All language subtitles for A.U.S01E24.1080p.WEB.h264-CASUALTY_track3_[eng]

(ominous music)

- [Narrator]
Someone is targeting

the most vulnerable
people in the city.

The number of deaths is rising,

and each murder
escalates in violence.

- We've got a lot of
vulnerable people in Winnipeg.

How are we gonna protect
them from this happening?

- [Narrator] If this
killer isn't found,

there's no telling how
many more could die.

- I'm pretty worried now

that this is not gonna stop.

So, it's escalating
all the time.

We've got a huge problem
on our hands here.

(tense music)

The unsolved ones,
we have to stand up.

- And approach these cases,
in a way, outside the box.

- Let the world know
for those out there

that did commit a murder,

there are people that
are coming after you.

- There's just a
lot of good people

trying to do the right thing.

- Because it's something

that you have to be
passionate about.

- Solve this.

Bring some peace to
the family, at least.

Just doing my job.

(dramatic music)

(tense music)

- [Narrator] In the early
morning of April 10th, 2015

in Winnipeg, Manitoba,

a transit employee finds a man

seemingly asleep
in a bus shelter.

On closer inspection, the
man is horribly injured.

The transit worker
immediately calls

for an ambulance and the police.

- They showed up, and they found

lots of bruising on his head,

and lots of blood on the floor,

and what was unusual was his
pants had been taken off.

At this time, they didn't know

whether he had taken
his pants off himself,

or whether somebody
else had removed it.

It was just unusual.

(sirens wailing)

- [Narrator] The unknown man
is rushed to the hospital,

as police begin investigating
the brutal attack.

Until the assailant is found,

the city's most vulnerable
citizens could be in trouble.

Winnipeg is one of the
largest cities in Canada.

- It is a beautiful city,
and it's a wonderful city.

It's been so good
to me and my family.

And you know what?

It's a big city, and every big
city has a rough edge to it.

Winnipeg is historically
a type of frontier town,

and that's where it started off,

as a trading post, and it
just progressed from that.

And a frontier town came
with all the other issues

that comes with frontier towns,

where people could
just keep on moving.

I moved there.

I'm originally from Ireland.

- Unfortunately, this
kind of brutal attack

is not as rare in
the city of Winnipeg

as we wished it was.

Winnipeg has often found
itself rated fairly high

on the crime severity index,

and the number of
homicides per capita.

- It's got a gang problem.

It's got a poverty problem.

It's not a a police issue

to try and solve
all these things.

There's so many
layers of government

have got to get in there,

and provide the
proper education,

and the proper direction
for the youth, especially.

(suspenseful music)

It was an extremely busy
year for homicides, as well.

Our unit was quite a bit
smaller than it is now,

and we had 14 investigators,

and two supervisors
working in the unit,

and it was busy all the time.

We were supposed to
work Monday to Fridays,

but we worked around
the clock, regularly.

It was not unusual to
work a 15, 20, 30 hour day

without a break.

- [Narrator] The man
in the bus shelter

is identified as Miles Monias.

- We were able to identify
him through fingerprints.

Miles's family were
extremely cooperative,

as much as they could.

It didn't sound like
Miles had any enemies,

any beefs with anybody
in the community.

He seemed to be a decent, happy,
you know, easygoing person.

When Miles Monias was attacked,

it was the day that the
Jets made the playoffs

for the very first time.

So Portage and Main
was absolutely packed.

There was thousands of
people out there celebrating.

They even shut down
the intersection.

They were playing
street hockey there.

It was a good time.

A good time was had by
all, everybody was happy.

- [Narrator] On the morning
when Miles Monias is found,

there are four other people
with him in the bus shelter.

- At that time, Winnipeg
Transit would come around,

check on the bus shacks,

and they found these five
people in the bus shelter,

and they asked them to move.

So the four people
that were still alive

got up and moved.

They took their blankets,

and whatever else that
they had with them,

and they just headed off
south on Main Street,

and eventually into
Winnipeg Square

into the underground, and
disappeared into the morning.

