IT IS ONE OF THE MOST BIZARRE CRIMES TO STRIKE SASKATOON — WHITE POWDER MAILED TO ADDRESSES ALL OVER THE CITY. BUT IT GOT WEIRDER STILL WHEN A WOMAN ‘CONFESSED’ ONLINE. GRAEME HAMILTON REPORTS.
Woman charged in hoax allegedly behind weird clip
When the videos arrived in Saskatoon newsrooms in April, it was another strange twist in one of the most bizarre criminal cases to hit the city in recent memory.
A fresh-faced young woman in an orange shirt began the video by exclaiming, “Today was a crazy day!” She recounted helping another woman “who really doesn’t like Alexa” put together packages containing cookies, tissue paper and a white powder.
“People will think the white powder is anthrax,” she said she was told by the other woman.
She described arranging delivery of the packages before ending with a soapopera-like account of unfaithful lovers.
The video was sent days after Saskatoon police issued a Canada-wide warrant for Alexa Emerson, wanted in connection with a rash of incidents in which packages containing white powder had been sent to local businesses, a cancer centre and a school.
On the surface, the video looked like a confession that would steer police away from Emerson as they investigated the white-powder deliveries, which in all cases turned out to be hoaxes. The powder was baking soda or talcum.
But something did not seem quite right about the video. The supposed culprit was oddly cheery, and she sounded more like a stage actor reading from a script than someone realistically describing their day.
Emerson turned herself in to police the day after the video was sent and is now facing 83 charges related to seven bomb scares and 10 suspicious package incidents in and around Saskatoon.
In June, Saskatoon Crime Stoppers launched a campaign to find the woman on the video and get to the bottom of what it called “a truly strange Canadian crime story.”
In a post on Facebook, Crime Stoppers published the woman’s photo and said police believe “this unknown woman was actually ‘auditioning’ for the part of ‘Alexa Emerson’ as the video was clearly scripted. It is believed this video was created at the request of the actual Alexa Emerson ... She held on to this video and used it in an unsuccessful attempt to derail the investigation against her.”
The first appeal yielded nothing, so last Friday, Crime Stoppers issued another appeal, adding the information that the woman in the video may have been contacted through fiverr.com, a marketplace for freelance creative services.
CTV reported Tuesday that it found the woman, a North Carolina native named Samantha Field, who had signed on for the video thinking the script was a book excerpt and the video would be played at a launch. Field told CTV she had been contacted by someone on fiverr.com with the user name alexemme.
She said she had doubts about the story that the video was for a book launch.
“Honestly, the first thing that went through my head is, ‘This isn’t true,’ ” she told the network.
Saskatoon Police spokesperson Kelsie Fraser said investigators have been contacted by Field but have not been able to speak to her yet.
The video has not helped Emerson, 32. She was denied bail last month after the Crown strongly opposed her release.
“It’s my view that no amount of money or conditions are going to keep her from continuing to harass the people that she’s been harassing and from continuing to wreak havoc on the community,” Crown prosecutor Jennifer Claxton-Viczko said outside the courtroom.
Claxton-Viczko estimated the cost of the threats and bomb scares last November and this spring at $200,000, including the cost of emergency response and lost business time. In one case, cancer treatments had to be postponed after a suspicious package was sent to the Royal University Hospital’s cancer centre.
Fraser said Saskatoon has never seen a case like this before.
“It took a lot of resources and disrupted a lot of people’s days,” she said.
The packages targeted a wide range of businesses and schools and even the office of Emerson’s lawyer. He began representing her when she was charged in the November incidents, but withdrew after his office received a package in March.
Emerson is facing charges including public mischief, criminal harassment and uttering threats. She was originally charged last November when packages containing white powder were delivered to five Saskatoon businesses. She was released in January on the condition that she live in Alberta and stay 50 kilometres away from Saskatoon.
In 2015, when she went by the name Amanda Totchek, Emerson pleaded guilty to charges including criminal harassment and uttering threats for sending hundreds of letters and emails aimed at smearing her exboyfriend, a Saskatoon firefighter. Some of the emails claimed he was a pedophile.
“I have never had such a feeling of disgust and betrayal,” the ex-boyfriend wrote in a victim impact statement read in court. “There is literally no part of my life Amanda has not targeted or affected.”