THE CASE OF THOMAS SVEKLA -

Edmonton is the capital city of the province of Alberta, situated on the north
Saskatchewan River. With a city population of over 1 million and a metropolitan
population of 1 .5 million, this makes Edmonton the fifth largest city and the sixth
largest metropolitan area in Canada.
Known as the Gateway to the North, the city is a staging point for large -scale oil
sands projects occurring in northern Alberta and large -scale diamond mining
operations in the Northwest Territories.
Edmonton is no stranger to prolific murderers, but a lesser -known serial murderer
to those outside Edmonton is Thomas Feckla. His crimes were compared to that of
Robert Picton. Prostitutes had been disappearing in northern Alberta since 1988.
Their mutilated and decomposing bodies turned up repeatedly in fields on the east
edge of the city. A special task force was set up and in June of 2004 police
announced that they were looking for a serial killer.
Although he was suspected of killing as many as 12 women, he was only ever
charged with the murders of two. This is the story of Thomas Feckla. In Thomas's
eyes, he was as much of a victim as his victims were.
His childhood was one filled with horrific abuse. Although even his own lawyer
Robert Shagick had characterized Feckla as a weird and strange liar. However,
destructive behavior did appear to run in the Feckla family.
Tom's grandfather shot himself in the head in a granary. His grandmother was once
arrested for selling moonshine. His father's two other brothers died as a result of
chronic drinking and another uncle who ran a grow -up killed himself by driving
drunk and hitting a train.
Tom's Feckla was born in Fagerville in April of 1960. and was the last of seven
children. With six older sisters, he was the only son of George and Emily Speckler.
When asked about his family after he was arrested in 2006, he said, quote, we are a
very proud family.
They tried six times before they had a son. They wanted me to carry on the name
Speckler and look at how I'm doing it. At least he has a sense of humor about it, no
matter how dark and twisted it might be.
Speckler's over -the -top description of his life began with his earliest memories.
Apparently, when he was only three years old, he got lost on the family farm just
outside of Vagerville, only to be pushed home by a massive bull.
Remember I mentioned earlier that his lies were a little weird. As a child, Tom was
cuddled by his mother and bullied by his father. Tom said in an interview with the
Edmonton Journal that he didn't know rules growing up.
Just chaos and fear of his father with no escape. Later, after his arrest, when he was
being interviewed by the police, Speckler would talk non -stop about his father. He
referred to his father as, quote, big bad old George Speckler, and said that George
was an abusive alcoholic and claimed that everybody was still afraid of him.
Even though now he was old and weak and that 50 years later his parents were still
fighting. In the 1970s, George Speckler took over the family farm just outside of
Vagerville, but lost it in 1975 as a result of his drinking.
For a short time afterwards, the family rented the farm and then they moved to the
town of Fort Saskatchewan. It was here things went from bad to worse. The abuse
escalated and in 1980, Emily Speckler petitioned the court to divorce from George.
In her affidavit, Emily alleged her husband once threw chairs at her and kicked her
in the back with steel -toed boots, after which she required surgery. A few months
later, Emily alleged George again kicked her in the back, despite her recent back
surgery.
She also claimed that he severely beat his children, striking them with belt buckles,
kicking them so hard they required surgery, choking them and hitting them in the
face until they were covered with blood.
Emily would back up these statements years later when Tom was arrested and
would be presented as evidence at his trial. She said George was an alcoholic who
later quit drinking, but became addicted to prescription medication instead,
substituting one addiction for another.
After she left, though, Emily said that George kept stalking her and the people she
worked with and their mutual support. friends in order to find out where she was
living. In her court papers, she said she was afraid for her own life and safety.
Tom would later say that he didn't have any good memories of his father because
he would always drink too much and make a scene. But said that he forgives his
father, saying, quote, he did the best he could.
He didn't have good parents. How was he to know what good parents do? In the
end, even though George was a mean and angry drunk, Emily didn't divorce him
due to money issues and went back to him. At the time, she was working part -time
at a nursing home, only making $210 a month.
The two moved into a home outside of Fort Saskatchewan and George went back
to drinking. In Thomas' words, he said, quote, Mom, me and my older sister were
trapped living in the country. Even though George was a despicable person, some
family members felt that Emily was too forgiving with Tom.
His sister Donna said that their mother constantly focused on Tommy and dropped
everything when he needed something. For the most part, Tom was left to his own
devices growing up because his mother worked.
At the same time, his mother was overly protective and also wanted him to stay at
home to protect her from George. She spoiled him frequently. He could pretty
much do anything and she would just say, Tom, it's alright, you know God is with
you.
But Tom liked to blame everyone for his problems. His father, mother, ex -
girlfriend and six sisters, because they rejected him and didn't love him. Because of
all the turmoil at home, Speckler spent a lot of time outdoors and came to love life
out in the countryside.