But, the transit people
tried to rouse the man

that was still, they
thought, sleeping.

They found him unresponsive.

They found blood
around his head,

and they realize
that this person

was most likely the
victim of an assault.

At this time, Miles
was still alive.

He was transported to the
hospital in critical condition,

and he was put
under observation.

He was treated, moved to
the intensive care unit.

I believe he had suffered
massive head injuries

from the attack.

He had had previous
head injury before that.

So he was, not only
was he vulnerable

because of his circumstances,

his health was vulnerable.

- The victim is
determined to have

a substantial list of injuries,

including bruising and
swelling to the face and scalp,

a large bilateral craniectomy,

massive brain swelling
and herniation,

all of which point to
repeated and severe

blunt trauma to the head.

- One of the strange
things about Miles Monias,

and this is upsetting,

but he had footprints
on his face

from where he was
literally stomped.

And there was two different
footprints on his face,

from two different
types of shoes.

Now, that would
lead you to believe

that there's two attackers,

but it could also be the fact
that somebody had odd shoes.

The bus shack was frequented
by four people who had left.

We didn't know who they were.

There was very
little left behind.

There was just whatever debris

was in the bus shack overnight.

There was a couple
of cigarette butts.

Could they have been
there from earlier in day?

Of course they could, you know,

but they're just things
that you pick up.

There's a million fingerprints

on the glass of
this bus shelter.

You take as many as you can,

and you try and identify them,

and you basically work
with what you got.

The scene, there's very
little left behind.

The body has been attacked.

- When investigating a crime

that occurred in a public place,

there can be a real situation

where there's just too much
information, too much evidence.

Think about how many people

walk through a bus
shelter every single day.

So a broken bottle you might
find in a private residence

will give you a
wealth of information

about a crime that happened
that's very specific.

A broken bottle in a bus
shelter, or in a public place,

could have been there
for days, weeks even.

And it just adds
to the complexity

of the forensic analysis
that needs to be done

on all of these
pieces of evidence.

- The Winnipeg Police
Service Major Crimes Unit

started the investigation,

and they gathered
as much intelligence

and information as they could.

There are no witnesses,

even though there's
thousands of people

on the street earlier
in the evening,

we didn't know exactly what
time Miles had been attacked.

We went out and gathered as
much CCTV video as possible.

You do see some shadows
coming and going.

Unfortunately, it's
all from a distance.

Nothing that's gonna
tell you who it is.

- [Narrator] The closed
circuit television footage

is taken from a building
that is close by,

but not actually meant for
surveilling the bus shack.

Because of this, while the
footage shows the area,

the actual crime
is barely visible.

Still, there is some
information to be gleaned.

- Now we do see the four
people coming into the shack

at different times
during the night.

They don't all come together,
but they all leave together.

So, there are four
persons of interest.

- [Narrator] The investigation
is making headway,

but terrible news makes its way
back to the Winnipeg Police.

Miles Monias is unable to
survive the horrible injuries

he has sustained,
and dies in hospital.

This is no longer
about an assault.

This is now a murder
investigation,

and a killer is on the streets.

(dramatic music)

(tense music)

On an early spring morning
in Winnipeg, Manitoba,

a man is found brutally
beaten in a bus shelter.

The man is brought
to the hospital,

and is identified soon
after as Miles Monias.

The Winnipeg police begin
investigating the assault,

but the bus shack
where it occurred

has too much
traffic to determine

what might actually mean
anything to the case.

Thankfully, a nearby
building has a CCTV camera

that sees the bus shack.

Though the footage
isn't clear enough

to determine who is responsible,

it does reveal four people

who came into the bus
shack throughout the night.

Doctors do their best,

but Miles eventually
succumbs to his injuries,

and passes away.

The investigation is no
longer abut an assault,

but about finding a murderer.

(eerie music)

- By the time Miles
had passed away,

we were able to gather
more of that CCTV video

from different areas
on Main Street,

and inside Winnipeg Square.

