The Shocking Link Between Two Gruesome Murders 7 Years Apart | Murder She Solved | Absolute Crime

2001 North Vancouver on Canada's West Coast do you know how to feel for a pulse TR to see if you can feel for a pulse do you know how we've got the ambulance on the way I've got several police cars on okay A man is shot at Point Blank Range I can see River of blood coming from him down the pathway the victim is Wally dekanich a 41-year-old father of two murdered in Cold Blood 7 years earlier the parking lot of a downtown Vancouver apartment building 43-year-old heroin dealer Joseph gaja is dead shot in the back of the head by someone he [Music] knew two gruesome shootings years apart the circumstances and victims very different together they'll lead a rookie Cold Case cop on a high stakes journey into a deadly criminal underworld he was cold and not ruthless ripping open one of the biggest murder cases in Canadian history I'm the one that had to take responsibility for this whether it went good or it went [Music] [Applause] bad [Music] a quiet residential neighborhood on Vancouver's Northshore home to 41-year-old father of two Wally dekanich like many North Vancouver residents Wally was raised here and he will die here a lot sooner than anyone expects Tom catmull was Wally's best friend I met Wally originally back in I guess in about 72 or 73 we played some minor hockey together but it wasn't until Tom transferred to Wally's high school that he found out what Wall-E was really made of he kind of took me around the next few days introduced me to everybody he could think of in at school and uh from there we just became really close really good friends and Wally deinit was an easy guy to like if there was a GQ magazine for juniors Wally would be on the cover he was athletic he was handsome he had a pretty good sense of humor he was just a kind of guy that he always wanted to be part of that inner circle with him and I was like it for a few years the Inner Circle was me and Wally so you know it uh it was a just a terrific time and a terrific guy After High School Wally worked as a fisherman then with a young family to support he turned his talents to the more lucrative stock market Wally got involved in the stock promotions in a smaller level in the mid to late 1990s and by 2201 he was uh promoting a couple of different Vancouver companies and not all were wise Investments a lot of stocks in Vancouver including those that Wall-E uh was promoting were highly speculative most of them end up in Oblivion taking a lot of people's money with them including wall it is known that he had run up substantial personal debts uh including a quar million dollar debt to a uh to a Canadian Bank bottom line Wall's broke then one of his big Investments goes belly up and he and a friend lose a lot of money now Wally's desperate that's when he discovers something that he hopes will help them both recoup some of their losses he'd inadvertently come across some information there was some money missing that wasn't being reported and he found this out he tried to uh get money out of the people that were responsible and so he he was saying you should pay us some money back or I'll report this but Wally's Associates don't like being threatened and now they've sent trouble to his front door when these people approach Wally at his house there was a brief meeting where they wanted him to stop what he was doing and he said he wasn't going to so they've decided to shut him up for good a neighbor discovers Wall-E and calls 911 do you know how to feel for a pulse TR to see if you can feel for a pulse do you know how it okay feel feel carefully for like 10 seconds see if you can feel I do not know I do not know we've got the ambulance on the way I've got several police cars on okay the killer makes his getaway you heard footsteps running away but you don't know what direction you did not hear a car taking off is that correct that's right I didn't 41-year-old Wally deinit is dead the father of two was shot at Point Blank Range on the doorstep of his North Vancouver townhouse police don't know it yet but the man who killed him will be the focus of another investigation a 7-year-old unsal homicide reopened by rookie Cold Case cop Lee bergerman getting onto the unsolved homide unit was a huge goal for me now after 14 years as a police officer and undercover agent burgerman has just been promoted to this Elite Squad the man who hired her is Doug Henderson with Lee uh was quite impressed with her past record I'd done sort of my due diligence on on her and it looked uh like she would be a good Prospect for the onel Thomas side unit I was excited about it but I was apprehensive because you're working with all these really experienced and significant homicide investigators and you're kind of the new kid on the Block so it was it was nerve-wracking even though it was the year 2000 she was still a woman a police officer coming into a very male dominated area so she certainly was going to be under the scrutiny and the microscope of people and bergman's first Cold Case is a doozy the unsettling and and unsolved murder of Vancouver drug dealer Joseph gaja started reading and just really wrapping my head around about what happened 7 years ago a residential street in Vancouver's West End a passer by makes a Grizzly Discovery original investigating officer Dave Aken was one of