And because he was a big kid, he was able to hang out with an older crowd and
would spend hours driving around the countryside in an ATV. Speckler started to
work on cars when he was 14 years old. He was a good worker but had issues with
authority, saying he didn't like his bosses in the way while he worked because he
didn't want any distractions.
Speckler's work as a mechanic was a good fit for his other career as a thief. He
stole gas and cars and made friends at a chop shop. And he used the money from
the sale of stolen goods to help him fuel his drug addiction.
When his father took early retirement, the family had to sell the property in the
country and move into Fort Saskatchewan. This is around the time Tom claims he
started drinking heavily, apparently because of the loss of freedom he had in the
country.
He graduated from high school in 1987 and soon had a close girlfriend referred to
in court records as S. you Her name is protected because of a publication ban.
According to Tom, their relationship ended because he was too close to his mother
and felt guilty leaving her alone at home with George.
But S testified at his trial that their relationship ended in 1990 after he choked her
in a parking lot and jammed his forearm into her throat until she could no longer
breathe. One night at the age of 17, Tom's fecla knocked on the door of a friend's
house asking for someone to let him in.
His hand was bloodied up and a teenage girl who was referred to as Jay due to a
publication ban invited him in. She took Svecla into the bathroom to help him
clean the wound on his hand, saying that he had swung his fist through a window
during a fistfight.
She went to get some bandages from the kitchen and then the mask came off. Out
of nowhere, he started blaming Jay for the fight. yelling at her, chasing her down
the hall and throwing her on the floor.
He attempted to sexually assault her but she begged him not to, telling him that
others would be home soon. This seemed to work. He stopped but promised to kill
her if she ever told anyone. She was so terrified that he would return that after he
left she ran outside and hid in a barn.
Jay would quickly forgive Speckla. He blamed his attack on her on his booze and
drug use. Although Tom never considered himself to be an alcoholic or an angry
drunk. 20 years later when he was charged with murder an old friend came to visit
Tom in jail.
He asked her to take a message to Jay. Quote, I need you to tell her that she was
the first one. She was the first one I ever heard. She was the first one to see the
boogeyman. In 1993 Tom would be convicted of drinking and driving, property
theft and assaulting a prostitute in downtown Edmonton.
He apparently tried to steal her purse but she chased after him and jumped into the
back of his pickup truck. He sped around a corner and she flew out the back. In
1995 Speckla began dating an ambitious woman named M.
I'm sorry for all the annoying euthanisms but publication bans are publication bans
and there's a big reason for this one. According to M Tom was not a very nice man.
He liked to be the life of the party but could flip on a dime and could get violent
quickly.
In the beginning he portrayed himself as honest and caring. He lied to her and told
her he was employed when really he was getting by by stealing, fixing up and
selling cars. M had just gone out of a bad marriage and had two children, a
daughter and a son, as well as two foster children.
And she could see that Tom had little to no patience with the kids. She decided that
the two foster children should live elsewhere. On the day they left, M was
emotional and cried, which for whatever reason made Speckler angry.
He said to her quote, I don't think I want to live with some miserable little bitch.
Okay, that should have been her sign to run. But instead, she and Speckler decided
to move away from Edmonton to a smaller Alberta town.
Just before they left, Speckler became violent with M. They were planning a
garage sale, but Tom took off one night and got drunk. The next day he was
hungover and M asked him to put up signs around the town for the sale.
He went to do it but forgot the staple gun, blaming M for not reminding him to
take it with him. He was still drunk from his bender and punched her, knocking out
her front tooth. But the two patched things up, leaving Edmonton as planned and
he credited him with helping him separate himself from his mother.
After the move, he started to improve a bit. He got his license and insurance so he
could drive legally and cut down on his drinking. For several years, he worked at a
gravel trenching company, but he still had rage issues.
He got fired from one job after arguing with the owner's son and ripping the shirt
off his back. In 1998, M and Speckler had a son together, but he was an inattentive
father. In one incident, he walked into the store where M worked and picked up a
small boy and started to kiss it.
The child's real mother started to freak out. In reality, his own son was sleeping in
the back of the store. His excuse was that the kid was bundled up in winter clothing
and he was tired from work and made a mistake.
But in 1990, M received some alarming news that the police were investigating
Tom for sexual assault. One of M's foster children, a little girl, claimed that
Speckler had abused her. The police paid him a visit, but he was never charged.
His story was that the little girl had been previously abused and was very clingy,
which made both him and M uncomfortable and led to M returning the children to
social services. In the end, M chose to believe her husband that the allegations
were false.
But the strain in their marriage grew. Tom was also extremely verbally abusive. He
never addressed her by her name. She was always the stupid bitch or the fat bitch.
