Mayerthorpe RCMP killings: Bad Day at Barhead (2008) - The Fifth Estate

it's become a common image in the new century a quiet street in an unremarkable place suddenly chaos in the name of Public Safety on Sunday morning July 8th 2007 in Bearhead Alberta a heavily armed SWAT team from the RCMP shatters a quiet social gathering to arrest a young local man his name Sean Hennessey 28 a married father of two his brother-in-law Dennis Cheeseman 23 is already in custody today we have been able to provide Canadians with the first significant update on the Mareth orb investigation they are accused in one of Canada's worst crimes the murder of four policemen March 3rd 2005 relatives of the slain are overwhelmed the senior Mountie here deputy RCMP Commissioner William Sweeney will shortly move to national headquarters in Ottawa but here were the accused men live and work shocked and puzzlement a murder story has now become a murder mystery good evening and welcome to the fifth estate I'm Linden MacIntyre a year after that dramatic takedown it's still unclear how two young local men with no known criminal ties or violent tendencies became accountable for the murder of four Mounties in March of 2005 now added to the questions lingering since that horrifying crime two new ones were the arrests of last summer a breakthrough or a smokescreen our Hennessy and Cheeseman murderers or scapegoats here's the problem most local people had to deal with they all thought they already knew exactly who had killed the Mounties a notorious local misfit a convicted sexual predator who frequently used weapons to intimidate James Roscoe nobody knew him better than a retired Mountie named Mike's Technic we've got a guy that's you know he's taking kids off the street at gunpoint he's he sexually assaulted him and he's photographed them all he's doing it he's intimidated witnesses by pointing handguns through the window at their mothers we've had witnesses show up dead the last chapter in a long history of trouble started on the afternoon of March the 2nd 2005 bailiffs arrived at Rosco's firm to repossess a pickup truck they got a hostile reception ask the RCMP for help [Music] Roscoe fled before the Mounties got there within minutes officers from nearby mayor Thor pour on the scene finding the farm abandoned the Mounties went exploring what they found would set the scene for a disaster Roscoe was growing pot he had several hundred plants in the barn the Mounties would later get a search warrant gather up the plants and a horde of stolen vehicles and parks and take almost all of it away they left two officers on site to guard the rest of the evidence they were Anthony Gordon and Leo Johnson by early morning Roscoe had somehow returned to the farm he'd been sitting among the weeds most of the night watching about 9:30 that morning constable Peter seaman and constable Brock Myra who had only been a Mountie for about two weeks showed up at Roscoe's firm Roscoe would seize a moment of distraction and sneak into the burn minutes later two more officers arrived there were now six policemen on the property the two newcomers would later report seeing the four who were already there walking towards the front of the Quonset then hearing gunfire Brock Mira probably died first inside the Quonset peter Shimon and Anthony Gordon fell near the open door Leo Johnston fired one shot before he too fell one of the policemen had just arrived wounded Roscoe who then retreated into the Quonset shot through the left hand his thigh bone shattered he later killed himself [Music] as a crime mayor Thorpe seemed fairly cut and dried everybody knew who did it and how but the Mounties had a larger problem a potentially toxic mix of politics and PR not to mention legal liability one well-armed maniac had just killed four of them possibly exposing weakness in training weaponry leadership decisions on the ground in the days and months to come one presumably straightforward question how could this have happened would generate to legally explosive assertions by the police the crime was unpreventable the killer didn't work alone but after three years of research into what happened on that day and in the crucial hours before the showdown there is one compelling certainty the RCMP fatally underestimated the man that they were up against Mike static worked here for years as a Mountie after Roscoe made threats against him and his family he actually prepared for a fatal showdown in his own front yard did I take Jimmy seriously would I would a policeman who didn't take Jimmy seriously teaches nine-year-old daughter how to shoot and leave loaded firearms around the house with the instructions that if he pulls in the driveway don't let him get out of the door shoot him where he sits ever number one an assumption that when Roscoe drove away he was fleeing it was in fact a tactical withdrawal and he turned to an unlikely source for help by all accounts Sean Hennessey was everything that Rosco wasn't well regarded locally and admired athlete a quiet homebody he was manager here a shop for fixing cars and trucks and firm machinery a place frequented by James Roscoe whether there was a deeper darker connection between Hennessey and Rosco remains part of the larger mystery but Hennessey at first refused to help him when he called