Canadian True Crime - 46 Jane Hurshman - Part 1

Episode Date: May 29, 2019

BANGS FALLS, NOVA SCOTIAThis is the story of one Canadian woman's life living with domestic violence.Learn more about:True Crime Podcasts - Live in Toronto | August 18, 2-5 pmTrue Crime Podcast Festival - Chicago | July 13, all dayPodcast recommendation: OPPO - a politics discussion by CANADALANDWant to support my sponsors? Here's where the discount codes are:www.canadiantruecrime.ca/sponsorsCredits: Research and writing: Haley GreyWriting, narration, music arrangement, mixing: Kristi Lee Audio editing: Erik Krosby Disclaimer voiced by the host of Beyond Bizarre True Crime Other credits and sources can be found on the page for this episode at www.canadiantruecrime.ca/episodesSupport the show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi everyone! Summer is fast approaching here and I'm furiously preparing for two live shows. If you're in the Toronto area, join us for True Crime Podcasts live in Toronto on Sunday afternoon August the 18th at the Royal Cinema downtown Toronto. You'll also get to see Jordan from Nighttime, Aaron from The Generation Y, Nina instead from Already Gone and Robin Warder from The Trail Went Cold as well as some others. We are going to present a case or two and do some cool panel discussions and then there'll be a meet and greet afterwards. Come and join us August the 18th Royal Cinema. For more details and to purchase tickets go to the new section at CanadianTrueCrime.ca or look in the show notes.

And a month before that I will be in Chicago on July the 13th as part of the True Crime Podcast Festival doing another live episode with Robin from The Trail Went Cold. I can't wait to see you there along with more than 80 other True Crime Podcasts. For more info go to truecrimepodcastfestival.com Before I begin I have two case updates for you. The first is Sarah Bailey and Talia Marsman from Episode 45 that's the last one. The little girl and her mother who were murdered in Calgary by Edward Downey. The crown contended that he thought Sarah was trying to meddle in his relationship with her best friend. Sarah knew that he was being abusive towards her and was trying to help her friend out of the relationship. Where we left off Downey was found guilty of two

counts of first degree murder but had yet to be sentenced. On May the 21st he was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 50 years so Edward Downey got consecutive sentences. Queen's bench justice Beth Hughes called him callous and remorseless in passing her sentence. Quote the gravity of the offence Mr Downey's moral blameworthiness and his degree of responsibility are at the highest level. After kidnapping Talia Mr Downey planned and deliberated upon her murder for some hours before he killed her. The second case update is also from Justice Week and concerns Episode 27 Curtis Faye and Angela Nicholson from Saskatchewan. They were having an affair while both married to other people. As you'll recall Curtis Faye's wife had her suspicions

so she hid an iPod on the kitchen table and hit the record button for the day. She got a whole lot more than she bargained for. Angela Nicholson went to visit Curtis at his house that day and not only did the recording confirm the affair between Curtis and Angela but it also caught them discussing a plot to murder both of their spouses. Curtis's wife was understandably shocked and went straight to the police with the recording which would go on to be a key piece of evidence in that trial. Curtis Faye and Angela Nicholson both argued that they were just talking they didn't have any serious intention to murder their spouses but they went on to be found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. They appealed and last month their lawyers argued that the iPod recording evidence

should be inadmissible because the pair had an expectation of privacy when it was made. They didn't know they were being recorded and then when the police got hold of the recording device it was without a search warrant. So why did the lawyers argue this now and not at the first trial? Well since 2016 when that first trial happened the Supreme Court has made several important decisions which placed emphasis on privacy and conversations and kind of changed how the iPod evidence could be viewed. The judge promptly ruled the iPod recording evidence inadmissible so without this vital piece of evidence the crown declined not to present anymore leading the judge to find the pair not guilty. This podcast contains coarse language adult themes and content of a

violent and disturbing nature. Listener discretion is advised. The year was 1911 in the town of Sault Ste Marie in Ontario on the edge of the Great Lakes just north of the US border to Michigan. Angelina and Pietro Napolitano were an Italian immigrant couple who had originally immigrated to the US but were now living just across the border in Canada. They had four children in total. It was a chaotic and unhappy family. Pietro was threatening and violent towards Angelina often physically assaulting her leaving her with a revolving door of bruises. He would often leave for days at a time but one time he left for weeks. Angelina was convinced he'd finally completely abandoned the family so she took a male border in to earn some extra money

