Northern Crimes

On June 18th, 1977, the body of Tucson escrow agent Charles Morgan was found 40 miles west of the city in the Sonoran Desert — wearing a bulletproof vest in 110-degree heat, a .357 Magnum nearby, and a $2 bill pinned inside his underwear, covered in coded names and hand-drawn smuggling routes. Pima County ruled it a suicide. His family never accepted that conclusion.
This documentary examines five unresolved cases from across Arizona — a double homicide of a young couple stargazing in the high desert, the staged disappearance of a Peoria business owner whose husband forged her farewell letter, a Jane Doe who spent 39 years without a name beneath a cedar tree off Interstate 40, and a former forensics trooper who used his own investigative training to evade capture across three countries. We trace the forensic evidence, the investigative failures, and the cold case breakthroughs — including genetic genealogy work that finally gave one victim her name back in 2021 — while examining what it means when the desert keeps its secrets for decades.
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From the fog-covered shores of the Oregon Coast to the frozen peaks of Alaska, and from the prairie towns of Alberta and Saskatchewan to the quiet capital of Olympia, Washington — some of North America's most disturbing unsolved murders and cold cases share one thing in common: the isolation that surrounds them made it easier for killers to operate, and harder for justice to follow.
In this two-hour compilation, Northern Crimes examines six in-depth cases drawn from the most remote and overlooked corners of the continent.
What's covered in this video:
The Olympia Murders — The 1970 stabbing death of 17-year-old Patricia Garrison, the hitchhiking murders of teenagers Catherine Divine and Brenda Baker in Thurston County, Washington, and how DNA evidence decades later pointed not to Ted Bundy — long suspected — but to a man who had been in the case file from the very beginning.
The Oregon Coast Murders — The disappearances and deaths of young women along Highway 101 and Highway 20 spanning from 1984 to 1995, including Kelly Disney, Sheila Swanson, Melissa Sanders, Jennifer Essen, and Karen Lease — cases that remain unsolved despite multiple suspects, over 300 tips, and renewed forensic investigations.
The Alberta Murders — Four cases that shook Canada's prairie province: the 1959 Cook family massacre and the controversial execution of Robert Raymond Cook; the 2005 Mayerthorpe ambush that killed four RCMP officers; the calculated "Dexter Killer" case of Mark Twitchell; and the 2011 Claresholm Highway murders driven by obsession and domestic violence.
5 Unsolved Cold Cases from Canada — The 1967 disappearance of indigenous leaders James Brady and Abe Halkett in Northern Saskatchewan; the decades-long mystery of "Septic Tank Sam," identified in 2021 as Gordon Sanderson; the 1988 murders of Lisa Gavin and Glenna Dustan in Vancouver's East Side; the 1996 disappearance of 15-year-old Melanie Ethier in New Liskeard, Ontario; and the Halloween night vanishing of Jake Jost in Midland, Ontario in 1998.
Unsolved Mysteries from Alaska — Five of Alaska's most enduring cold cases: the unidentified victim of serial killer Robert Hansen known only as "Eklutna Annie"; the 2012 disappearance of Michael Laiter on Mount Marathon; the Cook Inlet torso murders of Desiree Lechenov and Michelle Roth; the fatal solo winter ascent of Japanese adventurer Naomi Uemura on Denali; and the 1979 plane disappearance of suspected British spy and TV writer Ian Macintosh.
The Saskatchewan Murders — How John Martin Crawford, a convicted killer released after serving just seven years, went on to murder at least three indigenous women — Shelley Napope, Eva Taysup, and Calinda Waterhen — in Saskatoon in the early 1990s, and how systemic failures allowed him to continue killing while under police surveillance.
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Mount Rainier’s beauty often masks a dark history and high-altitude crime. This episode looks into the 1979 vanishing of Elaine Robertson and the 1996 abduction of Sheila Kearns from park housing. We also detail the 2012 line-of-duty murder of Ranger Margaret Anderson and the disturbing 2024 murder charges against a "medical miracle" survivor.
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From the high desert of Oregon to the remote mountains of Montana, the serenity of the great outdoors has often been shattered by sudden, senseless violence. This investigation examines a series of harrowing accounts where standard camping trips transformed into forensic mysteries and desperate battles for survival. We analyze the 1977 Cline Falls hatchet attack, the "Buried Bodies" spree in the Adirondacks, and the 2024 Moose Creek homicide that was initially mistaken for a grizzly bear attack. By focusing on investigative timelines and the behavior of nomadic predators, we explore how isolation and mountain hospitality can be weaponized in America's backcountry.
Support Northern Crimes on Patreon:https://patreon.com/northerncrimes
Subscribe to Northern Crimes on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@northerncrimes
Subscribe to our sister channel, Southern Crimes:https://www.youtube.com/@SouthernCrimesYT

Florida is often defined by its promise of reinvention and paradise, but beneath the turquoise waters and haunting Everglades lies a darker history of disappearances and unsolved violence.
This episode explores six haunting cases that have stymied investigators for decades, from the "Gold Sock Killer" of the 1970s to the chilling disappearance of Suzie Wood from a schooner in Key West.
We examine the forensic evidence and investigative timelines of these disparate crimes, including the thirty-year search for Amy Billig and the interstate bigamy of a fugitive flight engineer. From the sugar cane fields of Belle Glade to the motel rows of Panama City Beach, we analyze the factors that allowed these predators to vanish into the Florida heat.
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