Peter Woodcock was an awkward child who loved to ride his bike. Peter Woodcock was also branded Canada’s youngest serial killer.
Peter Woodcock was born in Peterborough, Ontario on March 5th, 1939 to a 17-year old factory worker who put him up for adoption a month after his birth. The records state that Peter had feeding problems as an infant, and he cried constantly.
He was shuffled from foster home to foster home, never staying in one place for very long. He became terrified of people, and screamed and cried if anyone tried to go near him.
When he was two years old, Peter was admitted to hospital after a severe beating in yet another foster home. Peter suffered injuries to his head and neck, and was removed from the home.
A year later, at the age of three, Peter was placed into a stable home. Though never formally adopted, Peter received stability from his foster parents, Frank and Susan Maynard. They were patient, and helped Peter work through his fear of people.
Despite the love and care of his parents, Peter never got along well with their biological child, George, who was ten years older than Peter.
By the age of five, Peter stopped screaming when people approached him, but he was still described as strange and awkward. Seeing as his brother wouldn’t play with him, Peter tried to venture outside, but became the target of neighbourhood bullies. He would often run away from the neighbourhood in an attempt to hide from the other children.
As Peter was still part of the foster system, despite being in a stable home, he often saw social workers. The social workers on his case grew concerned as they learned about violent fantasies that Peter began harbouring at a young age.
As a result, the Maynard’s sent Peter to a school for ‘emotionally disturbed children’ in Kingston, Ontario. It was here that Peter began to learn how to charm others around him, and manipulate them to his benefit. He often used pretty words to get what he wanted. And what he wanted, at the young age of 13, was to exploit the other children at the school for his sexual pleasure.
When Peter was discharged from the school when he was 15, he couldn’t quite adapt to his surroundings. His parents enrolled him in a private school, but Peter failed to connect with the other children. He couldn’t make friends, and had a hard time forming emotional attachments.
At 16, Peter left the private school at the request of his parents, and enrolled in the public high school in the neighbourhood. However, once there, the neighbourhood kids who’d made his early childhood miserable recognized him and began tormenting and bullying him anew.
Six weeks later, Peter transfered to yet another private high school. He also failed to make friends or connect with his classmates there, but his teachers sung his praises. They thought him a bright boy, with a bright future who excelled in science, history, and English.
He was described as liking news magazines to comics, preferring classical music to the modern music on the radio. He was also described as smart and precocious – always riding his pride and joy.
Peter was gifted a Schwinn bicycle by his foster parents, and he rode it all over town. Even in the cold winter months, Peter could be seen riding his bike all over the GTA – the Greater Toronto Area. Riding his bike allowed him to escape the torment of the neighbourhood bullies.
It also allowed him to move as he pleased.
Though he hid it well, Peter’s violent fantasies were growing, and becoming darker and darker. He focused predominantly on anatomy, rape, and murder.
He also fantasized about being the head of a gang of 500 invisible boys. His make-believe gang was called the ‘Winchester Heights Gang’.
In 1956, with his invisible boys at his back, Peter Woodcock began committing horrendous acts of violence. He would use his bike as a prop. He would offer children rides on his handlebars, and then lead them to secluded places he’d discovered. Once there, he would relish in physically and sexually assaulting the children.
His attacks on children became increasingly violent. He would strangle them to unconsciousness, strip them, assault them, and then leave them there, naked, hurt, and afraid.
Woodcock was also careful. He would ride further and further away from his neighbourhood, so as to avoid recognition. And he would never attack a child in the same neighbourhood twice.
He never got caught. And Peter believed himself to be unstoppable.
On Saturday, September 15th, 1956, the Mallette family left their home in Kingston to pay a visit to Grandma in Toronto.
Irene and John packed up their five children and headed towards the trendy neighbourhood of Parkdale, which was near the grounds of the CNE – the Canadian National Exhibition. No one was more excited than 7-year-old Wayne. He loved visiting Grandma, and he especially loved being able to play in the city.
Wayne wanted to go to the movies with his brothers, but they didn’t want the young child hanging around. Dejected, his brothers left for the movies without him, and he went outside to play on his grandmother’s front law. And then he disappeared.