that fateful afternoon Kathi Phillips is a close friend of Sean Hennessey she's one of the few people close to him prepared to talk about the case I know that Tom this fellow named Rosco was phoning and harassing him all day long trying to leave his vehicle there and Shawn said no like he didn't trust the guy and he didn't want the guy on his property he was scared to even have him around but somehow Rosco seems to have persuaded Hennessey to help him ditch the pickup truck then drop him off somewhere near his firm Hennessey seems also to have asked his brother-in-law Dennis Cheeseman to ride along a decision they may both regret for the rest of their lives mic staff nick is retired from the Mounties now has since moved to another part of Alberta but he'll never forget Jim Roscoe or Roscoe skill at bullying young men like Hennessey and Cheeseman what kind of circumstances would you imagine that would have caused two young guys to get involved with a guy like Jimmy in some kind of a role like that driving him around I don't know Cheeseman and I don't know Hennessey and I don't care to but but let's let's look at the facts here since Jimmy's death there's been at least one person come forward to Jimmy shot that kept his mouth shut never reported it to the police if a guy like Jimmy tells you you know you're gonna do this for me or I'm gonna get you or I'm gonna get your family and I always get out of jail who you're gonna believe the Mounties knew almost from day one about Roscoe's contact with Sean Hennessey they also discovered right at the outset that one of the three weapons he had with him when he confronted the police was a hunting rifle that belonged to the Hennessy family now this was not the murder weapon but Sean Hennessey and that rifle would become the focus of a two-year secret operation and a sensational allegation that the killings on Rosco's firm were the result of a murderous conspiracy we don't know Shawn Hennessey's version of events after nearly a year in jail he and his brother-in-law still can't talk about their case or the charges that could put them in prison for years [Music] July 2007 firehead Alberta 120 kilometers northwest of Edmonton an unlikely place to find cops in camouflage with automatic weapons but this is where the Mounties spent at least a year pursuing an unlikely target Sean Hennessey wants a well-known teenage boxer all-round steady guy he was 19 when he met Christine Cheeseman who was 16 it seemed predestined they'd get married have children according to their friend Kathy Phillips I thought that they were kind of one of those fairy tale type couples you know is every now and again you just meet a couple that just has really something and they they had that really something after months of intense police activity following the murders on Rosco's firm life seemed to settle down again then a stranger came to bar head he was a welder who didn't seem to do much welding he seemed more interested in making friends and was going out of his way to form a friendship with Sean Hennessey the stranger had a snowmobile a truck and few obvious responsibilities he seemed always game for an excursion he moved into this house with his girlfriend and she soon became a pal of Christine Hennessy right from the outset something about this couple didn't seem to add up Cathy Phillips was among the first to notice her husband grant became downright suspicious this older guy all of us and was hanging you know it was Shawn and he kind of really wondered who this guy was or what he was all about one day grant Phillips decided to confront the mysterious newcomer then he said to him he said like who are you who are you really and he told him he was a welder and he's like no I mean really who are you and he just repeated that he was a welder but I don't think round felt that he was a welder whatever his occupation Hennessy also seemed a bit leery of him and backed off a bit but Shawn wasn't the only member of the family making new friends his wife's brother Dennis Cheeseman lived with them helping with the kids and household expenses Dennis was low-key had always been a good boy according to his aunt Mary and powered every boy goes through a patch where they get kind of rebellious they get kind of self-destructive they they're on the fringes of trouble not Dennis nope Dennis nope he was he was too quiet like he just he kept to himself he was I have never seen a rebellious streak in a boy not even once like he's not once know brushes with the law even not even a little bit of boo he's a little bit of pot nothing like that he's never been in trouble I don't believe he's even been stopped for speeding to be honest with you Sean Hennessey was everything Dennis would have liked to be athletic popular and married he wasn't just a brother-in-law he was more like an older brother they both work steadily Hennessy worked long hours at a shop called Cal tire as a mechanic Cheeseman worked just down the street at an organic food plant now this is where the story gets a little bit bizarre a strange car passing through by our head by coincidence happens to break down just outside where Dennis Cheeseman works Cheeseman one of those unfortunates who seems to lack the magic that attracts the opposite sex never had a girlfriend now there's a sexy lady