The Kosberg Axe Murders podcast is based on a story from Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
Mount Pleasant:
When police arrived at the house in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant area on December 10, 1965, the first thing they saw was the bright red Santa Claus painted on the front window. They kicked in the front door and found the bodies of Osborne and Dorothy Kosberg, Barry, 15, Gayle, 11, Vincent, 2 and Marianne, 13 clinging to life. They had all been hacked to bits with a double-bladed axe. Only the baby survived.
Tom, 17, had a history of mental illness, but no one could imagine him plotting a murder, let alone killing his own family.
On the night of the murder, he bought a bottle of 25 sleeping pills from a local drugstore. He made chocolate milkshakes for his mother, for Florence a family friend who was visiting, and for his two brothers and two sisters.
Watching Television:
The family was watching television. Florence sat at one end of the chesterfield while Tom sat at the other reading a book. She remembers Dorothy saying, “I didn’t know that I was that tired.” Florence then fell asleep and woke up about 11:00 pm. Tom suggested she stay the night, but she called a taxi and left. While the rest of his family slept, Tom waited up for Osborne who was working a late shift as a truck driver for Allied Heat and Fuel. He made his Dad a milkshake. When everyone was asleep he went to the basement to fetch the double-bladed axe.
Neatly dressed and calm:
Tom drove off in the family’s 1954 sedan and ran it into a power pole. Police described him later as “neatly dressed” and “calm”.
The court ruled that Tom was not guilty by reason of insanity and shipped him back to Riverview.
Ten years later Tom was released. He married and worked for BC Children’s Hospital for the next 30 years. He died in 2016.
In the podcast, criminologist Heidi Currie helps me explore the differences and similarities between the Kosberg murders, the Blackman family murders in Coquitlam in 1983, and the murder of Tim McLean by Vince Li on a Greyhound bus in 2008. All three killers were found not criminally responsible for their actions and released in less than 10 years.
Show Notes
Intro: Mark Dunn
Music: Bittersweet by Myuu, The Dark Piano
Sponsor: Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours
PSA: Vancouver Police Museum and Archives
Promo: Blood, Sweat, and Fear: The Story of Inspector Vance
Guest: Dr. Heidi Currie, criminologist
Sources:
The Vancouver Police Museum and Archives
Vital Statistics – death certificates
Lazarus, Eve. Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History. Arsenal Pulp Press, 2020
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