Later, a nightwatchman for the CNE grounds described an awkward encounter. He said that a teen rode up to him. The watchman noticed that the teen was slim, between 14-16 years old, over five feet tall but still rather short, with dark hair combed and parted to one side, with horn-rimmed glasses and a pimply face.
The teen asked the nightwatchman if he’d ever found a body in the bushes, and what would he do if he did. The nightwatchman was at a loss. He didn’t know how to respond to the odd teen.
The teen then went on to say that he’d seen someone else, a ‘perfect double’ of himself, fleeing from the CNE grounds. The nightwatchman was deeply unsettled. Then the teen took off on his bike.
Meanwhile, Irene was becoming frantic. No one had seen Wayne in hours. John thought he’d gone off with his brothers. When they returned from the movie and told them Wayne hadn’t been with them, the family called the police. Over 30 constables searched the CNE grounds and the surrounding area for Wayne.
At 230AM, his body was found in some bushes. Jack had to identify the body, and then break the news of the discovery to the rest of his family. It seemed as though Wayne had been lured out there from his grandmother’s front yard.
Wayne had been strangled, and it looked as though his clothes had been removed and then put back on. His face had been pushed in the dirt, and there were bite marks on his body. Though there was no evidence of sexual assault, there was one peculiarity. There were pennies scattered around Wayne’s body, as if in a ritualistic manner.
That same night, 14-year-old Ron Moffatt had gone to the movies with his friends to see a double feature. After the films, he helped the theatre owner change the letters on the marquee, and then spent the night at a friend’s house. His whereabouts could be accounted for for the entire night of September 15th.
The next day, Ron went home, but he skipped school on the following Monday. He knew this would make his father very angry, and he didn’t want to stick around to suffer his father’s wrath. Ron packed up some food and clothes, and then hid under a set of stairs in his apartment building.
When his mother found out that he hadn’t been home, she called the police and reported him missing. But Ron had a plan. In order to avoid his father, Ron worked at a bowling alley from 4PM to 11PM, ate out with money he earned, squirrelled leftovers away in his hiding spot, and stayed hidden under the stairs until it was time for work.
As part of the investigation into Wayne’s murder, the police were checking reports for runaway teenage boys. They came across Ron Moffatt’s missing person’s report – he fit the age range that had been given to them by the nightwatchman.
Investigators also discovered that Ron had worked at the CNE over the summer, and he knew the grounds. They found the timing of Ron’s disappearance suspicious, though it was completely coincidental. The police figured they had their suspect.
They interviewed Ron’s mother, and received a tip from a local shop keeper that Ron had been in the area. They found his hiding place under the stairs, and took him down to the police station – without notifying his parents.
Ron thought they were going to reprimand him for playing truant – but they were about to charge him for the murder of Wayne Mallette.
Ron was put in an interrogation room, and relentlessly badgered and questioned. He was told constantly and consistently that he was a murderer. He was asked a long series of leading questions. Ron just wanted the entire thing to be over. So he told them what they wanted to hear.
The police were thrilled. They had their killer! What they neglected to tell anyone else involved was that it was a coerced confession. Ron had to be walked through the events of the night of September 15th, and he was fed the correct answers.
After the forced confession, Ron was taken to a dental college in order to have casts made of his teeth. They wanted to match his teeth to the bite marks found on Wayne’s body.
On Monday, September 24th, 1956, Ron was brought before the juvenile court system and officially charged with the murder of Wayne Mallette. Ron plead not guilty, and he was remanded into the custody of a juvenile detention centre.
As he was tried as a juvenile delinquent, the trial would proceed without a jury, meaning the judge would decide his fate. He couldn’t be sentenced to death, but he still faced incarceration if found guilty.
Many witnesses placed him at the movie theatre on the night of Wayne’s murder, saying the timing was impossible. But the Crown argued that Ron snuck out, stole a bike, that he couldn’t ride due to balance problems, rode it to the CNE grounds, bumped into Wayne, and murdered him before sneaking back into the theatre.
