Death by Unknown Event Podcast with Pamela Adlon cover art

Death by Unknown Event

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Death by Unknown Event

By: Danielle Elliot - writer, Eliza Smith - editor, Skybound Entertainment & Kamala Films - producer
Narrated by: Pamela Adlon
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About this listen

For seven years, Vancouver nurse Cindy James reported more than 100 separate incidents of harassment, ranging from threatening phone calls to home invasions to ritualistic assaults, including strangulations and stabbings. Canada’s Royal Mounted Police spent over a million dollars investigating her claims and found zero evidence of foul play, leading them to suspect she was making it all up. Then, in 1989, Cindy was found dead, bound and naked, half a mile from where her car was parked in a shopping mall. What happened to Cindy James remains one of the most bizarre and perplexing true crime stories in recent memory.

Death by Unknown Event illuminates the enigmatic context around James’s life, the efforts and failures of law enforcement, and the lingering theories around how she died from those closest to the case.

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Episodes
  • Trailer

    Trailer
    Sep 14 2021

    For seven years, Vancouver nurse Cindy James reported more than 100 separate incidents of harassment, ranging from threatening phone calls to home invasions to ritualistic assaults, including strangulations and stabbings. Canada’s Royal Mounted Police spent over a million dollars investigating her claims and found zero evidence of foul play, leading them to suspect she was making it all up. Then, in 1989, Cindy was found dead, bound and naked, half a mile from where her car was parked in a shopping mall. What happened to Cindy James remains one of the most bizarre and perplexing true crime stories in recent memory.

    Death by Unknown Event illuminates the enigmatic context around James’s life, the efforts and failures of law enforcement, and the lingering theories around how she died from those closest to the case.
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    1 min
  • Episode 1: Cindy

    Episode 1: Cindy
    Oct 21 2021
    Cindy James was last seen depositing a paycheck in June 1988. Nearly two weeks later, a construction worker discovered her body in a ditch beside a busy road. Police ruled her death a suicide. Her family and friends insisted that she was murdered. In the years leading to her death, Cindy reported more than 100 incidents of stalking. Now the Vancouver community was left to solve this enduring mystery: Had the stalker taken Cindy’s life? Or had there never been a stalker at all?
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    26 mins
  • Episode 2: A Stalker

    Episode 2: A Stalker
    Oct 21 2021
    Cindy’s stalker is becoming bolder. What started with calls and letters soon escalated into a brutal attack. The Vancouver police interrogate Cindy, and start to search for the perpetrator. At the urging of Officer Pat McBride, the police turn their attention to Cindy’s ex-husband, Roy Makepeace.
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    41 mins

Death by Unknown Event Trailer

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About the Performer

Pamela Adlon is an Emmy-winning, critically-acclaimed actor, writer, producer, and director with one of the most distinct and celebrated voices across today’s television landscape. Her current semi-autobiographical, award-winning FX comedy series, Better Things, won a 2016 Peabody Award for her raw, insightful voice and unapologetic, elevated commentary on motherhood, feminism and the complexity of modern life. She has been nominated for multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, and Writer’s Guild Awards for her work on Better Things and on FX’s hit show Louie. She is a prolific actress and voice actor with a long list of noteworthy roles on eminent TV shows, including her role as "Marcy" on Showtime’s Californication and voicing the character of "Bobby Hill" on Mike Judge’s animated series King of the Hill, for which she won the 2002 Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance. Her breadth of venerated work on and off screen makes her one of the most esteemed and well-regarded voices in entertainment.

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First of all, I love the narrator's voice!! She sounds a lot like Leah Remini.

Secondly, this was really great unbiased information. It seems great lengths were taken to look into any side of the story of what could have happened, and no gentle steering toward one theory being more plausible than another seemed to happen either.


Everything below is a spoiler:

*No matter what happened, whoever was responsible was both lucky & incredibly intelligent. Think about it. If it was Cindy, she's lucky she was never caught in any way. The knots in the stockings around her neck all those times, and hands, would have been done in a sufficient way to be believable that someone else did it... the hidden video cam that was blocked by the plant leaf was in her favor... and numerous other things you can see throughout the podcast. If it was her (now ex) husband, he's lucky he and/or the people he hired to do these things to her, were never caught in any way, or seen by others; and the same goes if it was some other unknown person who kept this up for years for who knows what reason. If it was the doctor, he's lucky neither Cindy nor anyone else he might have brainwashed, never was able to pin these actions on him.

*I don't think we will ever know what happened. There's some evidence to suggest she really did do this to herself. The tool in Pat's toolbox, which he'd recently cleaned, he showed to someone had obviously been used and in fact had matching wire filaments and pieces on it, and no one really had access to the box but Cindy. UNLESS some extremely intelligent person who wanted to leave that evidence behind, used his tool on purpose to cut those wires so it would be discovered and blamed on her (very very long shot.) It was also pointed out early on in the podcast, how unlikely it was someone threw a lit paper into such a small 6" crack in a window 8-9 feet off the ground and it would actually land in there and stay lighted AND actually start a fire. That is what made the one female investigator suspicious right from the start, and IMO with good reason. I don't believe she consciously did this though. If anything she was dissociating and forgetting, terrifying herself.

