This podcast contains descriptions of sexual assault and murder.

If you're impacted by the themes of this episode, we have resources in our show notes.

Toronto police detective Steve Smith and his team had just made a monumental, if unconventional, arrest.

They just caught Joseph George Sutherland,

the man they were certain raped and killed Aaron Gilmore

and Susan Tice in 1983.

It was time for Smith to make the phone calls

the victim's families had been awaiting for 40 years.

I was watching the football game with a couple of friends.

I had sort of finished work that afternoon and we all decided to sort of get together and have a beer and watch the football game.

And whenever Steve called me, it would always come up sort of no caller ID.

I turned my best friend John and I was like, I'll be right back.

I go outside and Steve is on the line and just sort of says, hey, can you talk?

And I said, yep.

I said, yeah, I can talk. And he goes, we got him.

And yeah, like I broke into tears, like I'm about to do now.

It was, yeah, it was an incredible piece of news.

It was, I was literally crying out loud and at the same time screaming at the top of my lungs.

It was 40 years of a years of just letting go.

Felt like it still feels like I'd taken off a 200-pound backpack.

I remember going back into the bar and I couldn't really say anything.

I sort of looked at my friend John

...