She’s Gone tells stories of murdered women
Podcast to ‘pull back the curtain’ on four violent deaths in province
The Saskatoon Starphoenix is poised to release its first podcast on Monday. The podcast, titled She’s Gone, is a six-episode series that explores the stories of four Saskatchewan women who were victims of violent crime.
In advance of the podcast release, Starphoenix criminal justice reporter and podcast host Bre Mcadam speaks about what people can expect from the project, and why Saskatchewan residents should listen.
Q
Why did you chose to focus the podcast on female homicides?
A
When I was approached to do a podcast about some of the court cases I have covered over the past eight years, as both a radio and now a newspaper reporter, I realized many of the particularly tragic and memorable ones involved women. When you look at the statistics, the rates of domestic violence involving women, missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and femicide in Saskatchewan are pretty concerning for our small province. The cases I detail in She’s Gone — those of Karina Wolfe, Carol King, Brittney Gargol, Dorothy Woods — while unique in their own ways, also highlight this
larger issue.
Q
What do you want people to know about the podcast?
A
This is not an investigative podcast — we aren’t reopening any unsolved cases. I wanted to present cases that I covered in court, that stuck with me, from the crime to the court case, talking to people who were involved in hopes of getting some different perspectives now that these cases are concluded. We tried to interview key players — police officers, family members and lawyers — and used archived audio where necessary. I wanted to pull back the curtain, so to speak, on what it was like to cover these court cases, providing observations that were not always logistical to include in daily reporting.
Q
What interview or moment has stuck with you from your time producing the podcast?
A
The interviews in the Karina Wolfe episode really take you deep inside the case, from several perspectives, in a heartbreaking way. Karina vanished in Saskatoon in 2010 and her case went unsolved until some very shocking information surfaced five years later.
Finding a memorial to Dorothy Woods during a road trip with my producer Matt Olson also brought back a lot of memories about a case that gripped our province. Police found Dorothy’s body in a culvert near Blackstrap Lake in 2012, more than a month after she went missing.
Q
What was the most challenging part about working on the Starphoenix’s first podcast?
A
Finding a way to tell an engaging story about such sensitive subject matter. I wanted to honour the victims while still painting the necessary picture of what happened to them. Although I covered these stories in court, there was still a lot of research and fact-checking involved, since some of these crimes go back eight years. Tracking people down for interviews and getting responses sometimes proved to be a challenge as well.
Q
What do you hope people will take away from the podcast?
A
I hope people will learn more about police investigations, the court system and how certain decisions are made in those worlds. I also hope they’ll learn something new about the cases, which I think we accomplished through our interviews. I want listeners to take away a deeper understanding of these women’s stories, whether it’s how to recognize a red flag in a relationship, or whatever might resonate with them.
Q
Why is She’s Gone an important podcast for people in Saskatchewan to listen to?
A
While they are definitely picking up steam, we still don’t have an abundance of podcasts about Saskatoon or Saskatchewan. Even if you’re familiar with these stories, I think the podcast format provides a more in-depth experience because it allows us to delve deeper.
And it’s important for people to know what happens on our streets and in our courtrooms. By listening to these stories, we can start having larger conversations about violence in our community.
These women are more than just crime victims. Their lives mattered. They were loved, and are deeply missed. They might be gone, but they should not be forgotten.
Subscribe to She’s Gone on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.