Clifford Olson, a 42-year-old construction worker, is sentenced to life in prison for the murder of three boys and eight girls, aged between 9 and 18, across the Metro Vancouver area, to be served in the Kingston Penitentiary. Olson, to the surprise of his lawyers, had recanted his original plea of not guilty and, in an infamous “cash for bodies” deal with the RCMP and attorney general Allan Williams, agreed to provide the location of 10 of his victims’ bodies in exchange for $10,000 each paid into a trust for his wife, Joan, and then-infant son.
“I do not have the words to adequately describe the enormity of your crimes, or to describe the heartbreak and anguish you have caused,” said trial judge H.C. McKay. "My considered opinion is that you should never be granted parole for the remainder of your days. It would be foolhardy to let you at large."
In 1997, Olson was denied parole, which he applied for under Canada's "faint hope clause", which allowed a parole hearing for convicts who had served at least 15 years. Parole applications in 2006 and 2010 were equally unsuccessful.
He died of cancer on Sept. 30, 2011, at the age of 71, after being transferred to the super-maximum security Special Handling Unit in Sainte-Anne-des- Plaines, PQ.