in the house. It wasn't long before she and the border were having a relationship but then shockingly Pietro returned home leading to a dramatic confrontation. The border ended up fleeing the house and then Pietro flew into a rage grabbed his pocket knife and stabbed Angelina wounding her on the face, neck, upper torso and arms. She was stabbed nine times in total and left with awful scars and disfigurement. Pietro was charged with assault but the judge ruled he'd been provoked by Angelina's affair with the border and Pietro was given a suspended sentence. Six months later the domestic violence continued. Angelina was now six months pregnant with her fifth child and the family were struggling to make ends meet. The work Pietro was picking up

as an occasional laborer just wasn't supporting the family. He ordered Angelina to take to the streets as a sex worker to earn some money. Angelina refused and the couple got into an argument about it. Pietro went to bed threatening Angelina that she had until he woke up to get some extra money. Instead Angelina waited until Pietro was asleep before grabbing an axe. She then brought it down on Pietro as he slept four times in the neck and head leaving him dead. She then took the blood stained axe and placed it in her woodshed. She huddled with one of her kids for about an hour and then called a neighbour over to confess what she'd done. Quote, I just killed a pig. She reported feeling not a lot of remorse, just relief. Angelina went on trial for Pietro's murder.

Her court appointed lawyer, Uriah McFadden, decided to use a defense strategy that hadn't ever been used in Canadian court. That Angelina was finally driven to murder Pietro because of the violence and abuse he'd subjected her to over the years. It all added up. The jury found Angelina guilty, although they did recommend that the judge go easy on her. But the judge ruled against it, saying, quote, If anybody injured six months ago could give that as justification or excuse for slaying a person, then it would be anarchy complete. This was 1911 and Angelina was sentenced to hang, but only after she'd given birth to her baby. But the public were vocal with their outrage. They protested and signed petitions. They harassed the government.

Eventually, just a month before Angelina was due to be led to the gallows, the government decided to reduce her sentence from execution to life in prison. Heavily pregnant, Angelina gave birth in prison, but her baby died just two weeks later. In 1922, after serving 11 years in prison, Angelina was released on parole. Reports say she never saw any of her surviving children again. This story takes place in Nova Scotia, one of the maritime provinces of Canada, located on the east coast. In the southwestern area of the province is a municipal area known as Queens County, which boasts a nice, moderate climate and gorgeous natural scenery perfect for outdoor activities like hiking, kayaking and cross country skiing. It's also an area rich in

cultural history, largely in part to the MiGMA First Nations, who are the original inhabitants of the area. Queens County fronts the ocean, but inland, about a 20 to 30 minute drive, is a tiny community called Bangs Falls. It was early in the morning on March 12, 1982, and a man called Carl was walking along River Road, close to Bangs Falls, to meet his ride to work, when he came across a half-ton jeep truck pulled off to the side of the road. As he walked past the jeep, he noticed there was blood all over the floor. Thinking someone had been in an accident, Carl looked around, but he didn't see anyone. He then looked inside the vehicle and saw what he described as a form, lying against the

driver's side door. He knew the person inside was dead. There was a lot of blood. He didn't hang around to see more. He walked to the closest house and told the owner, a man named John, what he discovered. John and Carl headed down to the jeep in John's car. Once they arrived, John got out, looked in the jeep and saw the dead, slumped over, bloody body. He couldn't even make out ahead. There was just too much mess. The two men didn't recognize the jeep, so they went back to John's house to call the police. John then went back to the jeep and blocked the road with his car. Two police officers were dispatched to the scene, but at this point, the officers thought the injuries were caused by a car accident, so an ambulance was also dispatched.

