WEBVTT 1 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:49.200 Nestled in the heart of British Columbia's Lower Mainland, Coquitlam 2 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:53.119 has always been a city call between worlds. Once the 3 00:00:53.159 --> 00:00:57.359 traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples, this community of 4 00:00:57.359 --> 00:00:59.759 one hundred and forty thousand has grown from a logging 5 00:00:59.799 --> 00:01:03.960 and forming settlement into a sprawling suburban haven. For decades, 6 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:06.840 families have been drawn here by the promise of quiet neighborhoods, 7 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:11.599 good skills, and tree lined streets. Spurway Avenue embodies everything 8 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:15.959 that makes Coquitlam so appealing to young families and retirees alike. 9 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:21.480 This peaceful residential street winds gently through an established neighborhood, 10 00:01:21.799 --> 00:01:25.159 flanked by well maintained split level homes from the nineteen 11 00:01:25.239 --> 00:01:29.680 seventies and nineteen eighties. The strait itself curves just enough 12 00:01:29.719 --> 00:01:33.599 to slow traffic to a crawl, with manicured lawns, carefully 13 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:38.120 tended gardens, and driveways where suva sit waiting. It's the 14 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:41.000 kind of street where garage doors rumble open at seven 15 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:44.760 a m shop, where weekend mornings are filled with the 16 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:49.319 distant hum of lawnmower. Most residents have lived here for years, 17 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:53.359 watching each other's children grow up, sharing tools and small 18 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:57.159 talk about the weather. But on early winter morning in 19 00:01:57.239 --> 00:02:00.719 January of nineteen eighty three, Spurway Avenue knew would be 20 00:02:00.760 --> 00:02:04.359 forever changed. At five point thirty a m. The street 21 00:02:04.439 --> 00:02:08.479 lay shrouded in that peculiar breedawn darkness that seems to 22 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:12.840 muffle even the slightest sound. Most of the houses stood 23 00:02:12.919 --> 00:02:17.439 dark and silent, their occupant step in sleep, still hours 24 00:02:17.479 --> 00:02:21.039 away from alarm clocks and coffee makers. The only movement 25 00:02:21.080 --> 00:02:23.759 came from the occasional car on the distant main road. 26 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:27.879 In one of those split level homes, a man slept 27 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:33.000 peacefully until something jolted him awake. His eyes snapped open 28 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:36.840 in the darkness of his bedroom. For a moment, he 29 00:02:36.919 --> 00:02:40.800 lay still, trying to identify what had disturbed his sleep, 30 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:46.400 And then he heard it again, the unmistakable crack of gunshots. 31 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:50.560 His heart was racing as he slipped out of bed 32 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:54.879 and moved quietly to his bedroom window. Peering through the blinds, 33 00:02:54.919 --> 00:02:58.439 he looked across to his neighbor's house, a modest, two 34 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:02.719 story home, identical the soil many others on spur Away Avenue, 35 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:06.919 but something was different. Every light in the house was blazing, 36 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:12.080 every single window glowed bright yellow against the pre dawn darkness, 37 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:15.879 as if somebody had frantically flipped on every switch in 38 00:03:15.960 --> 00:03:20.639 the place. And then he saw movement. Through the illuminated windows. 39 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:23.199 He could make out the silhouette of a man moving 40 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:27.439 quickly through the house. The figure appeared in one window, 41 00:03:27.639 --> 00:03:31.759 then disappeared, then appeared again in another room. He was 42 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:35.800 moving with purpose, urgent, determined movements that suggested he was 43 00:03:35.879 --> 00:03:40.639 looking for something or someone. The neighbor pressed closer to 44 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:43.919 his window, his breath fogging up the glass as he 45 00:03:43.960 --> 00:03:47.439 tried to make sense of what he was saying. And 46 00:03:47.479 --> 00:03:51.120 that's when he realized the man wasn't alone. There was 47 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:54.960 someone else in that house. Someone the man was pursuing 48 00:03:55.039 --> 00:04:00.159 through the brightly lit rooms with a relentless predatory intensity. 