Pod Insights Criminology David Buller About this episode The shocking & brutal murder of University of Toronto College professor David Buller in 2001 took place in the middle of the day on campus, yet somehow, no one saw anything, and his killer slipped away and remains unidentified to this day. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the murder of David Buller. He was found in his office by a cleaning crew. There were few clues or pieces of evidence but that hasn't stopped many people from trying to find out who killed David, and why. There is no shortage of theories or potential suspects in this baffling case. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital production
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised.
0:37 Speaker 01 Hello everyone and welcome to episode 355 of the Criminology Podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson.
0:43 Speaker 02 And this is Mike Morford.
0:44 Speaker 01 Mr. Mike Morford, how are you doing, buddy?
0:47 Speaker 02 I'm doing pretty good. I'm in a little bit of a lull of sports activity for my kids and everything seems to have calmed down a little bit and we're just sort of taking it easy a little bit, working on podcasts and catching up on some TV and I like that little bit of downtime. How about you?
1:03 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah, I mean, of course, my kids are grown, they're still in college, but I remember those days where it's like, okay, from one sport to the next, you know, you're basically an Uber driver. At that point, you were just taking your kids to wherever they need to go and man, it can get really hectic, but I will say this, once it's gone, then you miss it. And that's just the strangest thing about it.
1:37 Speaker 02 Yeah, when you're out there cheering them on, it's, it's worth it, but it's Florida here, so there's never really end, an end to the season. It just keeps going because the weather is nice and they play baseball, football, soccer pretty much all year long.
1:52 Speaker 01 Well, there you go bragging again about your weather. I get you. All right, let's go ahead and give our Patreon shout outs. We had one, Aki Noldis Noldis, which is not only fun to say, I don't know if I said it correctly, but also we appreciate it very much.
2:11 Speaker 02 Yeah, thank you so much, Aki, and thanks to everyone else that helps support the show. If you want to help the show, head over to patreon.com/criminology to get started.
2:21 Speaker 01 All right, let's jump into this week's case and it's a puzzling one that takes us north of the border into Toronto, Canada. The shocking and brutal murder of University of Toronto College Professor David Buller in 2001 took place in the middle of the day on campus. Yet somehow, no one saw anything and his killer slipped away and remains unidentified to this day. That hasn't stopped many people from trying to find out who killed David and why. And as we'll find out, there's no shortage of theories or potential suspects.
2:59 Speaker 02 David Buller was born August 10, 1950 to parents of Lily and Jack Buller. Growing up, David and those around him realized that he was a gifted artist and he immersed himself into his art. He received his MFA from the Ontario College of Art. He also was involved in the Ontario Art Truck, which delivered and showed art to area children who wanted to learn more about it. Although David created paintings to sell, he was not very successful selling his art. And eventually, he realized that he could teach others interested in art and earn a steady paycheck. And he took a job as a professor of visual studies at the University of Toronto. It was very rewarding for David to share his love of art with his students, something
3:42 Speaker 02 he did at school for years since 1985. It didn't take him long to become one of the school's most beloved professors and his peers and colleagues often turned to him for advice. When the university announced that they were closing the art histories department's studio due to budget constraints, David spearheaded a program that saved the arts department and created a new graduate program, ensuring that the university's students who wanted to take art classes wouldn't be deprived of them.
4:11 Speaker 01 Despite all of his classes and his outgoing work behind the scenes, helping students and the university's art department, David was a very private person. One thing, though, that he didn't shy away from was the fact that he was gay during a time when many people were afraid to come out publicly. As far as we know, he never faced any pushback for that or any negative responses, his family, colleagues, and many of his students. Knew that he was gay, but he didn't seem to create any enemies for David. And he was popular and friendly among seemingly everyone he interacted with.
4:52 Speaker 01 And more of maybe many people listening are too young to remember, you know, what it was like in the eighties. Many gay people did not come out. They were fearful and rightfully so, because many who did come out, you know, wasn't easy for them. Hey, it's just a much different time, or that was a much different time than we're living in today. Not that, you know, everything is great today, but if you look at the difference between when you and I grew up and today, it's a very stark contrast, especially when it, you know, comes to that.
5:35 Speaker 02 Yeah, I think a lot of gay people back then, especially faced a lot of pushback or hate in some instances. And, you know, obviously we've come a long way as a society to be more tolerant and accepting of people, no matter what their background or sexuality might be. But one thing I think of is the openness in general, because, you know, I remember when I was a kid, I had teachers. I didn't know anything about them. I knew their name and that was it. But then I remember some teachers were open and they would tell us, you know, about their families, about things they did on the weekends.
6:14 Speaker 02 And it sounds like he was sort of an open book and was open with anybody that wanted to get to know him. And he didn't seem to be worried that people would know he was gay.
6:26 Speaker 01 And, and maybe that's why he was so beloved. You know, he, he endeared himself to people because he was pretty open. It sounds like with especially his students and his colleagues, although he was a private person.
6:44 Speaker 02 And from everything we could gather, he was very popular and his students liked him, his fellow coworkers liked him. By January 2001, 50-year-old David Buller had been teaching fine arts at the University of Toronto for 15 years. Everyone was just getting back into their grooves following the winter break. It hadn't even been a month since Christmas. On Thursday, January 18, 2001, David didn't show up for either of the two classes he was slated to teach. This wasn't like him, and some of the students concerned by his absence went to his office. It was 6:30 PM. The students knocked, but didn't get any answer, so they left. Early the next morning, on Friday, January 19, a member of the cleaning staff at the university made a terrible discovery.
