II.+Actual+Evidence+From+the+Case

There was not much evidence used in the conviction of Clifford Olson due to his confession. The evidence that was in the police’s possession, when Clifford Olson was being accused of murdering Judy Korzma, was his green address book with Judy’s address written in her own handwriting and an eye witness testimony. Clifford Olson’s address book was found in the trunk of his car. The police analyzed the handwriting in the address book and determined that it did belong to Judy. The address in Judy’s handwriting was not enough to convict Olson of her murder.

A break in the case came when Randy Ludlow came forward as an eye witness. Randy was in the car with Judy and had spent an hour with Clifford Olson and Judy. Randy disclosed that between the hours of eleven and noon on July 9th he was with Olson. They were driving toward downtown New Westminster when Olson spotted Judy leaving a phone booth outside of the Royal Columbian Hospital. Olson waved and picked her up as if he knew her. Randy was able to disclose how Olson and Judy interacted and what kind of a relationship they had. Olson offered both Judy and Randy beers while he drove Judy to her interview in Richmond. They arrived too early for Judy’s interview so Olson stopped at an Inn to pick up more beer. Randy disclosed that he sat in the back of the car while Judy sat in the passenger seat. Olson offered Judy a ten dollar an hour job cleaning windows. Randy disclosed that Judy did not want anymore to drink but Olson was forcing her to. It was Randy’s turn to make the drinks under Olson’s direction. Randy poured only coke into Judy’s drink without Olson knowing. Olson then gave Judy tiny green pills saying that they will straighten her out after the alcohol, so Judy took the pills. Olson dropped Randy off at Lougheed Mall and as far as Randy knew continued on to drop Judy off at her interview. This witness helped convict Olson of the murder of Judy Korzma but this evidence was not enough to convict him of the other murders that the police believed he had committed.

Olson knew that he would be going back to jail for the murder of Judy Korzma and that he was suspected of murdering other children as well. Olson claims that he confessed because of the following reasons.

1) Olson did not want the parents of the children to suffer anymore by having to look at the crime scene pictures.

2) Olson did not want the trial to continue because it would cause mental and physical strain on not only the families of the children but also his family.

3) The personal statements of the parents of some of the children would have been brought up in court and Olson did not want them to be embarrassed.

4) The Judge had the jury locked up due to the high profile of the crime. Olson did not want the members of the jury not to be able to communicate with their husbands, wives, children and other loved ones for a trial that would have lasted over eight weeks.

5) Olson believed that the media would have been exploited for sensationalism due to the exploitation of information on Olson, his family and the families of the children who had been murdered.

6) The costs of the trial and the appeal process were unbelievably high and Olson did not want to waste the money on the proceedings. This confession to Judy Korzma’s crime led to one of the most controversial deals that have been made by the Police. The deal consisted of paying Olson and his family $100, 000 dollars for the identity and location of eleven bodies. Olson was generous and asked for $10, 000 dollars per body and he would throw in the eleventh for free. All of the money went to his wife and his son’s future education because Olson would be in jail and would be unable to provide for his family. The Police were very upset with this deal but because they had very little evidence to link the murders to Olson and the families of the missing children were looking for closure to the disappearances of their children the deal was made. Olson kept his end of the deal and identified eleven of his victims and the prosecutor held up their end of the bargain as well, paying him the full $100, 000. In January of 1982 Olson plead guilty to all eleven counts of murder. The RCMP believes that Olson murdered 17 women and 6 young girls between Kamloops and Banff. The Police were unwilling to pay any more money to Olson even though he claimed that there were more bodies. The Police do not have enough evidence to convict Olson of any more murders.