James was harassed for six years and seven months before she was found dead. In 1982, Canadian nurse Cindy James received a strange phone call. She had no idea it was the beginning of a chain of events that would lead to years of vicious harassment and only end with her death.
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” The Bizarre Death of Cindy James ” – Episode Credit’s
Hosted By Mark Tauriello, Jen Wilson, & Marc Bluestein.
Original Episode & Story Concept By Marc Bluestein.
Episode Show Notes By Marc Bluestein.
Audio/Visual By Marc Bluestein
Original Episode Art By Mark Tauriello.
” The Bizarre Death of Cindy James ” – Episode Show Notes
Cindy James: An Unsolved Murder or Suicide?
Question:
INTRO: So, tonight I’m bringing us to Vancouver, British Columbia. It’s a warm day in June of 1989. There’s a team of men doing roadwork, one of them wander’s away to an abandoned house nearby to go pee.
As the road worker approaches, he’s overcome with a really terrible smell. But, essentially he chalk’s it up to litter and garbage being in and around the home… It was an abandoned, squatter type place, and a really hot day in June. As we know, heat always intensifies rotting/garbage smells.
The Discovery of Cindy James’ Body
As the road worker makes his way into the backyard of the home, the grass is overgrown and messy..exactly what you’d expect to see on an abandoned property. But, this is when something catches his eye…It wasn’t the rotting garbage in the summer heat as he had initially suspected AT ALL…And this discovery is exactly what you’re thinking it is, but I can assure you that if you’re not familiar with this story; you’ll be shocked by the insanity thats going to be uncovered.
Lying on their side just a few feet away from where he was, was the body of a woman. She was hog-tied with her hands and feet behind her back, and a black Nylon Stocking tied tightly around her neck, so tight that it had begun digging into her neck. Her face was noticeably black from decomposition, a stark contrast from her Golden Blonde hair.
The Police Arrive At The Scene
Now, before the police even got to the scene, they had a strong inclination as to who they believed had been found in this backyard. Very bizarre, right ? A random body is seemingly found murdered, and they’re like “ I think we know who this is …”
And as they suspected, it was the body of a woman by the name of Cindy James. Cindy was a middle aged woman, a nurse by trade. She had disappeared about two weeks prior to the discovery of her body.
Her car had been found abandoned in a parking lot with her groceries, as well a gift that had been wrapped. There was a drop of blood on her drivers side door, and it appeared as though her purse had been emptied out, and all of its contents were pushed underneath of the car…
Now, this clearly sounds like a story involving foul play. Anyone listening to this would be like, “ Yeah, this is just an old fashioned murder” Right ? ..Well…the police felt as though murder was up for debate, so much so that they deemed her death a suicide. That’s right! A SUICIDE.
Cindy James: Did She Commit Suicide ?
Cindy’s autopsy revealed that her blood contained high amounts of a Morphine based drug. It was essentially theorized that she had died of an overdose, and she probably did.
So, lets recap. A woman is found hog-tied and lifeless in the yard of an abandoned home, with excessive morphine discovered in her blood, yet still the coroner lists her death as a result of an “ Unknown Event”….What the fuck !?
Now to keep your interest, I’m going to inform you that this wasn’t the first instance of Cindy being found in this same exact way. What I mean by that, is that Cindy had been found on other occasions, hog-tied and drugged. She just hadn’t died in these other similar situations. This sounds confusing, I know…And it is. But, lets get back to it.
Now, for obvious reasons, you can imagine how this conclusion that Cindy committed suicide didn’t go over well with the local community. Ton’s of controversy and speculation began swirling around, and reasonably so.
How would a woman hog-tie herself, and also drug herself ? Like…how is this even possible? It truly sounds insane to me.
In order for you to make any sense of this, and I do mean “ sense “…we have to go back approximately seven years prior to Cindy’s death. But before we do that, I’m gonna give a very quick backstory about Cindy.
GET READY!!
