Transcript of S9 E2: Ringel

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Pretty thick. It's all wet and marsy. It's the first time I've been here. The OPP were going to bring me down, and then they never followed through. I don't think you would find anybody in here. Yeah, there's another glue on hanging there. See, there's all kinds of ribbons over in there. There's another one over there by the water. At the bend, yeah.

I'm with Christie's mom, Maryanne, and her stepfather, Sean Russwurm, in a wooded area of spruce and cedar across the river from Hanover Park. Ribbons of red, blue, and pink hang limply from some of the trees, and a few are mixed in with the dirt and leaves on the ground. Opp for Ontario Provincial Police, in bold black letters, is stamped on all of them. Signs of a search for Chrissy.

Yeah, the ribbons will be the areas that they've searched. Or we're searching just as markers, so they know where to come back to, where they've searched and where they haven't, I guess. Yeah, there's water like a swamp right there, too. I don't know what that would be.

Maryanne has literally stumbled on a pile of green-tinged bones on the ground.

Probably deer, I imagine.

I'd say deer. Yeah, because that's the skull there. Looks like the part of the spine.

Yeah, it looks like the spine.

What is that part of the spine? Wow. Just so much how fast they sink into the ground. And start to decompose.

And this is the side that I was more worried that even if Christie had come across on her own and climbed a tree and fell out and got hurt and could have been laying here hurt, not even have someone to do something to her.

When did you first ask them to search?

The first week she went missing. First few days, I wanted them to search this side of the park as well as the other side. They refused to do it. They wouldn't look.

These cold plastic search markers that we're seeing come from a time over a decade after that first week of Christie's disappearance. In fact, this area west of the Saugine River was never searched until after a man named Anthony Edward Wringle came forward and confessed.

And if they would have searched at the time, the grave site would have been fresh. But now it's been too long.

I'm David Ridge, and this is Someone Knows Something, Season 9, The Christine Heron case. Episode 2, Wringle.

It's sleeping for a little bit. Just have a seat over in that blue chair.

In a blue chair in the corner of an interrogation room, slouches a 35-year-old man. He's wearing a black Adidas shirt, about 5'6, with blunt features and long, though sparse hair. This is Anthony Wringle, opposite two seated police in white shirts. This is the first interview undertaken by OPP investigators at the Walkerton station in August 2004, just hours after Wringle's confession at a family gathering.

Now, I understand that you wanted to talk to me about something, something that you wanted to get off your chest, something which was bothering you. No questions. No comments.

No questions, no comments, says Ringo. Speaking low and looking down, arms crossed.

I told that snake, I learned that you had to not go speak to you any questions. Well, here's the thing. You've already told your cousin about this, and you've already talked to the officer about this. What we would like to do, and if you know where Christie is, we would like to get Christie to be away from there, and I think she deserves that. And only if you can help us with that. I promised her mother that I would find out where she was so that we could get her a decent Christian burial. I hadn't used to have been bothering you for a long time. You don't want to let her keep bothering me. Look at me. Anthony. He's sitting on the ground somewhere, which is easier to be alone. You can help me with that. And they really wanted to help me with that. He No comments, Ringle says again here to the police, and yet he had been talking quite a bit to them and others just a short while earlier.

What the OPP told us was Anthony Ringle was at several parties and had confessed to other party members that he had done it, that he murdered Christie.

Wringle's confession comes 11 years after Christie's disappearance, 11 years of police work that never pointed an Anthony Wringle. Anthony was born on December 10, 1968, one of six children. He had worked at a local Canadian tire but was employed in May 1993. Anthony would sometimes refer to himself as a slow learner. Records show Ringo experienced significant learning difficulties at school and had apparently suffered head injuries as a child. Police would sometimes call him Tony.

Hey, Tony. Tony, can you look over at me, please? Why not? No problem.

According to court, and police documents, the events that bring Wringle into the Walkerton station for questioning all begin at a family birthday party that Wringle attends, August 22nd, 2004, in the small crossroads community of Elmwood, Ontario. By evening, Wringle ends up at the home of a relative. After drinking about five beers and inhaling what he says is some second-hand marijuana, Wringle becomes upset with his family for some reason and proceeds to tell relatives and others present that he murdered someone named Christine. He dials 911 but then hangs up without saying anything. His relatives try to calm him down.

