April 6/2024 Lindsay Buziak Murder – rumors all started within the walls of the Saanich Police Dept.
an autopsy was performed on lindsay’s body in Vancouver.
On February 5th, an autopsy was performed on Lindsay’s body in the presence of a Saanich detective and a forensic identification officer. On February 6th Const. Brad Bradicich addressed the media. Police would not reveal how many times Buziak was stabbed or where on her body the injuries occurred although they did say the cause of her death was multiple stab wounds. On February 7th, Jason Zailo returned to the crime scene to help police re-enact events around the killing.
Detective Staff Sgt. Horsley: Some of the things that people take as the gospel are certainly incorrect. You know the poor victim there, injuries to the victim were never disclosed, autopsy report never been disclosed, although we have admitted this was a horrific attack, we have never indicated any type of injury or nature of injuries.
On Feb 8th Constable Brad Bradicich addressed the media, saying that 25 officers had been deployed to the crime scene.
Forensic identification detectives at the scene were in charge of collecting any physical evidence, fingerprints, shoe prints, hairs & other fibers. They also use photo enhancements and other equipment to rebuild a crime scene. Also in attendance was a group of officers from the patrol and plainclothes division who help secure the scene and talk to neighbors. Police stayed on scene until the collection of evidence wrapped up Wednesday. Bradicich said, “we feel it is important to have members from all aspects of the department. We are very determined to find the cause of death and to find all the information regarding this case.
At the time of Lindsay’s murder Lindsay’s sister Sara was living in the Grand Caymans. On February 3rd, upon getting the call to tell her what had happened to Lindsay the family booked a flight for Sara back to Victoria. When landing a police vehicle pulled up beside the plane, and Sara was escorted from the plane by her father accompanied by Sgt. Chris Horsley & Sgt. Tyra Reid of the Saanich Police Dept. She was then driven to her mother’s house.
I have no doubt that the majority of the public believe the Saanich Police worked this case with integrity and true grit,
but just maybe somewhere along the way in their investigation they were side-tracked, and something went wrong. It appears they were confused and fumbling over their facts, not knowing what direction to go. It’s just interesting that Shirley Zailo is friends with so many Saanich cops and I have to wonder just how that came about.
DANGEROUS CONNECTIONS
It is most interesting to note that Tyra Reid/Lamb was/is a friend of Shirley Zailo, and just a few years ago Tyra made a few comments on Shirley’s Facebook wall telling her how beautiful she was.
Tyra Lamb Love this pic of you!
Tyra Lamb Gorgeous! !
Shirley Zailo Thank you I have no bangs anymore lol
Tyra Lamb Shirley Zailo well u look dynamite my friend!
Tyra Reid was also the handler appointed to protect Ziggy Matheson’s ex- girlfriend Shannon Spruyt in 2000. Shannon was set to testify at Ziggy’s assault trial, but unfortunately, she died of an overdose before the trial date – many believe she was hot dosed. Tyra was well aware of how dangerous Ziggy was, yet here was Shannon – dead.
Tyra Reid was also good friends with Sgt. Barry McLachlan, one of the 7 cops who retired the day before Lindsay was murdered. Barry McLachlan is the cop Shirley Zailo hooked up with in 2011, then lived with for a year. After Barry left Shirley, for personal reasons he changed his last name to Sarantitis. Barry has kept a low profile ever since the break-up and his whereabouts are unknown.
Sgt. Chris Horsley once said he had never heard of the Zailos prior to Lindsay’s murder. I’ve always had trouble buying into that BS.
After all, Horsley was friends with cops Tyra Reid & Barry McLachlan and Shirley Zailo was friends with them. At the time of Lindsay’s murder, Shirley managed both the Re/Max Westshore office & the Re/Max Camosun office in town and her signs were all over Victoria, not to mention all her ads in the newspapers. And Horsley says he never heard of the Zailo’s!!! Horsley knew who drug trafficker Ziggy Matheson was, so would he not be aware that Ziggy was living in one of Shirley’s rental houses? Would that not have been a good reason to start the investigation into Lindsay’s murder in that direction?