49 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:05.520 The chase was on and on quiet Spurway Avenue. Someone 50 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:23.519 was running for their life. In January of nineteen eighty three, 51 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:26.759 the Blackman's were exactly the kind of family you'd expect 52 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:31.639 to find in Coquitlam's Ranch Park subdivision. Their split level 53 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:35.560 home on Spurway Avenue fit perfectly into the neighborhood's orderly 54 00:04:35.639 --> 00:04:40.319 rows of suburban houses. Richard Blackman was fifty years old, 55 00:04:40.759 --> 00:04:44.439 with the calloused hands of someone who'd worked his entire life. 56 00:04:44.839 --> 00:04:47.800 He'd spent years as a marine engineer before joining the 57 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:51.639 Vancouver Fire Department in nineteen seventy eight, where he worked 58 00:04:51.639 --> 00:04:55.959 on the fireboat. The transition from Pacific towing services to 59 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:58.839 public service suited him. He was the kind of man 60 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:02.519 who found purpose in health helping others. Bill Jones, the 61 00:05:02.519 --> 00:05:07.480 Fireman's union president, knew Richard well. He later said, we 62 00:05:07.560 --> 00:05:10.439 all see him as a very stable guy, competent and 63 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:15.000 good inner crisis. That stability showed in everything that Richard did, 64 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:18.000 from his reliable work ethic to the way he spent 65 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:21.439 his weekends meticulously trimming his lawn and tending his garden. 66 00:05:22.439 --> 00:05:26.240 His yard was a surpride and joy. His wife, Irene Catherine, 67 00:05:26.279 --> 00:05:28.800 was forty nine and worked as a pattern's clerk at 68 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:32.720 the Vancouver Province newspaper. She'd been there for three years 69 00:05:32.839 --> 00:05:35.560 and her colleagues adored her. Irene was the kind of 70 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:38.759 person who remembered everyone's birthday and always said have a 71 00:05:38.839 --> 00:05:42.519 nice night before leaving work. She was beautiful as well. 72 00:05:42.920 --> 00:05:45.120 She'd even been chosen to pose for posters on the 73 00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:48.920 sides of Pacific Press delivery trucks to the younger staff. 74 00:05:48.920 --> 00:05:51.480 Iren was like a mother figure, always ready with a 75 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:56.000 listening ear or an encouraging word. Together, Richard and Irene 76 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:59.199 had raised six children, each finding their own way in 77 00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:02.600 the world. The eldest was twenty eight year old Roberta 78 00:06:02.680 --> 00:06:06.480 Lynn Davies, who had married John Davies the previous summer. 79 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:09.920 The newly Weeds lived on East eleventh Street and with 80 00:06:09.959 --> 00:06:13.480 a kind of couple that neighbors loved having a round. 81 00:06:13.959 --> 00:06:16.839 Luigi Lepacho, who lived near by, couldn't say enough good 82 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:20.079 things about them. They were so friendly and nice every 83 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:22.279 time I would drop in to see them. They were 84 00:06:22.360 --> 00:06:25.959 fine people to me. Roberta and John were already talking 85 00:06:25.959 --> 00:06:29.360 about starting their own family. Then there was twenty five 86 00:06:29.399 --> 00:06:32.240 year old Karen Dale Rhodes, who was going through a 87 00:06:32.279 --> 00:06:36.240 rougher patch. Her recent separation had left her living alone 88 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:39.279 on Secret Court, but she was handling it with grace. 89 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:44.040 Her neighbor Brad, remembered her fondly. Karen was so nice. 90 00:06:44.279 --> 00:06:47.399 She was also very good looking and had the personality 91 00:06:47.480 --> 00:06:50.839 to go with her looks. Despite the divorce, Karen seemed 92 00:06:50.839 --> 00:06:55.000 optimistic about her future. The family's third daughter, twenty six 93 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:57.959 year old Kathy Wiley, had moved to quincill and was 94 00:06:57.959 --> 00:07:02.000 building her own life there. Back home on s Burroway Avenue, 95 00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:04.839 three of the Blackman children still lived with their parents. 96 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:09.480 The youngest was sixteen year old Richard Junior. Everybody called 97 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:13.040 them Rick. He was a student at Sir Frederick Barring 98 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:16.319 Junior Secondary School, where he made a name for himself 99 00:07:16.360 --> 00:07:19.360 in sports. Rick had that kind of energy that comes 100 00:07:19.399 --> 00:07:22.279 with being sixteen and having your whole life ahead of you. 101 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:26.240 His friend Christer Riddell would later say he was the 102 00:07:26.279 --> 00:07:28.959 best am guy in the world. The life of the party. 