Do you remember talking to a police officer last night? Remember talking to what? You want your lawyer? Yeah. You want a lawyer here? I understand.

Before I say anything, Wringle says.

They've already talked to the officer about this.

After Wringle's aborted emergency call from his cousin's place in Elmwood, an OPP constable named Brad Lipske is alerted by police dispatch around 10:30 PM that there had been a 911 hang-up call at the Elmwood address.

Now, Tony, look, earlier tonight you phoned 911, and he wanted to talk to an officer.

Lipski arrives at the apartment gathering in his squad car and climbed some stairs to speak to one of Wringle's cousins. At some point, Constable Lipski turns and sees someone walking up toward him. It's Wringle, and he's holding his hands out, palms together, seemingly as if to be handcuffed.

And you said that you were responsible for Christine Heron disappearing.

Wringle then says to Lipski, I did it. Take me away. Then a short time later, Wringle tells him, I killed Christine. Christine who, says Lipski. And Wringle replies, Christine Harris, Christine Heron. I can show you where I buried her. I need to get this over with. Keep going straight. I'll show you where he confessed to the cop. You may know.

Actually, no. I know.

Let's keep going. Is this Elmwood?

Yes, it is.

Keep going straight.

You don't know where Anthony come fast at the time? No.

Officer Lipski arrests Rangel for murder and places him in his cruiser. Soon thereafter, around 11:00 PM, Ringo's mother, Loretta, arrives after being called in by the worried relatives. Lipski explains to Ringle's mother that Ringle had just told him that he killed a girl named Christine. The His mother tells Lipski that years earlier, a girl named Christine Heron went missing, whereupon Ringle, who has been listening through the cruiser door, speaks to his mother saying, Remember the girl named Christine? It was a party, I believe, in that house.

That one there. This one here? Yeah.

He got there. These are the addresses in the documents. He confessed to his mother there, and he went in there, and that's where the cop cuffed him. Near those stairs there. Constable Lipske then drives Wringle to the Waukerton detachment. Wringle urges Lipski to take him to Hanover only 10 minutes away because he wants to show him something. Instead, Lipski takes Wringle to Waukerton and reads him his right to counsel, advising him he can speak to a lawyer if he wants to. Wringle replies that he does. Lipski then calls legal aid for Wringle, and then after that, his OPP superiors. This call brings in several police investigators.

Okay. My name is Mark Wright. I'm a Detective Inspector with the OPP. Make sure you speak, Anthony. See up on the roof there? Those are your phones. So we got to make sure that we get your voice. There's no point in this, okay?

Detective Inspector Mark Wright, a 24-year veteran with the OPP, is the officer in charge of the heron investigation at the time. He begins this second police interview with Ringo around 5:00 AM. By now, Ringo has been given a blanket, and he sometimes speaks into it, muffling his answers.

Anthony, give us your full name. Anthony, give us your phone Okay, listen to me very carefully, all right? Right now, you're under arrest for the murder of Christine Heron because you told that police officer that you killed her. You remember that? Is that correct? Yes. And then at some point, you say, And I'll take you to where she is, or something like that. Is that right? What exactly did you just... What did you say? I'm going to show you where she is. That's what you said, right? Okay, so this is pretty serious stuff, right? So you grabbed the phone to dial 911, right? And why did you do that? Because I didn't want to be around my family.

Because he didn't want to be his family anymore.

Right. So you did this to make your mother mad, or you were mad, so you wanted to go away? So help me understand this, Anthony, but why dial 911? Because you wanted the coppers, obviously, there to come, right? But you didn't say that you got on the phone? No. All right. What were you going to say, Anthony? I was probably going to say the same thing. I said I murdered somebody. So what did you What do you think was going to happen when you say something like that? Well, I probably do. I just want to get arrested. So you got arrested. You got what you were looking for, right? Huh? Okay. Why don't we turn off the tape? It's about 20 after 5:00. We're going to check something.

The interview eventually ends, and Wright escorts Wringle out.

