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♪
The most violent...
and tragic homicide.
Extreme injuries all over her body
that we had never seen before.
We needed evidence to prove it.
There was no forced entry attempt into the safe.
Three knives had blood on the handle
and blood on the blade as well.
The piece of latex glove has 2 DNA profiles on it.
Is the story accurate?
Could we corroborate it with other evidence
to solve this crime?
♪
NARRATOR: When homicide investigators
collect evidence from a crime scene,
they hold the pieces of a puzzle.
Only by connecting those pieces back together
can they catch the killer.
♪
Barrhaven is a community located southwest
of downtown Ottawa.
In the past few years,
Barrhaven has been growing tremendously.
New schools, new stores,
different type of grocery stores.
CHRIS: Barrhaven has a large number of
South Asian Canadians living in the area.
There's also several commercial businesses
that are owned by members of the Sikh community.
And there's also a prominent Sikh temple
in that Barrhaven area.
[phone ringing]
CHRIS: The 9-1-1 call was placed at 12:58 PM
by Bhupinderpal Gill.
Paramedics arrive soon after to revive his wife,
Jagtar Gill.
She's found dead at the scene.
But the decedent's injuries indicate
she may have been attacked.
So police dispatch homicide investigators
to the residence.
We arrive at the scene
and enter the house.
Jagtar is located in the living room area,
on the floor.
♪
JULIE: She had a gaping wound
from ear to ear.
And we could also see some slash marks
on the side of her face.
CHRIS: She had several cuts to her arms.
JULIE: And then we also saw some...
stab marks around her abdomen area.
It was quickly determined at this point that
foul play was involved...
and we're looking at a homicide.
♪
CHRIS: We get a statement from Mr. Gill
at the Gill residence.
Mr. Gill is extremely emotional over
the death of his wife.
JULIE: His wife, Jagtar Gill...
was a very loving mother of three children,
aged 9, 12, and 15.
CHRIS: Her life revolved around her children,
taking care of her family.
We ask her husband, Bhupinderpal Gill,
to tell us what happened that morning when Jagtar
is found on the floor of the living room.
Speaking with Mr. Gill, we learned that Jagtar
had hernia surgery on the 28th of January,
one day before the murder.
She's at home on the 29th recovering.
She's resting on the couch.
♪
JULIE: Mr. Bhupinderpal Gill and his 15-year-old daughter
had been running errands throughout the morning,
One of their last stop was to buy flowers
because it was their...
17th wedding anniversary that day.
And then they also bought a cake.
And then, they just returned home around 1:00 PM.
The 15-year-old had entered the residence first
as Mr. Gill was taking some groceries
out of his vehicle.
Eshana discovers her mom on the floor
in the back of the family room.
She tells her dad immediately...
that there's something wrong with her mom.
CHRIS: She's unable to move or unresponsive.
Eshana makes an attempt to call 9-1-1.
However, the phone doesn't seem to be working.
Mr. Gill then uses his cell phone to call 9-1-1.
RESHMI: The victim's husband
and his 15-year-old daughter, Eshana,
are sent to the police station
to give more detailed statements.
JULIE: We started taking the photographs of the body.
Noticed an injury to the left wrist.
And we saw that there was additional injuries
to the left palm and the fingers,
which is an indication of defensive wounds.
If someone's being stabbed, they'll have a reaction of
protecting themselves by raising their hands up,
trying to stop the attack.
CHRIS: We also found extreme injuries all over her body.
JULIE: We also discovered a different pattern that was
repeating itself over the victim's body.
So, it was kind of like a linear pattern.
So this was telling us that a blunt object was
used to assault and hit Mrs. Gill.
We saw that there was a lot of blood
that was visible on the sofa,
as well as on a loveseat that was positioned
across from the sofa.
We swab all the areas that we see blood
to see if there's different bleeders,
and if there were different bleeders,
to identify these people.
The side table overturned with a broken leg and
having the victim laying on top of it,
that was a sign of a struggle to us.
