This is a book of first-hand research. As a reporter for CBC News, I covered this case from the day Richard Oland’s body was discovered. I attended press conferences, jury selection, numerous court proceedings, and the entire trial, which I live-blogged. I’ve conducted interviews and combed through legal documents, financial records, and scientific reports. On occasion in the pages that follow, I draw from the work of other media or secondary sources, and I cite them when I do. Although I made every effort to speak to a member of the Oland family about the case, to my regret they declined to participate in this book. They have said that they will comment publicly only after the appeal.
Speech is reported substantially verbatim: most stumbles, repetitions, self-corrections, and verbal tics have been edited out. The result, I believe, accurately captures individual speech style without sacrificing readability. When quoting from emails and texts, a similar approach is used. I’ve quietly corrected obvious typos rather than repeatedly (and pedantically) adding sic. Words enclosed in square brackets are additions I’ve made for clarity.
Trials can be exercises in frustration. Rarely do the proceedings follow a clear narrative path. Lawyers pose questions that can seem random and unconnected, only to revisit the issue again days or weeks later. For this book, I’ve eschewed a strictly chronological account of the trial in favour of a thematic approach that pulls together testimony from different witnesses at different times to provide coherent accounts of particular evidence and issues.