142. Negligence, Biases, and Bullshit: HOMICIDE

This week on LOTW, Becky and Bevy discuss a case that begins on a quiet evening in Southern Ontario — and with a decision that should have been routine.

Tim Bosma had listed his truck for sale. That night, two men arrived later than planned to take it for a test drive. They introduced themselves casually, exchanged a few words, and got into the vehicle together. Nothing about the interaction appeared immediately alarming. Tim expected to be gone briefly. He told his family he’d be back soon.

When he didn’t return, his wife Sharlene grew worried and called the police. Investigators focused on the last people known to be with Tim — the men who had come for the test drive. But the names they gave weren’t real. An alias had been used. A false trail deliberately left behind.

As police dug into the alias, another name surfaced — one that connected this person to the disappearance of a young woman and the death of a man ruled a suicide. Details that had once seemed unrelated now pointed toward a pattern.

Unfortunately, bias, assumptions, and poor investigative work had allowed this individual to move under the radar — until it ultimately led back to Tim Bosma.