The coffee table too was slightly moved to the side,
also believed to be involved during the struggle as well.
♪
There was a piece of blue latex glove
that was found approximately
three feet from where the victim was found.
We weren't sure if it was left by the killer,
but we seized that piece of evidence
since it was a little bit out of place.
SFX: [camera shutter clicking]
There was also some evidence found in the kitchen.
There was some blood found on the pantry door.
We also saw three knives that were located in the sink,
and those three knives had blood on the handle
and blood on the blade as well.
We suspected that the knives that we found in the sink
were potentially involved in the stabbing,
but the blunt object used to strike Jagtar Gill
was missing.
I located the base for the home phone.
And then I discovered that that base had been
disconnected from the wall.
It was believed that the killer would've unplugged
the phone before the attack to prevent the victim
from calling 9-1-1.
CHRIS: As we examine the house further,
upstairs on the second floor...
in the bedroom, we discover blood.
JULIE: We saw some blood on the door of the
master closet, as well as on the light switch.
CHRIS: We find a safe...
in the master bedroom.
We check to determine if there's fingerprints that
belong to any potential suspect that would have
committed this crime.
JULIE: Mr. Gill provided access to his safe.
In the safe, there was some gold jewelry,
and there was about 4 to $5000 of cash.
Mr. Gill advised that there wasn't anything taken.
SFX: [camera shutter clicking]
We thought that the house could have been targeted
for a break and enter.
However, there was no sign of forced entry that we noted.
And the remainder of the house was extremely clean.
Everything was at its place.
♪
As police are holding the home as a crime scene
and processing evidence, entry is restricted to the
investigators and forensic technicians.
The entire family is displaced and required to
move out until further notice.
♪
CHRIS: Jagtar's body is sent for an autopsy.
She had several lacerations to her hands,
wrists, her chest area.
JULIE: There was also 8 to 10 lacerations
on her head.
All the stab wounds that were located
on her abdomen areas,
as well as to her throat.
CHRIS: And there's unique markings on her forearm,
spiral shaped markings,
that were caused by some form or weapon.
They determine the cause of death was as a result of
injury caused by blunt force trauma to the head,
as well as lacerations to the body.
We're aware of the knives found.
However, we didn't find any blunt force weapons
left at the scene.
RESHMI: With no heavy weapon visible
on the crime scene, and no forced entry,
investigators theorize that the assailant entered the
building holding a weapon, such as a crowbar,
and fled the scene with it.
It's now up to investigators to take every piece of
evidence gathered from the body and from the crime scene
and deduce who killed Jagtar Gill.
The first clue they consider is the intact front door
and the lack of forced entry.
Whoever killed Jagtar didn't break in,
but either came in through an unlocked door,
or had their own key to the house.
♪
MICHAEL: Given the fact that Mr. Gill resides in the home
as well, has keys to the home,
he's the first person of interest investigators are
gonna have to eliminate in their inquiry.
CHRIS: He's the 9-1-1 caller.
He's the spouse of the victim.
But we still have to look at him
as potentially being involved in some capacity.
Is there a reason that Mr. Gill
would want his wife dead?
the doors were potentially left unlocked.
He's unsure whether the front door
was left unlocked, as both Mr. Gill
and Eshana left through the garage when they
left for the series of errands that morning.
We asked Mr. Gill if he knew anyone that
would want to hurt his wife in any way,
and he tells us he did not know anybody
that would want to do this to his wife.
We asked him to provide us a detailed account of
everywhere he, he went that day, that morning.
JULIE: Mr. Gill said that the morning of January 29th,
he got up and got the children ready for school...
because the victim was recovering from
hernia surgery.
The two youngest kids left for school,
and Mr. Gill was renovating in the dining room area...
and just did a few things around the house.
The 15-year-old daughter stayed at home a little bit
because it was during exam time,
and she wanted to study for her exam and
care for her mother at the same time.
Mr. Gill left the residence with his 15-year-old daughter
to run some errands at 11 AM.
