Investigative podcast tackling Angel Carlick's unsolved murder in Yukon
David Ridgen says Angel Carlick's case has long been on his radar. Now he's actually making calls and looking for any new information that might finally solve the Yukon teen's 2007 murder.
Ridgen, host and creator of the podcast Someone Knows Something, launched a new investigative series in June called The Next Call. In it, he investigates unsolved cases through a strategic series of phone conversations.
He says he'd heard about Carlick's case from police as well as friends in Yukon.
Carlick, 19, was about to graduate high school when she disappeared in Whitehorse in May 2007. Six months later, her remains were found in a wooded area north of the city.
Ridgen says he started digging into the unsolved case about 10 months ago.
"We took the chance to get into it, and began working with family members and trying to find friends and people that knew Angel or had seen her the month when she was last seen," he said.
"I've spoken to several people already. It's difficult to to make connections sometimes from south to north, but so far so good. And I think people are very interested in seeing this case solved."
Investigators with the Yukon RCMP Historical Case Unit are also still actively working on Carlick's case. Earlier this week they again asked for the public's help in finding any new information. Ridgen says he's already been talking to Yukon RCMP.
"They haven't handed me over the investigative file or anything like that, but they have been very helpful in trying as best as they can to to help out," he said. "I've been quite impressed with that."
Police investigation also continues
RCMP Const. Michael Simpson of the Yukon Historical Case Unit says he's hopeful that more information might come out, and that's why police renewed their call for the public's help this week.
Simpson says the case still resonates with people, including him — he was also the lead investigator in the murder of Angel Carlick's mother, Wendy Carlick, who was killed in Whitehorse in 2017. Wendy Carlick's accused murderer, Everett Chief, is now in jail and awaiting trial.
"I feel for that family, I feel for the son, brother, and I would say it is important to me and that's why I'm trying to do whatever I can, and what we can as an organization, to forward this case," Simpson said.
Angel Carlick was last seen in 2007 walking away from Main Street with one or more people, police have said. Simpson says he really wants to find out who those people were.
"These cases are solved usually one of two ways when they're more historic ... a change in technology, or a change in relationships or somebody speaks," Simpson said.
"We may have some information on the first part that might be helping us here a bit, but I need people to kind of help me make the next step."
'Every phone call ... we uncover new information'
Ridgen, meanwhile, is confident that his own phone calls will uncover some new details. He hopes to release his podcast sometime in the next six months.
"Every phone call that I make, and every person I speak to for pretty much any case I've worked on, we uncover new information. That's just the nature of the beast. And that won't be any different here," he says.
He says he understands why people might hesitate to speak to him, a stranger on the phone from down south. But he encourages people to look him up online and see the work he's done on other cases.
"The intentions are good and the proof is in not words, but actions. So I think people can judge me on that," he says.
"I've got a pretty big planetary megaphone to speak about this case and get the word out. And I think everybody's interested to solve Angel's case and they should be coming forward and talking to me, as soon as possible."
