Darun Henry
Appearances
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
I'm Daroon Henry. I am an online fitness coach. I'm a mother of two beautiful girls who are 13 and 7. And I'm just a very passionate entrepreneur. I had a very hard time.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
Yeah, that was a huge ordeal. When we get into the police, there's a lot to say because, you know, I essentially risked my life capturing that video because I should have been running to safety. But I... took an extra 10-15 seconds just to get him on camera yeah when I was very disappointed when they told me that they couldn't do anything with that evidence um like I had this fantasy that like
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
They were going to put it on the news that night and show the clip of him running through the woods and my neighborhood's going to be safer place. Maybe like somebody can recognize him. And like, I was so disappointed and so shocked when the police were like, no, like we can't do anything with that evidence.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
They can't prove what he did. They just have a video of a guy running through the woods. And it's an alleged attack. And, um... Yeah, like they just don't do that. So I was like, okay, well, what are you gonna do? Like, there's a guy out there attacking women at 11 a.m. He is 1 million percent gonna do it again. And they're like, yeah, we're gonna put it up on our website. And then I was angry.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
I was like, what? fucking website are you talking about? Like, I live in this neighborhood. I don't know about your website. I doubt anyone here knows that you have a website or that anyone goes on there daily to check. They questioned me for about half an hour. And I was like, yeah, I was just messed up. Right. Like they gave me maybe 10 minutes to myself.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
And like during that 10 minutes I was puking. Then we were talking and I was angry. I was so angry. I was like, what do you mean you're not going to do anything? What do you mean you're, you're just going to put it on a website? Like, what good is that? And they literally told me like, like the best thing you could do is just not go back and to the woods.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
And I was like, I was like, are you fucking kidding me? Like, what am I, a caged up animal? I can't even go for a walk in my neighborhood in the park where I take my kids every day. Like, I walk my kids to the park.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
upbringing I was born in Iraq I'm Kurdish so I not to like go too deep but I lost my brother my brother was killed by a landmine when I was five so and then I was like a refugee until we came to Canada at the age of seven or eight so in 96 and so a lot of my conditioning was limiting beliefs I was very insecure because I didn't do too well in school. I never got like my university degree.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
I want to make this video for my predator. I want him to know that when I punched him in the face, I wasn't scared at all. I wasn't scared. I'm crying because he fucking took my sanctuary from me.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
it went viral within hours. And at one point it was at 30,000 views and it was at 300,000 views and it was at 500,000 views. And it was just like a snowball effect. And it just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. That was extremely hard to navigate through as I'm trying to collect myself. I was getting messages from all over the world. It went viral in India. It went viral in Europe.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
It went viral in on South America. For some people, it was like entertainment. I experienced a lot of victim blaming, but I have to say I did also feel like the support of the world behind me. And they ended up posting the police report after it went viral. But I also felt like the system really failed me because
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
If they had just taken me seriously, if they had publicized my report, then the second attack wouldn't have happened, which was just six days after mine. Do you know what happened with that attack?
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
I found out about the second attack through a follower. Somebody... sent me the report. What happened was literally the same exact scenario. He attacked her on a Tuesday. It was around the same exact time, like 11 a.m. It was in another nearby park. He was on a bike. Same thing. He was dressed in sweats. But he had escalated it to, he had taken a knife, so a box cutter, to this next attack.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
He was like the second last picture. So I had to like go through all those pictures. But as soon as his picture came up and I looked at his eyes, this energy rushed over me and like every cell in my body screamed and was like... that's him. Like I knew it was him because of his eyes, because I can never forget that look he gave me right before he came to strangle me.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
And, you know, even though it was a picture, I felt those emotions. And then after they made me go through that, they were like, well, we have a disturbing question to ask you. I was like, what? And they were like, did he steal anything from you? Like, does he are you missing anything? And I was like, no, no, I'm not missing anything.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
Yeah, like just a still moment where I was like, oh my God, I just punched a human in the face.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
But when they told me, like they found him, he had a backpack on him and he had a bunch of women's items in there. And they told me that he goes out there looking for the opportunity to attack and then that he is also a trophy keeper. So then he keeps...