CHRIS: He picked up his nephew at his school.
And then he goes to the Sobeys grocery store
to buy flowers and cake for Jagtar.
And after the series of errands,
returned his nephew to his home.
And then Mr. Gill and his daughter returned home.
♪
JULIE: So when Mr. Gill arrived and found his wife,
he kneeled on the floor and tried to
see what was going on,
and noticed there was some knives around
on the floor next to his wife.
And then at the moment, he decided to
grab the knives and put them in the sink.
♪
He said he did that because he didn't want his kids
to touch the knives.
MICHAEL: Investigators know that under duress that
it's not unreasonable for someone not knowing
the rules of evidence to maybe take those
extreme steps to shelter their children.
At the same time, investigators are aware
that these behaviours, even if well-intentioned,
could ultimately harm the integrity of the
investigation downstream.
♪
JULIE: So when Mr. Gill left with his daughter,
it was around 11:00 AM,
and they returned to the house at 12:58 PM.
So that gave us a two-hour window where we believe
that that's when the murder happened.
RESHMI: Detectives want to speak to Mr. Gill privately,
without his daughter, to get more information
about his relationship with Jagtar,
and their family life.
Things he might not be inclined to discuss
in Eshana's presence.
CHRIS: He explains he's been married with Jagtar
for 17 years.
JULIE: It was an arranged marriage.
They were both coming from the Sikh community.
JULIE: He was speaking how he had a great marriage...
and it was a happy family.
CHRIS: Mr. Gill was a local city bus driver.
Also, he was in the business of flipping houses,
so purchasing a house, doing some renovations,
and selling it for a profit.
At the time, Mr. Gill had three mortgages
for three different properties.
But Mr. Gill explained there was no financial issues.
Mr. Gill did provide a detailed story of
where he was that day.
We attend all these locations that Mr. Gill provided.
We collect video at the Sobeys.
♪
JULIE: It was viewed that Mr. Gill had attended
the Sobeys around 12:40,
just before he returned home.
So, Mr. Gill's alibi was checking in,
within his timeline that he had provided us.
♪
RESHMI: With a confirmed alibi,
detectives remove Mr. Gill as the prime suspect
in the murder of Jagtar Gill,
and begin to use him as an asset for information
to help solve the crime.
JULIE: When I looked at Sobeys surveillance cameras
again, around 12:40 PM
as Mr. Gill is at the cash,
we see another woman entering the Sobeys and
walking directly towards Mr. Gill's location,
where they engage in conversation.
And they also exit the Sobeys together, talking.
We discovered from Mr. Gill
that the woman was Gurpreet Ronald,
who was a neighbour, and she was established
as being a family friend.
We wanted to talk to Gurpreet.
♪
When we speak with Ms. Ronald,
she was really emphasising
on how they weren't that close of friends.
Ms. Ronald and Mr. Gill have been working together
for at least seven years for the same company
as bus drivers.
CHRIS: She says she knows from being at the park
with her children and their children,
and that's about it.
JULIE: But she speaks to the Gill family as being also
a very loving and happy couple.
CHRIS: We speak with Ms. Ronald about
her interaction with Mr. Gill at the Sobeys.
She told us she went to the Sobeys to get cauliflower,
and then she saw Gill had three,
so she said, "Oh, I'll just buy one off of him
instead of buying my own."
RESHMI: With no new leads from the Gills' neighbour
as to who might have targeted Jagtar Gill,
investigators consider the valuables found in
the safe in the Gill household,
which could suggest the murder was a botched robbery.
Although they remained secure in the safe,
someone may have been aware that the Gill's
had valuables in their home.
CHRIS: At the time of Jagtar's death,
there had been a series of home break-ins
that were targeting the South Asian community.
And the individuals doing these
were unknown to the police.
If anyone would've been watching the Gill residence
that day with the purpose of breaking into the home,
they would've seen Mr. Gill leave
with his daughter in the vehicle and believe
that there was nobody home.