7:29 Speaker 02 They were there, going from room to room, to do the normal tidying up and light cleaning that an office building would generally need. On the second story of what is now known as the Daniels Building, the cleaning staff member found David Buller dead on the floor in a pool of blood in his office. He had been stabbed multiple times. The staff member raced to get help.
7:50 Speaker 01 And Morpheus and I talk so much about people kind of going on about their daily lives and, you know, often it's, you know, going on a hike, they're walking through the woods and they find something, a dead body, maybe it's a decomposed body or something like that, and that would be horrific. I feel like that would be life-changing. But here's another example, and I think it's a little different. You have somebody who's just going about their daily job and, you know, they're cleaning an office building, something that I'm sure they've done many, many times before. It's become, you know, probably pretty routine at this point.
8:34 Speaker 01 And then they discover someone who's been stabbed multiple times. I don't know, because obviously I have never been in that position, I can only imagine what that would be like and the after-effects that the person who is discovering the body would suffer from.
8:56 Speaker 02 Yeah, I don't think it can ever be easy finding a body, but this had to be especially awful for this person that found him dead because it wasn't a case of a heart attack or natural causes.
9:10 Speaker 02 This was a bloody crime scene and I'm sure that stuck with this this person for you for a long time.
9:17 Speaker 01 At 6:58 a.m., a campus security officer requested help at One Spadina Crescent. Officers arrived within 10 minutes. The scene was bloody and David's office chair had been knocked over, but otherwise the office looked completely normal, almost untouched. Detective Ken Taylor was one of the first ones on the scene and he actually first suspected a suicide because the scene was so calm and normal. Once David's body had been moved, it was the lack of a weapon at the scene that made it clear to investigators that this was a murder. An autopsy later revealed that David had been stabbed seven times and was indeed the
10:01 Speaker 01 victim of a homicide. It was believed that he had been killed on Thursday, the 17th, the day before his body was found by the cleaning staff and prior to him missing the classes he was supposed to teach that day.
10:15 Speaker 02 Detectives surveyed the scene and didn't find a murder weapon. From looking at the scene, it seemed that David had likely been attacked while he was sitting at his computer. When the chair was knocked over, the cord for the computer ended up getting tangled around the chair's leg and unplugged from the wall. David was first stabbed in the back and six more times in the torso. It seems that he must have been stabbed in the back, jumped up out of his chair and turned around to face his killer, or he could have been stabbed in the back and fallen down trying to get out of his chair, knocking it over and ending up on his back on the floor where his killer stabbed him six more times. David's office was small. It's been described as cramped and tiny in various articles, yet there were no signs
10:58 Speaker 02 of a struggle other than the chair tipping over and unplugging the computer. A greeting card David had propped up on his filing cabinet hadn't been knocked over. It could have been a very sturdy card, but anyone who has tried to set a card out for display like that will likely agree that they're prone to falling over at the slightest hint of a breeze.
11:17 Speaker 01 Paul Councilman, a longtime friend of David's, told the Toronto Sun that he believes that David was looking at his computer screen with someone he trusted because nobody except a trusted friend or a colleague would have been able to get that close to him to do this. It's also worth noting that his chair faced the door of his office. This does point to the murderer being someone he was comfortable with. How could someone sneak up and stab him in the back if he was facing the door? And how likely is it that David would have let a total stranger into his office with his back facing them? It seems likely that David knew his killer on some level, maybe a friend, coworker, or even a student.
12:03 Speaker 01 And that did stand out to me more as we were talking about it. You know, in all the different articles where they talked about David's office, you know, I think you mentioned it. It was small, cramped, tiny. Those were the, the type of words that the articles used to describe it. So the first thing that kind of runs through your mind when you hear that the first stab likely was to his back. Well, you're thinking, how could someone do that? Nobody's going to sneak in, in a very small office and get behind the person without them noticing it.
12:43 Speaker 01 It does kind of, you know, lend itself to the thinking that this person was known to David in some way. Or, you know, he invited them in, he knew they were there. And maybe they were looking over his shoulder at the computer. He was showing them something and then the attack began.
13:07 Speaker 02 Yeah, I think it's, it's only normal for anybody that has somebody coming into their office. If they don't know them, they're not just going to let them walk behind their desk and go behind them without having some kind of reason. Now, maybe you could think of some kind of scenario where a worker or custodian or somebody along those lines says, I need to fix something back here. Don't mind me, I won't get in your way. And maybe he lets his guard down, but it seems like the more than likely scenario is that David knew this person and trusted them to be behind him. At the time of David's murder, the Daniels Building was called the Connaught Building because it still housed some of the offices and rooms for Connaught Medical Research Laboratories.
13:51 Speaker 02 The building itself had four stories and was a multi-use space. Just around the corner from David's office was the headquarters of the student newspaper, The Independent Weekly, and next to his office, there was an art studio. Most of the building was the University of Toronto Arts Department, but there was also an eyeball bank, literally a clinic where they preserved eyeballs. To say that this building was a mixed bag of activity would be an understatement.
