[INTRODUCTION]
Joli: Welcome listeners to another episode of Beyond the Unknown. I'm your host, Joli, and I'm Quinn, and today, we are diving deep into the perplexing case of Gordon Edwin Sanderson - famously known as "Septic Tank Sam." How did Gordie meet his tragic fate, and why was he given this name? Brace yourselves as we navigate through the horrific and mysterious events surrounding a murder victim who went unidentified for 43 years.
[Transition Music]
On April 13, 1977, Charlie McLeod was working on cleaning up an abandoned farmyard that he owned with his wife Mavis. The farm land was located approximately 35 miles east of Edmonton in a small town called Tofield.
Tofield is a small community that has a population of approximately 2500. It is within a larger land mass known as Beaver County. It sits just off one of the major highways that runs east/west called highway 14. Although there are locals who have grown and have remained for generations, due to the location off the highway, reasonable distance to the big city of Edmonton and the cheaper cost of living, the town does also have a somewhat transient population.
As with pretty much every small town in Alberta, it is largely supported and surrounded by the agriculture industry and large commercial farms. There is also smaller scale hobby farming around the area. Farming in the area consists of primarily cattle sold for the beef industry; cow calf programs, meaning the breading of cows to create that cattle that is eventually sold for beef; grain, such as wheat and canola; as well as the occasional bison and elk farms; and finally other small animals found on hobby farms.
Although arid and mostly flat plains, Tofield is actually quite quaint and charming. The main road is full of very cute shops, restaurants and other local businesses. They pretty much have everything you need from basic essentials of groceries, gas and primary medical care to optometry, dentistry, law services, registries and mechanic/parts shops. Some of the best eats are found in Tofield. My personal favourites are Tilly’s and the Moonshine.
Anyways, I digress. Back to Sam and his farm yard cleanup.
Sam was a pretty frugal guy, as many of the farmers or those with an ag background tend to be, you know, like my husband and his father, always stashing away every little piece of wood or metal, since it may be useful in, I don’t know, the next 15-300 years. Sam set to cleaning up the abandoned farm yard and salvage anything useable, which was basically everything. He set his sights on the 6-foot-deep septic tank in the yard and was trying to locate the pump. In doing so, he noticed something unusual inside the tank – a brown shoe sticking out from a yellow bedsheet. At first, he thought it was just some old trash someone disposed of inside of the tank for one reason or another. Upon closer inspection, he also noticed some Nylon rope around the bedsheet. That is when he realized that this wasn’t just some old trash, but there was actually a foot in the shoe which was in fact connected to the entire body bound inside this sheet and rope. Panicked, Sam went to tell his wife Mavis what he had found. Together, they made their way to the RCMP detachment in Tofield. For those who don’t know, the RCMP is the royal Canadian mounted police. They are not actually on horseback anymore, but the RCMP is the primary policing that is found in all rural and small communities across Canada. Within larger metropolitan areas, such as neighbouring Edmonton, this would be the jurisdiction of the city policy of Edmonton, and not the RCMP. Not that that matters for today’s story, just a little FYI.
There, he met with RCMP officer Sergeant Ed Lammerts. Lammerts and another officer followed Sam and his wife back to the farm.
Lammerts and the other officer peered into the tank and also quickly realized tthat they were dealing with human remains. Unfortunately the tank was full of sludge and tonnes of other debris. Using old ice cream pales, the officers dug the sludge from the tank in order to recover the body.
When the body was finally recovered, the nylon roped was removed and the body was slowly unraveled from the bedsheets. The body was clothed in jeans, a blue Levi’s shirt, grey work socks and imitation Wallabee shoes. Examination of the body was challenging for a few reasons. Once, the body had already been significantly decomposed and it was covered in limestone. Apparently, limestone is thought to hasten the decomposition process and was likely used intentionally. However, since the tank was partially filled with water, the plan actually somewhat backfired. When combined with water, the limestone only lead to superficial skin burns and actually preserved the rest of the body quite well. It was suspected that the body had been in the tank anywhere from 4 months up to one year. Secondly, upon closer examination, investigators uncoveed a truly horrific scene. It was clear that whoever this was had suffered immensely prior to their death. The body was so badly mutilated, especially in the region of the genitals, that investigators initially could not tell if this body was biologically male or female. Eventually though, they figured that this 5’10” body was that of a Caucasian male. He had been tied up, severely beaten and was repeatedly burned with a butane torch and lit cigarettes. Officials say the victim was most likely alive when he sustained these injuries. The cause of death was secondary to two gunshot wounds, one in the head and one in the chest, from either a .32 caliber or semiautomatic weapon. The body was then tossed head first into the septic tank. The crime was so horrific that it appeared to be personal, that the perpetrators must have known their victim. It was described by Lammerts as “cruel and vindictive”. It also appeared that the tortured and murder occurred in another location before being disposed of in the septic tank since there was no other evidence found on site.
