Global News What Happened To...?

It’s a summer night in 1998. Vienna, Austria. And petty thief Daniel Blanchard is about to carry out the heist of a lifetime. Stealing a crown jewel. The last remaining diamond Sisi Star. His plan? A daring night-time parachute jump. Daniel is no ordinary thief. His heists are ingenious, meticulously planned; his escapes from the law defy belief. And Daniel knows that if he can get his hands on the star, it will launch him into the criminal big-leagues. Daniel’s exploits unleash a relentless game of cat-and-mouse, as police track him across continents yet vanishes from their grasp. What he doesn’t know is that the Sisi Star has a history. A dark history. Its original owner, the legendary Empress Elisabeth of Austria, used it to carve her own legacy of absolute beauty and power. That pursuit drove her to her very limits. And now Daniel’s fate is fixed to that same star. But how long can Sisi’s star stay lucky for Daniel? This is A Most Audacious Heist – it’s the story of a master thief, an intercontinental manhunt, and the jewel that changes everything. Contact: Facebook: @BlanchardHouseStories Instagram: @BlanchardHouseStories X (formerly Twitter): @BlanchardTweets Blanchard House website: blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On February 5, 1981, Toronto Police launched Operation Soap. Officers ambushed four Toronto bathhouses in a series of coordinated raids following a six-month investigation, which led to almost 300 patrons being arrested on the street. The raids were a watershed moment for Toronto's Queer community because, thousands of activists protested along the streets of Toronto and decided to fight the attacks in court. On this episode of What happened to…? Erica Vella speaks with members of the Queer community about the 1981 Toronto bathhouse raids. She learns about the public’s response, and ultimately, how communities came together to create lasting change. Find out more at https://globalnews.ca/news/9888886/what-happened-to-the-1981-toronto-bathhouse-raids/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The old days of air travel were quite risky…compared to today, the chances of your flight going down were far greater …every airport had kiosks and coin-operating vending machines where you could buy life insurance before you headed to the gate—you know, just in case you thought you weren’t going to make it to your final destination… 1977 was one of the worst years for accidents in aviation history…in addition to several violent hijackings every month—sometimes with fatal results—There were also passenger plane crashes with great loss of life…including the worst aviation disaster of all time when two 747s planes collided on a runway in the Canary Islands, killing 583 people. Frank Sinatra’s mother, the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia, and all but one member of the University of Evansville basketball team died in crashes… But then there were the events of October 20, 1977, when a rickety chartered plane went down in a swamp in Mississippi…on board were members of Lynyrd Skynyrd…six of the 24 passengers died, including singer Ronnie Van Zandt, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines, and assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick…both pilots also died… What happened? Have I got a story for you... Like what you hear? You can find and follow Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry on your favourite podcast app or by clicking here: https://link.chtbl.com/uncharted-rssdrop Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kourosh Doustshenas met Forough Khadem in 2010 but a relationship between the couple wouldn't blossom until years later. The couple planned to get married, but before that could happen, Khadem traveled to see her family in Iran. Her return ticket to Canada was scheduled for Dec. 21, 2019, but the flight changed and she was now scheduled to depart on Jan. 8, 2020. By the beginning of January 2020, tensions between the U.S. and Iran began to escalate following the death of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani who was killed by a U.S. airstrike as he and others travelled from Baghdad’s international airport on Jan. 3, 2020. As the couple watched the news unfold Forough Khadem boarded Flight PS 752 on Jan. 8 and was one of the 176 people killed after the two surface-to-air missiles struck the plane. On this episode of What happened to…? Erica Vella speaks with Dousteshenas about his experience and the work he does with the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims. She also learns more about what the international community has done to seek accountability from Iran. Find out more at https://globalnews.ca/news/9899880/what-happened-to-ukraine-international-airlines-flight-ps752/ Contact: Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2018 Thai cave rescue quickly became an international spectacle that captured the attention of people all around the world. Twelve boys and their soccer coach were exploring the Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai when the cave suddenly flooded, trapping the team. Monsoon season came early that year, and the cave became blocked by heavy rainwater. On this episode of What happened to…? Erica Vella revisits the incredible Thai Cave rescue mission. She speaks with diver Rick Stanton about the life-saving dive and how a team of people was able to successfully rescue the Wild Boar soccer team from the Tham Luang cave. Find out more at https://globalnews.ca/news/9733852/what-happened-to-thai-cave-rescue-part-2/ Contact: Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are stories…..that grab the world’s attention… But what happens when the cameras turn off and new stories take over the headlines? On this season of Global News “What Happened to”, Erica Vella brings you some of the most gripping stories from the past and talks to the people at the heart of them to find out what's happened since. Starting Sept 14 we'll share stories on The Thai Cave Rescue, The Downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, The 2011 Vancouver Riots, TikTok, Google Glass, and The Toronto Bathhouse Raids. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brook Schryer recalled his first interaction with zebra mussels in the early 1990s. He was living with his family on Lake Scugog in Ontario and one fall, Schryer and his brothers pulled the family boat out of the water and noticed that it was double its normal weight. This was because of the sheer number of tiny mollusks that clung to the bottom of the boat. The brothers scraped the mussels off the boat but at just five years old, Brook didn’t understand just how big of a problem the pesky mollusks would become. Zebra mussels are native to the Black and Caspian seas region in southeastern Europe and in the 1980s they established themselves in the Great Lakes through ballast water from ships. According to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, as of 2020, the mussels have been found in Lake St. Clair, the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River, the Mississippi River watershed and most recently in Lake Winnipeg, the Red River and the Nelson River. Zebra mussels have created huge changes in the ecosystems they have established in; they have also caused significant economic impacts. In the 1990s and early 2000s, attempts were made to prevent other invasive species from causing the same havoc. On this episode of What happened to…? Erica Vella speaks with experts about the damage caused by zebra mussels and finds out what has been done to stop the spread of the invasive species and how can we prevent it from happening again. Contact: Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Resource for reporting invasive species in North America www.EDDMapS.