Now we have a better view
of these four people.

We're going under
the point that these

probably are involved
in Miles's death.

I mean, they're the last
people who were with him.

Our next thing is to try
and identify these people,

and it's very, very difficult.

You've got four
blurred faces from CCTV

in April, where people
are wearing heavy coats,

they're wearing hats, they're
wearing scarves and tuques,

so, you know,
everybody's covered up.

It's Winnipeg.

We eventually, after
three or four days,

we now have an idea
who these people are.

- [Narrator] The four
suspects are found

and brought into the police
station for questioning.

- When we do find these people,

they know absolutely nothing
about what's happening.

And our investigators,
they don't know that.

- Nearly every suspect
starts by saying,

no, it wasn't me, denying that
they committed this crime.

So then it's up to
you to make a decision

based on what you've
got in front of you,

based on your gut feelings,
based on the evidence,

and what it's telling you is,
do you need to push forward,

or do you believe
what they're saying?

- And it is hard to know
if they're holding back,

if they're lying, or if they're
being completely truthful.

And it was hours and hours
and hours of interview

of each of these people
before we got nowhere.

We were literally
spinning our wheels,

focusing on these
four individuals,

and trying to find out
if they weren't involved,

they must know who was involved.

They must know what happened.

But then again, there
was the unknown factor

that we know when these people
came into the bus shack.

There was thousands of
people out in the street.

Could it have been one of the
revelers from the hockey game?

You know, it could
very easily have been.

It's getting colder by the day.

We've front loaded it,
we've put as much into it

as we could at the
very beginning.

We've tracked down
these four people,

we've interviewed them, we've
interviewed their friends,

we've interviewed
their associates

to see if they've made any
disclosure about anything.

This is an extremely
difficult case.

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] But before
a breakthrough can come,

another murder
investigation begins.

At a quarter to
one in the morning,

Donald Collins' body is
found behind a parking lot

that's under construction,
behind a hotel.

- [John] And the parking
lot was almost completed.

The construction of this
and a multi-story car park

was underway, and it
was almost completed

and ready to be opened.

So, I get called at home at
20 past one in the morning.

This is on a Saturday morning.

I make my way up to
this crime scene.

It's a violent scene.

It's disturbing.

No matter how many times you've
seen it, it's disturbing.

- [Narrator] The attack
appears to be even more brutal

than what happened
to Miles Monias.

(camera clicks)

- The second victim's injuries
include a scalp hemorrhage

and multi contusions to
the side of the head.

Nasal fractures,
multifocal lacerations,

and hemorrhage to
the neck muscles,

and a stab wound to the neck.

They're once again
injuries consistent

with blunt trauma to the head.

But this time,
strangulation and stabbing

are added to that.

- Now, the body had been
found by a pizza delivery guy

who was taking a shortcut
through the car park

to get to, I think to the hotel.

And he had alerted a security
guard at the construction site

that he had found the body,

and the security guard
had called the police.

These people, even though
they're the first people

to find the body,

they had nothing to do with
it, and didn't know anything.

He's got an address
on Carlton Street.

Donald Collins isn't homeless,

but he is a very
vulnerable person.

We found out that he's a
ward of the public trustee,

which means that he does have
extremely vulnerable issues,

where they have taken
over his day-to-day care.

There were drag
marks on the ground,

and there was a belt wrapped
around Mr. Collins's neck.

He had been beaten
badly, and like I say,

his clothes had been
stripped from him as well.

- [Narrator] The police
interviewed the security guard

who called in, but
there is very little

for their
investigation to go on.

(camera clicks)

- It's around six
in the morning now,

and I'm starting to think, okay,
this guy has been stripped.

The guy a week earlier had
been stripped, Miles Monias,

so maybe, and they're both
killed in a similar fashion.

The belt was different.

So you know, that's a bit
of a wild card right now.

We have started to
collect some video.