They relied heavily on the coerced confession that Ron had given to police. The clincher was the report from the ‘dental experts’. They claimed that the casts made of Ron’s teeth matched the teeth marks found on Wayne’s body.
On December 4th, 1956, Ron Moffatt was found guilty of the murder of Wayne Mallette. He wasn’t immediately sentenced. He was sent for a psychiatric evaluation, and then returned to the juvenile detention centre to await his sentencing.
While Ron was being traumatized by police officers, the real killer wasn’t quite finished yet.
On Saturday, October 6th, 1956, 9-year-old Gary Morris met up with a friend to go see a movie. Afterwards, the boys went back to Gary’s house and played in the front yard.
At around 330PM, a teen rode up to the yard on a bike, and Gary went over to talk to him. They spoke about pigeon shooting at Cherry Beach, a rough part of the Toronto shoreline. The teen then offered to take Gary there right away. Gary’s friend watched as Gary rode away on the handlebars of the teen’s bike.
The friend later told police that the teen looked to be around 14-16, with dark hair and glasses.
At 8PM, Gary’s mother reported him missing, and the police took the eyewitness statement from Gary’s friend. Then, they went to Cherry Beach to look for Gary.
Early the following morning, his body was found in the bushes. It was determined that he’d been asphyxiated. It was assumed that Gary’s assailant was lying on top of Gary so hard, the boy couldn’t breathe. It also resulted in a ruptured liver.
Gary’s body was also found with bite marks, and paper clips were found scattered around his body – like Wayne and the pennies. And just like Wayne, Gary’s clothes had been removed and then been put back on.
At the time, the Toronto police had very little experience in dealing with homicide cases. They’d already bungled Wayne Mallette’s murder, and now they had a second child found murdered. Little did they know they’d have to contend with one more murder before they were through.
On Saturday, January 19th, 1957, Carole Voyce was playing outside with her friend. They were all bundled up against the cold while their mothers chatted inside over coffee.
As the children played, a black-haired teen approached them and began chatting with them. The teen then offered to give Carole a ride on his handlebars, which she accepted.
A little while later, Carole’s mother went outside to check on the children, and found her daughter missing. Carole’s friend informed her that a high school boy had taken Carole for a ride.
Carole’s mother called the police immediately, and they began a frantic search for the 4-year-old girl.
At 11PM that night, a policeman found Carole, face-down, in a puddle of congealed blood near the Bloor Viaduct. Once again, her close had been taken off and put back on. But this time, there were signs of sexual assault. She’d been severely beaten, and died of a massive hemorrhage.
Apparently, as the killer was leaving the scene, he ran into a man and told him: “If there’s a murder down there, they’re gonna try to blame it on me.”
The police made the connection between Carole’s murder and Gary’s murder. They offered a $5000 reward for the capture of the teen with the bike. But they still hadn’t pieced together that all three child murders were committed by the same individual.
As police were investigating, Carole’s friend gave them a detailed description of the teen on the bike. A composite sketch was created, which showed a boy with dark hair parted to the side and horn rimmed glasses. The sketch was front and centre on the front page of the Toronto Star.
One officer suddenly remembered an incident that had transpired several months before the murder of Wayne Mallette.
He remembered that a 10-year-old girl had been reported kidnapped. After hours of searching, the girl called her parents from a payphone and told them to come and get her. When the police went to the phone booth, they found the girl with a teenager. The teen had a pimply face, glasses, and dark hair parted to the side.
The police officer wondered if this teen was somehow connected to Carole’s murder. He went looking through the files, and came across the report from all those months ago.
Police decided they should pay 17-year-old Peter Woodcock a visit.
On Monday, January 21st, 1957, Woodcock was picked up and asked about Carole’s murder. At first, he feigned innocence. He said he’d been in the area, but claimed that he’d seen a boy who looked just like him racing away on another bike.
It only took a few more questions before Woodcock confessed freely to the murder of Carole Voyce – he didn’t require any of the probing, prodding, badgering, or harassment that Ron Moffat had faced.
Peter Woodcock was arrested and charged that very same day. He was then asked about the murder of Gary Morris – which he also confessed to freely. He described his actions in detail.