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a nearly three-hour-long interview between Det. Rob Thomas and the man accused of driving a rental van on a busy Toronto sidewalk we got insight on the driver's frustrations with women and his inability to attract a partner. "I would say that sometimes I am a bit upset that they choose to date obnoxious men instead of gentlemen," he said in the interview. He then speaks about 4Chan — an online anonymous image board — where he engaged in conversations with others about his anger with women and being a part of the involuntary celibate ("incel") community, an underground online community that lives primarily on the dark web. Experts have been studying the proliferation of the incel community for several years. Mike Halpin, an associate professor at Dalhousie University, said the term was coined in 1997, when a Canadian woman who only went by her first name, Alanna, began a support group online for people struggling to form relationships. "It was more about the kind of frustrations and complications with wanting a romantic partner, not being able to have one. Over time, the community became more and more populated by men and also more and more by people who were upset and angry about being alone," he said. The incel community then started popping up on places like 4chan and Reddit, he explained. Halpin has been studying the incel community for several years and this episode of What happened to... Erica Vella speaks with Mike Haplin about the complex subculture of the incel community; she also finds out if the community has grown and learns more about other incel-inspired attacks. She also speaks with experts about incidents of gender-based violence that continue to increase across North America. Contact: Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cathy Riddell has lived in Toronto's Yonge and Finch neighbourhood for over six decades; it's an area where she says she’s surrounded by familiar faces, shops and restaurants. On a warm Monday in April 2018, Riddell was eager to be outside and run errands in the sunshine. However, her day was interrupted when a white rental van wreaked havoc in the neighbourhood she called home. On April 23, 2018, a white rental van mounted the sidewalk at the southwest corner of the intersection of Yonge and Finch streets and travelled south for several blocks Riddell was one of the victims who was struck by the van while walking on Yonge Street. At 1:27 p.m., the first call was made to 911. The attack would last approximately seven minutes as witnesses watched in horror while innocent bystanders got struck by the white van. After driving 2.2 km, the van stopped at Poyntz Avenue because a beverage splattered across the windshield, making it difficult for the driver to see. The driver got out of the van. The tragedy left the Toronto community heartbroken and grieving for the victims who lost their lives that day. Riddell remembered very little about what happened that day. On this episode of Global News’ What happened to…?, Erica Vella revisits the Toronto Van Attack to speak to a victim who was heavily impacted by the attack. She also speaks with Insp. Graham Gibson about his experience as a detective on the scene, and with reporter Catherine Mcdonald, who begins to unravel the motives behind the driver’s attack. Contact: Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In June 2014, cases of Ebola were reported in Guinea and the disease began to rapidly spread across the border to Liberia and Sierra Leone. More than 28,000 people became ill with the disease and over 11,000 died. The 2014 outbreak was the first Ebola outbreak in West Africa. According to the World Health Organization, it first appeared in two simultaneous outbreaks in 1976 in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The outbreak in DRC happened in a village near the Ebola River and that’s where the illness gets its name. The early symptoms of an Ebola infection include fever, headache, muscle aches and sore throat, according to the World Health Organization. It can be difficult to distinguish between Ebola and the symptoms of malaria, typhoid fever or cholera. Only in later stages do people with Ebola begin bleeding both internally and externally, often through the nose and ears. Dr. Brantly is originally from U.S. but he had arrived in Monrovia, Liberia in October 2013 and he was working at the ELWA hospital at the time of the Ebola outbreak. He had been treating patients with Ebola for several weeks and on July 23, 2014, he woke up feeling ill. He would eventually be given the officially diagnosis; he was ill with Ebola and the U.S. doctor was transported to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. On this episode, Erica Vella speaks Dr. Brantly who shares his experience and she speaks with other with health-care workers who were on the front lines, battling Ebola. She finds out where it came from, why it spread so quickly and how the 2014 outbreak impacted communities in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. — with Files from the Associated Press. Contact: Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the late 1980s to the early 2000s, companies made the move to create products that were colourless or transparent as it was often equated with purity. It was called the clear craze and it was first inspired by Ivory soap's "99.44/100% Pure" campaign. Crystal Pepsi was launched in 1992 with a big splash at Super Bowl 27 in a commercial with Van Halen’s hit song Right Now in the background, but the product was taken off the shelves about two years after its launch. In the 30 years since Crystal Pepsi launched, the product has been brought back for limited periods. On this episode of What happened to…? Erica Vella revisits the elusive drink from the 1990s, Crystal Pepsi. She learns why the pop flopped and asks if there is a chance the cola could ever return to store shelves. -- Contact: Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist, Erica Vella is on a journey to find and speak with the people at the heart of stories that have captured the entire world’s attention, … and today she shares major developments in two stories that we’ve covered so far. Contact: Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices