Hello!
Welcome back to another episode of Diagnosing a Killer.
My name is Kenna.
I'm Koelle.
Kena, I like lost my breath when I said that.
Kena!
It's me, Kena!
It's just me.
Hi, Kena!
What was it?
Kena Crystal Milk.
Kena Crystal Milk!
Kena Crystal Milk in the house!
I just hit my elbow really hard.
I hit the table at the same time.
How was everyone's Valentine's Day?
I didn't do anything at all.
It was good.
I told Kasey, I was like, okay, because we usually go out to dinner on the 15th, which
is actually the day that we're recording this, so I'm excited to go to dinner.
But we don't get gifts or anything.
And so yesterday we had come off of a five day, like we went out of town for the weekend
and we had a bunch of stuff going on.
So yesterday I was like, I am physically going to sleep as much as I can.
And I slept, literally slept until like four.
I just laid in bed for the rest of the night.
And it was a very relaxing day.
I didn't do anything, but it's kind of nice to not do anything when you've done so much,
you know, the last couple of days.
That was cool.
And a little rest.
I'm all energized again.
Yeah, it was just, you know, it's kind of nice just to relax and not have to do much.
And I got to help my kiddo with all of his little goodie baggies.
We had the best Valentine's too.
I know.
So you got a lot of stuff?
Yeah.
Well, I don't know.
You know, he has his parents too.
So it was kind of like this collaboration and I had this idea about these rubber duckies.
And so I got a bunch of rubber duckies and then we did pencils and stamps and stickers and whatever.
And yeah, he had the best Valentine's out of all the kids.
I'm sure he did.
He's a pro.
As long as he's happy.
Cool.
Well, just wanted to start off by saying really quick, like, thank you so much for everyone that's been continuously commenting.
We've gotten a lot of really nice Instagram comments and posts and I will go out, you know, mention them.
We've had some suggestions, but I'll mention them once we do those cases because I really am excited to research this one that was suggested to us.
So we're going to get to that at some point.
I'm definitely going to research it, but I definitely have a couple more in my pipeline that I've had research in my mind.
But yeah, I'm just like going for it.
I'm already like, I think the next five lined up in my mind of like what I want to do.
It's all in order.
I'm excited for a potential collaboration.
Yes.
That's coming up maybe in March.
Maybe.
We'll see.
Stay tuned.
Yeah, you'll have to listen for that.
We'll obviously make it known when that's happening, if and when.
Yeah, so we're going to get right into this episode today.
I did something really, really different and I always say that was always something different.
But the MO for this case is completely different than anything else we've ever done.
And this is actually a Canadian case too.
So I chose to do it outside of United States and then something different MO-wise.
Before we do get started, just to let everyone know, this episode will contain graphic content having to do with alcohol abuse.
There is physical and sexual assault mentioned as well.
Your mental health is extremely important to me and Ka'well.
And if this content is not something that you're comfortable listening to, by all means, please feel free to listen to another one of our episodes.
And we will see you next time.
But we're going to get right into this episode.
Canadians, huh?
Milk and bags.
Did you know that they have milk and bags?
I did know that.
And that's like, I mean, no offense to any of our Canadian listeners, but that's just odd to me.
I've never seen that before.
Is it just because maybe the plastic cartons maybe are more costly or they take up more room?
I'm not sure why that is.
Canadian listeners, let us know because I know we have listeners in Canada.
Yeah.
Okay, so we are going to get started and you definitely don't know this one.
I mean, hopefully you don't know this one.
Okay.
Now we're going to be talking about Gilbert Paul Jordan.
I know this guy.
Shut up.
No, you don't.
You don't.
Shut up.
AKA The Boozing Barber.
What?
A Tweet Street?
The Boozing Barber.
So that's his nickname.
Wow.
Yeah.
So, sorry, I know you don't know this.
I know you don't know this.
Now Gilbert Paul Elsie was born on December 12, 1931 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to Jack and Winifred Elsie.
Winifred.
Oh, like, Hocus Pocus.
I guess.
I've never seen that movie.
I'm going to get so much hate for that.
I've never seen a lot of movies, apparently.
She's never even seen Titanic.
I have, actually.
I watched it for the first time probably like four or five months ago and I actually am really disappointed in myself because I loved it.
And I could watch it like over and over again and I'm sad that I waited until I was 27 to watch it.
It's a staple.
You know when it came out in the 90s, it came with two VHS tapes.
Yeah, you had to change them.
I remember that.
Yeah, it faded.
And then I think it was right around the time that they were having sex in the car.
So it's like, okay, perfect time to like change the scene.
And then you would have to be like, change to tape too.
Yeah.
Now Gilbert was the second of two children the couple shared, his older brother being Bud Gilbert.
Bud Gilbert.
Wait, isn't he the Boosie?
That's not his name?
Oh, Bud Gilbert is because his brother's name is Gilbert.