*Any way you look at this, it's tragic. Her sister pointed out at the end that Cindy wasn't living, she was just surviving, muddling through in fear. In that respect it doesn't even matter what the reason behind it was-- it's just a loss all around. :-( Poor Cindy. Not to mention all the man hours and money that was put into the investigation of all the events.

Grabs you and doesn't let go. Very recommended!

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I was immediately intrigued by this story when I first heard it on the Casefile Podcast, although a much deeper dive was taken here. I did manage to get a hold of one of the books written about the case called Who Killed Cindy James, which wasn’t easy as it is out of print (as is The Death of Cindy James, which I haven’t been able to get). Based on all that I have heard and read, I believe Cindy was a victim of herself. And while the story is very sad on many levels, I disagree strongly with the notion that Cindy was failed by the police and the doctors who attempted to treat her. The harassment she claims to have suffered lasted almost a decade. At the start or it, the police responded to every call, and took all of her allegations seriously IMO. Aside from Officer McBride, who was clearly a bad apple, she received a lot more attention from the police than I think someone who wasn’t white, blonde and “fragile” would have. They tapped her phones and set up round the clock surveillance for her - and not a single shred of tangible evidence was ever found. It would have to have been a criminal of the most sophisticated level to be able to outsmart the police, her neighbors, a private investigator, her ex-husband and her family at every single turn. People have criticized the female officer’s attitude toward Cindy, but I would have done the same - there was clearly something amiss in this case. The question becomes how much of the responsibility falls to the police when handling cases such as this? They are not psychiatrists or even medical doctors - they have a duty to serve and protect the public, and cannot focus all manpower and resources on one individual who is making what amounted to unprovable claims. Cindy DID have access to psychiatric care - she worked for a facility herself! One would argue she had access to more resources than most. She admittedly was not completely forthcoming with her family on the incidents, and I would argue that if anyone had a true “responsibility” to getting Cindy the care she needed it was her family. None of them moved to be near her or really participated much in trying to help her - other than Doug and Melanie, but even that seemed very limited. This is not a case of victim blaming. PLENTY of people stuck out their necks to help and protect Cindy, whether her attacker was real or not. Ultimately, there comes a point when only those who want to help themselves can be helped. This is just an unfortunate case all around and a very intriguing mystery. But I would not cast blame on the police or doctors in this case. And I definitely don’t believe that some crazed cabal of sadistic psychiatrists had anything to do with it. I think this podcast gives too much credence to far-fetched alternate theories and is desperate to blame someone, anyone, for this sad case. Sometimes there just aren’t any clear cut answers, and sometimes it’s nobody’s fault.

Well done, but I still disagree …

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i want more content like this on audible! interesting true crime story with lots of twists and turns

good listen

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I really enjoyed this true crime tale. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it has so many twists and turns and so wholly captured my attention that I ended up binging it all in just two days. Admittedly, the ending may seem a little ambiguous and unsatisfying for audience members used to CSI-type shows where everything is wrapped up and definitively explained in minute detail within the space of an hour, but real-life is rarely so tidy, and that's something this show doesn't try to hide. It's definitely worth the listen.

Special recognition goes to narrator Pamela Adlon. I knew she's a gifted comedic actress but wasn't sure just how well her talents would transfer over to this genre. Long story short, she's one of the podcast's highlights. She has great vocal timing and expression without coming across as melodramatic. I hope to hear more from her in the future.

Interesting Story, Great Narrator

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This is a great podcast. So many twists and turns. So many questions. Pam Adlon does an amazing job reading this. I highly recommend this for people who are interested in crime and psychological thrillers.

Disturbing and engrossing

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I was pleased with the way the story was told, the different theories, the evidence.

Very very good

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I am constantly mentioning this to anyone when discussing good true crime stories. I would say this is in the top three I would recommend.

I recommend this to all True Crime Fans

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I've heard and read about this story, I always feel bad that it seems know one believed her and now she's dead, it sooooooo very sad.

Date 10/16/21 Saturday
Time 8:03pm

LORD JESUS CHRIST THANK YOU. 10/16/21 Saturday

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I really enjoyed this podcast. I remember this story from an old episode of “Unsolved Mysteries” so it was good to get more of the details. I am not going to speculate on my thoughts on the case. My rating is strictly based on my enjoyment of hearing about this unusual case and not on the podcasters conclusions.

I thought for the most part the podcaster was unbiased and tried to give the listener as many details as possible. The case had a lot more to it than I was aware and I really enjoyed hearing it and being able to come to my own conclusions.

Strange but Interesting

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I don't normally go for poscasts or unsolved case stories. I almost passed this gem up...glad I didn't.

100% Captivating

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