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Island Crime podcast s1e06: Justice for Lisa?

Laura Palmer (May 28, 2020) (Previous) (Next)

source: https://island-crime.simplecast.com/episodes/s1e6-justice-for-lisa

youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXPUQKgMYIA (Posted July 8, 2020)

archive: https://archive.org/download/island-crime-lisa-marie-young/island%20crime%20s1e06%20justice%20for%20lisa.mp3

[Reproduced under Copyright Act (Canada) s.29.2 — Fair Dealing for the purpose of news reporting]

Transcript

Island Crime: Season 1, Episode 6 Justice for Lisa? May 28, 2020

The disappearance of Lisa Marie Young is a tale that's been whispered about on dark and stormy nights, around campfires here on the island for almost two decades.

"Where is Lisa" centers around three main themes:

• getting to know the real Lisa,
• telling the story of how her family and friends continue to fight to keep her memory alive,
• and exploring what truly happened that night.

Now you know Lisa a little.

• The scrappy, short kid determined to be on the basketball team.
• A hard working teen slugging it out at McDonald's but dreaming of becoming a sportscaster.
• And the bright young woman, planning for a future so she could help care for her parents and brothers.

In those early days it was Lisa's friends and family who searched for her. They were the people who raised the alarm early and loudly.

It was Lisa's first nation community who scoured the forest and it was Lisa's mom Joanne who pushed journalists for coverage and brought the community together year after year to march for justice.

As for what happened to Lisa, we know she ended up at a place she didn't want to be. Some of those I spoke with believe it was there that Lisa was drugged and that she died accidentally.

In this podcast you've also heard an allegation that something even more sinister was going on that night and that a video is still out there.

Although some experts I spoke with told me not finding Lisa's body is unusual, Don Young doesn't see it that way. He points to those vast areas of wild forest and ocean and believes his daughter's body could easily have been disposed of like a needle in a haystack.

I'm Laura Palmer. This is season one of Island Crime, the case of Lisa Marie Young. And this is episode six, "Justice for Lisa".

In this episode I'm going full circle to where it all began for me.

I first met Adrian Duplicy when I was working as a researcher at a radio station. Adrian's a former floor trader turned white collar crime fighter. He was a frequent guest on our radio shows. His work once helped take down a billion dollar scam involving one of the biggest and most dangerous Russian mafia networks.

After that last big case Adrian moved to an island, retreated from white collar crime and put his energy into music management.

He manages the singer Alison Crowe. Alison was a school chum of Lisa Marie Young. And so when Lisa disappeared Adrian got pulled into a kind of investigative role once more. He has closely followed Lisa's case and it was Adrian who first introduced me to Lisa's story.

Okay, my name is Adrian Duplicy. I am a manager to a musician named Alison Crowe who was born and raised in Nanaimo and went to school with Lisa Marie Young and was a school chum.

Much of Adrian's life has been geared towards exposing corruption and battling institutional power. He has deep concerns about the investigation. But despite his skepticism, Adrian still hopes the truth will out.

Before I was a music manager I was an investigator, I took forensic investigations of white collar and organized crime. I did that for the decade of the 1980s and 90s, primarily looking at stock frauds, manipulations, money laundering etc, arising, initially out of the Vancouver Stock Exchange where I had worked in the early 1980s and a lot of stock scams and promotions when the VSE became known as a scam capital of the world.

In Poland that more global we could I investigate with lawyers and journalists around the world and looking into money laundering from the UK, US, Russia, Asia and such. So, investigated hundreds, if not thousands, of individual scams and scammers, criminals and crimes.

You obviously had that connection through Allison to Lisa's case, but here you are with this good investigative brain of yours.

Can you just describe how you've kind of turned your attention to Lisa's case and what you've done?

I mean, we are who we are, and my mind is geared towards analytical thinking and tricking out systems and connecting elements to create the whole picture, I'm just geared that way, and in the earliest days, for the beginning of conversations I would have with Joanne Young about Lisa's then-disappearance — I don't call it now a disappearance, it's a murder — but initially we would talk and I was more of an ear, someone who Joanne could confide in and vent, and I was happy to be of any comfort I could, and I began to understand the framework in which this tragedy has taken place and recognized that I know who the killers are, I know who was involved and numerous more people, many others in Nanaimo know who's involved and who took Lisa from them, yet nothing was happened, and to a normal citizen you kind of think, well of course you can't get away with murder but you can get away and people do get away with murder and in this case they are getting away with murder and then you have to recalibrate your senses and try to go, okay this is happening, why is it happening, and how can it possibly be addressed and fixed?

How, like how do you sit through what you know for sure or at least feel reasonably confident in versus just you know there's just so much that's been said and written about this case?

I take what Lisa's mom Joanne and her father Don to tell, well I take what they told me as truth and over 15 years of being told the story, as it unfolded, there were times in which things you know other people would contact Joanne like later you know as months and years went on, the sort of the wild stuff would come in and they were you know there were psychics and people saying oh I've had a message from Lisa, there were all that stuff gets encountered but it gets filtered out and come back to the same core story that has been established over those 15 years is the elements that continue to be repeated and unchanged and things like you know Joanne's encounters with the police, were firsthand and direct and she never changed those descriptions and I've heard some of them probably 100 or 200 times so those are there's no reason to doubt that, you know, the ring of truth.