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
something from his victims and when they said that to me I realized that when I thought he was looking for a rock to knock me out he wasn't actually looking for a rock he was looking to steal something to keep as a trophy
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
I didn't sleep for maybe two weeks. I just couldn't. Although he wasn't successful, I went through a lot of the after effects.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
I got pregnant at a young age. And so when I had my spiritual awakening and I was on my own personal development journey and I discovered who I am and how powerful I am. and how limitless I am, I wanted to help women discover that part of themselves. Regardless of what you've been through, that you can become the best version of yourself. And so that's where my passion lies right now.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
He wasn't successful, but he was successful in breaking me and, you know, making me feel violated. I still feel very violated. For the first two weeks before he was caught, I went through this intense like PTSD where I felt like he was in my kitchen every night. Like I couldn't even go downstairs to like get a glass of water because I felt felt like he was just there.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
There were many times where I would just be sitting on my front porch and like a man would walk by and I thought that man was going to come attack me and I would just run back into my home. The PTSD was so intense that I literally jumped one day and like almost freaked out on an elderly man at the beach.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
One of the triggers I have is that like when a man is walking towards me and making eye contact, I get triggered. Or if there's somebody behind me, I will get triggered and it will bring back that moment and I'll go into like defense mode. Like I didn't want to be touched, like even by my husband. Like he couldn't even tap me on the shoulder without me jumping.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
I dressed in baggy clothes for weeks. Like my body was, I felt so violated. There's a lot that victims go through that is not talked about.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
oh yeah, like when we discovered who he was and it went public, I saw a few comments like, oh, I went to high school with this guy. So I went and I like did my own research. I found out that he's Iraqi, which is crazy because I'm Iraqi, I found out that he's my own people. And that was very disturbing. And that was one thing I found out about him.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
A lot of the girls I spoke to from his high school, I think I spoke to like two or three of them, all told me he was a creep and that he didn't handle rejection very well.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
This is also not my first predator. When I was 11, I was groomed by my teacher, my drama teacher. Like every kid wanted to be around him, like, cause he was cool. And he was, you know, like if Mr. Talenko liked you, like you're cool. And I didn't know he was grooming me until he made it so obvious. And he was like, well, I have a question for you. Do you have pubic hair? I was like, whoa.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
And I was going through puberty. And I didn't even talk about that stuff with my own parents. So for you to ask me as a teacher, I legitimately ran home that day. I think I answered him. I have no idea what my reaction was. I just was like, what the fuck, dude? And I ran out of there. I went home. And then I just avoided him for the remainder of the year.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
I noticed he always had a favorite student that was always a female who was always in grade six. And the reason he targeted grade six students... And this is just all my theory was because the year, like that was the last year of elementary and then you go to middle school. And so you can kind of get away with doing whatever.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
Right before the attack, I would say I was at the peak of my career. I was just the happiest version of myself.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
And then they were off to the next school, which is exactly what happened with me. I just moved on and I went to the next school and I forgot about it.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
And then two years later, it came up that, like, after the year I left, there was, like, five girls that he was, you know, grooming and had invited back to his house and shown them porn on his Instagram.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
computer he had shown them his privates and like he took it so far with those girls you know they I guess thought it was a joke they didn't realize what was happening and they told me like we were on the bus going to school like they were in grade seven I was in grade eight and they were telling me all these stories and I was like you guys like we have to come forward
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
And it was my idea to come forward because I have a younger sister and he used to call her little Daroon. And I just knew that like she was his next target. So I really did it for my sister and my Yeah, at a young age, I had to get questioned. I felt like I was getting interrogated by the police. There was like victim blaming involved at that time as well with the new teachers in grade eight.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
Like I remember getting treated differently because of coming forward. And so, yeah, this cuts deep because I still have trauma from the age of 11, 12, 13.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