He then told the police that in “the murders of Wayne Mallette, Gary Morris, and Carole Voyce, he removed their clothes, examined their bodies, and put their clothes back on again” (Canadian True Crime podcast).
Right after Woodcock’s arrest, Ron Moffatt got a new lawyer who launched an appeal right away. But nothing could happen – Ron still needed to be sentenced before anything else could happen.
On February 1st, 1957, Ron was committed to the Ontario Training School for Boys, where the conditions were deplorable. He tried to feign mental health problems in the hopes of alleviation. But the tactic failed. Ron was then sent to the Guelph Reformatory. He was still there when Peter Woodcock went on triel.
He was tried as an adult, and only tried for the murder of Carole Voyce, though he confessed to all three.
The trial began on April 8th, 1957. Woodcock plead not guilty, despite the confessions. His lawyer claimed he was criminally insane.
After four days, Peter Woodcock was found not guilty by reason of insanity on April 11th, 1957. He was sent to the Oak Ridge division of the Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre in the maximum-security wing.
After reviewing Ron Moffatt’s appeal, a new trial was ordered. Now 15 years old, his second trial began on May 13th, 1957. Peter Woodcock was a witness for the defence. He confessed to the murder of Wayne Mallette, and expressed disdain about someone else taking the credit for something he’d done.
The ‘dental experts’ even recanted their previous statement, claiming that dental patterns were ‘bad science’.
Ron, who had spent most of his first trial traumatized and terrorized, was calm and composed. He answered questions with poise and confidence.
On May 16th, 1957, Ron Moffatt was found not guilty, and told he could leave the courtroom. Understandably, the Moffatt family were bitter and angry. But they persevered. Though very likely still suffering from PTSD symptoms, Ron is still living a happy, healthy life.
While at Oak Ridge, Peter Woodcock was diagnosed as a psychopath. He underwent multiple therapies that have since gone out of practice for their harmful effects on patients.
Woodcock did not do well with these treatments. He coerced other inmates to do his bidding, and often coerced sexual activity from them.
While in psychiatric care, he formed another imaginary gang, the Brotherhood, and convinced inmates that he could communicate with them on the outside. He also claimed that initiation came in the form of sexual acts and cigarettes.
Woodcock remained the charming, manipulative bastard he’d started becoming when he left the school in Kingston.
In 1989, Woodcock was transferred to Brockville Psychiatric Hospital – a less restrictive institution. He received day passes for supervised outings, and legally changed his name to David Michael Krueger.
While in Brockville, Woodcock, now Krueger, rekindled a friendship with Bruce Hamill, a man he’d met at Oak Ridge. Hamill was working as a security guard at the Ottawa courthouse.
On July 13th, 1991, Krueger, who had received a weekend pass, was signed out of the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital by Hamill. For the first time in 34 years, Krueger wasn’t being supervised.
Before being signed out, Kruger had instructed Hamill to go to a hardware store and purchase a plumber’s wrench, a hatchet, knives, and a sleeping bag.
In the first hour of Krueger’s release, he arranged to meet Dennis Kerr, a fellow inmate from Brockville, in the woods. Krueger had told him that he would lend Dennis $500.
Once Dennis arrived at the arranged metting place, Krueger, who was partially blind and deaf at the time, hit Dennis over the head with the wrench. He and Hamill then grabbed the hatchet and knives and attached Dennis’s body.
Krueger then left Hamill in the woods, walked to a police station, and turned himself in.
Krueger was transferred back to Oak Ridge for the murder of Dennis Kerr, where he remained.
David Michael Krueger, born Peter Woodcock, died on March 5th, 2010 on his 71st birthday. He’d spent 53 years in custody.
To this day, Peter Woodcock remains Canada’s youngest serial killer.
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Sources:
31 Wayne Mallette, Gary Morris, and Carole Voyce – Canadian True Crime podcast
Peter Woodcock – Canada’s Youngest Serial Killer – Dark Poutine podcast
The serial killer they couldn’t cure dies behind bars – Mark Bourrie – The Star
Peter Woodcock Wikipedia page