103 00:07:29.959 --> 00:07:32.399 Rick had been dating Caroline Waters for a round ten 104 00:07:32.439 --> 00:07:35.240 months and according to her, he got along with everyone. 105 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:38.399 He was just that type of kid. Then there were 106 00:07:38.439 --> 00:07:42.199 twenty two year old twins Bruce and Barry, who couldn't 107 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:46.279 have been more different despite sharing the same birthday. Bruce 108 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:50.199 was outgoing and mechanical, spending his time playing soccer or 109 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:53.519 working on his car. He had plans to take a 110 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:58.120 mill ride's course at Selkirk College in Nelson, a solid 111 00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:01.399 trade that would set him up for life. His twin Barrie, 112 00:08:01.399 --> 00:08:05.120 had chosen military service instead, working as a finance clerk 113 00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:10.079 at Canadian Forces Base Rockliffe and Ottawa. It made sense 114 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:12.639 their father had worked in the Canadian Forces more than 115 00:08:12.680 --> 00:08:16.800 thirty years earlier. The distance between the twins didn't break 116 00:08:16.839 --> 00:08:21.040 their bond, though. Family's family, and what brought the black 117 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:25.360 Men's all together was their love of the outdoors. They 118 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:28.560 had a camper that regularly took them to Harrison Hot Springs, 119 00:08:28.920 --> 00:08:32.879 where they owned a campsite. The wilderness of British Columbia 120 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:36.200 was where the family felt most at home. The men 121 00:08:36.360 --> 00:08:40.360 especially shared a passion for hunting. Richard, Rick, Bruce, and 122 00:08:40.440 --> 00:08:43.960 Barry when he was visiting, all participated, and they kept 123 00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:48.120 an impressive collection of rifles locked in the basement. It 124 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:52.799 was a hobby that connected generations, father teaching, sons, brothers 125 00:08:52.840 --> 00:08:56.639 bonding over shared expedition into the woods. This was the 126 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:01.679 Blackman family in January of nineteen eighty three, hardworking people 127 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:05.399 with strong roots in their community, the kind of family 128 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:07.879 that made neighbors think about what they wanted their own 129 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:13.559 lives to look like. Stable, loving, secure, But of course, 130 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:19.440 no family is perfect. Every household has its tensions, its 131 00:09:19.480 --> 00:09:24.240 quiet struggles, its moments when the carefully maintained surface threatens 132 00:09:24.279 --> 00:09:27.799 to crack, but from the outside, the black Men's looked 133 00:09:27.879 --> 00:09:31.799 like they had it all figured out. Sometimes, though, the 134 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.360 people who seem to have everything together are the ones 135 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:45.159 with the most to loose. Edfield had always been a 136 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:48.360 heavy sleeper. His wife used to joke that a freight 137 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:51.200 train could run through their bedroom and he wouldn't stir. 138 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:54.919 So when that first gun shot pulled him from sleep 139 00:09:55.240 --> 00:09:57.639 at five point thirty am on the eighteenth of January 140 00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:01.000 nineteen eighty three, he knew that some was very wrong. 141 00:10:02.600 --> 00:10:05.159 He lay for a moment, wondering if he dreamed it. 142 00:10:06.039 --> 00:10:10.480 The house was quiet, Spurway Avenue was quiet. Everything was 143 00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:13.039 as it should be in the pre dawn darkness of 144 00:10:13.080 --> 00:10:17.720 a Tuesday morning in Coquitlam. Then came the second shot. 145 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:21.600 Ed sat up in bed, his heart race picking up. 146 00:10:22.519 --> 00:10:24.600 By the third shot, he was at his bedroom window, 147 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:30.000 looking directly across the street at the Blackman House. Every 148 00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:33.120 single light was on. At five point thirty in the morning, 149 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:37.879 every light was blazing. That's when he heard the screaming. 