The thing is, only people close enough to major players—or trusted associates on the periphery—would have access to the information needed to facilitate a drug bust of this magnitude. Knowledge of shipment dates, suppliers, stash house locations—these are closely guarded secrets. Nobody wants to be responsible for losing millions in product. Everyone involved is taking extreme risk for what they see as greater reward: fast money and lots of it.
When people theorized Lindsay was "the rat," I kept thinking: Lindsay may have partied with guys in that scene, but she wasn't involved in large-scale distribution. No matter how friendly or attractive a woman is, guys in that business keep things close to their vests.
Maybe it wasn't a complete insider who contacted the police in late 2007—maybe somebody on the periphery, someone a key player trusted. I find it hard to believe it was a random person, though, because the consequences for spreading this information aren't pretty. People at that level of trafficking have a code and violations aren't forgiven. Ever. Unless you join witness protection, and even then... it's not something I'd risk.
So maybe the person who tipped off police had their own protection—a network of people who would literally kill for them. That would explain why they weren't as worried as the average civilian would be about retaliation. I don't believe anyone deeply involved in the drug operation would have suspected Lindsay had the necessary knowledge to be an informant. They would have looked to those around her instead, because she wouldn't have been given that level of information unless it was a setup to begin with. Even if she'd been put in a situation where somebody was stupid enough to show her a brick of cocaine, why would she report it to police? What would it benefit her?
That's why I think whoever tipped off police benefitted more than they stood to lose. You're risking your life at that point. What was more important to that person than the possibility of being exposed? Maybe they knew they'd be exposed anyway for some other operation—one just as criminal.
The phone used to contact Lindsay was purchased in
late 2007.
Operation High Noon began in December 2007, and resulted in Alberta's largest cocaine bust—
14 arrests and 80 kilograms seized, worth $8 million. The organization transported product from
BC to Alberta using vehicles with professionally engineered hidden compartments, not simple DIY jobs. This wasn't some street-level operation.
The timing is striking: the burner phone was purchased around the same time that
Operation High Noon began. The arrests happened January 22, 2008. If Lindsay had been the informant, no one would've known until after those arrests. But her murder was likely already being planned when that phone was purchased—before anyone was arrested.
I think the phone was bought for one purpose: to set up Lindsay Buziak. Once the bust succeeded and the key players were in jail, the murder was executed according to plan. Someone orchestrated this carefully—timing the murder to coincide with the investigation timeline, creating a plausible motive that would send police down the wrong path. It's actually a sophisticated plot, which may be why it remains unsolved. The best way to evade capture? Create confusion. Give investigators multiple theories to chase. And maintain omertà—a code of silence—no matter what.