MICHAEL: Detectives begin to wonder whether or not
this would be burglar managed to get into the home
and was then interrupted by Mrs. Gill.
Maybe things escalated,
maybe she recognised him
and could identify him and
he was prepared to take drastic measures.
♪
JULIE: Sometimes, you know, when we investigate
break and enters, or even robberies at this point,
you don't know the mindset of the suspect
and how far they're willing to go.
CHRIS: So we canvass the neighbourhood
looking for information.
We find out about a large white panel van
with no windows on it that's parked across the street
from the Gill residence the morning of the murder.
Was that van there looking at the Gill residence
or looking at any residence in that area
waiting for people to leave to do break-ins
or steal stuff from residents
in that neighbourhood?
Did this person come into the house for the purpose of
stealing and was confronted by Jagtar
and they ultimately killed Jagtar?
[thudding impact]
casing a property, it's often done in broad daylight
when burglars know people are at work.
Investigators are now wondering if this is
an organised crew that's pulling off these burglaries
and whether or not this is part of a larger pattern.
A police canvass of the neighbourhood turns up
some witnesses who were able to identify
a white panel van that was seen near the residence
shortly before the murder.
This is a new construction neighbourhood.
Lots of homes under construction,
lots of trades persons in the area.
Individuals who were either involved in the trade or
pretended to be involved in the trade
would be in the area to case houses
for the purpose of breaking into homes
♪
We identify the van that's parked across the street
from the Gill residence,
and we speak to builders in the area
and ask them if they have a tradesperson
that operates a similar vehicle.
And we discover Marco.
He lays tile.
We interviewed Marco.
He told us the reason why he was parked across the street
from the Gill residence the morning of the murder.
He had a scheduled job at a residence on that street
to install ceramic tile
and that job got cancelled that morning.
He tells us that he left the neighbourhood
approximate 9:50 AM.
We confirm that he went to another job.
As a result of Marco's information,
he's ruled out as being a suspect at that time.
♪
RESHMI: Marco is now ruled out,
but the possibility of a burglary gone bad is not.
Investigators now consider whether one of
Mr. Gill's own contractors
could have targeted his home.
Because Mr. Gill is a residential developer,
his business associates may expect him to have
cash in his home to pay them or other vendors.
So is it possible one of Mr. Gill's associates
planned to rob his home, but instead
encountered Jagtar and killed her?
[thudding impact]
CHRIS: We know that Mr. Gill has what can be
considered a large amount of cash in his house.
Is he dealing with individuals that know
that money's there in the house?
Is he telling other people
that the money's in the house?
So did someone else see him leave that morning
and say, "Okay, here's my opportunity to go
in the house and get that cash?"
We looked closely at the safe,
although there was blood on the door of the master closet
and the light switch,
there was no trace of blood on the safe.
CHRIS: There's no tool marks on it,
no forced entry attempt into the safe.
JULIE: In the master closet, there was some
gold jewelry in boxes that wasn't taken.
♪
CHRIS: At this point, there's no evidence
to indicate that this murder is motivated by money
or any financial reasons at all.
RESHMI: With the burglary-gone-bad theory
ruled out, investigators need new leads
to determine who killed Jagtar Gill.
Fortunately, as word of the homicide spreads
through the local media,
detectives receive a phone call from a woman
who claims to have information about the case.
♪
CHRIS: A couple days after the murder,
we receive a call in the office from a female
who identifies herself as Savannah Carter,
a clairvoyant.
She tells us that she heard about a murder that happened
in Barrhaven on January 29th and that a voice told her
that the victim was Jagtar.
She informs us that she believes she has some
information that might assist our investigation.
MICHAEL: Homicide investigators are often
very leery of working with clairvoyants or
self-described psychics.
Sometimes, unfortunately, all these people are really
trying to do is make a name for themselves,
incentivized by potential celebrity to
insert themselves in these cases.
CHRIS: Based on the fact that most people believe
that it's reading tea leaves.
It's not factual based.