the first on the scene May long weekend of uh 93 uh my partner Steve panel and I were called out we found a small car parked nose in it turned out to be a stolen car and there was a white male in the passenger front passenger seat slumped over belted in obviously dead when we searched through the car we found uh lots of interesting things things there was a couple of shell casings in the back uh obviously small caliber handgun it's a caliber of bullet that typically doesn't exit the body and especially with a head shot uh will bounce around in skull cavity and causing damage and is going to be fatal there was a small amount of Blood on the outside of the driver's door but no one to whom they could match it and little chance that was going to change we seemed to have no Witnesses who were going to talk to us Jo Gaga's side of this um scenario his his girlfriend and all of his associates none of them were willing to give us anything that we could conceivably take to court you've done everything you think you can you've gathered the physical evidence you've analyzed that you have to look at what your chances of success by carrying on on and the new ones keep coming aen and prenzel moved on to other cases and the Joseph gaja murder got shelv in the Cold Case unit of British Columbia's RCMP now 7 years later it's Lee bergman's job to drag it out of hibernation by reading the timeline and the daily log and witness statements and I went over and over and over again it was just one of a rash of Vancouver murders all with the same Mo the quick hit the stolen car the lack of fingerprints and not a single witness I thought it was a professional like a contract killing they do surveillance on their target they hire a driver they have the car stol so it's it's it's an organized process for them it's only when Lee Bur bman turns her attention to the crime scene photos that she begins to think it may not have been the work of Pros after all a package of cigarettes on the floor a lighter he was shot sitting slumped over in the passenger seat so to me and it looked like he was just about to light a cigarette because it was all on the floor whoever he got into the car with he was somewhat comfortable knew them or was business Associates with them burgerman pours through the evidence yet again in addition to the victim's blood in the car remember that small amount of Blood on the outside of the driver's door it belonged to someone else and contains DNA that might well lead police to the killer but only if they have a suspect to whom they can compare it now Lee bergerman may have found one buried in the witness statements the passing mention of a man who may have had reason to rub out Joseph gaja Mickey Smith word had it gaja knew Smith and knew Smith's wife even better one of the witnesses had explained to us that Mickey Smith was upset at Joe gaja because of something that um Joe gaja had done or said about Mickey Smith's wife Al though Lee bergerman doesn't know it yet she's on the cusp of cracking open one of the biggest and most shocking murder cases in Canadian history what she does know is that her first Cold Case as lead investigator is turning out to be a brain teaser 7 years earlier drug dealer Joseph gaja was shot in the back of the head his body left in a stolen car in a downtown Vancouver garage though it looked like a contract killing burgerman believes gaja knew his killer whoever he got into the car with he was somewhat comfortable and suspect Mickey Smith fits that bill not only did Smith know Joseph gaja he may even have had a reason to kill him since gaja was rumored to have had an affair with Mickey's wife bergerman hopes DNA results from blood at the scene of the crime will link Mickey to the murder in the meantime she wants to talk to Smith but first she has to find him we started checking every single previous address that we knew for him to see if we could find him once that came up short we started looking for his ex-wife places where she had lived over the years we set up surveillance on a residence that we knew Mickey Smith's ex-wife lived there hoping that eventually that would see Mickey Smith either coming you're going from the residence it's a Longshot lead in a case going nowhere fast but it's Burger's only option the first to keep watch Vancouver Police Officer Alan catley armed with an upto-date picture of Mickey Smith and it was a static surveillance where you know you just turn up sit there for 20 minutes if there's action there's if there's not there's not was parked in a unmarked unit at Lakewood and Hastings and as I was looking out the front of the windshield he walked past they had found their Prime Suspect within the first 20 minutes of their first day of surveillance when I told Lee it was ecstatic nobody can pin him to an address it was lack and it may well be a major turning point in bergman's investigation since Smith is their only suspect in the Joseph gaja murder I was so excited because I have been looking for this guy in every conceivable way and getting discouraged and then right away it's making plans to set up extensive surveillance so that we can learn what kind of guy he is what he does with his life police observes Smith as he hops on a bus and makes his way to Vancouver's Northshore Little Wonder it took so long to locate him Mickey Smith had found the perfect Hideout the last place I