I was very afraid of coming out because as a child, you think that you did something wrong. For the teacher to ask me a question like that, what did you do for him to ask you that, right? That was how my mind worked. At the end of the day, I feel like my voice... is there like this time around, like I fought so hard because of little Darun, because like little Darun never got justice.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
Like I was just like, I'm just like a witness in all this, but really I was a victim and I was groomed and my innocence was stolen, but I was okay with like not getting the justice as long as he was in trouble. And as long as like, There was other victims to help me prove that this guy shouldn't be a teacher, shouldn't even be around kids.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
I actually thought about Mr. Talenko on my walk back home. It happened immediately after the attack and I was walking back home. I thought of him and I remembered that experience. It just came up and I was just so angry about the world. I was just so angry. It just came up, I guess.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
So it's September 15th, 2021. So school had just started. Yeah, like I had taken the kids to school that day and I went for my jog around like 9.30 a.m. Being in the forest, I would often like do walking meditations. I'd connect with God. So on that day, it was different because I needed more content.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
So that was the only day I had taken my tripod because I do believe that having my tripod kind of saves me in a way that day. I believe I got there around 9.50ish. I shot content. I took pictures for about 20, 30 minutes. I was getting the right shots. I had my jump rope with me that day. So I was jump roping.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
Yeah. So this was towards the end of my workout. So it was around 11am when I saw an elderly man who was maybe like 80 years old with a walker. And I saw him walking very slowly. And I actually noticed a random person. I noticed he was walking very slowly behind the elderly man, like almost as if he was just like with him, but you can tell they weren't together.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
I found him a little suspicious because he was dressed in all black, like black sweatpants, black sweater, a fitted hat, and he was wearing a mask. It was a pretty warm day. It was September 15th. I was wearing shorts, so it was kind of unusual to see somebody dressed in a hoodie and sweatpants. And just fully covered and also like wearing a COVID mask.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
Not a lot of people wore the masks outside in the parks. So I did, I noticed him immediately as he was walking. I had his bike, but he wasn't on his bike. Like he wasn't riding his bike. He was walking. They passed by, right? Like they left. And I just continued doing what I was doing.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
And then at this point I was stretching and looking at the sunshine, you know, shining through the leaves and just breathing and just, I was stretching and I felt this like immense pain in my hamstrings. And like something told me to bend over, like to stretch my hamstrings. And when I bent over, I literally saw him through my legs.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
So I jumped and I was off to the side of the walking path so that people can pass by me. And when I bent over, I saw him like through my legs, literally. He was like right behind me, maybe eight feet away. And I jumped, I turned around. I wasn't scared though. I just thought he was on a walk.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
Yeah, yeah, I had no idea. I was wearing these headphones, so I couldn't hear anything. And when I turned around and he was right directly right behind me, my tripod was on, like it was on the ground. And I think that I, I don't think he was sure that like, if it was recording or not, it wasn't recording, but he did notice my tripod. And then when I turned around, I said, Oh, I'm so sorry.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
Like, I was just like, so sorry. I'm in your way. Right. Even though there's a huge walking pathway, like you could go around me. Like you, there's no reason you should be directly behind me. And so like, that's when I realized, oh, like he really was trying to get really close to me, but I like caught him before he got too close. And as soon as I said, sorry to him, he was very strange.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
He was just like, didn't say anything. And then looks at my tripod and was like asking me if I did YouTube. He's like, oh, do you do YouTube? And I was like, no. I couldn't really hear him because he had his mask on. So then I was like, what? What are you saying? And then he was like, do you do YouTube? And then he took his mask off. So he put it down to below his chin.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
And he kept asking me if I did YouTube. And I said, no, I don't do YouTube. He's like, are you a fitness instructor? I was like, yes, I'm a personal trainer. He's like, well, can I get your information on like my Facebook or like my socials? And I was like, no, like I only work with women. And then I just kind of like looked at him, like walk away, like go now.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
And so like I was just getting annoyed of him. Like it was the conversation probably took like 30 seconds. And so I was waiting for him to walk off. And I was like, no, like I only work with women. You can't have my information. And so he got the point and it was in that moment, like he didn't say anything more. He just put his mask back on. And in this moment, I realized, oh my God.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