It's not scientifically founded.
But, at this point we decide to put away our doubts
about Savannah Carter and clairvoyants,
because Ms. Carter could provide valuable information.
So we interview Savannah Carter.
Savannah Carter tells us she had some conflict
with Mr. Gill and his neighbour, Ms. Ronald.
Savannah Carter was hired to be a consultant
to do some staging inside
both the Ronald residence and the
Gill residence in order to sell these homes
for a higher financial amount.
But after the sale, Mr. Gill thought he didn't get the
value that he was expecting to get for the sale of a home
as a result of hiring Mrs. Carter.
Mr. Gill accuses Mrs. Carter of scamming him.
As a result of the conflict between Mr. Gill
and Mrs. Carter, it created a conflict
between Ms. Ronald and Mrs. Carter.
And there was a verbal exchange between the two
going back and forth with each other,
accusatory towards her service.
And then, after that, she proceeds to confess
more details about that relationship between
Mr. Gill and Mrs. Ronald.
She tells us she believes both Gurpreet Ronald and
Mr. Gill are potentially involved in
the murder of Jagtar.
That is strange to us.
So, we asked her why she was thinking that.
And then she tells us that Ms. Ronald had informed her
that her and Mr. Gill were having an affair.
♪
She tells us that Ms. Ronald and Mr. Gill didn't know
how they could deal with this affair situation as
both of 'em were married with other individuals.
Mr. Gill didn't believe that divorce
was an option for him.
Financially, he would be ruined,
he would lose his house, his money,
access to his children.
And she tells us that that's why they murdered Jagtar.
♪
JULIE: We didn't believe that because Mr. Gill
had an alibi because he was
out with his daughter running errands.
And on the surveillance camera,
seeing Ms. Ronald attending the Sobeys at 12:40
on the day of the murder
led us to believe too that she may have
had an alibi that day as well.
CHRIS: At this point,
we're suspicious of Mrs. Carter.
Is the information that Mrs. Carter is providing us
accurate, and could we corroborate it
with other evidence?
Or, is this person just trying to inject themselves
in the investigation to get revenge on Mr. Gill
and Mrs. Ronald because of the conflict?
And is that leading us down rabbit holes?
♪
RESHMI: As detectives consider Savannah Carter's
story about Mrs. Ronald & Mr. Gill,
the police lab completes forensic testing of
evidence found on the crime scene.
JULIE: We have found that piece of latex glove and
we weren't sure if it was a possibility
that it was left by the killer.
CHRIS: We get the lab results back for the
piece of latex glove, and it has
2 DNA profiles on it.
One profile belonging to Jagtar Gill,
the second profile belonging to an unknown female.
JULIE: Given the violent nature of this homicide,
it was surprising that perhaps there was
a female involved.
Detectives now wonder if Savannah Carter
was motivated by the conflicts she had with
both Mr. Gill and Gurpreet Ronald
to frame them for a murder she herself committed.
CHRIS: Is Savannah Carter responsible for
the murder of Jagtar Gill?
♪
someone with possible motive to carry out this murder.
The question for investigators is,
did she have the opportunity to commit this murder?
So what investigators need to determine is
the whereabouts of this clairvoyant
between the hours of 11:00 AM and
1:00 PM on Wednesday, January 29th.
CHRIS: We looked into what Savannah Carter did
that morning and that afternoon.
As a result, we confirmed that Savannah Carter was
not in Barrhaven the day of the murder of Jagtar Gill.
She had conducted
a clairvoyant session that morning.
Savannah Carter was removed as a suspect
in the murder of Jagtar Gill.
♪
There was two female profile that were generated from
blood on that piece of glove- the victim, Jagtar Gill,
and the other profile was an unknown female.
Now we definitely look closer to
Ms. Ronald as being a suspect.
And, Ms. Savannah Carter did tell investigator that
Mr. Gill and Ms. Ronald were having an affair.
♪
CHRIS: Was Ms. Ronald involved in
the murder of Jagtar? She has a motive.