But when one of the officers took one look in the jeep, he immediately knew that he was not dealing with a car accident. He was dealing with a shooting. He called for a coroner and a senior officer. Two officers spotted a large patch of blood on the road and covered it with a shovel and emergency blanket while they waited for investigators to arrive. The jeep truck was recognized as belonging to a 41-year-old man called Billy Stafford. He was wearing a brown sweater. The cab of the jeep was splattered with blood, brain particles and lead. The keys were still in the ignition. The weapon was not at the scene. Police investigators knew they were dealing with a homicide, but who shot Billy and why? This is Christy and you're listening to Canadian True

Crime, Episode 46. Lamont William Stafford, or Billy as he was known, was born on February the 13th, 1941, to parents Lamont and Winnie Stafford. Lamont ran a successful scrap iron and junkyard business. Billy was the second oldest of five kids, three girls and two boys. Lamont and Winnie later adopted a sixth child, a boy, and raised Billy and his siblings in a very strict household. The older Billy got, though, the more abusive he became towards his parents, especially towards his father, Lamont. A childhood friend described Billy as sadistic. Billy was a big, solid kid and eventually reached over six feet tall and weighed around 250 pounds

or 115 kilos. According to the book Life with Billy by Brian Valley, Billy was known around Bangs Falls as a bully and a brute. He was heavily into astrology and horoscopes and proudly told whoever would listen that he was sent by the devil. The rumour around town was that if you stood up to Billy, he wouldn't bother you, but if you showed any sign of weakness, he would pounce and never let up. As a young adult, Billy worked as a merchant seaman, doing the grunt work on large boats that were carrying commercial goods. In the winter of 1974, he became embroiled in controversy when a 20-year-old fisherman called Jimmy Leblanc died mysteriously while aboard a ship called the Mersey Enterprise. Billy was on that same ship and after Jimmy's death, he constantly

bragged that he was responsible for it. The story was that he threw Jimmy over the side of the boat during an argument. The story was never verified, but many people reported hearing Billy brag about it. As well as being known for doing basically whatever he wanted, Billy was a dangerous driver. He constantly drove drunk and high on drugs, causing dozens of accidents and losing his driver's licence many times. Billy had a lot of guns and had a reputation as the ultimate deer jacker. He constantly hunted without a licence, out of season and exceeded the allowable quota. Basically, he drove around with a gun in his truck and if he saw a deer, he would stop the truck, grab his gun and shoot it. Billy was constantly in trouble with the police. People

who knew him described him as being very obnoxious, resentful of the law and of those enforcing it. Billy always thought the police were out to get him and he would tell people that if they ever stepped foot in his house, quote, it would be the last time they stepped anywhere. Because of this, police were told that if they had to go to Billy's house, they should go in pairs. They were truly afraid that he would shoot them at a whim. In 1962, at age 21, Billy got married to a woman called Pauline. Very soon after the couple moved into their own apartment, Billy began physically assaulting her. She would later say he beat her quite often with anything he could get a hold of, a beer bottle, broom handle and, of course, his bare fists. She said, quote, I was really afraid

of him, so I more or less kept my mouth shut unless I was spoken to. Billy did not believe in birth control or any form of protection, so Pauline was soon pregnant and gave birth to two babies within a year of each other. In 1964, when she was pregnant for the third time, Billy had been drinking and got extremely violent. Out of nowhere, he attacked his pregnant wife and began beating her. She was able to escape and ran outside in the snow, wearing only her slippers and nightgown. She made it to her uncle's house with visible cuts and bruises on her face. Billy had kicked her so hard that she was scared she'd lost the baby, so her uncle took her to hospital. Luckily, the baby survived. Pauline filed charges against

her husband, but his father Lamont told her that Billy signed a peace bond, saying he wouldn't hurt her again, so Pauline decided to drop the charges. Two weeks later, though, Billy was back to the same old tricks, physically assaulting her again, and the beatings only got worse. Pauline gave birth to two more kids, making a total of five children over six years, and Billy wasn't just abusive towards her. He was abusive towards the children, too, both psychologically and physically. One thing he did was line the children up on the staircase. He would then light cigarettes, put them in their mouths, and force the kids to sit there, lit cigarettes in their mouths until the tobacco burned away. He then made them eat the dirty

cigarette butts. That was just one example. What Pauline was going through wasn't going unnoticed by relatives. Her cousin was able to convince her to leave Billy, but when he found out, he retaliated in a different way. This time, he physically assaulted Pauline's mother. After six years of hell for Pauline and her five kids, she filed for divorce, citing cruelty as the reason. It was granted. She took the kids and was able to set up a new life. The kids had been so severely traumatized that they no longer spoke, so she wasted no time in putting them into therapy. It wasn't long before Billy Stafford found someone new. Her name was Faith. At first, he treated her well, but within months, he fell back into old habits and began physically assaulting