His brother's name is Bud.
It's Gilbert Gilbert.
Is his name Gilbert Gilbert?
His older brother is Bud Elsie.
I don't know if Bud Gilbert is a type of...
Oh gosh, this is going swimmingly so far.
They're both alcoholics.
When the boys were young, their parents actually divorced and they were sent to live with their father.
How young?
It actually didn't say.
But pretty young, like before 10.
I see.
So it is known that the divorce was pretty amicable on both sides.
So they did live with their father full time, but they did split time with both their parents.
They saw their mom pretty often.
So Gilbert actually had a seemingly easygoing childhood, you know, with the comparison of other people we've talked about.
Yeah, especially with split parents.
Yeah, with no reports of trauma or abuse growing up.
Again, not to say they didn't happen, but there's just no reports of it.
He maintained a great relationship with his mother while living with his father and had a seemingly normal home life as well on both sides.
Despite all of the quote unquote average things he was raised with, Gilbert was an abnormal child.
This is a quote.
He was very strange and often misunderstood.
The only thing that I can maybe think of is that his older brother got more like attention than he did, maybe?
It wasn't really clear why he was kind of like, you know, it's like two kids raised in the same household.
What's the difference in the way that they're, you know, feeling growing up?
Amy Bishop, yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
But he kind of just shut down.
Like he wasn't really a very outgoing child, you know, kind of was in the background.
Throughout his childhood, he again kept to himself and it kind of seems like a lot of his internal thought was really doing a lot of damage in his own mind, but he wasn't outwardly expressing it.
So he was just kind of like holding everything in?
Yeah.
He was, however, very interested in cutting hair, becoming a barber, and actually taught himself to do so in his free time.
At like the age of 13.
He began cutting hair.
Cameron used to cut my hair when she, well, the first time she cut my hair was when she was like 12.
Yeah, I remember.
She was like, I'm really good.
Yeah.
And I was like 16 and she knew how to do all the emo cuts.
You're like, let's go.
Well, also in his free time again at the young age of 13, Gilbert began to deal with his internal thoughts and feelings by consuming alcohol very heavily.
At what age?
13.
Oh my gosh.
And by the age of 16, he actually referred to himself as a full blown alcoholic.
Allegedly during this time, he was drinking three bottles of vodka a day.
What?
I don't know if it was like a fifth or like a handle.
Only a fifth.
Probably a fifth.
But still, that's a lot.
This is also the time that he dropped out of school and he did not return after this.
So he dropped out of school at 16.
Around this time as well, he was beginning to spend a lot of time with the sex work community and began a regular routine of doing so.
So he would hang, I'm sorry, so you said he was hanging out with the community.
Would he like engage with like sex workers?
Yeah, he just became like a regular of sorts.
Oh, I see. Okay. Just in the area and stuff too.
Yeah. Okay.
Starting in 1952, now he is now 21, he got in trouble with the law constantly.
He quickly racked up a lengthy criminal record with a number of serious charges including theft, assault, car theft, and possession of heroin.
Oh my gosh.
Escalates kind of quickly, right?
Yeah.
Well, I guess not.
He was 16.
Over the course of five years.
But still, he's still very young.
Yeah, absolutely.
Now, of course, he's on his own completely now and he was also completely out of control with drinking, he would say.
He would consistently hang out with other people that he called alcoholics as well stating about them, quote,
sober people wouldn't go out with me, so I didn't have much of an option.
I didn't want to drink in my room all by myself.
So, Ms. Ray loves company.
He was trying to, yeah, he was just trying to fight because he didn't want to be sober.
So, he was like, let me just hang out with other people that don't want to be sober, right?
Yeah, we'll just drink together.
God, can you imagine the mess?
Because every once in a while, right, you go to a party or you go out to a bar and one of your girlfriends gets really shitty,
and then you have to take care of her.
Could you imagine if all six of you were shitty?
Yeah.
That would suck.
Well, honestly too, don't get me wrong, I love a stiff drink as much as the next person.
But there comes a time, like yesterday, per example, I was like, I literally cannot drink anymore.
Like the last five days, I need to stop.
So, I just took a whole day and I didn't drink.
And that's like, I feel like I drink more than the average person.
So, imagine like this, it's like all day, every day, you know?
And that's really sad because it's like, you get to the point where your body like needs that and craves it and you literally get sick without it.
Right, exactly.
Well, that's the dependency.
But yeah, all I was saying was just like he only hangs out with other apollics.
It's like the anti-AA.
Yeah, pretty much.
Now, during this time, he was continuously engaging in constant sex with prostitutes.
He claimed later that around this time, he would have sex with up to 200 women per year.
Okay.
And sought out his companions in the slums and dive bars of Vancouver.
That's a quote.
So, it's like every other day.
Yeah.
It was like frequent.