150 00:10:38.840 --> 00:10:42.480 It was a man's voice, desperate and raw, calling for help. 151 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:47.559 The sound carried clearly across the empty street. Ed opened 152 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:50.919 up his window and leaned out the january air, biting 153 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:54.399 his face. Through the lit windows, he could see two 154 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:58.360 figures moving inside the house. One was chasing the other 155 00:10:58.440 --> 00:11:02.799 through the rooms. Of them running. The chase led them 156 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:06.120 to the garage, where Ed watched one man fall to 157 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:10.360 his knees on the concrete floor. The garage door was open, 158 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:16.200 the overhead lights harsh and unforgiving. Ed later recalled, I 159 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:19.440 heard a couple of shouts for help. The guys came back, 160 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:22.480 one leading the other, and one guy fell down on 161 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:26.080 his knees in the garage. Ed watched as the standing 162 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:30.480 figure walked to the workbench and picked something up. Then 163 00:11:30.519 --> 00:11:34.759 both men disappeared back into the house. Ed ran to 164 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:41.399 his kitchen and dialed nine one one. The police arrived quickly, 165 00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:46.440 their sirens cutting through the quiet neighborhood like knives. Ed 166 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:50.159 stood on this front steps, still in his pajamas, watching 167 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:54.320 the chaos unfold in his peaceful street. Then the front 168 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:57.720 door of the black Man house opened, a man walked out. 169 00:11:58.679 --> 00:12:01.080 He moved down the front path with the casual pace 170 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:05.200 of someone leaving for work, then continued down the hill 171 00:12:05.320 --> 00:12:09.600 away from the house. There was something unsettling about his composure. 172 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:14.200 The way he seemed completely disconnected from what had just happened. 173 00:12:15.399 --> 00:12:18.440 Ed called out to the approaching officers that that was 174 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:22.159 the man he had seen inside the house. The police 175 00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:25.240 caught up with the man easily. He didn't resist when 176 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:28.759 they told him to stop. He simply raised his hands 177 00:12:28.919 --> 00:12:32.600 and allowed them to cuff him. With the suspect secured, 178 00:12:32.840 --> 00:12:37.039 officers approached the house, they found a twenty two caliber 179 00:12:37.159 --> 00:12:41.960 rifle lying on the front lawn. The garage door remained open, 180 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:46.200 light still on, revealing two bodies on the concrete floor 181 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:50.240 surrounded by blood. Inside the house they found four more. 182 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:54.159 Richard Blackman was dead in the kitchen, having been shot 183 00:12:54.200 --> 00:12:58.200 while doing a crossword puzzle. Forty nine year old Irene 184 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:01.559 had been shot dead in the bedroom. Sixteen year old 185 00:13:01.639 --> 00:13:05.840 Rick was killed with a gunshot blast doundstairs. Twenty eight 186 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:08.879 year old Roberta was found dead in the garage, having 187 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:12.600 been shot and bludgeoned with a hammer. Her husband John 188 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:18.080 was found dead alongside her, shot and bludgeoned, and then 189 00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:22.360 twenty five year old Karen she too was in the garage. 190 00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:26.279 Six people an entire family, wiped out in a matter 191 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:30.679 of minutes. When officers returned to question the handcuffed man, 192 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:34.840 they asked for his identification. The answer would send shockwaves 193 00:13:34.840 --> 00:13:38.120 through the community and raise questions that would haunt everyone 194 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:42.120 who heard the story. It was twenty two year old 195 00:13:42.279 --> 00:13:47.440 Bruce Blackman, son brother twin, the young man who had 196 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:50.240 been planning his future as a mill write, who loved 197 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:53.600 soccer and working on cars, who went hunting with his 198 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:57.799 father and brothers. The same person who had just destroyed 199 00:13:57.799 --> 00:14:01.559 his entire family in the quiet suburban house where they 200 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:05.519 all lived together. As the sun rose over Spurway Avenue 201 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:08.799 that morning, it illuminated a crime scene that would challenge 202 00:14:08.840 --> 00:14:13.759 everything people thought they knew about family, about mental illness, 203 00:14:14.279 --> 00:14:17.360 and about how quickly a normal life can turn into 204 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:23.320 something unrecognizable. The question everyone would ask was simple but devastating. 