24/11/2019
Lengthy article, large pics. rbbm.
Who killed 'Septic Tank Sam?'
"Limestone poured over him to hide the heinous crime.
A man was tied to a bed, tortured with a butane blow torch and cigarettes, sexually mutilated with farm shears and beaten before being shot in the head and chest and then dumped into a septic tank. https://tinyurl.com/r4wbbu3 Click To Tweet
RCMP found him April 13, 1977, in a 1.8-meter deep septic tank on land at an abandoned farmhouse. He was found rolled in a yellow bed sheet, which was tied with nylon rope.
The abandoned farmhouse where the septic tank was and the victim’s body discovered
April 13, 1977. (Criminally Listed photo)
RCMP investigating the case described the murder as one of the most vindictive and sadistic they had ever seen."
Forty-two years later the murder remains an unsolved Alberta cold case.
The autopsy by an Edmonton medical examiner confirmed the victim was tortured. The sexual mutilation was so severe it took the medical examiner several months to positively confirm that the body was that of a male.
His teeth and bones suggested he suffered from an unspecified illness at about the age of five.
According to RCMP, there wasn’t any evidence the victim was murdered on the property where his body was dumped."
RCMP composite drawing of the victim.
"According to a missing person’s website (Government of Canada), Septic Tank Sam is believed to have been a laborer and likely wasn’t from Alberta.
He was either a Native or Caucasian and was about 26 to 32 years old. He was about five-foot-six with a medium build, had brown hair and weighed about 154 pounds.
At the time of his death, he was wearing a blue work shirt, grey T-shirt and blue jeans. He was wearing brown shoes that were an imitation Wallabee brand. During the time of his death, there were a lot of laborers working on the construction of power lines in the area."
"RCMP believe he may have been murdered as early as April 1976.
Retired Tofield RCMP Sgt. Ed Lammerts – who was a corporal in charge of the detachment at the time of the crime in 1977 – said the victim was likely a transient."
"Sgt. Lammerts said the victim had a lot of dental work done, the work was consistent with less finished work, which means the victim may have been someone on government financial assistance.
Sgt. Lammerts said they didn’t get many tips initially.
Even though the composite drawing didn’t gain tips, Tofield RCMP got tips decades later because of a website run by amateur sleuths, said Sgt. Warren. RCMP did a tip sheet on them and they were all researched and discounted."
Sgt. Lammerts has his own theory.
Back in 1977 – only a few months before the body was found – Sgt. Lammerts, who was new to the Tofield detachment back then, responded to a call about a two to five-minute drive from the septic tank. He described the call as a “peculiar incident” but said he couldn’t “expound on that,” because if “you can’t prove it, you can’t say it.”
He thinks there may be a connection.
Sgt. Warren said there weren’t any strong suspects but he also had his own idea who may have been the killer(s).
“I have my suspicions and I will leave it at that.”
Identifying the victim key to solving the crime"