14:16 Speaker 01 All right, you and I have done a lot of cases. I don't know that we've ever talked about an eyeball bank. A clinic where they literally preserved eyeballs. Now, I'm assuming that that went along with either the medical research or, you know, something along those lines, but that seems like it would be a strange place to walk through where you're just seeing nothing but eyeballs in containers. I'd get a little freaked out about that.
14:52 Speaker 02 Yeah, it sounds like something out of, out of a horror movie. You're walking past these jars of eyeballs. I don't know what they did with them or why they kept them, but it's pretty creepy. And we're going to talk about shortly, they also use this building for things like baby showers. So how you mix all of that together and under this roof, it's, it's pretty strange to have all these things going on there.
15:15 Speaker 01 Whatever the motive, it seemed clear to many that David Buller was the only one who was ever in danger. Liam Mitchell, editor of The Independent Weekly, told The Globe and Mail, "It was apparent to me that this was not a random act. It was far too deliberate, given that I wasn't too worried that there might be someone lurking in the corner." With its headquarters in the same building and very close to David's actual office, it says a lot that the staff weren't concerned. If this murder happened today, you would probably, at the very least, have footage of the killer entering and leaving the building. But there was no surveillance cameras in the Daniels Building at that time.
16:00 Speaker 01 Detective Taylor told the Toronto Star, nobody had cameras then. They existed in 2001, but there was no reason back then to have any kind of high-tech security because it was a building on a busy college campus that didn't have any high theft targets. And I think more if it tells you a lot that people didn't seem to be, you know, panicked, there wasn't this widespread panic, I don't think, on the campus. As if people were thinking, okay, there's a serial killer on the loose. Am I next? You know, that can happen in a lot of instances where someone's killed.
16:42 Speaker 01 But I think when the prevailing theory is that this was a very deliberate, targeted act against David Buller, then it's a little less likely that you have, you know, kind of a serial killer who's just looking for their next target.
17:03 Speaker 02 Yeah, that being said, I'd still be a little bit nervous or freaked out if I worked in that building and the building, people can see this online. It's a very old creepy looking building to begin with. So I think I'd be creeped out a little bit just working there to begin with. And then to have this happen, you know, it'd be, I'd be looking over my shoulder and a little bit nervous going in there. But one thing I want to go back to is this lack of surveillance cameras. I think we've come so far in society, trying to protect different campuses, college campuses, all kinds of schools. And part of the security level in many of the instances is having a good
17:48 Speaker 02 surveillance system and something they just didn't have back then.
17:53 Speaker 01 But just like with everything else, right? That normally comes along with experiencing tragedy. And we have had a lot of tragedies, a lot of horrific shootings and different things over the years at campuses.
18:12 Speaker 02 And it's frustrating when you talk about these older cases, you keep putting the cart before the horse, you can't go, you can't do that. You want to go back and, and hope that there's footage or then you find out that there's not.
18:24 Speaker 01 Because, you know, in, in many people's minds, there was no need for it. Right? I mean, I think one of the individuals said, there was no high theft targets in the building. They probably thought, yeah, pretty safe as most people do until something happens that kind of just completely takes away that feeling of safety. And then that's when you see a lot of things being implemented. Unfortunately, in a lot of instances, we're very reactive, right? As a society, instead of being proactive.
19:01 Speaker 02 And I think that being said is still a good thing that we learn from things that happen and we try to protect against that happening again. And that seems to be the, the case in, in most of these kinds of situations.
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20:33 Speaker 02 Investigators felt that the killer had to have had blood on his or herself after the murder. And if they could figure out their movements after the murder, it may lead to more clues. Painstakingly, every single doorknob in the building was sprayed with luminol, but apparently there was not a single reaction. No blood on any of the doorknobs. There was no blood transfer found on any route that led to an exit. David's office was near bathrooms and also the art studio, both of which had sinks where someone could have cleaned themselves up after the murder. But if they did, they left no trace of themselves anywhere along the way. The lack of blood on any surfaces might indicate that the killer was wearing gloves during the murder. This isn't necessarily a sign that the murder was premeditated.
21:17 Speaker 02 It was January in Toronto, so warm winter gloves were probably common to wear at the time. A dark coat could have camouflaged any blood or even hid in a bloody t-shirt, helping the killer leave the building without raising any suspicion if they passed anyone in the building during their escape. And as we'll get into it later, there were plenty of people in the building that day.
21:37 Speaker 01 Investigators were unable to recover any DNA or fingerprints at the scene that did not belong to David. Something interesting about this is that this means the killer likely must not have cut themselves during the attack, which is something that happens fairly often in stabbing murders due to the killer losing grip on the knife. It could also be another indication that the killer was wearing gloves during the attack. Police immediately were facing an uphill battle. They had no eyewitnesses, no DNA or prints that they could tie to the killer, and they didn't have any clear motives as to why someone would want to kill David. They were going to have to dig hard.
22:19 Speaker 02 Investigators tried to look at every angle. Toronto Police spokesman Sergeant Jim Muscat told the Globe and Mail that anything that could conceivably lead to a suspect is being pursued. All avenues are being explored. He was trying to ensure the public that there was, that there wasn't still a danger. Behind the scenes, police were talking to people who knew David best and might be able to help. But this wasn't an easy task either, because as his niece Karen would explain to the Toronto Star, David was a person who compartmentalized his life. He tended to keep his personal life and his professional life pretty separate.