would have looked for him was in a trailer park under the Lion's Gate Bridge for the next few weeks police don't take their eyes off Mickey Smith he sleeps little and drinks a lot hopping from one bar to another is that was the style of life he enjoyed um he was um dysfunctional in lots of ways just kind of gone from dayto day picking up money wherever he could it is hardly the profile of a murderer perhaps Mickey Smith is nothing more than advertised an unassuming former insurance salesman with the unfortunate nickname boo the clown bergerman needs to loosen his lips the goal is to make him feel comfortable so he will talk about his his crimes specifically the uh murder of Joe gaja her plan to have an undercover operator befriend Smith and draw out his secrets and she happens to know just the guy undercover agent Rod lasenby once you leave home in the morning to come to work you are a criminal think like a criminal be a criminal dress like a criminal talk like a criminal Len be will play the part of a mob B B from a fictional Toronto crime family dressed in a organized crime uniform which would be a letter jacket sport type like high collar shirt nice pants nice shoes hairs comb back with uh Grill cream burgerman has laen be spent time at Mickey's favorite haunts chatting up the locals becoming a familiar face now everything hinges on their first meeting we call it the cold approaches the most difficult part of an undercover operation at the very at the very beginning of the operation for you to be introduced by yourself to the Target if Smith smells a setup it'll derail bergman's investigation and put her Cold Case career on Ice it's a nerve-wracking and it's a it's a risky process because you've done all this work and um if you get shut down or there's no engagement it's it's difficult to go back so I walk up to him and say Hey listen do you know where this place is he says yeah I know where it is I said well can you take me there I'll give you some money I'll give you 50 bucks take me to this place he said no I'm not going to get involved their worst fear seems to be coming true Mickey isn't taking the bait that's when his buddy stepped in and said listen take it it's 50 bucks this guy is a good guy said okay I'm go he gets up we go out to the to the Cadillac and as soon as he saw that uh he was intrigued lead Bergman is in the midst of a cold case that's about to get very hot she has finally found Mickey Smith the only suspect in the 7-year-old unsolved murder of drug dealer Joseph gaja Police had spotted Smith outside the apartment building of his ex-wife the same woman with whom Joe gajo was rumored to have had an affair investigators tail Mickey Smith get to know his habits then assign undercover cop Rod lenb to befriend Smith lasenby is playing the part of an Ontario Crime Boss and Smith who wants back in the game is eager to impress he was starting to talk about his criminal past before we even got to the other bar he mentions to our undercover operator that he was in a book called the Canadian connection it was his connection to Fatz Robertson who was a significant criminal figure in Vancouver that was to impress me because I should know who fast Robertson is if I'm an organized crime from Toronto Len be passes the test and will spend the next few weeks building a bond with Mickey Smith the bar is also the perfect place to get a DNA sample from Smith one police hope will match the blood found on the car door at Joseph gaza's murder scene he was a a drinker of beer and he was a smoker of cigarettes he smoked a lot of cigarettes whether he was in a bar or in the car whenever he left that area when I was by myself I could take one or two or three of those cigarette butts and put them in an envelope stick in my pocket while they wait for the DNA results bir German has lazen be offer Smith some supposed mop work including smurfing depositing crime money in amounts of less than $10,000 to avoid unwelcome questions from the authorities I'd be driving the catalog he'd be sitting beside me I be given him big wads of money and say go into that Royal Bank go into that bank go into that bank and deposit here's a deposit slip for you that's going to one of our accounts that's going to one of our companies so that's what he did and he thought he was laundering money and they hope they're gaining Smith's trust that was the thing with Micky he never told Any Lies he never fabricated anything and the only thing I never really got out of him at any time was he always talked about his boots and I said to him you yeah wear some shoes man get rid of the boots no I've done a lot of things in these boots and these boots have got a history with me I'm keeping with the boots but Smith did seem prepared to clean up his act in other ways his self-esteem had gone up you could tell a big difference in him and the way he dressed and the way he carried himself cleaned himself up hands were clean nails were clean hair was comb even got a few haircuts while were with him so his demeanor was better cuz he was somebody we could tell that he was he was believing what we were doing and it was very exciting Lee burgerman might go to a store or to a lit Warehouse she would buy big boxes full of cigarettes and a bunch cases of booze and that's what we put in the back of a Bren truck and that's what we moved around so was all legally purchased and