And Tom, of course, blamed M for his behavior, saying it was true that he called
her names, but said M was like his dad, that Tom was never good enough.
In the meantime, M was becoming isolated from her old friends. At the time, Tom
kicked her and hit her. And after one horrible fight where Speckla sat on top of her
and beat her, he ran into the living room, had a meltdown, grabbed the couple's
young son, held him tightly, and whined, I'm trying my best.
He loved feeling sorry for himself and trying to convince others that he was the
victim, and didn't have to be accountable for anything wrong he did in his life. His
marriage to M eventually came to an end in 1999 when he was charged with a
sexual assault of a minor, M's own 9 year old daughter.
How many times this occurred is not fully known, but he has at least one
conviction, and has admitted to offenses with at least two girls who were not of
age. And his confessions about the assaults are all over the place.
He tried to make it about him, saying he felt trapped, once again making himself to
be the victim. and he couldn't talk to anyone about it. And that M called him the P -
word, which he was. In his eyes, he was stuck and he couldn't get help.
After he was arrested, Speckla confessed to the police. While preparing for court,
he was interviewed by Dr. Marguerite Paulson, who afterwards wrote a letter to the
court saying he was a good candidate for therapy and rehabilitation.
When I get closer to the end of this story, you'll see why I feel this way, but given
what I know, this doctor should seriously consider a new profession. She couldn't
have been more wrong. At Speckla's trial, Judge J .R.
Macintosh didn't agree with the doctor's position. It didn't seem like Tom was
taking full responsibility for his actions. M had given him a chance to stop his
behavior, but he continued to do it. And the judge noted that there was more than
one incident.
Speckla, always the victim, took the position that it wasn't his fault. It was M's
fault for not protecting her daughter. Dr. Marguerite Paulson actually wrote in her
report that the subject informed her that his wife had called him a pedophile, and
this hurt him deeply, as he does not consider or feel like a pedophile.
The judge was not amused and told Speckla and his lawyer, quote, I do not know
how a pedophile feels, but an adult who performs sexual acts on a nine -year -old
falls within the definition. He also said that the subject describes himself as a good
father, while a good father does not do what this guy has admitted to doing.
In the meantime, Tom's parents were in denial. They refused to believe he had any
problems, and thought that he was arrested on trumped -up charges. They also
thought that he was tricked into confessing.
In the end, Speckla was sentenced to 30 months in jail for abusing his
stepdaughter. Although, despite his conviction, he was working on a plan to try
and win back M. He told her two teachers in his past sexually abused him.
This time she saw through his manipulation. It was a made -up story so that people
would feel sorry for him for what he did to his stepdaughter. She filed for divorce
in 2000 and also sought a restraining order against Speckla and 10 members of his
family.
While he was in jail, he refused to sign the divorce papers and also requested
visitation rights with his son. But his ex -wife objected and was eventually
awarded full custody. While he was in prison, he joined AA and programs for sex
offenders, family violence and stress management.
He also worked as a prison mechanic. And in October of 2001, Tom was granted a
conditional release and went to live in a halfway house. The conditions being he
had to observe from pornography, drugs, and alcohol.
In September of 2002, around the same time Speckle completed the terms of his
sentence, a new RCMP task force was created to investigate the deaths of sex trade
workers in the Edmonton area. Ten sex workers had been killed in the area in the
past 14 years and their bodies were all found in rural areas to the south or east of
the city.
Ten of the cases were sent to analysts at the RCMP Behavioral Science Unit in
Ottawa. Their conclusion was that five of the killings were probably committed by
the same offender. Monique Petra, age 30, and Melissa Munch, age 20, were both
found near Sherwood Park only five days apart and within five kilometers of each
other.
In both cases, neither women were reported as missing. Monique was described as
a girly girl. Her friends say her hair and makeup was always perfect. Originally
from Toronto where she worked as a waitress, a friend convinced Monique to
move to Edmonton in 1996.
Shortly after the move, she fell into a drug addiction and turned to prostitution to
support her habit. Melissa Munch had moved from Calgary to Edmonton in 2002
to start a new life. But six months later, her body would be discovered in Sherwood
Park by a man walking his dog.
On April 27, 2003, Katie Ballantine told her friend Jack Perrault that she would be
right back when she left his home to work the streets. On July 7, 2003, her remains
were found in a field east of LaDuke.
Edna Bernard was a 28 -year -old mother of 118th Avenue and 95th Street. Four
hours later, Years later, her burnt body was found in a wooded area outside of
Ladook. On the morning of November 4, 2002, Debbie Lake had left her home to
find a pay phone to call a friend.
She left behind her cigarettes and her 10 month old child. Her husband reported her
missing the next day. Six months later, a man looking for deer antlers near
Camrose found a skull. DNA tests confirmed it was Debbie.