We went back to Mr.
Collins's apartment,

and there was video
inside and outside,

and we know that he
left his residence

at 20 past 10 at night,
the night before.

Basically walked
around the area,

picked up a few cigarette butts,

and he's just walking
through that downtown area.

The next time that we see him,

we see him on video in
front of the liquor store

on Ellice and Hargrave,

and he's picked up in their

outside surveillance video
as well, at 25 past 10.

We then see him walking
across the road,

and there's a shadow with him.

I say a shadow, there's somebody

that's all in black,
unrecognizable.

It's almost out of video,
and we don't know that he's,

but he's there.

(tense music)

- [Narrator] Progress is made

on the Donald Collins
case throughout the day,

but by the evening, it is
forced to be put on hold

when another body is found.

- We're still on the 25th,
it's 10 after seven actually,

and we get notified that
another body has been found

very, very close to
Donald Collins's body,

behind 339 Portage Avenue.

(ominous music)

The third victim was
identified as Stony Bushie.

Mr. Bushie was another
homeless person.

His body was concealed
in a construction site

behind 339 Portage.

It was covered with
pallets and plywood,

and he had been beaten up
pretty bad as well, and stomped.

The saving grace of this one

was that there was a lot of
surveillance video in the area.

There was video from
the Air Canada building.

There was video from
the APTN building,

all in the the back area.

So we were able to tell exactly
when this attack occurred,

and it actually turned out
that Stony Bushie was killed

before Donald Collins.

- The third victim's
list of injuries

includes severe
linear lacerations

to this side of the head,

and multiple fractures to
the left side of the head.

There are subdural and
subarachnoid hemorrhages,

a partial fracture of the
seventh cervical vertebrae,

and patterned stains consistent
with possible footprints.

Once again, these
injuries are consistent

with the first victim,
but built upon.

- [Narrator] Another element
that all three murders

appear to have in common

is that the victims' pants
have all been removed.

- At this point,
I firmly believed

that the three of
them are related,

but I also now see that
there's a huge escalation

between the three of them,
in the violence that's there.

(tense music)

Miles Monias was beaten,
kicked, and stomped.

Stony Bushie was
beaten, stomped on,

and beaten with a two by four.

And then his body was concealed.

And then Donald
Collins was beaten.

He had a belt wrapped
around his neck,

and he was cut from
his neck to his waist.

So, it's escalating
all the time.

- [Narrator] With
three murder victims

discovered in less
than two weeks,

the city's most
vulnerable population

could be in terrible trouble.

(tense music)

- I'm pretty worried now

that this is not gonna stop,

and it's getting, they're
more and more frequent.

There's only hours between
them now, instead of days.

And we've got a huge
problem on our hands here.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Miles Monias is
found barely hanging onto life

after being severely
beaten in a bus shelter.

Sadly, while the
investigation into the assault

is just beginning, Miles
dies in the hospital.

(monitor beeps)

With CCTV footage revealing
four possible suspects,

the case starts strong.

But after each lead
runs its course,

it looks more and more likely

that Miles's murder
might never be solved,

at least anytime soon.

Two more murder
victims are discovered,

and the similarities
to each other,

and how Miles was
found, makes it possible

that all three attacks
could have been committed

by the same individual.

- One of the things
we're trying to do

is we're trying to see
is there any relationship

between these three victims?

And there doesn't appear to be,

so we're looking now

at random killings
of vulnerable people.

It's very disturbing.

We've got a lot of vulnerable
people in Winnipeg,

and we've gotta,

how are we gonna protect
them from this happening?

- [Narrator] As with
the first two murders,

the police search
for more CCTV footage

that may shed any light
on Stony Bushie's attack.

- We got very, very
lucky with the CCTV

because of the areas
where it happened,

especially the
last two homicides,

Collins and Bushie,

they're unfortunately
high crime areas,

and a lot of businesses have
CCTV for their own security.

The business community in
that area were phenomenal.

It was a weekend, and
they brought in people,

and they downloaded
as much video.