It's the wife of the man she's having an affair with.
Did she want to get her out of the picture?
We look into Gurpreet Ronald.
We canvass the neighbourhood
asking about Ms. Ronald.
We learn that her marriage isn't going well.
Her husband sometimes doesn't stay at home.
It looks like he has a girlfriend
outside of the marriage.
She is already in an affair with Mr. Gill.
They seem to be motivated by the same things, financially,
that's make profit off the sale of a house.
And for us, it's a natural course of the investigation,
let's look at this person that has everything
to gain by eliminating Jagtar
out of the equation.
RESHMI: Detectives need evidence that can corroborate
Savannah Carter's claim about the connection
between Mrs. Ronald and Mr. Gill.
And when it comes to infidelity,
frequency of calls and texts are often good indicators
of a relationship's closeness.
CHRIS: We obtained production orders for
phone records for both Ms. Ronald and Mr. Gill.
We don't have the actual text messages
or the phone calls.
We just have the number of communications
between Ronald and Gill.
There's a lot of communication between
Mr. Gill and Mrs. Ronald.
These communications may be simply work-related,
maybe communications related to their pastime of
flipping homes and doing home renovations.
But it's like several hours of communication
through a month between Gill and Ronald.
If a male was speaking to another female that
wasn't their wife for that amount of time,
it better be their mother.
♪
JULIE: From the time that Mr. Gill left the residence
at 11, and when Ms. Ronald was seen
entering the Sobeys at 12:40,
we have to establish if she had enough time
to go and commit this murder.
[thudding impact]
CHRIS: Gurpreet Ronald is a neighbour around the corner.
There is a possibility that she sees Mr. Gill
leave that morning with his daughter.
So she knows that
Mr. Gill's now away from the house and
that Jagtar is home alone recovering from surgery.
So there's an opportunity there for her to attend
the Gill residence and kill Jagtar.
And she has motive to do that.
♪
RESHMI: That would have left Gurpreet Ronald more than
90 minutes, between 11AM and 12:40 PM,
when she arrives at the Sobeys, to commit the crime.
If detectives can match her DNA to the sample of the
unknown female's DNA on the blue latex glove,
they can put her at the scene of the murder.
But the missing link is a DNA sample from Mrs. Ronald.
JULIE: That's where the surveillance team is
responsible to follow Ms. Ronald's move every day
and to see if she's discarding any items
that could potentially generate her DNA and be
compared to the one that we have at the scene.
That could be a cup that she drinks from,
or a piece of gum that she discards
on the sidewalk, etc.
Our surveillance team followed her to this
parking lot in a remote area in the west end of Ottawa.
CHRIS: She goes into the trunk of her vehicle and then
proceeds to walk a short distance down a nature trail.
She returns to her car and leaves the area.
What was she doing?
Was she just going for a walk?
We don't know.
JULIE: The surveillance officer then decided to go
to see if she had discarded anything,
and nothing was found at the time.
CHRIS: We're suspicious of Mrs. Ronald,
but we have zero evidence linking her to
the murder of Jagtar Gill.
RESHMI: Investigators are at a crossroads.
Gurpreet Ronald is a serious person of interest,
but so far there's no proof she's the killer.
The Gill residence, however, is still under
police supervision as an active crime scene,
and Mr. Gill and his children continue to reside
outside the home.
So detectives return to the crime scene to search for any
fragment they may have been overlooked
that might implicate Gurpreet Ronald.
JULIE: But at this point we still don't know
what inflicted the blunt force trauma to Jagtar.
I still have the tread pattern on her body kept
in mind while searching the residence.
We spent several days in the residence
not only looking for evidence,
but also looking for the second weapon
that would've inflicted those injuries.
Searching the basement, I came across a large box
that had a fake Christmas tree in it.
And then once I opened that box,
there was a metal weightlifting bar that's
about two feet long
and had the tread pattern on each end
where you would've had to screw in the weights.