The rest of her remains were never found. In 2003, the RCMP established Project
Care, a joint Alberta RCMP and Edmonton City Police Task Force, to investigate
dozens of unsolved homicides and missing person cases of people who lived what
police called high risk lifestyles.
They were jointly working on the cases of 26 people who had died. The earliest
case being 1975. and also said that a serial killer may be responsible for some of
them. The police also worked with Edmonton sex trade workers and encouraged
them to provide DNA samples.
More than 400 sex trade workers registered with Project CARE to spare their
families the anguish of uncertainty should they suddenly disappear. Rachel
Quinney, age 20, was a mother of two. Her body was discovered on June 11, 2004,
in a small grove of trees near a rural intersection.
Charlene Goulds struggled with addiction from the age of 15 and started working
as a sex worker to support her habit. However, her family never gave up on her,
even going so far as putting sensors on the doors and windows so they knew if
their daughter tried to leave the house.
In February of 2004, Charlene registered with Project CARE, providing her name,
date of birth, next of kin, identifying marks and hair samples for DNA purposes.
She was last seen on April 8, 2005 and would be reported missing on April 13.
Her body was found a few days later, 60 km outside of Edmonton near Camrose.
Both Rachel Quinney and Charlene Gould were later linked to the first five
murders through similar circumstances. It's not known what circumstances the
police are referring to, but there was speculation that they were similar to the
Quinney case, where the murderer cut off the victim's breast and genitalia and
dumped the body in the brush just off a country road.
In 2004, Project CARE later added the names of Corey Ottenbright and Maggie
Burke. Both women worked 118th Avenue and 95th Street, the same area where
Charlene Gould worked. Dolores Brower was last seen.
seen by Project Care on 118th and 70th Avenue on May 13, 2004. One year later,
her family reported her as missing. And in 2005, Teresa Ennis and Bonnie Jack
were also added to the list of homicides with similar characteristics.
The bodies of Corey Audenbright and Dolores Bauer would not be discovered until
2015, almost nine years later. And Burke's remains have never been found. And an
older 1989 case, the murder of Bernadette Ahenakue was also a flage to being
similar to the original five.
In February of 2002, Speckler was still being held at the Stan Daniels Healing
Center, a halfway house in Edmonton. He would eventually place an ad for a
roommate and then went back to trying to win M -Back.
When he failed, he started calling her up regularly to brag about the other women
he was meeting. M was afraid of him, but felt it was best for her son to keep the
lines of communication open with his father.
Speckla's roommate eventually moved out, leaving him alone in the home. He
converted the roommate's old room into a rigged -up special room in the unfinished
basement, partitioning it off with black shower curtains hanging from copper
tubing along the ceiling and attached to the floor with rubber tubing.
Inside this makeshift room was a carpet, a dresser, a TV, VCR, and inflatable
double mattress. He made the room he said because it was too hot to sleep upstairs.
He once showed the room to his sister Donna, who would later testify at his trial
about it.
She said her brother boasted he took his sexual conquest to the room. Quote, they
were complaining about too much noise, but they can scream all they want down
here. No one can hear them scream. He then slapped the mattress and laughed.
Speckla also was seeing a new woman named Kay, a mother of two young
children. Kay was vulnerable. She was in the middle of a breakup of a long -term
relationship. Looking back at that time, Kay now believed she was targeted.
They met at Edmonton's Ford dealership, where Speckla worked as a mechanic and
Kay took her car to be serviced. They dated for a while, but Kay never moved in
with Speckla, mainly because of one unsettling matter.
And that was Speckla's relationship with an underage neighbor. To Kay, it seemed
like Speckla preferred the company of the little girl and it creeped her out. She
ended up calling Speckla's ex -wife, who told her about his past convictions.
Kay confronted Tom, telling him he had an obligation to be a mechanic. to inform
others that he was a convicted pedophile. He apologized but said that he was
testing himself to see if he could hang out with young children and control
previous urges.
And surprisingly, Kaye continued to date Speckla. But after a few weeks he began
opening up to her, telling her that he was testing the neighborhood kids and that he
still had these urges. He also told her about the previous children he assaulted,
including M's foster daughter.
And I'm not gonna go into graphic detail of what he said to her because his words
were disgusting as far as I'm concerned. But in a nutshell, he pretty much blamed
the children for his previous actions.
He was the real victim. Kaye of course was appalled and she didn't hold back.
Quote, I played therapist to him, trying to figure him out. And then I just got sick
of it. He just had no social norms. He was just too far gone.
Around this time, Tom was starting to have problems on the job. But if he ever
failed, or was up too late the night before, or bumped his head at work, he blamed
Kay. He was just completely self -absorbed.