her. Despite already having five kids, Billy also imposed his belief of no birth control onto Faith and she was soon pregnant. One night, when she was only three months pregnant, Billy began choking her. Just like Pauline had, she fought and was able to get out of his grasp and she ran from the house with Billy chasing her. She made it to the safety of a neighbor's house where she stayed the night. The next day, her family got her out of town. Months later, Faith gave birth to a son called Rodney. Billy would only meet his son once, the first and only time. Both Pauline and Faith said the same thing of their experiences. Billy Stafford was abusive, whether he was drunk or sober. One minute, he would be nice and the next minute, he would suddenly start being violent

towards them for no reason at all. They both spoke of a certain wild look he got in his eyes. He would glare at them and then spit would start flying from his mouth. They described how sometimes he would even froth at the mouth. Fast forward to February of 1982 and 41-year-old Billy Stafford is lying dead in the driver's seat of his Jeep. After the two investigating officers had processed the crime scene, they stopped at all nearby houses in the rural area to see if there were any witnesses. No one had seen or heard anything. They then drove to the house where Billy lived. As they pulled up, they saw his third wife, Jane Stafford, just as she was leaving her neighbor's house. They pulled her inside and asked her when the last time was that she saw her husband.

Jane said that Billy had left in his truck the night before and she hadn't seen him since. They asked her what he'd been wearing. She told them it was a light brown sweater. Then they said they were sorry to have to tell her that Billy had been found dead in his truck that morning. Jane fainted. The officers took her inside the house and laid her down on the sofa. Later that night, Jane was driven to the hospital by her father-in-law Lamont and prescribed valium to calm her down. Jane Stafford, the woman who would end up being Billy's third wife, was born Jane Marie Hirschman on January 25, 1949 in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia. Jane was an honor student who loved to read and study

and was described as genteel, kind, quiet and soft-spoken. She studied two languages and loved to play sports. She was a smart, intelligent, industrious woman. Jane was the second eldest of four kids to parents Morris and Gladys. As a kid, Jane's father joined the Canadian Army to fight in the Korean War. He served two tours and then returned home for good in 1952. As it turned out, Morris liked being in the Army so he stayed enlisted after his tours. The family became a military family and as such they were transferred around, their first being to Truro, Nova Scotia in 1954. It was in Truro that Jane began her lifelong journey immersed in domestic violence. Her father Morris began drinking heavily and became irritable, unpredictable and often described

as mean. He started physically assaulting his wife Gladys and would fight constantly with her. Their fights were so loud that they would wake Jane up in the middle of the night. She would hide and listen as they fought. If her younger siblings woke up, Jane would comfort them. On one particularly bad night, she saw her dad nearly rip off her mother's dress before he pushed her to the floor, then began hitting and verbally abusing her. After a while, Gladys became so fearful that she would just do whatever Morris said. Although Morris was abusive towards Gladys, one saving grace was that he never beat the children. But his friends were all the same as him, abusive with alcohol addiction issues.

To Jane and her brothers and sisters, this became the norm. This was just what men were like. In 1957, the Hirschman family was transferred with the army again to Camp Gagetown in the nearby province of New Brunswick. By then, the Canadian military had set up an official presence in Europe as part of the Cold War, the rivalry largely between the United States and Soviet Union that lasted for decades. The Hirschman family were chosen as one of the many Canadian military families to be transferred to a base in Germany for several years. So, there was another transfer from New Brunswick to Germany. In Germany, the family lived across the road from a pub with cheap beer. This only led to Morris drinking more and more. He continued to physically abuse Gladys

and he started becoming verbally abusive towards the kids too. One day, Gladys was rushed to hospital with what turned out to be an ectopic pregnancy, a life-threatening condition where a fertilised egg grows outside of the uterus. Morris suddenly realised the seriousness of the situation. He could have lost his wife. Jane overheard him praying that Gladys would live. She lost the pregnancy, but she recovered. Morris continued to drink heavily and fight with Gladys verbally, but he never laid a hand on her again. In 1964, after a few years in Germany, the Canadian army transferred the Hirschman family back to Canada, this time to Winnipeg, Manitoba. But 15-year-old Jane was lonely as an army brat