How I with my sense of analytical mind and my decades of training as an investigator separate things is is actually quite easy because over 15 years you hear a lot of information and some of it clearly is true and is firsthand and unless I had any reason to believe Joanne was not a credible source or Don or others that have given me the first saying information it all is accurate and fits and has been shown to consistence over the 15 years and then there's a stuff that's purely I think in the realm of speculative things, like whether or not it was a video made of Lisa's rape and murder, I put that in the category of that that speculation, and then some of the stuff where you know psychic says so she's up by the Colliery Dam, I put that in the realm of fiction or fantasy and all the stuff falls under you know one category another, but I have, am certain that most of the story that Joanne had confirmed by the end of her days before she she left us is straight up factual evidence that should be used in a court to convict those responsible for Lisa's murder and and hopefully those responsible may still be alive when that happens and hopefully friends and loved ones of Lisa will still be alive when that happens and then the fact evidence of the case that's been ignored and buried for all these years will actually get used.

Cyndy Hall is also committed to pushing the truth forward. She is one of the first people I speak with as I begin to gather interviews. Cyndy runs the Facebook advocacy group dedicated to Lisa and she is one of the main organizers of the yearly walk. Cyndy still lives in Nanaimo.

The day I drive across the island to meet with her is a bright fall day the forest on either side of the highway is orange red and yellow brilliant autumn colors. When I reach the ocean it's glittering in the sunlight. It's the kind of day where you feel grateful to be alive and lucky to live on this beautiful island.

Cyndy meets me at her parents home in a pleasant suburban neighborhood. The school year has just begun and kids are headed back to class. It's early and when I knock on the door I'm welcomed by Cyndy's mom and offered a cup of coffee. The walls are covered with photographs of the natural beauty of the island. Their home is warm and cheerful. In the middle of the dining room is a gorgeous bouquet of red and white roses.

When Cyndy arrives I'm struck by how youthful she is. Cyndy went to school with Lisa and that means she's likely approaching 40. She's slim with long dark hair. She tells me she's an anxious person and is anything but comfortable with doing interviews. There is something about that lovely bouquet of roses and the eager welcome I receive from Cyndy and her family that's a bit unnerving. This story means so much to the people who love Lisa.

There's a chatty small dog inside so we head outside to my old Honda hatchback to talk about Lisa. It's the first of many interviews I will do while sitting behind the wheel.

So my name is Cyndy Hall and I knew Lisa. She was an acquaintance of mine, we had similar friends.

Can you tell me how you first met her?

So I would have first met Lisa through my good friend Carolann who used to live with Lisa so that's how I met her. She was very energetic outgoing she seemed confident, she was really friendly. I remember she used to always dress up, and we'd sit around I think it was a kitchen table and listen to country music, but she was just a very outgoing girl she always dressed really nice, marion dress clothes, high boots, jewelry and she was very petite. I can't remember how tall she was but maybe even five foot two, four, and she just had a really slim build. She had brown hair when I met her and yeah she wore makeup and it was always done nice. She just always looked very together. She was very outgoing. She would dance. She was just to be attracted to her personality. She was a very social person and she had a lot of friends.

So back then we would say you would go out in a group and it would be very social we would meet other strangers and hang out with them, go for food with them, you would even go to say a house party with them. It was just so much more social. We just didn't have as many fears I think or we were just naive to what was going on.

Two years ago when Lisa's mom Joanne died it made me think like, maybe someone in Nanaimo should step up and help because her dad and her brothers live here but it's so emotional for them. I just don't think they're able to ,like they can do it but emotionally I don't think they're able to do it so then I started posting Lisa's missing poster everywhere. My goal is, I keep track of what streets I do and I'm putting one on each street in Nanaimo of Lisa instead of just putting them in bunches like I used to. So I just do awareness, like campaigns.

What drives you?

That it could be me. I'm half indigenous and as an indigenous woman I have a higher chance of being murdered or going missing and I always can put myself in other people's shoes now and I think what if I would missing and then my family did have lots of support.

So you know a lot of people might care or might have an interest but you really this is a shake...

I'm a passionate person I throw like when I believe in something, I do it. So when I care about something I just give it all.

And yet you live in a small community, a community where there may well be people who were involved it Lisa's disappearance. What's that like?

It scares me because my face is out there my name is out there my it's hard but even if you stand alone your voice shakes your petrified I believe in doing it it's the right thing my number one goal is to bring me so home to take her remains home for her family and friends and then the next chapter is bringing someone to justice.

It's possible at some point somebody who was at that party that night might listen to this podcast. What would you want them to think about, what would you want them to do?