in distress who asks for help from Dennis Cheeseman he obliges the lady isn't just grateful she seems to be attracted to her the family started seeing a different Dennis soon discovered the reason a girlfriend the one time I asked him I said is she pretty does she treat you good and he says auntie she's really good with me we get along great did he say what she did for a living nope I've never met the girl we've never seen pictures of the girl the girlfriend was inviting Dennis down to Edmonton for visits for a bar head boy with a non-existent social life this sudden popularity and maybe even love was like a dream come true Dennis didn't confide in many people but he was talking a lot to one friend in particular a young man with a bit more experience in relationships over time Rob Yankee began to grow concerned at what was going on the first date was pretty good because you don't really expect much from the first date but after the couple months is she was so frigid or something she wouldn't old his hand she went won't talk to him anymore she'd tell him all coming to the city and we'll hang out and then she would ditch off so we're not talking about a hot seduction going on here no no there is no it's no sex involved and now when you Hilary so what was it about Dennis that would allow him to be strung along like that I mean you wouldn't put up with that stuff actually you know the thing about that I want you to say what about Dennis is because I would have because it was like I seen the whole thing going down and not once it every clue on you didn't have a clue no exactly and it's this it's pretty persuading you know you're in a little town I dream a friend's not much to do and you're bored and people from the city are calling you they come and have a drink with me more and it was good enough for Dennis he was only getting flattery from his frigid friend but there was the city nightlife and a bonus introductions to her city circle people who like the girlfriend and like that welder we're not allowed to name for legal reasons the focus came on this guy he yeah emerges he was really nice guy and he wanted to help then and so it get him some money and he had a couple of jobs if he wanted to try cuz he seemed like a trustworthy guy this was the intriguing part her pals didn't seem to have real jobs but there was no shortage of money and soon they were clamoring to give some of it to Dennis for a mysterious job that didn't seem to require much work they jump in a pickup truck and Dave go to wherever they had to go with Grand Prairie or Vancouver or Moose Jaw they'd exchange a briefcase with some guy there's like five guys with this briefcase they'd give it to some guy in Saskatchewan they'd all jump in the truck and go back to Hamilton and they'd all get paid for it so it's just seemed like just way too true you know it's it's good to be true exactly by now it's pretty obvious it was all too good to be true sexy lady seduction that goes nowhere shady strangers throwing money at him all quite transparent it was a setup someone wanted something from Dennis Cheeseman but Dennis Cheeseman needed something just as badly as they did he needed romance he needed money and he seemed prepared to take huge risks for both did he have any idea what was in the briefcase he told me it was money but I'm not sure if you ever seen it with his own eyes and or if that's what they were telling of me because when I wanted to do the job with him I did ask him well what's in this briefcase like is it drugs am I going to get busted for something stolen property he said no no no it's just its money and you get big bucks for that yeah well duh you get paid sometimes from my understanding thousand bucks or more after years of bland predictability there was a tantalizing whiff of mystery around Dennis Cheeseman and it was getting the attention of his relatives Marian power he was doing things he never did before well maybe you know he had a little psychological breakthrough he had a girlfriend he started to make new friends started to spread his wings what made you suspicious what really caught my guard was when he phoned my mother his grandmother and said well I'm in Saskatchewan and my mother asked him when he was coming to Mises I don't know in fact he was confiding in one special friend that the new crowd made him very nervous Robbie Yankee when did you kind of start getting nervous for your friend he started telling me that he was nervous and that he didn't really know what to do that that's an I told them all this doesn't sound you know he didn't sound Rake's he was scared and did he indicate to them that he wanted out yeah he did try to get on one time and they wouldn't let him old at the time eh they said all we just need you to do this one more job one more job that's it but how did they did they are you stronger I'm tactic I mean how did they persuade him to hang around other than saying one more job and more money he was getting scared so I don't know what they said if it was they were they knew about Kristine and their kids and where they were or something I don't know but hehe got the idea that he was in with a heavy yeah people here yeah he was getting freaked out that his family was gonna end up getting hurt if he didn't stay with them from one more job and did