As his relationship with Kay began to fall apart, he began going out with more and
more prostitutes. In late fall of 2003, Speckla spent a lot of time with one particular
sex worker, a young native woman named Kimberly.
She was addicted to crack cocaine and lived in the 118th Avenue area. When
Kimberly was out with another drug dealer one night, she accidentally overdosed
and died. After her death, Speckla found some crack cocaine in her belongings.
He wondered what the drug was all about and decided to try it. He was hooked
immediately. In December of 2003, Kay found out about Speckla's drug use and
his relationships with prostitutes. She had contracted gonorrhea from Speckla.
Finally Kay was done with him and she broke things off for good. In 2004, he went
through numerous jobs but didn't hold one down for very long. He was far too
erratic to do good work for any extended period of time.
He ended up as a drug runner and a thief. Speckla would be up all hours of the
night, smoking drugs and partying, often with sex workers and his cocaine use was
increasing. He and his new girlfriends used counterfeit money to buy drugs but he
mainly funded his habit through theft.
One dealer gave him a list of everyday things he wanted, food, clothing and liquor
and Speckla was to fill the list and then barter the stolen items for drugs. He would
wear baggy clothing into a liquor store.
store and then stuffed 60 ounce bottles down each leg and 40 ounce bottles under
each arm and then head out the door. He would roll expensive suits under his arms
and then take off with his girlfriend who was waiting for him in the getaway car.
One day each month, he had to fill an order for a local restaurant who wanted 200
rocks of lamb. Svekla would head off to a grocery store stuffing lamb into his
jacket and into special spandex underwear he had on.
Once an in -store detective spotted him and gave chase but Svekla managed to
escape with racks of lamb flying out of his pants and jacket as he ran. Svekla also
stole cars, mainly from a lot of fitness clubs.
He would see someone drive up in a car that he wanted, usually a luxury model.
He would follow that person into the club, pay to get himself in, watch the guy
change into his gym clothes, and then used bolt cutters to break into his locker.
Eventually, he would be caught trying to steal a silverware set in April 2004 and
was arrested for robbery. He would plead guilty in May of that year and was
handed a fine of $250 and a warning from the judge to stay away from drug
dealers.
But of course, he didn't listen. If anything, his crimes started to escalate. He moved
into an apartment near West Edmonton Mall and kept on robbing, smoking crack
and bringing home different girls each night.
Then in June 2004, Svekla showed up at his sister Donna's house at 7am.
According to Donna, Tom was nervous, crying and distraught. His appearance was
clean. He apparently looked like he had just gotten out of the shower, but his
forearms were covered in scratches.
He said the marks came from a cat. He told Donna he had done something very
bad and he had to get rid of his car. Although he wouldn't say exactly why, he just
kept repeating, quote, I did a bad thing.
I did a bad thing. Everyone is going to hate me. A few days later, he came to the
attention of Project Care. It was Donna who pressed him to go to the police after he
told her a story about how he had been out in a truck in the countryside, smoking
crack with a sex worker.
He got out of the vehicle and found the body of a dead woman in a clump of trees.
It was simply rotten luck on his part. Svekla would lead the RCMP to the body,
soon identified as that of Rachel Quinney.
She was about 17 when she started working as a sex worker at the corner of 118th
Avenue in 86th Street. She started referring to herself as Candice and was only 19
when she was murdered. The circumstances of Quinney's discovery were
suspicious.
to investigators. Svekla agreed to be interviewed, give DNA, and to take a
polygraph, although his results were marked as inconclusive. And then Tom did
what he always did, point the finger at someone else.
He told Sergeant Jim Gamalyn, who was the polygraph examiner, that he felt
harassed and humiliated by the Project Care investigation, and also feared that he
could go to jail. He also speculated with Gamalyn on the nature of the Edmonton
serial killer, and admitted himself that he fit the profile, saying that the killer had a
mean controlling mother and that his ex -wife was like this too.
M was mean to him and victimized him and called him a pedophile. Svekla then
described how the killer had dumped Rachel in long grass but didn't try to cover
the body or conceal it. And Gamalyn asked him, What could the killer be saying?
And Speckler replied that he thinks no one really cares about hookers or prostitutes
or people who use crack cocaine. He only cares about himself, right? He doesn't
care about others. He thinks he's helping the community by getting rid of these
girls.
About the same time as the RCMP were investigating him, a stressed out Speckler
called up Kay. He was in a foul mood and began threatening her. Saying that he
knew where she worked and that he knew she moved around, but he could always
find her and kill her and no one would find her body.
Kay let him have it and called him a crack whore and then called the police and her
brother who promptly called Speckler and told him to leave her alone or face
serious consequences. Speckler was becoming obsessed with the Quinney
investigation.
He would tell the story of him finding her body to more than a dozen people in the
following months. Each version a little different than the last. And his crack
addiction continued and began to spin out of control.
