two young boys are wandering near 12m Creek waterway in Ontario Canada during a fishing trip they do not have a specific destination in mind and are content exploring the area in search of whatever might come their way but what comes their way would not make them content they come across a blue vinyl bag near the surface of the muddy water they drag it to the shore and open it up inside they see a green garbage bag when they rip it open it's not out all what they expect they run away screaming inside the bag is the body of a 5-year-old girl along with a 10lb anchor she has a small bandage on her knee and bruises on her temples it would not be long before authorities discover exactly who the young girl was on the same day her grandfather Doug pollington would report that his 29-year-old daughter along with her own young son and daughter were missing the girl found in the water was that young daughter Stephanie row the discovery and her death is brutal and tragic no matter how you look at it but the person who did this to her in all the circumstances surrounding the crime were enough to disgust even the criminals most hardened resulting fellow inmates welcome back to Crime at toz where we detail cases and criminals from their very beginning until well after other reporting ends today we'll be talking about one of the early but arguably one of the most disturbing family annihilators John row and not that this amator murderers themselves were not tragic and appalling enough but his level of despen and lack of remorse across the board is highly disturbing let's dive in and before we get started if you end up liking how we present this case and cons spare a quick moment we really appreciate if you could hit like subscribe and share pretty please let's go John George R was born in the canade in Port City of Hamilton Ontario on November 30th 1942 he was the only child to parents Jack and dorothia row Jack was a forensic identification officer responsible for photographing crime scenes until John was a teenager at which time he took a job at the liquor control board as a manager growing up John was not a particularly handsome teen with pretty disheveled hair and reportedly lanky limbs but he was charming and confident and he had style he set himself apart from others by always dressing for Success so while his peers were rocking jeans and other casual clothes JN could always be found decked out in his finest as though he were headed to a job interview or going on a date from a young age JN had an obsession with girls he would often stand on downtown street corners just to watch girls passing by he dropped out of school in 12th grade and finished high school School through correspondence then attended Mohawk Community College he gated a lot and fancied himself a lady's man that was until he met Sandra pollington when John was 20 years old he met 15-year-old Sandra pollington born in 1947 to Margaret and dub pollington Sandra grew up with her younger brother and sister in Hamilton as well John and Sandra began dating but Sandra's family did not care for John both because they felt he was too old for Sandra and because he was Catholic but with Sandra being head over heels for JN they accepted the relationship John worked in the engineering department at Hamilton City Hall and eventually worked his way up to becoming an office manager Sandra worked as a title Searcher at a law firm the couple dated for 4 years then got married on October 8th 1966 a few years later in 1969 the couple welcomed their first son John Jason then two years later in 1971 they welcome a daughter Stephanie the family appeared happy but everyone knows that looks can be deceiving JN had a Wandering eye that went beyond just looking he was involved in multiple extramarital affairs with women including a long-term affair with someone he worked with at one point in their marriage John consult him with a divorce attorney and Sandra stopped wearing her wedding ring sharing with her close friends that John was not satisfying her sexually the couple even briefly listed their house for sale and then Sandra and her babies were missing the discovery that Sandra and the kids were missing came when Jon showed up and his father in-law dub pollington office in Cambridge with a typewritten letter from Sandra it had been a full day and a half that they had gone missing by that point the letter claimed that Sandra was leaving Jon for a wealthy lawyer and was taking the kids with her that did not ring true to Doug who felt that he and his wife were close to Sandra and that she gave no indications she would be leaving John also told that a mysterious lawyer had been making harassing calls to his house for over a year John strangely urged his father-in-law to contact an attorney before going to the police Doug obliged Jon and his in-laws then went to the row home where Jon continue crying over his missing family cries that his mother-in-law recalled did not produce a single tear in fact she said that she never saw any tears during the entire ordeal she said that overall he never showed any emot or seemed to be bothered that his family including his young children were missing John and his mother-in-law Margaret head to John's parents' house to break the news once there the two mothers try to convince Jon to go to the hospital to get treatment for his hand but he refuses Sandra's younger sister Janice also comes over she had been avoiding Jon and his increasing flirtatiousness all summer when she would Babys scker niece and nephew JN would often arrive home unexpectedly