22:57 Speaker 01 David's family isn't even sure whether or not David was dating anyone at the time he was killed. For all they knew, this could have been intimate partner violence, a domestic dispute that happened to occur at the victim's place of work. David did have a profile on a dating website, but he hadn't matched or connected with anyone as far as police could tell. Not wanting to leave any stone unturned, Detective Taylor made a fake profile on the website to see if anyone suspicious would message him. No one did, and no leads came from this website. Authorities found no sign that the murder was related to any sort of intimate relationship.
23:40 Speaker 01 With no clear suspects, police had to look into a number of theories.
23:44 Speaker 02 The first theory of David's murder was that he was killed in some kind of hate crime due to his sexual orientation, since he didn't hide the fact that he was gay. Maybe the killer was a hateful person looking for an easy target. It feels sad to think about because 2001 doesn't seem like it was that long ago. But even then, people in the LGBTQ plus community faced harsh judgment and stigmas. Police thought maybe David was killed simply because he was gay, or maybe it was because he was making what the killer deemed to be homoerotic art and encouraging students to not be afraid to do the same. Authorities and David's family moved on from this idea soon after the murder. This theory was really only out there because David's friends and family couldn't think
24:29 Speaker 02 of any motive that anyone would have to kill him.
24:33 Speaker 01 Some people theorize that one of the several male models that posed nude for David may have become angered after he made some kind of move on them, killing him in a fit of rage. But when police interviewed several of the men who had posed for David, they all had the same thing to say, that David was always professional and never did anything inappropriate. So, police felt that that line of thinking was a dead end. Along these same lines, one newspaper, The National Post, reported that one possibility was that David was killed by male sex workers that he quote, "was known to hire." We should point out, we didn't see mention of that anywhere else, nor did we find any
25:17 Speaker 01 mention of police considering this angle. Another theory had one of David's coworkers angry with him over some unknown topic, but police came up empty in finding any colleagues who had an issue with David. And more if I did find it very strange that in all of the different papers we looked through, the articles we looked through, there was just this one article that talked about him hiring male sex workers. I don't know what kind of publication The National Post is, because this is up in Canada, but I did find it very strange.
25:57 Speaker 02 If it was true, I mean, it could be relevant because it would just open up a suspect pool of people that David would have encountered, but because it's only mentioned in that one specific paper, you know, I think we have to question whether it's accurate at all. And if it's not, it could be just a red herring. One possibility I was thinking of is maybe the men that posed nude for him were classified by this newspaper as sex workers, as opposed to male models, but that would just be a guess on my part.
26:35 Speaker 01 No, and it's not a bad guess because I'm assuming that those people would have been paid to pose. But you know, when you throw something out there as a publication about someone who's been killed, if it's not true, you know, that that's a, that's pretty hurtful. I think especially for the surviving family members, you know, you're disparaging, or you're trying to disparage someone who's been murdered. I'm not saying that's what happened. I'm saying if it did, that would be a horrible thing. Despite the general feeling that David was the only intended victim and just happened
27:19 Speaker 01 to be killed at work, instead of, you know, someplace like his apartment or anywhere else, officials at the University of Toronto did not want to take chances. After the murder, the university quickly took steps to improve the safety of their campus. Emergency phones were installed and dark hallways received lighting upgrades. Dan Hutt, the university's manager of police services, told the Globe and Mail, "We don't know whether this was a random act, whether it was somebody who knew the professor, and until we do, we're taking the steps we believe are necessary." And I think that kind of goes back to what we were talking about earlier, you know, being reactive.
28:04 Speaker 01 And in some cases, it's hard not to be, or you can't be proactive about everything. But obviously, you see this time and time again, where people react to something bad that happens and they kind of jump in and make all these changes. It's great to see. But like you said, Morf, it would be great if you could go back in time and do some of these things, but obviously, that's not how life works.
28:32 Speaker 02 And unfortunately, all these changes, they were too late to help David, but they might prevent future random acts of violence, or even, you know, somebody being sexually assaulted, or whatever could happen under a college roof.
28:51 Speaker 01 Or at the very least, make it much easier for police, right? To figure out who did it.
28:59 Speaker 02 While there wasn't mentioned the possibility that David's murder was a random act, many people were sure that his killer had been in the Daniels Building before. David's niece, Karen Sandlos, told the Toronto Sun, she believed that the person who killed David knew David and knew the building. Inspector Ken Taylor also told the paper, I'm sure it was somebody he knew. Pretty much everyone who's worked on or been involved in the case has commented on the strange layout of the Daniel Building. It's been described as a maze or labyrinth. David's niece, Karen, thinks that unless you knew exactly where David's office was located, it would have been impossible to find it.
29:37 Speaker 01 And David's office was upstairs and down a few hallways, but it wasn't hidden. You didn't have to walk over a trap door, move a bookcase to find some secret passage or enter any kind of code to get in. His office might be tricky to find if someone told you it's down the hall. But for someone with time on their hands, even walking aimlessly, they could end up there. While you would have to find a suspect that wandered into a building for whatever reason, which brings up its own questions. Who would be fine with killing someone they came across? Or who was hoping to find an isolated victim to attack, but who also left zero traces
30:20 Speaker 01 of themselves behind and who not one witness has come forward to mention even seen? We mentioned earlier, there were a lot of students and faculty members in the building that day for classes. So any number of people could have been walking the halls. And another thing we talked about earlier was that this particular building was used for a variety of things from teaching classes to storing bank records to that eyeball bang that we talked about. It was also the scene of a baby shower. So there was no shortage of potential witnesses or suspects in this building.
