am, I told you, we have to PIUKKALA: It's all right.
I want them to see David.
You know, no matter what your child does, he's still your child.
You want to make sure that his rights are protected as much as possible.
Of an evidentiary value, it was important for us that he, he told the parents in front of us, right? Because it removes all that element of "my son didn't do this, my son couldn't do this.
" He told them.
David.
Tell them you didn't do this.
Make him understand.
Tell them.
PIUKKALA: Go ahead, David.
Tell them.
Tell them what you told me.
Tell them how Darlene Prioriello died.
DAVID: OK.
David? Hey, David, you don't have to say anything.
No, no.
It's OK.
It's OK.
Um, after she fell down, I uh, I hit her with the bigger brick.
You remember I told you about the bigger brick, right? I remember.
David No.
Please, don't! Dad, dad.
Sorry.
So, I, I dragged her through the field, and all her clothes kept getting bunched up around her, her shoulders [CONTINUES IN BACKGROUND.]
We're in this room with David Dobson, and he is telling us a story of how this happened.
In his words from the time he picked up Darlene Prioriello that evening and raped her, attacked her, and killed her.
He told the entire story, such a violent story, such a violent death.
And he never, ever said that wasn't me.
Is that OK? Yeah.
[SOBBING.]
Mom.
[SOBBING.]
Mom! Shh.
I'm sure they felt that that's not the son we raised.
Who is this young man that we used to call our son? [SOBBING CONTINUES.]
They lost their son that day as well.
MALE REPORTER: The body of Darlene Prioriello was found last Friday morning at the rear of a factory at 5220 General Road in Mississauga.
She was last seen the night before when her boyfriend dropped her off at a bus stop on the north service road at Cawthra.
This morning, Peel Regional Police arrested a 17-year-old factory worker as he left his home.
Charged with first-degree murder is David James Dobson of Haig Boulevard in Mississauga.
Dobson is scheduled to appear in provincial court in Brampton tomorrow.
Kevin Timble, CBC News, Mississauga.
It's hard for a family to be elated that the police made an arrest.
I think they feel vindicated that somebody's gonna pay for this but it's not gonna bring back their child, right? It can't.
I'm so sorry for everything that you've been through.
Thank you.
At least it's over now.
I don't think it'll ever be over.
Will he ever get out? That's up to the courts.
No.
He won't.
We'll make sure of that.
All of us.
We had enough evidence to bring him to trial and be successful in our prosecution.
We got fingerprints on the body.
All those calls and the, the package, and the letter, and the confession.
He got the worst penalty that was allowed, the strongest.
First degree murder, minimum of 25 years in jail.
David Dobson was 17 years old when he confessed.
He served 25 years of his life sentence and is now eligible for parole.
But the Prioriello's believe Dobson will strike again.
That's why they're fighting to keep him behind bars.
Every two years, we will be losing her all over again.
Terri Prioriello says she's going to wear Darlene's jean jacket when she reads her victim's impact statement.
She says she's determined to make her sister's presence felt and keep her memory alive.
The Prioriello family have been very strong in their advocacy to keep David Dobson behind bars and I applaud them for that.
David Dobson is still in jail today, since May of 1983.
I knew and all our whole team knew, and all our investigators knew exactly what he'd done.
And it was vicious; it was violent, abhorrent.
It was inhumane what he did.
How did this happen? I don't think we'll ever know.