Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast · Ben Gibson

The Monster of Crowsnest Pass - Derek Saretzky

·1 hr 15 min·5 clips

William Blanchett found Terry dead in the bathroom and Haley’s crib empty.

1. Wicked and Grim: A True Crime Podcast covers the Crowsnest Pass case centered on Hannah Matek, Terry Blanchett, and Derek Saretzky in Blairmore and Coleman, Alberta. 2. Hosts Ben and Nicole frame the episode as a true-crime story and explain that Nicole watched a documentary about the case before recommending it. 3. The episode asks how a quiet mountain community in southwestern Alberta became the site of a murder, an abduction, and an RCMP investigation. 4. The narration describes Blairmore and Coleman as small towns where people know their neighbors, recognize vehicles, and expect ordinary routines in late summer. 5. Hannah Matek is introduced as a 69-year-old Coleman resident from Copenhagen who worked at a thrift store and was known for speaking her mind. 6. The episode says someone forced open Hannah’s trailer door on the night of September 9, 2015, and attacked her in her bedroom. 7. Investigators found blunt force injuries to her head, stab wounds in her neck, defensive wounds on her hands and arms, and no sign that robbery was the motive. 8. A neighbor noticed the trailer door was left open on September 10 and called police, who secured the scene with the RCMP and forensic teams. 9. The story then shifts to the morning of September 14, 2015, when neighbors near Terry Blanchett’s home heard a metal striking sound, a child crying, and a white commercial-style van leaving Blairmore. 10. William Blanchett entered Terry’s house, found blood in the kitchen and bathroom, saw Terry with a cut throat, and discovered Haley’s crib empty. 11. The hosts note that RCMP investigators used the witness timeline and surveillance footage from the Best Canadian Motor Inn and a Coleman gas station to track the van. 12. An Amber Alert went out across Alberta at 2:14 p.m. and later expanded into British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Montana at 3:15 p.m. 13. The episode describes how search teams, helicopters, volunteers, and RCMP officers checked forests, rural roads, abandoned buildings, and campsites across the Crow’s Nest Pass. 14. Prestige Cleaners becomes a key focus when Kevin and Larry Saretzky realize one of their white delivery vans matches the description and has unexplained extra kilometers. 15. RCMP forensic testing with luminol reportedly found blood throughout the van, including on the steering wheel, door handles, window cranks, light switches, floor surfaces, and cargo area. 16. Larry Saretzky tells police that Derek said Haley was “in heaven,” and investigators later search Derek’s Blairmore apartment and Coleman room for evidence. 17. The apartment search turns up blood on the front doorknob, stairs, bathroom surfaces, latex gloves, boots with human blood, a hatchet, box cutters, knives, and books about cannibalism and serial killers. 18. The tone is solemn and detail-heavy, with the hosts pausing for emotional reactions while the narration stays focused on timeline, forensic evidence, and family statements. 19. Anyone interested in Canadian true crime, small-town investigations, and RCMP evidence. 20. Listeners wanting a light or low-distress episode should probably skip this one.

As heard by us

A steady true-crime walk-through where a missing van and blood evidence slowly narrow the case.

This episode tracks Derek's missing van, the blood evidence, and the family's shift from worry to a police lead that finally feels concrete. The hosts keep the facts in order, moving from the vehicle and the surprising mileage to the forensic sweep without losing the thread, so…

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Why you'd press play

When you want a careful case walk-through with blood evidence, family alarm, and a van that gives police their first solid physical lead.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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