you know about that one final job I didn't know exactly what he was doing or where he was going but he said it wouldn't take very long on July 5th 2007 in unknown place Cheeseman was on what he thought would be his last job for the strangers he sent a text message to his friend Rob I think he left Wednesday and then Thursday night he text me saying that he bought this brand-new truck and stuff and he want me to see it you know but he was in I think he was in senile bird or something like that and had just one crazy rob expected to see the new truck on Saturday July 7th they'd booked a round of golf Dennis didn't show up I tell you truth I have wasn't really thinking about it at all and like I tried to call him you don't get no answer and I'm thinking oh he's probably busy or something right and then I just kind of left it alone in fact by July last year Dennis was over his head in a situation that would potentially destroy his life and the life of his revered brother-in-law Sean Hennessey what exactly happened here early last July remains a subject of widespread speculation but here's the gist of what we've heard some time on July 6 to Friday a small private plane arrived here it belongs supposedly to the ringleader in whatever shady deal it was that Dennis Cheeseman had become involved with so called mr. big he was here for a final shot at recruiting the man they really wanted to get close to Sean Hennessey now according to the local version of events Sean Hennessey promptly brushed them off and went about his business now if this is true it would turn out to be the last act in a long elaborate performance by a team of undercover Mounties for at least a year it seems the quiet Alberta countryside was the focus of a secret police investigation it had all the features of a classic sting called mr. big the target thinks he's dealing with the underworld in time attempts to show how good he is at being bad to a mr. big some supposed Big Shot criminal who is really a policeman if it was a sting it was as smooth as any cop could wish but the aftermath was anything but smooth Kathie Phillips and her husband grant live on a rural side road away from the relative bustle of Bearhead Saturday night July 7th Sean and Christine Hennessy dropped by for a brief visit then Sunday morning strange things started happening we were woken by a phone call and my husband told me that a constable announced himself to him and then about that time our phone went dead that phone call marked the beginning of a day the Phillips family won't easily forget my husband just happened to notice that there was like a white suburban parked at the end of our property grant and Cathy Phillips took their golf cart to investigate and next thing you know like from behind our buildings in the bushes there was guys in camouflage uniforms full face ear hats the whole business pointing guns at us and yelling at us and stop we're just kind of in total shock like what what is going on there was four or five vehicles in our yards that was suburban there was police cars there was camouflaged cops everywhere that you could imagine a police helicopter circled overhead while more than a dozen SWAT team officers swarmed the property but they even had a dog the officers ran inside the Phillips home brandishing their weapons even at the Philips children that were looking for Sean Hennessey they searched every crook and cranny they looked inside the dryer the kids were watching all of this they were there to deal with the whole thing when we were trapped out at the end of our driveway worst mistake that we ever made was leaving our children but it wasn't the biggest mistake that morning the Mounties were at the wrong house they warned grant and Cathy not to contact Sean Hennessey but Cathy Phillips now believes could have saved everybody a lot of trouble if she had they would have just asked us to phone him I could have phoned Sean is it Sean you got to go and meet these guys up at the police station he would have gladly done it if he could have prevented his family from going through a scene like what happened in our place but the scene played out again in bare head the hunt for Hennessey ended at the home of a relative by then Dennis Cheeseman was already in custody today family and friends are still shaken by what happened on that Sunday morning last summer Cathy Phillips after this happened I just kept thinking to myself for days and months afterward like why why this why did they do this why did they come to our house why did they they come and do that here and they didn't send anybody there to protect those police officers that were at Rosco's like what was with that for Rob Yankee it all seemed suddenly so obvious Cheeseman's weird new girlfriend Mary the strange new friends in Edmonton strangers showing up in town trying to get to know the Hennessey's then he had his own encounter with the Mounties RCMP came in their casual clothes dressed just like me and you in a minivan and they said well we want you to come over to her minivan well that's it and we'll have to talk for a second so they go okay well whatever but the Mounties message wasn't even subtle whatever Dennis told him about their operation he should shut up about shut up for all this things are gonna be a lot worse than they are now