In November of 2004, he was involved in another DUI case. This time he smashed
three parked cars while trying to outrun the police. He tried to get clean and went
to two different drug rehab facilities but failed at both.
His last attempt to go to rehab and the only spot available was at the Action North
Treatment Center in High Level. And this is where things took a turn from bad to
worse. Speckler didn't do well at the Action North rehab.
He was expelled for drinking and one female resident had also complained that he
was peeking through her window. He was no longer able to pass himself off as a
normal person. He became associated with addicts, petty criminals and sex workers
who lived on the street in the worst areas of Northern Alberta.
And he started using crack again. Living in a shabby rooming house before moving
into a rundown apartment. He took a job at Fountain Tire and worked there from
June 2005 to February of 2006. But he wasn't well liked by other employees.
They saw him as moody and he also bragged about his many girlfriends and they
had to tell him that they just didn't want to hear his stories. Almost all of Speckla's
girlfriends were from the streets.
And at one point he had 13 women living with him. He gave them money for
cigarettes and alcohol and the woman cleaned his house and did his laundry and
had sex with him. And whenever he went into town he hit on women, whether his
interest was appreciated or not.
On August 4th, 2005, Speckla met a woman named V. He invited her to his place
for a drink, but when she got there he asked her if she wanted to smoke crack. V
didn't do drugs. Speckla offered V a beer.
and then started clearing off his bed. She became extremely uncomfortable, so she
announced she had to leave. Out of nowhere, Speckla grabbed her and started
choking her. She struggled until she was weak, but went limp, deciding to play
dead.
Somehow, when he wasn't paying attention, she found the strength to get up and
run. Speckla of course denied that this ever happened and said that she was already
drunk and wanted a place to drink. In the fall of 2005, Speckla met 36 year old
Teresa Innes, who was also addicted to crack cocaine.
She was a mother of two and talked about cleaning up her life, but never did.
When the RCMP questioned him about Innes, he denies he was ever involved with
her, but multiple witnesses at his trial told a different story.
By winter of 2005, people around high level noticed Teresa was missing. The last
time anyone remembered seeing her alive was in early September, and life was
further deteriorating for Speckla. He was fired from his job at Fountain Tire in
February of 2006 and charged with multiple offenses.
First, he was charged with assaulting two men, and then he was charged with
committing an indecent act in the high level jail. Apparently, he was masturbating
while using the telephone. Although Tom denies this and said he was just tucking
his shirt into his pants.
At the start of March 2006, Tom was in jail again for parole violations. He was
released two months later on May 4th, and Speckla left for Edmonton that day,
taking with him a black windwell hockey bag.
He told his ride that the bag contained 800 composting worms worth $1 apiece,
and that he was hauling them for a breeder friend. the same story to his parents
when he arrived in Fort Saskatchewan. The truth was, inside the bag was the body
of Teresa Innes.
Speckler's final undoing occurred because his sister Donna couldn't believe anyone
would trust her delinquent brother with $800 worth of composting worms. So on
Sunday, May 7th, she and her husband inspected the bag.
When she realized there was a body inside that was wrapped in garbage bags and
an air mattress and a shower curtain and secured with wire, she called the RCMP
and 38 -year -old Tom Speckler was arrested and charged with second -degree
murder and interfering with a corpse.
Speckler talked to the police for hours after his arrest. He always maintained he
never knew Teresa and that he simply found an unknown body in his truck when
he got out of jail. But he had trouble getting his story straight as he spun his
various lies.
He alluded to the involvement of other people, but named no one, saying that there
were killers and dumpers and that he was just transporting a body and that he
panicked because of Rachel Quinney and that he knew he was again going to be
considered a suspect.
However, he was also confident during his interrogation, often joking with the
officers, even daring them to charge him with Quinney's murder and the killings of
14 other women. And when the investigators asked why 14 was the magic number,
he said he would be getting 14 million if he was falsely convicted.
While he was in jail, he enjoyed bragging about himself, writing letters to friends,
saying he was a popular man in jail and said that the other inmates and guards
sought him out for conversation. He bragged to his sister that lawyers were
pounding down the door to take his case and that other inmates put him in the same
leagues as Canada's most notorious killers, referring to himself as the Picton of
Alberta, a reference to serial killer Robert Picton who murdered 49 women in
British Columbia.
And he blamed all of his problems on women. Yet for all of his bragging, Speckler
was often anxious while he had been in jail for some time, no more sex workers
had gone missing. Considering he was facing multiple murder charges, Tom
Speckler was exceptionally positive for his first court hearing.
Honestly, his behavior kind of reminds me of Ted Bundy. Thomas Speckler calls it
the gesture that made him famous. On May 11th, 2006, four days after the RCMP
found the body of Teresa Ennis wrapped in a cocoon of plastic and wires stored in
a hockey bag, he made his first public appearance.
