Arlene Bynon
Appearances
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
Olson was serving 11 concurrent life sentences, one for each murder he confessed to. But I knew the parents were still waiting to know for certain, to lay their kids to rest in a way that brought peace and closure. And if there was a chance I could find something new, I had to try, no matter how Olson tried to play games and spin lines.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
If I wanted to continue these calls, I had to keep them secret. But I did confide in someone, a friend and mentor who wanted to help. I've asked Peter Worthington to join us today, and he's here. Oh, okay. And he's talking with us on the line. I think all three of us can talk. Hello, Peter.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
Peter Worthington is, of course, Nat's grandpa, Pete.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
However I had explained it to myself, I knew that what I was doing, when it eventually came out, would be met with criticism. Olson had been banned from talking to the media by a gag order, imposed after he'd sent letters detailing his crimes to the families of the victims. I'd be accused of giving him a platform and the attention he desperately craved.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
So I wanted cover, and legendary journalist Peter Worthington, he would do.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
There are parts of Olson's story he wouldn't tell us on these early calls. Okay, we have to give up the studio now.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
But soon, Olson was calling us weekly.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
It started to feel, well, not normal, but certainly routine. Sometimes he would call me just to tell me about what he was watching.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
Or to pretend he was a radio DJ.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
He would call me at work. Or at home. He called me on Christmas. He knew no boundaries.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
It was like we were lying in wait, waiting for Olson to tell us what we really wanted to know. For the first year, Peter and I made requests to see Olson in prison, but were turned down. But we felt we needed to see him in person. So we found another way in.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
We told prison officials we were writing a book about Olson, and if we couldn't talk to him, could we just get a tour of where he was being held It worked. On February 19th, 1991, Peter and I drove the three hours from Toronto to visit Olson in prison. As we approached, I looked up at the imposing walls of Kingston Penitentiary. Inside were some of the most violent men in the country.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
I was nervous. Peter could tell that I was worried and told me I was right to be unnerved, a young woman entering a maximum security men's prison. But this was my choice. I knew I needed to see him at least once, inside the prison walls he was calling me from. And then, almost immediately, as Peter and I stepped into the foyer of the penitentiary, There was Olsen.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
He had guards on either side of him, hands cuffed, being walked back to his cell after a haircut. He looked up and saw me. We locked eyes. He had no idea we were coming. Olsen stopped and stared at us as he was taken back to his cell. And then he turned and winked at me. Peter and I continued our interview with the warden without skipping a beat. We couldn't let on that Olsen knew us.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
Before we left, I asked, could I just walk down the middle of the cell block where he was being held? The warden agreed. Peter stayed behind and I started walking. I could feel eyes on me, watching me as I passed. And then, I got to Olsen's cell.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
Peter and I weren't allowed to record inside the prison, but we started as soon as we began driving away.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
It was the only time I ever saw Olson in person. and I could easily imagine him being a killer. I'd never forgotten him looking at me from his cell, hands high up on the bars. His face was in darkness, but backlit from the light coming in from the tiny window to the rear. He was calm until he wasn't. As I walked away, he started calling my name. Arlene. Arlene. Arlene.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
A nearby prisoner yelled, it's Clifford's girlfriend. The angry warden pulled me away as the men yelled from their cells, trying to get us out of the area as fast as possible. As catcalls echoed off the thick concrete walls, it was chaos. It's been more than three decades since that moment, and it still horrifies me.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
In the years that followed, I would report what I could from what Olson told me, until eventually I wasn't able to listen to him any longer.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
Peter would continue speaking to him long after I stopped, over a decade more. And he would write books and articles about his relationship with Olson. Somehow I never could, but still I kept everything. The dozens, maybe hundreds of letters Olson sent me. The interrogation transcripts and psychiatric reports. The horrific journals where Olson detailed his crimes.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
And the tapes, the recordings of our hundreds of calls. It all lived in boxes that I carried with me from house to house wherever I moved. I think I always knew someday I'd return to this story. After Peter's death, I thought I would have to do it alone. Until a message in 2019 came. Nat, I still remember when I got that message from you.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
And I don't think you had any idea at what time you were messaging me. You didn't know I'd yanked up the boxes. And I had, and there was this message from Peter's grandson. It was a moment.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
And for me, for you to send me the message, it was just so full circle on the story, you know. And as you know, I was very clear with you. This thing has been twisting and turning inside me for such a long time. And this whole return to the partnership I had with your granddad, I was about your age and he was about my age.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
And he's not here anymore, and here we are, and both of us picking up this story again. I feel the ghost of Peter in this.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
I do, and that's one of the things that sticks out at me. But I also remember when everyone knew the name Clifford Woolso. And when you said it, you could see their face twist. It was a name that was completely connected with evil in this country. But yet now when I look at it, it is incredible that that cash-for-bodies deal happened. and that we forgot about it.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
The kind of deal the Canadian police made with him, I don't think it had ever been done before or ever since. Some would say it was unconscionable. Others would say it was the only way to get him. What it all meant was the extent of Olsen's crimes were never fully investigated. So we're going back to the Olsen tapes, opening boxes I sealed over 30 years ago.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
I reported on the story then, and I'll report on it now. And try, as best I can, to find the answers that so many are still seeking. About the RCMP. About Clifford Olsen. and perhaps most importantly, about his victims. To do that, we need to talk to the family and friends whose lives were shattered all those years ago.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
You say you have nothing to lose, so are you going to kill again?
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
Okay, so Peter's here now, so we can both talk.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
Yeah, I didn't tell him that, but you might as well. You want to repeat it?