I can only imagine the frenzied chaos/confusion going on in the stationhouse that first week after Lindsay’s murder, considering that 7 senior officers of Saanich Police retired the day before Lindsay was murdered and were never called back. First, there were rumors that Lindsay was a police informant, but Saanich Police quickly denied it. Then we heard Lindsay’s murder was connected to the Calgary Drug bust which happened late January 2008, and that rumor has continued on for 16 years, fueled by the Saanich Police.
Nov 2010 VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Saanich Police hope American TV Show cracks 2008 murder case.
Dateline NBC aired The Dream House Mystery last night. Buziak, was a young real estate agent on Vancouver Island who was murdered, now there are suggestions she may have known something related to a drug deal. Detective-Sergeant Chris Horsley says she went to visit her father in Calgary and met with some old friends, one of whom was arrested in a cocaine bust. “Someone might have been angry, did a witch hunt take place, and did someone point the finger at Lindsay because she happened to have been in Calgary at the time?” Police say Buziak was not an informant but are looking into any possible leads in the case. She was stabbed to death in a million-dollar home she was hoping to sell to prospective buyers in Saanich.
Is it possible that Lindsay went to the Saanich Police with the information about what she saw that she shouldn’t have seen? And if she did, what if a member of that police department was a dirty cop, and leaked out that information to the people Lindsay was informing on. If that were the case, then maybe Lindsay is dead, partly because of a dirty cop who was misdirecting the investigation. Now that would be a serious motive for a cover-up. If at one time the cops really believed that Lindsay was the informant, the only person who could have told them that was Jason Zailo. As it turns out Lindsay was not the informant. The Saanich Police need to be far more careful with who they trust.
ALL RUMORS STARTED WITHIN THE WALLS OF THE SAANICH POLICE DEPARTMENT.
Let’s first begin with the rumor that Lindsay’s breasts were mutilated, and we all know that Lindsay’s dad was blamed for starting that rumor. Let’s get real, there is only one person who would be privy to what happened to Lindsay’s body, and that would be the one Saanich Police officer who was present at the autopsy in Vancouver. Was that Sgt. Chris Horsley, the lead investigator on the case? And if not, just who was it.
It only takes that one cop to tell a friend what he witnessed that day, after all it would be a very traumatic experience witnessing what that officer did. If Lindsay was stabbed multiple times in the chest area, then yes, it’s most likely true – not a rumor. That same officer would be well aware of the number of stab wounds inflicted on Lindsay’s body and that information he likely shared with others too.
Detective Staff Sgt. Horsley: Some of the things that people take as the gospel are certainly incorrect. You know the poor victim there, injuries to the victim were never disclosed, autopsy report never been disclosed, although we have admitted this was a horrific attack, we have never indicated any type of injury or nature of injuries.
It was only a few days after Lindsay’s murder that the Saanich Police were in hot pursuit of the people who were involved in the Calgary Drug Bust. Their source of their information could only be Jason Zailo, the guy who had connections to several drug dealers including Ziggy Matheson, Chris Schwartz and others. Let’s not forget Jason’s mother Shirley who rented a house at 2768 Claude Road in Langford to Ziggy Matheson – Ziggy, a serious criminal with ties to organized crime.
So, the Zailo’s point the cops in the direction of Calgary, being sure to mention that Lindsay visited her father in Calgary in Dec 2007. Then of course they quickly pointed the finger at Lindsay’s friend who worked as a part-time receptionist in the Re/Max office, saying that she dated one of the guys involved in the Calgary Bust. The Saanich Police failed to investigate Jason Zailo and his criminal friends. If they had done so they would have realized that Jason was connected to some very unsavory characters, and he himself had connections to the HA in Vancouver just like Ziggy Matheson and Chris Schwartz. The Saanich Police have ignored the multitude of lies Jason has told them over the years, and instead covered for him by portraying him as a model citizen. The same goes for his mother and all the lies she told.
Sgt. Chris Horsley told the media that Jason Zailo was going to the DeSousa property that night because he had real estate documents for Lindsay to sign.
There was nothing for Lindsay to sign that night.
On another occasion this same cop told the press that Jason was going to the DeSousa house because Lindsay was concerned for her safety. Maybe this cop should learn to get his stories straight so as not to confuse the public.
