JOHNSON & BENTLEY’S

MI20 wishes to thank and acknowledge the following sources for this episode: One of Canada's 'true bogeymen': Johnson and Bentley murders won't soon be forgotten Families will never forget - or forgive - their loss The Province Newspaper Missing holiday family leaves no trace Tip leads to missing families search Search spreads to Alberta Police hope hunters will help find families New tip on missing families RCMP boat joins hunt for 2 missing families Search chief eyes all theories Police fear families murdered Police seek death scene in Clearwater massacre Police not interested in car sighting Sidney RCMP release pair in death probe Bentley , Johnson case: 1,400 leads Burial rites to be held for family Nov. 12 Coroner identifies four of six bodies Murder case shifts to Que. Mounties hope clues will crack Bentley case Camper search stalled RCMP use TV Killers seen as "teenage psychotics" Hidden Near Wells Gray Park - Massacre camper found Johnson-Bentley camper found Shearing's Brother Vancouver Sun Newspaper Air search to begin for missing family Hunt still on for missing families Tip on lost families tip leads nowhere Trips around B.C. 'were way of life' for missing couple Hopes, clues in hunt for 2 lost families RCMP calls off air search for two missing families Car 'may be link' to missing families Robot viewer to be used in lake search for plane Police search for more clues. Car found on trail of violence Others may have burned Police expect case to be long, difficult Police sift new tips into 6 B.C. murders Pathologists face gruesome task in search for bullets in 6 bodies Murder probes span province Legal ID of six bodies held unlikely Police start probe into death car Alberta man questioned in six deaths Obituary for Edith Bentley Kelowna Memorial Service 400 gather 'to show love' for slain Johnson family 500 phone police on sketches Pair questioned in slayings 2 quizzed in park deaths $25,000 Reward posted for capture of killers of Johnson’s, Bentley's Mass murder 'Some' bodies identified’ Tips sought in park slayings Winter hampers search for park murder clues Tips prove vain in park slayings Only 3 of 6 bodies positively identified TV murder film offers RCMP new weapon Public asked to watch out for murder case camper Camper tour jogs memories Killer Hunt - New tips follow trek start Camper Found - Killers thought to be teenagers Few Clues expected in camper Person who found camper Police rap on doors Boat Clue Shearing Arrested Silence Cloaks Murder Probe Court Appearance Suspect moved (from Kamloops to Lower Mainland) Park killings trial slated for April 16 Park killer's motive a mystery Shearing waives death hearing Life Sentence Edmonton Journal Newspaper Cold Blooded Clearwater killer gets life sentence I walked up to the camper and started to shoot... Shearing won't appeal Times Colonist Newspaper Unanswered: Why did he do it? Whitehorse Daily Star Newspaper BC mass murderer David Shearing makes second bid for parole The Seventh Shadow Novel by Michael Eastham (Retired RCMP Sergeant) with Ian McLeod

MURDERED: JOHNSON’S & BENTLEY’S THREE GENERATIONS VANISHED It was 1982 and three generations of a family were planning to meet in Wells Grey Provincial Park for a camping trip. All six family members vanished. Fourteen thousand tips later their mystery was solved.

A personal message from MI20 host Bobbie Stevens: It’s evident by the extensive source list below I was genuinely touched by this crime story. Growing up in Kelowna when the Johnson & Bentley families disappeared our community rallied in the hopes they’d be found safe. The evil truth that emerged forever changed our community, our city, our province and our country. Our innocence was lost. But we resolved to not let evil win. We vowed to never forget them.

PODCAST EXCERPT It was late August in 1982 and the Johnson family should have been home from their vacation, getting their young daughters ready for school. But instead they were missing! "Did they go over an embankment? Foul play? It's gruesome but we can't rule it out.” Tim Padmore from the Vancouver Sun would describe the scene as "A trail of violence leads to a scorched, rust smeared car body. The car came to rest in a muddy depression, straddling several fallen trees.”