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x 3 Oakville Beaver | Thursday, November 24, 2022 | insidehalton.com OPINION MYSTERY AT MOUNT NEMO DETECTIVE NOT CONVINCED DEATH WAS AN ACCIDENT, WRITES STEPHEN METELSKY STEPHEN METELSKY Column It was an unseasonably warm day on Nov. 23, 2003, when 911 was notified about a woman who had fallen from Mount Nemo. e call was placed by the victim's husband, Milo- dence to summon help for his wife, Angie Paul: Detective Chris Clarke was sitting at his desk in the Burlington investiga- tions office when he got the call. When arrived at Mount Nome “e firefight- ers and seven EMS atten- dants worked ina treacher- ous area of terrain, at- tempting to rescue Pauls. “They were doing an ex- traction, so I couldn't get to scene." It was too danger- ous to venture into. Initially it appeared to be a hiking accident. Re- gardless, Clarke attempted to establish what caused Pauls to fall 70 feet off Mount The detective's first op- portunity to question | Poli: occurred ne when he saw ‘im ing anal am- bulance. Pauls did not sur- vive and was pronounced dead. Clarke had to deliver e horrendous “Tve done a “tot | of death notifications, and everyone reacts and grieves differ- Still, Polima’s 1 reaction to the news of his wife's death seemed unusual to Clarke. tective made a note of this in his files. Polimac was asked to at- tend the police station. At this point, there was no evi dence Ma suggest this wa: ut an. accident so the “Getective “treated him as a victim." However, Clarke had a “gut feeling" that led him to ring the interview, for Clarke aa asked Polimac details. There were no wit- HALTON CRIME, CONFIDENTIAL ple of 25 years had ven- tured past the warning signs and beyond where anyone was allowed e. Why? "Bolinva ac said they were looking over the edge when she saw a deer, slipped and fell,” Clarke recalled. Poli- mac then described how he scaled down the cliff to where his wife had fallen. mac telling him was able to say, "go get help" as she gasped for air. The detective established (from Polimac) that Angie was still alive after she had fallen. "Initially, I didn't have any reasons not to believe him," said Clarke. soon change he detective started with Halton police in 1995 and left no stone unturned. When he visited Angie's family the next day to speak with them about the tragedy, he asked about eir and other is- nesses, and i had already noted the cou- possible sues. Clarke was greeted with “everything's 0 he lett his Taner and on tioned to call if anything came up. Thenext day, something did. Clarke received a call from one of Angie's rela- tives. "We need to talk to you. We think he killed her," were the words Clarke said he heard on the other end of his cellphone. The detec- tive confirmed Polimac had a pregnant girlfriend during his common: law re- lationship Angie Pauls. The taily also shared that Angie had an extreme fear of heights. When Clarke called the coroner to request a foren- sic post-mortem to deter- mine a “criminal cause of death" due to his "strong gut feelings” that this case was a homicide, the detec- tive was faced with a differ- ing point of view. The coro- ner disagreed with the de- tective, and due to a lack of tangible evidence, ere was nothing to support conducting the forensic ex- amination. "I'm on this for 10 days “That blew the investigation wide open. This was a homicide now.” non-stop trying to vince them it'sa homicide,” Clarke said. When Clarke notified the Halton police homicide unit, they sent an investi- gator to work alongside “We started interview- ing everybody," Clarke said, once he was officially seconded to the homicide unit. In the meantime, the incident was still classified as an "accident" and Angi Pauls was laid to rest. The detective began to interview all the fire and EMS personnel who were at the Mount Nemo scene. One EMS attendant had al- so noted that Polimac ap- peared “insincere in his grief," Clarke recalled. After interviewing the 18th firefighter, Clarke felt dejected. None of them had made any notes or had any viable fo pro- vide. His ‘ast chance was with the 19th person on the list to interview — the fire captain. At that moment, the alarm bell went off in- side the fire station fora call. The captain couldn't ~ Detective Chris Clarke provide any information at bars time. was almost out the. doo when he quickly asked, “Anything else you think of?" can, ? “He covered up her face with a sweatshirt," the cap- tain told Clarke. “Like they do with dead people?" Clarke astonish- ingly asked. "Yes, when people die," the captain confirms larke had already been able to establish Polimac was blocked by EMS from returning to the Mount Ne- moscene after calling 911. If Angie was truly alive, Basp. ing for air, wl someone cover her face’ “That blew the investi gation wide open. This was a homicide now," Clarke aid. 2 Stay tuned for Part 2: Wired for sound. Stephen Metelsky is an author, professor, and retired HRPS detective. Twitter @Stephentetelshy Have a story idea? Reac himat HaionrimeConf dential@gmail.coi Hosting an event online or in the community? Post the details for free in our calendar. ONLINE ONLY TERRA Milton a Rd. Milt Loe » SA day Sale VE 20%