205 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:36.039 How does this happen? The news spread through Coquitlam like wildfire. 206 00:14:36.919 --> 00:14:39.559 The black Men family, the quiet people who kept their 207 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:43.200 lawn Tiday and send out Christmas cards, had been murdered 208 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:46.559 by their own son. For two years, the black Men 209 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:50.279 had been the kind of neighbors that everybody appreciated. They 210 00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:54.840 kept to themselves without being unfriendly. Their yard was well maintained. 211 00:14:55.679 --> 00:14:59.080 They participated in the small rituals of suburban life that 212 00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:02.600 make a neighborhood feel ill, safe, and normal. One neighbor 213 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:05.960 said to reporters there were no hints of problems in 214 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:10.399 the family. They were just a very nice family, and 215 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:14.440 they were Richard and Irene maintained close relationships with all 216 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:18.240 their children, even the ones who had moved out, came 217 00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:21.879 home to visit regularly. From the outside, they looked like 218 00:15:21.960 --> 00:15:25.519 exactly what they were, a tight knit family who genuinely 219 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:29.720 enjoyed each other's company. But something had been going wrong 220 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:33.360 with Bruce until recently. He had been living in North 221 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:37.080 Vancouver with his friend Terry in a one bedroom apartment. 222 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:40.799 They'd known each other since high school, but over the 223 00:15:40.840 --> 00:15:44.960 past few months, Terry had started to worry. The trouble 224 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:47.639 had begun in nineteen eighty one when Bruce lost his 225 00:15:47.720 --> 00:15:51.279 job at a plant that manufactured plastic booms for oil 226 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:56.159 spill containment. Being unemployed hit him hard. He felt like 227 00:15:56.200 --> 00:15:59.200 he was in a rut. Terry remembered Bruce stet out 228 00:15:59.240 --> 00:16:02.799 of work for a year. Finally, in August of nineteen 229 00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:04.679 eighty two, he found a job as an on call 230 00:16:04.759 --> 00:16:08.679 garbage collector. It wasn't glamorous work, but it was something, 231 00:16:09.559 --> 00:16:13.320 and for a while things seemed to stabilize. Then, around 232 00:16:13.399 --> 00:16:18.200 two months before the Murderspruce started changing. He began reading 233 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:21.759 the Bible obsessively, which was strange because he'd never been 234 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:26.200 particularly religious. But stranger still was what he claimed to 235 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:31.399 find in those pages. Terry recalled, he would see messages, 236 00:16:31.639 --> 00:16:35.639 subliminal messages in many things. We'd be sitting around watching 237 00:16:35.639 --> 00:16:37.960 television and he'd see something in a show that he 238 00:16:38.039 --> 00:16:42.200 thought was a message. Bruce started telling Terry that the 239 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:44.919 world was going to end soon and that he had 240 00:16:44.919 --> 00:16:48.240 some kind of role to play in that ending. The 241 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:53.559 conversations became increasingly disturbing, Terry said. Then, about a month 242 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:55.720 and a half ago, he told me one night, about 243 00:16:55.720 --> 00:16:58.320 midnight that if he went to sleep, he knew he 244 00:16:58.440 --> 00:17:03.120 was going to die. Concern, Terry contacted the crisis center. 245 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:06.599 They gave him the name of Jehovah's witness who might 246 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:09.960 be able to help. The man came to the apartment, 247 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:14.359 but Bruce refused to engage with him. He dismissed the visitor, 248 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:16.680 saying he was full of it and didn't know what 249 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:20.519 he was talking about. Then, about a month before the murders. 