The Next Call with David Ridgen: Episode 1 in the case of Terrie Dauphinais

October 1, 2024·35 min·2 clips

After a detective's emotional plea to confess, Ken Dauphiney says 'I can't undo what happened' then invokes his right to silence — ending the first police interview.

Sue calls it dumbfounding. David reaches her after an anxious message, and the anger is still sitting with the courtroom process she believes let too much slide. The case starts with grief: Sue Martin, a mother from Western Canada, lost her daughter, Terry Dauphiney, who was murdered in Calgary in the spring of 2002. The domestic timeline is hard to shrug off. On March 8, Terry called Calgary police after an argument with her husband Ken became physical, including Ken twisting her arm. Police arrived after Ken had left. David notes that Ken was not questioned about that incident then, and that he moved out the same day. They separated soon after. Sue says Children's Services contacted Terry about the incident, and Ken was not pleased by the call. No one was removed from the home. Fifty-two days after the police call, Terry was murdered. The excerpt says it plainly: no charges were laid. David then turns to Ken. Sue identifies him through several names, saying his full name included Kenneth Michael Sinclair Person/Dauphne, with aliases or name changes making the record harder to follow. Family history comes in next. Sue says she and her husband, both childhood survivors of abuse, believed unconditional love could help steer a child toward something better. They met Ken's mother, Joanne Person. According to Sue, Ken was fifteen or almost sixteen when they learned he had belonged to the Aryan Nations. Sue says she and her husband talked with their daughters, heard them agree, and took Ken into their home despite stories of aggression and violence. Then David cites a handwritten letter Sue says came from Ken's mother in March 1991, describing Ken's Aryan Nations involvement and his fear after giving police evidence about the group. By the credits, the episode has narrowed to records, remembered warnings, stayed charges, and the awful possibility that the strongest witness may have been a four-and-a-half-year-old girl.

As heard by us

A careful, document-heavy look at a case shaped by grief, violence, and family history.

The episode returns to the Terry Dauphiney case by opening on Sue Martin's angry, anxious reaction to a courtroom turn, then moving back through the violence, the paperwork, and the family history that still hangs over everything.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a careful return to a case built from grief, police records, and a long-delayed trial.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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