with no friends. So, when some friends of the family were transferred to Nova Scotia, Jane asked if she could go back with them, just for the summer. But after just a few days with the new family, she wanted out of there. The couple constantly drank and argued, and the husband was physically violent towards his wife. Jane went to live with her grandma Mildred Hirschman in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. It was there that she met a man called Milford Whynot, or Milfy for short. At 24 years old, he was nine years older than Jane, but he wasn't violent or abusive, so a change from what she was used to, and he seemed to truly care for her. Jane would say that Milfy filled up the empty parts of her.

Two months after Jane's 16th birthday, she found out she was pregnant with Milfy's baby. He said he would do the dutiful thing and marry her. So, she dropped out of high school, they got married on April 25, 1965, and then they lived together at his grandparents' house. Unfortunately, though, this is where things started going south in the relationship. Milfy's grandmother doted over him and took care of everything, and Jane started to feel useless. It seemed that the only thing Milfy wanted from her was sex, and as her pregnancy progressed, he paid even less attention to her. When Jane went into labour, Milfy was drinking at a bar. She couldn't get hold of him, so his grandma dropped her off at the hospital.

Jane gave birth to a baby boy with no one but medical staff there for support. As she recovered from the birth, she called Milfy's grandma and asked her to get him to bring her packed suitcase to the hospital with him. But when he finally rocked up, he just left it with the nurse, giving her the excuse that he had a cold and couldn't see the baby. Not a single person came to see Jane and her baby in the hospital, but Jane said she was okay with that because she was overcome with love for her new son, who she named Alan. Milfy, Jane, and baby Alan moved to their own house, and Milfy began drinking even more than usual. He was rarely home, and he ended up being fired

from his job because of his drinking. Jane felt alone and desperately wanted to better her life, so she enrolled to finish grade 10 in September of 1970 when she was 21. After she'd finished, she then enrolled in a typing course. Jane was determined to make a better life. When little Alan was seven years old, Jane became pregnant again. At seven months pregnant, she was devastated when she found some scandalous photos in the house that revealed Milfy had cheated on her multiple times. But she decided to stay in the marriage and try to make it work. She was pregnant with his second child after all. In 1972, she gave birth to her second child, another boy who she called Jamie. The birth was a traumatic one for her.

She hemorrhaged and lost so much blood that she needed a transfusion. After her recovery, her doctor strongly warned her not to have any more children, as there was a high risk it might happen again and threaten her life. The family continued with their dysfunction, Milfy drinking and being abusive, and Jane looking after the two boys, Alan and Jamie, determined to make it work. Do you have a passion project that you're ready to take to the next level? SquareSpace makes it easy for anyone to create an engaging web presence, grow a brand and sell anything, from your products to the content you create and even your time.

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slash CTC with offer code CTC and get your passion project off the ground today. During this time, she became good friends with one of Milfy's friends, a man by the name of Billy Stafford. Jane was deeply unhappy in her marriage and confided in Billy that she thought often about leaving him. Billy assured her that if she ever needed any help, he would be there for her. Finally, when Jamie was three and Ellen was 10, Jane gave up. She gave Milfy an ultimatum, either pick her and the kids or the bottle. He chose the bottle. Jane packed their stuff and moved to a friend's house, leaving 10-year-old Ellen behind because he insisted on staying with his dad. Jane tried to file for divorce, but Milfy refused, insisting that the

marriage wasn't over. Jane's divorce lawyer said that she didn't have the grounds to file on her own. In desperation, Jane considered submitting the photos she'd found as proof of Milfy's affairs, as grounds for divorce. But she didn't want the pictures to be shown in court. She talked to her friend Billy about the situation, reminding him about his offer to help. She then gave him a proposal. If Billy could agree to having an affair with her and then testifying in court about the affair, then that would give Milfy a reason to want a divorce. Billy Stafford was only too happy to oblige. Jane and Billy's affair accomplished what she set out for. By the end of January 1976, Milfy had agreed to a divorce but insisted on getting custody of Ellen and Jamie.