250 00:17:20.599 --> 00:17:24.880 Terry's concern reached a breaking point. He called Bruce's parents. 251 00:17:25.799 --> 00:17:29.000 The decision was made quickly. Bruce would move back home 252 00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:32.359 where his family could keep an eye on him. It 253 00:17:32.440 --> 00:17:35.880 seemed like the right thing to do. Richard and Irene 254 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:37.839 were the kind of parents who would do anything for 255 00:17:37.960 --> 00:17:42.519 their children. Bruce continued going to his garbage collection job 256 00:17:42.680 --> 00:17:46.119 after moving home. Then on the tenth of January, just 257 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:49.799 eight days before the murders, he suddenly quit. He told 258 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:52.319 his boss he was planning to take some college courses. 259 00:17:53.160 --> 00:17:55.880 He told Terry the same thing, that he was finally 260 00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:59.359 going to start that mill write program, the plan he'd 261 00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:03.000 been talking of aut for months. When Bruce came by 262 00:18:03.079 --> 00:18:06.200 Terry's apartment to pick up some of his belongings, he 263 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:10.720 seemed different, better, Terry remembered. He said he was feeling 264 00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:13.759 much better. He said he was turning his life around, 265 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:16.880 and for a brief moment, it looked like Bruce might 266 00:18:16.920 --> 00:18:20.839 be pulling himself out of whatever dark place he'd been inhabiting. 267 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:25.039 He talked about the future, about the courses he would take, 268 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:29.240 about building a career as a mill write, but he 269 00:18:29.359 --> 00:18:34.160 wasn't getting better. The truth was much more frightening. Bruce 270 00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:37.759 couldn't get better. Whatever was happening in his mind was 271 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:42.480 beyond his control, beyond anyone's control. Eight days later, the 272 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:45.759 Blackman family would pay the ultimate price for a mental 273 00:18:45.799 --> 00:18:50.000 health crisis that nobody fully understood. In an era when 274 00:18:50.039 --> 00:18:54.839 the tools to help somebody like Bruce barely existed, sometimes 275 00:18:54.839 --> 00:18:57.039 the people who seemed to be turning their lives around 276 00:18:57.759 --> 00:19:09.920 were actually saying goodbye. After Terry's phone call, Richard and 277 00:19:09.960 --> 00:19:15.200 Irene knew they needed professional help. They contacted doctor Harvey Brain, 278 00:19:15.799 --> 00:19:19.799 a Vancouver psychiatrist, and tried to explain what was happening 279 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:23.720 to their son. Bruce had been taking drugs heavily. They 280 00:19:23.720 --> 00:19:28.960 told him, he'd been engaging in bizarre rituals involving body fluids. 281 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:32.000 The young man who used to spend weekends working on 282 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:36.319 cars and playing soccer was becoming somebody that they didn't recognize. 283 00:19:36.839 --> 00:19:39.440 When doctor Brain arrived at the family's home, he found 284 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:43.200 Bruce in a state of obvious distress. The twenty two 285 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:46.559 year old was reading the Book of Revelations, his attention 286 00:19:46.680 --> 00:19:52.400 completely absorbed by the apocalyptic text. He seemed frightened, paranoid. 287 00:19:53.240 --> 00:19:57.400 Doctor Brain's diagnosis was swift. Bruce appeared to be in 288 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:02.079 a paranoid schizophrenic state. He gave him an injection of 289 00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:07.240 long acting tranquilizers and left oral medications for ongoing treatment. 290 00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:11.599 For a while, it seemed to work. A month later, 291 00:20:11.720 --> 00:20:16.519 Richard reported that Bruce had improved significantly. The family allowed 292 00:20:16.519 --> 00:20:19.559 themselves to hope that maybe they'd caught this thing in time, 293 00:20:19.960 --> 00:20:23.200 but their son might be okay. But by mid January, 294 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:27.200 Bruce was deteriorating again. He had an appointment scheduled with 295 00:20:27.319 --> 00:20:30.400 doctor Brain for the sixteenth of January, but he never 296 00:20:30.440 --> 00:20:35.400 showed up. That same day, his sister Roberta, called the psychiatrist. 