We told 'em what we believed
we were investigating.

We told 'em, we believe we're
investigating a serial killer

who is out there picking on
the most vulnerable people

in our society, our
homeless people.

And they dropped
everything and came,

and that was fantastic.

We couldn't have asked for more.

- [Narrator] Sifting
through the CCTV footage

eventually pays off.

- We find video
on Ellice Avenue,

A couple of shots
of Stony Bushie

walking with an individual.

The video is terrible.

The quality is brutal.

It's video of a man
dressed in black.

He's carrying a
colored backpack,

and he's with Stony Bushie.

We have black and white shots
that are taken at night,

but the lighting is terrible.

You're looking at street lights,

and relatively cheaper
security systems,

and they're all in place

to protect the
buildings they're on.

They're not there
to spy on people,

it's just, people
walk into these shots.

One of the better
pictures that we have

is from the liquor store
at Hargrave and Ellice.

And we do see Stony
Bushie and this individual

having a very quick conversation
with a security guard

who's stationed outside
the liquor store,

and then walking south towards
the Air Canada building,

and towards where Stony
Bushie was killed.

- [Narrator] The police plan
to interview the security guard

in hopes that they can help
identify their suspect,

but when they arrive,
they receive a setback.

- We find out that
security guard,

that was his last day at work.

He's on a Greyhound bus,

and he's heading to Fort
McMurray to start a new job.

Okay, now what do
we do, you know?

- [Narrator] The police
are doing all they can

to find their suspect.

Every moment wasted
could mean another death.

- The first thing we
do is we put together

an internal wanted poster,

and send it out to
every single member

of the Winnipeg Police Service.

This is something that
they get in their email.

Those that are working,
they can look at it.

If they come across somebody

that looks like this individual,

they can detain them
and get 'em to us.

If it's somebody else who's off,

and they happen to
open their email,

and they recognize this
person, they will call.

We got nothing from that.

- [Narrator] But getting
the word out internally

isn't enough, and the police
decide it would be best

to hold a press conference.

All the police can do is wait,

hoping someone calls
in with information

that could be helpful.

But every second waiting
is another second

where the killer is
still on the streets.

- So, we had the news
conference, and it
was within an hour,

we had name of who
this person was.

We got calls from
people in the city

who were involved
in social services,

who were involved with shelters.

Nationwide paid off as well,

because we got a phone call
from Fort Hope, Ontario,

which is several hundred
kilometers above,

four or 500 kilometers
north of Thunder Bay

in a very remote community.

And this man said that he
recognized the individual

as his brother, John Ostamas.

(eerie music)

When I put out that
bulletin to the media

of this blurred picture

that looked like, it barely
looked like anything to me.

And I thought, okay, if
we get a hit on this,

I mean, it's like
we've won the lottery.

And we got four or
five phone calls,

and they were all
of the same person.

I could not believe that.

If that didn't happen,

if we didn't get that
grainy, dull picture

on Ellice Avenue of him walking,
we would've had nothing.

I have enough to arrest him.

I don't have enough
to charge him.

Nowhere close.

I also have to find this guy.

My best way of identifying
him is this security guard

who's on a bus on his
way to Fort McMurray.

So I look into my incident room,

and I call two of my
detectives and I say, okay,

you guys pack a bag.

You're flying to Fort McMurray.

And they said, well, really?

You know, and I said yeah,

you gotta go meet this bus,
and interview this guy,

and show him a photo
lineup of John Ostamas

now that we have an
identification on him.

Normally, there's
a bunch of hoops

that we should go
through to get this.

There was no time for that.

I opened my drawer,
pulled out my credit card,

and I gave him the credit
card, said, book the flight.

We'll beg for
forgiveness next week.

(plane engine roaring)
(tense music)

They identified him
with the photograph

that we got from Thunder Bay.

We go through our database,

and we select nine
other photographs

which are similar in appearance.

And we showed him an
array of 10 photographs,

and right away,
this security guard

picked up this photograph
of John Ostamas.