suddenly he felt that he'd become a target he was being grilled his answers taped what made me kind of leery was they would ask a question play the tape recorder while I was answering it shut it off interrogate and he say all this other stuff to get me to try to say something else and then whenever I had an answer to them they'd turn a tape recorder back on so they weren't recording their end of the conversation they were just recording my end so that you know like makes you a bit nervous in the end he told them nothing that was helpful to them they knew everything he knew anyway he says the Mounties warned him to avoid the media with some reluctance he has decided to ignore their advice I really want to help Venice he does not deserve Hillman Shawn both they did not deserve anything like this and if I don't speak my opinion now and if they're in jail 20 years from now I'm really going to be kicking myself for not doing nothing right now from what we've learned about the operation it seems that at the outset at least the police weren't really all that interested in Denis Cheeseman why would they go after Denis instead of going after the guy that they had their eye on which was John Hennessy Oh probably for one cuz Shawn what it just told him you know just screw off online into that he wouldn't have done no jobs like that right so then this is kind of an easier target he's younger he doesn't have kids there's really nothing doesn't have a girlfriend they tell him right from wrong right and I think that was a big part of it is that it was just a lot easier to get into sin you know they could get shot Cheeseman was clearly a secondary target but he became unwittingly a primary source of incriminating information something about Rosco on the night before the murders how he got back to his firm maybe how the killer got that mystery rifle the one that belonged to the Hennessy family but was Dennis telling them the truth or exaggerating out of vanity or fear of mr. big whatever it was he and Hennessy are each charged with four counts of first degree murder William Sweeney is a Deputy Commissioner in the RCMP we know who pulled the trigger it might be said an awful lot of time has been spent on a couple of marginal characters bit players in the episode when you're talking about four individuals that were murdered in cold blood I think that we owe their families and we know we owe the members the comfort to know that we will conduct a very thorough and very comprehensive investigation and we will find out the truth of all elements of the events that led to their death in Baier head one of those alleged elements with people baffled the suggestion that Hennessy and Cheeseman knowingly participated in mass murder provoked response from some unlikely sources retired RCMP constable Steve May has known Sean Hennessey for years and supported him on local television they have a lot of support and in a letter to the bear head newspaper he said I never heard a statement or a rumor that Sean or Dennis would harm a policeman or anyone else the former commander of the RCMP detachment there also went on the record we enjoyed a good relationship with Shawn [Music] three years later there is little here to mark this peaceful hilltop firm as one of the most notorious crime scenes in Canadian history but in March 2005 for James Roscoe this was a sanctuary and a fortress on the night of March the second the place was overrun by people Roscoe thought he was at war with the police the police believed that Roscoe could not have killed four of their members without help before the event and they've built a still secret case that he got that help from two young local men Sean Hennessey and Dennis Cheeseman and they've charged both of them with multiple counts of capital murder the implied assertion is that they should have known what Roscoe was going to do and take him steps to stop it but that's a criticism you might also hear about the Mounties they should have known and it's part of a profound exercise in soul-searching by many working officers within the force itself blame it all on the dead bad guy and that's I think what they've done constable Rob creaser has been waiting for three years for an explanation of what went wrong at Rosco's firm the only recommendations that come out of it is that we get better body armor to stop a higher caliber bullet and have night-vision goggles that's sad that's sad that that's all they could come up with James Roscoe was a known cop hater and gun lover and yet in the hours before the tragedy the focus of police attention was not on him but on his burn - lately armed officer stood guard over the barn even after it had been substantially emptied of evidence Mike static I don't think you you know leave two members out there and with an unsecured perimeter and in the middle of a I mean you have the ultimate predator here I mean this is this is what Jimmy's done all his life is prey on people one officer when attacked in the morning didn't have a weapon we still don't know the precise scenario but from day one there have been questions about the quality of training the effectiveness of weapons decisions on the ground that seemed to underestimate Roscoe's murderous potential an internal police report dated December 12 2006 produced the