I want them to think about the life Lisa had before that night and if they know what happened to her I want them to think about what happened to her then I want them to think about her family and her friends who have gone 17 years without knowing I mean even if that person's scared, you have to do the right thing you have to come forward. I want them to think of her mom dying with not knowing and Joanne fought for her daughter read up to her last breath. I live in fear but I still do the right thing so I want them to come forward.

Cyndy's efforts to bring attention to Lisa's case really is impressive as I've worked on this story I've observed her online in the Facebook group she helps administer in Lisa's name she is passionate and persistent. If someone does come forward with information Lisa Marie's case I won't be surprised if they are motivated to do so by Cyndy's work.

Cyndy has remained in this community and lives with the reminders the unease and the fear of being an advocate for Lisa in a place where many people would prefer to forget Lisa's story.

Musician Alison Crowe also counts Lisa as a friend, but she no longer lives on the island. Her musical career has taken her across the country to another island my name is Alison Crowe. I live now in in Cornerbrook Newfoundland since 2005 but I am originally from Nanaimo BC Canada on Vancouver Island, where I was born and raised.

I'm a singer-songwriter and I'm also a actor and musical director and director. So I was a schoolmate of Lisa at Woodlands Secondary School. I would have met Lisa somewhere, I would say, in that time frame. I think kind of like grade nine or ten.

Lisa was always really cool looking to me and you know it was the 90s and she had she had really long brown hair and I remember there was a point where she had kind of like chunky blonde highlights I feel. I can't remember I don't I don't think she went all blonde but I definitely remember some highlights and thinking that was super cool because I mean nowadays everyone has highlights and crazy colors in their hair so this was kind of like cool for back thing you know.

She dressed really cool and funky. I remember sort of like those chokers that kind of they look like they're tattooed onto you, but they're plastic. That kind of that kind of style you know.

I you know I remember Lisa as being just really she had this sort of air of like a quiet confidence about her, you know. She was non-judgmental in so in a wonderful kind of way you know and she was someone that you could talk to and she would just listen. I remember you know in the early days of what I do now you know being a musician basically, she was super supportive you know.

I remember her coming to the Queens to see a show and talking to her after and all that kind of stuff. She was she was she was just always so kind, you know. I mean,m I really clearly remember hearing about it for the first time because I had just gotten back from the first tour I ever did which was across Canada and this sort of busted up motorhome and we got back and you know a lot of us in the band and friends connected that knew Lisa. We heard about it like right when we got back I want to say like the day we got back or the day after we got back and it was just kind of one of those things that you hear and you're like, that can't you gotta be, you're kidding right. Like that can't be real and you know yeah no it's real like she's gone.

I feel like we were all just like what do we do like this is so awful you know this is just so unbelievably awful and we just felt so sorry we just felt so horrible for her family you know, and her friends that were the closest to her I mean they're just heartbroken. You know we just wanted to kind of help, but you know what do you do?

Of course it's it's scary right um you think okay well if something has happened to her? Like what was it and it's someone like walking around like I you know you see these posters and you know it had on it this burgundy Jaguar like that kind of stuff and so everybody's looking out for a burgundy Jaguar like it's just this this thing hanging over the town and and all of us and I mean we still talk about it.

Right after that first vigil you know I kind of went home like I wrote it that night. I think you know I was okay and it's long time ago but I'm pretty sure I went home and wrote it that night because it was just upset um and it was like you know, what can I do, you know, what can I do to help and like I can't really do anything but I you know I just wanted to give them something so I wrote the song and it was like you know I just want to write this and get this to the family and that's kind of how I got to know the family. Yeah so that's kind of how that happened I was at my parents house and in the living room at the piano and just kind of you know probably pacing and just being upset and writing out everything that was you know coming out of my brain uh that time.

I don't understand you know like if it's someone somewhere has to know something, you know, and I don't know how you can know something like that and just hold it for all those years like I don't get it. Just come clean, just admit it how are you living with this you know just please please just be honest,you know, and it breaks my heart, it completely breaks my heart that Lisa's mom died without having this closure, and I really, really hope that her family can have it soon, because they deserve it right?

This is the haunting beautiful song for Lisa, written and performed by Allison Crow.

If there are advances in the investigation, perspectives which move the needle forward, I will update this podcast.

Lisa's Song - Allison Crowe

I want to be the one
To say that I found you safe
And held you in my arms
I want anyone else in the world
to tell me
that they did too
And took you home Across the field and to your door
and said, hey babe it’s cool,
There’s no reason to be scared anymore.
Took you home
held you in, held you in, held you in. Just stay at home
Don’t come outside to play
Circumstance beyond control
I feel so helpless
My mind is racing and breaking
me into a million pieces
because I can’t Take you home
across the river and to your door
Take you home and
cut through the darkness
You don’t have to cry anymore
Take you home
Hold you in, hold you in, hold you in. You can call me
You can call me
You can call me
You can call. Take you home
across the sea and to your door
Take you home
but I’m so scared
Home isn’t here anymore Take you home
hold you in
Through the nightshade and under the stars
Hold you in Hold you in
Hold you in
Hold...

I'm Laura Palmer, and this is Island Crime.