legally taken back but we would just put it across as being stolen property props for the scenario their ultimate goal is to get Mickey to feel comfortable enough to talk about the killing of Joseph gaja but to do that undercover operatives can't afford to relax not even for a moment we couldn't make a mistake and all of a sudden start to talking to him like policemen or that kind of authority he would pick up on that any kind of activity would look like a straight shooter straight John as they say on the street he would pick up on that if we're criminals we better be criminal organization because he knows what a criminal organization is he lived it so that's what we had to portray they even went as far as to Stage a murder of their own an ex execution of a woman who supposedly ratted the crime family out the way it was going to work I was sitting in the backseat of the mercs and I had the gun and I was going to go do this scenario and he was in the front seat say no no boss I should be doing that that's below you to do I should be doing that and I said to him no I brought her into the organization I take her out lisenby has Mickey stand guard while he heads into an abandoned building W he was a pretty cool cucumber while we were supposedly in whacking this girl he was picking the fluff off his jacket then he get out in the car and I was checking my face if there was any blood spos in my face he said no boss you're okay but Mickey still doesn't admit to the 7-year-old killing of Joseph of gaja and to make matters worse the comparison of Smith's DNA to that found at the crime scene is a bust the blood doesn't match I mean we'll figure out you know it has to be explained but sometimes it just can't be um so yeah that was a bit of a disappointment perhaps bergerman has had it wrong about Mickey all along lead investigator Lee bergerman and her team have been working Mickey Smith trying to tie him to the 1993 murder of drug dealer Joseph gaja but after months of bonding with Smith and paying him for fake mob work undercover cop Rod lasenby has been unable to squeeze a confession from their only suspect even a staged murder of a supposed crime family snitch didn't loosen Mickey Smith's lips worse still DNA found at the scene of Joe gaza's death 7 years earli C doesn't match Mickey's which raises the question are police chasing the wrong guy and now just when they can least afford to let up on their investigation Lee bergerman learns that Rod lasenby has to go out of town to testify in a whole other case we had to make arrangements for you know days off where there wasn't going to be any interaction with the undercover operator and and the target Mickey which brings us back to the beginning of our story and Vancouver's tranquil Northshore father of two Wally deinit is settling in for an evening at home alone the smalltime stock promoter is under a lot of pressure he thinks he's uncovered a fraud missing money that's found its way into the pockets of his business associates now deinit is threatening to expose them unless they cough up some cash it is a calculation that that will cost him dearly across town a killer sets out by car for North Vancouver his destination Wally dein's home his mission to shut the stock promoter up forever it is late afternoon when he arrives at the entrance to the townhouse complex he cruises by repeatedly waiting for it to get dark just after 6:00 p.m. the Assassin pulls on a pair of Woolen gloves and walks to dein's door in his hand a 22 caliber pistol equipped with a [Music] silencer while the killer makes his getaway a neighbor discovers Wall-E and calls 911 you heard footsteps running away but you don't know what direction you did not hear a car taking off is that correct that's right I didn't do you know how to feel for a pulse to see if you can feel do you know how okay feel feel carefully for like 10 seconds see if you can feel I do not know I do not know we've got the ambulance on the way I've got several police cars on okay the attending cop is an RCMP trainee who's been on the job just a month as we pulled up to the unit I could see a male lying in the doorway seemed to be half in the door half out I could also see um what I described as a river of blood coming from him down the pathway he wasn't moving there was a lot of blood but it was coming out from underneath him so I was sort of kneeling down beside him and um had him turn over onto my lap I couldn't tell if he was breathing I don't think he was breathing at the time but I could feel a faint pulse and so I began to talk to him and say you know help us come coming try and hang in there but shot four times in the chest and head Wally deich doesn't stand a [Music] chance I clearly remember that uh when I was holding him that his heart did stop beating cuz I couldn't feel a heartbeat anymore it was uh very upsetting for everybody that lived there it was very unusual it's a beautiful place to live it's a safe neighborhood someone deliberately planned and deliberately killed Wally just you're Wall-E yes anyone home no boom kills them they were serious criminals stock promoter and father of two Wally deich is dead killed in Cold Blood on the doorstep of his Northshore townhouse while North Vancouver Police search for dein's killer RCMP Cold Case investigators resumed their sting operation into the 1993 murder of drug dealer Joseph gaja and Rod