It matched the injuries that Jagtar Gill
had on her forearms and her legs.
♪
When I looked at it, there was a significant
amount of dry blood on the bar.
There was also a little bit of dark hair
on the bar as well.
So we carefully seized it for DNA analysis.
♪
Once we received the analysis of that bar
it was established that it was
Jagtar's blood on the bar.
So we had found our second weapon
that was used on the murder.
CHRIS: Who put the bar there in this Christmas tree box?
And how are we going to find out?
We can't leave the bar there.
It's valuable evidence.
So we find a replacement bar to put in the box.
We put sheep's blood on it, we put some hair on it,
and we put it back in the Christmas tree box and
put that scene back the way it was.
We get a warrant to install a hidden camera
in the basement to secretly record
anyone who comes into the basement to retrieve that,
uh, that steel bar.
JULIE: We wanted to see if Mr. Gill had
any knowledge about the bar.
Once the forensic examination of the house was completed,
Mr. Gill was advised that he could return home
and was given his house keys back.
But the one thing that Mr. Gill doesn't know
is that we have surveillance cameras
installed in his basement.
That's when we saw something
that was a shock to us.
♪
at our police office.
We observe Mr. Gill go down into his basement,
walk straight over to the Christmas tree box,
and he removes the bar from the box.
He appears to be looking for a way to hide it on
his person to get the bar out of the basement.
He doesn't seem to be able to find a way.
Gives up and puts the bar back at the exact same spot
that it was in the Christmas tree box.
We kind of started questioning whether
Mr. Gill had a role in this.
CHRIS: On a subsequent day,
Mr. Gill goes to the basement.
Once again, removes the bar.
This time, puts it down his pants,
and he appears to be doing
a test on whether he can
walk around with this bar down his pants.
And ultimately, he walks out of the basement,
up the stairs with the steel bar down his pants.
♪
Mr. Gill exits his house with the steel bar on his person.
We have undercover surveillance officers
out front who watch Mr. Gill
as he opens the trunk,
and is seen putting the steel bar in his trunk.
♪
Mr. Gill drives away a short distance,
a few kilometres up the road.
He's observed removing the steel bar from the trunk of
his car and throwing it into a field
from the side of the road.
And then he drives away.
JULIE: And then that's when we attend and retrieve
that fake bar that Mr. Gill had disposed of.
RESHMI: Investigators now have evidence that Mr. Gill
is an accessory in the murder of his wife.
But they hold off on arresting Gill until they can
also confirm he had motive and opportunity to kill his wife,
or hired someone to do so.
♪
CHRIS: We look into the Gill marriage.
And we speak to friends of Jagtar.
They tell us that Jagtar wasn't happy.
Mr. Gill was keeping her away from her extended family.
And she wanted to get out of this arranged marriage
that she was in.
MICHAEL: Divorce would've been a very costly way
for Mr. Gill to end his marriage to Jagtar,
given that she was legally entitled to
50% of his net worth.
CHRIS: We now know that Mr. Gill had a motive to be
involved in the execution of the death of his wife.
But we don't know who actually did this murder.
JULIE: Was it Gurpreet Ronald?
Although Ms. Ronald is a suspect in this crime,
we don't have any hard evidence
to link her to the homicide.
RESHMI: To confirm their theory,
police still need a DNA sample from their suspect,
to compare to the unknown female sample found on
the severed glove tip recovered at the crime scene.
CHRIS: We continue surveillance on Ms. Ronald
in hopes that she discards anything
that would contain her DNA.
JULIE: The surveillance team follows Ms. Ronald
for almost two weeks without being able to get
a castoff sample from her.
CHRIS: We didn't want to tip our cards that
we were looking at her as a suspect.
So we needed to come up with a new way
to collect her DNA.
JULIE: We decided to write a general warrant
that would give legal permission to go onto
Ms. Ronald's property and kind of do
an undercover play to obtain her DNA.
The undercover officer goes to her house
portraying herself as working for one of the
home builder in the area conducting a survey
with the new homeowners.