A Little Backstory on Cindy James
Cindy was born in 1944, she spent the first year of her life in Ontario before moving to Vancouver with her family. Her father had been an Army Doctor, he moved his family to Vancouver in hopes of furthering his medical career, this wasn’t successful. In 1949 her father rejoined the Military in a training capacity, so essentially this meant they’d be moving all over the country after that.
Cindy was uprooted constantly as a child, so she never formed great relationships with other children. Her parents actually actively discouraged her from making close connections, fearing that when they would inevitably move again, it would be even harder for Cindy to adjust.
Cindy had always wanted to be a nurse. So, in 1962 when her fathers request to work overseas was granted, Cindy refused to follow her family. They were moving to France, and Cindy stayed behind. She was 18 years old.
Cindy joined a nursing program with the Vancouver General Hospital, and she lived in the onsite dormitories. She would visit her family in France during the summer, over the next few years.
The Mystery Fiancé
At one point, Cindy had sent a detailed letter to her parents about how her fiancé committed suicide. A terrible thing to experience, for sure.
The only thing that struck them as odd was that Cindy never mentioned a love interest, yet alone that she was engaged. Even her brother Doug who would visit Cindy in Canada admitted, that he had never seen or heard about this fiancé during any of his visits with his sister.
Cindy Meets Her Future Husband: Roy Makepeace
Let’s jump to 1965. Cindy meets a man named Roy Makepeace, a Psychiatrist whom she had worked with at her job. Roy was married, but that didn’t stop his pursuit of Cindy.
Cindy and Roy became an item quite quickly. Roy divorced his wife in 1966, and married Cindy in December of that year.
It was said that the couple kept their relationship a secret from Cindy’s parents. Keeping their relationship a secret seemed like it was validated, because when Cindy sent her parents a letter to finally inform them, they were NOT PLEASED.
Cindy chose to read the scathing letter her mother wrote to her, TO ROY. The letter essentially spoke about how her mother thought Roy was taking advantage of Cindy, etc.
It was soon discovered that Cindy was the one who wrote the “ scathing letter “ AS IF her mother had written it…. Roy found the behavior to be incredibly odd, but essentially wrote it off as “ drama”.
Cindy James & Roy Makepeace – The Divorce
Now that you have this information, we’re gonna go back to the point of seven years before Cindy was found dead.
It’s 1982, Cindy & Roy divorce after 16 years of marriage. It seems as though the driving force behind them splitting up was essentially over the fact that Roy was physically abusive.
Roy has actually admitted to slapping Cindy twice, out of frustration. However, he absolutely denied the level of abuse that Cindy was accusing him of.
Cindy Gets Her Own Place
Shortly after the divorce, Cindy gets her own place. It was the first time in her life that she had ever lived alone, so this was a REALLY BIG DEAL .
However, instead of this being a time of celebration, it’s at this point in time where the terror & mystery would just begin to unfold.
The events that you’re about to hear would happen over the course of the rest of Cindys life.
Cindy James Has A Stalker
So, at this point in time, Cindy has been living on her own for only a few short months. Now…. this is when things start to get fucking weird.
Cindy started receiving strange telephone calls. Think a long the lines of that movie When a Stranger Call’s. The creepy voice saying “ Have you checked the children?”
The First Phone Call
The first threatening phone call to Cindy came in on October 7th, 1982. A raspy voice on the other end of the line was making horrendous sexual threats to her.
Just to add to the level of creep factor, this mystery stalker seemed to know Cindy’s name. The voice would keep repeating her name, just to taunt her..essentially.
Over the next few days, Cindy would receive more and more calls from this unknown stalker.
At one point, even her ex-husband received a call. Should we play the audio?
( INSERT AUDIO) “ Dead meat soon “
Now, there was one occasion where Cindy felt as though she was being watched. I feel like most people have experienced that weird feeling at some point in time, right ?
So, Cindy proceeds to close the window curtains. Following that, the phone rings again…
The voice said:
“ Don’t think pulling the drapes means I don’t know you’re in there “
Cindy James Gets The Police Involved
It’s safe to say that Cindy was truly frightened at this point. Five days after the call’s started coming in, specifically October 12th, 1982; is when Cindy gets the police involved.
Upon arrival, nothing is noted as being out of place in or around Cindy’s property.