30:58 Speaker 02 We talked about how the killer likely would have had some blood on them after the murder, and how clothes they were wearing may have helped camouflage the blood. But they also likely took steps to avoid running into anyone on their way out. There were only a few ways the killer could have gotten out of the building. There are a few elevators in the building, but that seems like a pretty risky option. There was an emergency exit that led to the roof, but that would leave the killer with nowhere to go. There was a second emergency exit that went downstairs. It would have been less crowded than the main staircase that went downstairs, where the killer could have walked right out the front door. But both of the emergency exits were supposed to have alarms triggered by opening the door. There was one more staircase that would have taken the suspect
31:40 Speaker 02 to an exit on the building's eastern side, on the opposite end of the building. According to David's niece Karen, in an interview with Toronto Star, "The stairs closest to David's office were old and creaky and loud, and it would have been impossible for anyone to leave the building without being seen and heard."
31:59 Speaker 01 And for me, Morph, this is a really interesting part of this case. You know, anytime that you're talking about a stabbing, and in this case, the victim was stabbed, you know, multiple times, you're talking about a crime that is occurring, you know, very close up. And you would expect, in this scenario, that the killer would be covered in blood. And so, the question of how this person exited the building, to me, is crucial in answering. You know, what route did they take?
32:40 Speaker 01 You mentioned elevators. Well, you know, who's gonna get on an elevator covered in blood with the chance that either somebody's already on there, or they're gonna get on as you're, you know, descending? So it's more likely to me that they would have chosen the stairs, but not the main stairs, where more traffic would be. But in any case, like this, it always runs through my mind.
33:13 Speaker 01 How did this person leave the scene and not be witnessed in the state they were in? When you know it probably would have been pretty visible, you know, even if they were wearing dark clothing, I get it, that would help hide it somewhat, but I mean, you're talking about hair, face, that blood spatter, it's going to go everywhere.
33:40 Speaker 02 And even if the person didn't have any visible signs of blood or anything that were easily noticeable, just their appearance in general might've caused alarms to go off. Maybe they were sweating, their hair was messed up, they were out of breath, things like that. And I think that's why it was so important for the police to try and find that exit because if they could find the pathway out for the killer, they might be able to locate more witnesses that could provide more information of, I saw so and so at this time, then they could go question them and, and whittle down a list, but unfortunately they had no clue, they couldn't figure out what path the killer took. They, we mentioned
34:21 Speaker 02 earlier, they checked every doorknob in the building for blood and they all came up negative. So just a real roadblock for police trying to figure out what happened with this killer leaving the building.
34:35 Speaker 01 Police needed to really narrow down a timeframe of when David was killed. And in the end, it could have only happened during a period of a few hours. David was alive and well around 1:00 PM on Thursday, but by 4:00 PM, he had missed his first afternoon lecture. He also missed his 6:00 PM lecture. After this missed 6:00 PM lecture is when the concerned students went to David's office to check on him. And although they knocked, they didn't try to open the door. Digging deeper, we know that David's friend, Paul Castleman, spoke to him before 1:00 PM and they hung up because David said he had a lecture at 1:00. Around
35:17 Speaker 01 1:00 PM, David was in the Sydney Smith building, near his building, talking to another faculty member. By 1:10, David was back in his office, leaving a voicemail for the colleague he had just visited in the Sydney Smith building.
35:34 Speaker 02 That Thursday afternoon, there was a party of some sort happening on the floor below his office. Some reports say it was a retirement party, while others call it a baby shower. Most reports say it was a baby shower, which is what we're going to go with. And this baby shower is important because according to the Toronto Star, some of the people who were downstairs on the first floor that day, did end up reporting that they heard an argument and a thud come from above them. At the time, the baby shower attendees didn't think much of it. But later, while being questioned by police about a murder, it took on much more importance. They heard this argument and thud at about 1:30 PM or shortly thereafter. It's believed by many that the thud
36:15 Speaker 02 they heard was David's chair falling over onto the floor, or his body, or maybe even a combination of the two.
36:22 Speaker 01 While the ear witness statements by the baby shower guests are powerful, there is one more potential witness of sorts to David's murder, and that's his computer. And it doesn't fully line up with the baby shower statements of 1:30 being the time that David was likely killed. His computer may have provided the biggest clue in the case. When police checked David's computer for any clues, they found that at 2:02 PM, Apple Work Software was open. A drawing was created in the program and saved at 2:21 PM. The sketch was still sitting in the printer tray. When authorities arrived at the crime scene, investigators believe it depicts
37:05 Speaker 01 David smiling and looking at another man who has his hands above his head. You can't see the wrist area, but this man is usually described as being tied up. There's a slight difference between the version saved to David's computer and the one printed, that he apparently did not save before his computer was unplugged. It seems that the file was printed at 2:24, and the computer was, according to Detective Ken Taylor, unplugged at 2:25.