LINDSAY’S REFERRAL CLIENT
There has been much speculation over the years about Lindsay’s referral client, and the Saanich Police would never disclose the client’s name. In fact, Chris Horsley always said, “there was no referral client”. That contradicts what Lindsay’s father said, because he insists that Lindsay got the referral client’s name, called them to confirm they had given her name out as a reference. Unfortunately, they were out of town and could not be reached. In fairness, it’s possible that Lindsay told her father she had called LC just so he wouldn’t worry about her upcoming showing.
LC had come from back East in May 2007 to work with Gordon Campbell’s Government, but her tenure was cut short, she was fired after 8 short months on the job. The government has always remained tight-lipped about the reasons behind LC’s dismissal, leaving many questions unanswered & journalists shaking their head. In the realm of climate action, secrecy prevailed casting shadows over the government’s commitment to openness & accountability.
This was not a cold call to Lindsay. Lindsay had met the client at an open house a few months earlier. According to the client LC, and I did talk to her, she said she instantly liked Lindsay and chose her as the realtor she wanted to work with. So, the question remains, if the woman who called Lindsay to set up the appointment did give Lindsay the referral client’s name, how many people do you think would have been privy to that client’s name/ information? Only two people I can think of!
WHO WAS INVOLVED IN LINDSAY’S MURDER? – AND EVIDENCE IN HAND SUPPORTS THIS THEORY
It’s not likely that the cops ever focused sufficiently on Ziggy as a connection between the Zailos and the Delalcazars.
If they had, it may have taken their investigation in an entirely different direction. In the few years leading up to Lindsay’s murder Ziggy was doing everything possible to expand his drug operation, and he would do whatever it took to make that happen. With Ziggy being trusted friends with Vid & the Delalcazars he likely would have been told about their cocaine shipment headed to Calgary. Keep your enemies close was always Ziggy’s motto and when an opportunity knocks, take it. Ziggy shared what he has learned with his friends – the Zailos. Now it was time to double-cross the Delalcazars and take over command of the drug trade on the island.
Ziggy and the Zailos layed out their plan to take down the Delalcazars. Then the one chosen to be the informant, contacted the Calgary Police and ratted out the Delalcazar’s drug shipment headed to Calgary. This woman might have done so perceiving it to be low risk to her but of benefit in a couple of ways. Providing the RCMP with useful information, could have been used as a strategy to take heat off her family and Ziggy, a well-known drug dealer. Perhaps she’d been doing that for a while and was seen as credible given Ziggy was her tenant. But of course, that information had the consequential benefit of eliminating competition locally in the cocaine trade, and we know she would have only been acting in self-interest.
Perhaps Ziggy and the Zailos, having detailed information about the Calgary stash house, didn’t anticipate repercussions from acting as confidential informants. However, something may have gone awry in their plan, leading to the identification by the cartel of a female informant in Victoria. By which means this information reached the cartel remains unclear. The involvement of a corrupt police officer is a possibility.
Once the main informant realized they were under suspicion, a credible diversion may have been orchestrated to frame Lindsay and hand her over to the cartel.
Lindsay was seen as the most expendable as she was leaving Jason anyway, probably knew things she shouldn’t, and was likely seen as a loose end.
They would have had to coordinate her hit with the cartel, which likely wanted to carry it out itself to ensure the job was done. This would explain the elaborate real estate-related murder scheme, involving a house that was clearly identified as suitable for the murder (vacant after workers went home for the day, an easy backyard escape path) and perhaps even a credible referral client to give the scenario credibility. The Mexican cartel wouldn’t have had the wherewithal to come up with this on their own from the lower mainland and Calgary.
This would explain all the diversionary tactics on the Zailo’s part: misstatements about Lindsay not wanting Jason at the showing, his weird movements at Torquay and intentional-seeming delay in arriving, the conflicting statements about the smokey glass versus killers in the driveway, Shirley’s statements about Matt Macduff being seen as a threat, Shirley’s pointing the finger at DF, SZ’s later denials about knowing Ziggy, and most recently Jason’s strange interview with Zander including stopping talking with him for the interview clearly suggesting Jason knew it was going off the rails. To that point, Zander Sherman reported that “Police previously said publicly they had found “no evidence” linking Lindsay’s job as a real estate agent and the murder, other than the apparent use of a commission as a lure.”