Regardless of there being no physical evidence or damage, the police encouraged her to keep a diary of all incidents that occur. They also encouraged her to get a new / unlisted telephone number.
This seems good in theory, but lets not forget about this stalker who seemed to already know where she lived.
Anyway..
So, Cindy takes the advice from the police and gets a new phone number. Not only did this not help in the slightest, but to the contrary, the calls became more and more aggressive…And more frequent.
Cindy James – The First Home Invasion
Lets skip three days ahead.
It’s the 15th of October, Cindy and her friend Agnes arrive at Cindy’s home after having dinner.
Cindy’s front door is open, theres also a broken window. They eventually make their way to Cindy’s bedroom….
Her pillows had be violently slashed, and a key to her house had been found next to her bed…..
The Violent Notes Start Arriving
In the next few days that followed this event, Cindy began to find very violent and threatening notes made from magazine clippings.
Note: There’s photos of these notes online, they’re highly disturbing to say the least. We’ll include images in the YouTube video for this episode, as well as on our Instagram ( @BizarreBuffet)
Cindy James & Pat McBride
OK ! At this point in time, the police became much more involved with Cindy.
This is where a man named Pat McBride comes into the picture, Pat was a police officer involved with Cindy’s case. Pat had been on the police force for eight years at this point in time.
Pat took it upon himself to regularly check up on Cindy. Pat seemed to be so concerned for Cindy’s safety, to the point of moving himself in to her spare bedroom later that month.
Despite having this extra security, the police discovered that Cindy’s telephone wires had been cut in early November.
The officer who was living with her, Pat McBride, found a pair of wire cutters sitting on top of his toolbox…He said that he didn’t remember using them for anything in recent times.
Roy Makepeace Reemerges ( The Ex-Husband)
Let’s talk about Cindy’s ex-husband Roy for a moment.
A month after the discovery of the cut telephone wires, the police come across Cindys ex, Roy! He was parked behind her house. He told the police that he was there to “ protect her “, but admitted that Cindy was not aware of his presence.
A little fucking weird I’d say……
But before we start to speculate too much, the insanity doesn’t stop here.
Regardless of whats happening at this point, Roy asked Cindy to move back in with him. Cindy wasn’t having it. She felt as though she couldn’t trust him, and refused his offer.
Cindy had other plans for herself, she was going to move away.
Cindy James – The First Physical Attack
Cindy is over this shit, she’s getting ready to move at this point.
A few days before she was about to move, Cindy’s friend, Agnes, found Cindy collapsed at the bottom of her basement steps.
Cindy was bleeding profusely, she had been cut fourteen times….
This was the first instance of a physical attack on Cindy. The police asked questions about the attacker, but Cindy claimed that she didn’t see their face.
It was said that there was a sense that Cindy was withholding some information, for whatever reason.
This theory that Cindy was holding back information was later confirmed by Cindy’s brother, Doug.
Doug said that Cindy told him that her attacker told her not to look at him, or else he would go after her family.
The Next Year Following The First Attack
Over the next year following the first attack, police ramped up their investigation.
They would set up surveillance operations day and night, on the occasion for weeks at a time.
It’s worth mentioning that nothing happened while the police were actively observing Cindy’s house….
HOWEVER! As soon as the active surveillance came to end, the threatening phone calls and notes picked up right where they left off.
Cindy Moves Again – 1983
At this point in time, its anyones guess as to what the fuck is going on.
Either way, Cindy decides to move again in 1983. The new house is smaller, but closer to her job.
Cindy decides to take a vacation to get away from the constant harassment, and things seemed as though everything had finally calmed down. She was optimistic that all of the insanity she had endured was finally OVER.
She had good reason to feel this way, it had been months since the harassment stopped.
The Notes Start Up Again
At this point, things seem to be looking up for Cindy.
Months had gone by without her crazy stalker communicating with her.
That is until one day when Cindy arrives at work, and she finds a note that says “ Welcome Back “ .
October, 1983 – The Dead Cat
So, here we are! Poor Cindy had a few months of peace and quiet.
However, the note she found at work was of course the signal that the quiet period was over.
In October of that same year, Cindy finds a strangled cat on her front lawn. Next to the cat was a note that read “ YOU’RE NEXT”.
I’ve also seen mention of three cats being hung from a tree.
Cindy James & Ozzie Kaban
Cindy is truly fearing for her life at this point. She was introduced to a man named Ozzie Kaban, Ozzie was a security contractor. He had a very successful career protecting royalty, celebrities, etc. He was the REAL DEAL.
Despite Ozzies impeccable reputation, even HE couldn’t seem to protect Cindy.
Ozzie had given Cindy a two way radio, essentially a walkie talkie, due to the fact that Cindy’s phone lines were always being tampered with. He heard some commotion on her end, so he decided to show up at her house.
The Second Physical Attack
Upon kicking the door down, Ozzie finds Cindy unconscious. At this point in time, we’re at the second instance of someone finding her unconscious.
This time…it was a little different….
Not only was Cindy unconscious, but she had a black stocking tied tightly around her neck.
(REMEBER HOW I SAID IT WASNT THE FIRST TIME SHE WAS FOUND HOW SHE WAS)
But..to add an even more eerie element to this..
There was a note, but the note was pinned to her hand with a knife…keeping it attached to her. The note said: “ NOW YOU MUST DIE..”
Cindy Becomes Suicidal
Cindy is really having a hard time at this point. She’s threatening suicide, so she gets checked into a hospital.
After a couple of days , doctors felt confident that she was no longer a risk to herself. She is then released into the care of friends and family.
Also, the harassment didn’t stop.
Cindy Moves Again
In yet another effort to escape this insanity, Cindy moves AGAIN. But, in doing so, things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse.
Cindy Is Found In A Ditch / Third Physical Attack – 1985
I’m gonna bring you to December of 1985. Cindy is found dazed and disoriented in a ditch, she was more than six miles from her house.
They said that she was nearing hypothermia, wearing almost no clothing…
She had a large mens work boot on only one foot, a rubber glove, and AGAIN, a stocking tied around her throat.
She was bruised and beaten from cut’s, to a black eye, to abrasions…As well as a bizarre needle mark on the inside of her elbow.
Cindy claimed to have no recollection of how any of this occurred.
Vancouver Police Inform The Richmond Police (New Residence)
Ok, let’s get into some more insane details.
As we know, Cindy recently moved again. She moved from Vancouver to Richmond, Richmond being where the most recent attack has taken place.
Since Cindy had a long history with the Vancouver Police, the Vancouver police communicated the details of her troubles to the new police department in Richmond.
But….The Richmond Police had other thoughts in mind.
THEY THOUGHT THAT CINDY WAS FABRICATING THE ASSAULTS!!
They grew tired quickly, due to being called out to her home on many occasions, but not once being able to find evidence of a third party, the alleged stalker.
Friends Start Staying With Cindy
Just so Cindy could get some rest, her friends Tom and Agnes began staying over at Cindy’s on some nights. The idea was, was that these events probably wouldn’t happen with other people in the home.
While the Richmond Police might not be convinced, her friends are still sticking by her.
Tom & Agnes – The House Fire
One night in April, later in the evening, Cindy wakes her friend Tom up. She heard a noise, and Tom just so happened to notice this noise as well.
They make their way down to the basement…And there’s a fire. As they attempt to call the fire department, they discover that the phone line had been cut, and the panic button that was installed by Ozzie, her security dude, had been disconnected.
Alright, so…its worth mentioning that some witnesses claimed that Cindy totally calm till the police arrived. It’s only once they were on the scene that she started screaming and crying. It’s said that people were caught off guard by the sudden dramatic display.
Fire Investigation
Get ready for this…
The investigators concluded that Cindy was most likely the one who started the fire.
Her friends Tom & Agnes whole heartedly disagreed, citing that their friend would never intentionally endanger their lives.
At this point in time, the police department was kind of done with Cindy. They essentially thought that she was just playing games.