Jane wasn't overly happy about this, but she had a light in her life. Her affair with Billy had gone so well that they continued the relationship, moving in together. Jane was starting to feel hopeful about her life. Billy seemed to really care for her. He promised her that they would have a good life together and that he would always protect her. Billy doted on Jane. She was thrilled that he took her out in public because Milfy never took her anywhere. Billy was kind and understanding. He brought her flowers and gifts. Just months into their relationship, Jane took his name and from that point on they considered themselves husband and wife, even though they didn't formally get married. As you'll remember from Billy's first two marriages to Pauline and

Faith, there was a honeymoon period of sorts before he changed and it was no different with Jane. It all started when Billy found out that Jane was taking birth control, a big no-no for him. Jane explained to him what happened with her last pregnancy with Jamie, the hemorrhaging, and the doctor warning her not to get pregnant again because it was too risky to her health. But Billy didn't care. Despite having six kids already, five with Pauline and one with Faith, he was adamant that he wanted to let nature run its course. He said he wanted another daughter so he threw out her pills and they didn't discuss birth control again. Just months later, Jane found herself pregnant again and utterly terrified of the health consequences.

As Jane's pregnancy progressed, Billy's behavior started to change. In an all-too-familiar story, he started drinking more. He stopped taking her out in public. He insulted her pregnancy weight gain and turned ordinary situations women face in pregnancy into opportunities to put her down. Jane gave birth to her third child, a boy called Darren, in May 1977, after another traumatic birth with hemorrhaging. Again, she was lucky to be alive. The doctors strongly advised her this time to have her tubes tied and she agreed but knew that Billy wouldn't be happy about it. She was right. Billy refused to visit her in hospital after the procedure. He never asked her how she felt or how the baby was doing and he was resentful that baby Darren was a boy instead of the daughter

he wanted. He told Jane that she'd have to care for the baby herself and now that she couldn't have any more kids, she was no good to him. He then headed out to get drunk at a party. When Jane was released from hospital, she was advised not to do any lifting or strenuous work for six to eight weeks to let her stitches heal. But Billy didn't care. It was her choice to get her tubes tied. While she was in hospital, he'd trash the house and he expected her to clean it as soon as she got home. The house also didn't have any running water and Billy refused to get it from the well so Jane had to go and do it herself, pulling up the buckets of water while trying to be careful with her abdominal stitches. Billy went back to work at sea and Jane went to visit

his parents, Lamont and Winnie. She told them how he was treating her, likely hoping they might be able to talk some sense into him since there was a new baby on the scene. But Billy's father said that she just needed to look at things from Billy's point of view. Billy had Jane to himself for a year and now he had to share her with a baby. Lamont said Jane just needed to give Billy time to get adjusted to the new situation. Two weeks later, Jane had just had her stitches out and Billy came home from sea. He told Jane that he wanted sex. She said the doctor had warned her against it just yet since the wound still had a way to go before it was fully healed. Billy said he didn't care and ordered her to get undressed. He proceeded to insult her post-pregnancy body and her surgery

scar. He grabbed one of her breasts and tried to drink milk out of it. He then pushed her on the bed and entered her roughly. She thought she was going to be torn apart. In August of 1977, when Baby Darren was a month old, their landlord ordered the family out and they moved into a cabin on a piece of land owned by friends. Billy then lost his sea merchant job. He instigated an argument with a skipper that turned physical, leaving the skipper badly beaten. The police were involved but everyone was so scared of Billy that they refused to testify. Again, he got away with it. Now unemployed, he started collecting unemployment welfare and graciously let Jane get a job. She found herself a position as a cook at a home for the elderly. Billy was home doing

absolutely nothing now but said he couldn't possibly look after Baby Darren. So Darren was given to Jane's friend Marie to look after while she was at work. Jane's paycheck paid the bills and bought the food and Billy stole whatever was left over for himself. When Jane wanted extra money, he became abusive. After a while, she just learned not to ask. In November of 1977, Jane went grocery shopping on her day off. She knew that Billy and his friend Richard were installing cabinets in the kitchen so she got KFC for dinner for them. Jane served the men their chicken, cleaned up, put six-month-old Baby Darren to bed and then went outside. Billy came after her, grabbed Jane by the hair and verbally abused her, saying she'd been giving