CHRIS: Ms. Ronald fills out the survey.
JULIE: The undercover officer asked Ms. Ronald to
seal her survey into the envelope
and lick the envelope, which she did.
And this is how we successfully got
Ms. Ronald's DNA.
♪
CHRIS: We send the envelope to the lab to have it
analysed and develop a DNA profile to compare to
the DNA profile at the scene.
As a result of that examination,
Gurpreet Ronald is identified as the source of
the unknown female blood at the crime scene.
JULIE: Gurpreet Ronald is charged with
first degree murder for the murder of Jagtar Gill.
MICHAEL: Gurpreet Ronald ultimately refuses to
cooperate and disclose what role, if any,
Mr. Gill had in his wife's murder.
CHRIS: We think Bhupinderpal Gill believes
he's gotten away with any culpability of
being involved in the murder of his wife.
RESHMI: For now, all investigators can prove
is that Mr. Gill had a financial motive to
kill his wife and that he concealed and
disposed of evidence in his basement.
But they still have no hard proof he was
directly involved in the execution of the murder.
But investigators have the advantage.
With Mrs. Ronald in custody,
Mr. Gill has no idea what she might say to them
about his involvement in the murder.
So detectives continue to delay
arresting Mr. Gill and devise a new plan.
CHRIS: We create a situation where he's going to
demonstrate his involvement
in the murder of his wife.
We do a media release about the replacement bar
asking if anyone had any information about
a steel bar that was found in a farmer's field.
We kind of hint to the media
that it may be related to the Gill homicide.
So, let's see how Gill reacts to this information.
Is he going to think that Ronald told us the
whole story and he's going to try to get in front of it?
♪
At this stage, we had already made a decision
if he reaches out to us,
we're going to arrest him.
He calls us. He says,
"I want to talk to you guys about the bar."
Police arrest Bhupinderpal Gill and
charge him with first degree murder in relation to
planning the murder of his wife
and attempting to dispose evidence.
CHRIS: We begin an interview process with him
after his arrest.
CHRIS: We present him with various facts
of the investigation.
CHRIS: He doesn't confess.
CHRIS: Even though Mr. Gill doesn't confess,
we now know exactly what happened that morning.
♪
JULIE: Around 11 AM, Mr. Gill ensured that
no one was going to be present at the house.
That's when he invited his daughter
to accompany him to run errands.
CHRIS: Mrs. Gill's on the couch,
most likely sleeping as she recovered from the surgery.
Mr. Gill instructs his daughter to leave
through the garage, which she does.
We believe he leaves the steel bar at the front door
and the front door was left unlocked allowing access
for Gurpreet Ronald to enter the house undetected.
He drives past Gurpreet Ronald's house.
He waves to Gurpreet Ronald,
signaling to her that the coast is clear.
JULIE: Then Ms. Ronald entered the unlocked
front door, grabbed the bar...
And then attacked Jagtar Gill,
and striking her repeatedly over the head.
CHRIS: But it's not sufficient enough to kill her.
JULIE: She decides to grab a knife...
and then starts stabbing Jagtar and then keeps
continuing with the stabbing, killing Jagtar.
CHRIS: Gurpreet Ronald cuts herself.
She bleeds on a piece of latex glove
that's left behind at the scene.
And goes and notifies Gill at the Sobeys.
♪
In 2016, Bhupinderpal Gill and Gurpreet Ronald
are convicted of first degree murder,
both sentenced to life in jail without
the possibility of parole for 25 years.
♪
JULIE: This case was heavily involved with forensic
and investigative techniques.
CHRIS: The phone records, the steel bar,
the video surveillance, the DNA at the crime scene.
We gathered the evidence.
We got the conviction.
And it was successful all around.
JULIE: This is one of the most
tragic homicide that I've worked on.
And the reason why I do what I do
is to be able to provide answers
to the victim's family.
And in this case, give the Gill family peace
to continue with their grieving for the loss of
Jagtar Gill.
♪