so much so that J Janice had taken to locking herself in the bathroom and running the shower to get away from him when Janice went to leave on this day Jon walked her to her car Jenice said that he wrapped his arms around her then put his hands down her pants and that wasn't the first time he had assaulted her about a year and a half before The Disappearance Janice reported to police that Jon had gred her and she pressed charges against him during that investigation law enforcement discovered that Johan was in possession of graphic and violent bondage pornographic mag azines the content contained in them was so hardcore that they were actually illegal in Canada specific details found in those magazines would surprisingly later match up to key evidence relevant to Jon's family's disappearance meanwhile dub pollington had been advised by the attorney that he had contacted to contact the police once he did the investigation was on the following morning John arrived to work by 9:00 a. m. an hour later a detective arrives in his office and announces he's there to do a missing person report John tells him I was just going to call you as the detective begins talking with r and taking notes he hears a radio report a young girl has been found in a creek stuffed in a duffel bag it was the R's daughter Stephanie the twoam boys have found her during their exploration she was stuffed inside a trash bag then forced into the duffel along with an anchor intended to send her to the bottom of the wall Waterway police asked R to come down to the station for an interview when they later told r that the body of the little girl that was found was confirmed to be his daughter he hung his head but there were again no tears when police arrives the row home it's in a shambles the couple's mattress is in the hallway with Jon's reasoning being that he took the BET apart to relieve his frustration after his family went missing and that he couldn't bear to sleep in the bed that he used to share with his wife after learning that she had been cheating on him according to him John also explained that the night their daughter Stephanie was born Sandra had hemorrhaged explaining away any blood they would find on the matress he also said later that sander cut blood stains out of their mattress cover they questioned John and his account of the events went like this he said that he and Sandra had not shared a bed the past few nights he said they had had a fight over his relationship with a neighbor he described that the neighbor came over to borrow some liquor and as I handed it to her I touched her on the Press he said that the neighbor told the whole neighborhood and that Sandra was humiliated the two families reconciled and became friends again but on the Friday before The Disappearance while the two couples were skinny dipping in the pool until the wee hours of the morning John and the Graze breast neighbor lingered just a little too long alone in the pool for Sandra's liking John insisted it was just horse play but Sandra was livid so John was sleeping in the basement on a cot he said he woke up around 9:00 a.
m. on the morning of August 17th and found it odd that the kids were not yet awake he went upstairs and found that both kids were not in their beds and neither was Sandra he said he found the tyght note from Sandra on the dresser claiming she had left him for a wealthy lawyer she left without her purse wedding ring or even the kid shoes toothbrushes or toys the only thing she did take was her wallet John recounted how they had been receiving Anonymous phone calls for about a year from a male caller who let it slip one day that he was a lawyer John said he handled it not by reporting it to the police but by challenging the caller to meet him in person telling him let's be grown up and let's meet he said the caller never showed up to their meeting place John insisted that it must be the mysterious lawyer who was responsible for his family's disappearance not him despite the fact that there was not a single shred of evidence to prove the existence of this mystery lawyer John was sticking to his story then John by his own account engaged in several questionable actions which he presented to authorities as though they were reasonable and not suspicious at all on the morning of Tuesday August 17th the first full day of The Disappearance John called in sick to work it would Mark the beginning of his suspicious Behavior at home to relieve frustration over his missing family he says that he dismantles the couple's bed then he rips out the light colored Shad carpet from the forign even removing chunks of the under padding near the window he tells authorities he did it because Sandra complained about the carpet's odor from the children having gotten sick on it and the cat having soiled it but he also tells his attorney that he did it because he was enraged after finding the typed letter later that afternoon he decides that the day of his family's disappearance is the perfect day to return a light switch to a tire store called Canadian Tire while he was there he figured that he purchased some anchor weights as well at dusk he heads out and goes for a random Drve zigzagging between cities with no apparent purpose or destination he gets back home at midnight and he says decides to take a bike ride while on the bike ride he hits a brick or stone or something and falls off the bike which conveniently supplies a cause for the multiple cuts that authorities promptly noticed on his hands then the next morning Wednesday August 18th John is up by 5:15 a. m.
