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HP OPINION MYSTERY AT MOUNT NEMO DETECTIVE NOT CONVINCED DEATH WAS AN ACCIDENT. WRITES STEPHEN METELSKY Ca - — 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. The call was placed by the victim's husband, Milo- dence to summon help for his wii ie Pauls. Detective Chris Clarke was sitting at his desk in the Burlington investiga- tions office when he got the call. When he arrived at Mount Nemo, 19 firefight- ers and seven EMS atten- dants worked in a treacher- ous area of terrain, at- tempting to rescue Pauls. “They were doing an ex- traction, so Icouldn't get to the scene," said Clarke. “It was a rescue and I couldn't see the ‘ict or 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. mac occurret when he saw thm in ing an etn bulance. Pauls did not sur- vive and was pronounced dead. Clarke had | to deliver the horrendou: "T've done a ‘tot of death notifications, and everyone reacts and grieves differ- Polimac's “reaction to the news of his wife's death seemed unusual to Clarke. The detective made a note of this in his files. ac was asked to at- fend the police station. At this point, there was no evi- dence to suggest this was anything but an accident so the csr “treated However, Clarke hada "gut feeling” that led him to believe something omi- nous Shad oe the inte the interview, Clarke’ asked Polimac for details. There were no wit- nesses, HALTON CRIME, CONFIDENTIAL ple of 25 years had ven- tured past the warning signs and beyond Where anyone was allowé hike. W! "Polimac 4c 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. Clarke remembered Poli- mac telling him hi was able to say, " The detective established (from was still alive after she had fallen. “Initially, I didn't have any reasons not to believe soon, fa ea ange. The detective started with Halton police in 1995 and left no stone unturned. When he visited Angie's family the next day to ato with them about the ree asked about i and other and i had already noted the cou- possible is- sues. Clarke was greeted with "er fine" so he left | his number and men- tioned to call if anything came up. Pa next day, something id. Clarke received a call an one of Angie's 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-! ee re. ith, The family ‘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 d due toa Jack of tangible condueting the forensic ex- aminati “imo on this for 10 days “That blew the investigation wide open. This was a homicide now." non-stop trying to con- vince them it's a homicide,” Clarke said. When Clarke notified the Halton police homicide unit, they sent an investi- gator to work alongside him. “We started interview- ing everybody," Clarke said, once he was officially seconded to the homicide incident was tin classified as an “accident Pauls was aid ton ot 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 viab!] mation to pro- vide. “ais last 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 for a call. The captain couldn't ~ Detective Chris Clark provide any information at that time. Clarke was almost of the door when he auickly § asked, "Anything else yo uu & can think of?" “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 confirm: Clarke 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, gasp- ing for air, why would someone cover her face? "That blew the investi- gation wide open. This was a homicide now," Clarke said. Stay tuned for Part 2: Wired for sound. Ze0z ‘Oz 48q0100 ‘ft Stephen Metelsky is an author, professor, and retired HRPS detective. Twitter @StephendMetelsky Have a stoi him at NoboneupneConri dential@gmail.com. Hosting an event online or in the community? Post the detaits for free in our calendar, * Experience * Vision “© Community Ann INH UONEH - dl CUL | 2 epsuny | Lawlor SN Ke) af axel C= )\.0) eer |