File:Island-Crime-s1e06-Justice-for-Lisa.mp3

Summary

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

[Auto-generated transcript – Contains errors]

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 18 years at the outset I said I hope to do three things get to know the real Lisa tell the story of how her family and friends have fought to keep her memory alive and explore what really happened that night well now you know the real Lisa the scrappy short kid determined to be on the basketball team Lisa the hard-working teen slugging it out at McDonald's dreaming of becoming a sportscaster Lisa the bright young woman planning for a future so she could help care for her parents and brothers in those early days after Lisa disappeared it was her 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 even working for a time with a psychic and it was Lisa's mum Joanne will push 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 gathering 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 a panicked those at the house disposed of her body instead of getting help 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 as for why the case remains unsolved reporter Kendall Hanson talked about witnesses who were compromised and that's almost certainly part of this story the police handling of the case in those early days and weeks deserves closer scrutiny some experts I spoke to told me not finding Lisa's body is unusual but Don Young doesn't see it that way he points to the 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 more convinced than ever that there are people here on the island who have information that could finally bring about justice for Lisa and I'm also more convinced that justice for Lisa is within reach this is the final episode of Lisa's story for now and I'm going full circle to where it all began for me I'm Laura Palmer for more than 25 years I worked as a producer in a big-city newsroom I recently moved to an island and I'm digging into stories I didn't have time to tell you've been listening to season 1 a violent crime the case of Lisa Marie Young and this is episode 6 the beginning okay Ian Dukla see I am manager to a musician named Allison Crowe who was born and raised the Nanaimo and went to school with Lisa Maria and with a small town I first met Adrian do plessy when I was working as a researcher at a radio station Adrian is a former floor trader turned a 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 Allison Crowe Alison was a school chum of Lisa Marie Young and so when Lisa disappeared Adrienne got pulled into a kind of investigative role once more he has closely followed Lisa's case and it was Adrienne who first introduced me to Lisa story muted manager I was an investigator as investigations of white collar and organized crime I did that for the decades of the nineteen eighties and nineties primarily looking at stock frauds manipulations money laundering etc arising and initially out of the Vancouver Stock Exchange where I had worked in the early 1980s and a lot of stock scams and promotions in winda the vse became known as a scam capital of the world and pulling that more global we did 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 - 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 - Lisa's case and what you've done I mean we are who we are and my mind is geared towards analytical thinking and frigging Meowth systems and connecting elements to create the whole picture this near that way and in the earliest days for the beginning of conversations I would have with Joanne young about Lisa's then you know disappearance I don't call it now a disappearance it's a murder but initially we would talk and and I was more of a year someone whom in whom Joanne could contrive and then and and I was happy to be of any comfort I could and I began to understand the the framework in which this tragedy has taken place and recognized that I know who the killers are I know who was involved and no more numerous people many others in denial know who's involved and who took Alicia from them yes nothing has happened and you know it to a normal citizen kind of thing of course you know 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 you know recalibrate your senses and trying to go okay this is happening why is it happening and how can it possibly be addressed and fixed how like how do you sift 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 leashes mum Joanne and her father Don to tell well I take what they've told me as truth and over fifty meters of being told the story as it unfolded there were times at which thing you know other people would contact your land like later you know as months and years went on the sort of the wild stuff would come in and they were you know they were psychics and people saying I was I've had a message from cetera you know they were all that stuff gets encountered but it gets filtered out and come back to the same the core story that had been established over the 15 years is that was the elements that continued naina I have to be repeated and unchanged and things like you know Joanne encounters with the police work 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 no there's this you know the ring of truth how I with my facially analytical mind and my decades of training as an investigator separate things 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 had given me the first-hand information it all is accurate and

