This March, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network (Canada) premieres the new original real-life crime series To Catch a Killer. In the eight-part documentary series, Ontario-based police officer Mike Arntfield and his squad of tech-savvy civilians work to solve Canadian cold cases by interviewing family members and witnesses, dissecting evidence (old and new), visiting long-forgotten crime scenes, and re-enacting potential scenarios – all while the cold-case clock ticks. Produced by Ocean Entertainment Ltd of Halifax, in association with OWN (Canada),To Catch a Killer premieres Saturday, March 1 at 8 p.m. ET.
“Mike Arntfield is like a real-life Sherlock Holmes, and it’s fascinating to watch him and his team peel back the layers of these perplexing cold cases,” said Vibika Bianchi, Vice President, Original Programming, Women’s and Family Television, Corus Entertainment. “This series offers a truly engaging and enlightening experience to our OWN (Canada) audience with real-world detective work and tangible results.”
Each one-hour episode introduces a different crime, as Arntfield – a working cop and university professor with a PhD – and his team use fresh eyes and advanced tools in their quest to solve these longstanding mysteries and bring closure to the victims’ families.
Arntfield guides the six-member squad as they take to the field, seeking new leads and exploiting modern technology, discovering new information. Capitalizing on the potential of 21st-century technology to unearth new information, Arntfield also relies on squad members to use their own skill sets – which run the gamut from medical biophysics to forensic anthropology to private investigating – and ways of thinking to move each case forward. New information uncovered by the squad is passed on to appropriate law-enforcement officials.
“We knew when we embarked on To Catch a Killer that it would be incredibly challenging trying to dig up fresh information on cases that are decades old. But we had faith in our squad and their methods and it really paid off, as viewers will see in each episode,” says Johanna Eliot, the show’s Executive Producer, and President of Ocean Entertainment of Halifax. “It was such a rewarding experience because the victims’ family members were with us for the entire journey. We are so grateful for that.”
The first episode, which premieres on Saturday, March 1 at 8 p.m. ET, examines the cold case of Donna Jean Awcock. When Awcock failed to return home after babysitting in October 1983, her devastated family had no idea what could have happened. Although her remains were found just one day later in an area not far from where she was babysitting, no arrest has ever been made in connection with the 17-year-old’s sexual assault and murder. Thirty years later, Mike Arntfield and his squad are re-examining the case with fresh eyes in their quest to end the family’s nightmare.
To Catch a Killer is produced in association with OWN (Canada) and with the participation of the Canada Media Fund (CMF) and Film and Creative Industries Nova Scotia (FCINS). For more information about the series, please click here.