Prison guards led him in and out of Fort Saskatchewan's provincial court for his
perp walk and a mass of news media cameras focused in on him. Under usual
circumstances, most photographers struggle to get a usable photograph because
most accused people dug and hide their faces.
But not Speckler. When he came out, he looked right at the cameras, stopped, held
up his index finger to his mouth, and went shhh. A gesture he said he borrowed
from Christopher Walken's 1986 film At Close Range.
The image appeared in newspapers and televised broadcasts across Canada. He
told a reporter with the Edmonton Journal he couldn't believe the cops charged him
with murder. He was laughing because he thought it was ridiculous.
At his first appearance in Fort Saskatchewan's provincial court, he grinned and
waved and gave the thumbs up to reporters. And when he later stood in the
prisoner's box to hear the charges, he bounced up and down on his feet and stared
up at the ceiling.
He was facing second degree murder charges in the death of Teresa Innes, as well
as being investigated for multiple more. Speckler was the first Project Care Arrest,
and at this point the task force wouldn't confirm if he had been linked to other
deaths.
Shortly after his arrest, a memorial service was held for Edmonton sex trade
workers who had been killed. Over 200 people attended, including the family of
Teresa Innes. Her mother Beverly Innes said it meant a lot that so many people
came and shared the truth, that her daughter was more than just a sex worker.
She was a sweet, giving person that helped others. Chad Quigley, Teresa's common
law husband for 11 years, said street drugs caused her downfall, and that their
relationship was happy until the drugs took over.
After his arrest, Speckler gave numerous interviews with the Edmonton Journal,
mainly about Project Care's investigation into his past. He insisted that he had
nothing against the women, and maintained that Project Care unfairly After he
reported finding Rachel Quinney's body, two years previously, he still insisted that
he found Innes' body in his truck, but didn't kill her.
2007 didn't start out on a positive note for Tom. He would be charged with second
degree murder on January 2nd for the killing of Rachel Quinney. This was also the
first time the RCMP admitted they possibly caught a serial killer who preyed on
sex workers.
He would plead not guilty to all the charges. In one weird twist, the Crown
Prosecutor subpoenaed two reporters who worked for the Edmonton Journal.
Because of interviews with the Edmonton Journal, the Crown Prosecutor's
testimony was views conducted with Speckler through letters and phone calls
while he was in the Edmonton remand center.
The newspaper obviously fought the subpoenas, arguing in a separate motion that
compelling journalists to testify can have an adverse effect on their jobs and said
that future reporting efforts might be hindered if journalists are seen as agents of
the state.
Incredibly, the judge sided with the crown and said that the two reporters would
have to testify at the preliminary hearing and also said the potential evidence was
important enough to outweigh any other factors.
At Speckler's preliminary hearing on February 8, 2007, Judge Douglas Ray ruled
after five weeks of testimony that Thomas Speckler would stand trial for the
killings of both women. 83 witnesses testified at the preliminary hearing and more
were expected at the upcoming trial.
Tom decided he had the best chance of beating the charges by avoiding a jury trial
and having a judge alone decide his case. And one of the additional assault charges
he was facing ended up being stayed in September of 2007 due to sloppy police
work.
The evidence apparently went missing. Thomas Feckler's murder trial began on
February 19th, 2008. He pled not guilty and Crown Prosecutor Ashley Finlayson
presented the state's case. Representing Feckler was Robert Shagick.
In the opening days of the trial, disturbing photos of Rachel Quinney's mutilated
body were presented, as well as photos of the hockey bag in which Teresa Innes'
body was found. One witness, Brad Ludwick, testified that Feckler called him and
told him that he found the body of a young woman in a field outside of Edmonton.
And Feckler's sister testified about the day she and her husband found the body in
the hockey bag. She had spent the day obsessed with what was in the bag. When
she and her husband finally looked at the wrapped object inside, she had to
convince him of what they were looking at.
Police taped a phone call that Feckler made to his sister. And on this call, Feckler
claimed that he was being set up and compared being caught with a dead body to
being caught with stolen property. He then apparently changed his story and said
he found Teresa's body in the back of his pickup truck and stuffed it in his hockey
bag and hauled it to Edmonton.
Feckler's mother testified that while Teresa's body was decaying in the hockey bag,
he ran some errands, shopped for groceries, and went to his sister's place for a
wiener roast. Alice Snalsnick and her husband Les, the couple who gave Feckler a
ride to Fort Saskatchewan from high level, also testified.
They unfortunately had unknowingly transported Teresa Innes' body in the back of
their pickup truck that day. During the 700 km drive, the topic of Rachel Quinney's
body came up after Alice commented on the roadkill on the highways.