When I sent the guys out there,

as they were leaving the office,

I kinda jokingly said to 'em,

if you don't get an
ID, don't come back.

So they phoned me and
they said, guess what?

We got an ID.

100% positive ID.

So I said okay, well you're
welcome to come back.

- [Narrator] With a
positive ID on John Ostamas,

the next step is to find him

before he finds another victim.

(tense music)

(gentle music)

(ominous music)

When three murders
happen within two weeks,

the Winnipeg police
become worried

for their most
vulnerable population.

Though there is a clear
escalation in violence

with each attack,

the investigation believes
that the same person

may be responsible
for all three.

CCTV footage is proven
to be invaluable,

and gives the police
an image of a suspect

that they bring to the public.

Within hours of holding
a press conference,

they have a name, John Ostamas.

But knowing who he
is isn't enough.

They need to immediately
get him off the street.

- Now we gotta find him,

but it's a different
kind of pressure now.

It's okay, now we're not looking
for a needle in a haystack.

We're looking for an individual

in a city of a million people.

But you know, we've
done that before,

and we've done it
very successfully.

- [Narrator] A face and name
to help their investigation

leads to more information

on Ostamas's actions,
outside of the murders.

- Now we had a trail to follow.

We're knocking on doors, we're
finding out different things.

We find out that on the Friday

before the murder
of Stony Bushie,

John Ostamas goes to the
Winnipeg Hotel on Main Street.

He lights a fire
upstairs in a corridor,

and the hotel has
to be evacuated.

It's brought under
control very quickly,

but this is a residential hotel

where a lot of
vulnerable people live.

The whole place had
to be evacuated.

Again, he's caught
on video doing this.

- [Narrator] One of the places
that the police look into

is the Employment and
Income Assistance Office.

- We're now into Monday.

The city is coming alive again.

It's starting to to wake up.

Businesses are opening.

We go to the Social Assistance
Office on Rorie Street.

The investigators ask
if he's known to them.

They don't know who he is,

but they flag his name
in case he does come in.

That afternoon, we get
a phone call from EIA

saying that he's in their office
right now, on Rorie Street.

And this is a red alert, and I
scramble as many crews I can.

I send three teams
over to Rorie Street.

It's a short distance

from the public safety
building to Rorie,

but they're going at a
million miles per hour,

like lights and sirens.

And when they get
there, sure enough,

John Ostamas is there,
and they arrest him.

He's calm, he's easy
to to deal with.

He's told at the time
that he's under arrest

for murder or similar offense.

He shrugs it off,
and he's handcuffed,

and he's brought into the
public safety building.

I view him, as he comes
in, as the supervisor.

I ask him a few
questions to make sure

that he doesn't need
any medical attention,

that he understands why
he's there, and he's fine.

He's polite, he's understanding
everything I say to him.

Ask him, does he want anything?

He says he's hungry, so we
provide him with some food.

He wants coffee, kept
asking for coffee.

He had a few cigarettes.

He ate several sandwiches.

After it was explained to him,

his legal rights
were provided to him,

and his right to a lawyer,
and his police caution

that anything he said
would be recorded

and used against him,

and that he was being
arrested for three homicides,

he said he wanted to
speak with a lawyer.

- [Narrator] Ostamas requests
a lawyer from Thunder Bay,

but when that lawyer is called,
he recommends someone local.

The lawyer comes
to talk to Ostamas,

but soon leaves after,

giving his client the advice
to not speak to the police.

- A lawyer is always gonna
tell their client not to talk,

and it's always in their
client's best interest

not to make a statement.

But in the end, this is a
recommendation, and not the law.

If the client chooses
to talk anyway,

there's nothing to
be done about it.

- After a while,
the investigators

got some background
information from John Ostamas.

He started off with a
bizarre story of an injury

that had occurred to him

when he was in his
very early teens.

Couple of RCMP officers
beat him up in Fort Hope,

and he was badly injured,

and he had PTSD after
that, and everything.