37:37 Speaker 02 So this does seem to be a very big clue because if his computer is unplugged at 2:25 PM and we assume that it's during a struggle, then what do we make of the the big thud and argument that the partygoers heard almost an hour before they sort of clash with each other?
37:58 Speaker 01 Yeah, well, you know, the one thing I will say is that people can get times wrong, things like that, but normally, you know, computers are pretty accurate. That type of evidence seems to be pretty concrete as to at least when the, you know, the file was saved, when it was printed, and then when the computer was unplugged.
38:28 Speaker 02 I think there's one other possibility that's maybe that the killer stayed in there for an hour after he killed David and he was the person that printed this picture out at 2:25. And then in that scenario, the partygoers could have been right hearing something at 1:30 and the computer being unplugged at 2:25. Maybe it wasn't unplugged during the struggle. Maybe it was unplugged by the killer at that time.
38:56 Speaker 01 Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, there's a, there's several things to kind of look at here. But what I will say is that, you know, if the computer was unplugged during the struggle, as police kind of believe it, it was, the timing here seems very interesting. Where you have the, the drawing created at 2:21, printed at 2:24, and then just a minute later, the computer's unplugged. So is this other person in the office with David?
39:35 Speaker 01 Maybe it's the, the person who's in the drawing. But for whatever reason, once it's printed, they don't like the drawing, or they're upset about something that has to do with the drawing? I don't know. I mean, there's just a lot of things that we have to sift through. And obviously, a lot of things that investigators had to sift through.
40:00 Speaker 02 The saved version of the sketch is just a drawing. The printed version, however, has six words on it. Authorities have never released what the words are. As far as the sketch, it's a very crude drawing that looks like it was made in paint, using the pen and the spray paint tools. Some people don't agree that it looks like David and another man. There are spray paint blobs covering the man's face. His only real feature is his abs. Maybe the six words have a name or a clue, but the drawing on its own seems like such a strange thing for investigators to be focused on. We also can't say for sure that David created and printed the sketch. As his niece told the Toronto Star, "David painted abstracts that were all about color and movement and emotion."
40:43 Speaker 02 This computer drawing definitely does not seem to demonstrate any of those skills.
40:48 Speaker 01 And that could go back to, you know, your theory more if that it wasn't David who created it or, you know, printed it out. It was the killer who stayed in the office after the murder occurred and for whatever reason decided to do it.
41:06 Speaker 02 If that's the case, that seems like they're taking a really big risk. You know, it seems like someone that had just killed somebody would want to escape as fast as they could and not be caught with the body. But if they stayed there that length of time and then messed around doing things on the computer, seems like they'd be putting themselves at risk for getting caught.
41:28 Speaker 01 Detective Taylor believes that the image and the words on it could be key to solving David's murder. He's quoted on murdervillage.com as saying, "This, I believe, is the motive for the murder. We believe he was killed as a result of this, but we don't know why." So it seems that police think that David was still alive to print this picture after 2:00 PM. The baby shower ear witnesses heard what they thought was an argument and loud thud at around 1:30. Is it possible that both details could be correct? Could David's killer, after murdering him, have spent time in the office and then printed the document,
42:13 Speaker 01 finally leaving when the coast seemed clear?
42:17 Speaker 02 Determining an exact timeframe of the murders crucial. Looking back over the timeline and the details, one thing sticks out. On Thursday, the day David was killed, his friend Paul spoke to him on the phone. And David told Paul that he had to go because he had a 1pm class. But we know that he had a class at four and six, not 1pm. Was Paul mistaken in his recounting? Did someone misunderstand what he was explaining? Did David lie to Paul for some unknown reason? And if so, could this be the missing piece of the puzzle? An unknown task or meetup at 1pm that he wasn't honest about, not even with Paul? We may never know.
42:56 Speaker 01 And you know, people tell little white lies all the time.
43:01 Speaker 01 You don't want to talk to somebody on the phone. You're trying to get them off the phone. So you come up with an excuse. I gotta go, I gotta a lecture. But you know, I do think this is important. Paul, by all accounts, was a good friend. It seems strange to me that David would need to lie to Paul. He could have just said, man, I gotta go. Or I don't, I don't have time right now. So was there another reason for him saying he had a lecture at one that he didn't really have? Or did Paul get confused? I don't know.
43:39 Speaker 02 And it may be a red herring. I mean, it may be as simple as what you just mentioned, that he was trying to be nice and didn't want to talk to him at that moment. And just said, hey, I've got this lecture coming up. I gotta get off the phone. Or it, maybe there's something to it. Maybe he was meeting somebody in a meeting that he had set up in his office. And he wanted to be free for that meeting. I think if police knew the answer to that, it might give them more clues to work with in the case.
44:07 Speaker 01 Detectives interviewed nearly 200 people in less than three months following David's murder. Sadly, though, they were no closer to any answers. Sue Block Nevett, U of T's Director of Public Affairs, confirmed to the Globe and Mail that after 180 interviews, they have no leads, they have no suspects. The years continued to pass and the number of interviews kept growing, but the leads, the answers, they didn't come. In 2014, the civilian detective team at To Catch a Killer concluded that the most likely answer was that the killer was a faculty member at the University of Toronto, specifically
44:51 Speaker 01 someone who worked in the Fine Arts Department with David.