That's a little random. Apparently she said, quote, Boy, those crows sure eat well.
They have steak in the morning and ribs at night. To which Tom replied, speaking
of ribs, I've got a story to tell.
And she said Speckler was excited to tell her the story of finding Quinney's body.
And said that the body was placed among the trees that were not broken or twisted
and that it must have taken two men to move her.
And Les Nalsnig testified that he saw Speckler drag the heavy hockey bag over to
his truck. And that the bag contained 800 breeding earthworms that he could sell
for a dollar apiece. When his wife asked to see the worms, Speckla told her that the
bag had to stay sealed.
Speckla's former landlord and high -level testified that they found blood stains on
the carpet, on the door handles, and in the tub when he moved out a few months
later. However, the cause of the stains could not be confirmed by forensic tests.
She also saw a freezer in his apartment and couldn't fathom why it was there,
especially when he was low on money. The court heard that Teresa Innes' body
was cooled to touch when it was discovered in the hockey bag.
And a police affidavit entered into evidence, suggested it might have been frozen.
The medical examiner who testified also agreed it was possible Innes' body was
kept frozen for months before it was moved.
After six months and more than 100 witnesses, the crown prosecutor closed their
case against Thomas Speckla. The defense would call no evidence. The case then
went to Justice Sterling Sanderman, who rendered his verdict on June 3, 2008, and
ruled that Thomas Speckla was guilty of the second -degree murder of Teresa
Innes and not guilty of the second -degree murder of Rachel Quinney, saying that
there was no evidence to link him to her death and that the medical examiner could
not roll out the possibility that Quinney died from a drug overdose.
Justice Sanderman rejected Speckla's claim that he only found the elaborately
wrapped body in his truck, calling the explanation fancyful and ridiculous. He
would sentence Speckla to life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving
17 years.
But this is not the end of the story. He filed an appeal to his murder conviction, as
well as he still had sexual assault charges and uttering death threats to face in high
level. you He opted for another trial by judge instead of a jury and on September
8th 2008 Justice Christine Idsvik found him guilty of both sexually assaulting a
woman and threatening to kill her After inviting her back to his place It was also
announced at this time that the crown would seek a dangerous offender designation
for Thomas Speckler Canada doesn't have life without the possibility of parole as a
sentencing option But the crown does have the option to petition the court for
dangerous offender status And they must show that there is a high risk that the
criminal will commit violent or sexual offenses in the future This designation is
reserved for the worst of the worst Canada's most violent criminals and sexual
predators Examples of infamous dangerous offenders include the Scarborough
rapist Paul Bernardo and the now deceased Beast of British Columbia Clifford
Olson The designation carries an automatic sentence of imprisonment for an
indeterminate period.
Dangerous offenders can apply for parole after seven years. But the indeterminate
sentence usually equals a life sentence. Currently there are 860 inmates designated
as dangerous offenders under the responsibility of Correctional Services Canada.
In March of 2009, Svecla would go on trial yet again, this time for charges
stemming back to 1995, when he sexually abused M's former foster child. She had
lived with M for six months, after which she was moved to another foster home for
six more months.
Following that, she moved in with her uncle and grandmother, and told them she
had been abused. The grandmother then called the police. Lance Deely, a retired
Edmonton detective, investigated the allegations against Svecla in 1996, but closed
the file without recommending charges.
When questioned by the Crown, he said he had no specific memory of the case.
Interviews, statements, and videotape evidence from the file had gone missing by
the time of his 2009 trial. However, the judge was convinced of Svecla's guilt and
convicted him for the 1995 offenses.
In January of 2010, Ashley Finlayson delivered her closing argument at Thomas
Svecla's dangerous offender hearing. She summarized evidence that included
testimony from four women, including ex -girlfriends and former friends who all
testified that Svecla attacked them.
Finlayson argued that each of these attacks occurred suddenly, and demonstrated
that Svecla could not control his sexual impulses. And on May 28, 2010, a
convicted murderer who once called himself the murderer, was boogeyman would
be locked up indefinitely.
It took one hour for Justice Christine Idsvig to read her decision and detail
speckless crimes, which have created victims across the province of Alberta,
including young girls, former girlfriends, and the women he was convicted of
murdering.
In the aftermath of this case, there are still a ton of unanswered questions. The
unsolved Project Care homicide cases remain open and the RCMP now won't
comment specifically on or about Svekla. Even though back in 2006 he was
originally considered the prime suspect in all these unsolved murders.
He remains a suspect in other cases, but legally speaking, although he behaves like
a serial killer, we can't really call him that. It would certainly be easier as Svekla
actually was the boogeyman and was responsible for all of these murders.
But the terrifying reality is that there is more than one murderer hunting women on
the streets of Edmonton.
.