297 00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:39.400 She was worried about her brother. He seemed very confused, 298 00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:43.359 she said, and she suspected he might have taken marijuana, cocaine, 299 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:46.720 and LSDA on top of whatever was already wrong with him. 300 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:51.680 Doctor Brain made another house call. Once again, he found 301 00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:56.319 Bruce reading revelations, but this time Bruce's delusions had become 302 00:20:56.400 --> 00:21:00.480 more elaborate and more disturbing. He was obset with the 303 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:04.119 number seven. He wanted the doctor to call a church 304 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:06.720 and find out how many candles were on the altar. 305 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:10.559 Bruce then told doctor Brain that he was possessed by 306 00:21:10.599 --> 00:21:14.440 an all powerful female entity. He said that he was 307 00:21:14.519 --> 00:21:17.440 lost in time. Most chilling of all, he claimed that 308 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:22.200 he was the Antichrist. Doctor Brain's assessment was clear. Bruce 309 00:21:22.279 --> 00:21:26.599 was in a full psychotic state. He signed commitment papers. 310 00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:31.640 Bruce needed to be hospitalized immediately, but the family refused. 311 00:21:32.519 --> 00:21:35.720 They didn't want their son committed to a psychiatric facility. 312 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:40.079 Maybe they thought they could handle it themselves. Maybe they 313 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:44.119 believed love and family support would be enough. Maybe they 314 00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:48.440 were afraid of the stigma of what hospitalization might do 315 00:21:48.680 --> 00:21:54.119 to Bruce's future. Whatever their reasons, they said no. Then 316 00:21:54.200 --> 00:21:57.680 ours before the murders, Doctor Brain's phone rang once more. 317 00:21:58.640 --> 00:22:03.160 It was Roberta. She was terrified Bruce had a knife. 318 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:06.759 She told him the family had changed their minds and 319 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:11.960 they wanted Bruce committed now. They needed help immediately. Doctor 320 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:15.960 Brain's advice was simple and urgent. If Bruce had a knife, 321 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:19.880 they needed to call the police right away, But by 322 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:24.279 then it was already too late. Just two hours later, 323 00:22:24.359 --> 00:22:28.079 Bruce Blackman was under arrest for murdering his entire family. 324 00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:32.519 He had killed his parents and his brother Rick first. 325 00:22:33.079 --> 00:22:36.480 Then he had called his sisters, asking them to come over. 326 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:41.759 Roberta arrived with her husband John, walking unknowingly into a 327 00:22:41.799 --> 00:22:46.240 scene of a massacre. When police found Bruce walking calmly 328 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:49.359 down the hill from his house, he was covered in blood. 329 00:22:50.359 --> 00:22:53.720 He was wearing a makeshift headband that he claimed was 330 00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:59.000 Jesus's crown of Thorns. His words to the arresting officers 331 00:22:59.480 --> 00:23:02.799 revealed the complete break from reality that had consumed him. 332 00:23:03.799 --> 00:23:08.720 I'm saving death. When they die, they become everything, he said. 333 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:12.599 He said he needed to see his remaining brother and sister, 334 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:17.359 Barry in Ottawa, and Kathy and Quinceil to complete his mission, 335 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:22.240 and then, in a voice that officers described as earily detached, 336 00:23:22.920 --> 00:23:40.319 Bruce Blackman said, I'm possessed by the devil. The six 337 00:23:40.359 --> 00:23:43.839 bodies were transported to the morgue at the Royal Columbian 338 00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:49.599 Hospital in Westminster, where coroner Diane Messier would perform the autopsies. 339 00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:53.200 In her fourteen years on the job, she'd seen plenty 340 00:23:53.240 --> 00:23:56.319 of death, but she said that this case shook her. 341 00:23:57.480 --> 00:24:00.319 She recalled, when you go from room to room and 342 00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:06.160 you continually find bodies, it's really devastating. The autopsy results 343 00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:10.759 painted a picture of overwhelming violence. Irene had died from 344 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:16.039 two gunshot wounds. Richard had died from multiple gunshots. Rick 345 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:20.240 had been shot in the head. Karen had been shot twice. 