he says that for something to do he vacuums and dusts the house he also H off the pieces of carpet that he had ripped out transporting them to not one but two separate dump yards later that morning JN finally decides to divulge that his family is missing to Sandra's parents and heads to their home around 11:30 at the station police questioned John until his father arrives with a lawyer discontinuing further questioning but they had as much information as they needed by 11:30 that night John row fully decked out in his pale green leisure suit was arrested and charged with murdering his daughter the only one one recovered at that point in the meantime the search for the rest of Jon's missing family continued authorities dragged the Waterway where Stephanie's body was found looking for Sandra and Jason they did not find them they did however surprisingly find other people they discovered the body of a Hamilton man who had disappeared on a fishing trip that April he was found still in the driver's seat of his submerged car having suffer a heart attack he apparently drove off the road to his death they also found the body of a middle-aged woman several more days would pass but on August 26th as a helicopter was searching the waterways they spotted a green sleeping bag floating in the well and Canal Bound by what appeared to be rope or cord the sleeping bag was opened on one end with a green trash bag sticking out of it it was Sendero as they got closer they could see her feet were sticking out of the trash bag her toes painted red the ropes and sash cord that were used to tie up the bundle were elaborate with each knot related to the next one the knots were consistent with knots that were used in Jon's bondage magazines authorities discovered in Jon's possession the year prior and like her daughter Sandra 2 was weighted down with the intention of being sunked to the bottom of the Waterway two anchors used for that purpose 15 and 20 lb she had been badly beaten and her tongue protruded between her teeth consistent with being strangled Sandro would be buried next to her daughter and John row will be charged with a second count of murder the search for yon Jason would continue for two more months and then be called off but even without a body law enforcement was confident that R was still responsible they charged him with a third count of murder despite R's far-fetched claims of how the days events transpired law enforcement theorized otherwise they surmised that went something more like this Jon had fabricated the story about a mysterious lawyer in order to create a scapegoat that he could blame the murders on disparaging his wife's name in the process was an added bonus they theorized that he and Sandra had an argument in their room perhaps regarding one of his Affairs or perhaps he had accused her of having won he punches her in the face damaging her nose and merely dislodging her teeth evidence would show that a violent fight ensued in which Jon sustained a bite mark on his hand and where Jon beat Sandra with such force that her jaw was crushed her blood spatters everywhere including on the curtains the sheets the mattress and soaking the shag carpet below the window then with the nearby cord from the blinds within his reach Jon uses it to strangle his wife he then put two fingers up her nostrils and covered her mouth for 16 minutes they surmised that his kids witness the atrocity so Jon kills them as well suffocating each of them with a pillow for 4 minutes until they're dead John then takes the bodies to the basement he strips them of their clothes and washes them in the washing machine along with a bloody linen but with all the blood produced from Sandra's beating it's a messy job he drips blood onto the wall door jam his slippers and the floor he places a large green trash bag over Sandra's head and another one over her feet then stuffs her into his sleeping bag along with two of the anchors he bought at Canadian Tire he then ties up the sleeping bag using knots that he'd seen in his bondage magazines he packages Stephanie similarly except that her small body only requires one trash bag and a single anchor he folds her body into a fetal position stuffs her in a duffel bag then Zips it shut although Jason was never found authorities surmised that he gave his son the same garbage bag sleeping bag farewell John then rips up the carpet and starts dismantling and Hauling furniture out of their bedroom he tries to clean up but with so much blood he leaves behind numerous smudges drops and other evidence he try to explain the blood with a Sandra hemorrhaging claim along with a story about a previous nose bleed but a blood spatter expert would refute that demonstrating how the blood was spattered not dropped he heads to the basement where he hastily crafts a Dear John Letter on Sandra's typewriter once Mike Falls he transfers the bodies from the garage to the trunk of his car leaving more blood along the way he then dumps his family's bodies in various waterways and drives away but with John not fessing up to any of it it would need to be proven in a court of law in the meantime the Canadian courts had set the suspected triple murder's bail at $100,000 and 4 months after the murders on Christmas Eve John row posted that bail he would be a free man pending his trial schedule for a year later in November of 1977 he would live with his parents during that time he tried to return to his manager job at City Hall but they refused every day you would visit his family's grave and put flowers on it he would mow the grass the family's home including by his children's swing set he would wave to the neighbors but they would not respond or speak to him then finally the trial began it was the biggest case Hamilton had seen in decades the courtroom was packed every day and of course John Rog dressed for the occasion each day reporters would dedicate at least a paragraph to describing Jon's attire from his Tweed suits to his five button vest the Dapper defendant through attention during a trial a neighbor testified that they saw light on in John's home around 5:00 Tuesday morning and that they could see him moving up and down in motions consistent with ripping the carpet up that contradicted his claim that he was asleep in the basement until 9:00 a. m.