And that that didn't
sit right with me.

That just sounded wrong,

because the RCMP haven't
policed in Ontario

for probably close
to a 100 years,

and it's the OPP.

John knows the difference
between the OPP and the RCMP.

- The RCMP is the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police.

It's a national police service
for the country of Canada.

The RCMP provides
contract policing services

to all provinces and
territories in the country,

with the exception of
Ontario and Quebec.

- [Narrator] Ostamas's
story about the RCMP

loses even more credibility

when the Winnipeg police
speak to his brother,

and learn the event
never occurred.

- He started to talk about,

he wanted to get
this off his chest,

and he said, "I've actually
killed a lot of people."

This is where he said,

"I've killed a lot of
people, not just here."

He said, "I've killed
the three people here,"

now a confirmation for me that
he's killed the three people

including Miles Monias.

But he said he's killed
people in New York, as well,

and in other places.

Now I'm thinking, okay, and
this is rambling of a guy

who's trying to build an
insanity case or something.

In the meantime,
other investigators

are now searching social media,

and sure enough,
there's photographs

on John Ostamas'
Facebook account,

and here he is in New York

with photographs of
selfies taken of him

in different places in New
York over different years.

So, maybe it's true,
maybe it isn't.

- [Narrator] Ostamas soon
starts giving more details

into the recent murders.

- He talks about the
Miles Monias homicide.

How he just went into the
bus shack and killed him.

He never really gave her a
reason for killing Miles Monias.

He described how he killed him,

and it was brutal,
absolutely brutal.

He said Miles
Monias was sleeping

when he attacked him,

and he talked about
stomping on his head,

and trying to snap
his neck and you know,

just a brutal physical assault.

He said that he went
the to the river,

and changed his clothing
after that assault.

And he said he always wore two
or three layers of clothing,

and he threw the top layer
of clothing into the river,

and then he just
continued on his business.

Then he went on to talk about
the Stony Bushie homicide,

and confirming that
this was the second one.

He said that he met Stony
Bushie on the street randomly,

near the Quest Hotel.

He said that Stony Bushie
asked him, was he the devil?

And he said, yes, and
he said, follow me.

And he said Stony
Bushie just followed him

down to where he killed him.

He described, in detail,
the attack on Stony Bushie,

which we were able to confirm

because we had a lot
of it recorded on CCTV,

even though it was
from a distance.

It was brutal, and he
didn't blink an eye,

he didn't show any emotion
when he spoke about this.

He literally just talked about,
it was so matter of fact.

He said after the
Stony Bushie homicide,

he went to the river
and changed his clothes.

Then he came back, and
he found Donald Collins

in the same manner.

And he said Donald
Collins asked him,

was he the devil as well?

And he said, yes I
am, and follow me.

Did this happen, who knows?

I doubt it very much.

But, this was what
he was giving us.

He led Donald Collins
into the corner

of this new unoccupied
parking lot,

and he literally
slaughtered him as well.

And he had the detail,

which was all holdback evidence
of the belt around the neck

and the cutting.

This was something
that wasn't known,

the stripping of the bodies.

It's something that
we were able to,

that we knew that okay,

only the person who
was there and did this

can have these details.

- [Narrator] Ostamas
claims there was a reason

for these attacks.

That three men raped
his girlfriend,

and he was out for revenge.

- We had spoken to the girl,

and we actually went out
and double checked on that.

Was he provoked into doing this?

First of all, our three victims

never had any contact
with this woman, ever.

She wasn't even
like a girlfriend.

She was more like an
ex, and an acquaintance.

And again, this was, I think,
John's mind reaching for,

trying to maybe normalize it
for himself even, you know?

That he had felt compelled
to go and do this.

- [Narrator] But one
thing gnaws at the police.

Ostamas speaks of other
murders he committed.

It could be possible that there
are more bodies to be found.

- Eventually, get him
to open up about that,

and he talks about two
other murders in Winnipeg

going back to the early 2000s.