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and has been shown consistent over the 15 years and then there's of stuff that's purely I think in the realm of law speculative things like whether or not it was a video made of Lisa's rape and murder I put that in the category off that's that speculation and then then some of the stuff where you know psychic says so she's up by the colliery damn I put that in the realm of fiction there or fantasy and all of the stuff falls under you know one category another but I have and certain that most of the story that Joanne had confirmed by the end of her days before she left us um is straight-up factual evidence that should used in a court to convict those responsible for Lisa's murder and hopefully those responsible may still be alive when that happens and hopefully friends and loved ones of Lisa's 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 much of Adrienne's life has been geared towards exposing corruption and battling institutional power and his mistrust of the investigation is not surprising but despite his skepticism Adrienne still hopes the truth will out 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 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 its glittering in the sunlight it's the kind of day where you feel grateful to be alive and I feel fortunate 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 when I knock on the door I'm welcomed into the home 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 happy despite the reason I've come here in the middle of the dining room a beautiful 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 Cyndy is slim with long dark hair she tells me she's an anxious person and as anything but comfortable with doing an interview there is something about that lovely bouquet of roses and the eager welcome I received from Cyndy and her family that is unnerving this story means so much to the people who love Lisa there's a small chatty dog in the home and so we head outside to my ancient Honda 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

[Music]

can you tell me how you first met her so I would have burst let Lisa through my good friend Carolyn Carolyn you still live with Lisa so that's how I met her um she was very energetic outgoing she seemed confident she was really friendly I remember she used to always dress up in the least just sit around I think it was a kitchen table and listened to country music but she was just a very outgoing girl she was always dressed really nice mara and dress clothes high boots jewelry and she was very petite she was oh I can't remember how tall she was but maybe even if I put two four five four four and she just had a really slim build she had brown hair when I met her and yes she wore makeup and it was always done nice she just always looked very um together she was very outgoing she would dance she was just a be attracted to her personality she was a very social person and she had a lot of friends

[Music]

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 host party with him 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 summon animal 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 mostly 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 in one on each Street in and I'm off 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 and as Ana I'm half indigenous you know as a half indigenous woman I have a higher chance of being murdered or going missing and I always can put myself in other people's shoes no and I think what if I went missing and then my family didn't have lots of support so you know a lot of people might terror or might have an interest but you really this is actually I'm a passionate person I throw weight 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 in Lisa's disappearance what's that like it scares me because my face is out there my name is out there I mean it's hard but even if you stand alone your boy shakes you're petrified I believe in doing it it's the right thing my number one goal is to bring Lisa home do you 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 and even if that person 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 right up to her last breath I live in fear but I still do the right thing so I want them to come forward musician Allison Crowe also counts Lisa as a friend but she no longer lives on this island her musical career has taken her across the country to another Island

[Music]

my name is Allison Crowe I live now in in Corner Brook Newfoundland since 2005 but I am originally from Nanaimo BC Canada on Vancouver Island yeah where I was born and raised

[Music]

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 timeframe I think kind of like grade 9 or 10 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 blond highlights I feel I can't 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 now nowadays everyone has highlights and crazy colors in their hair so this was kind of like cool for bag thing you know she dressed really cool and funky and 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 size you know I you know I remember Lisa as being just a really she had this sort of air of like a quiet confidence about her you know she was non-judgmental in and 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 musician basically she was super supportive you know I remember her coming to the Queen's to see a show and talking to her after and all that kind of stuff she was she's she was just always so kind you know I mean I really clearly remember hearing about it for the first time because I 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 to that new Lisa and 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 got a you're kidding right like that can't be real and you know ya know 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 scary right you think okay well if something has happened to her like what was it and it's someone like walking around like or 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 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 wasn't and it's a long time ago but I'm pretty sure I went home and wrote it that night because it was just upset 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 this song and it's 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 just kind of you know probably pacing and just being upset and writing out everything that was you know coming out of my brain at that time I don't understand you know like if 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 just be honest you know and it breaks my heart it completely breaks my heart that least his mom died without having this closure and I really really hope that her family can have it soon they deserve it right and so for now this podcast series ends with this hauntingly beautiful song for Lisa if there are advances in the investigation perspectives which move the needle forward I will update this podcast till then this is Lisa's friend musician Allison Crowe with Lisa's song I want to be the love wall aha to say that I found you who safe and held you in my arms I want anyone else in the world to tell me that they did too across the field into your door and said hey baby it's cool no reason to be scared

[Music]

just stick at home don't come outside to play sir come that's beyond control I feel so helpless my mind is racing and breaking me into wall because I can

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

across the to your door take you home and cut through the dye you you won't you

[Music]

Oh

[Music]

Hey

[Music]

[Applause]

take you across the singing to your door take you home but I'm so scared

[Music]

Oh through the night stars

[Music]