Today's date is a Monday, the 23rd of August, 2004. My name is Detective Sergeant Martin Graham, a bachelor.

But soon another officer comes into the picture named Martin Graham, a Detective Sergeant with the OPP's Behavioral Sciences Unit.

Did you kill Christine Aaron? No. Are you telling me the truth? I did.

Here, Officer Graham also tries to Wringle to repeat his statements from the night before, but Wringle seems of a different mind.

Sorry. One of the most important things is to make sure that you tell me the complete truth, all right? Yes. Do you understand how serious this is? Yes. Because I don't think you're being 100% honest with me. And as I said to Anthony, that's what we need for your sake. And then tell me what happened. See, that's what I mean. I'm saying I said things that I shouldn't have said.

That's what I mean. I'm saying I said things I shouldn't have said, Wringle says.

Whereabouts in highland, we're about to find out what We're going to take him to. Because I think we should cut down then, shouldn't we?

Graham pushes into the location Ringo was trying to get Officer Lipski to take him the night before.

Last night, When you and the officer were talking, you really wanted to take that officer to somewhere in Anahoma. I think it's down by the water, isn't it? Can you hear me? Yeah?

Here, Wringle agrees that the location is by the water.

Whereabouts in Annamma, were you going to take the officer? Unfortunately for you, he couldn't help you take you there last night. But I can do that.

Perhaps I could have a bit of It has now been 17 hours since Wringle was taken into police custody, and he has not yet appeared before a judge. In police video, Ringle can at times be seen huddling in his blanket and slouching in his seat or drinking coffee. Detective Sergeant Graham tries hard to present a sympathetic embrace to Ringle's situation, and he continues to circle back to the evening before at the party where Ringle made his confessions.

Something I took it for you last night, man. I don't know what that is, but I know what happened after the trigger happened is that you felt compelled to tell people that know you that you had done something.

And eventually, about an hour after Graham urges Wringle to be truthful, there appears to be something of a breakthrough.

Because I'm always in these matters. Anytime something like this happens, there's always a reason why it You were then so overcome because you had finally said it to help yourself out. And let's understand those things.

Not going to help me out, Wringle says.

Of course, it's going to help you out. Of course it is. Do it he? Why not? Is there no good memory?

Because then I'll lose everything, Wringle says, head in his hands.

What do you mean you're not going to lose everything? Yes, I will. No. You're sorry, though, what happened, don't you? You didn't mean it. Did you mean it to happen? What happened? How did you meet her? Because that day she was late for school. How did you meet her? Probably down at the Park. Down at the Park.

This is the first admission from Rangel during any police interview in custody that he had met Christine Heron on the day she disappeared, May 18, 1993.

Down at the Park. And why did you meet her down at the Park? Had you been seeing her? No. No, it was the first time. And what happened? You met her at the park in Hanover. And then what happened? Where did she go from there?

First, we were Across the River. The location in Hanover, Wringle had apparently wanted to show Constable Lipski the night before. A location next to the Saugine River, across from the town park.

Well, across the river there is the Hanover Park, and that's where Anthony says he met up with Chrissy. And from what I understand, Anthony says he brought Chrissy across. See, even now the water is pretty high. Wouldn't have been too easy coming across back then. I don't know how Wringle willingly even got her across the water. She would have been afraid to have come across.

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All righty. It's 10:00 to 10:00 on the 23rd of August. We're at the Walkerton OPP attachment.

Police find nothing and return with Wringle around 8:20 PM to the Walkerton OPP station, where he's offered pepperoni pizza and a drink.

Anthony, you're under arrest for the first-degree murder of Christine Heron, correct? You're aware of that, right? Yes or no? Yes.

With no evidence of Christie's remains found, Detective Inspector Wright interviews Wringle again and presents himself as worried that Wringle may be making a false confession and that he wants to give Wringle an opportunity to make an exculpatory statement, one that might serve to absolve him of guilt.

