Oct 8/2025 Lindsay Buziak Murder & the alibi witness Cohen Oatman
JASON, LINDSAY & GREG MARTEL
Greg Martel (ponzi scheme fraudster) Cohen Oatman (alibi witness) Jason Zailo (Lindsay’s boyfriend)
Cohen Oatman & Jason Zailo join Terry Martin’s Mortgage Center Nov 2007. Jason is now a dual agent – working as a realtor with Re/Max Camosun Westshore & now a new mortgage broker. Jason & Cohen join their friend Greg Martel, who joined the office in February 2007.
(Photo taken from Times Colonist November 2007)
Just weeks after Lindsay Buziak is MURDERED
Greg, Cohen & Jason part ways with Terry Martin’s Mortgage Centre and begin working at a Dominion Lending franchise in downtown Victoria. As Jason & Cohen had only been working for Terry Martin for a few months the hasty move seemed somewhat odd. At the end of 2008, Greg Martel opened his own Dominion Lending franchise, and it was no surprise when Jason & Cohen followed. In 2010 Jason opened his own Dominion Lending franchise, and at that time Cohen chose to stay with Greg Martel’s office.
Greg was the best man at Cohen Oatman’s wedding in 2005. The two of them met while working as brokers at The Bank of Nova Scotia in Victoria. Martel moved from Brampton Ontario to Victoria in the early 2000’s, leaving behind his job as a mortgage broker back there. So, if Jason Zailo was not licensed as a mortgage broker until November 2007, who was Jason giving his mortgage business to on his real estate transactions? As Greg was his best friend at the time one would think it had to be Greg.
Jason, Cohen, & Greg played on the same hockey team. It was well-known that Cohen & Jason were not close friends, and they did not hang out in the same social circles. So why then, did Jason ask Cohen Oatman to go for dinner with him that Saturday evening? Why not ask Greg Martel, after all Greg was playing hockey that night too? And just where was Greg Martel that Friday evening when Lindsay was being murdered?
GREG MARTEL
HT: 5’10 | WT: 195 | Age: 49
February 2nd, 2008 Pearkes Arena
10:10PM
39 Greg Martel 2 minutes for roughing
Stingers
Yes indeed, they had a 10:10 pm hockey game that evening at Pearkes arena, but that would be 5 hours after they were to meet up at the auto shop SHC at 5:00 pm.
This was not a spur of the moment invite as Jason had asked Cohen the day before. Jason knew he was supposed to meet Lindsay at the 1702 DeSousa home at 5:30 that evening so clearly his intentions were to take Cohen with him. Even if they went out for dinner after meeting Lindsay, they were still left with 4 hours to “kill”. And why was Jason so focused on having dinner with Cohen that night, when he had just finished a late lunch at Sauce with Lindsay at 4:30 pm? When things don’t add up, you really do have to ask the questions.
Is this all just happenstance or is there more to this story than meets the eye? Was Cohen just the chosen victim to be Jason’s alibi witness that night, or was Cohen part of the overall conspiracy to have Lindsay murdered? It’s possible that Cohen was the chosen one because Cohen was known to be kind of simple and not all that bright. And if that were true, he likely wouldn’t clue into what was really about to happen. There is another possible motive too. It was well known that Cohen was an outsider and was always trying to impress Jason and Greg. He wanted to be part of their social circle but just hadn’t made it in. Fact is Jason didn’t really like the guy that much.
The chap who created this video has done an in-dept analysis of Jason’s behavior at the house, picking up on every intricate detail of what took place the night of Lindsay’s murder. https://youtu.be/P02eKI0QYhQ?si=eg7OKP-9P5G-f_RJ
After Lindsay’s murder, Lindsay’s dad tried to reach out to Cohen.
Unfortunately, for whatever reason Cohen refused to speak with Jeff. It would be a few years later that Cohen agreed to talk with Lindsay’s dad, but it wasn’t until pressure had been put on him to do so. Cohen was very defensive and very protective of Jason, giving Jeff only bits and pieces of what happened that night. Cohen has been very unco-operative over the years, and that was with anyone that dared to ask him questions about what happened that evening.
He had been under a great deal of stress after Lindsay’s murder, was dealing with a gambling problem and lost his home to foreclosure in 2013. Was Cohen’s stress/trauma due to what he witnessed in the murder house that night, or do his issues go much deeper than that. I suspect that Cohen has some deep dark secrets and knows if he comes clean about what he saw that night he may be implicating himself in Lindsay’s murder. Maybe he has been silenced for reasons we are unaware of.
The Saanich Police publicly stated that Jason & Cohen’s statements about what happened that night at the DeSousa house matched up.
However, it turns out that is far from the truth. Remember what Jason said on the Dateline show. He claimed he saw shadows through the front door as he pulled into the cul-de-sac. Cohen supported that statement. But just a few years later Sgt Chris Horsley would tell the press that Jason actually saw the couple standing outside when he turned into the cul-de-sac and that upon seeing him, they turned around and went back inside. Cohen insists he did not see anyone standing outside. Therefore, his and Jason’s stories were not aligned as the Saanich Police claimed.
As for the man, he is described as about six feet tall with possibly brown hair. He was wearing a “classy” brown jacket that probably fell below his waist, according to Zailo.
Cohen left Greg Martel’s office in 2016. Greg had relocated to California and was operating a few businesses from there, all the while committing the biggest mortgage fraud & Ponzi scheme in B.C. history. As Cohen worked closely with Greg at that time it’s hard to imagine that he didn’t know what Greg was up to. This is very telling of exactly what kind of guy Cohen Oatman really is. What a great friend you had there Cohen! After Greg’s departure, Cohen went to work at a few other brokerage firms, but it didn’t work out for him. Then lo & behold we find out that he’s hung his mortgage broker’s license at Jason’s office, Modern Mortgage Group at Uptown Centre. When Lindsay’s dad Jeff confronted Cohen as to why he would do this, Cohen told him that no one else would hire him. Well, that’s really laughable!
Unless Cohen had committed fraud there is no reason a firm wouldn’t have hired him on.
A realtor or mortgage broker can pretty much choose who they want to work for. As long as you bring in clients and make money for the company you are considered an asset. Not only did Cohen work for Jason while living in Victoria, but he also continued to hang his license in Jason’s office even after he moved to Squamish in 2019. Why in the heck would he not hang his license with a broker in Squamish? In 2023 Cohen gave up his career as a mortgage broker and is strictly working as the manager at the Chances Casino in Squamish.
IS COHEN OATMAN AN INNOCENT VICTIM OR PART OF THE OVERALL CONSPIRACY TO HAVE LINDSAY MURDERED?
Cohen was also an informant, and you can be damn sure he would never want that information to go public.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2kvhmPQvng
EMAIL ADDRESS: murderondesousa@gmail.com