The Trail Went Cold – Episode 311 – Bernd Goericke & Andrea Scherpf

The Trail Went Cold

October 6, 1983. British Columbia, Canada. 27-year old Bernd Goericke and his 22-year old fiancée, Andrea Scherpf, are found shot to death next to a remote road. The couple hailed from West Germany and had been hitchhiking through Canada and an unidentified man driving a pick-up truck is seen using Andrea’s travellers’ cheques in the days following her death. Nearly six years later, a suspect named Andy Rose is charged with the crime based on testimony from a former friend who claimed she heard him confess to the murders. After two trials and two overturned convictions, the charges against Andy are dropped when DNA testing on a key piece of evidence excludes him as the perpetrator, but no one else is ever charged with killing Bernd and Andrea. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we travel back to our home country of Canada to explore an unsolved double murder which led to a wrongful conviction.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Chetwynd branch of the RCMP at [phone] or the Canadian Crime Stoppers tip line at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Additional Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_murder_of_Andrea_Scherpf_and_Bernd_Göricke

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2648100646

https://archive.today/20120723055359/http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2008-2009/someone_got_away_with_murder/timeline.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/newfoundlander-s-ordeal-with-rcmp-sting-subject-of-cbc-documentary-1.834222

https://vancouversun.com/news/metro/police-seek-new-leads-in-1983-murder-of-two-german-tourists-near-chetwynd

“The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions: A Handbook” by Gisli H. Gudjonsson

https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/files/mrbig.pdf

https://ucfiles.com/filestatus.php?number=104200082

https://www.newspapers.com/image/501465197/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/495935807/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/496051750/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/495047641/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/494831236/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/496376227/

“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.

“The Trail Went Cold” is doing a weekly livestream show on Vokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website.

“The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon UK” at the Tower Bridge, Leonardo Royal Hotel & Spa in London on June 10-11, 2023, as well as “Crimecon” at the World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida on September 22-24, 2023. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to either event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD23”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.co.uk or https://www.crimecon.com.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.