Oct 16, 2026 · 23 min · 9 segments
Starting in 1997, women from Edmonton's streets began turning up in the farm fields outside the city. One man was convicted in a single death; most of the cases remain unsolved, and no one agrees on…
[suspenseful music] On August 28th, 2003, the RCMP confirmed what the blue sweater had already suggested.
The skull found near Miquelon Lake belonged to 29-year-old Debbie Lake, a woman who'd spent time in Edmonton sex trade before disappearing.
And with her name came a warning of sorts.
Investigators told sex trade workers across the city to be extra vigilant and work in groups.
People in the trade needed to be careful because nobody yet knew if they were looking for one killer or several.
And it turns out that fear was justified.
Two months before Debbie Lake's remains were discovered, something else started happening near a hamlet called Raleigh View.
Residents there began noticing a smell.
This wasn't garbage.
It wasn't roadkill.
No.
It was something much heavier than that, the kind of smell that gets in your house and doesn't leave.
For weeks, the rotting odor lingered.
Locals tried to ignore it, but over time they began to realize something wasn't right.
Then on July 7th, 2003, a discovery was made.
In a field near Range Road 235 and Township Road 500 in Leduc County, the badly decomposed remains of Sylvia Ballentine were found.
40 years old, a mother of four, a woman also connected to the Edmonton sex trade.
A neighbor nearby would later say the body hadn't been hidden at all.
In fact, it had been left out where someone was bound to find it.
On September 13th, 2003, 40 trained ground search personnel moved through the fields of eastern Leduc County.
16 dogs worked the ground right beside them.
It was one of the largest sweeps the area had ever seen.
Searchers spaced out across acres of farmland, the dogs pulling ahead and circling back, everyone looking for the same thing while hoping they wouldn't actually find it.
But they continued.
[suspenseful music] On August 28th, 2003, the RCMP confirmed what the blue sweater had already suggested.
The skull found near Miquelon Lake belonged to 29-year-old Debbie Lake, a woman who'd spent time in Edmonton sex trade before disappearing.
And with her name came a warning of sorts.
Investigators told sex trade workers across the city to be extra vigilant and work in groups.
People in the trade needed to be careful because nobody yet knew if they were looking for one killer or several.
And it turns out that fear was justified.
Two months before Debbie Lake's remains were discovered, something else started happening near a hamlet called Raleigh View.
Residents there began noticing a smell.
This wasn't garbage.
It wasn't roadkill.
No.
It was something much heavier than that, the kind of smell that gets in your house and doesn't leave.
For weeks, the rotting odor lingered.
Locals tried to ignore it, but over time they began to realize something wasn't right.
Then on July 7th, 2003, a discovery was made.
In a field near Range Road 235 and Township Road 500 in Leduc County, the badly decomposed remains of Sylvia Ballentine were found.
40 years old, a mother of four, a woman also connected to the Edmonton sex trade.
A neighbor nearby would later say the body hadn't been hidden at all.
In fact, it had been left out where someone was bound to find it.
On September 13th, 2003, 40 trained ground search personnel moved through the fields of eastern Leduc County.
16 dogs worked the ground right beside them.
It was one of the largest sweeps the area had ever seen.
Searchers spaced out across acres of farmland, the dogs pulling ahead and circling back, everyone looking for the same thing while hoping they wouldn't actually find it.
But they continued.
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