346 00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:22.559 But it wasn't just the shooting that made the case 347 00:24:22.640 --> 00:24:26.319 so disturbing. Roberta had been shot and then beaten with 348 00:24:26.359 --> 00:24:30.279 a hammer. Her husband John had suffered the same fate. 349 00:24:31.240 --> 00:24:34.559 It was the same for Karen. The level of violence 350 00:24:34.599 --> 00:24:38.880 went far beyond what was necessary to kill. It suggested 351 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:42.119 a complete break from reality, a rage that couldn't be 352 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:47.519 satisfied by death alone. When detectives interviewed Bruce after his arrest, 353 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:51.079 they tried to ask logical questions about what had happened, 354 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:55.720 but Bruce wasn't interested in logic. He wanted to talk 355 00:24:55.759 --> 00:25:00.960 about possession, about the devil, and about being the Antie Christ. 356 00:25:01.400 --> 00:25:04.319 He told them, I feel so bad about what I've done, 357 00:25:04.519 --> 00:25:08.400 but I am totally possessed. When they asked erectly if 358 00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:12.039 he had killed his family, his answer revealed the depth 359 00:25:12.039 --> 00:25:16.119 of his delusion. I love my family very very much. 360 00:25:16.680 --> 00:25:19.240 I never killed them. That thing that was in me 361 00:25:19.480 --> 00:25:22.960 made me do it. Bruce claimed he had been speaking 362 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:26.960 to his father, who was worried about him. Then he 363 00:25:27.039 --> 00:25:31.240 said revelation stuck. Suddenly it came to me, I must 364 00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:34.519 kill to say the universe, the universe, not the world. 365 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:38.640 Who cares about the world. Bruce Blackman was charged with 366 00:25:38.680 --> 00:25:41.720 six counts of murder in order to undergo a thirty 367 00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:46.559 day psychiatric examination. Meanwhile, the community was left to grapple 368 00:25:46.599 --> 00:25:50.200 with a tragedy that seemed to make no sense. On 369 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:52.960 the twenty second of January, around sixty people gathered for 370 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:57.000 a private funeral service for the Blackman family. It was 371 00:25:57.039 --> 00:25:59.960 a thirty minute ceremony attended by the only two survived 372 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:03.720 having children, Kathy and Barry, who had to bury their 373 00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:07.640 entire family at once. Reverend James RB of the United 374 00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:12.440 Church conducted the service. Harold Atchison, the funeral home manager, 375 00:26:12.680 --> 00:26:17.039 described it as intimate and personal. He said he didn't 376 00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:20.200 deliver a eulogy, it was more like a family chat. 377 00:26:20.759 --> 00:26:23.039 He spoke of family love and made the point that 378 00:26:23.079 --> 00:26:25.640 a funeral didn't have to be the end of everything. 379 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:30.319 Six caskets adorned with white, red, and yellow roses sat 380 00:26:30.359 --> 00:26:34.599 in front of the small gathering. Reverend Herb later reflected 381 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:37.480 on the family he'd come to know through the tragedy. 382 00:26:38.200 --> 00:26:41.480 He said, they are a fantastic family. I'll tell you 383 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:45.440 that there's just a tremendous closeness. How many families do 384 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:48.519 you know who are close? How many husbands, wives and 385 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:52.240 kids are like one. After the service, all six family 386 00:26:52.279 --> 00:26:56.759 members were cremated at Victory Memorial Park in Surrey. Then, 387 00:26:56.799 --> 00:26:59.960 on the tenth of February, Bruce Blackman was declared legally 388 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:04.240 insane and unfit to stand trial. It was revealed that 389 00:27:04.279 --> 00:27:07.519 three separate psychiatrists had examined him during his stay in 390 00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:11.359 the psychiatric hospital, and all of them reached the same conclusion. 391 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:16.079 Bruce still believed his family had represented the Antichrist and 392 00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:19.119 that the killing them had been necessary to save the universe. 393 00:27:20.039 --> 00:27:23.519 The delusions that had driven him to murder remained intact, 394 00:27:24.599 --> 00:27:28.319 he told one psychiatrist. I tried to resist the voices. 395 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:31.079 I thought it was the voice of God, but the 396 00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:34.640 devil tricked me. He was ordered hell that the Forensic 397 00:27:34.680 --> 00:27:39.400 Psychiatric Institution until doctors deemed him competent to stand trial. 398 00:27:40.279 --> 00:27:44.799 Prosecutor Pedro Decudu was candid about the uncertainty, and he said, 399 00:27:45.480 --> 00:27:47.759 we don't know how long his treatment will last or 400 00:27:47.799 --> 00:27:50.559 if he will be brought back to court. I suspect 401 00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:52.400