Okay. You've been cautioned about talking to the police, and they've given you your right to counsel. I told you you could speak to a lawyer. And as a matter of fact, you've spoken to duty counsel three different times today, right? They told me I was supposed to go get a lawyer. Okay. They told me not to talk to me. You appreciate that that's the advice they give you, but you can choose as to whether or not you're going to take that advice, right? Now, just so everybody knows, you're tucked under a blanket there because you're tired, right? It's cool. Okay. Again, You know there is no more serious charge in the criminal code of Ken than that charge. You're aware of that, right? Yeah. Okay. Anthony, I want you to listen very carefully to me. My job is to get to the truth. There have been times in my career where people have said they did things that they didn't do. I want to make sure that you're not admitting to something that you didn't do. I'm just going to ask you straight out, was what you told Martin the truth? It's. You killed Christine Heron.

I need an answer. Yes. Okay. How do you feel after you've told? Do you feel better that you've got this off your chest? A little. A little, okay. Are you prepared to go to jail for the rest of your life for a crime you didn't commit? Do you know that that could happen? You know that could happen, right? Mm-hmm. But you killed Christine. Yes or no? Yes. How come we didn't find her then? I can't remember where. Where what? Where this part was. Where you killed this girl and you left her.

Ringo is definitive here, but then switches gears again. He'd like to go home.

He wanted to go home. He swore you to attention. You just wanted attention. Well, how come Sunday night at 11:00, you decide to say, I killed Christine here? What switch flicked on I don't know. Maybe you are a killer and you're just lying to me. You're a killer? What do you mean? You're a killer? No. Anthony, I don't know what the heck to do with you. I don't know if you're a killer or not. You're a confusing young man. What am I to do with you? Look at me. I'm What do we? What am I to do with you? Charge me with mischief.

Charge me with mischief.

If Martin came in here and talked to you all over again, could he talk to you in this thing that you killed that girl? Why did you pick Christine That means they… They don't know that. Talked out, I guess. What did you think was going to happen? You're going to dazzle your family? You're a killer? Or were you looking to accomplish it? I don't know. What did… That's not good enough. What were you looking to accomplish? I don't know. That's not good enough. I think maybe you're still a killer. Maybe you need to spend the rest of your life in jail. What do you think about that? Would that surprise you? Would that surprise you if I told you I think maybe you're lying to me right there when you choked that girl? Yeah. Yeah, what? Are you a killer? Maybe, yeah. Yeah. Pardon? You might be. You might be a killer. Okay. You're not an idiot.

At this point, police believe that Ringo might be a killer. Detective Sergeant Graham takes another crack at trying to prove to themselves that Anthony Ringo is the real deal.

I want you to try a picture exactly what she looked like. All right? Everything you can remember about everything. Sometimes it's really-Cruly hair. Yeah. Yeah. In glasses. Okay. Just that day, that, wouldn't you? Excuse me. Yeah. If your mom was sitting right here now, how would you explain it to her? You'd say the same thing, wouldn't you? How did you feel when you were doing it? I'm sorry.

Ringole says, Bad.

What message could I give to Christine's mom? That I'm sorry.

That I'm sorry.

I'm sitting in front of the person to kill Christine Aaron, aren't I? Yeah. What message she had for your love? Just wait for all day, babe. Yeah.

I'm sorry for what I've done.

The moment it turns me. Then counsel me. You wasn't. Christine Aaron.

And thus, in all probability, by his own admissions and actions, Christine's killer had been found in Anthony Wringle. Justice can soon be served. After this series In the sense of police questioning, Wringle appears before a judge and is then taken to a succession of Ontario provincial jails to wait trial. Police use this period to conduct the searches that left the plastic OPP tape that Maryanne, Sean, and I saw on the other western side of the Saugine River.

The OPP had let me know that Wringle had confessed to murdering Christine, and then he was being held, and there would be a trial.

The pre-trial finally comes in April 2006. Everything seems to have fallen in place and set to move forward with the successful prosecution of a man who voluntarily came forward to admit to his family and police that he murdered Christine Heron.

The Crown attorney told us it was a slam dunk at one point. He was 90 % sure Ringo I was going to be convicted.

But that's not what happened.

They screwed up. I've got more anger towards the OPP and the town cops than I do Ringo. Nobody understands that.

Someone Knows Something is hosted, written, and produced by me, David Riddgen.

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