Cindy James : Depression / Hospital
Early the next month, Cindy was hospitalized with extreme depression. Cindy was then transferred to another facility, where she would be psychoanalyzed.
Cindy was diagnosed with Hysteria, Paranoia, Schizophrenia, Pyschopathy, and Hypochondrias.
She was released from the hospital after ten weeks.
October 26th – The Panic Button Is Activated
On October 26th, Cindy used her panic button.
Upon arrival, Cindy was found hogtied, naked from the waist down, and AGAIN, choked with a stocking…But she was halfway inside her car ? ….. Cindy once again told the police that she had no clue how she got there.
The Knot Expert
It seems as though at this point, for whatever reason, Cindy is being looked at more closely. We already know that the Richmond Police are questioning her stories a bit.
A knot expert claimed that she could not have restrained herself in such a way, but the police dismissed this.
Cindy’s alarm was activated several times over the next few months, but there was less and less confidence in Cindy’s claim’s as factual.
The Apparent Harassment Continues
The apparent harassment continued for Cindy over the next three and half years, before the tragic conclusion.
May 25th, 1989
So, its May of 1989. Cindy’s friend Agnes visited her at home, they used to have a scheduled night to play Bridge. When Agnes arrived, there was no answer at the house.
Naturally, this sent Agnes into a panic, and a search party ensued. This resulted in the discovery of her car in a parking lot of a supermarket.
Now we’re back to the beginning of the episode. They find her car, groceries, a wrapped gift, and a bank reciept from 7:58 the same evening, she deposited her pay check.
There’s blood on the door, everything from inside her purse was on the ground below her car. It looked like a kidnapping took place.
The Suspect
It should come as no surprise that Cindy’s ex husband, Roy, was the immediate suspect. However! Roy had an airtight alibi…Leaving investigators puzzled as to who could have done this.
It was two weeks before Cindy’s body was found.
Expert’s Change Opinion
Let’s uncover some more details of this bizarre story.
Remember how the knot experts initially said that Cindy couldn’t have made the knots herself?
Well, they changed that opinion. They demonstrated the technique for police, displaying how easy it would have been for Cindy to replicate.
Toxicology Report
Now the Toxicology Report. As we mentioned early, Cindy had a lethal dose of a Morphine based drug in her bloodstream. According to investigators, the amount was “ Unlikely to have been ingested involuntarily”.
Cindy’s Coroner Report lists her death as an “ Unknown Event”. However, the police do not agree. They believe Cindy’s death was in fact a suicide.
Lack Of Evidence
Their belief in this case being a suicide is essentially on the foundation of never finding any kind of evidence suggesting there was a third party doing these things to Cindy.
This doesn’t mean that there were no suspects, though. The ex husband, Roy, he was high on the list. Roy was even initially accused by Cindy and her family as being her attacker.
More Strange Facts
Some more strange facts about this case.
Cindy had a hypnosis session in 1984, Cindy recalled a story about Roy murdering two people on a boating trip. However, statements made under hypnosis offer no credibility in court.
But, once again, Roy had some solid alibis.
There was a report of a strange man around Cindys house on the night of the fire, he was confronted by the police and ran away.
Its been said that two different psychiatrists had determined that Cindy was a staging events during psychotic breaks.
Things were fine for about a year when she started therapy.
Pat McBride – A Convincing Suspect
There is another possible suspect…Remember the cop who was living with her ? It’s suspected that Cindy and Pat ( The cop) , formed a romantic relationship.
McBride allegedly proposed to Cindy, but she refused him. They maintained a great friendship despite this.
Although the main theory as to why he might be the killer, is because everything stopped when he was there. He knew the times that people would be coming and going, and when his presence wasn’t there, the calls ramped up.
More Theories
There was analysis done on the voice recordings, and its been claimed that the voice in all of the recorded phone calls was female.
( I personally feel as though the friend Agnes could be involved )
Then theres the possibility of something like Munchausen’s, people making themselves sick for attention. Cindys death being a result of a miscalculation.
Theres also been suggestions that Cindy may have suffered from DID, more commonly known as Multiple Personality Disorder.
” Dead Meat: Cindy James” – Episode Visuals
