🔍 Ep. 1 The Cindy James Tapes · Hog-Tied Truth

A woman is found dead — hog-tied, drugged, and strangled.

But police don’t call it murder.

They call it suicide.

In the opening chapter of The Cindy James Tapes, we examine the haunting death of Cindy James — a 44-year-old nurse who spent seven years reporting stalking, attacks, and threats… only to end up dead in a way no one can explain.

Was she the victim of an elaborate campaign of psychological terror?

Or the architect of a tragic illusion?

One thing is clear:
Cindy James was gaslit — by someone.

This is the story they still haven’t solved.

And it begins right here.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
This episode is based on real events and
verified records.
While the case remains unsolved,all accounts have been
crosschecked against publicsources and witness testimony.
Listener discretion is advised.

(00:21):
A woman is found dead, hogtied,drugged, strangled.
Her hands are tied behind herback with rope, her feet too.
There's a black nylon stockingaround her neck, tightly
knotted, no shoes, no defensivewounds, no signs of a struggle,
and her body has been left inthe weeds, behind an abandoned

(00:41):
house in Richmond, BritishColumbia.
Two weeks earlier, she vanished,and when they find her, they
don't call it murder.
They call it suicide.
Let that sink in.
Her name was Cindy James.
She was 44 years old, a nurse, adaughter, a sister, and, if you
believe her story, the victim ofa seven-year campaign of

(01:04):
stalking, torture, andpsychological warfare.
If you don't believe her, shewas unraveling, dangerous.
And perhaps, inventing theentire thing.
For seven years, Cindy toldpolice someone was trying to
kill her.
She filed dozens of reports,documented over a hundred
separate incidents.

(01:25):
Phone calls, notes, break-ins,physical attacks, even fires.
And still, no arrests, nosuspects, no proof.
Just Cindy.
Terrified.
Alone.
And slowly losing her grip onwhat was real.
Until finally, she ends up dead,and everyone has a theory, but

(01:47):
no one has the truth.
Let's rewind to the moment theyfind her body.
June 8th, 1989.
A road maintenance worker ischecking on an abandoned
property just a mile and a halffrom a shopping center.
That shopping center?
It's where Cindy's car had beendiscovered, 17 days earlier.

(02:07):
Inside the car, groceries, awrapped gift, a smear of blood
on the driver's side door...
and her ID cards scatteredunderneath, like someone emptied
her wallet and carefully droppedit, piece by piece, under the
vehicle.
But no Cindy.
She had vanished.
Until now.

(02:28):
The worker notices something inthe brush near the house,
something that doesn't belong.
He gets closer.
A woman's body, face down, handsand feet bound tightly together
with rope, stocking around herneck, shoes missing, decomposed,
rotting in the early summerheat.
The autopsy would find lethaldoses of morphine and diazepam

(02:52):
in her system, enough to killher outright.
And yet, despite being bound,despite the drugs, despite the
stalking, police announced shelikely did this to herself.
They say it was suicide, ormaybe a cry for help that went
too far.
Because you see, Cindy had ahistory, a complicated one.

(03:12):
But the deeper you go, the moreyou realize.
Either Cindy James was murderedin one of the most calculated
psychological takedowns inmodern history, or she pulled
off the ultimate illusion, aslow-motion vanishing act
designed to prove something noone believed.
That she was in danger.

(03:33):
Her family, and especially herparents, Otto and Tilly Hack,
were furious.
This wasn't suicide, Otto saidat the time.
She was too scared, too careful,too determined to survive.
In fact, just days beforedisappearing, Cindy had told
friends, If the police can'tsolve this, I will.

(03:53):
She claimed she knew who hadbeen tormenting her.
She just never said who.
And now, she's dead.
Police offered explanations, andthen alternate explanations.
They speculated she may havetaken the drugs voluntarily,
then tied herself up, andsuccumbed to the overdose.
A not-expert at the inquest evendemonstrated how it might be

(04:15):
possible to hogtie yourself.
It's not easy, but it's notimpossible.
Except, no syringe was found atthe scene, no footprints, no
tire tracks, no suicide note, nogloves, no bag to carry the
rope.
She was found out in the open,in someone else's backyard and
no one ever saw her arrive orleave or return.

(04:39):
Her sister, Melanie, would laterwrite, Cindy died of an unknown
event, but the unknown waseverything.
This isn't just a mystery.
It's a mirror because whoeveryou are, however you see the
world, you will project your owntruth onto this case.
If you believe victims, Cindywas failed.

(05:01):
She cried out for help over andover, and no one listened.
If you're more skeptical, youmay believe she needed help of a
different kind, and no one gaveit.
Either way, she was gaslit, byher attacker or by the system,
and in the end, it killed her.
This week, we open the case fileon one of the most haunting,

(05:24):
unresolved deaths in Canadianhistory.
You've probably never heard ofCindy James.
But by the end of this series,you'll never forget her.
Because what happened to Cindyisn't just a whodunit.
It's a question of realityitself.
Who do you believe?
Who do you trust?
And how do you prove somethingwhen the only person who saw it
is gone?

(05:46):
I'm Jim Detchen, and this isThink First, the Cindy James
Tapes.
Next time, we go back to thebeginning, when Cindy first
said, someone is watching me.
But today, just think aboutthis.
What does it take for someone'sdeath to be ruled a suicide when
their hands are tied behindtheir back?
Someone believed that story.

(06:09):
Do you?