44:55 Speaker 02 Although police back in 2001 didn't find any faculty members that might make promising suspects, in the years after, a friend of David's came forward to say that he recalled that David mentioned having issues with two faculty members, and one of them has since passed away. One colleague that some of David's friends suspect was known to be in the building at the time of the murders. Their office was one floor above David's. That staff member was conducting student interviews that day with a new student sitting down with him about every 20 minutes. It seems unlikely that there was enough time for them to commit the murder without leaving a trace. Sadly, this is the colleague that has since passed away. If they had any answers about the case, they took them with them to the grave.
45:38 Speaker 01 Investigators did look into someone else who knew David and knew the building. Around Christmas time, David expressed concern about a student of his who he felt was threatening. The information about the disgruntled student is pretty vague. This student ended up switching schools and was actually already in the process of transfer when David was killed. This so-called disgruntled student left the country shortly after the murder. The authorities stopped looking into the student because they had an alibi. They were captured on CCTV at a bank around the suspected time of the murder.
46:17 Speaker 01 But like I just said, right? The details are pretty vague. To me, it's always concerning at the very least when someone leaves the area shortly after a murder. In this case, the person actually left the country. Now, authorities stopped looking at them because they said they had an alibi. But you and I just got done talking about how kind of nailing down the exact timing of the murder is so very crucial. And that would also apply to someone's alibi.
46:58 Speaker 02 It certainly does look suspicious whether they had anything to do with it or not when they leave the country. Now, to be fair, we don't know a lot about this person. Maybe they had school outside of Canada that they went to. Maybe they weren't a Canadian citizen to begin with. We just don't know that part, but it certainly sounds nefarious. And then I also go back to the coworker, you know, that the rumors of them not getting along or having some kind of beef, just enough to pique your interest, but there's not really much meat on the bone as far as what the confrontation, if any, was about and why
47:41 Speaker 02 this fellow coworker might have been the killer. According to the Toronto Star, the last painting David completed before he was killed was titled "History Council's Patience," which was a line in a poem by W. H. Auden. David's niece Karen is somewhat reassured by the words. She told the Star, "I keep these words on a card above the desk where I sit every day, and I read them multiple times a day." Karen was so inspired by her uncle that she also graduated from the University of Toronto and ended up becoming a professor of art and education. At the School of Art and Art History at the University of Illinois.
48:21 Speaker 02 David's family holds a memorial each year at One Spadina Crescent on the anniversary of his murder. The building looks a lot different now. There have been multiple renovations since January 2001. David's older sister, Betty Lou Sandlos, commented on the website Friends of David Buller.info. "My brother David was a gift to me. Born when I was 10 years old, I was definitely his big sis. But over the years, we morphed into the best of friends. I miss the trips we might have taken, the laughs we might have shared, what I might have learned from Dave while enjoying a drink together. His humor was so sharp and left me gasping. No one can match him. Oh, how I miss you."
49:01 Speaker 01 And I like anytime we can, you know, find these types of sentiments from family members because it really gives you a lot of insight into what they have to deal with. You know, when his sister talks about, you know, the trips they might have taken, the laughs they might have shared. That's what it really comes down to. All of that time and all of those experiences that they would have shared with David were taken away from them and they have to deal with that for the rest of their lives. The what ifs, the what would he have done?
49:45 Speaker 01 What would they have done together? And to me, that's, it's heartbreaking. That's the heartbreaking stuff of these cases.
49:52 Speaker 02 And not just his family that would be missing him, but also students that aren't going to learn from him. And, you know, maybe they were very inspired by his teaching and they lost that. So there's definitely a ripple effect that his death would have caused.
50:11 Speaker 01 Yeah, you're definitely right. I mean, it's not just the family, right? It's the students that he had. It's also the students that he would have had, who are never going to benefit from his knowledge, but also the faculty at the college. David Refad, a fine arts professor emeritus, the one who originally hired David Buller at the University of Toronto, described him to the Globe and Mail as very charming, very nice, and said that he was a good teacher. And Detective Taylor described the obvious impact David's death had on many, telling the Globe and Mail, "I've had students crying during interviews,
50:54 Speaker 01 and faculty members' eyes welling up when they're talking to me about how much respect they had for Mr. Buller and his work." The David Buller Memorial Scholarship is still awarded to a graduate student entering the Master of Visual Studies program with concentration in studio art practice at the University of Toronto.
51:16 Speaker 02 In so many unsolved cases from the past, the answer may lie in retesting evidence or realizing that certain key pieces of evidence have been overlooked somehow. But as we mentioned previously, there was no DNA or prints found that could be connected to the killer. Maybe new advancements in technology will one day pinpoint a clue in the evidence that police have collected, and it can be connected to somebody finally.
51:42 Speaker 01 And it's definitely one thing, I think, Morf, that's tough about this case. No DNA, no prints. It's thought that the killer was most likely wearing gloves. Well, let's talk about that for a moment. What does that mean? To me, it kind of likely rules out that this was a heat-of-the-moment crime of passion, right? Because most people don't just have gloves with them. Now, it was cold out, and maybe a person was wearing gloves and decided, "In the heat of the moment, I'm gonna put them on." But I don't know, you can look at it a couple of different ways.
52:27 Speaker 01 To me, it could also point to the fact that... This was premeditated. Someone came there to kill David and brought the gloves with them for that purpose. Doesn't mean it absolutely went down that way, but it's one thing to consider.