One of them we found,
and it wasn't a homicide.

It was an extremely
severe beating of a
homeless individual.

The man didn't die, and
he survived that beating.

However, he died
several years after that

from an unrelated incident,

or from natural
causes, actually.

The other one John spoke about

was he said it occurred

behind the Woodbine
Hotel on Main Street,

and he said that he had
killed another individual

several months after
the the Ford Street one.

We never found that.

There were similarities to
an unsolved homicide in 2007,

but it happened near
the Northern Hotel.

And I'm always wondering,
were they related?

And we never could bring
them close enough together,

but we never found the
attack that he spoke about.

- [Narrator] Ostamas
talks about more murders

outside of the country,

but Winnipeg police
have no way to confirm.

Ostamas has killed at
least three people,

and the violence has
escalated severely.

He claims to be
responsible for many more.

One thing police know for sure,

this man needs to be
taken off the streets.

(dramatic music)

(gentle music)

(ominous music)

John Ostamas is believed to
have murdered three people

in less than two weeks
in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Miles Monias, Stony
Bushie, and Donald Collins

are all found having
been severely beaten,

each murder more
violent than the last.

The original charges
made against John Ostamas

are for two counts of
first degree murder,

and one count of
second degree murder.

His lawyer makes a motion

to change them all to
second degree murder

with the provision that
Ostamas will plead guilty

if this motion is passed.

- Monias's murder is most
likely classified differently

from the other two, because
of how much it appears

like it could have been
a spontaneous decision.

Monias was attacked where
he was found asleep.

The other two appear
more premeditated,

as they were both brought
to a secondary location

before they were attacked.

- [Narrator] There are
theories of sexual assault

because of the clothing that
is removed from the victims,

but Ostamas denies it all.

- Part of his agreement
with his guilty plea

was that he would plead guilty

to three counts
of second degree,

and take the three
consecutive life sentences.

- As soon as there's some
sort of sexual aspect

to the murder, it becomes
a first degree murder.

First degree murders require
intent and premeditation,

whereas second degree
murders requires intent,

but you don't necessarily need

that premeditated
design to the crime.

- [Narrator] The possibility
of sexual assault

remains inconclusive,

with the investigation dropped

after Ostamas's guilty plea.

John Ostamas pleads guilty

to all three counts of
second degree murder,

and is sentenced to three
consecutive life sentences.

- All in all, he confessed
to what he believed

were 17 homicides.

He was convicted
of three homicides.

At the time, he got the longest
sentence ever in Canada.

No chance of parole
for 75 years.

I remember him saying
in his interview

that he was a killing machine.

He liked killing, and
he was good at it.

That's a very, very
dangerous person.

And to see him in the person,

he certainly does not
portray that danger.

He's someone you would
walk past on the street

and never ever think
that he was this person.

It was an intense few days,

absolutely crazy,
intense few days,

and I think if we
hadn't got him,

he would've absolutely
wreaked havoc in our city,

and gone on somewhere else
and done the same thing again,

because there's
no doubt about it,

his violence was escalating.

These people were so vulnerable
in the city of Winnipeg.

They're invisible
people, all the time.

Like, we go about
our daily business,

and these are invisible people.

You know, they've got
addictions problems,

they've got solvent
abuse problems,

they've got mental
health issues,

and they do what they
have to do to survive.

- [Narrator] John
Ostamas is sentenced

to three consecutive
life sentences

to be served in Canadian prison.

While originally ineligible
for parole for 75 years,

an appeal has him
able to apply in 2040,

when he will be 63 years old.

Targeting the city's
most vulnerable,

Ostamas almost got away with
the murder of three men.

Thankfully, he was stopped
before he could take

any more victims.

- Somebody has to
advocate for them,

and there's lots
of people who do.

But when something like
this happens to them,

as society, we have to stand
up and advocate for them,

and look out for them,
and remember them,

because they were people.

(somber music)

(dramatic music)