In the summer of 1991, the normally sleepy town of Gogama became a hotbed of police activity, as the OPP tracked three fugitives from Alberta through the bush.
Brothers Gordon and Alfred Cardinal had fled Alberta while out on a day pass from an Edmonton federal correctional facility, accompanied by Gordon's girlfriend, Donna Lachance.
The trio went on a cross-Canada crime spree, robbing liquor and beer stores, including one in Sudbury.
With the OPP in hot pursuit, the culprits entered the Gogama bush. Alfred gave up after a shootout with police, and Gordon and Lachance were found dead a few days later. Gordon had shot and killed Lachance, and then himself.
During the police action, the culprits had ambushed and shot OPP Const. Jan Nickle in the chest. Nickle, who was tracking the trio with the help of his dog, Magnum, survived the incident because of his body armour.
Andrew Maksymchuk, then an inspector with the OPP's criminal investigations branch (CIB), was assigned to investigate the attempted murder of Nickle.
Now retired after a three-decade-long career with the OPP, Maksymchuk focuses on the Gogama manhunt in Champions of the Dead, the third book in a series of memoirs he's written about his career.
He said it was the last case he took on during his time with the CIB. Shortly afterwards, he accepted an administrative position, and was second in command of the OPP's Sudbury detachment until his retirement in 1994.
Maksymchuk, now living in his hometown of Vernon, B.C., spent about four years in Sudbury in the 1990s. His son, Wade Maksymchuk, is now a seargent with the Greater Sudbury Police Service.
“It was a challenge to write and to get the history behind the book correct and ensure all the investigative details were correct as well,” said Maksymchuk. “I set myself into the pages of the book at the appropriate time.”
Besides focusing on Maksymchuk's career, the book also brings readers through the history of criminal investigations in Canada.
It includes a section on John Wilson Murray, Canada's first police detective, who's part of the inspiration behind the popular CBC television series Murdoch Mysteries.
Maksymchuk also suspects Murray's memoirs inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series.
The author's two other memoirs focus on earlier times in his career.
From Muskeg to Murder reminisces about Maksymchuk's early policing years in northwestern Ontario, while TRU: The Last Resort in Policing, covers his years as the leader of the OPP Tactics and Rescue Unit.
His latest book, Champions of the Dead, is published by Friesen Press. It costs $20, and is available locally at Chapters and Bay Used Books, as well as online at Amazon.