He did this for many years, of course, racking up those charges for various crimes and-
I think you could say racking up those numbers.
I mean, also.
And in 1961, he actually had a interesting run-in with police.
This is kind of like fuzzy, but I'll explain it the best I can.
Police found a five-year-old girl in his vehicle.
And although he was charged with abduction, he was never convicted.
So, there was no evidence of any type of assault or anything like that.
We don't know where this little girl came from.
Exactly.
Didn't really explain how he knew her or why she was with him.
He got charged with abduction, but again, never convicted.
So, maybe it was a misunderstanding and it was like, let me charge you, but then the parents
didn't want to press charges or whoever it went.
That's really all it said about that.
I wonder if they weren't acquainted or-
Or maybe it was one of his friends' children.
Right.
One of the workers-
Yeah.
I don't know.
One of the workers' daughters and then she- the girl went missing and then maybe she reported it.
Didn't realize that it was with somebody- her daughter was with somebody she knew.
Yeah.
So, it was a little strange that Case ended in the day of proceedings in May of 1961.
Hmm.
61.
Oh my gosh, okay.
So, he's like 30 at this point.
Now, shortly after Christmas Day, so that was like earlier in the year that happened,
I guess he had been having a very hard time and a very inebriated Gilbert tried to jump off of the
Lionsgate Bridge.
Oh my gosh.
This is his words.
Traffic was actually stopped until he gave up the attempt and was eventually talked down.
He like was going to and then got talked down.
But like caused a scene?
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah.
That's gotta be really powerful for someone, you know?
Honestly, like to feel like you don't have worth and for all these people to stop and help you.
Yeah.
That's gotta be like a really impactful moment.
Honestly.
It's like, okay, all these strangers are like caring about my safety, my well-being.
Right.
This is gonna get kind of like, what the fuck?
So, just bear with me.
Okay.
Now, soon afterward, he was arrested yet again and found in contempt of court in North Vancouver
for saluting Nazi style in the courtroom.
Oh no.
Like, why?
What are you doing?
You know what it's illegal to do in Germany?
I don't fucking doubt it.
Yeah.
It's illegal in Germany.
You can't do it.
That's like, heard.
I don't know.
Somebody Google it.
They're like, how do you plead?
He's like, it's not funny at all.
It's not funny at all.
Yes.
And Gilbert in the front.
Yeah.
Oh, you're not raising your hand.
Sir, you have a question?
Yeah.
So, he was not given any time for this charge or anything was yet get again back on the
streets.
Now, in 1963, so the next year, Gilbert lured two women into his car with an invitation
to drink.
That's like his thing, right?
Yeah.
Now, while inside the vehicle, he assaulted the two women sexually who then went to police.
And subsequently Gilbert was charged with rape and theft.
Okay.
Not sure if he stole something.
I mean, he obviously stole something from them.
Now, for some reason, he was convicted on the theft charge, but acquitted of rape.
Charge, but acquitted of the rape charge.
Is it because they were sex workers?
I'm sure it didn't have really any other information.
Yeah.
That's disgusting.
Yeah.
So, it's like already lengthy criminal, just let him get away with it.
Yeah.
Just let him keep doing whatever he's doing.
So yeah, it's almost like why, like it's like they're not really caring about the community
enough to like prosecute him for doing anything.
Yeah.
And that's why I asked if they were sex workers because, you know, I mean, that's the same
shit with like kind of Eileen Warnows, honestly.
Like I feel like she got away with a lot for a long time because of her job, but not only
that, I think that a lot of the crimes that she committed weren't, like I said, just weren't
paid attention to.
And they tried to make those men seem like, like not shed heads, honestly.
Yeah.
And I know they're just, they're loving men and husbands and fathers and all that shit.
Sorry, I derailed.
Yeah.
No, it's okay.
Now, during one of his many incarcerations, because of course during this time he has
been convicted of certain things, Gilbert got back into his interest of cutting hair
and learned how to become a barber while in prison.
Oh.
When he was released, he decided to open up his own barber shop.
He named the Slow Can Barber Shop in Vancouver's downtown Eastside.
He also somehow inherited a small amount of money at this point, maybe one of his parents
had passed and invested in the stock market, which actually quickly gained him a lot of
profit.
Hmm.
Now with this money, he was able to maintain the barber shop, afford all of the booze he
wanted, and also get a really good lawyer.
Oh, great.
You're going to need it.
Yeah.
Now, unfortunately, all of these things that he was able to afford are just what he needed
to escalate his crimes from what he was doing to murder.
Now in 1965, a switchboard operator named Ivy Rose Doreen Oswald accompanied Gilbert
on one of his drinking binges.
That's a mouthful.
I know.
The next day, April 28th, 1965, Ivy Rose's nude body was found in a Vancouver hotel room
with a blood alcohol level of 0.51.
What?
Now, if y'all don't know.
If y'all just don't know.