He is going to try and rape me because he looks around. He looked in my eyes. And in that moment, I felt that realization, like that moment where you're like, I'm in danger. Like I'm something that is going to happen to me right now. And like, I have to like fight. So I went into fight mode immediately because he looked around, he put his mask back on and then he came to strangle me.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
So he came at me with his hands to strangle me. But before he could get to me, I crossed him. So I punched him with my right arm. my right fist. I punched him in his jaw. Like I just, I don't know. I don't remember how hard it was. I mean, in that moment, I'm sure I punched him really, really hard. Not enough to knock him out, but he was shocked.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
So there was a silent moment between us where we were both trying to process what just happened.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
So there was a silent moment between us where we were both trying to process what just happened.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
Yeah, like just a still moment where I was like, oh my God, I just punched. a human in the face. I was taking boxing lessons, but I always had gloves on. I never punched a human before, like flesh and bone. So there were so many thoughts running through my head, like, oh my God, he's going to kill me. I just punched a man in the face and he's going to kill me.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
Yeah. He was coming for my throat. Yeah. Like that was hands down the scariest moment of my life. Just, I didn't even react. Like I didn't even think I just reacted and I punched him. And I honestly believe that like punching him in the face was the best thing I could have ever done because I It completely threw him off.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
And after I punched him, I did freeze because I was like, at the end of the day, I'm 5'1". And he's really tall. He's, I don't know who he is, what he's capable of. I don't know if he has a weapon on him. But then right after I punched him and we had that silent moment for maybe five seconds. you know, it aggravated him. So he tried to take me down.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
And so I always mentioned that like my boxing lessons saved my life. I was able to fight him. So I literally heard my coach, his name is Jerry. And I literally heard Jerry in my head. I heard him say, put power behind it. Like as I was punching, because that was something he'd often say to me, put power behind it. And it's that repetition of punching over and over and over.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
And even, I don't know how it happened, but he was on the ground at one point. I kicked him really hard in his ribs. I wish I had kicked him in his balls, but I kicked him in his ribs. there was a point where he was looking for something on the ground. So he was searching for something on the ground. And in that moment, I thought, oh my God, he's looking for a rock to knock me out, right?
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
That was my thought. It was like, he's looking for something to knock me out. And that was the moment I remembered I had a voice because when you're fighting for your life and that... you don't remember that, like, I didn't remember I was in a public park. In that moment, I remembered, like, you're in a public park. There's people. Somebody's going to hear you.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
And so I literally started screaming bloody murder. I started screaming for help, like, as loud as I could.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
I started screaming for help, like his eyes bulged out. And yeah, and then he ran away. But when he ran away, he ran towards the right side of the forest. And then I think he got maybe 10, 20 steps in. and he stopped and he ran the opposite direction. And that's when I pulled out my phone and I started recording him because I needed evidence of him running away. I needed evidence
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
of what he looked like, what he was wearing. I just needed something to show the police. I had no idea why he stopped and ran the opposite direction. But then I realized when he picked up his bike that it was the same person who had walked by me 10 minutes prior to. And I realized that he had hid his bike and was watching me for about 10 minutes.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
When I had somebody there, like I was able to just kind of like break out of that shell and I went into shock immediately. I just started wailing like I couldn't help it. Like I just started screaming. There was a lot of police around and that police officer said, showed up within two minutes. He was there. The search started immediately. They were looking for him because we gave a description.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
But yeah, he got away with it. Yeah. And then I somehow walked back home. My street was filled with police cars and my neighbors had no idea what happened. There was just a lot of police in the area and they kind of gave me a minute. And when I got home, that's when like the shock just kept getting worse. Um, when I was like, realize, like, realize what, what just happened.
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast
A Morning Run
Um, the first thing I did was like, go to the bathroom and puke. I don't know how to describe it, but it felt like I puked like this evil, like it just came out of me and like, it just, I puked and I was, I was messed up. I was really messed up because I kept thinking like, oh my God, what if I didn't turn around? Like, what if? He had just knocked me out before I had turned around.