his friend Richard the eyes. He called her a whore and a slut and accused her of buying the KFC to impress his friend. When she said she didn't know what he was talking about, Billy slapped her, punched her and then kicked her. This was the first beating. The next morning, Billy was apologetic. He said he didn't know why he did it and promised to never do it again. But Jane started questioning and doubting herself. She wondered if maybe she did look at Richard like he said she did. Whatever she decided, Billy broke his promise. The beatings continued. He was so jealous and possessive that it got to the point where Jane wouldn't leave the bedroom when Billy had any male friends over. Jane's every move was at the whim

of Billy. He told her what to do and what she was forbidden from doing. She wasn't allowed to have pictures of family members in the house. She couldn't do anything religious and she wasn't allowed to go anywhere alone except to work or run an errand for Billy. And while running these errands, she had a strict time limit before she had to be back home. As you'll recall, Billy's first children from his first marriage to Pauline were left in desperate need of therapy and healing thanks to their father's abuse. His son from his second marriage to faith escaped a similar fate, owing to the fact that he'd only met his father once as a baby. Billy's physical and mental abuse, of course, didn't end with Jane. In the book Life with Billy by Brian Valley, Jane detailed how

baby Darren was given regular beatings starting from when he was just six months old for things like crying in his crib or making too much noise, as all babies do. And to pour salt into the wound, he wouldn't let Jane console her crying baby. Darren was so terrorized in his own house that being taken to Jane's friend Marie's house to be looked after while she was at work was a sort of respite for him. When Darren was three years old, Billy broke off a piece of the handle of the mop and beat him so hard that he was covered in red, bloody waltz from his neck to his feet. He'd soiled himself during the beating and there was blood and poo everywhere. And because Darren had been conditioned from a young age that crying meant a beating, he was trying so hard not to cry

that he'd just lay there shaking. Billy called Jane in from where she was working in the garden to clean up the mess. When she saw Darren, she started crying. In retaliation, Billy punched her in the face, told her to stop crying and get cleaned up because they were all going out. And they did. Darren and Jane in physical pain from Billy's violence and Billy himself acting like nothing had happened. For simply doing the kind of innocuous things that young kids do, Darren was held up by his hair and a knife put to his throat. Another time, Billy aimed a gun at his head and threatened to shoot him. He was made to eat so fast that

he would vomit and then made to eat his own vomit. And throughout all of this, when Jane tried to intervene, which she did, he physically assaulted her too and threatened to kill her if she left him. Jane had no choice but to wear dark glasses when she went out in public and made up excuses when people asked about her bruises. Coworkers describe Jane as constantly bruised and black eyed. Billy frequently trashed the house, deliberately messing it up to make work for her and cleaning it up. He urinated in the bed when he couldn't be bothered getting up and would make her change the sheets and clean the mattress. Billy was constantly high on drugs and alcohol.

One day, he dropped acid, which led to what she called a three-day spell. During that time, he tied Jane to a chair with a loaded shotgun pointed at her. When he needed to urinate, he did so all over her. When she needed to go to work, he would untie her. But as soon as she got home, she was tied to the chair again. Billy held Jane like this and tortured her for three days. He found a job working on oil tankers, but he used drugs on a tanker and ended up unemployed again. At this point, he told Jane that his friend Ronnie would be moving in with them. Billy's violence from that time on was not limited to Jane and Darren. He started punching and slapping his friend Ronnie too. The Staffords had several pets, including two dogs.

They were also beaten. In fact, most animals that Billy came into contact with were hurt in some way, just because he felt like it. Billy severely sexually abused Jane too. He used to make her sit while he tweezed all her pubic hairs out one by one. He made her stand in front of him naked while he dealt out harsh verbal insults about her body. He would punch, bite, and pinch her during sex. He would spank her so hard it left bruises. He made her wear a dog collar and walk around on all fours. He made her drink his urine. He would force her into doing anal sex, which made her cry out in pain. He decided she just wasn't used to it, so forced a crude kind of stretching device involving plastic piping that he made her wear around the house

for hours. He also involved their pets in his sexual abuse. The Stafford House was a house of chaos, with everyone walking on eggshells around Billy, avoiding things that might trigger his violence. Jane would later say that she just felt completely beaten down. Quote, I just resigned myself to the fact that this was how my life was going to be, and I would just die here. And Billy's behavior wasn't a secret kept behind closed doors. Many people witnessed his violent behavior, but no one went to the police for the simple fact that they were terrified of him. He turned on their friends and Jane's family too. He actually shot a friend's dog. The dog survived, but the friend filed a police report. The next day,

