Clifford Olson

 You have to be a little bit better than him. You have to be able to understand him a little better than he understands you. I think hes a sick man and he needs something. Hes got an ego that is as big as the stars and if you feed that ego, youre going to get what you want.

Cpl. Les Forsythe, Burnaby RCMP.

Only two of the childrens bodies that had been recovered so far had been connected by police: Daryn Johnsrude and Judy Kozma. Still, the police were convinced that Simon Partington and Ada Court had been murdered as well. Christine Weller was still not considered a relevant case and the other missing persons were just that missing.

As many as 200 police were involved in the manhunt. The Serious Crimes Unit had Staff Sergeant Arnie Nylund fielding press calls. Any detachment with a missing child should call us, make us aware of them so that we can assist in an overview capacity, he told reporters. We will look at all of them. Were looking to see if theres a connection but so far we havent seen one. Maybe one person is responsible for one, maybe another for two. We want parents to be concerned and beware for their kids. If someone did attempt to pick them up and didnt succeed, wed like to hear from them. There must be some that dont get in the car. Were still gathering and coordinating information and assisting the various detachments.

Thursday, July 30, 1981

Meanwhile Const. Fred Maile of the RCMP Serious Crimes Unit had a simple strategy. His idea was to surreptitiously tape a conversation with Olson insinuating some kind of a reward. The idea was, if Olson was the murderer, and he thought he could make some money from that fact, he might go back to the crime scenes in order to retrieve some physical evidence. If he was not the murderer or knew who the murderer was then maybe he would tell them.

Olson met Detective Tarr at a White Spot Restaurant, and then was joined by RCMPs Corporal Maile and Corporal Drozda. The hidden microphones transmitted the conversation to a Mountie in a car in the parking lot. Final Payoff describes this tense 30 minutes:

 Quite a few homicides around here, right? Maile began. And we understand that you might be able to help us. Were prepared to compensate you for whatever youre able to tell us or help us. But we have to know if you are able to help us.

He stopped and blew on his coffee. All eyes were on Olson. For a while he said nothing.

Finally, Olson said he wanted to be hired at a salary of $3,000 a month. In exchange, he claimed he would provide information about the disappearances.

Olsons eyes lit up at the idea that they were coming to him for information. He spent much of the time bragging about testifying in Marcouxs conviction of that Jeannie, promising to get back to them if he found out anything.

With a casual, Well, Ill get back to you if I find out anything, the officers watched the killer leave the restaurant and amble out into the sunshine. No one followed the man suspected of murdering several children.