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
CHFI Radio. Yes, Clifford Olson's calling. Will you accept the charge? Yes, I will. Thank you.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
And during this two and a half years, you have never got angry at Peter, but you get angry at me. I mean, you and I have had arguments. You've hung up on me. You've yelled at me. You've said very nasty things about me behind my back.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
And I don't think I am a bitch. I think that I'm just very clear, that's all.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
You think it's because I'm frightened?
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
And I'm Arlene Bynum. This is Episode 1, The Olsen Tapes.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
This is me about 35 years ago. I was hosting one of Toronto's most popular afternoon radio news programs. I got to do it all on this job, reporting hard news, producing documentaries, interviewing celebrities and politicians. But this week, in 1989, I took listeners deep into the case of Ted Bundy.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
It was about 10 years after his trial, but the story still fascinated me.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
I saw myself in his victims, and I was desperate to learn what could make ordinary men monsters. In Bundy's case, there was a journalist who'd been able to ask the question to Bundy himself. I'd like to welcome to Chronicle Stephen Michaud. Good afternoon.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
Stephen Michaud had been granted extensive access to Bundy over months. He was able to extract information from Bundy that police never were. His interviews led to some of the only insight the public really had into Bundy's crimes, into this new kind of killer.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
By this time, serial killers had become sort of a beat for me. I interviewed experts, I learned what I could of the research that existed back then, and it all led to me being interviewed about Bundy on national TV. What I didn't know then was that the show was playing on a TV in Kingston Penitentiary, a maximum security prison home to Canada's most notorious criminals.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
Soon after the show aired, I got a letter. It was really a taunt. It read, It was signed, Clifford Robert Olson. Nearly a decade earlier, Olson was one of the first to get the label of serial killer in Canada. From the end of 1980 to the summer of 1981, Olson had abducted, raped and killed 11 young people in the province of British Columbia.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
As news broke of his crimes, Canadians grappled with the graphic details, with the violence he inflicted against children.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
I didn't respond to Olson's letter right away. I'd done enough reporting on psychopathic killers to know it would only feed his ego. And I didn't want to give him that. This man had murdered children. And now he was reaching out to me from prison. But the case of Clifford Olson stayed with me. A case that I knew there was more to.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
Because ten years after his arrest, there were still so many questions left unanswered. What drove him to kill? Could he have been stopped? And what dark secrets did he still carry? So a week later, I wrote back to Olson. What is your story?
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
I was stunned when I got that first call. It was about a month after I responded to Olson's letter, but I knew he was only allowed to talk to his lawyers from prison, not the media.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
Yeah, I'm not, no. No, you get what I'm getting at? I'm not doing a story this week on or anything.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
Are you supposed to call the media? You're obviously allowed telephone calls.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
For whatever reason, Olsen had chosen me. And from the start, I knew I wanted to understand why he did what he did.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
You know, we talked about sort of living with yourself. We all have to live with ourselves and realize what we've done and come to grips with it.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
As I listen to these tapes, I feel right there, back in the moment. I'm young, in my mid-twenties, and hungry, brimming with confidence, thinking if I could just ask the right questions the right way, I would understand what made him the way he was. Over time, I would learn a lot about him. What did the psychiatrist call you?
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
What psychiatrists actually found was that Olson was a severe psychopath. One doctor put it this way. Even people who have met individuals who are called psychopathic or antisocial cannot bring themselves to believe that there may be individuals of this gross nature. It's too impossible to accept.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
I don't know. I mean, I don't. I'm not a psychiatrist.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 E1: The Olson Tapes | Calls From a Killer
I'm a reporter. As a reporter, these calls were about more than learning about Olson himself. I hoped I could do something that the police couldn't. I hoped I could get more information out of him. Because like many families in the B.C. area where he prowled, I believe there were more than 11 victims. The authorities had long closed the case. They wanted it shut.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 Trailer | Calls From a Killer
This is a CBC Podcast. I was a young journalist when Clifford Olsen first called me. I'm not doing this. Are you supposed to call the media?
Sea of Lies from Uncover
S33 Trailer | Calls From a Killer
For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
The hidden story of a notorious serial killer — and his secret calls from behind bars
I was desperate to understand why he did what he did.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
The hidden story of a notorious serial killer — and his secret calls from behind bars
And how to stop it from happening again.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
The hidden story of a notorious serial killer — and his secret calls from behind bars
For 30 years, these recordings have been sealed away. Secrets kept in boxes in my basement. But it's time to unearth the tapes. Because I believe that the police could have stopped him sooner.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
The hidden story of a notorious serial killer — and his secret calls from behind bars
That the pain left behind is still raw.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
The hidden story of a notorious serial killer — and his secret calls from behind bars
And I believe that there were more victims. So when you went to the police, how long did it take for them to follow up after you said those things to them?
Sea of Lies from Uncover
The hidden story of a notorious serial killer — and his secret calls from behind bars
I'm Arlene Bynum. From CBC's Uncover, calls from a killer. Clifford Olsen's calling. Will you accept the charge? Yes, I will. Coming soon, wherever you get your podcasts.
Sea of Lies from Uncover
The hidden story of a notorious serial killer — and his secret calls from behind bars
Yes. I was a young journalist when Clifford Olson first called me. I'm not doing this... Are you supposed to call the media?
Sea of Lies from Uncover
The hidden story of a notorious serial killer — and his secret calls from behind bars
A reporter getting secret phone calls from Canada's most notorious serial killer. He was serving a life sentence for murdering 11 children. His oldest victim, 18. The youngest, 9. Captured only after the police offered him a shocking deal. Cash for bodies.