The Unsolved Murder Of Septic Tank Sam
The unsolved murder of Septic Tank Sam is a cold case that still confuses Alberta authorities to this day. When the body of an unidentified man was discovered in an abandoned septic tank, he was quickly dubbed “Septic Tank Sam”. Due to the heavy decomposition of the body, the medical examiner was unable to give a more exact time of death but it’s estimated to be between 1976 and early 1977.
Sam’s decomposing body was wrapped in a yellow bed sheet that had been tied with a nylon rope. While recovering his body two officers spent an hour emptying the septic tank with empty ice cream pails. Before being shot in the head and chest, Sam was tortured, beaten, burned, and sexually mutilated. The mutilation was so bad that it took several months for the medical examiner to positively identify him as a male.
After his sad death, Sam was covered in quicklime in an attempt to quicken the body’s decomposition. With a lack of evidence in the septic tank, it was determined that Sam was probably murdered elsewhere and later moved to the dumpsite. Despite numerous examinations, exhumations, and $1,000,000 being spent on investigating the case, there is still no evidence suggesting who Septic Tank Sam’s killer was.