The Hopetown Murders - James Simpson & Marguerite Simpson (Trailer)

The Hopetown Murders - James Simpson & Marguerite Simpson (Trailer)

In the quiet village of Hopetown, Ontario, a rain-soaked night in September 1987 turned deadly. James George Simpson and his sister Helen Marguerite Simpson were gunned down in their remote farmhouse. Marguerite lay lifeless on the kitchen floor. George, sprawled outside under a pile of tires and a wooden pallet. Both shot multiple times with a .303 Lee Enfield rifle. Three days passed before their bodies were found—rain washing away clues, time burying the truth.

The Ontario Provincial Police recovered the murder weapon from a nearby swamp, but in rural Lanark County, where such rifles were everywhere, it was a dead end. An open door. A targeted attack. A case gone cold in months. But was this just the beginning?

From 1975 to 1987, six other deaths haunted eastern Ontario. Middle-aged bachelors and a lone widow—shot, burned, left in the ashes of their homes. John King. Wallace Johnston. Harold Davidson. Archie Collison. Ken Murphy. Lillian Tousant. All solitary souls. All eerily similar. Could a serial killer have prowled these quiet corners, striking under the cover of night?

As one resident recalls, 'It was pretty hard on the people around Hopetown. A lot of people were afraid and still are.' Nearly four decades later, the fear lingers. The killer could still be out there—watching, waiting.

Join me, Jay Nicoll of Nicoll Investigations, on Ontario Cold Cases - Canada’s True Crime Podcast this Sunday May 18, as we step into the shadows of that fateful night. We’ll uncover the lives lost, chase the whispers of a predator, and ask: Who took the Simpsons’ lives—and how many others fell to the same hand?

If you know something—anything—call the Lanark County OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Your voice could be the key to justice.

Tune in this Sunday May 18. Because every case deserves answers—and every victim deserves justice.

Because every case deserves answers—and every victim deserves justice.

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