lasenby back in his role as a mob boss meets up again with suspect Mickey Smith I pick him up we get in the car we're driving away and he says I took care of business while you're away boss and I said what do you mean you took care of business well I took care of business and he goes like this in the car I said you shoot somebody he said yeah I'm a little taken back when we're talking about this really Mickey Smith has proof so he showed me his thumb but through his thumbnail was a hole laen be has heard about the deinit murder now Mickey is bragging about having committed it and giving lasenby a play byplay of The Killing first he pumped a shot into Wally's chest but Mickey tells laen his victim fought back he come at me I grabbed the hole of him they shoot him again and I said I was so excited I shot myself through my thumb pissed me off so bad when he when I shot myself my thumb I shot him twice more and he was on the floor they are details only the killer would know and lazen be as Gob smacked they wanted Mickey to admit to a previous murder not commit a fresh one Len be breaks away at the first opportunity and gets word out to the RCMP that's huge that's massive to get information like that coming in that that was right right spot on I knew that without a shadow doubt my mind that was a guy I felt bad I felt terrible what signs were there that we should have known this did he ever say any anything you know that would give us an idea but he never said a word we had no idea that he was up to anything of any sort there was nothing Mickey Smith has become a serious liability maybe he's got more contracts maybe he won't ask it's and more people are going to die so we had to bring it to an end Lee burgerman would would have been under some some pressure there at that point the pace of this investigation um became very very quick unable to arrest Mickey based on a casual confession bergerman arranges for him to travel to Toronto where he'll meet what he thinks is the head of the crime family but it is in fact an elaborate Mr big sting operation what we want to do is set him up in an environment where he's talking to our undercover operator's boss and we want details of the murder in North fan and the Joe gaj murder on a chilly winter afternoon Rod lasenby takes Mickey to the outskirts of Toronto and an empty warehouse for the sting to be a success Smith must not only provide more detail on the recent murder of family man Wally deinit but he must also confess to the 1993 gaja killing [Music] burgerman and her partner watched from above it was like an addict watching this from kind of a bird's eyee View and we can't make a peep we can't move we can't sneeze nothing and we were right above it watching this all unfold I introduced them to them uh shake hands with the boss he shakes hands with the boss and we had it all wired up so that we could could intercept the conversation Mr Big tells Mickey he's got big plans for him maybe he got a job for you can you do this is how much we're going to pay you yeah I can do that for you he was told by the undercover operators that this contract killing may involve women and there might be a couple of kids around he said that he had no problems with that so that's pretty cold but the Crime Boss who's really a police officer tells Mickey that in order to bring him into the organization he needs Mickey to provide details on all his crimes if he had anything to do with a gaja homicide this was going to be the time that he's going to talk about it Smith delivers he tells Mr Big that he killed Cold Case victim Joseph gajja because he was rumored to be cooperating with police he reveals that he drove the car because his accomplice couldn't drive a standard and then Smith inadvertently called the Fatal shot he said jeez um you better watch out those cigarettes are going to kill you and this was right before he was going to light a cigarette and the the who was supposed to be the drivers now in the back seat thought that was the sign to shoot him so we did and though it was the driver that pulled the trigger Mickey makes it clear that he was the main man behind the killing and and the cleanup and he says we wiped off the steering wheel and the handles and we took off and that was the Joe gajah homite then Mickey Smith admits to the murder of Wally deich Smith had heard through his criminal contacts about a stock promoter with a mouth that was too big and a contract to kill him that paid too little he said $10,000 just isn't enough anymore and um I just to I just told them I need $30,000 cuz you got to hire a driver you got to do this you got so it was you know he was talking about it like it was a contract for painting an apartment Mickey's callous confessions are everything police had hoped for we had him for you know the gaham side and now we've got him for this fresh one suspect Mickey Smith has been fooled by an undercover operation confessing not only to the 7-year-old murder of drug dealer Joseph gaja but also the recent killing of Vancouver stock promoter Wally dekanich watching The Sting from the attic of the Toronto warehouse is Cold Case lead investigator Lee bergerman it was incredible it was pretty exciting but Mickey has more to say and the undercover operatives who are posing as big-time criminals can hardly believe their ears the man they've been shadowing for months is no common