52:47 Speaker 02 I think the good news is that this happened in the time where DNA was a known factor and that police knew to look for it and knew when collecting evidence that they had to preserve it properly and take steps to not destroy it. And so that may help long term just because they don't have anything now that can find DNA. Maybe down the road, they'll develop something to retest that evidence that they did collect and find DNA where they couldn't before.
53:19 Speaker 01 And we don't know, you know, how much some of the evidence has been retested. It could mean that the technology exists today, but that's one of the issues with some of the unsolved cases, right? It's not like, you know, things are retested weekly. That doesn't happen or even yearly. That stuff's expensive.
53:42 Speaker 02 Well, one thing's clear, too. Whatever was available for testing in 2001 to 2025, that's light years different. So hopefully there has been newer testing done with the modern advances that they've been able to to establish.
54:01 Speaker 01 There are some people who believe it's time to release the six words on the sketch so that the public can see if they seem familiar or if they might jar something loose, it could lead to a break in the case. Then again, it's been 24 years since that sketch was created. Perhaps anyone who might have been moved to come forward by those words at the time have since forgotten about the case, or maybe they passed away. But police haven't given up trying to solve the case. They ask that anyone who has any information about the murder of David Buller, contact the Toronto Police homicide department by calling
54:42 Speaker 01 416-808-7400 or emailing [email protected] . You can also contact Crime Stoppers by calling 416-222-8477.
54:59 Speaker 02 For anyone interested in David Buller's life, legacy and art, be sure to visit friends of David Buller dot info.
55:06 Speaker 01 So more of as, as we wrap this case up, it is a very perplexing one. You have a beloved teacher who is murdered in what you'd have to say is a pretty full building, right? There's a lot going on inside this building. There's a lot of people there. Now, his office might've been very private, but I still go back to this killer with the number of stab wounds and the amount of blood, having to extricate themselves from the crime
55:44 Speaker 01 scene and leave the area. And how did they do that without being seen in a building that was teeming with people?
55:55 Speaker 02 To me, I think it's highly unlikely that they would have gotten out without at least being seen somebody, which I think backs up the fact they probably look like somebody that belonged there. You know, a faculty person, a student, somebody that just wouldn't draw attention because they look like everybody else is there. You know, this been a killer in a Santa Claus suit, running around the halls, trying to get out. That would have drawn a lot of attention, but I'm thinking this is probably somebody that, that fit the look of most everybody that was there.
56:31 Speaker 01 Yeah, I get that, but I also feel like they had to have been covered in blood. And I know I keep going back to that, but I'm struggling to figure out how they were able to not stand out in leaving the building. I also want to go back to the six words that were on this sketch. And you know, it's always a decision that police have to make. What do we disclose and what do we hold back? But to me, when you think about the fact that 24 years has passed. Okay, at what point do you say this is probably or could be one of our best kept secrets, right?
57:15 Speaker 01 That could lead to generating something on the case. Let's put it out there. Maybe somebody knows what these words mean or will recognize who may have written the words, assuming that maybe it was the killer.
57:34 Speaker 02 Even if it wasn't, if it was David that wrote the words, they still may have meant something. But the issue is trying to find 24 years later, put that message out, even if they do release it. People since then have moved, completed college, they have careers, they have families. Some people may have passed away. It's like trying to go back in time and, and hope that that message resonates with somebody today. Whereas if they had released it right at the time of the murders, maybe it would have stood out to more than one person, they might've come forward with tips immediately. So I think that's the, the risk you run by not releasing something like that right away.
58:14 Speaker 01 Yeah, I, I get it. It's a big decision, but, uh, and it would help us if we knew what it said, right? It, they, they could be thinking that, well, it's so benign, nobody's, nobody's gonna recognize it, but I think there's a danger in assuming stuff like that.
58:34 Speaker 02 And I think it'd probably be safe to say that it doesn't have a name on it. You know, it's not somebody's name, or if it was, police probably would have already tracked that person down and been talking to them and arrested them or ruled them out one way or the other.
58:49 Speaker 01 But no doubt, a very mysterious case. You know, we went through some of the theories. You know, could this have been a hate crime? Was David killed by, you know, someone he was having a relationship with? Was he killed by a faculty member who had an issue with him? We don't know the answer at this point, but there's a lot of different theories and avenues to go down and police have been down many of them. They just haven't found you the, the evidence, right? They, they haven't gotten that big break. And that's what a lot of these cases come down to.
59:30 Speaker 02 And it seems like if the police could find one answer to any one of these unanswered questions, it might set the dominoes falling to, to solve this case.
59:41 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But that's it for our episode on David Buller. If you love the show, but haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, leave us a review, a five star rating. Keep telling your friends that word of mouth about the criminology podcast really helps us out.
59:58 Speaker 02 If you want to find us on social media, we're on X with the handle at criminology pod. You can also go to Facebook and find us at Facebook.com slash criminology podcast. And you can join our Facebook discussion group, criminology podcast discussion fans.
1:00:13 Speaker 01 So that's it for another episode of criminology, but Morph and I will be back with all of you next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So until then for Mike.
1:00:22 Speaker 02 And Morph.
1:00:23 Speaker 01 We'll talk to you next week.
1:00:24 Speaker 02 Take care everyone.
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