And that house was clearly picked by someone local, who knew it, knew it would have a rear-yard escape route. And they likely went over the layout with the killers in fine detail prior to the murder, including the escape route through the side fence that had been left with open boards. I mean, that is such a particular detail in this entire situation, and had it been boarded up properly their escape plan would not have worked, and they would have been seen exiting the house after the murder. This would suggest that police didn’t even consider that the choice of the house and its suitability for the crime was a key to solving the murder.
What about the owner/builder Joe DeSousa? He told the police he took the missing boards out of the fence so that the painters would have access to the paint he left for them on the patio steps. It’s winter – wouldn’t paint freeze outside? He also told the police he walked through the master bedroom before he locked up and everything looked fine. Odd thing to do, isn’t it? Was it a habit that Joe checked every room in the house before he locked up at night? Or was it just the master bedroom he checked on that night. Joe locks up and leaves at 5:05 p.m. It’s almost as if Joe played his part in assuring everything went according to plan that night. And the missing boards, the perfect escape route!!!
So where would this put the SPD? In the same position we thought.
Not knowing who the main informant was, because they are not entitled to know that information, and consequently completely dropping the ball on investigating the Zailo’s potential involvement in why Lindsay was targeted.
One of the theories about why the zailos would have been cleared so early was that they needed to be protected.
To the cops, they probably appeared to be a fairly normal family who made a living selling real-estate and brokering mortgages. Still, in order to clear the entire Zailo family, the Saanich police must have thought they knew who the murderer(s) were and therefore the Zailos could be cleared of involvement in the murder. At that time the strong connection between that family and Ziggy Matheson may not have been known – or maybe it was and ignored. Now that those connections are known, have the Zailos really been cleared of all criminal activity? As it’s been 16 years and Saanich has still not solved this murder, it’s clear they did not do their due diligence in investigating members of the Zailo family.
The inside of the Saanich Police station is where it all began. Now we have the blue line all covering each other’s asses. What was really said and who said it. The officers in the know, are all too worried about their pensions to ever come clean about something that could really help solve this case. Then in 2009, the Saanich Police cleared Jason of having any involvement in Lindsay’s murder, then in September 2010, one week after the Dateline Dreamhouse Mystery aired they cleared the entire Zailo family. Lindsay’s father said they were not cleared after he spoke privately to Craig Sampson, who was head of the file at the time. They were likely cleared of any involvement in this murder based primarily on the fact that they passed lie detection tests and co-operated fully.
THE RCMP INFORMANT’S HANDLER TELLS ALL
Just when you start to believe that cops don’t leak critical information to friends, along comes the RCMP officer who seemingly was tired of staying quiet. In 2020, Sherry, the RCMP informant’s handler met for coffee with two retired RCMP officers/friends and told them that the informant who called the Calgary Police about the drug shipment headed to Calgary was a woman who worked in Jason’s office at the time of Lindsay’s murder and still works with Jason today.
However, it is very possible that handler Sherry fed her two cop friends’ false information in order to protect the real informant, and to send them off in another direction.
That would be the first time we learned who the informant was, all thanks to cops sharing confidential information amongst their peers. Interesting too, Sherry G was one of the undercover cops involved in Ziggy Matheson’s drug investigation/bust in 2013, and who was present at his trial in 2016. All these years she has known who the informant was, while no one at Saanich would have been privy to that information. How humiliating that must have been for them. Running a major homicide investigation not knowing that the main informant was right under their nose and had befriended many members of the Saanich Police Department.
What a fkg nightmare this entire investigation has turned out to be. Loose lips sink ships, and that sinking ship is the Saanich Police Dept. To be fair, not knowing who the informant really was, the Saanich Police were at a complete disadvantage and were clearly played by the conspirators.
Just last week Jason Zailo, his wife, son, and a few of their friends attended the grand opening of Jacks on the Water, a new restaurant in Sidney. Jason did not have to wait in the long line-up outside, he clearly had reservations – walked right in and was seated quickly at one of the best seats in the house. Jacks on the Water is owned by the same people who owns Jack’s Place on Bear Mountain. So wonderful to hear that Jason is carrying on with his life, thanks to the efforts of the Saanich Police Department.
Disclaimer: All parties mentioned in this blog are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The opinions expressed are solely my own. This blog is created in the public interest with the sole aim of seeking justice for Lindsay Buziak and bringing the conspirators & her killer(s) to account.
EMAIL ADDRESS: murderondesousa@gmail.com