Billy showed up at her house screaming and swearing with his fists curled into a ball. She described him as looking like a wild man, red face and eyes bulging. He punched friends and family for no reason and with no warning. He aimed rifles at the faces of others. Everyone was terrified of Billy Stafford. Meanwhile, Jane's first two children, 15-year-old Alan and 8-year-old Jamie, were still living with their father, Milfy. But Alan was rebelling and starting to get in trouble. In October of 1980, he was put on probation for breaking and entering, and came to live with his mother at the Stafford house. Months later, he got into more trouble.

Jane was relieved that Billy was away working again. She knew that he would have been outraged if he was there and she was glad to escape his wrath. Jane tried to deal with Alan's parole officer herself, spending all of her time trying to sort out her eldest son's problems. She was grocery shopping and thinking about it so much that she actually left without paying. The next thing she knew, she was arrested for shoplifting. She was given a year of probation and 50 hours of community service. Alan was sent to the School for Boys in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, a reform school for troubled teens. When he was released in August of 1981, at age 16, he went to live with his dad,

Milfy, again. But he got into more trouble and Jane was asked to take him back. She was against the idea because of the turbulent home situation with Billy, but Billy himself insisted. Alan knew all too well about Billy's violent behaviour, having witnessed it many times before. So once he moved back, he tried to do exactly what Billy said. But the man was just too unpredictable. Alan saw Billy physically assault Jane, little Darren, who was now four years old, Ronnie, their house guest, and also their pets. Alan said it was normal, quote, I used to get hit all the time. We just got used to that. One day, Alan stole Jane's car, but he was caught by the police and taken to the local jail.

Jane went to get him and asked him why he stole it. Alan said he stole her car because he wanted to kill himself. His plan was to drive the car into the wharf, but the police pulled him over before he got there. He said, quote, Mum, we aren't living. We aren't alive. We're just like robots. We just exist. And that's where we'll leave it for part one of this story. Part two will be released on June the first. And in that part, the truth about what happened to Billy Stafford will be revealed. And unfortunately, this isn't the end of the story. Make sure you stay tuned. A huge thank you to Hailey Gray for researching this case.

As Canadian listeners will know, we have a federal election coming up later this year, so now is a great time to hear two young and articulate journalists talk about what's going on from slightly opposing viewpoints. Today's podcast suggestion is called OPPO, part of the Canada Land Network, who regular listeners will know I'm a huge fan of. One of the hosts is Justin Ling, who many of you will know from the CBC's Uncover the Village podcast, the investigative series covering the victims of Bruce MacArthur. Anyway, here's a promo for OPPO. Jen, there's an election coming up in the fall, and you may have noticed that Canadian politics has gotten a little bit bonkers recently. I mean, there's the S&C Lavalin affair, Nazis are back

now, I guess. There's Jason Kenny's Civil War, Doug Ford is blowing up Ontario, and apparently PEI is now powered by fish. The point is, so much crazy shit is happening right now that it can be hard to keep up. That's why we're here. As the election looms, our podcast OPPO will keep you informed about the week in Canadian politics. Along the way, we're going to be speaking to Canada's top politicians, a whole bunch of the bottom ones, and everybody in between. So listen to OPPO for all the twists and turns as the election comes. That is OPPO, and you can find it wherever you get your podcasts. If you're on social media, you can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Just search

for Canadian True Crime podcast. Case suggestions can be submitted via the form on my website. Just go to canadiantrucrime.ca. Submit. This episode, I am saying a huge thank you to these patrons. Kristen M, Tali B, Lindsay O, Audrey B, Athena W, Scott H, MK, Bridget C, Bear, Sandra F, Adriana P, Mickey W, Casey C, Dave R, and Amy L. This episode of Canadian True Crime was researched by Hailey Gray, written by me, and audio production was by Eric Crosby. The host of the Beyond Bazaar True Crime podcast voiced the disclaimer, and the Canadian True Crime theme song was written by We Talk of Dreams. I'll be back soon with part two of this story. See you then.

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