surprising conclusions that Roscoe while well-known to the police was not considered a deadly threat to officers the murders were premeditated but at the same time Roscoe's behavior unprecedented and unanticipated constable Rob creaser based in Kamloops BC expected more than that and dared to say so publicly the official inconsistency was demoralizing I had learned more about what had happened at Mara through the Fifth Estate documentary that I had from my own organization and I think that's another tragedy at one point frustrated he spoke out on a local radio station and he got his knuckles rapped he was ordered to keep his mouth shut in the future now he's worried about the motives of the High Command I'm afraid that people were concerned about liability you know that you don't want to come out and maybe say some things that would leave you open to to be held accountable by a court and I I truly feel that we may never know all the ins and outs of what took place that day I would have fear that the families will sue out of fear that somebody is going to demand accountability absolutely absolutely and and whatever like myself do demand accountability and that's why I found myself subject to to gag orders and and that type of thing a workplace death is always taken seriously and when it involves a federal employee like a Mountie an independent arm of government with a team of health and safety inspectors is supposed to swing into action investigate report take legal action if required there is an obligation on their part to address this issue in Montreal Staff Sergeant Gaytan de Lille didn't really expect an internal RCMP inquiry to generate self-criticism but he had high hopes for that objective federal review of the tragedy at Mayor Thorpe he was disappointed when you look at that report it's a carbon copy of the report from the RCMP I mean how bias can that not be investigators from the federal human resources department the HR SDC come up with little more than a reprint of a sketchy internal RCMP analysis of the incident and exercise that many insiders considered to have been a whitewash entire chunks of the RCMP report were copied verbatim in the federal inspectors document the supposedly independent investigators didn't even bother to interview two Mounties who are actually on the scene when their four colleagues were killed de Lille is a full time staff representative in the force the closest thing you'll find there to a union man the government department that was supposed to look into this day abdicated their responsibility and basically just bought the Mounties version I can't prove it it seems to me right now the way that I look at it then that's a proper way of describing it the Mounties will tell us and they'll tell you that there's two guys in jail for murder and the criminal investigation is continuing back off so you're telling me that in the meantime a same situation might occur and there's nothing that we can do to prevent it is that it there's nothing we can do that's it's absurd to me well you have an obligation Deputy Commissioner William Sweeney was the senior Mountie in Alberta in March 2005 can you tell me and in this sort of a concise in summary with what happened that morning that morning yes we had an evil man with very determined intentions with the means to deliver on those intentions and nothing less than that very evil man and how did he do it well we I will not compromise the possibility that a criminal case will somehow be distracted by any comments I make publicly so I really cannot get into those details I'm gonna put to you with all respect yeah a perception that there has been a prolonged criminal inquiry because it preempts public accountability that you're stalling hmm I think it would be reprehensible for any person to prolong an investigation or event like this we have families that are sitting there asking the questions that the Canadian public are asking there's absolutely absolutely no way that I would do anything to preside 'no sand nor would any other member of the Mounted Police [Music] it has now been three years since one of the darkest days in the history of the RCMP it would be months and maybe years more before the story of what happened here can be told with any certainty those guys were doing what all good mountings do they were doing what they were told what difference would it make to the average police officer to know exactly what happened on March the 3rd 2005 the learning experience let's not do it again so what have we learned we haven't learned nothing and we still got policemen dying we're still waiting for legal clearance to confirm key details of this story at a bail hearing in April and Alberta judge released Sean Hennessey from jail after deciding he is neither dangerous nor a flight risk one month later Dennis Cheeseman was also reunited with family and friends to await the start of trial proceedings you

Channel: The Fifth Estate

Views: 2,556,722

Keywords: Mayerthorpe, RCMP, shooting, tragedy, killings, murder, James Roszko, Shawn Hennessey, Dennis Cheeseman, Anthony Gordon, Lionide Johnston, Brock Myrol, Peter Schiemann, Alberta, The Fallen Four, The Fifth Estate, CBC News, CBC

Id: EufiLsuUWsY

Length: 41min 13sec (2473 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 16 2018