Criminal but a ruthless and pathological killer a guy who murders without hesitation or remorse Mickey Smith is a Hitman he was 19 when he committed his first killing the year was 1969 and he'd been hired by a criminal bigwig the target was 58-year-old mobster Lucien mayor Mickey attacked him in a restaurant parking lot beat him and slashed his throat 5 months later he killed Jack tadic in a Burnaby hotel room ttic was rumored to be a stool pigeon Mickey stabbed him more than 40 times then in 1999 Paul suik who is alleged to be ripping off a biker gang goes missing Mickey boasts about how he made him disappear he shot him and then he dismembered him cut him up and he gave gra graphic details about how he dismembered this guy brutal executions over a span of 32 years who' ever thought when when we opened up the gaja homicide seven years after that we would end up you know five months later a guy confessing to five if what Smith is saying is true these murders will set in motion one of the biggest criminal prosecutions in Canadian history but for the moment his words are practically worthless the confession alone from Mickey Smith about all these murders that he talked about mean nothing unless you can cooperate because a confession in an undercover scenario the judges will tell a jury that they're inherently unreliable because of this whole bragging and bravado thing that these guys will do to convict Smith police will need the murder weapon he used to kill Wally deich Mr Big instructs him to return to Vancouver to get it Mickey knew he was flying back to go and retrieve the gun that he used in the dianic homicide and give them to our undercover operator so that we could dispose of them properly after landing at the Vancouver airport lasenby and Smith head out out by car unbeknownst to Mickey they're being trailed by an arrest team after five nerve-wracking months the success of the entire operation hangs on what happens next it's nightfall when the two reach their destination they drove out to exactly where Mickey said he had the guns hidden it was in a yard wrecking area of Langley he went out of the [Music] car and he walked [Music] in he dug it up they were wrapped in a big towel that was full of blood brought the gun to the car and gave it to me to get rid of so there was the gun in the silencer the weapon that killed WALL-E the most important piece of evidence handed over to the police by the killer himself well then we went from there we're just having some conversation hey let's go have a few drinks celebrate you're with the family now let's go have a few drinks I'll buy but this would be Mickey Smith's last Taste of freedom it's always like a big take down just like you'd see in the movies the guns and all that stuff hit the ground hit the ground and they looked like they arrested all of us that way we went I go my way and Mickey goes his way Mickey was very surprised when he got arrested he actually thought he was embarking on this incredible new Criminal life the guns he turned over tested positive as the murder weapon and the um towel wrapped around the guns had was full of his blood which is consistent with the story about shooting himself when he did the the hit it will be enough to convict Smith of one count of murder but bergman's biggest satisfaction is still to come the first time I ever saw Mick after he was arrested was when I went and saw him when he was in U remand in Vancouver and we got to advise him of the other four murder charges that were being laid against him but it would be 2 and 1/2 years before the investigation team would come face to face with their suspect in one of the biggest criminal cases the Canadian courts have ever seen the first time I got in the witness box there was there was eye contact and you know he's just smug and orary as how I would describe him I get up and say I'm my name is Rodney Francis L me a regular M of the RO Canan mon police he knows and we looked at each other and he smiled ni smile and that was it we never had any conversation at all nor is he likely to ever on October 10th 2003 Mickey Smith is found guilty of five counts of murder he is sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years it consumed three years of my life that investigation so it's pretty rewarding to have a guy like that in jail and never getting out Mickey Smith's Killing Spree is over and Lead investigator Lee bergerman has finally solved one of the biggest murder cases in Canadian history not bad for a rookie Cold Case cop never in my wildest dreams did I ever think when you got this box that had gaja and the file number on it that 3 years later you'd have a contract killer who's been doing it for 32 years in jail for five murders never Lee bergerman was promoted to Sergeant in October 2003 and became an inspector in June 2007 as for Mickey Smith he won't become eligible for parole until the age of 78 for more information go to my via.com [Music]

Channel: Absolute Crime

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Keywords: Absolute Crime, Crime Documentaries, True Crime, True Crime Documentaries, Murder documentaries, True Crime Stories, True Crime Youtube Channel, True Crime Documentary, full documentary channel, full length documentary 2022, prison documentaries

Id: rchdzjf8QHU

Length: 43min 18sec (2598 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 08 2024