Not only did RCMP need to find those responsible, they also did not know the identity of the victim. They interviewed countless people and chased down 1000s of leads, to no avail. Septic Tank Sam had a significant amount of dental work, and they even sent dental XRs to over 800 dental offices in the area, but this also did not help to identify the body. Recall that this was in the late 70s and DNA evidence was yet to be used. If you’ve seen our episode called the Monster of the Miramichi, DNA wasn’t used in Canada in forensics and criminal cases until 1988. So eventually, and not surprisingly, the case went cold. There was no way to identify this unknown man …. of unknown origins, and definitely no further way to try to find out who put him there.
He was then given the infamous name of Septic Tank Sam and buried in an unmarked grave site in Edmonton. Septic Tank Sam became almost infamous in Canada, and despite this widespread publicity and public awareness, he still remained unidentified, some saying that the crime was unsolvable. In further attempts to try to solve the case, Septic Tank Sam was unearthed from his grave on two occasions. In 1979, his remains were flown to Oklahoma. There, Betty Pat Gatliff, who had 12 year’s experience, created his 3D facial composite using measurements of the skull and bones. Check out our social to see the composite. She was also able to determine that he was right handed, and suspected that he was between the ages of 26-32. She also determined that he was actually an Indigenous man, and not Caucasian as was initially reported. Septic Tank Sam was reburied, but then exhumed again in 2000 by Cyril Chan who worked with the Edmonton Medical Examiner’s office. At this time, another attempt to match his DNA was undertaken to no avail.
All of the locals knew about the infamous “Septic Tank Sam”. For years, rumours and theories abound, always speculating about the true identity of both the victim and the perpetrators of this heinous crime. Based on his clothing, it was thought that he perhaps worked in construction, or was perhaps a transient or migrant worker. It is believed that he was killed by someone or a group of people that he knew. Tofield locals thought that maybe it was related to a sex crime or infidelity due to the degree of genital mutilation, but RCMP believed he was killed by individuals involved in criminal activity in the Edmonton area. Officials believed that the perpetrators of the crime were locals to the Tofield area or in someway or another at least familiar with the area - as they would have known that this site was abandoned and contained a septic tank that would work well as a safe disposal site. They likely thought they had committed the perfect crime and that the body would never be recovered.
Then finally, after 43 years, in 2021, the identity of Septic Tank Sam was revealed. Although many did not know him, the locals were overjoyed to finally be able to give this man his identity after so many years of only being known for the awful grizzly crime that occurred in their backyard.
With renewed enthusiasm from a cold case that was solved in 2018 in California using new DNA technology, the RCMP launched a new program to help identify unidentified remains. But still, nothing was uncovered. Authorities sought help from experts in Woodland Texas. The task was very challenging due to the degree of decomposition. Apparently, the specimen was significant contaminated with bacteria and finding human DNA was extremely challenging. Once a DNA profile was established, experts were able to create a family tree. Some of these individuals provided their DNA and a match was found. The unidentified man was finally matched to long time missing persons Gordon Edwin Sanderson. Born October 22, 1950, Gordie was originally from Manitoba, Canada. Apparently, Gordie did not have an easy life. Sanderson was taken into foster care at the age of 9 in the 1960s. At this time, there widespread removal of Indigenous children from their families and home communities without consent. In BC for example, it was common practice in the mid-sixties to ‘scoop’ from their mothers on reserves almost all newly born children. This lead to significant destruction of communities and loss of culture for Indigenous Peoples. The majority of children in the child welfare system were Indigenous children. Whether or not in the foster care system, many Indigenous children were also forcibly removed from their homes and sent to residential schools. These schools were horrific places that intended to “kill the Indian” and teach children Euro-centered things such as English and Catholicism. Here, children endured horrific physical, emotion and sexual abuse and many did not survive. This recently has made widespread headlines here in Canada due to the uncovering of mass graves of children near former residential school sites. Can you guess when the last residential school closed? REAL GUESS. 1996.
It is not clear whether Sanderson attended a residential school, but my best guess is that he did. Many who did, have since suffered from significant mental health concerns and additions. Sanderson himself was known to have had many run ins with the law and he too battled with addiction. In the 70s, Gordie was living in Edmonton, Alberta. His family last heard from him when he said he was going to meet up with their brother Arthur Sanderson in Calgary, 3 hours South of Edmonton, but he never made it. His sister Joyce, reported him missing in the 80s. Based on the assumption that he was in the tank around 1 year prior to discovery, Gordie was just 26 years old at the time of his death.
To this day, the murder of Gordie Edwin Sanderson remains an open case. As time goes by, there will be fewer witnesses and lesser chance at bringing peace to his family. While RCMP believes it is possible that those responsible have since passed away, they are still asking for any tips to be sent forward to the TOFIELD RCMP detachment. We will leave their information on our social in case any of you might have any idea what have happened to Gordon Edwin Sanderson, known for 43 years as Septic Tank Sam.
[Transition Music]
Joli: Thank you for joining us for another episode of "Beyond the Unknown." If you have a story you’d like to share, please email us at moody.mediaprod@gmail.com. You can reach out on our website, and who knows, your story might be featured in our next episode.
Quinn: All of our sources for this episode can be found on our website: beyondtheunknownpod.com.
And don’t forget, if you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review.
Joli: Until next time, listeners. Stay curious and remember that the unknown is always just beyond the shadows.
Both: BYEEEE
